Rhino Entertainment

The Rhino logo.

Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label. They produce CDs and DVDs and until 2008 were the official video and DVD distributor of episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

History

Originally, Rhino was in the 1970s and 1980s as a reissue label, releasing compilation albums of Pop Music, Rock & Roll, and R&B hits from the 1950s through the 1980s. They were also known for releasing retrospectives of famous comedy performers, including Richard Pryor, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, and Spike Jones. Starting in the early 1990s, Rhino transititioned into a full-fledged entertainment unit specializing in home video/DVD re-issues of television shows and compact disc releases of select artists and movie soundtracks.

Rhino started as a record shop in 1973 by Richard Foos. It became a record label five years later thanks to the effort of then-store manager Harold Bronson. Their early releases were mostly novelty records and some punk rock singles; the difficulties involved in getting airplay and distribution for such material eventually caused Foos and Bronson to take the label in other directions. By the mid-1980s most of their releases were reissues of previously released recordings licensed from other companies. Superior sound quality (remastering of the original tapes was done under the direction of Bill Inglot) and creative packaging made Rhino one of the most respected reissue labels, getting rave reviews from music collectors, fans, and historians. Rhino was quick to get into the Compact Disc market, releasing dozens of oldies CDs at the dawn of the CD age in 1984. Their retrospective compact disc releases are often remastered to restore or improve upon the original analog release’s audio quality.

They also continued to produce new music, with releases on subsidiary labels such as RNA (Rhino New Artists) and Forward, as well as the main Rhino label. However, the labels' artists tended to generate more critical acclaim than public interest; sales totals in the low five figures or less were routine for Rhino-produced albums, and the less costly, less risky reissue business remained the company’s primary revenue stream. One exception was the late-1986 hit "At This Moment" by Billy Vera & The Beaters, a 1981 song that unexpectedly made it to the top of the U.S. Billboard charts after being featured in a 1986 episode of the hit NBC-TV series Family Ties.

In 2003, longtime Rhino executives Richard Foos and Harold Bronson left Rhino, reportedly due to frustration at being unable to release compilation albums in an increasingly-competitive market. Soon after, Foos inaugurated a new label, Shout Factory, which began releasing dozens of CDs and videos mirroring the original early-1990s Rhino philosophy. It was perhaps due to this philosophy that caused MST3K to change to Shout Factory as their distribution company beginning in 2008.

Episodes Released through Rhino

In the beginning, Rhino released episodes as solo ventures on video cassette, and eventually a few solo episodes made it to DVD. As the "TV on DVD" format began taking off, they instead began releasing them in sets; four episodes, or three episodes and a shorts collection, would be the standard for each volume.

At the beginning of 2010, Satellite News announced Rhino no longer had the rights to distribute most of these episodes. As of January 8th, 2010, if it is not available on their website, it was not considered out-of-print.

See also: List of Episodes Released

Solo episodes

Solo releases pre-date MST3K 's move from Comedy Central to the Sci-Fi Channel; therefore, all solo episodes are Comedy Central-era episodes. All of these episodes were affected by the move from Rhino to Shout! and are now considered out-of-print.

• The Crawling Hand
• The Hellcats
• Cave Dwellers - Later re-released with Volume 2.
• Pod People - Later re-released with Volume 2.
• The Amazing Colossal Man - Out-of-print due to rights issue.
• Santa Claus Conquers the Martians - Later re-released with "The Essentials" Pack
• Manos: The Hands of Fate - Later re-released with "The Essentials" Pack
• Eegah!
• I Accuse My Parents
• Mitchell
• The Brain That Wouldn't Die
• The Wild Wild World of Batwoman
• Beginning of the End
• Red Zone Cuba
• Angels Revenge - Later re-released with Volume 2.

Boxed sets

Sets are listed in chronological order of release.

Volume	Release Date	Episodes	Notes
1	November 2002	Bloodlust Catalina Caper The Creeping Terror The Skydivers	Out-of-print as of January 2010.
2	February 2003	Cave Dwellers Pod People Angels Revenge Shorts, Volume 1	All were originally solo releases. Out-of-print as of January 2010.
3	April 2003	The Atomic Brain The Sidehackers The Unearthly Shorts, Volume 2	Shorts, Volume 2 was originally a solo release.
4	November, 2003	Girl in Gold Boots Hamlet Overdrawn at the Memory Bank Space Mutiny	This is the first set to include Sci-Fi era episodes. Out-of-print as of January 2010.
5	March 2004	Boggy Creek II Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders Time Chasers The Touch of Satan	Out-of-print as of January 2010.
The Essentials	August 2004	Manos: The Hands of Fate Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Shorts, Volume 3*	Both episodes were previously solo releases. Shorts, Volume 3 was added as part of a special limited deal; it is not packaged in current versions of the set.
6	October 2004	Attack of the Giant Leeches Gunslinger Teenagers from Outer Space Mr. B's Lost Shorts	Mr. B's Lost Shorts was originally released through the MST3K Info Club. Out-of-print as of January 2010.
7	April 2005	The Killer Shrews Hercules Unchained Hercules Against the Moon Men Prince of Space	Out-of-print as of January 2010.
8	November 2005	Hobgoblins The Phantom Planet Monster A-Go Go The Dead Talk Back	Out-of-print as of January 2010.
9	May 2006	Women of the Prehistoric Planet Wild Rebels The Sinister Urge The Incredibly Strange Creatures...	Due to rights issues with Women of the Prehistoric Planet, this set was out-of-print before Rhino lost the rights in 2010; it has since become quite hard to find.
10	August 2006	Godzilla vs. Megalon Swamp Diamonds Teen-Age Strangler The Giant Spider Invasion	Due to rights issues with Godzilla vs. Megalon, this set was quickly pulled from issue in 2008. This version of Volume 10 is one of the most difficult of the Rhino sets to find. See Volume 10.2 below.
11	June 2007	Ring of Terror The Indestructible Man Tormented Horrors of Spider Island	Out-of-print as of January 2010; however all episodes are available as digital downloads in iTunes.
12	October 2007	The Rebel Set Secret Agent Super Dragon The Starfighters Parts: The Clonus Horror	This is the final original set to be released by Rhino.
10.2	February 2008	The Giant Gila Monster Swamp Diamonds Teen-Age Strangler The Giant Spider Invasion	This set "replaces" the original Volume 10, with Gila Monster traded for Godzilla, presumably to avoid what happened with the similarly affected Volume 9. It is also the final Rhino set. Out-of-print as of January 2010, but Swamp Diamonds is available as a digital download on iTunes.