I will try to post some more images and stuff when I finally get home, but right now I can offer a few stray thoughts from the road.
Before I get into anything else, I want to express, on behalf of Brian and myself, our sincere gratitude to all the cast members for their cordiality and solicitude in granting us access to areas where they were relaxing between press interviews, etc. Second, we’re not sure it’s possible to express enough gratitude to the Shout! Factory staff, who were, to a man and woman, impossibly helpful and sweet and generally awesome. These are people who GET this show, folks. We are delighted they have it. And of course we are also incredibly thankful to the RiffTrax/Legend Films crew, who bent over backwards to accommodate us. It was so great to finally meet guys like Eric and Conor and the rest of the team.
I was the guy who used the phrase “live-blogging,” and that was, perhaps, wishful thinking on my part. We really didn’t have the equipment or the resources to really be “live-blogging.” It turned out to be sort of “intermittent blogging, whenever we could find an electrical outlet and find the wifi signal.” I apologize if any hopes were raised for more non-stop coverage. We will try to make it up in the next day or so with some retrospective info.
Comic-Con is HUGE. I’ve been to Dragon-Con a couple of times, and that’s massive, but this is like three or four Dragon-Cons. It’s outrageous, and frankly it’s really gotten too big. And, well, I hope this doesn’t come off as too uncharitable, but the cumulative B.O. of 150,000 geeks jammed into a relatively small exhibit space gets old pretty fast. Not that any of you I met individually were anything other than fragrant! It’s just the sort of ambient background funk I’m referring to. To which I should add that, as always, the MSTies I met were funny and fun and great to talk to.
The management of the Comic-Con pretty much fumbled the 20th Anniversary panel. We heard from a number of people who could not get in because the line (which began forming in the early afternoon, and also included would-be attendees to the Kevin Smith panel in an adjacent room) stretched down the hallway and down another hallway and at some point the organizers began turning people away. But ultimately there were empty seats in the back. Once again, as has happened at so many conventions, the organizers greatly underestimated the interest there would be in MST3K and put it in only a medium-sized room, then turned people away unnecessarily. I was really a mess.
One thought I wanted to pass along: It was, to me, startling to see this sea of pop culture vultures, most of whom, if you stopped them and asked, would say that they loved MST3K, brush by Mike or Joel without a second look. The rest of the cast, well, they might not be so recognizable (and I suspect they were just as glad of that) but it still was an amazing thing to see. One exception, however, seemed to be Frank. With that shock of familiar white hair, he, the others told us, was pretty much the only one being stopped in the hallways for autographs and photos. Story Trace told us: They were all headed somewhere and a lady sees Frank and cries out his name and asks if she can get a picture with him. Frank says yes, of course. Delighted, the lady gets out her camera and…hands it to Joel, completely failing to recognize him. True story. We were standing in the hallway with Joel right before the panel (and thereby hangs a tale as well) and I noted to him that I was a bit surprised that his presence wasn’t causing a scene. Nobody was even looking at him twice. Joel smiled and said “No, I walk freely among them.” At the end of a autograph session, Mike had stepped a few paces away from the RiffTrax booth and people were just brushing by him. I said something to the effect of: “I’m surprised you guys aren’t getting recognized more.” He just shrugged and said “Yeah, I don’t really care.”
We had the pleasure of at last meeting the mighty Tom Noel of the incredibly awesome MST3K Temple and it was great to chat with him for a while. We then repaired to a nearby restaurant to enjoy tasty edibles and chat some more before heading off to the live show. If for some insane reason you do not know of Tom’s amazing site (all the cast members do and said nice things to him about it), you must visit. Trust me.
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Sampo, Erhardt, and the mega-awesome Tom Noel
The live show was achingly funny. I walked out with a bad case of “laugh-stomach.” It’s a quantum jump from Mike’s already-hilarious solo DVD effort. I hope they release it at some point.
More tonight, or tomorrow.
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Well done.
In the words of Tom Servo, upon wittnessing Ator workout on the carasmatic soloflex “Now rest, you deserve it”
Thanks, Sampo! The anecdotes are quite interesting. Ironic about Frank’s recognizsability – the various times I saw him at the ’94 and ’96 cons, he seemed the most annoyed out of any of them by the fan attention. Remember Operation Flamingo, when he just rode by on his bike, ignoring us, yet Jim, Trace, Kevin, et al, visited for quite a few minutes?
The insane mob scene and overwhelming logistics of the event were reasons why I didn’t go to ComicCon myself, although I too would have liked to meet the Mighty Tom Noel (and, I suppose Joel Whatshisname and Mike Whoseywhatsit :lol: ).
Thanks a ton to you guys for reporting
liveintermittently from the conference and for confirming my hopes about Shout!. Wow. Brushing elbows with pretty much everyone who’s touched Mst3k. I can only imagine. Allow me to live vicariously through you for one more moment….. Ahhhhh.Now give me my Crow figurine!
I’ve got a question for Sampo… have you or anyone had the opportuity to ask Mike, Kevin or Bill is “The Film Crew” is officially dead or what?
I and my wife love the four discs they put-out (especially Wongo) and would love to buy more. We’ve even bought extra copies of “Cinematic Titanic” to: a) help-out with the “Artist-Owned” concept and b) to pass-on to people who might dig it.
I know Mike’s got “Riff-Trax”, but (call me a luddite if you’d like) I’m just not a fan of the “Digital Download” trend. Partially because I live in the sticks and my internet is slow at best, but also… if I buy something I want a physical product, not something if my computer crashes is lost forever. :sad:
SAIE:
Never say never, but I don’t see the Film Crew reviving any time soon.
And, yes you are a luddite. :-) Your internet speed really doesn’t make much of a difference, since you are just downloading, not playing anything over the web. And you can always burn the stuff you download from Rifftrax to a CD. That’s what I do, so I have a physical product.
Film Crew was put into motion before Rifftrax took off… the project was completed and actually sat on the shelf for a while waiting for the project management to move from Rhino to Shout Factory.
From a fan perspective, I loved the Film Crew discs…
But upstanding from a financial perspective, Rifftrax generates more sales and has a much larger following, plus production costs are pretty low compared to renting studio space and staffing it with crew.
Sampo,
It was nice to meet you and Erhardt after the show on Saturday. The second show went great as well. The only downside to the whole experience will now be that I will freak out if confronted with footage from Plan 9 anytime for the rest of the calendar year.
Also, the revised version of Plan 9 with all three guys IS available on our site. Just look for Plan 9 Three Riffer version.
@Super Agent Icky Elf
Anything you buy from RiffTrax is available for download anytime you need it from your order history, so you need not worry about crashes. Try one, I bet you’ll like it.
Hahaha! I still can’t believe the story about the woman handing Joel the camera like he was some nobody to get a picture with Frank! I mean, that the hell? Hilarious stuff! :lol:
“but the cumulative B.O. of 150,000 geeks jammed into a relatively small exhibit space gets old pretty fast.”
That reason alone is what keeps me away from any type of convention. These comic book geeks barely bathe, and then you place them in a small area during SUMMER! Who’s bright idea was to have this in San Diego in late July?!
If I was ever forced into going to one of these, I’d seriously wear a gas mask. The MST3K crew were real troopers for showing up. They deserve a medal.
“We were standing in the hallway with Joel right before the panel (and thereby hangs a tale as well) and I noted to him that I was a bit surprised that his presence wasn’t causing a scene. Nobody was even looking at him twice. Joel smiled and said “No, I walk freely among them.””
I bet Joel would be a great person to talk to casually. That response was classic. :D
I’m shocked that the crew wasn’t bothered that much. Is it because people didn’t recognize them? Or maybe they did, but were afraid that talking to them would be seen as bothersome? Or maybe the comic geek to MST3K ratio was so unbalanced that the crew wasn’t seen…unless they wore a Batman or Iron Man costume. ;)
If I ever was to run into one of the MST3K crew I’d definitely recognize them and would at least say a few kind words to them. It’s the least I could do for all the entertainment that they have given me over the years.
If Shout gets this show then explain to me why they put the worst episode in the 20th anniversary set?
Jason,
Shout! gets the show, but they’re still having problems getting the rights to the show…or, more specifically, the movies featured in it. You wouldn’t believe the hoops they had to jump through just to get the four movies they did. :shock:
But that’s a tale we’ll hopefully be able to tell at a later date.
Sampo,
So now we know which eps will be included in the upcoming box set. We see that Joel and Jim can sit in the same room without choking eachother. And we see that Frank is the only recognizable cast member to the general public. The only remaining question: is it true that Cincinnati smells like feet?
Spaceship is not “the worst…episode…ever” by a longshot.
I believe that dubious honor goes to Hamlet. It’s also better, in my opinion, than every Season 1 episode. I actually like Spaceship. Is it a classic? No way. It’s clearly an odd choice for the 20th anniversary set, in general, and even odder that it’s the only Joel episode included. But, I’m assuming that’s due to the rights issues.
The wholesale dissing of Mike and Joel only proves that MST3K is a Midwestern concept and people from the Midwest are the audience, not the snooty sun worshippers and spec script bloodsuckers of CA.
Mike, Joel, Trace, Kevin, Bill, Mary Jo, Frank, and J. Elvis, please come to Wizard World Chicago next August 6-9, 2009 and be appreciated for your creative genius both past and present. Fans will politely flock and adore and recognize who you are. If that’s what you want. Or go back to Comic-Con and walk among the spotlight wannabes and double foamy latte slurpers and be ignored.
Randy
Thanks Sampo again for giving us a window into the goings on.
MST3K Temple is the 2nd best MST3K site on the web, fo shizz.
Sampo and Erhardt,
It was great spending some time chatting and noshing with you guys. For those that have never met them they really are great guys and truly are the MSTies best friends. They have dutifully maintained the link between us mere mortals and the Titans on high.
As for my own Comic Con experience I’m preparing a page now of some of my own adventures and photos. I can’t tell you how gratifying it was for the Brains themselves to acknowledge my site.
Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all.
Thanks to all for their efforts.
Hey, hey, hey! There was a whole lot of love out here for those guys. There are many of us out here (Los Angeles for me) that are HUGE MST3K fans.
And judging by a line for Mike, Kevin, and Bill that was filled for four hours straight or by the insane demand to get into the panel, I’m at a loss to understand where the dissing occurred.
Don’t stereotype the SoCal crowd based solely on the Comic-Con expereience. I passed Mike, Joel, and the others numerous times both in and outside of the convention center, but as far as I’m concerned, if they’re not sitting at a booth inviting people up, they deserve their private time just like the rest of us. Even though I was damn determined to get all of the crew’s signatures on my MST3k: The Movie poster, I didn’t bother them when they weren’t at an event/panel/booth.
And as far as not recognizing them, you need to experience Comic-Con to understand that the crowd is so big and there is so much going on that virtually any celebrity could walk past you–could literally bump into you–and you wouldn’t be register it.
—
monstroCity
It’s so bizarre to me that *any* of the cast members were going unrecognized, much less Joel or Mike. I went to one of the live Rifftrax shows in SF a few years ago, and have obviously seen plenty of current photos of the rest of the cast, and well, they don’t really look *that* different to me…
Anyway, thanks for all the reporting! I’d love to hear more stories in the coming week if you find the time!
I only went to Friday at the Comic Con and got to the room around 4:45 (wanted to see the Venture Bothers and figured I could stomach the robot chicken one), was told the line stretched all the way around the convention center and into the street and they wouldn’t let any more people in line, at around 5:20 event security shouted an announcement that the line for room 6B was locked for the evening and told in no uncertain terms that there was no chance of getting in to see any presentation in that room so I left. Nice to learn they were full of %#&@ and there were empty seats, and in typical SD Con mismanagement Kevin Smith fans were in the wrong line? Rifftrax Live was great though, so that sort of made up for it.
“No, I walk freely among them.”
:cool:
I’m not too surprised about MSTers being unmolsted in the crowd. First, there is sensory overload. People may not realize that Joel is standing there because there are people in funny costumes, girls wearing nothing and tons of things to catch your eye.
I’ve seen Seth Green and Brian Posehn walk the floors with no one bothering them. Of course with Jack Black and Bryan Singer you would have though the freaking Beatles were on the floor.
The live show rocked, but if I have to field a football team with these guys anytime soon, Bridget is NOT the punter.
Thanks to all of you out-of-town fans who livened our local SD economy and ruined our commute for a few days.
I used to regularly attend big annual comic conventions, so I’m aware of the size. But how do people walk by a giant white guy that looks like Mike Nelson, if they know who Mike Nelson is? Heck, I’d never met artist Tim Conrad till Chicago 1995, but I still managed to say, “Hi!” when I walked by his booth which was so off the beaten path it’s easy to excuse missing him, except for the name tag and the huge sign that said TIM CONRAD. That’s my point. If you’re walking by every time you pass a booth, you don’t know who they are or don’t care. It’s sad but Mike and Joel are just chopped liver in SoCal. Around these parts, they are legend.
Randy
“And, well, I hope this doesn’t come off as too uncharitable, but the cumulative B.O. of 150,000 geeks jammed into a relatively small exhibit space gets old pretty fast.”
Was I just so insanely happy to be at the con that I somehow missed the smell? I really didn’t get a whiff of anybody’s funk…:smile:
I live in LA, and am a huge fan.
I met Joel, Trace, Frank and Josh at the San Jose convention, and was thrilled! I got their autographs and gushed to all of them about how much I love the show, what a big fan I am, etc.
Yeah, I was one of the many people who were turned away from the line for the panel, an hour before it started. Empty seats, you say? Oh, lovely. And the line included attendees to a completely different panel? Even better. As much as I love the Con, there’s an awful lot of b.s. you have to deal with just to attend…but this is unforgivable. My day had been going so awesome and not getting into the panel totally ruined it.
The vastness of MST3K’s fanbase will be eternally underestimated. Even the lines for autographs at the Shout! Factory booth were a problem. I’m a die-hard MSTie, and yet with all the MST3K-related madness going on at the Con this year, I experienced nil…credit that to mis-management. I feel so burned.
Was gonna go to the live show, but the Con took all my money. Damn you, SDCC!
Okay, you know, I’ve been getting this kind of “Caiforinia sucks” sentiment from Msties for a while, and I’m getting really sick of it. Yes, there are probably many more passionate Msties in other states than here, and I understand it must be very frustrating that the MST3K guys are almost always doing shows and events here rather than somewhere closer to you, but that is NO reason to judge the ENTIRE STATE based on what you’ve seen on The OC. Believe it or not, we are not all air-headed botox bimbos sleeping on piles of money and drinking the tears of artists. :roll:
ANYWAY, it’s a shame about the panel. Like many others, we showed up early to try to get into the room two panels early, but quickly realized just how long the line was. It seems likes the only way actual Msties could get into the panel is if they cut in line (guilty!) or snuck in through the ventilation shaft. :???:
I find it pretty funny that Frank gets noticed the most seeing how I thought that out of the all the cast members, the years have been hardest on him. Frank looks like he was rode hard and put away wet sometimes. Guess i underestimated how iconic that white hair is…
The fact that nobody recognised the MST crew is just another reason why I think California is overrated. Come to the East coast, guys! Try it…you just might like it.
I’d agree that Mike (and Frank :shock: ) are a lot harder to miss, but I do think Joel looks significantly different from his on-air days. The glasses combined with the less hair is a pretty noticeable change. I think maybe since as fans we’ve seen the change slowly over the years and we don’t notice the degree of difference.
I’ve done many as well and can confidently say that there are none nearly as insane as SDCC. I’ve never attended another con even half the size of SDCC. It’s gotten so bad that had it not been for the MST3K panel, I would not have gone this year even though as an industry professional I get in for free.
Once the entertainment industry became more involved a few years back and started debuting trailers and such there, it just freakin’ exploded. And this year the game industry claimed a few isles, so I see that becoming even more of a presence within 2-3 years. I’d say within 5-10 years (if that long) it will be Comic-Con in name only.
Randy, they’re legend here, too. I don’t understand the animosity for SoCal.
jlp1, was that Super-Con? That would have been cool if I could have done both. I haven’t had a chance to meet Josh yet, although I did see him at the live LA Film Festival performance.
—
monstroCity
I wouldn’t be surprised if some time later that woman suddenly said, “Did I hand my camera to Joel earlier?” I guess Joel’s new haircut and glasses made it a little harder to recognize him. Still I’m sure they didn’t mind not being recognized.
Your in cincinnati . Dang I wish I would know. I live here. I could shown around the fly pig city. I wish I could go but all my cash is lock into going to Dragon Con. Say are going to Dragon Con?
“Not being noticed” is not strictly a California thing. Mike has told me that no matter where he goes (except maybe his hometown), hardly anyone recognizes him. You have to remember that die hard fans (including myself) would probably recognize him, but the show wasn’t THAT famous, despite what you might think.
I even met fans at the Con this week who didn’t recognize any of them until I said “Remember MST3k?” “Yeah…” “Well that’s Mike, Servo and Crow.” “Ohhhhh!”
“Rode hard and put away wet?” Oh, man, that is harsh! I feel like crying, but that will only make me wetter when I get put away. Ouch!
Yeah…that was pretty harsh. I meant it simply as joke.
I am thinking that in a few years someone will have to form a seperate convention that has to do specifically with comics… maybe a few smaller underground pop culture groups can join in, and maybe get away from the giant Hollywood publicity-fest.
Maybe call it Con-O-Comics or something like that. :mrgreen:
For a while there, I was envious of you being able to go there and see so many mst3k alum, but given the size of the crowds you say were there, I doubt if I would have enjoyed myself. I still have flashbacks to the ’96 convention.
I think some of the “not recognized”, honestly, is a boundary thing. I know that I try not to bug a guest when they’re not at a table, a panel, or something similar that suggests they’re set to “fan_interact_OK”. I also try very hard not to ask guests about things unrelated to their specialties, after spending a chunk of time interviewing Marv Wolfman and seeing just how many people walk up and ask him where the bathrooms are. :)
(Although I’ll admit, sometimes it really is just a case of surprise, not noticing a guest in the crowd. I remember at DragonCon 2001, we were in a crowded elevator, and suddenly from behind us, we heard the absolutely unmistakable tones of Sallah from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, saying, “Excuse me, this is my floor.” John Rhys-Davies had been behind us the entire ride, and nobody even noticed until he spoke.)
Go to the following link to check out a video clip of Torgo fondling Mike Nelson at the San Diego Comic Con as well as images of Torgo at the convention and the live show:
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,10247.0.html
re #28: Dear Robyn : Writing from the capitol of the world here… I understand your frustration. I myself have never seen an episode of the OC ( some kind of TV show ? ), but I know full well that Californians “are not all air-headed botox bimbos sleeping on piles of money and drinking the tears of artists”. I know for a fact that a good many of you out there are serial killers.
Northern Kentucky, eh, Sampo? Well, enjoy your time crashing in my neck of the woods! There’s a smattering of MSTies here and there, so you’re among friends. :mrgreen:
Frank most certainly does NOT look as though he has been ridden hard nor does he appear to have been put away wet. Nothing but love for the best second banana in TV history….TV’s Frank
P.S. Take that Pat Buttram
People rarely spot me by my face; however thousands recognized a half-inch of my right wrist.
-kwm
p.s. sampo – Is your avatar the Sampo building in Helsinki by any chance?
I for one am not surprised that Frank would be recognized more than other members ( with the exception of Mike ). Other reasons are valid as well, but my thinking is…
Joel hasn’t been on screen for a long while, and looks noticebly different than he did.
Trace, MJP & Bill C have been off-screen for a shorter period of time, but when they were on screen, they were in character and difficult to recognize out of it ( in my experience ).
Kevin was on screen much less than the others :(
Frank was on screen a lot, pretty much undisguised, and looks a lot now like he did then.
I’m surpised that more people didn’t detect Mike though.
well anyway, to paraphrase somebody… I guess when the stalker is ready, the victim appears.
Had the greatest time with the whole cast at the Comic-Con.
Realize also that while we may have recognized Joel, Mike, Kevin, Josh, Trace, . . . . .
SOME of us were trying to be respectful of the artists time. Each member of the great cast was always friendly and approachable, but the actual meet and sign sessions were brief and everyone seemed to want the cast all over and all at once.
I will say this. Saturday afternoon, while waiting at Shout! for a chance to meet Frank, Trace, and Joel, we were in line in the garbage alley of the dealer hall. Joel came up to the line, talked with all his fans, shook hands, told us things were going to start in a few minutes, and was the most “fan friendly” celeb at the Con. The young gal next to me almost fainted, the rest of us were in respectful awe.
Joel did more for fan loyalty in that few moments than any mega studio there (an they were ALL there).
Yes we wanted the chance to talk more with these guys and gals(too little of that), and yes Comic-Con pretty REALLY fumbled the 20th Anniversary panel, but that small gesture (AND THE LIVE SHOW OF COURSE) made up for anything we, the fans, did not get.
Thank you.
Hey, Richard,
I was in the garbage alley with you. I was near the front of the line, so I saw Joel right when he first walked up. He sort of peered into the alley and I muttered in a very soft voice “there’s Joel.” Only the people right around me heard and turned around. I don’t know why I didn’t say it out loud, but I think it was because I didn’t want to start a panic or something. A few minutes later he started chatting us up just as you said. I got to shake his hand and he moved on. Very cool.
Similar things happened when I saw the other MST alums over the weekend. I always recognized them, but I didn’t shout out or lunge at them. Maybe its a respect factor for all the laughs they’ve given me over the years.
I’m so jealous,I wish I could afford to cruise around the country and visit with my heroes but alas, i’ll live it through you guys and the discs when they come out. Sure sounds like you had a blast except for smells and being trapped in northern Kentucky.
I was talking to Mike and Bridget on Saturday, and someone professing himself to be the world’s biggest MST3K fan actually shoved his camera at Bridget for a picture. Sir, we do not *shove* our cameras at Mr. B Natural.
Aw, c’mon, Fred P, it’s not that bad here in Louisville. At least we have hot browns. :smile: