More Movies = Less Movies

As I've rebuilt my movie library -- I did a stupid and accidentally deleted almost everything -- I've also added new content to the library.

As a reminder (or for the first time if you haven't read the previous posts) I have been collecting the unriffed versions of the movies featured in Mystery Science Theater 3000. So that would make it a rebuild with additions.

Oh, and the fact that in order to get some of those movies, I'd have to buy "50 Great Schlock Sci-Fi Classic Duds!" (or names something similar) which left me with a few dozen extra films that I wasn't seeking. But, hey, I had them. I put them in the "burn" pile (yes, it should be the "rip" pile, but "burn" pile sounded better) and rip them out when I had a few minutes. With everything lately, I've had a few minutes.

Anyway, I got the library from 1,525 before the deletion to over 1,600.

As I've mentioned before, the original number immediately became lower because of the reorganization of the music library. Using iTunes running on Windows as the video server, I could have Movies, TV shows, and Home Movies. That's it.

With Plex (the reason for moving everything that led to the accidental deletion) I could categorize much better. Disney or Warner Bros. shorts were now in a separate category, no longer all counted as "Movies." And the MST3K episodes became TV shows, whereas in iTunes, they were Movies. So, a few hundred drop right off the bat. But, I still kept adding.

The other day -- it may have been over a week, I don't know -- it suddenly hit me that I could utilize the "extras" feature of Plex. That's where you can add "Behind the Scenes" features, deleted scenes, interviews, etc. They even have an "Other" section. And suddenly, after all this time, I realized that I didn't need to have separate movies for the theatrical release, the "Director's Cut" or "Special Edition," or any variety of different versions of movies (think original Gamera, U.S. edit of Gamera, and the Sandy Frank edit of Gamera). I could pick my primary version (usually the theatrical cut) and place the other versions as extra in the same directory on the drive. Name it correctly and Plex plays real nice with that.

One effect of that was to lower the overall number of movies, even with more movies. Which means these 21 files (once renamed like this) became extras, rather than their own movie.

• Alien (Director's Cut)-other.mp4
• Alien Resurrection (Special Edition)-other.mp4
• Alien³ (Special Edition)-other.mp4
• Aliens (Special Edition)-other.mp4
• Blade Runner (The Final Cut)-other.mp4
• Bride of the Monster (Color)-other.mp4
• Dreamgirls (Director's Extended Edition)-other.mp4
• Gamera, The Giant Monster (Original)-other.mp4
• Gammera the Invincible (U.S. Edit)-other.mp4
• Gamera vs. Barugon (Original)-other.mp4
• Gamera vs. Gyaos (Original)-other.mp4
• Gamera vs. Guiron (Original)-other.mp4
• Gamera vs. Zigra (Original)-other.mp4
• Plan 9 from Outer Space (Color)-other.mp4
• RiffTrax! Star Wars - A New Hope-other.mp4
• Rifftrax! Star Wars - The Force Awakens-other.mp4
• RiffTrax! The Wizard of Oz-other.mp4
• Stripes (Extended Cut)-other.mp4
• The 40 Year Old Virgin (Unrated)-other.mp4
• The Exorcist (Extended Director's Cut)-other.mp4
• To The Stars By Hard Ways (2001 Remaster)-other.mp4

So, even though I increased the number of movies, I also cut back by combining different versions of the same film into one entry. Which works better for me.

My total number of movies is at 1,586. And yes, that's more than I started with. But, it's less than the number got up to along the way. I passes 1,600 movies a couple of times along the way. I'd pass the 1,600 mark, notice where I had separate entries for movies, combine them, then watch the number drop back down.

I've highlighted some of the milestones along the way: 1,000 movies, 1,500 movies, but this will be the first time that I've actually had an accurate count of what I think of as a movie. And I'm 11 short of 1,600.

And who knows? I may not ever hit 1,600. It's not like I have many to go to complete the MST3K Unriffed collectino (two, by the way), and they ain't making a lot of good movies any more.

Besides, I do need to watch what I already got.

MST3K Unriffed Update: Two To Go

And then there were two.

I've mentioned before about collecting all the movies featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. I already have all the episodes that were released on DVD and on VHS, which covers almost every one that was broadcast. I also have copies of the others, recorded off-air (except one from the KTMA season, which is a lost episode, as far as anyone knows.

But I'm talking about the movies themselves. The original uncut versions of the films. Or at least the version that they riffed. And I say that because some of the movies they viewed were alternate, edited for TV versions.

All five of the Gamera films they did had multiple versions. Some of those films were redubbed into English, some had additional scenes with American actors added, and were often released under different names. And then, there were still other redubs and releases by Sandy Frank Enterprises.

There were three different versions of the first Gamera film:

• Gamera, the Giant Monster - The original film, in Japanese, with English subtitles.
• Gammera, the Invincible - The original film had some scenes edited and additional scenes with U.S. actors added. The Japanese scenes were dubbed into English. Oh, and some new music.
• Gamera - The version that MST3K did was a Sandy Frank redub of the original Japanese film. And new music.

I have all three versions because of course I do. And I chose to tell you about this because it's a good example of how I'm counting whether or not I own a copy.

First, I'm after the version that MST3K did. If I have that, I count it.

If I can't find that one, I go after the original release. If the film isn't in English, and if there is a dubbed version, I go with that, if that's the only edit. And, if I don't already have the version MST3K riffed, I count this version.

Failing that, I go with whatever version I can find. And I only count it, if I can't find one of the other.

Sane thing with Humanoid Woman, a film from the KTMA season. I have the Humanoid Woman cut, but I also have "To The Stars By Hard Ways," the original film. Well, not exactly the original. It's a remaster of the original, with a lot of the Soviet propaganda edited out. I count the "Humanoid Woman" version because that's what they riffed. However, I only recently acquired that. I located "To The Stars By Hard Ways" some time ago, and was counting that one as part of my MST3K collection. After I found "Humanoid Woman," it replaced "To The Stars By Hard Ways" in the MST3K collection and playlists, and "To The Stars By Hard Ways" because just another film in my collection.

So, you got the idea of what I'm doing, right? I mean, I drove the point into the ground, so yeah, you got it.

Anyway, to the point of this post, I'm now down to two movies until I complete the collection.

That's the movies riffed by the classic series (Comedy Channel, Comedy Central, Sci Fi Channel), the Netflix series, the KTMA series, MST3K: The Movie, and the "pilot"/demo film.

That's 210 different films that the crew riffed in some form or other. And I have 208. So, what am I missing? Two movies that were featured in Season 6 of the classic series:

• The Dead Talk Back
• The Starfighters

I can't find them anywhere. I mentioned earlier that some of the movies I was lacking (at the time) had really expensive versions available. Well, I didn't give in, and eventually found what I was looking for at a better price. These two films, though, I can't find at all. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Movie Library Rebuild Completed

I mentioned around first of the year that I had accidentally deleted my entire movie library. It was over 1.500 at the time I went stupid. I've been working on rebuilding it for some time.

Well, I'm done.

It's not exactly the same. Previously, I was using iTunes running on a Windows 10 machine to serve up my local files. I downloaded all my iTunes purchases, and played them through iTunes on my Apple TV. And I ripped all my DVDs out and imported them into iTunes as MP4 files.

At the time, the total movie count was 1,525 of which 1,259 were iTunes purchases.

I decided to move everything to Plex, allowing me to stream to more devices. I could have left my Apple purchases in iTunes, and put the non-Apple content in Plex, but that would mean switching apps depending on what I wanted to watch. I didn't want that. I wanted everything in one app, and I wanted more than iTunes offered. So, I installed Plex and began moving everything over.

Along the way, I screwed up and while intending to delete the iTunes content I had already moved over, I instead deleted the iTunes content I hadn't moved over. The total opposite of what I wanted to do.

So began the long process of rebuilding a fairly large movie library.

One thing I didn't like about iTunes was that they had two categories of content: TV Shows and Movies. (I'm not counting music videos, which went into the Music category. Music is another story entirely.)

Of the things that iTunes called "Movies" were things like short films, such as some old Buster Keaton two-reelers. You can make the case that they're movies. But they also listed Disney shorts -- think Mickey and the Beanstalk -- as movies.

And MST3K episodes were movies. Of the movies riffed, around 150 were available through iTunes, and I had them. But, really, I think of those as TV episodes, not movies.

Some Warner Brothers shorts were listed in iTunes as "TV Shows" even though they were just collections of shorts.

With Plex, I had complete control over how I categorized the content. I created three main categories: Movies, Shorts, and TV Shows.

I finished up my last import of iTunes content into Plex. Yes, I had to rip it out because of Apple's copy protection. Yes, I know they don't like it. No, I really don't care, because I'm using it as my own personal use, not for distribution.

Anyway, it's done. I now have 1,587 movies. Real movies. The number is up because I've continued to build my library as I restored it.

I have 568 short films. That's individual Bugs Bunny or Donald Duck cartoons, along with the Buster Keaton and other similar shorts. I have them tagged with ways that are useful to me, for when I want to watch certain things: Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Bugs Bunny, Frisky Puppy, Road Runner, Sylverster, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, etc.

And I am building my TV Shows library. I didn't really have that done in iTunes, so I didn't lose anything there. But, I have all the MST3K listed as episodes of that TV show. Also, I've done the shows I own full series of: Star Trek (original), Firefly, The Fugitive, The IT Crowd, Men Into Space, The Outer Limits (original), The Twilight Zone (original), and Get Smart. I'm working on Doctor Who right now, and have the first ten seasons. One more Jon Pertwee season, then on to Tom Baker.

So, finally -- fi-nal-ly -- my movie library is rebuilt.

Now, to watch it all. Starting with the unriffed MST3K movies.

Unriffed MSTie Movie Library: Cheating, Just A Little

As I near completion of my Unriffed MSTie Movie Library -- the intact movies that the MST3K crew riffed -- I found I'm having to cheat a little to finish up the library. Well, maybe it's cheating, and maybe it's not.

It is. But only a little.

The KTMA season had a movie called "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars." It's a feature length film made from four episodes of the 1967-68 British TV show, "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons."



While "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars" isn't available online, VHS tapes are available, but I'm not paying over $100 for one. So, it's do without, right?

Well, not exactly.

There are videos of the opening and closing credits of the movie available online, because of course there are. It's relatively cheap to get episodes of the series online. The entire series is cheaper than the movie.

I have the KTMA episode, with Joel, Crow, and Servo (he wasn't yet Tom Servo), so I have a rough template of the movie. So, with the four episodes of the show, the movie opening and closing, and a computer to edit them together, I was able to reconstruct the movie. And, I think I did a pretty good job. The original movie was 1:31, and as it turned out, so was my reconstruction.

So, is that cheating? Yeah, it is. But, I'm gonna count it as having the movie, until I can find one reasonably priced.

Same thing with Season 3 movies "Master Ninja I" and "Master Ninja II" which were made from two episodes each of the 1984 TV series "The Master." I can't find the movies anywhere, but I was able to get episodes of the show. So, using the MST3K riffed version as a guide, I was able to reconstruct the movie from the episodes. Yes, still cheating a little, but it's darn close to the original.

The only other movies that were made from TV episodes were in the KTMA season: "Invaders from the Deep," which was from the show "Stingray," and "Cosmic Princess," which was from "Space: 1999." Both of those movies are available, and for a reasonable price, so no reconstruction is necessary.

I'm still looking for the movies to replace my reconstructions, so I won't remain in "cheat" status. But, I'll just look the other way until then.

Unriffed MSTie Movie Library: Nearing Completion

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was about 2/3 way through having a complete collection of the MSTie movies. Not the episodes -- I have all of those except KTMA episode 3 (nobody has that) -- but the actual movies that the crew riffed. Either the original release, or the edited for U.S. audience version that the MST3K crew had when they made the show.

Why would I want to watch, say, "Manos: The Hands of Fate" or "Santa Claus vs The Devil" without Joel/Mike and the Bots? Because I can. Well, when I get all the movies, I can.

I've made some progress since my last update. I've gone from needing 70 movies to needing 15. How in the world did I get 55 movies so quickly? Well, there's bargain bins. And Amazon and eBay have people selling multi-movie DVD packs.

And, if you keep searching, you can find them. I've got a lead on 6 more, but those are individual movies, and I'm hoping to find a multi-pack with the remaining films so I can save some money.

I'm still missing:

KTMA

• Invaders from the Deep
• Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
• The Last Chase

Season 2

• Jungle Goddess

Season 3

• The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent

Season 5

• Village of the Giants

Season 6

• The Dead Talk Back
• Last of the Wild Horses
• San Francisco International
• The Starfighters

Season 8

• Agent for H.A.R.M.

Season 9

• Werewolf (Arizona Werewolf)
• The Projected Man

Season 10

• Hamlet (Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark)

Season 11

• Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II

Of those, I've located on individual DVD (and one VHS tape) the following, but am still looking to find on a multi-movie pack are:

• Invaders from the Deep (on VHS)
• Jungle Goddess
• The Last Chase
• The Projected Man
• The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent
• Village of the Giants
• Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II

If I break down and purchase those individually, that will leave me only 10 shy of a full collection. But, I'm cheap, so I'm holding out.

I can't wait to finish this collection. I really need to watch some of these movies I own.

Un-riffed MSTie Movies

Although I'm having to rebuild my local video library, I'm still adding new content to my library. Well, not all is new.

Yes, I've added most of the recent Oscar winners -- Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, etc. -- so some is actually new, or at least within-the-last-year new. Some, though, isn't new by any stretch of the imagination. Unless "new" means something I didn't have before. And that's the definition I'm using.

Just as I'm trying to include all of the "best" movies in my collection, I'm also collecting some of the worst. And, no, winning an Oscar doesn't mean something is the best, not really. You can look at all the Oscar winners and easily come to that conclusion. But, still, it's one of the criteria I'm using.

But, the worst? How do you judge the worst movies? One criterion is it being riffed on Mystery Science Theater 3000. I could easily add The Film Crew, RiffTrax, and Cinematic Titanic as other criteria. Golden Turkey Award winners. Golden Raspberry Award winners. Rotten Tomatoes. There are plenty of ways to select movies as the worst.

Right now, I'm focusing on the MST3K movies. And, I'm making progress.

There were 13 episodes each in Seasons 1 and 2 on Comedy Channel, and Seasons 9 and 10 pm Sci-Fi Channel. There were 24 each in Seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6 (Comedy Central). There were 22 in Season 8 (Sci-Fi Channel). There were 14 in Season 11 (on Netflix). Season 7 (Comedy Central) had seven episodes, but the first two episodes were the same movie, just different host segments (a Turkey Day special and a regular episode with the same movie), making it six movies total. There were 6 in Season 12 (Netflix). There was also a movie. Add to that the 21 episodes of the KTMA season, but take away the nine that were re-done in Season 3, and you have a total of 12 for that season. Oh, and the pilot/promo. That's another movie.

All that math means 210 movies to cover 220 episodes/pilots/movies.

Here's where I stand:

KTMA/Pilot

Pilot: The Green Slime
Ep. 3: Star Force: Fugitive Alien II (This is the only actual episode of MST3K I don't have. I do have the original film, and the Season 3 version, but not the KTMA version)
Ep. 4: Gamera vs. Barugon
Ep. 5: Gamera (I have "Gammera, the Giant Monster")
Ep. 6: Gamera vs. Gaos ("Gamera vs. Gayos")
Ep. 7: Gamera vs. Zigra
Ep. 8: Gamera vs. Guiron ("Attack of the Monsters")
Ep. 9: Phase IV
Ep. 11: Humanoid Woman ("To The Stars By Hard Ways"; this is actually a decent film, though slow at times.)
Ep. 12: Fugitive Alien
Ep. 14: Mighty Jack
Ep. 17: Time of the Apes
Ep. 19: Hangar 18
Ep. 21: The "Legend of Dinosaurs" ("Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds")

I am missing these movies that were riffed by the KTMA crew:
Ep. 1: Invaders from the Deep
Ep. 2: Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars
Ep. 10: Cosmic Princess
Ep. 13: SST: Death Flight
Ep. 15: Superdome
Ep. 16: City on Fire
Ep. 18: The Million Eyes of Sumuru
Ep. 20: The Last Chase

---

Season 1

(Note that I list the episodes in original air date order, not in the production order, as most lists show).
Ep. 01. The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy
Ep. 02. The Crawling Eye ("The Tollenberg Terror")
Ep. 03. The Mad Monster
Ep. 04. The Corpse Vanishes
Ep. 05. The Crawling Hand
Ep. 06. Robot Monster
Ep. 08. Project Moon Base
Ep. 09. Robot Holocaust
Ep. 10. Moon Zero Two
Ep. 11. Untamed Youth
Ep. 12. The Black Scorpion
Ep. 13. Women of the Prehistoric Planet

I am missing:
Ep. 07. The Slime People

---

Season 2

Ep. 1: Rocketship X-M
Ep. 2: The Sidehackers
Ep. 4: Catalina Caper
Ep. 6: Ring of Terror
Ep. 9: The Hellcats
Ep. 10: King Dinosaur
Ep. 11: First Spaceship on Venus
Ep. 12: Godzilla vs. Megalon
Ep. 13: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

I am missing:
Ep. 3: Jungle Goddess
Ep. 5: Rocket Attack U.S.A.
Ep. 7: Wild Rebels
Ep. 8: Lost Continent

---

Season 3

Ep. 1: Cave Dwellers ("The Blade Master")
Ep. 2: Gamera ("Gammera, the Giant Monster")
Ep. 3: Pod People ("Extra Terrestrial Visitors")
Ep. 4: Gamera vs. Barugon
Ep. 5: Stranded in Space ("The Stranger")
Ep. 6: Time of the Apes
Ep. 8: Gamera vs. Gaos
Ep. 9: The Amazing Colossal Man
Ep. 10: Fugitive Alien
Ep. 12: Gamera vs. Guiron ("Attack of the Monsters")
Ep. 14: Mighty Jack
Ep. 15: Teenage Cave Man
Ep. 16: Gamera vs. Zigra
Ep. 18: Star Force: Fugitive Alien II
Ep. 19: War of the Colossal Beast
Ep. 20: The Unearthly
Ep. 21: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Ep. 23: The Castle of Fu Manchu

I'm missing:
Ep. 7: Daddy-O
Ep. 11: It Conquered the World
Ep. 13: Earth vs. the Spider
Ep. 17: The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent
Ep. 22: Master Ninja I
Ep. 24: Master Ninja II

---

Season 4

Ep. 1: Space Travelers ("Marooned")
Ep. 2: The Giant Gila Monster
Ep. 3: City Limits
Ep. 4: Teenagers from Outer Space
Ep. 5: Being from Another Planet ("Time Walker")
Ep. 6: Attack of the Giant Leeches
Ep. 7: The Killer Shrews
Ep. 8: Hercules Unchained
Ep. 9: Indestructible Man
Ep. 10: Hercules Against the Moon Men
Ep. 11: The Magic Sword
Ep. 12: Hercules and the Captive Women
Ep. 13: Manhunt in Space
Ep. 14: Tormented
Ep. 15: The Beatniks
Ep. 16: Fire Maidens of Outer Space
Ep. 17: Crash of Moons
Ep. 18: Attack of the The Eye Creatures
Ep. 19: The Rebel Set
Ep. 20: The Human Duplicators
Ep. 21: Monster a Go-Go
Ep. 23: Bride of the Monster
Ep. 24: Manos: The Hands of Fate

The only movie I'm missing is:
Ep. 22: The Day the Earth Froze

---

Season 5

Ep. 1: Warrior of the Lost World
Ep. 2: Hercules
Ep. 3: Swamp Diamonds ("Swamp Women")
Ep. 6: Eegah
Ep. 7: I Accuse My Parents
Ep. 8: Operation Double 007 ("O.K. Connery")
Ep. 9: The Girl in Lovers Lane
Ep. 10: The Painted Hills
Ep. 12: Mitchell
Ep. 13: The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Ep. 15: The Wild Wild World of Batwoman
Ep. 16: Alien from L.A.
Ep. 17: Beginning of the End
Ep. 18: The Atomic Brain ("Monstrosity")
Ep. 20: Radar Secret Service
Ep. 21: Santa Claus
Ep. 24: 12 to the Moon

I am still missing:
Ep. 4: Secret Agent Super Dragon
Ep. 5: The Magic Voyage of Sinbad
Ep. 11: Gunslinger
Ep. 14: Teen-Age Strangler
Ep. 19: Outlaw
Ep. 22: Teen-Age Crime Wave
Ep. 23: Village of the Giants

---

Season 6

The episodes are in original air date order, not in the production order, as most lists show.
Ep. 1: Girls Town
Ep. 2: Invasion U.S.A.
Ep. 4: Colossus and the Headhunters
Ep. 5: The Skydivers
Ep. 6: Bloodlust!
Ep. 7: The Creeping Terror
Ep. 8: Code Name: Diamond Head
Ep. 9: The Violent Years
Ep. 16: Racket Girls
Ep. 18: High School Big Shot
Ep. 19: Red Zone Cuba
Ep. 20: Danger!! Death Ray
Ep. 21: The Beast of Yucca Flats
Ep. 23: The Amazing Transparent Man
Ep. 24: Samson vs. the Vampire Women

I am missing:
Ep. 3: The Dead Talk Back
Ep. 10: Last of the Wild Horses
Ep. 11: The Starfighters
Ep. 12: The Sinister Urge
Ep. 13: San Francisco International
Ep. 14: Kitten with a Whip
Ep. 15: Zombie Nightmare
Ep. 17: The Sword and the Dragon
Ep. 22: Angels Revenge

---

Season 7

I'm including the movie at the start of the season, rather than release date, as it seems to fall in the timeline between Frank's departure (end of Season 6) and before Pearl's arrival (Season 7).

Movie: Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie ("This Island Earth")
Ep. 1,2: Night of the Blood Beast (Thanksgiving episode, and standard episode with traditional host segments.)
Ep. 3: The Brute Man
Ep. 4: Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell
Ep. 5: The Incredible Melting Man
Ep. 7: Laserblast

I am missing:
Ep. 6: Escape 2000

---

Season 8

Ep. 1: Revenge of the Creature
Ep. 2: The Leech Woman
Ep. 3: The Mole People
Ep. 4: The Deadly Mantis
Ep. 6: The Undead
Ep. 7: Terror from the Year 5000
Ep. 9: I Was a Teenage Werewolf
Ep. 10: The Giant Spider Invasion
Ep. 11: Parts: The Clonus Horror
Ep. 12: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies
Ep. 13: Jack Frost ("Father Frost")
Ep. 16: Prince of Space
Ep. 17: The Horror of Party Beach
Ep. 19: Invasion of the Neptune Men
Ep. 20: Space Mutiny
Ep. 22: Overdrawn at the Memory Bank

I am missing:
Ep. 5: The Thing That Couldn't Die
Ep. 8: The She-Creature
Ep. 14: Riding with Death
Ep. 15: Agent for H.A.R.M.
Ep. 18: Devil Doll
Ep. 21: Time Chasers

---

Season 9

Ep. 2: The Phantom Planet
Ep. 3: The Pumaman
Ep. 5: The Deadly Bees
Ep. 6: The Space Children
Ep. 7: Hobgoblins
Ep. 9: Gorgo
Ep. 10: The Final Sacrifice
Ep. 12: The Screaming Skull
Ep. 13: Quest of the Delta Knights

I am missing:
Ep. 1: The Projected Man
Ep. 4: Werewolf
Ep. 8: The Touch of Satan
Ep. 11: Devil Fish

---

Season 10

Ep. 1: Soultaker
Ep. 2: Girl in Gold Boots
Ep. 4: Future War
Ep. 5: Blood Waters of Dr. Z ("Zaat")
Ep. 7: Track of the Moon Beast
Ep. 10: It Lives By Night ("The Bat People")
Ep. 11: Horrors of Spider Island
Ep. 12: Squirm
Ep. 13: Diabolik ("Danger: Diabolik")

I am missing these movies:
Ep. 3: Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders
Ep. 6: Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues
Ep. 8: Final Justice
Ep. 9: Hamlet

---

Season 11

Ep. 2: Cry Wilderness

I'm missing all but that one movie:
Ep. 1: Reptilicus
Ep. 3: The Time Travelers
Ep. 4: Avalanche
Ep. 5: The Beast of Hollow Mountain
Ep. 6: Starcrash
Ep. 7: The Land That Time Forgot
Ep. 8: The Loves of Hercules
Ep. 9: Yongary, Monster from the Deep
Ep. 10: Wizards of the Lost Kingdom
Ep. 11: Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II
Ep. 12: Carnival Magic
Ep. 13: The Christmas That Almost Wasn't
Ep. 14: At the Earth's Core

---

Season 12

I'm missing all of the movies:
Ep. 1: Mac and Me
Ep. 2: Atlantic Rim
Ep. 3: Lords of the Deep
Ep. 4: The Day Time Ended
Ep. 5: Killer Fish
Ep. 6: Ator, the Fighting Eagle

---

That's 2/3 of the total movies they riffed, missing 70 of the 210 different films.

I'm still building my library as I rebuild my library. Maybe I'll live long enough to watch them all.

The Movie Library Rebuild

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had done a stupid and had accidentally deleted nearly my entire movie library.

Briefly, here's what happened.

My video library -- movies and TV shows -- was all imported into iTunes. Most were iTunes purchases, but I had also ripped DVDs and placed the files into iTunes. This allowed me to watch my content from an Apple TV device.

I decided to move my content into Plex, since that would expand the available devices for my content. That meant "ripping" iTunes video content (much like one does DVDs) and placing the resultant MP4 files into directories Plex would read.

After I copied all my DVD rips, I screwed up and accidentally deleted my iTunes purchases from my local library, meaning I had only a couple of hundred movies instead of over 1,500.

Even more simply put: tried to move my files, accidentally deleted most of them.

That wasn't fun. And I've been spending many off-hours rebuilding the library.

It's been slow going, but I am making progress. I did make a few changes along the way. Plex allows me to separate movies into different libraries. For example, I've created a separate library for short films. In iTunes, all videos were either Movies, TV Shows, or Home Movies. In Plex, I can arrange them however I like. So, I moved all my short films -- Disney, Pixar, Warner Bros. (Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, etc), Buster Keaton shorts, Christmas specials (Rudolph, Peanuts, etc), and so on -- into a separate library.

That move alone dropped the number of "movies" I had to a much lower number. Currently, I now have 561 short films. I didn't have that many before, because all of the Looney Tunes -- including 112 Bugs Bunny, 53 Daffy Duck, etc -- were under "TV Shows" although they were simply short film collections. Now, they are listed as short films, and categorized by character. Buster Keaton shorts are all together. Georges Méliès short films are all together. And so on.

I've also been able to import Amazon-only purchases into my library. I actually has a utility that would help with that for some time, but never used it until recently. It does an okay job. I still have to do a process on those movies after I download them, but it's not much worse than doing an iTunes movie. And, I've now got them all in my library.

That leaves me with 1,292 movies. That's full-length movies. There are still 166 that need to be imported from iTunes. That means that, as of now, I have 1,458 movies, or will once I've imported the rest of the iTunes purchases.

That number will change soon, though. Once of the tasks I've taken on is getting the un-riffed version of the movies that Mystery Science Theater 3000 took on. And, I've made some progress there. More about that another time.

So, I'm making progress. And, when I'm done, I hope I live long enough to watch them all.

Plex

As you may know, I have a fairly large movie library. Well, it's larger than most people I know. Over 1,500 movies and growing.

One thing I like to do is have my movies available to me, both at home and when I'm away from home. I don't know why I'd want my movies when I'm away from home, but I do. It seems like something I'd like to do.

Since most of my movies -- over 1,200 -- were purchased from iTunes (or through other services that are part of Movies Anywhere), I have them available on my iPad. They aren't available on my Android phone though. Well, a little over 700 are (the Movies Anywhere movies), but the rest aren't.

At home, I'm running iTunes and have downloaded all of my iTunes movies to the computer. I've also ripped out my DVDs and loaded the files into iTunes. That's over 6 TB in video content (that's movies and TV shows). I'm able to watch all of that through my Apple TV. However, I have to be at home to watch it all -- specifically, the content ripped from DVD. I can't watch my ripped DVDs away from home.

Well, a while back, I tinkered with Plex. It was okay, but iTunes was really easy. Besides, at the time, it worked on Roku, but not on Apple TV. It also won't play copy-protected content. I didn't have a single source for all my content other than iTunes, and that was only on Apple TV.

I've decided to take a second look at Plex, now. There are apps for Plex on iOS and Android devices, on Roku, on Apple TV, and most other platforms. So, I can play all of my non-DRM content through Plex.

Well, as good as all that is, I still want a single source for everything. I purchase my content -- I've even purchased the streaming version of content I already had on DVD in order to watch it anywhere -- and I don't pirate content. I just want to be able to watch my content that I bought. I'm not gonna give it to anyone else. I'm not gonna sell it to anyone else. I want it for my own personal viewing.

Since I don't mind ripping DVDs, I don't mind removing copy-protection from my personal local copy of purchased digital content. I'm not advocating that others do that, because I know some people that will turn around and attempt to profit from the work of others. Not me. All of my purchases are for my use only.

Anyway, I set up Plex on my Windows desktop computer and copied over all of my DVD movies from iTunes. All of the content I had ripped out from DVD. I did some file renaming to fit the Plex suggested naming conventions. Then a little bit of housekeeping to ensure everything looked good.

Whaddaya know? I had a good working Plex server and movie library of over 200 films. I was almost impressed with myself. Then I saw the names of all the movies. Most of them are not available streaming for a reason. Lots of really bad films -- I not only have all of the MST3K episodes, I have as many of the actual movies they riffed as I can find. That's a lot of really bad movies. Some I got from a "50 Classic Science Fiction Movies" collection. It was cheap for a reason. And I not only ripped out the MST3K-inspiring films, I ripped out all I could (some discs didn't rip at all but I'm not gonna pursue that; I'm happy with the 45 movies I got from it). So, I got around 300 movies from DVD, and the vast majority are movies I wouldn't really want to watch anyway.

Still, I'm committed to this. All of my DVDs are now in Plex, and I've begun ripping the digital purchases. That includes the first ten seasons of Doctor Who (classic seasons), or at least, the digital releases. Each night, I'll set up some digital TV episodes to rip, and the next night I'll set up some digital movies to rip. I'll probably switch over to Christmas movies and specials this week.

It's gonna take me a while to finish this. But, I have been able to do a little bit each day. By the time I'm 96, I should just about be done. Wish me luck!

Worst Director?

Edward D. Wood, Jr., born 95 years ago today.

Some people say that Edward D. Wood, Jr. was the worst movie director ever. I'm not sure about that.

Yes, he made some really bad movies, but if I learned anything from watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 is that a lot of people made bad movies. Ed Wood wasn't the only one.

I mentioned on IMAO the other day about Manos: The Hands of Fate, which is a move we love to ... well, hate isn't the word, because we don't hate it. Far from it, we love it, both despite of and because of how bad it is. But, from my understanding, Manos was never intended to be a great film. It was intended to be a film that came in under budget, and it was. Didn't make any money, but still, it came in under budget. Mission accomplished. Sort of.

Plan 9 From Outer Space was intended to be a money-maker. It wasn't. In fact, all of Ed Wood's movies were suppose to be successful films. Mr. Wood fell short of that goal a lot.

But, is he really the worst director of all time? A lot of critics say he was, but I think a lot say that because they're expected to say that.

How bad can someone be who directs Bela Lugosi's compellingly awful lines from Bride of the Monster?

[The YouTube]

I'm not sure Ed Wood is the worst. Not by a long shot. But, if you want to think he is, go right ahead. He won't complain. He's been dead since 1978, dying two months after his 54th birthday. And that birthday? October 10, 1924. 95 years ago today.

Happy birthday, Edward D. Wood, Jr. You may or may not have ben the worst, but you were certainly the best of the worst.

1,500 movies

I passed the 1,500 mark in my movie library this week. I didn't even realize it at the time.

I've got a decent size library of films -- it's up to 1,502 right now, or maybe even more -- so when I passed that number, I didn't realize it. I just happened to sit down tonight after supper and call up my video server and that's when I saw I had 1,502 movies. I was impressed.

My movies

No, this isn't the largest personal video collection there is, but it's the largest of anyone that I know personally, or that knows me. Well, as far as I know.

So, what movie was number 1,500? From the image above, you'd figure it was "Sleeping Beauty" right? Well, no. It's actually "The Fox and the Hound." You see, that version of "Sleeping Beauty" is an HD version. I already an older standard definition version, but when Disney released it from the vault again this week, I upgraded it. So, it replaced the SD version. It's the same movie.

Now, if one was a Director's Cut or something like that, then yes, I'd call it a separate version. But then, it would show 1,503 movies, and counting back, you'd still get "The Fox and the Hound." But it's the same version, just in higher definition, so I have 1,502 movies and the 1,500th was still "The Fox and the Hound."

And here's the thing: I've never seen "The Fox and the Hound." I just wanted to get it, in case I ever wanted to watch it. Or in case the grandchildren wanted to watch it.

Of course, while I have 1,502 movies in my local streaming library, I actually have access to 1,512 films that I own. Those other ten movies are online only, although I do own them. Five are alternate versions of other movies I have, but that's just because the streaming service is a member of Movies Anywhere -- I talked about that before -- and they didn't have the version I bought, so the filled the Movies Anywhere requirement with a slightly different version.

Two are Director's Cuts: "Lethal Weapon" and "Lethal Weapon 3" which VUDU used to meet its Movies Anywhere obligation.

One is an extended edition of "There's Something About Mary," again from VUDU.

One is an alternate release of "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" from Amazon, which includes "Horton Hears A Who." Only, I already have "Horton Hears A Who" so that's an odd one to try to count.

There's that awful 2011 remake of "Arthur" that Fandango Now added instead of the correct "Arthur" film with Dudley Moore. I don't like to count it, but I do have it in my online streaming library.

And, I bought the theatrical release of "Stripes" through Movies Anywhere, but iTunes gave me the extended version instead, and that's the one I have locally.

The actual intended purchases I have that are online only are the original "Gone in 60 Seconds" and three "Ice Age" shorts.

So, do I count those? I generally don't because I don't have a local copy in my streaming library. But, since I do own them, and since they are part of my streaming library, what is my 1,500th film? Well, what if I throw out those mistakes or replacement that the streaming services forced on me, but still count my four intentional online purchases from Amazon, my 1,500th movie is "Knute Rockne, All American" starring Ronald Reagan and Pat O'Brien.

Yeah, all that "well I bought one version but this one company gave me another" is not really something I care for. So, I'm sticking with "The Fox and the Hound." A good family film makes me feel better.

I need to sit down and watch that. Maybe this weekend.

The Brothers O'Toole

Harvey from Bad Example and IMAO asked me a question the other day.

Just wondering if you're familiar with this movie?

The Brothers O'Toole (1973)
https://www.neatorama.com/2019/03/17/The-Brothers-O-Toole-1973/

I'm only marginally familiar with 70's western comedies anyway, but I've never heard of this one. You?

Harvey

I'd never heard of the movie, so I looked it up. I was intrigued by the cast:

• Gomez Addams
• Catwoman
• The Maytag Repairman
• Uncle Tonoose
• Ursula/Bunny Halper

And more.

Now, I'm perfectly aware that a good cast doesn't always mean a good movie. But, hey, it might be a gem. So, I started looking for it.

Nuthin'. Nuthin' at all.

Oh, there were pages about the movie, but no way to watch it. At first. Finally, Amazon had it available for streaming and on DVD. And, the DVD was on sale, for cheaper than a streaming rental at the time, so I bought the DVD. It came in last week, I ripped it out for iTunes and watched it.

Eh. It was okay. It was no Blazing Saddles. It wasn't even Support Your Local Sheriff, but nice enough with moderate humor.

The first hour a case of mistaken identity of a con man for a wanted felon, and easy mistake as John Astin played both characters. The last half-hour was the con men brothers trying to run a scam.

Not a great film, but nice enough. It's a heckuva lot better than some movies that I paid more for. So I'm happy to add it to my library.

Am I recommending you get it? No. But I'm not recommending you avoid it either. If you like 70s western comedies, you'll like it. Don't expect Blazing Saddles. But expect a smile or two.

Oh, and why did Harvey ask me about it? Well, he knows I like movies and that I might just have known about that one. I didn't know about it, but now I do.

Will I watch it again? Maybe one day. But I've got over 100 movies in my library that I haven't watched. I need to play catch-up first.

Artificially inflating my movie library

I've added 34 movies to my movie library without spending a dime. Only, I'm not sure if I should count those movies or not.

You see, I've been slowly but steadily building my movie library over time. When iTunes puts movies on sale, I'll buy them. iTunes is my main movie library. But, since I also have iTunes linked to MoviesAnywhere, that means movies from participating studios that I buy from Amazon, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Microsoft Movies & TV, or VUDU will get added to all of those libraries. I have 566 movies (as of today) that are in my MoviesAnywhere library.

I have movies in the various services that are not shared via MoviesAnywhere, but I have purchases in multiple libraries. That's because I used to buy standard definition movies, but when HD versions of those movies are put on sale, I'll upgrade in iTunes, and have better versions at a cheap cost.

I have 18 Amazon movies that aren't in iTunes, along with four VUDU-only movies. But, when it comes to Google Play movies, it gets really complicated.

With Google Play, you can have family members share your library. Those shared movies are only available via Google Play or YouTube -- not via MoviesAnywhere -- for the other family members. Oh, and they can share back. And that's where it gets complicated.

Family members have together shared 34 movies via Google Play. Actually more, but I own copies of some of what they've shared. But there are 34 total movies shared that I don't otherwise have. But, they are available to me via Google Play, and I'm going to count them in my movie library. For now.

I'll watch them. Some I've already seen, such as Big Business, Straight Talk, and The Apple Dumpling Gang (don't judge me), but most I haven't. If I like them, I'll buy them, and officially own them. But, for now, I'm counting them in my library, since I can turn on the TV, launch my Roku (for Google Play or YouTube) or Apple TV (for YouTube) and watch those movies.

On the other hand, if a movie is on Hulu or HBO, should I count them? No. So, why am I counting these movies I don't own? Because I can. So, that's now 1,291 movies in my library, counting those 34.

Maybe I shouldn't count them. I need to think about that. But not right now. I think I'll just watch a movie instead. If I can find anything to watch.

Capote

I've never been a particular fan of Truman Capote. I've read some of his stuff, and yes, he was a very good writer. He could put words to paper in a way that few others, if any, could. But, I wouldn't say I was a fan. I certainly didn't dislike his writing. Of course, the fact that he didn't publish much in my lifetime contributed to this.

When I thought of Truman Capote, I thought of the character I saw on TV, on The Tonight Show and other talk shows. An odd little man with a funny voice but with interesting words.

I remember reading In Cold Blood years ago. It was a fascinating read. Not an easy read, but it was a book that you wanted to keep reading. Capote knew how to put words to paper.

The movie was very good, too. It's not a movie I like to put on and watch very often. In fact, I've seen it twice. Once, a long time ago, and more recently, within the last week or so. I had some downtime wanted to watch a movie. I launched my streaming device, and without looking, started scanning through with the remote. It stopped on In Cold Blood.

"Well, there's the feel-good movie of the year," I thought. But, I pressed Play and started watching. That got me to thinking about that horrific crime and wondering just how true the movie was. Which led me to wonder how true the book was.

Okay, right to it: the book was mostly true. I think Capote filled in some blanks from what he thought was the truth, as best he understood it. As for the movie, it was a fairly faithful adaptation of the book.

The movie was nominated for four Academy Awards -- Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Music -- but didn't win any. The American Film Institute ranked it was one of the top ten courtroom dramas. Which is how it ended up in my library.

While looking into the Clutter murders, I picked up bits and pieces about the case, including finding a copy of the Perry Smith case file. That was an interesting find. Anyway, I ended up later watching the movie Capote.

The movie was good. I enjoyed it. Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar for his performance. But, the whole thing was the relationship between Capote and the killer Smith. And, as much as I liked the movie, I don't like it when "true" movies stretch the truth.

In the movie, Capote visited Smith a lot in prison. But in reality, he didn't. They wrote a lot, but Capote only visited Smith three times.

Capote was there for the execution, though. However, the movie had investigator Alvin Dewey there, and included a scene where Smith thanked Dewey for being there. However, Dewey's name isn't on the list of official witnesses. Capote's was.

Another variance from the truth, more disturbing in my mind, was the method in which the writer's decided to get around this fact: Capote bribing the warden to get access.

It is true that Capote did ask for access, but he didn't do it in person, but rather by letter.

Capote was turned down, by letter.

The idea that what Capote did to get the information from Smith to complete his research into the book was not, in the mind of the writers, good enough, but they had to stretch one bit of truth, then another to make the first stretching happen.

Little things like that bother me when a movie is supposed to be a true story. Of course, I understand little things may be necessary, but these aren't little things. Despite this, I did enjoy the movie. I just with they enjoyed the facts more.

More movies than I realized

I've posted from time to time about the number of movies I have, particularly when I hit some milestone of some kind. But, I didn't realize just how many movies I had. And, to explain that, I'll be covering some stuff I've covered before. You've been warned.

A lot of background

Over the years, I've purchased movies in many different ways and from many different sources. I used to have a bunch of VHS tapes. I only have a few of those left, and most of those are part of my Mystery Science Theater 3000 collection. In fact, I think that's all I have left now. I gave the other VHS tapes away years ago.

I bought a lot of DVDs over the years, too. Most of what I buy anymore is still part of the MST3K collection. Occasionally, I'll buy a DVD if something is only available that way and has been only available that way for some time.

Then, one day, I bought a digital movie. From Apple's iTunes store. It was the movie "Unbreakable" and I bought it because it was on sale, and I wanted to see what the deal was with watching movies on my iPod. The answer: it was easy to do, but hard to see. I had one of those old wheel iPods.

My old iPod, from 2007

The experience wasn't great, because of the small screen, but the image was actually as big, relatively, as looking at the TV across the room, as the picture above shows. It just seemed smaller.

Amazon

Once I realized that I could watch digital movies, and I got comfortable with the idea, I began to purchase digital content. Most of the purchases coming from Amazon, since I could tie by Amazon account to my TiVo.

In late 2010, I bought an Apple TV. Not for me, actually, but so The Wife could play her music from her computer through the fancy speaker system we had tied to the TV. She loved it, and to this day, that's how she usually listens to music when she's at home. I bought a Roku for me, since it played Amazon content (Apple TV didn't at the time), and I was looking to cut the cord from cable. I did, and bought the occasional movie as my digital library slowly increased.

Enter Apple

As I mentioned, The Wife loved Apple TV, so I started buying some movies from the iTunes store. That made it easier for her to watch digital content, as the always had the TV on Apple TV. Yes, she used TiVo some, but after we cut the cord, she hardly picked up the TiVo remote, preferring to watch stuff from Apple TV.

I'd still buy most stuff from Amazon, since I was planning on Roku being the primary streaming device. But, she never really got into Roku. After a bit, I bought from whichever was cheaper for any particular movie, Apple or Amazon. If she wanted to watch it, and it was from Amazon, I'd do the switching of inputs to Roku and play the movie. She still preferred Apple TV.

VUDU

Later, Walmart decided they wanted a piece of the action. They launched their streaming service, called VUDU. It was just another way to buy streaming content, and there was an app for Roku. But, I didn't buy anything. Until I found out about Disc To Digital.

When it was launched, you could take your DVDs to Walmart, hand them to a clerk in the electronics section, and they'd take them and so some Walmart voodoo and you'd have the movies in your VUDU account. I took my Star Trek collection to Walmart and, sure enough, I was able to watch Star Trek movies from the VUDU app on the Roku.

They added an app for your PC or Mac that allowed you to insert the DVD yourself -- no more hauling DVDs up to the Walmart store -- and do the conversion yourself. They've since added the capability to do that from your phone using the bar code on the DVD case, but they've since removed it from iOS device -- still on Android though -- and requiring GPS enabled so people don't go up to the store and scan them there without buying the discs.

M-GO

Roku partnered with a company called M-Go, which was partly owned by Dreamworks, to enter the digital sales market. I bought a movie they had on sale -- Ender's Game -- and tried it out. It worked, but it brought nothing new to the table. Well, it was kinda integrated into Roku, but apart from that, no biggie. I don't think I bought anything else from M-Go.

It's no longer called M-Go, by the way. Fandango bought it in 2016, and it's now the service FandangoNOW. Works pretty much the same, though. Well, it works better, because the infrastructure was improved, but I don't know if Dreamworks did that, or if Fandango did that. Anyway, more reliable than it was.

Disney in the middle of it

During all this time, Disney introduced a service called Disney Movies Anywhere. The idea was that if you bought, say, a Disney movie from Google (which we'll talk more about in a bit) because you had an Android phone, but then got an iPhone, you'd lose your Disney movie, since you can't play Google movies on an iOS device. Or, if you bought a Disney movie from Apple for your iPhone, but then switched to Android, you couldn't play your iTunes content on Android.

To remedy that, Disney introduced Disney Movies Anywhere, that allowed you to sync across platforms. That meant you didn't have to buy a Disney movie more than once, if you switched platforms.

It also meant, if you bought from other services, such as Amazon, you'd be able to play your Disney movies on other participating platforms. And that was where it benefitted me. I had bought some Disney stuff from Amazon, and some Disney stuff from Apple. And, to watch any of it, I had to switch to whichever device supported that platform. With Disney Movies Anywhere, I didn't need to switch devices. A purchase from any of the participating platforms meant I had the movie on all the platforms.

Movies Anywhere

Disney Movies Anywhere no longer exists. It didn't exactly die so much as it expanded. It's now called Movies Anywhere. When they converted, all the Disney movies moved over, and other studios signed on. Not all studios, though. It's not a perfect service, but it's another step in the right direction. About half the movies I have are from a participating studio. That means that about half of my movies -- actually, 44% -- are tied in with Movies Anywhere. That means I can watch them from any of the participating services.

It also means that if I buy a movie that's in the Movies Anywhere library, no matter which service I purchase from, I can watch it via any of the services. Which means I can shop around and get the best price.

That's handy, because not all movies are the same price from all services. Occasionally, iTunes will run a movie for $5 which is $10-$20 from the other services. And, sometimes, VUDU will have a $5 sale that the others aren't running. Or Fandango Now will sell a movie for $5 while the other have it higher. Or Amazon. Or Google. Speaking of which...

Google

While I once had an Android phone before moving to an iPhone, I had never purchased any content from Google. That's now changed. Sure, I have an Android phone now -- I also have an iPhone for work, but we won't go into all that now -- but I've not done a lot of shopping from the Google Play store. Until recently.

I still don't buy a lot from Google, but I do shop around, and when I find something on sale that's also in Movies Anywhere, I'll buy it. I don't generally buy something from Google that's not Movies Anywhere, but every now and then I'll slip up.

Google has also given away movies for, I don't know, reasons I suppose. And the net effect is I have 4 movies from Google that I don't also have on iTunes.

More movies that I realized

This past week, I've been off work several days, and I've been under the weather. So, while sitting indoors, bored, and not able to see anyone lest I contaminate them, I grabbed my remote and fired up a spreadsheet. It was crunch time. As in crunching numbers. here's what I found.

Because of the occasional mistake -- buying something without ensuring it's part of Movies Anywhere -- or occasional promotion -- Google or other services giving away movies for reasons -- I have more movies than I realized I had.

In total, I have 175 movies ripped from DVD or download purchases from other sources -- Rifftrax, MST3K direct purchase, etc. I reduce that number from time to time by purchasing a digital copy that is then downloaded into iTunes on a computer that functions as my streaming server. I increase that number when I get a DVD of a movie I haven't purchased digitally. Those were part of my count the last time I posted a total video number.

The rest of the movies in my local library, 1,000 as I recently posted, were downloaded purchases from the iTunes store. That means I had 1,175 movies, closing in on 1,200. Or so I thought.

I noticed that I had a movie or two in Google that wasn't in my local library. There were some VUDU movies, too. And some Amazon content. So, I decided to catalog them all. That's when I discovered I didn't have 1,175 movies, but 1,194. So, there were 19 movies that were only available from a streaming service. Six were Amazon, nine were VUDU, and four were Google. There were actually more Amazon, VUDU, or Google, but some I also had on DVD and had ripped those. So, 19 streaming only movies.

I'll eventually get those into my local library. I'll purchase them from iTunes if they go on sale for $5. I may attempt to download them and rip them, as I have purchased them and have archival rights. But, I'm not a huge fan of that. Sure, I have the capability, and I do rip some DVDs, but I'd prefer to have them as part of a library that I can take with me. Since I have an iPad, then iTunes would be the preferred service.

Anyway, I'm a lot closer to 1,200 than I realized: 6 instead of 25. I'll hit that number one day. And bore you with all the details then.

A Thousand iTunes Movies

1,000 iTunes movies

I've mentioned several times before about my building of a movie library. I've have most of my movies loaded onto a local server that allows me to play them on a TV. If I want to watch a movie, I just pick up the remote and find the movie.

My primary movie source is iTunes and Apple TV. I have multiple streaming devices -- Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, MiBox (Android TV) -- so I have options. But for playing local content, the option I went with is Apple TV and iTunes.

Sure, I could have gone Roku and Plex or some other local streaming server. But, quite honestly, the setup for iTunes and Apple TV is very easy: You launch iTunes, and log in to Home Sharing. That's it. Nothing else needs to be done. They've made it dead simple.

Now, my understanding is that Roku and Plex is relatively easy, but while I've never done it, I have picked up that it's a little more involved than that. So, if you were to want to stream local movies, Roku is a reasonable option of you don't have an Apple TV device. It's cheaper, that's for sure.

Anyway, I'm using iTunes as the server and Apple TV as the device. And, it's a pretty good setup. My mother uses a similar setup for her movies and TV shows -- think Murder, She Wrote and stuff like that.

Where it gets complicated is that I don't just have movies I bought from the iTunes store. I also have movies that I ripped out from DVD. Those are available locally; that is, in my own house on my own network. Stuff I bought from the iTunes store can be watched on my iPhone and iPad anywhere I go, but the movies ripped from DVD can't. They can only be watched on my local network; that is, while I'm at home.

Buying movies can get expensive, though. If you've ever bought a movie, you understand what I mean. One isn't so bad. Ten, well that's another matter. One hundred? Lots of money. One thousand? Yeah, that's some money spent, right there. So, I've decided to buy movies as cheaply as I can. That means when Apple puts them on sale, of course. But, it could also mean when Amazon, VUDU, Fandango Now, Google, or Microsoft puts them on sale, too.

"How do I do that?" you ask.

No really. Go ahead and ask. I'll wait.

* * *

Well, since you asked, I linked my iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, Fandango Now, Google, and Microsoft accounts with Movies Anywhere. That's a service that grew out of Disney Movies Anywhere, which was a Disney thing that let you have your Disney movies on many different platforms without having to buy it for each platform. Well, it's expanded to several movie companies, but not all.

Yes, I've mentioned this before, but a little refresher might be helpful.

Anyway, when I find one of my services running a sale on movies -- hint, they all run sales all the time -- I'll look up the movie on Movies Anywhere and see if it's in that library. About half the ones I look up are. Well, maybe a little less than half, but close enough that I think "half are."

If the movie is in the Movies Anywhere library, I'll buy it from whichever has it on sale the cheapest. My target price is $5, although I'll sometimes go as high as $8. And, if it's not on sale, I'll usually wait for it to go on sale.

I'll also rip out movies from Netflix disks -- yeah, I know that's not what you're supposed to do -- and add it to my library, then replace it with a digital copy when it goes on sale.

This morning, for instance, I saw that The Green Mile was on sale for $5. I had ripped it from Netflix some time back, but this morning, I replaced it with a purchased copy from VUDU. So, when I say I'll replace a ripped copy I don't actually own with a copy I do own, I will. Sure, they'd rather I didn't do it that way, but it's what I do. If I stopped, I'd still buy it when it went on sale. I wouldn't purchase it any earlier if I stopped, and I don't purchase it any later by doing what I do.

I also will replace movies ripped from my purchased DVDs with digital copies when they go on sale. Also this morning, The Magnificent Seven (the good one from 1960) was on sale. I've had the DVD for years. And it was one of the first movies I ripped out from DVD. It finally went on sale, and I bought it from iTunes. Because they had the best price.

And that movie hit a milestone. It's the 1,000th iTunes movie I have. That's 1,000 movies I can stream from my iPhone or iPad if I want.

Number 999 was The Green Mile. When I bought it, I didn't notice that it was number 999. After all, I bought it from VUDU. But, since it was a Movies Anywhere movie, it added it to iTunes, bringing that total to 999. And, when I bought The Magnificent Seven, I didn't immediately notice it was number 1,000 in my iTunes purchases. Around lunchtime, I picked up my Apple TV remote and noticed it then.

I love that movie. It's one of my all-time favorites. And, until about a week ago, I had forgotten that I didn't own a digital copy. As I mentioned, it was one of the first movies I ripped out from a DVD I owned. It's been in my local library so long, I forget it was a DVD copy. When I couldn't find it on my iPhone, I rechecked, and sure enough, it was a DVD version. So, I added it to my list of "get this" movies. This morning I did.

I still have 175 movies I've ripped from DVD, mostly DVDs I already owned. And, one day, as they come available and go on sale, I'll replace them with digital versions. After Christmas.

Speaking of which, I probably should start my Christmas shopping soon. Heck, I got time. The mall's open late, right?

1,100 movies

Several months ago, I mentioned that I had passed the 800 mark in movies in my digital library. Well, I have more than that now. I've now surpassed the 1,100 mark.

Just so we're clear, I have some movies on DVD that I haven't ripped to digital. But, I'm not counting those.

How much have I spent on all this? I have no idea. And I'm not gonna do the research to see. I'd not like the answer, so I'm not gonna do a lot of work when I know I won't like the answer.

Most of the digital movies I have are from purchases from iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, VUDU, or Fandango Now. You see, I have a MoviesAnywhere account and many purchases from any one of those services will automatically be added to the other. Not all, to be sure, but many. About half. 528 of my 1,100 movies are digital purchases that are in the MoviesAnywhere library.

I need to mention one other thing. Some movies are movies that I don't really own. Not exactly piracy. Not exactly. I better explain.

I still have a Netflix DVD account. I have a queue of movies that I set up for them to send me discs. I'll rip the DVDs out and add them to my library. Now, how is this not piracy? Lemme 'splain.

I rip the movies so I can watch them on one of my streaming devices. It's in with the other movies, and I can simply find it and play it. And, if I don't like the movie and don't want to keep it, I delete it. So, I'm getting rid of a movie I didn't buy, but had because I rented it from Netflix.

But what about the movies I do like or want to keep? Well, I keep them. Only, I will buy it from one of the streaming services. For instance, had I rented (via Netflix DVD service) "The Searchers" which is one I didn't have. I ripped it and decided I wanted to keep it. So, I have a pirated copy, right? Well, not really. I bought it this past week when it went on sale, as I said I would do. I do that with all the movies I want to keep. I'll check sales, and buy them when they're on sale. If after a time they're not on sale, I'll pony up the full price. Then kick myself when it goes on sale a week later. Either way, I'll buy and download the new digital version and delete the ripped version.

I have all the ones I ripped from DVD tagged, and those ripped from rentals I check digital sales every week. Those I ripped from DVDs I own, I still check, but my focus is on ripped rentals. After all, I haven't paid for them, and I buy those first. I did buy Silverado last week, which is one I had ripped from a DVD I own. It was $5, so I made it a fully digital HD copy, and deleted the older copy.

So, piracy? Maybe you could make that case. But I'm renting via DVD and buying those I want keep to add to the collection. I'm good with what I'm doing. Ripped rentals and just keeping them? Nope. Won't do that. I will buy them or I will delete them.

Anyway, I recently hit number 1,100 in my library. But what was movie 1,000? Pride of the Yankees, which I bought after having ripped it from rental. I bought it when it went on sale. And, I'm glad I did. It's currently unavailable from Amazon streaming.

Oh, and movie number 1,100? The Man From Hong Kong. Yeah, I didn't expect that answer either.

I'm past that number now, heading towards 1,200. I may or may not post about that. I didn't post about number 900 -- Drunken Master, which I didn't see coming either -- or number 1,000 when it happened.

I just need to figure out why I'm buying martial arts movies. I don't even like martial arts movies. I don't even remember buying them, but I see them in my library.

I wonder if my grandson got hold of my remote again. Gotta keep a closer eye on that boy.

Directors I apparently like

As I was looking over my movie collection, I noticed a few names of directors that, well, surprised me. Mostly, it had to do with how many, or how few, movies of any particular director I had in my movie library.

I had the most Buster Keaton movies, which really didn't surprise me, considering that I have some of his two-reelers. I have, as of this writing, 16 of his movies; that is, movies he actually directed. Of those 16, only two are feature-length films:

• The General
• Steamboat Bill, Jr.

The others are shorts:

• The Balloonatic
• The Blacksmith
• The Boat
• Cops
• Day Dreams
• The Electric House
• The Frozen North
• The Goat
• The Love Nest
• My Wife's Relations
• One Week
• The Paleface
• The Play House
• The Scarecrow

As for the director whose name is on the most of the movies I have, it really didn't surprise me that it's Alfred Hitchcock. What surprised me was that I only had 11 of his films:

• The Birds
• Family Plot
• Frenzy
• North By Northwest
• Psycho
• Rear Window
• Rebecca
• Suspicion
• To Catch a Thief
• Topaz
• Vertigo

I thought I had Lifeboat, but I don't. Same with The Wrong Man, The Trouble With Harry, Strangers On A Train, Notorious, and others. I've seen them, but didn't realize I didn't own them. I don't have as many Hitchcock films as I want.

I have nine movies by William Wyler and Steven Spielberg. I never would have picked those off the top of my head as being directors of who made up that many of my film library. I sort of have nine by Ridley Scott, but that number included two versions of Blade Runner and two version of Alien. So, I actually have seven of his. I also have seven by Martin Scorsese and seven by Billy Wilder. Again, I never would have thought that, until I actually sorted by director and discovered that.

What probably surprised me most was that I only have one film by Akira Kurosawa: The Hidden Fortress. Which means I don't have Seven Samurai. Or Yojimbo. Or Rashomon. Or... well, you get the idea.

I had no idea I liked William Wyler that much. Looking at the actual films, most of them aren't films I'll watch again and again. Same with Spielberg's films.

Of course, that's probably true of most of the movies I own. Which makes me wonder why I even own them.

Probably because I can. Which is as good a reason as any.

Going to the movies

I've always liked going to the movies. When I was old enough, I would go whenever I could. That meant not working, being near enough to something showing that I wanted to see, and having enough money for me or me and a date. When I was younger, I didn't get to go to the movies all that much, but I enjoyed it when I did go.

After I was older, I managed to see movies in some cities and towns across southeast Georgia. It kinda depending on what was playing where, and where I happened to be at the time. Savannah, Brunswick, Baxley, Jesup, Hinesville, and other places that had theaters or drive-ins. Hinesville, Baxley, and Jesup had drive-ins at one time or another. Of those, I went to the one in Jesup the most, because they've had one the longest. They still have one. It's one of only five in the state, and the oldest in the state.

Years later, I went to movies in Jacksonville and Orange Park a lot. Those were my first experiences with theaters that had a lot of screens. I even got paid to go to the movies. I wrote about that a long time ago.

In the last few years, though, I've not been to the movies a lot because there aren't a lot of movies I want to go see. Most movies suck, and those that don't are hard to enjoy because the theater is crowded with jerks and the seats are small and everything's expensive, and ... well, you get the point.

This past week, I went to the movies. I mentioned going to the movies in Jesup earlier. Well, in addition to a drive-in, Jesup also has a standard theater. I remember going to the old Strand Theater years ago. Then it closed. I don't know if it was something I did, but it closed for a few years. It reopened years later as a twin cinema. I saw that there are new owners now, and its been completely remodeled.

I spoke to some people that had gone to see a movie there. They raved about it. I wasn't sure about that. I mean, how good could a theater be? Seats are small, it's crowded with jerks, stuff expensive ... you get the idea. But, I thought if there was ever something I wanted to see, I'd go see a movie at the Strand Cinema in Jesup.

Now, even though I don't care for those comic book movies, I did watch the first Deadpool movie and kinda liked it. So, when I found out Deadpool 2 was playing in Jesup, I decided to see it there. And I did.

It was great.

I'm not just talking about the movie. Yeah, that was fun. But the theater experience was fantastic. The seats are roomy. They recline. There's a little table for food. Oh, did I mention the food? They serve food. Burgers. Fries. Hot dogs. Pizzas. Wraps. And they'll bring it to your table. Beverages? Yep. Cokes. Water. Slushies. Beer. Wine. Real food.

Oh, and it's not just the seats that are roomy. The aisles are too. Plenty of room. No one crawling over you to go pee. I've never had a more pleasant experience at a movie theater.

I'll go back to see a movie there. If something good plays, that is. But that's now my go-to place to see a movie. When I'm close enough.

That's how going to the movies should be.

2001

I first saw the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey about -- heck, I don't know how long ago. It was a long time ago. I saw it on TV, either broadcast or on a cable channel. It wasn't in the theater, I'm sure.

Thinking about it, I may not have seen it until I rented it on VHS. Huh. That would have been around 15 years after it was released. I'm thinking it wasn't that long after, so maybe it was on Showtime. I know it wasn't on TCM, because that didn't even launch until the 1990s.

Anyway, as I said, I first watched 2001: A Space Odyssey a while back. I enjoyed it. Well, most of it.

The nearly 3-minute long Overture with nothing on the screen made me worry that the picture had gone out.

The over 15-minute segment "The Dawn of Man" seemed way long.

The first words not spoken until nearly 26 minutes in (counting the Overture) was an anticlimax.

Taking forever for the stewardess to deliver food -- except the walking upside down was kinda cool.

The 3-minute blank screen and noise that was the Intermission seemed longer.

The nearly 10-minute Star Gate sequence also seemed longer.

Even with all that, I didn't hate the movie. In fact, I liked it. Still do.

The thing is, I always thought of it as a really long movie. And, at 2:28:50, it is. But, it's far from the longest film I own. In fact, it's only the 62nd longest film I own.

Cleopatra is over four hours long. Gone With The Wind is nearly four hours. Ben-Hur is really long. So is Lawrence of Arabia. And so are many, many other films I own. 61 in my library are longer than 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I never would have figured that. I knew I had some long movies, but I would have thought that  2001: A Space Odyssey was in the top ten, not number 62.

I suppose that, despite how much I like the film, the parts that drag do really drag. It just seems a lot longer.

How much do I like the movie? Well, it is, by far, the most watch movie in my library, according to the play count.

How much do the draggy parts drag? Well, the reason I've watch it so much is that when I have trouble falling asleep, I put it on to play. I'm usually asleep before the monkey men get run off from the watering hole.

I think I'll watch it again tonight. Or, part of it.

800 movies

I now own 800 movies.

Actually, I think I own more than that, but I've converted everything I've got to digital and my digital library is now at 800 movies.

Now, to be fair, there are things counted as movies that aren't really movies. At least, I don't think of them as movies. Disney short films, such as those featuring Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and such are included in this. Buster Keaton shorts are included in this. All of he Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes (up to the new series, which I own but haven't ripped the DVDs yet) are in this also, as are some of their shorts. There are 39 short films in all, plus a few short film compilation collections. But I'm counting all of them. The compilations are a single entry, but the stand-alone shorts (not in a compilation) are each an entry. And the total is 800.

Is that a lot? I think it's a lot. It seems like a lot.

It's nice, though, being able to pick up the remote and pick any one of 800 films to watch.

Some, though, I won't watch. The Beast of Yucca Flats isn't a good movie, and I doubt I'll watch it. I'm not talking about the MST3K version, which I have, but the actual Coleman Francis "classic."

I doubt I'll watch How Green Was My Valley again. I didn't like it when I watched it the first time, so I doubt I'll watch it again.

Zontar: The Things From Venus? Doubt I'll watch that again.

Blazing Saddles? 2001: A Space Odyssey? Yep, I'll watch those again. Although that 25 minute segment at the end where the astronaut is traveling inside the monolith is boring. (It's actually only 9:21, but seems longer.)

Anyway, there are movies I'll never watch again, and there are movies I'll watch over and over. The bottom line is, I can watch them, any time I want. I can put any of them (but not all at one time) on my iPad and take them with me, if I so wish.

What was movie number 800? Training Day. I finally ripped the DVD out last week.

What will be number 801? Well, I've been meaning to get Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Yes, that'll be the next one.

Hold on a minute, will you?

* * *

Okay, I'm back. I now have 801 movies. I need to go watch that new Star Wars movie some time. Maybe this weekend.