In another rousing volley of news that will draw violently-mixed reactions, Satellite News reports that Rhino will be reissuing cancelled MST3K DVD collection Volume 10. As you may recall, Volume 10 originally ran into legal trouble due to the accidentally not-quite-legal inclusion of Godzilla vs. Megalon, forcing the set to be pulled off shelves and to be sold for ungodly prices on eBay. For the many fans who missed out on this, this is great news.
However, for the many fans (like me) who did manage to get ahold of a copy, this is infuriating news. See, Godzilla is being replaced with previously unreleased episode The Giant Gila Monster, a long-awaited release. This is The Essentials all over again. See, Rhino originally released Manos: The Hands of Fate as a single DVD, which most fans snapped up immediately. Then, a little while after, they released the episode again in a two-disc pack (dubbed “The Essentials“) with another fan favorite, Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, which was previously unreleased, thus “forcing” fans to spend money on a DVD they already owned. This time it’s even worse, as “Volume 10.2” (as they’re calling it) will include more new material, including a new skit featuring Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, and Josh Weinstein explaining what went wrong with the original Volume 10!
I, for one, will not be purchasing this Volume 10.2, awesome new material be damned. Unless Rhino finds some way to get this new disc to those of us who already own Volume 10, without shelling out another $40, they are officially on notice. You have been warned, Great Rhinocerous. You have been warned.
If you missed out on Volume 10 and don’t want to get raped on eBay, 10.2‘s tentative release date is February 5th. Plan your parties and/or lynchings accordingly.
Filed under: DVD, MST3K, News, Rhino | Tagged: giant gila monster, volume 10 |
deep ape 
Well … you could always sell the old Volume on eBay (which, last time I checked, was going for $200) and pick up the new one.
Personally, I wouldn’t though, since Godzilla v. Megdalon is my favorite episode, and I rue the day that I didn’t pick it up before the rights issue become problematic. I hate to be let down by picking up Giant Gila Monster, but I’ll pick it up and console myself with repeat GvM viewings on YouTube.
I don’t want to lose Godzilla vs. Megalon though, and no one is going to buy the incomplete three-disc set now. And besides, Rhino should really have the common decency to take care of their loyal MSTie customers (let’s remember that the MST collections are their top DVD sellers). Even if I paid them $10 and they sent me Gila Monster in a paper sleeve, I’d be satisfied.
Technically, this shouldn’t bother me. See, I won my copy of Volume 10 in a contest, so I didn’t have to pay for it. Still, it’s the principle of the thing. And I’m not buying three discs that I already own, whether I’m losing money or not. That’s just stupid, and I encourage other MSTies to resist the urge to do so.
When A&E released their mega-Emma Peel complete Avengers set, they had the class to release the new exclusive DVD contained in it as a separate item. It would be nice of Rhino to do the same with Gila Monster. But I won’t hold my breath.
Ugh, very lame news. Both are great episodes, Rhino should really set something up for fans that were loyal enough to purchase it early.