MST3K Fans, Rejoice!

[edonline]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080124/tv_nm/mysteryscience_dc

"Mystery Science" answers Shout! Factory's call
By Thomas K. ArnoldWed Jan 23, 10:57 PM ET

Call it "cult meets cult." Shout! Factory, the independent DVD supplier with an affinity for cult movies and TV shows, has secured worldwide home entertainment and digital download rights to the cult TV series "Mystery Science Theater 3000."

The multiyear deal gives Shout! Factory exclusive physical and electronic distribution rights to all "Mystery Science Theater 3000" branded properties -- including a vast library of original episodes that have never before been issued on DVD or available for digital download.

Garson Foos, president of Shout! Factory, said "Mystery Science Theater 3000" lines up perfectly with his company, which has released such eclectic offerings as 1960s TV series "My Favorite Martian," the controversial documentary "Kurt Cobain: About A Son" and the direct-to-video "The Film Crew," a "Mystery Science Theater" spinoff.

The original "Mystery Science Theater" TV series was released on home video by Rhino Home Video, whose principals -- including Garson Foos and his brother, Richard -- later went on to found Shout! Factory after Rhino was sold to Time Warner.

"Mystery Science Theater 3000" was created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains. After a year on KTMA TV in Minneapolis, it went national in 1989 on the Comedy Channel (later Comedy Central), where it ran for seven seasons. The show's final three seasons were on Sci Fi Channel.

The series attracted a huge cult following and won a Peabody Award in 1994 as well as two Emmy Award nominations, both for writing. The star of the show is a hapless man trapped by mad scientists on a satellite in outer space. He's forced to watch old B movies and, to keep sane, provides a running commentary of each film with his two robot sidekicks, lovingly knocking one another's flaws and cracking jokes.

The series lasted 11 seasons and includes 198 episodes, all of which are ultimately bound for both DVD and digital distribution through Shout! Factory.

"We're huge fans of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000,"' Garson Foos said. The show's creative team, he said, "understood the beauty of the B movie and were able to take these undervalued treasures and enhance them possibly far beyond their original luster."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[Tweek]

Holy Crap!:D

[john_rambo]

This is the best news i have ever heard anyone say ever... the one moment that always sticks out, i dont even know what movie it was they were mocking, but a guy stepped out of a car and just starts nailing this chick immediately after he gets out and tom servo goes "HI MOM!" classic... sheer classic.

[The Postmaster General]

Awesomeness. I hope they give Netflix the rights for online viewing. This will definitely make those graveyard shifts run smoother.

For me, my stand-out MST3K moment was when they were watching this old gangster-type movie, and the characters keep refering to the money as "3 mill" and every time they'd say it, the gang would follow with a chorus of "Llion!"

Just so.... dumb, but of so genius.

[jackson13]

Are they going to be released in overpriced $60-$70 sets like they've done so far? Cause thats the reason I havent bought any yet. I own a ton of old VHS tapes that I got for cheap, a lot of them arent even released anywhere cause some guy taped them off of TV and I found them at Goodwill, but I just flat out refuse to pay 60-70 for a set that only has 3 or 4 episodes on it. If they release these for cheaper then I'm definitely there, otherwise I'll just join Netflix for them like someone else mentioned.

[JJFlamingo]

cool...

[Cronos]

Always wanted to see more of these, might have to get some if they don't cost a shit load.

[bigred760]

In one word . . . awesome!

Loved the show and was extremely pissed when it ended. Am glad to see that more DVDs will be released. Will probably buy them.

[Don G.]

What are the chances they release an entire boxset of all the MST3k stuff? I hate how it's split up now....I wish it was a more concise collection then spread out over a dozen different volumes.

[X-Nightcrawler]

What are the chances they release an entire boxset of all the MST3k stuff? I hate how it's split up now....I wish it was a more concise collection then spread out over a dozen different volumes.

It's difficult to cram 11 seasons of 2-hour episodes into one boxed set.

[eljefe15]

Coolness!

[Don G.]

It's difficult to cram 11 seasons of 2-hour episodes into one boxed set.

Yeah, I was thinking about that. Maybe split it up into 2 or 3 volumes? They don't currently have it split up as actual seasons so maybe that's the way to go.

The James Bond boxset has proven that they can make large collections.

[AndrewDB]

Please oh please oh please oh please let Netflix put these on Instawatch.

[Badbird]

Hopefully they'll have access to most movies. I was surprised by some of the titles they did late in the run (Invasion USA? I gotta see that one).

[X-Nightcrawler]

Yeah, I was thinking about that. Maybe split it up into 2 or 3 volumes? They don't currently have it split up as actual seasons so maybe that's the way to go.

The James Bond boxset has proven that they can make large collections.Yeah, but this would be equivalent of somewhere around 5 James Bond boxed sets. We're talking about one disc per episode, here, maybe one disc every two episodes, about 10 episodes per season, about 11 seasons.

It be a lot. But I do wish they'd to large collections by season. I'd buy seasons 7-11 immediately.

[AndrewDB]

I have no idea how many seasons MST3K had, nor do I really care, I'd save to buy them all.. instantly.

[cocksmokinclerk]

i dont care how much they cost: MST3K is like pokemon "gotta have em all!"

[Salieri]

Yeah, I think a complete series box set would be impossible. There's nearly 200 episodes, which in 23-minute-time translates into like 700 episodes.