Mystery Science Theater 3000: Season One Custom Set (WIP, Help Wanted)

Hey guys! I realized not too long ago all of the season one episodes of MST3K are finally available on official DVD (counting the OOP releases). In other words, it's now possible to compile a season one set from transfers of the master tapes for all 13 episodes, which is what I'm trying to do here with this project.

In addition to extras like outtakes and stuff from the official releases like introductions, I'm adding as much contemporary material as possible directly relating to season one - this includes tv appearances, magazine/newspaper articles and promos.  My hope is that this will end up being like a time capsule to late 1989 - early 1990 and that I'll be able to do similar editions of each successive season.

I intend to finish it on a BD50 and a BD25, taking advantage of Blu-ray's significant storage capacity for SD content.  Why store 13, ~4 GB episodes on seven dual-layer DVDs when you can put the same number on no more than two BDs - including extras - without souring the quality?  This will be the first, truly convenient way to watch a whole season of this show in excellent quality on a home video format.

As I'm sure many of you are aware, there's a number of tape hits present on the masters used for the official DVDs.  My intention is to augment the best possible fan recordings whenever these glitches occur, and to revert to other episodes if a hit occurs during reused segments like the intro, the "moon logo" commercial break thing or the ending credits.

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Here is the status of the project so far:

-I have episodes 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 111 and 112 from the official Shout! and Rhino DVDs

-I have a promo for 102, introductions to 110 and 112 and the featurette "Life After MST3K: J. Elivs Weinstein" (all from the Shout! releases)

-I've got a multigen EP recording of 101 with commercials

-Print materials currently in my possession are Satellite News Vol. 2 No. 1 (in .cbr) and the MST3K Colossal Episode Guide (in .pdf), from which I'm including an excerpt of the season one section.

NEEDS (if you think you can help, please contact me):

-More contemporary material of any kind

-The official DVDs of the rest of the season one episodes

-Nice quality fan recordings of all season one episodes

-To verify whether my copy of 101 is of the original premiere or not

Doug Gorius said:

-The official DVDs of the rest of the episodes

 Are these available to purchase officially?

Will you be keeping it interlaced, in its native 60i? It just bugs me watching the show in progressive (like on Netflix). (I remember that I got a couple DVD-Rs many years back in a trade, and one of them had been deinterlaced by the encoder. It just looked wrong.)

TV's Frink said:

Doug Gorius said:

-The official DVDs of the rest of the episodes

 Are these available to purchase officially?

Yup, though two of them are OOP.  All of the season one episodes have finally come out, split across twelve sets and a single.  I should've been more specific and said season one episodes.

TServo2049 said:

Will you be keeping it interlaced, in its native 60i? It just bugs me watching the show in progressive (like on Netflix). (I remember that I got a couple DVD-Rs many years back in a trade, and one of them had been deinterlaced by the encoder. It just looked wrong.)

 Mhm.  I happen to hate the deinterlaced look, too.  It's just not right.

BTW this is a little early but if I move on to season two and beyond, I'll make sure to include the "dim your lights" thing and as many slates as I can find.  If the numerous past bootlegs and shrunken down .avis are Wendy's, these sets will be the thirty dollar steak.

Doug Gorius said:

TV's Frink said:

Doug Gorius said:

-The official DVDs of the rest of the episodes

 Are these available to purchase officially?

Yup, though two of them are OOP.  All of the season one episodes have finally come out, split across twelve sets and a single.  I should've been more specific and said season one episodes.

 Well then, you should buy them, instead of promoting piracy by asking for them.