MST3K DVDs and Blu-rays...Where do I start?

[adventuremaster18]

So, I got into MST3K a few years ago, mainly through YouTube uploads. I love the series and want to get most of it on DVD...but where do I start? I thought that maybe the volume sets would be the series released in somewhat chronological order, but no, it's all over the place! I have the first few of the Shout! Factory volume sets and they seem to be random episodes. There's also different versions of the DVD's I believe. I assumed the Shout! Factory DVDs were just repackaged versions of the Rhino DVDs, but they seem to be made with different menus and prints. The movie got two releases and I thankfully picked up the Blu-Ray which seems to be the better version, the only thing the Image DVD seems to have that isn't on it is the French audio track. Not to mention, aren't there episodes not on DVD due to copyright issues? Many sets are also on Amazon for an unbelievable amount of money! The only collection that seems to be in order is Season 11 and the only reason for that seems to be that it's the newest one and they already secured the DVD and Blu-Ray rights, plus they HAD to make it since it was a Kickstarter perk.

Is there a list of the sets in Chronological Order? Or something close to that?

Sorry if this post is unorganized, this is my first post and I'm just confused about the releases of this show.

[Torgo]

The box sets are about as far out of chronological order as you can get. This is due to movie rights issues and the DVD producers having to pick up whatever rights they can get for which ever volume they're releasing. All things considered they did a pretty solid job, though there were eleven episodes that they still can't get a firm grasp on. In the years since they've also lost the rights to the Gamera films, The Final Sacrifice, and Soultaker and never properly had the rights to Godzilla vs. Megalon and Women of the Prehistoric Planet in the first place.

Pointing out a chronological order through the sets is tricky because of this. What I can tell you is that the first nationally televised production number episode of The Crawling Eye was released on Volume 17. The problem with that particular episode is that it was pulled due to lapsing rights on Final Sacrifice. It's going to be rereleased soon on the Lost and Found Collection though. There are also a couple of all-Sci-Fi era sets in Volumes 4 and 5, which compile from the last three seasons of the show. But in the end the only chronological release we have is the Season 11 collection, and that's because they had specific contracts allowing for home media release.

Not to be a shameless plug, but on my blog I've been making an effort to put little notes underneath each episode pointing out which volume has released them. It's incomplete since it's a work in progress, but I have over a hundred entries. I also have a few DVD reviews so you'll know what you'll be getting on each volume. Also I have compiled lists of DVD releases that feature releases from seasons 1, 7, and 10. I don't have every season listed out yet, but as I said it's a work in progress.

I hope some of this helps.

[adventuremaster18]

Sept 11, 2018 10:27:23 GMT -5 Torgo said:

The box sets are about as far out of chronological order as you can get. This is due to movie rights issues and the DVD producers having to pick up whatever rights they can get for which ever volume they're releasing. All things considered they did a pretty solid job, though there were eleven episodes that they still can't get a firm grasp on. In the years since they've also lost the rights to the Gamera films, The Final Sacrifice, and Soultaker and never properly had the rights to Godzilla vs. Megalon and Women of the Prehistoric Planet in the first place.

Pointing out a chronological order through the sets is tricky because of this. What I can tell you is that the first nationally televised production number episode of The Crawling Eye was released on Volume 17. The problem with that particular episode is that it was pulled due to lapsing rights on Final Sacrifice. It's going to be rereleased soon on the Lost and Found Collection though. There are also a couple of all-Sci-Fi era sets in Volumes 4 and 5, which compile from the last three seasons of the show. But in the end the only chronological release we have is the Season 11 collection, and that's because they had specific contracts allowing for home media release.

Not to be a shameless plug, but on my blog I've been making an effort to put little notes underneath each episode pointing out which volume has released them. It's incomplete since it's a work in progress, but I have over a hundred entries. I also have a few DVD reviews so you'll know what you'll be getting on each volume. Also I have compiled lists of DVD releases that feature releases from seasons 1, 7, and 10. I don't have every season listed out yet, but as I said it's a work in progress.

I hope some of this helps.

Thanks, I'm a big fan of the show, it's just a shame it's so difficult to collect. I kind of hope they may do something similar to what's currently happening for Doctor Who, they're re-releasing a lot of the classic series upscaled to HD on Blu-Ray with new extras and such. They're beautiful sets and it's great since many DVD's have gone Out of Print, so these are actually cheaper then most single DVD's. It'd be cool if they would do the same thing for MST3K, even if a couple seasons would be incomplete. 

[Torgo]

I know that Shout Factory has released a handful on blu-ray as extras on blu-ray releases of several of the uncut movies, like Brain that Wouldn't Die, The Bat People (It Lives By Night), and The Projected Man. I've seen the transfer of The Brain that Wouldn't Die. Unfortunately it's not very good.

Oh! And I almost forgot! Torgortega had put together a list of episodes with corresponding DVD releases a while back. You can find that here. That's probably the most easily accessible list of the DVDs in chronological order.

[adventuremaster18]

Sept 11, 2018 10:54:42 GMT -5 Torgo said:

I know that Shout Factory has released a handful on blu-ray as extras on blu-ray releases of several of the uncut movies, like Brain that Wouldn't Die, The Bat People (It Lives By Night), and The Projected Man. I've seen the transfer of The Brain that Wouldn't Die. Unfortunately it's not very good.

Oh! And I almost forgot! Torgortega had put together a list of episodes with corresponding DVD releases a while back. You can find that here. That's probably the most easily accessible list of the DVDs in chronological order.

Thanks, I'm glad someone listed them in chronological order.

[CrowTrobotfan92]

If you want to watch the episodes in order, then you're better off just watching them online.

If you don't care, then really any box set is a good way to start!

[adventuremaster18]

Sept 11, 2018 11:09:20 GMT -5 CrowTrobotfan92 said:

If you want to watch the episodes in order, then you're better off just watching them online.

If you don't care, then really any box set is a good way to start!

I know that buying the episodes online is probably the best way to get them chronologically, but I'm more a fan of psychical media.

[CrowTrobotfan92]

Then what I would do is just buy the DVDs and look at the lists of the episodes in order and wait till you have everything.

[marsilies]

Shout Factory isn't likely to do full season sets of the earlier seasons. Even where they have a license for all the films of a given season, the film licensing costs make it prohibitive to put much more than 4-6 films in a given set.

What I've done is I bought a disc binder, bought all the volume sets I could (I started buying around the release of Vol 12), and sort the discs in the binder. I've gotten all but volumes 9 & 10.5, and the Shout singles. I've been intending to go through the show chronologically once my collection is complete, but I don't think that's really necessary for someone new to the series.


This leads me to think of the most "essential" episodes to watch for someone new to the show, in terms of continuity and such. Like transition episodes where the host/bots/Mads change. You could probably just skip season 1 entirely, which will start people off with stronger episodes, and will make up for the fact that episode 201: Rocketship X-M, which "explains" how Larry got replaced with Frank and Tom Servo's voice change, isn't available. After that, the next notable episode is 424: Manos, which is buildup for Frank's departure. Then 512: Mitchel, to show the switch from Joel to Mike. Then 607 Bloodlust, for the introduction of Pearl Forrester. Then 624 Samson vs. the Vampire Women for Frank's departure. Watching the Movie in this spot is good from a continuity angle. Then 701 Night of the Blood Beast (Turkey Day edition) to show Pearl visiting again and deciding to stay. Then 706 Laserblast, the last Comedy Central Episode.

The first SciFi Channel episode, 801 Revenge of the Creature, is essential to describe all the changes (no more Dr. Forrester, Crow's new voice, etc). Now, the SciFi seasons actually had "season arcs" of a sort at the beginning, so the episodes important to the host segments come more fast and furious, after 801, then 804 The Deadly Mantis, then 805 The Thing That Couldn't Die, then 808 The She-Creature. After this, I think the rest of season 8 could be watched in any order.

Then for season 9, 901 The Projected Man sets up a new premise, which stays the same up through the end of season 10, 1013 Diabolik, which was the last Syfy Channel episode.


After watching these episodes, one could watch the rest of the CC/SciFi episodes in any order without being confused about the cast and the premise of the host segments.


Seasons 11 & 12 have a loose arc, but they can be easily watched in order on Netflix, and the season 11 box set.