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Post by Mod City on Jan 12, 2019 20:37:43 GMT -5
I'll put it this way: if Shout! had offered up every single MST3K title and consumers could buy whichever episodes they wanted, as many as they wanted, and in whatever order they wanted I'd have bought the entire series through them. That's the freedom I was referring to and I would have most definitely preferred that to looking over my shoulder and buying bootleg. But they offered nothing even remotely close to that, instead choosing a slow drip of random episodes bundled together in sets every few months. I couldn't imagine a more annoying way of going about it for fans of the show or for anybody else, really. I agree, a more-organized release pattern probably would help sales, too. And having all the episodes available individually, yeah, that would be a nice option. At the same time, if you'd bought the sets as they came out, you'd be exactly where you would be if you had bought them in your preferred order. You end up with the same collection, anyway, but yeah, that's a rose-colored way of looking at the problem, not a solution to it. As for the slow-drip of random episodes, what's a random episode? Shout had to obtain the rights to all the movies for the episodes, and with that they had to kind of pick their battles. Not all the rights holders were easy to please, and it took time to find certain rights owners and negotiate. If they were going to maintain any kind of release schedule, they had to release what they could when they could. I doubt that was going to change much under any circumstances. |
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Post by Udvarnoky on Jan 12, 2019 20:39:40 GMT -5
Shout! does offer MST3K episodes on an individual basis, through VOD portals like Amazon Video, iTunes, etc. In the case of Rifftrax and - I think - VHX, you can even buy them as DRM-free downloads. This does not cover every episode available on DVD (whether for rights reasons or otherwise), but it should still be pointed out.
It's also not entirely fair to contend that Shout! chose to release MST3K episodes on DVD the way did. It's been well-established that the difficulty and cost of licensing the movies is largely what dictated the release pattern and the seemingly randomized curation of episodes within each volume. What's preferable for us and what's necessary for things to make business sense on Shout!'s end are not always the same thing.
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Post by hike'em'up on Jan 12, 2019 20:50:55 GMT -5
Shout! does offer MST3K episodes on an individual basis... It's also not entirely fair to contend that Shout! chose to release MST3K episodes on DVD the way did. It's been well-established that the difficulty and cost of licensing the movies is largely what dictated the release pattern and the seemingly randomized curation of episodes within each volume. What's preferable for us and what's necessary for things to make business sense on Shout!'s end are not always the same thing. Right, and while I can appreciate the challenges Shout! faced with obtaining rights, at the end of the day my choices were to wait on them to announce which 3-4 episodes they were going to release 4-5 months down the road or go ahead and buy whichever episodes I wanted which were immediately available and would arrive at my house by next week. I've never had that kind of discipline. |
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Post by hike'em'up on Jan 12, 2019 21:13:30 GMT -5
I agree, a more-organized release pattern probably would help sales, too. And having all the episodes available individually, yeah, that would be a nice option...
As for the slow-drip of random episodes, what's a random episode? By that I mean how they would patch, say, Angels Revenge, Cave Dwellers, and Pod People together, dump a batch of shorts in and release it as a set/volume. Now there is no common thread between those episodes and given the continuity of the show - the host segments, a pretty strong emphasis on callbacks and running jokes - you really lose out on whenever those occur. Again, I appreciate the challenges of licensing, but it would have been much better to have offered consecutive episodes. What you end up with is a scattershot coverage of the series and it would have taken several years before those gaps between consecutive shows were closed up. |
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Post by Udvarnoky on Jan 12, 2019 21:20:34 GMT -5
Again, I appreciate the challenges of licensing, but it would have been much better to have offered consecutive episodes. But they literally couldn't. |
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Post by Mod City on Jan 12, 2019 21:42:46 GMT -5
By that I mean how they would patch, say, Angels Revenge, Cave Dwellers, and Pod People together, dump a batch of shorts in and release it as a set/volume. Now there is no common thread between those episodes and given the continuity of the show - the host segments, a pretty strong emphasis on callbacks and running jokes - you really lose out on whenever those occur. Again, I appreciate the challenges of licensing, but it would have been much better to have offered consecutive episodes. What you end up with is a scattershot coverage of the series and it would have taken several years before those gaps between consecutive shows were closed up. We'd wouldn't have many, many of the official releases available now if they tried to do it in consecutive order. The fact they mixed it up allowed them to keep releasing episodes, drawing from the various eras in each set. Something for everybody, whatever your favorite era was. It kept the show alive as a viable property. |
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Post by hike'em'up on Jan 12, 2019 21:44:55 GMT -5
Again, I appreciate the challenges of licensing, but it would have been much better to have offered consecutive episodes. But they literally couldn't. Right, which is why I went bootleg. |
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Post by cavedweller on Jan 13, 2019 2:57:57 GMT -5
I think what Shout should do is exactly what RiffTrax does. I buy the episode on the site and it remains in my library on their website. The choice is also there to download the film to my computer and then if I choose I can burn the episode to disc. I prefer software and I put all my Rifftrax on disc. If MST3K episodes could be that easy and to burn to disc would be Heaven. I speak on behalf of fans just getting into the episodes because I believe we all own every episode. My issue is with the KTMA episodes which is only for the die hards. I would love for them to be remastered and released as a download to burn with a Shout online user library. Rifftrax has it right I believe.
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Post by majorjoe23 on Jan 13, 2019 8:59:56 GMT -5
I think what Shout should do is exactly what RiffTrax does. I buy the episode on the site and it remains in my library on their website. The choice is also there to download the film to my computer and then if I choose I can burn the episode to disc. I prefer software and I put all my Rifftrax on disc. If MST3K episodes could be that easy and to burn to disc would be Heaven. I speak on behalf of fans just getting into the episodes because I believe we all own every episode. My issue is with the KTMA episodes which is only for the die hards. I would love for them to be remastered and released as a download to burn with a Shout online user library. Rifftrax has it right I believe. That’s pretty much what the VHX versions do. It would be nice if I could scan all my discs, like Vudu, and make them part of my library there. |
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Post by Troy's Dad on Jan 14, 2019 10:54:31 GMT -5
I think something is up. I check MST3KGuy from time to time and was waffling on buying his KTMA set. I bought the "lost 12" episodes earlier this year as singles from him, and he had since made a boxed set of the episodes. So it isn't like he was growing bored with the business.
I wonder if the lawyers at Shout have started to crackdown on fans selling DVDs?
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Post by cavedweller on Jan 14, 2019 20:32:45 GMT -5
I think something is up. I check MST3KGuy from time to time and was waffling on buying his KTMA set. I bought the "lost 12" episodes earlier this year as singles from him, and he had since made a boxed set of the episodes. So it isn't like he was growing bored with the business. I wonder if the lawyers at Shout have started to crackdown on fans selling DVDs? This was my thought exactly. Shout protecting KTMA episodes? I wonder if they are planning a remaster release of KTMA sets? |
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Post by Troy's Dad on Jan 14, 2019 21:51:19 GMT -5
KTMA crackdown, or more possible stopping production of fan made "Lost 11" DVDs in the event of rights issues clearing up with some of the films. The more people that have fan made DVDs, the less a chance people will buy a Delta Knights single or another volume of episodes.
I'll see if I can't email MST3K Guy tomorrow. I have his email from my last purchase.
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Post by cavedweller on Jan 16, 2019 10:10:47 GMT -5
KTMA crackdown, or more possible stopping production of fan made "Lost 11" DVDs in the event of rights issues clearing up with some of the films. The more people that have fan made DVDs, the less a chance people will buy a Delta Knights single or another volume of episodes. I'll see if I can't email MST3K Guy tomorrow. I have his email from my last purchase. Let us know what MST3K Guy has to say. Personally I am depressed about MST3UK. It was my go to for KTMA discs to give to friends. |
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Post by Troy's Dad on Jan 16, 2019 10:43:42 GMT -5
Just emailed him, I'll see what he says. I did notice his ebay account which sells bots is still active. Not to be a cyber stalker...
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Post by CrowTrobotfan92 on Jan 19, 2019 13:35:52 GMT -5
I mean, the truth is, digital is pretty much taking over, and we have most of the main series’ episodes on DVD now anyway.
Better off just torrenting the KTMA’s at this point.
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