Short Stories and poems

Release the DVDs!

If you’re anything like me, you like watching movies and TV shows, some of which are hard to find. I remember one movie – a spaceship had crashed into this pond, and there was some dead aliens, or one of those Martians from War of the Worlds, or something, and there was this scene were a normal mosquito sucked on its blood. Cue the next scene where a mosquito the size of a person ends up spattering on this couple’s car, damaging the radiator. The couple hitches a ride with this meteor chaser, and the three end up at this camp, which is deserted, except for one park ranger, who claims that giant mosquitoes had killed everyone. They then end up meeting up with this murdering-bank robber, who has also been attacked by the creatures, and the group has to work together in order to survive, and destroy the flying menaces.

Now, that I have your attention, the movie I was describing is called Mosquito. Directed by Gary Jones, it stars Gunnar Hansen, Ron Asheton, Rachel Loiselle, Steve Dixon, and Tim Lovelace, and as I mentioned, it’s something I love watching. Slight problem – try getting it for a reasonable price - $190, Used, on Amazon, which has a reputation of having fairly low, and affordable, prices, or has links to those with reasonable prices. Does that tell you something? Of course, the fact that it’s out of print, and happens to be a B-Movie Cult Classic might have something to do with the price as well.

Yeah, the Out of Print part is probably the biggest factor. Copies aren’t available to the general public, and when they are being offered, they command outrageous prices. The same goes for other movies or TV Series – some are out of Print, and others, well, they don’t have plans for putting them on DVD, or whatever is currently working.

I find that to be annoying. I mean, a blank DVD disc costs, what, $30 for a hundred pack, or whatever. They could take the disc, record the movie/TV show, and sell it for like $5, and they’d still make a profit. Of course, throw in Shipping and Handling, plus the Middleman Charge, and the DVD cost about $10, or somewhat higher, like $20 – I can understand that. However, as stated, $200 is a far reach for most any fan – If it was a 20 disk collection containing 200 movies, then I could see the price, but for one B-Grade movie, one that most would possibly ignore – too much.

Mosquito isn’t the only movie to suffer this outrageous price thing as well. A number of cartoon series from the 1990’s suffer this fate, or worse – they were never put on DVD in the first place! Cartoons like Biker Mice From Mars and the animated Mighty Ducks – alien mice/ducks who come to Earth due to a war on their, respective, homeworlds, find their old foes on the planet, along with other trouble, and decide to save the planet from the fate that their homes had suffered.

So, here’s what I’m trying to say – I think that the various movies and TV shows should be rereleased, or even released, on DVD, or whatever the current medium is. After all, sometimes people grew up with a show, and wish to show it to their kids. Others have the item on VHS, but are short on a working VCR. After all, there’s a market for the stuff – and sadly, that market tends to be filled with poor quality, and illegal, bootlegs. If things were being offered legitimately, and for a reasonable price, there’s good money to be made by the companies holding the rights, and fans can watch their favorite shows again.