January 31, 2004 will be a sad day in entertainment

Cafe Society
1

I just got an email from the MST3K fan club. On January 31, 2004, the Sci-Fi Channel (damn them all to hell!) will end it’s contract to broadcast Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The last scheduled episode will be #912 - The Screaming Skull (w/the Gumby short - “Robot Rumpus”).

From it’s humble beginnings on a local station in Minneapolis in 1988 to Comedy Channel/Central to the Sci-Fi Channel, the little show that could ends its television run.

Not bad for a puppet show.

We’ll miss you guys. We WILL keep circulating the tapes.

Hi-keeba!

2

They need to put out good DVD sets.

3

They don’t screen it here. I’ve never seen it (except for the theatrical release). Consider yourselves lucky that you got to experience it at all.

4

Not that I’m doubting you, but I feel obligated to mention that I’ve read this exact same announcement every year for the last three or four years, and so far, they’ve renewed it every year. So there may be hope yet. Or maybe not.

5

That’s my birthday.

PS: homemade DVDs have started popping up on DAPcentral.org

6

That’s going to be one HELL of a big set.

7

Considering that they’re down to just a few of the episodes from the last couple of seasons, and those aren’t the better episodes, it’s probably time for the show to bow out.

8

No, it’s time to start showing the good ones.

9

I never understood why episodes dropped out of circulation. I mean, I understand from a contracts perspective, the license terms expire and the right to air the ep ends. But do the owners of, say, Squirm or Parts: The Clonus Horror or Werewolf think they’re going to make another dime off of these movies in a non-MST3K environment? I have heard that the person who owns the rights to the rubber monster movies (Godzilla and Gamera) is pretty pissed off at what Bad Brains did, and those films are probably going to net him some cash elsewhere, but I kind of doubt that anyone is out there lusting to show Puma Man or Radar Secret Service.

What I would love to see is the eps released in seasonal sets, with some sort of original material filling in the gaps for eps where they can’t secure the DVD rights. I can just imagine the hilarity BB could come up with if they were turned loose on the people who wouldn’t give up the rights. But at the very least, marketing “The Incomplete ___ Season” would be good for some laughs.

10

That particular day is my 40th birthday. Wanna party? We’ll watch bootleg MST2and3K and lamenting the passing of things we’ll miss. Like MST and my youth.