* A proposal for Season(ish) & Complete(ish) Series sets *

[GodzFire]

As a regular of the 'Likelihood For Shout Factory Release List' thread , here's an interesting thought: What are the odds of Shout actually putting out Season Sets (All with SOL deck-themed interactive menus) or a Complete Series (In a Satellite Of Love replica boxset casing) release? Obviously they couldn't put out certain episodes, but in MST3K themed humor, acknowledge the rights issues for the missing ones and call them something like "The Complete(ish) 2nd Season" or "The Complete(ish) Series". I have two options on how it could be done:

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OPTION 1
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[Volume Sets]
- The Complete 1st Season (13)
- The Complete(ish) 2nd Season (13-3, {Rocketship X-M, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Godzilla vs. Megalon})
- The Complete(ish) 3rd Season (24-7, {the Gameras, The Amazing Colossal Man, It Conquered the World})
- The Complete(ish) 4th Season (24-2, {Fire Maidens from Outer Space, Attack of the The Eye Creatures})
- The Complete 5th Season (24)
- The Complete 6th Season (24)
- The Complete 7th Season + The Movie (7)
- The Complete(ish) 8th Season (22-2, {Terror from the Year 5000, I Was a Teenage Werewolf})
- The Complete(ish) 9th Season (13-3, {The Deadly Bees, The Space Children, Quest of the Delta Knights})
- The Complete(ish) 10th Season (13-1, {SoulTaker})
[THE COMPLETE(ISH) CLASSIC SERIES]
- All 158 available episodes (177-18)
- BONUS MATERIAL: All available bonus material from the Vol releases on their own separate disc
- BONUS DISC(s): All legally available KTMA episodes (something for the hardcore fans and incentive to purchase the complete series vs season sets)

OPEN 1 would be an AMAZING selling opportunity and about the best chance at full releases that I think is possible. Unfortunately, I think it would also simultaneously obsolete the volume sets overnight, which Shout definitely wouldn't want to do at this point.



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OPTION 2
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[Volume Sets - Only Episodes, No Extras]
- The Complete 1st Season (13)
- The Complete(ish) 2nd Season (13-3, {Rocketship X-M, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Godzilla vs. Megalon})
- The Complete(ish) 3rd Season (24-7, {the Gameras, The Amazing Colossal Man, It Conquered the World})
- The Complete(ish) 4th Season (24-2, {Fire Maidens from Outer Space, Attack of the The Eye Creatures})
- The Complete 5th Season (24)
- The Complete 6th Season (24)
- The Complete 7th Season + The Movie (7)
- The Complete(ish) 8th Season (22-2, {Terror from the Year 5000, I Was a Teenage Werewolf})
- The Complete(ish) 9th Season (13-3, {The Deadly Bees, The Space Children, Quest of the Delta Knights})
- The Complete(ish) 10th Season (13-1, {SoulTaker})

OPTION 2 is still doing Season sets, but not including any of the bonus materials, and not doing a complete(ish) collection initially. That would open up additional revenue opportunities from fans who wanted specific Seasons but haven't & weren't ever going to buy all the various Vol sets that make up those episodes, while still keeping some value for the Vol sets with the bonus material & extras. They could use up their remaining physical stock of their Vol sets and let them go out of print. Once that happens, they would release the complete(ish) collection:

[THE COMPLETE(ISH) CLASSIC SERIES]
- All 158 available episodes (177-18)
- BONUS MATERIAL: All available bonus material from the Vol releases on their own separate disc
- BONUS DISC(s): All legally available KTMA episodes.

That would help use up any extra remaining physical Season sets. And, because of the added incentives of all the bonus material that wasn't on the original Season sets, and the ADDITIONAL bonus of the KTMA episodes, it would be something for the hardcore fans and incentive to purchase the complete series vs season sets. (NOTE: I'm not a fan of the varied release and exclusives release multi-dipping methods companies do, but it does make a lot of sense here and would help keep the classic MST3K property financially valuable for at least a decade if not more to come.)

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What do you think sirs? Would that be something you would buy if it happened? Looking for feedback and thoughts!

I am going to try and contact someone at Satellite News and see if they would create a discussion topic / poll on this to gauge what people would think; that is, if I can find an email address that actually works there. Last time I tried all of the contacts there I either got bounce-backs or no reply.

[someoneinatree]

Sadly, though I like the arrangements you have pitched, I can't imagine it would be very practical for Shout! to release them like that. I'm working from memory, but I seem to recall Jordan Fields stating that the reason they stuck to four episodes in a volume was because that was the best way they could release them to be profitable when put up against the costs to license the movies. They don't have to worry about that with the new seasons since home video rights are part of the initial negotiations to license the films. I would probably pass on such a set, though it's one I would have killed for 15 years ago. I bought the sets as they were released. If I could propose another case for the set: a model of the containment unit from the new series that has twelve canisters that each contain a season.

[travis]

MST3k is one of the very few show where season sets aren't practical (for either the DVD label or the consumer). Casual fan would have no interest in spending $$$$$ just to get a "Complete Season 4," when they could just get 4 random episodes from different seasons for $40-50. Only some of us hardcore die-hard fans would be interested, but most of us own many (if not all) of the DVD sets available now. Very few of us would be willing to do THAT huge of a double-dip, no matter how good the extras were. After all, how many of us have even double-dipped for Shout's re-issue sets?

Plus, if the rights to any one episode expire and can't be re-negotiated, the whole darn set would have to go OOP. It's unfortunately the Law of the Jungle for our beloved show.

I personally just take the episodes out of their respective box sets and line them all up chronologically on my MST3k DVD shelf, and just throw the cardboard boxes in storage.

[Troy's Dad]

I agree with those who say season sets aren't practical for a show like MST3K.

However, I think Shout missed a trick in not re-releasing vols 1-12 in boxes with slim cases like vols 13-39. That way, fans who want them all in order on their shelf could put the boxes in storage and put the slim cases, Shout Select single releases and RHINO single releases in order.

[travis]

Jan 23, 2019 16:55:13 GMT -5 Troy's Dad said:

I agree with those who say season sets aren't practical for a show like MST3K.

However, I think Shout missed a trick in not re-releasing vols 1-12 in boxes with slim cases like vols 13-39. That way, fans who want them all in order on their shelf could put the boxes in storage and put the slim cases, Shout Select single releases and RHINO single releases in order.

I bought slim cases online to put my Rhino DVDs in so I could do just that.

[Troy's Dad]

I was a complete nerd and created a word doc with a grid that listed all the episodes in order and gave the corresponding set. Then I printed it out and put it in a presentation binder.