Being a long-time fan of MST3K I know there are lots of films I’d love to see skewered…I mean, savored, on the Satellite of Love and I think I read a very informative piece here explaining some of the difficulties in gathering the rights to films for use. And it was also pointed out why some other films just don’t make for good riffing material. Anyway, I was wondering if there was a compiled list of the most frequently requested films that you have already determined won’t ever make the cut or you can’t afford them or the people that own them just don’t like MST3K and will never give you the rights to use them, etc.?
1 Like
- Any movie with “-zilla” in the title.
3 Likes
This thread is pretty solid:
I don’t think he’s asking about old MST episodes being released on DVD or whatever.
He’s asking about the availability of movies in general that MST could riff in the future.
4 Likes
Gotcha, I misread that.
In a Kickstarter update they mentioned that The Peanut Butter Solution has been a frequent request, but they can’t get the rights.
2 Likes
There was one that was planned for this season, but fell through due to rights issues and was replaced by a different film, though it hasn’t been namedropped yet.
2 Likes
Don’t count any programmer westerns, I guess. Frank got to watch lots of those in the BBI days when he got the box of screeners. They must have been riffing approved, since they were in the box from the network, but he says they weren’t good for riffing.
1 Like
I think I have heard that if the movie does not have a widescreen format available, it will no longer be considered for MST3K. So, that will limit a lot of older films and pretty much cut out made for TV movies entirely.
1 Like
Unless somehow the original 35mm prints are put on DVD. Then they can riff about all the empty space and off-set items on the sides. Master Pancake Twitch-riffed a made for TV movie a couple of days ago and there was massive amounts of headroom. Easy to chop off empty space to pretend it is wide screen.
1 Like
that may have been true with NetFlix. Not sure the Gizmoplex cares.
2 Likes
Yeah, that might just be a Netflix rule for the show.
1 Like
It may very well have been a Netflix rule I am remembering. I like the way they added curtains on the sides for the Secret Agent Super Dragon tribute, they could certainly do something like that to get movies into the right aspect ratio for future episodes.
1 Like
It’s kind of funny that they’d have film reel props, but some of the films were obviously taken from the VHS versions.
1 Like
RiffTrax can get round reluctant studios/offended auteurs with their “Just the Jokes” releases, but it’d be trickier with MST3K’s visual element and the host segments.
Maybe one day there’ll be an app where you can load an unriffed copy of a film, then add the separately-purchased riff in the form of overlaid moving silhouettes and automatic pauses while the host segments play.
1 Like
VidAngel already has a technology that might be useful.
2 Likes
Just thought of another feature for this putative software - it would identify which version of the movie you’re watching an adjust the timings of riffs automatically. Especially useful for those of us outside the NTSC region. Or you may have a director’s cut, or a restored version, or an extended edit or whatever.
Plus a KTMA-era VHS effect, for people who really don’t like their eyesight.
1 Like