I’ve been fascinated with lost media for ages, and honestly, I think that is why I still collect VHS tapes and other dead formats. You can really find them anywhere, but Facebook groups seem to be the hotbed as of late. I’ve scored everything from out of print porn to shot on video horror. Most people throw this stuff out, while others collect it by the truckload.
One of the groups is VHS Misfits. While I only have recently started selling and buying, I’ve been lurking for years. The Misfits are self-categorized as “a group of collectors from every walk of life that love horror and sleaze movies…” That pretty much sums it up, but why am I mentioning the group today, and why does any of this matter?
Well, it appears that Joe Climan, God amongst Misfits, has found one, if not THE, holy grail of VHS and King of the Hill collectors. What is it that Joe found? Well, he has in his possession, THE lost Monsignor Martinez Pilot.
Until this point, the only confirmed copy sat within a vault at FOX Headquarters. Apparently, the sole copy was impossible to acquire, but details have emerged over the years from a supposed version once available on YouTube. Want to know more? Watch this!
For those that scrolled past it the video, here are the bullet points:
Monsignor Martinez was to be a live-action King of the Hill spin-off.
Fox commissioned the pilot in 2000, but it wasn’t completed until 2001.
Directed by Mike Judge and starred Ivo Cutzarida as Monsignor Martinez.
Fox shelved the pilot due to, among other things, “explicit” content.
Mike Judge assumes the final cut no longer exists as his copy was destroyed.
Until today we only have had the words of its creators and actors to go off, but with Joe’s recent discovery, it should only a matter of time before we get some answers, a clear cut idea of what could have been, and maybe even the full episode.
From what I hear though, it’s a fairly rough cut with no soundtrack and a bad audio mix, and from the short clip I have seen, I can confirm, it is rough! But us die-hards don’t care, bring on the dubbed bullets! We just want to see what has been locked away for 20 years. Speaking of which, where did Joe find the tape anyway?
Oddly enough, it sounds as if Joe received it from Stu Segall. If you’re unaware, Stu is responsible for not only producing this pilot, but he also worked on Beastmaster 3 and Drive-In Massacre. So who knows what other goodies he has stowed away?
Where do we go from here? Well, Joe has screened it at his home a handful of times, and he welcomes people to stop by and view it, but outside of that, he wants to take the proper steps in releasing it legally. He believes Mike Judge still owns the rights, and he’s in the process of reaching out to his office.
As much as I want to scream and yell for Joe to just throw it on the web, I do understand the care that he is attempting to go through with handling this artifact the way he is. So, I guess we play the waiting game, right? Outside of that, all I can suggest is tweeting Judge this story and hope for the best.
Vaya con Dios, folks!
Jessie Hobson