Releasing an entire series on home media used to be a celebratory event. Entire series collections of Star Trek and I Love Lucy used to be a pricey affair for collectors, who bought episodes handfuls at a time on VHS to own their beloved shows on their shelves (if they weren't content to just tape reruns). Things became easier with the advent of DVD, as complete season packages become the norm. That didn't stop series from trying the whole handful of episodes routine on the format, Star Trek and I Love Lucy among them, but the popularity of shows like The Simpsons, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Star Trek: The Next Generation in box sets trumped them.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 never left the handful of episodes format, even as it did position itself into box sets (each only held four episodes each). Licensing issues with the films itself prevented full season releases, because they would have been too expensive to obtain all clumped together and it was never likely we would obtain them all. And true enough, they didn't release every episode of MST, but they got closer than we ever thought possible back when Rhino Home Video first started releasing episodes on VHS in the 90's.
But why can't these episodes be licensed, you may ask? Different reasons for different batches of episodes. Funnily enough, Rhino managed to tap three of the big wells of off-limits episodes before hearing from lawyers telling them to stand down. One was The Amazing Colossal Man on VHS, another was Women of the Prehistoric Planet on the Volume 9 DVD set, and finally Godzilla vs. Megalon on the Volume 10 DVD set. The question then becomes "Well, who told them they could release these episodes if the rightsholder didn't?" Those who worked at Rhino probably know what happened better than any fan does, but I believe the reason might be that the rights to these movies aren't exactly in black and white. Amazing Colossal Man was caught in a rights dispute between the estates of the two heads of American International Pictures, Samuel Arkoff and James Nicholson, and wound up being won over by Nicholson's widow, Susan Nicholson, formerly actress Susan Hart (who was incidentally featured in the MSTed film The Slime People), and Rhino had to pull the VHS from shelves because she wasn't the one who licensed the film to them. Godzilla vs. Megalon is owned by the Japanese studio Toho Company Ltd., which seems straightforward enough, but the English version of Godzilla vs. Megalon fell into public domain in the US, which is likely how it wound up on MST in the first place. Toho eventually got a tighter stranglehold on the Godzilla copyright and eventually re-obtained their claim on the film. There was also some uncertainty as to who had US distribution rights at the time the Volume 10 DVD was released, though it's generally agreed that a bankrupt company called Goodtimes Home Video kept the title in limbo for a while. Rhino wound up being scammed by a "company" (is it?) called Krypton International, who claimed they had the rights to Godzilla vs. Megalon during this period. They also claimed they had the rights to Women of the Prehistoric Planet, which they licensed for use in Volume 9, but that also turned out to be bogus. A man named Wade Williams owned Women of the Prehistoric Planet. But he kindly allowed Shout Factory to rerelease the episode with a proper licensing arrangement.
Through these three episodes Rhino managed to screw over all three of the big holdouts.
Let's talk about Wade Williams, who is open to licensing to the show and has licensed Shout Factory many films from his library, with the exception of a single episode: Rocketship X-M. Mr. Williams has absolutely put his foot down on this movie, as he unapologetically loves it. It seems that Rocketship X-M's use on the series was a bit of an accident in the first place, as Williams had someone else licensing films and that's who approved the use on MST. Williams was furious about it and as soon as the rights lapsed he never allowed them to be renewed. This includes DVD rights, which means it will be a cold day in hell before we see Kevin Murphy and Frank Conniff's first episode on home media. The one bit of hopeful news is that being the oldest film in an unreleased episode means the date Rocketship X-M falls into public domain is closer than most. It's still decades away, but we may live to see an official release in our ripe old age when all media is beamed directly into our brains.
Moving onto the licensee of Susan Hart, she owns five films featured on MST, and from my understanding she holds no ill will against the show itself, she just wants a lot of money. The films in her catalog haven't seen home media release in any form since VHS, and it seems she is notoriously difficult to license from. Those who have tried usually walk away empty handed. What's weird is that ever since obtaining her hold on these licenses she has attempted to make more money from lawsuits over copyright infringement than off the titles themselves, an example being fairly recently in which she sued Shout Factory themselves for a documentary on American International Pictures that they released on MST's Volume XXXIV DVD, which partially covered films that she owns the rights to. The lawsuit did reach a settlement, but if you're wondering why this volume was suddenly pulled from store shelves after a few years, it's because Shout Factory couldn't keep the volume in print with the documentary featured. Of the films featured on the series, Susan Hart owns The Amazing Colossal Man, It Conquered the World, Terror from the Year 5000, and I Was a Teenage Werewolf, while she also holds a copyright claim on Attack of the The Eye Creatures due to a claim on the script, which was reused from a film she owns called Invasion of the Saucer Men. Outside of that, Eye Creatures is believed to be public domain.
Going from those in control of estates to a major company, the last big hold-out is Toho Company Ltd., which is the Japanese movie studio that holds the Godzilla trademark, and also the company that funded and distributed thirty-two Godzilla movies in Japan while also having Japanese rights to the four American made Godzilla films released so far from 1998 and the recent MonsterVerse blockbusters. As mentioned above, Godzilla vs. Megalon had a bit of a US rights grey area for decades, which Toho finally put a end to. The other Godzilla movie featured on the series was Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, which was featured on the series through the Film Ventures International package that brought other films such as Cave Dwellers and Pod People to the series. Where FVI obtained the rights to this film from is a bit murky though (I do know that Goodtimes had home media rights to Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster around the time of the MST episode, because I have those VHS tapes), and it's possible that they might even have released it illegally. Whatever the case, whoever MST licensed from back then is not who they have to deal with today. Currently both Megalon and Sea Monster are licensed out to Janus Films, who used the titles to put together a Showa Era blu-ray set of fifteen Godzilla titles as a part of the Criterion Collection. At least the unriffed films have home media releases readily available. This is more than I can say about Rocketship X-M or any of the Susan Hart titles.
But as to whether or not Shout could license these movies out...I wouldn't bet on that. Shout has gotten some good deals with the Japanese companies they have been talking to: Toei, Tsuburaya, Kadokawa...but Toho is a different beast entirely. The Godzilla license is very expensive, and even if you achieve it, you have to follow Toho's rules. Toho requires approval of every aspect of a release in the US, and the more elaborate the release, the more they will work their fine tooth comb through it. This was the case for Media Blasters a while back, who licensed out Godzilla vs. Megalon and Destroy All Monsters from Toho, planning on packed special features. At the last minute Media Blasters added a bonus dub track and extra photos in their photo gallery to the Destroy All Monsters release, which was enough for Toho to demand a recall on the discs and insist on approving the features themselves, a process that started to look like it would take years. Media Blasters bit the bullet and cancelled the special features on the films and just released them as bare bones discs. Since then, Toho has shown little kindness to American releases, even neutering Criterion's Showa Era blu-ray set. Reportedly this is because Toho wants to deter consumers in Japan from importing discs from America, which are in the same blu-ray region. The issue with MST3K is that it is the film in an altered form that was done without their approval, and its very likely they'd rather it didn't exist at all. In an interview at a con, Joel Hodgson mentioned he was interested in licensing Toho films for future seasons, but Shout told him to not bother because they already knew what the answer was. That should say it all right there.
Outside of these gridlocked episodes, there are a few holdouts that still have release potential in them. Paramount Pictures has negotiated with Shout Factory for home releases of many of their titles, including a huge Friday the 13th box set made in conjunction with Warner Brothers. And yes, they have licensed out MST episodes as well, notably Girls Town and Diabolik (the latter was also released unriffed on blu-ray by Shout). Paramount also owns the rights to Fire Maidens of Outer Space, The Deadly Bees, and The Space Children, which were tied up with a small company called Olive Films, who licensed them for blu-ray release. While these films are under contract at Olive, Shout is unable to release them. It seems like the deal might be closing sooner rather than later, so it's likely we will see these three episodes in a Volume XXXX along with the last DVD holdout, Quest of the Delta Knights.
What's up with Quest of the Delta Knights? I don't know. It seems the owner of the film was very difficult to track down, and Shout just sat on the episode not knowing where to turn. Apparently they recently found the rightsholder and licensed the episode for a streaming deal as they wait for Olive's contract with Paramount to lapse. While some MSTies might be impatient for a Delta Knights DVD release in the meantime, I've seen no reason to suspect Shout won't release the episode on DVD. They're just playing the waiting game.
This isn't taking into account the movies featured on KTMA, which are being held due to creative reasons rather than licensing reasons. Shout Factory actually does hold the rights to a chunk of them. They have deals for the third season episodes of films licensed from Kadokawa (all the Gamera films) and Tsuburaya Productions (Time of the Apes, Fugitive Alien, and Mighty Jack), while they have rights to the TV shows Stingray and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (licensed from the estate of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and released on DVD from Timeless Media) which allowed copies of Invaders of the Deep and Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars to be offered as rewards during the MST Kickstarter in 2015. Shout Factory has also released the complete series of Space 1999 on blu-ray (also from the estate of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson), which gives them a window to Cosmic Princess. These licenses alone give Shout access to twelve of the twenty-one KTMA episodes, which means Shout could feasibly release a solid chunk of KTMA if they wanted to.
Of the remaining episodes, Phase IV and Hangar 18 are also films owned by Paramount that are currently under contract to Olive Films, which means those would have been a waiting game episodes if they were seeking them. MGM owns The Million Eyes of Sumaru (which was recently purchased by Amazon), while ABC (under Disney?) holds the rights to TV movies SST- Death Flight and Superdome (Kino Lorber licensed Superdome for blu-ray). City on Fire seems to be folded into several of its distributers going defunct after it's release, though I suspect the rights are held by Studio Canal (Scorpion Releasing released the film on blu-ray, so they would have a deal in place with the film's current rightsholder). The Last Chase likely is owned currently either through someone's estate or by Lionsgate though film catalog purchases. Foreign films that are with their original companies are Humanoid Woman and The "Legend of Dinosaurs." In the case of Legend of Dinosaurs, the film is owned by Toei Company, who also own Prince of Space and Invasion of the Neptune Men, both of which saw DVD release. They are also the owners of the Super Sentai franchise, which Shout Factory has licensed to DVD in the US.
And that is pretty much where that group of MST episodes stands. A small amount may be released one day, while the rest will likely remain in limbo for a long, long time. It's a shame, because a solid amount of what remains is quite good. If only one were to see official release, I would like for it to be Fire Maidens of Outer Space, which is an exceptional episode from top to bottom. I'd also like the Godzilla episodes as I am a huge fan of the character and enjoy seeing the films on one of my favorite television franchises. Rocketship X-M, while not a great episode, is an important one from the show's historical perspective and it's a shame it will likely not see release. I'd also love to see some crisp copies of the KTMA episodes in my lifetime, while the rest are mostly solid episodes in a large catalog. I remain optimistic that maybe in one form or another we'll see these episodes one day, but we also have to face reality and realize some things may never be.
Special shout out to Travis Hosey, who spent years sleuthing the many titles of MST3K and directing even Shout Factory in the right direction of who knows what. I hope I did justice to your work with my little write-up.
