So glad I’ve got near-all episodes, specials, extras, and the movie on tape and/or DVD. I don’t trust anyone to give up rights to old episodes.
My most treasured possession: both of the Godzilla MST3K episodes on DVD. 
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The mind fair boggles now, but Toho being so overprotective of Godzilla movies to someone growing up in the days when every fly by night VHS company kept doing cut-rate releases of the movies on VHS is. . .well, it’s a sign that times have changed.
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Weirds, I was just looking around for other things, and I see that the MST3K movie is available for digital streaming rental and purchase from the likes of Amazon and Google, so it’s not necessarily that Universal is all “nopes to riffing” but that they are “nopes for any riffing we don’t 100% own.” So presumably it would be possible for Alternaversal to license the movie for distribution the same way the other retailers do, but that’s probably a headache and a half to sort out.
Universal probably actually has it in some package deal, so they’d have to pick up distribution rights (not riffing rights) for about 30 other movies they don’t want. And, to be perfectly fair, because the general public doesn’t have the sophisticated tastes that we do, it’s possible the only reason it’s available on those other platforms in the first place is because it’s included in a package of popular movies they couldn’t get unless they also picked up MST3K (and a handful of other “less desirable” movies).
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I was wondering about that myself. I am also surprised that Soultaker isn’t available either, because that is a go to for me.
I made sure I bought the bluray of the movie. Still one of my favorite features they riffed and the one that made me fall in love with MST3K and participate in both Kickstarters.
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What’s this “and the rest” crap?
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He made his car entirely out of bamboo!
Also, welcome to the forums!
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Also, this, but decidedly more than 42 times.
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Uhhh… I hate to burst your bubble….
But I haven’t actually seen it yet…
I was working at a bookstore when it came out and talked about it to everyone. One day I was up on a ladder and possibly the only person at work that I’d never expect to go see the movie snuck up on me and said in a rather solid impression of Mike “Other people need to use this ladder too, you know.” I almost fell off the stupid thing.
As an aside, is this the only example of a TV show being made into a feature film where the movie was shorter than a TV episode?
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Opinions will vary, but it’s definitely some fun stuff.
It’s the only one that comes to mind off the top of my head, yeah.
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I’ll definitely have to watch it. It’s on my bucket list.
I’ve only ever seen the deleted scenes.
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I hope you get a chance to watch it soon. It’s really quite good and a lots of fun!
There’s just something about MST3K looking that expansive and upscale that’s just thrilling to see.
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My favorite bar is doing a screening the film on VHS this week.
It’s in Des Moines, so I understand if people can’t make it.
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Man, wish I had the legs to run there.
Anyway, there was an aspect regarding the movie’s bungled release that I don’t see getting brought up at all. We all point fingers at Universal for messing things up but was it really their fault the film had a limited appeal in theaters? Bear with me on this.
It should be pointed out that Gramercy was a joint venture between Universal and PolyGram; the former using it for lower-budgeted fare and the latter using it as their distributor. This becomes problematic as different studios often have different interests and just because one party is in favor of a project doesn’t mean the other is. You have to remember that the initial live riffing of This Island Earth was done to win over execs at Universal since they were attending the ConventioCon ExpoFest-A-Rama and fans were wearing pins that read “MST3K has Universal appeal.” Them confining the project to Gramercy was done once it got the greenlight, so why’s that a big deal?
Well, in January 1996, just three months before MST3K: The Movie was due to hit theaters, PolyGram actually bought out Universal’s half of Gramercy, giving them full control of the company. While Universal would still release the film on video since this is technically a Universal production, it was now up to PolyGram to do the heavy lifting. If you look at some of the promotional material from when the film was released, you’ll notice that the Gramercy print logo has the byline “A PolyGram Company.” Also, the video press kit is attributed to PolyGram, both on the opening slate and in the copyright notices. In essence, they were given someone else’s movie and since they didn’t seem all that keen on it, they simply put it out there just for it to die in theaters.
In fact, this actually puts more weight into the theory that Gramercy had to choose either MST3K: The Movie or Barb Wire for a full-fledged wide release. Know who made Barb Wire? That’s right, PolyGram! Favoritism much?
So, is there a point to all this? Not really. Just wanted to point this out so we can point fingers at the ones really responsible for screwing MST3K: The Movie over in theaters.
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Update: I’ve finally gotten to watch the movie. It was fantastic!!!
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I’m so, so, SO tempted… but I won’t.
“But I’m NOT an alien.”
MST3K: The Movie was my first introduction to Mike. I didn’t even know the show had changed hosts prior to that. Despite being a long time fan, I was rarely able to catch an episode during the original run, and had only seen a handful of episodes before the Netflix revival.
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I’m totally just seeing this post now, but I’d be down to help re-enact the movie to help out…. Hahaha! I could probably repeat it in my sleep as it was the first MST3K I had on tape.
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