That was a major factor in the MST3K folks’ decisions. There were plenty of movies around to choose from, but they couldn’t afford the rights to many of them.
www.MST3Kinfo.com has lots of neato information about the show.
RR
I always wondered what the hell they were thinking MSTing Max Schell’s Hamlet. It wasn’t a particularly bad production, and all their Hamlet jokes were the same ones high-school kids have been making since about 1650.
That version of Hamlet always reminded me of “Sprokets” from SNL. I was waiting for Phil Hartman to come out in a dress and lipstick.
I dunno, I laughed at, “Hey baby, how about some spiral-cut Hamlet?”
I guess because they got the rights to it, so they just decided to run with it.
I liked the part where they’re dancing and Servo goes, “We’ve got the Night Fever Night Fever…we know how to do it…”