People of Earth: please join me in an upcoming Reddit AMA for news about Turkey Day 2015 and the future of @mst3k. Nov 10 @ 4pm ET.
Let the rumor mill begin.
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Joel to Do a Reddit AMA Nov. 10Joel tweeted the following yesterday:
56 Replies to “Joel to Do a Reddit AMA Nov. 10”Commenting at Satellite News
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Sh*t just got real. Some exciting things are in the air! :D
Not only that, but Best Brains, Inc. is no more!
https://www.reddit.com/r/MST3K/comments/3ra62c/best_brains_inc_is_no_more/
Consolidated Puppets Incorporated!
Recent cryptic comments by Josh and Joel; Jim Mallon shutting down Best Brains; MST3K now on Rifftrax…methinks something is afoot….
This almost surely has to do with the “reboot” of MST3K reported here a while ago, with the bots coming back — since Mallon has dropped out of MST3K holdings — but with new (younger) folks attached (with old man Joel as a sort of transition guest).
To me, it all comes down to the writing — Cinema Titantic had some of the sharpest post MST3K writing around, but they also had stellar talent attached (talent that isn’t likely to be available to write any kind of series). I can always hope…
Don’t know if anyone else noticed but I was going to watch a Cinematic Titanic episode last weekend on Amazon Instant (where the first 10 had been for a while) and they had disappeared–later found they’ve been picked up by Hulu, where (selected) Rifftrax and MST3K are. (Still just the first 10 though.) More consolidation?
I have to agree this is the most likely outcome though not the one I really want. I will point out that http://www.mst3k.com currently has an under construction front page and that is it.
While we all know about the fire sale, does anybody have anything official that Jim Mallon is out?
Mannnn… Are things about to get crazy?
I understand the notion of pushing the project towards a younger cast. But why not have Joel & Mike with the bots in the theater? CT had 5 riffers, why not 4 for MST3K?
I can understand people’s tendency to jump the gun and speculate on the future of the show, but “@mst3k” is the simply show’s Twitter account, the future of which means nothing to me.
Thanks, Debby Downer
Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease I hope he announces Adam Duritz will be the reboot host.
A lot of the former Brains have gone on record that they aren’t interested beyond some possible guest appearances. And the Rifftrax guys are fully committed to their own group right now. So I’m pretty sure a MST3K reboot almost entirely involve new faces in front of the camera. Joel and Josh have both worked with some very talented writers and performers over the last 20 years, so I’m sure they can find some people who fit the bill!
First mst3k.com goes silent. Then the Rifftrax guys announce they have a new deal with BBI. Now Joel is doing an AMA. My hunch?
Jim is happy and successful in his second career and sold some portion of his rights to Joel. Enough to give Joel control. Why would Joel re-work the residuals? The fan in me hopes he’s just a good guy and everyone who contributed deserves a piece of the action, especially the creators of a show he’s going to continue. The rest of me thinks he’s going to need their assistance some day.
We’ve been told new MST3k is coming (some day). Rifftrax has an in place distribution system and is THE place for MSTies to buy riffing (but remember Sampo’s shop, Christmas is coming…). Make amends with the rest of BBI (or at least the RT guys) and they’re now incentivized to sell “his” show on their site.
Do you need me to say that I have no further knowledge beyond what’s on this site? It’s just a guess, but it sure feels right to me.
EDIT: On second though, I think that made me sound kind of jerkish. I’ll just say I don’t think it’s jumping the gun at all, but we’ll know in a week.
If you follow the links to the end of the chain Jim Mallon is the CEO of this new Consolidated Puppets. So it looks like he is still involved…
Just repeat to yourself “It’s just a Reddit AMA. I should really just relax.”
Well, Best Brains was only one show and it’s off the air, Consolidated Puppets will at least keep an eye over the creator rights of the MST3K Estate without any quibbles over who “owns” it after the split.
And I’ll always regret that I missed the chance during the Farewell Tour to ask Joel whether we’ll see more one-night-only CT Live riffs on video, even if whole live tours were now impossible for all five. (The meet line was too long and difficult, and Joel was already thrown off that night by Mike fanboys in the audience shouting “holy” riffs he didn’t recognize, so I didn’t think he’d be in the mood for post-series faction questions.)
Well, like David J said, the main reason is because they don’t want to. Mike, Kevin, and Bill own Rifftrax; why would they want to go back to a work-for-hire arrangement?
As for Joel, well, it certainly seems like he’s the guy in charge of all this, so presumably if he wanted to be the host he could be. But every time he’s talked about the relaunch, he’s made it clear that it will be a new cast, and emphasized that all the roles have been recast at one time or other. (In fact, the segments on last year’s Turkey Day, bringing back Trace and Josh as Crow and Tom, seemed designed specifically to remind us of that.)
Interesting to hear that BBI (or CPI, I guess we should call it now) seems to be under new management. I’m seeing people in the thread saying Jim is completely out of the picture and has divested his stake; is that true? Do we have a primary source for that? The recent Rifftrax news suggests that whoever’s running the show now is interested in making agreements that are more favorable to past cast members; it’s nice to hear that Bill’s getting a piece and I hope they work something out with Mary Jo, too, and anyone else who used to be on the show but hasn’t gotten any compensation for its continued success. And I hope the new cast members get residual agreements too, whoever they may be.
People in this thread are saying Jim Mallon is out. But follow the links in TarlCabot’s post #2. Once you drill all the way down you see Mallon is listed as the CEO of Consolidated Puppets… I’m not sure what to think at this point.
Gee, what a surprise that the only person who’s heard unseemly shouting from “Mike fanboys in the audience” is EricJ!
Jim Mallon made a good point previously about trying to reunite the entire cast for a reunion: It would be very complicated to do the show with two Crows, two Servos, two Gypsys, two hosts, and five villains. I think the best bet would be to start things somewhat fresh without trying to make room for everyone’s roles and ideas about what direction to take things. But I’d still love to see some guest appearances along the lines of what Joel and Frank did at the beginning of Season 10. And mending some of the sore feelings about royalties and creative control can’t be a bad thing either(although the Brains seem to have been pretty civil about it even after putting them out in the open). If MST3K really does make a return I really hope that it maintains its “homemade” feel. And I’d really love seeing the return of true host segments as they helped give you a quick breather during some of the really painful films.
On a nonsnark front, a few recent tweets from @JElvisWeinstein, presented without comment.
@JElvisWeinstein: If you ever wanted to own a Cinematic Titanic DVD, the time is NOW, we’re shutting down the company very soon.
Dave Gold @JElvisWeinstein: So I guess a reunion tour is out of the question?
@JElvisWeinstein @DavidLeeGold: Yes…unless someone paid us really well. Then, maybe.
Dave Gold @JElvisWeinstein: Hmmmmm. Have you guys considered a pay-per-view style Web riffing?
?@JElvisWeinstein @DavidLeeGold I was kidding. It’s over.
Frank Rice @JElvisWeinstein: …Assuming the unreleased live events were recorded and the movie rights are not issues.
?@JElvisWeinstein @comboverfish: They weren’t and they are.
Hatercles @JElvisWeinstein: sorry to hear that; will the eps on Hulu remain there?
@JElvisWeinstein @Hatercles: No, they’ll be leaving soon too.
Well, thought I’d already mentioned the time that Joel was doing Q&A with the audience, and one enthusiastic pubescent Mike-ite, forgetting to phrase it in the form of a question, shouted out “Girls Town!” Joel had…NO IDEA what the fan was talking about, and passed him off as a kid heckler on drugs.
This, despite Joel already saying that he’d watched the Sci-FI S8-10 episodes, and thought Space Mutiny and Final Sacrifice were “hilarious” (“I mean, ‘Rowsdower’, how is that not funny?”) Although that may be just the natural distancing of watching new episodes episodes cold that he wasn’t involved with, since he’d said he doesn’t watch his own Comedy Central episodes, “since it’s like having a camera at your work desk and having to watch it when you come home”.
Apparently, that goes for watching S6-7 CC episodes from during the hot-dog-stand years as well–So just don’t expect Joel to get any fan-recited Coleman Francis or “Flag on the moon” jokes any time soon.
If only the ones I want/don’t own were available for less than the current $70+ each through resellers. Sigh. Rattlers, I hardly know ye.
Perhaps the riffing cast for each movie could be determined randomly by a spin of the TV Wheel?
You’re unnecessarily jumping to two conclusions in the above statement.
#1: That the individual you’re referring to is a “Mike-ite”, which I’m assuming you must mean as someone who loves Mike and hates Joel. Is it possible that these “Mike-ites” exist in any level of abundance so many years after the debate has been dead and buried time and time again? I know many MSTies and none of them care anymore! Joel and Mike are widely considered two sides of the same coin, and which side you might prefer seen as being based on personal preference as much as your results on a Myers-Briggs test. It simply doesn’t matter anymore. Moreover, your statement is made doubly ridiculous on the point of why would a sworn Mike devotee be seeing Joel anyway?
#2: You suggest Joel “passed him off as a kid heckler on drugs.” What makes you say that Joel was thinking like that or that he does think like that? Are you Joel? Because unless you are Joel, you can’t speak for how he perceives things. I’ve met Joel a few times in his Cinematic Titanic years and I have never gotten the sense that Joel was dismissive of people who like episodes he was not a part of. Why do you? As a matter of fact, shouldn’t Joel’s appearance in the Soultaker episode alone suggest that he does acknowledge MST’s existence after Joel?
These things in consideration, I have to come to the conclusion that you either simply don’t know what you’re talking about or you’re purposely trying to start a flame war. I would hope it’s the former rather than the latter, but either way cut it out.
Not jerkish at all, being called a “Debby Downer” isn’t enough of an insult to get me upset.
My original comment was going to be much longer (beyond just being the wet blanket of reality). I’d love to see the show come back in some form, but with some type of involvement from the Mike, Joel & the rest, at the very least to create a transitional phase before bringing-in new people to host the show.
It’s obvious that MST3K still has some life left in it that goes beyond old-timey fans being nostalgic, that between dvd sets & being rerun on tv and available online on various sites, it still is able to generate new fans. I look at the animation Shout has on the dvd menus and think “they could just do that for new shows”, and everybody that has been on the show in the past becomes a voice actor that could do their parts in a day or two, leaving them able to continue doing their other work (like RiffTrax).
Oh it does. I’m one of those newer fans in a sense, because even though I knew about MST3K around 1998-1999 I didn’t actually watch it until 2007 or so. That said, I’m a little skeptical of the idea of a reboot simply because catching lightning in a bottle twice rarely works. However, reading the new name “Consolidated Puppets Incorporated” makes me think they could be trying something completely different and maybe it’s more of a spinoff than a remake, TNG style. That could be pretty cool.
It may be worth nothing that during on AMA interview Joel said The Final Sacrifice was his favorite Mike episode, so he must have seen SOME of them.
Helpful hint for EricJ: don’t watch Mike episodes or Rifftrax as they clearly make you unhappy. Just pretend Mitchell was the series finale.
Leave it to the rest of us to enjoy the likes of Rowsdower, Coleman Francis, Lupita and James Nguyen.
Ebay sir, I went right there as it was the last Live one I didn’t have. I don’t think the news has reached the secondary market yet.
I’m with you on the homemade feel, it’s an important tone for the show to retain.
As far as the Mallon point, no offense to what your saying, but I actually thought this was not as intensely complicated as implied. Two hosts would effectively avoid Mike vs Joel. As far as bot voices, Trace/Bill and Josh/Kevin would have to be worked out, that’s a small group of people affected by the decision. With so many Mads, I’d love to seem them all, off & on or whatever.
It’s been a year and we’ve seen Joel apparently help the RT people incentivize their time on MST3K, Bill obviously has a good relationship with Trace, the two companies: Rifftrax & Shout! certainly seem to have a relationship, and Mary Jo (a Titan) moved over to Rifftrax. Since the beginning, these people have all stated they didn’t hate each other. That was just fan perception. They all got together at Comicon, seemingly collaborating on the documentary project. Why wouldn’t they all want to make more money from they biggest project they are all known for? If the show started stacked with original players, it would get more fan faith than a revamp. And new people could be gently rolled in. (I’m also ignorant as to quotes of people saying they wouldn’t want to join back up, so I could be 100% wrong there)
Where’s Paul Chaplin in all this?! ;-)
Paul always seemed like such a downer when he wrote his reflections on the episodes. He had a few very memorable on screen appearances, I cannot deny. I was particularly fond of Pitch. But overall he seemed like such a prickly person.
If he wasn’t part of a reboot I wouldn’t miss him.
@32-Horrordad- Everything gets down to dollars & cents and contracts, as we saw when Jim Mallon moved years ago to oust “The Film Crew” from Rhino. Rifftrax is a company with it’s own following and they really don’t need the other MST3K vets to make it work. Maybe there will be a guest-star or two on future releases of RT, but why split it four ways (or 5, 6 or 7) if you don’t have to? ; Paul Chaplin was last heard doing voice work on Jim Mallon’s aborted MST3K cartoon series. If Mallon is still a participant in MST3K Redux,perhaps we’ll see Paul there.
Uh, because I was THERE??
(“‘Girls Town’, did anyone hear it, is that what he said? What is that, what are you…I don’t know what ‘Girls Town’ is, does anybody know what he’s talking about? Yeah, I remember when I had my first beer too–Look, people, if you have a question, can we just keep it to the questions? I don’t want to have to deal with the…Anybody else, we’ve got time for two or three more?”)
I was sorry to read Josh’s comment that the unreleased CT shows weren’t recorded; the ones I saw were top notch. Maybe those movies could be featured in the reboot; they were too good (well, bad) to pass up.
No one’s saying he doesn’t watch them (at least apart from the last two-and-a-half years of CC, which may have had too much bad blood to go back to), just that….how can I put this?:
I remember listening to John Cleese on the late-90’s disk commentary for Monty Python & the Holy Grail saying he’d never actually watched the movie for twenty years, since he couldn’t look at the movie without reliving “three months of cold Scottish mud”. Finally forced to sit down and do the commentary, we hear him watching the confused-guard scene–which he wasn’t in–and giggling himself literally to tears.
It’s basically like that with Joel and the Sci-Fi years–He has this nostalgically colored early-90’s memory of Mike as a really funny guy in the writing office who said funny things and did such clever imitations of Torgo, and is now in his apartment watching movies and hearing riffs for the first time, just like the rest of us. We can’t really tell him, “Hey, if you thought ‘Rowsdower’ was quality hilarity, there’s this ‘Magic Voyage of Sinbad’ episode you might try watching,” since he would obviously be biased and see the jokes coming, until he can let his own personal issues about the past go and judge the work on its own technical merit. Having only half the story does not make one’s opinion an authority.
@Kenneth–yes, that’s the thing that gets me too. The whole internet model is supposed to be movement towards “Etewaf: Everything That Ever Was—Available Forever.” Two shows not available on Hulu, soon no shows available there (anywhere?), but even worse three whole shows never released anywhere, and never going to be released anywhere. For all of you who demand KTMA shows, here’s something you really should have stood up for.
@EricJ–“The Projectionist: he’s the guy who goes around attributing his own faults to other people.”
In EricJ’s rich fantasy kingdom, he convinces Joel that Mike is a huge jerk/history’s greatest monster and then they become BFF’s for life and watch videotapes of old early 90’s Comedy Channel programming – with the original commercials!
And let’s not let this go unnoticed:
EricJ is literally asserting that Joel’s stated enjoyment of Mike-hosted episodes is not “authoritative.” He’s not an “authority” on his own opinions of a TV show?
Has EricJ ever made a post that wasn’t completely untethered from reality?
Eric J: “It’s basically like that with Joel and the Sci-Fi years–He has this nostalgically colored early-90’s memory of Mike as a really funny guy in the writing office who said funny things and did such clever imitations of Torgo, and is now in his apartment watching movies and hearing riffs for the first time, just like the rest of us. We can’t really tell him, “Hey, if you thought ‘Rowsdower’ was quality hilarity, there’s this ‘Magic Voyage of Sinbad’ episode you might try watching,” since he would obviously be biased and see the jokes coming, until he can let his own personal issues about the past go and judge the work on its own technical merit. Having only half the story does not make one’s opinion an authority.”
Um…..wow. Do you remember in “I Accuse My Parents” when Joel had the bots draw pictures of their idealized families? Joel’s reaction to Servo’s drawing is my reaction to Eric J’s post above.
Being “THERE” does not make you a mindreader. Your argument is based on nothing more than your personal incredulity, and you’re committing a plethora of logical fallacies beyond that.
EricJ logic:
I once attended a Paul McCartney concert. Thus, I know Paul’s true feelings about John Lennon’s solo work.
He’s projecting. He believes what he’s saying so hard that he’s willing to take one instance of no consequence at all and make a whole case out of it. Consequently, he’s making Joel into more of an antagonist than he is Mike.
See, EricJ, this is what you call “projecting”. If you’re new to the term, look it up.
Well, there is such a thing as not having enough information–
Also at the Q&A session, Joel seemed genuinely bothered/puzzled by his own question that, judging from his reaction, may have come up at a few appearances already–“Okay, can one of the fans fill in, what is the big fan deal with ‘Mitchell’, why does it keep stirring up these big things among the fans every time somebody mentions it?”
Uh, might want to sit down for this one, J, it may take a while to explain, and even shatter some of your most cherished held beliefs…There’s “Cutting ties” with the old show, which he believes he did creatively in handing over the keys to the Really Funny and Creative Head Writer Kid Who’ll Probably Go Places, and then there’s just being too danged clueless about what was going on at the office behind his back when he was out on the street selling hot dogs, or stopping in once in a while during S10 to wave to the old crew.
@EricJ–CT and Best Brains are going up in flames and you’re still complaining about someone’s answer at a 2013 Q&A session? How did Joel ever survive a career in standup comedy if he gets so rattled by a random answer from the audience? That’s practically the whole experience of standup comedy.
Okay everyone, this makes two consecutive threads with info of high import for MST fans and once again it’s nothing but EricJ vs the World. I give up. EricJ wins. Again.
Ever thought that was less applicable to Joel than yourself?
So according to you Mike is evil and Joel is clueless… WHY are you a MSTie again? :/
y’know, i wish there were something more appropriately fair-spirited to interject into the middle of this ongoing conversation, other than…
“OHH, SHHHUTTT UP, BOTH OF YOU!”
… y’know, stuff other than that. but, it’s doesn’t seem like i do. so, i’ll say that much, and leave it at that.
let’s move the haters outside, and let the love back into the room.