Synopsis:

An ongoing project that seeks to remaster classic episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 using the best available HD film sources in their original aspect ratio.

Intentions:

My goal is to give these classic episodes new life with a true HD remaster – not simply upscaling or a syncing the show audio to the HD movie, but applying the original silhouettes to the latest and best version of the movie. At the same time, I want to hold on to every element that made these classic episodes so great (...and at times., eh, not-so-great,,,) so not a word of dialogue has been removed.

Change List:

Editing Details: The film is sourced from the Criterion Collection Godzilla box set. I intentionally built the edit in 2.35:1 so that the image expands when we move from SD TV show and enter the new HD theater. I took inspiration from some of my favorite local theaters which show previews in 1.85:1 before expanding for the main feature into cinemascope. The show is a show; the movie is a movie. For the silhouettes, a light gamma halo was applied so that Joel + the bots are always the blackest element onscreen (even if it’s just barely perceptible at times), while the Criterion transfer of the film was regraded for better saturation and contrast, even going shot-by-shot for the night scenes. Silhouettes and host segments were deinterlaced and upscaled by Riffling. Some light saturation and contrast boosting was applied to the host segments. Cuts and Additions: Star field added around the SD host segments. Rotoscoped the final countdown door so that it opens/closes on the new, expanded HD theater. Red curtains used to cover Joel and the bots entering/exiting from within the frame. This is done 3 times in the episode. The last countdown door covers the rest. Reframed about 6 shots to fit Joel's interaction with the screen. 00:00 – Updated “Turn Down Your Lights” logo 8:43 – Replaced the Japanese titles with American ones. Sourced from a low quality youtube clip, upscaled by iNightmares, and framed and graded to better match the surrounding footage, I then added a clean, transparent png title over the flat SD original. 8:52 - Added "Produced by TOHO EIZO CO. LTD.' title card to match the episode. Film grain added to both titles. 1:30:50 - Filled out and animated Joel's silhouette as he moves closer to the camera to show his impression of a giant kaiju. 1:36:55 – Recreated the Best Brains logo with HD movie footage.

Other Sources:

Godzilla vs. Megalon [International Titles] by ironhandz1 (youtube) Curtains closing by Jurassic Films (youtube) Green Screen curtains opening by Yuriy Tsymbaliuk (youtube)

Special Thanks:

Thank you to INIGHTMARES who has been a champion of this project from the start and is always there with technical and moral support, Riffling for upscaling the footage, and ArtIsDead for producing the new cover art.