Last night, I rented the season 13 premiere for 7.99. A bit pricey, but I was happy. Tonight I see that 1302 is no longer available for 7.99, and all three episodes are on sale for 14.99. Each.
I can’t pay 15 bucks per episode, that’s crazy. I’d rather have a normal streaming service experience with a monthly fee. All of this just feels over complicated and needlessly expensive. Designed only for a subset of fans with tons of cash to burn, while the rest of us are cut out.
I’m a disappointed long time fan, honestly. Glad MST3K will continue but sad its just for a small group.
@CaseCrum The ticket for tonight’s show is no longer available because the show is over. Both the premiere and the episode itself will be available in a week to rent for $5. Hopefully that price feels reasonable to you.
MST3K to persist and produce another season absent yearly crowdfunding this platform must be self-sustaining. A multitude of choices exist to watch the new episodes. Given the Gizmoplex emulates the theater experience, catching shows as they premiere and viewing them within a window is cheaper than buying them outright later. There is a blackout period of a week from any debut before you can rent or buy in order to encourage Gizmoplex membership to fund a Season 14 and beyond. The $14.99 is the purchase, download, and keep forever price not to rent. I understand your worries but be patient no one’s taking advantage. You may have to wait a week here and there to rent new episodes absent a membership after premiere dates but shortly you’ll be able to see everything or get a membership if you wanted uninterrupted access. Literally next weekend all three new experiments debut to rent or buy and the choice is yours. Remember Joel and Company are building their own streaming service and this takes money but it is for all of us not “a small group.”
The purchase per riff option is something RiffTrax has employed since it was introduced. Granted, very few of them are fifteen dollars, but RiffTrax doesn’t have the production costs recoup that MST does with onscreen performances.
I think a subscription model could be introduced over time. RiffTrax just introduced one only within the last few years. Meanwhile rental fees are a nice compromise until them. That being said, it’s probably more viable for the backcatalog over new episodes as we need that push of income to fund more seasons.
There are 4 ways to watch. Correct me if I’m wrong on any of the details.
Purchase a ticket to the live stream, so you can watch with everyone (including the live chat in the virtual theater and the thread on the forums) and see the Q&A portion of the show.
Rent the episode so you can watch it once. Does not include the Q&A.
Buy the episode so you can watch and download as much as you want. Does not include the Q&A.
Purchase a monthly Gizmoplex member pass, which gives you full access to the current season and ongoing live events. (Previous seasons sold separately.) Also includes monthly Vault Picks of classic episodes with some additional bonus content. Members can view the current episodes in three formats: The final cut, the livestream premiere with Q&A we saw during the soft launch, and the livestream premiere from this weekend with new Q&A.
Kickstater backers had a year’s membership included with most reward tiers, and lower tiers had the option to purchase it as an add-on reward at a discount. Higher reward tiers also included bundles of select classic episodes and shorts to keep as purchases.
For the rest of the year, seasons 1-10 are available free without ads to everyone, as an incentive to check out the site.
There’s a possibility they’ll offer the option to view episodes with ads (either free or at a discount) at some point down the road, after they’ve established enough of a viewer base to attract advertisers.
I am so sorry you had a bad experience with this. I think the G-Plex has room for more transparency and/ or guidance, and I am sad that you are caught up in that. It may not help you, but hopefully this sort of confusion will lead to improvements, so your sacrifice will not be entirely in vain.
I hate it when something sours an experience I used to love: I exited the Texas Lego Users Group when they decided to dump everyone off of the old listserv and make a new one for an elite few, cutting off everyone else’s access to the perks Lego provides to LUG members. I am now (unreasonably) wary of Lego groups of any kind. I hope this doesn’t happen to you, and I hope the sour taste fades, but I definitely don’t want to trivialize your feelings now. There’s a hug here for you if you want it.
