Dear Cinematic Titanic

[Darth Geek]

This just in...

It's Mike.

QFT

[ShadowDog]

Yeah, way to drop a bomb on us and then not give any details. 

[Joe Molotov]

Don't hold your breath on any kind of "reunion" of the CT folks with Rifftrax.  I just saw CT in Atlanta this week and I can tell you it will not happen for a LONG TIME if ever.

Was it something they did or said??

Yes, they said the snacks had to be "amazing" and that Mike, Kevin, and Bill are refusing to budge on this issue. It looks like it's not going to happen, guys.

[Darth Geek]

Don't hold your breath on any kind of "reunion" of the CT folks with Rifftrax.  I just saw CT in Atlanta this week and I can tell you it will not happen for a LONG TIME if ever.

Was it something they did or said??

Yes, they said the snacks had to be "amazing" and that Mike, Kevin, and Bill are refusing to budge on this issue. It looks like it's not going to happen, guys.

What's more amazing than bacon? They all love bacon.

[MSTJedi]

Don't hold your breath on any kind of "reunion" of the CT folks with Rifftrax.  I just saw CT in Atlanta this week and I can tell you it will not happen for a LONG TIME if ever.

Was it something they did or said??

Yes, they said the snacks had to be "amazing" and that Mike, Kevin, and Bill are refusing to budge on this issue. It looks like it's not going to happen, guys.

Dicks.

Not to cause a flame war or anything, but I've sensed a bit of resentment from Joel towards Mike and the Rifftrax guys. I read in the CT forum that Joel was flabbergasted by Rifftrax's claim to be a reincarnation of MST3K. Apparently, since RT is riffing only and no sketches or shadows and do good movies as well as crappy ones, Joel doesn't see it as worthy of the MST3K name.

From Ninjew on the CT Forum (http://cinematictitanic.com/wpmu/sf-forum/?forum=6&topic=1526&page=14):

Uh oh. Joel doesn't seem to happy with the way RiffTrax does it's advertising!
In a recent interview with Joel, he said the following:
Do you have a rivalry with RiffTrax, the downloadable commentaries from Michael Nelson and other "MST3K" alumni?
I'm really alert that they're out there, but they're doing something that's so different. They're in the MP3 business, doing [commentary] on newer movies. I did notice that after we started, they started doing older, "MST3K"-type movies. Our thing is about cheesy movies, that's all we do. They do it all, bad ones, good ones, shorts. I did see that they've been running an ad for one that says "It's MST3K meets Jaws." That kind of got me. I said "Whaaat? They can't do that." What's up with that? Jaws isJaws, but that's not "MST3K." They're really talented and really good at what they do, but that made me feel competitive.
Uh oh. I hope this doesn't really add fuel to the fire! I want the gang to all get along!
Joel also makes it sound like we're not going to be seeing any shorts from CT any time soon.  Pity...
You can read the full Q&A article HERE

Article: http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/speakeasy_with_joel_hodgson/Content?oid=811402

[ShadowDog]

Having had intense creative relationship with people that lasted 5 years or more, I can tell you that sometimes two people just get tired of each other.  I didn't get this back in the day when Joel left the show because it was before I got into creative work myself.  But now that I've been through it, I understand where both Joel and Mike are coming from.  In these cases, it's not any one thing.  It's a hundred little times of rubbing each other the wrong way over a span of 5-10 years.  It doesn't make either one a bad person, they just irritate the shit out of each other.  At least, that's my guess based on my personal experiences.  This happens in other businesses too but I've done regular business work and creative business work and there's something different about creative business work that can make this worse.  I think it's the fact that at the end of the day, a lot of the decisions you make in a creative field are subjective.  So when one person puts their foot down the other person can always claim the movie or episode or album or whatever would have been better the other way and there's no way to prove it.

[MSTJedi]

Yeah, I've decided to cut down on my CT purchasing, too. I'll most likely get East Meets Watts when it comes out, but otherwise, I'll just wait until they come out with a movie I want to see them do. It's not like I have all the Rifftrax available, after all.

[Darth Geek]

But is this issue just with Joel? It kind of sounds like it from the article. I'm less interested in seeing him guest riff (it would still be fun) than Trace and Frank.
Trace, come back to us!
TRACE!
TRACE!
TRACE!
TRACE!
TRACE!
TRACE!

[oddstocks]

Not to cause a flame war or anything, but I've sensed a bit of resentment from Joel towards Mike and the Rifftrax guys. I read in the CT forum that Joel was flabbergasted by Rifftrax's claim to be a reincarnation of MST3K. Apparently, since RT is riffing only and no sketches or shadows and do good movies as well as crappy ones, Joel doesn't see it as worthy of the MST3K name.

I didn't get the impression Joel was opposed to them using the MST name, just that for that particular title they made it sound like MST3K as we all know it was back, which wasn't the case.

I like both Joel and Mike. Don't see why slack can't be cut for either, especially in cases where we don't have the benefit of hearing the way things are said in these written interviews. I just know how easy it is for people to misunderstand my own written words.

[TheUnabeefer]

Having had intense creative relationship with people that lasted 5 years or more, I can tell you that sometimes two people just get tired of each other.  I didn't get this back in the day when Joel left the show because it was before I got into creative work myself.  But now that I've been through it, I understand where both Joel and Mike are coming from.  In these cases, it's not any one thing.  It's a hundred little times of rubbing each other the wrong way over a span of 5-10 years.  It doesn't make either one a bad person, they just irritate the shit out of each other.  At least, that's my guess based on my personal experiences.  This happens in other businesses too but I've done regular business work and creative business work and there's something different about creative business work that can make this worse.  I think it's the fact that at the end of the day, a lot of the decisions you make in a creative field are subjective.  So when one person puts their foot down the other person can always claim the movie or episode or album or whatever would have been better the other way and there's no way to prove it.

Hell, I was in a TWO person band for around 6 years... just me and one other guy...  we were a lot alike, and meshed on a LOT of things, particularly how we both just wanted to annoy the crap out of people and get banned from any and all venues we played at.  We were almost inseperable, and both went for the same quest as far as the band and music went...  We got along GREAT, but I wanted to kill him.

We're still great friends, but after years of playing together, I just wanted to kick the guy in the head.  I really have no real qualms with him, but I publicly acknowledge that I just want to kick him in the head... a LOT.  But I love the guy!!

I can fully understand why Joel and Mike wouldn't really do anything together ever again, but still probably don't actually have anything really against each other.  It's kept to very small doses of polite contact when necessary (ie conventions) but any more than that would just pull up the old feeling of "Yeah, now I remember why we don't do anything together"

[Crow T. Robot 666]

If they could get through Comicon without anyone attacking Jim Mallon then anything is possible.  Know hope.

[eegah]

Well, not to cause a flame war or anything, but I'll watch CTs that friends buy, but I won't pay for them anymore. I sold the ones I bought on ebay.

Yeah, I've decided to cut down on my CT purchasing, too. I'll most likely get East Meets Watts when it comes out, but otherwise, I'll just wait until they come out with a movie I want to see them do. It's not like I have all the Rifftrax available, after all.

I sadly have to agree. I've been somewhat disappointed so far (except with Doomsday, Frankenstein, and the live Dynamite Brothers/East Meets Watts), so I'm going to be more selective in the future. I'll definitely buy East Meets Watts, but from then on I'll wait to read reviews of a release before buying.

[TheUnabeefer]

When IS the next release anyways?!

[dalem]

I am somewhat frustrated by the output rate.  I thought they had turned the corner with Wasp Woman, but then they did a string of horror movies, of which I bought two and liked one.  Horror isn't enough of my thing to draw me in.  I want to like CT and I know I haven't sampled enough of their product to really say anything definitive, but with such a low throughput it's really faded into the background for me.

As far as the Joel-Mike thing I find it somewhat distasteful that I even have an opinion about the interpersonal relations of two strangers, but I suspect, like most things, that it's far more complicated in some areas and far less in others, than anyone who doesn't know them could presume.  I mean, they're people.  We all have relationships with people, professional and personal, that would make strangers scratch their heads at first glance, but most of us don't have a close following of fans watching everything we do.

As it is, I love the product that Mike & crew put out and I want to, and still might come to love the product that Joel & crew put out.  I think that's a good situation to be in.

-dale

[bettertomorrowamy]

Shut the fuck up!