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[BattleMonkey]

Could simply be that the Rifftrax guys are not interested, they got a very successful thing going for themselves that is all theirs, the guys are gonna stick to doing their own creation now.

 

[TedHub]

So is there still no link to the Reddit AMA? It's happening in 20 minutes.

Here ya go!

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Here ya go!

Perfecto! Thank you!

 

[Tobor]

Could simply be that the Rifftrax guys are not interested, they got a very successful thing going for themselves that is all theirs, the guys are gonna stick to doing their own creation now.

Mike specifically said its not up to him.

 

[Ecto311]

The Joel episodes were my favorite when I was little. Looks like this will get funded.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

 

[Skiptastic]

And when he did (Rifftrax), it was not a pretty scene. Anything like that needs several writers to keep each other in check. "Head writer" is just another word for "boss" a lot of times.

The fuck? I loved Rifftrax when it was just Mike. The Road House Rifftrax is absolutely fantastic. I actually was disappointed when they started adding guests, though I softened on that over time.

It's disappointing that it won't be the old crew at the helm other than Joel, but they all are making their own money doing Rifftrax/touring/etc. so I don't blame them.

 

[TraBuch]

Joel? No thanks. I'll stick with RiffTrax.

 

[plagiarize]

The fuck? I loved Rifftrax when it was just Mike. The Road House Rifftrax is absolutely fantastic. I actually was disappointed when they started adding guests, though I softened on that over time.

It's disappointing that it won't be the old crew at the helm other than Joel, but they all are making their own money doing Rifftrax/touring/etc. so I don't blame them.

The Road House one is probably the best solo riff... but I'd still take what they're doing currently (especially the Rifftrax live stuff) over it.

Joel? No thanks. I'll stick with RiffTrax.

Joel isn't going to be the new host. Has it occurred to you that you might also prefer the new host over Joel? I personally prefer Mike too. It was Joel who handed the reigns over to him in the first place. If no-one had been open to a new host... we wouldn't have Mike.

 

[OuterLimits]

I love the show, but prefer the Sci Fi era over Comedy Central. I may still donate, but I realize the first season with new hosts may struggle to entertain.

It took awhile for Joel and gang to get rolling. First season was pretty bad. Same with Mike. His first 6-12 episodes were a tad awkward but he improved during season 6 and after.

 

[Loudninja]

This is very awesome!

 

[TraBuch]

Joel isn't going to be the new host. Has it occurred to you that you might also prefer the new host over Joel? I personally prefer Mike too. It was Joel who handed the reigns over to him in the first place. If no-one had been open to a new host... we wouldn't have Mike.

If he's not the host, I'll give it a shot.

 

[plagiarize]

If he's not the host, I'll give it a shot.

He's not. Glad to see you're going to give it a chance

Could simply be that the Rifftrax guys are not interested, they got a very successful thing going for themselves that is all theirs, the guys are gonna stick to doing their own creation now.

Given that they've recently started putting up MST3K episodes, something tells me they're still proud of their time on the show, and will be happy to keep signal boosting this new project.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

$450K.

Reddit AMA starting now!

 

[Tom_Cody]

While it's unfortunate that the RiffTrax side of the street won't be involved, I'm still really excited about supporting Joel's new venture. This is an insta-back project for me. I hope they earn a good yield.

 

[Chmpocalypse]

I can't find the quote at the moment, but I'm pretty sure Mike has said in the past that "Head Writer" basically meant he was responsible for collecting and organizing the entire writing staff's riffs. I love the man (well, if I ignore his politics) as much as the next guy, but it's not like he was the sole defining voice behind MST3K.

I just assumed those voices were placeholders. It always took awhile for new cast members to find their groove, but if those are the actual voices... it might take longer than usual.

Holy shit, his politics. Gross. Had no idea. Just lost so much respect for him.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

Holy shit, his politics. Gross. Had no idea. Just lost so much respect for him.

Has he actually been outspoken about anything since 2004? That's seems to be the last time I can find that he every openly mentioned anything political and it's that interview that gets quoted anywhere. If he was some huge right-wing nutjob his comedy certainly doesn't reflect that at all.

 

[boredJonathan]

While I'm concerned about how the hosting and writing all shakes out - I'm less concerned now realizing/remembering that Cinematic Titanic was also pretty fucking hilarious.

I've faith in Joel at this point - even more so hearing about how this has been in development for 2 years.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

My question was the first one Joel answered! Good info here.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

...is a much, much more unwatchable movie than TransFormers 3 or whatever it was. It really served the commentary well then. Here it rang hollow and I was able to just finish watching the movie just fine without the Rifftrax, even if it was kind of dumb. I couldn't do that with IotNM.

I dunno, Transformers 3 is pretty awful, even by Transformers standards. It's one of the few riffed movies that I'm never watching again - doesn't matter how good the jokes are when the movie is so incredibly tedious. Whereas your typical MST3K movie is so terrible that it can be made amusing, Transformers 3 has just enough technical competency to be utterly boring.

Surprised so many people are down on Rifftrax here. I found Cinematic Titanic to be mediocre compared to the average Rifftrax feature and Mary Jo Pehl (who was the cream of the CT crop IMO) now has a regular series on Rifftrax with Mike's wife.

 

[Sanjuro]

My question was the first one he answered! Good info here.

:O

 

[border]

"new Crow"
"new Tom Servo"

Man, it's already going to be tough to live up to the show's legacy with a new host and a new mad scientist, why would you want to make things even harder by creating new versions of the old robots?

Just put some new robots on the show, because trying to repackage the old bots with new voice actors and character designs is going to rub everyone the wrong way.

 

[TedHub]

"
Just put some new robots on the show, because trying to repackage the old bots with new voice actors and character designs is going to rub everyone the wrong way.

I think he's just referring to their new voices. If they had extreme visual redesigns, we would have seen them by now.

 

[OuterLimits]

Has he actually been outspoken about anything since 2004? That's seems to be the last time I can find that he every openly mentioned anything political and it's that interview that gets quoted anywhere. If he was some huge right-wing nutjob his comedy certainly doesn't reflect that at all.

Mike made jokes about the right and left during his time. Joel was mainly joking about the right although he wasn't political often in episodes. I realize Mike was a writer during the Joel years, but he definitely went after the left a bit more as did the cast in a few episodes when he was hosting.

Which was fine by me.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I think he's just referring to their new voices. If they had extreme visual redesigns, we would have seen them by now.

Correct. The video on the Kickstarter page shows Crow and Servo retain their designs.

 

[Lupin the Third]

I dunno, Transformers 3 is pretty awful, even by Transformers standards. It's one of the few riffed movies that I'm never watching again - doesn't matter how good the jokes are when the movie is so incredibly tedious. Whereas your typical MST3K movie is so terrible that it can be made amusing, Transformers 3 has just enough technical competency to be utterly boring.

Surprised so many people are down on Rifftrax here. I found Cinematic Titanic to be mediocre compared to the average Rifftrax feature and Mary Jo Pehl (who was the cream of the CT crop IMO) now has a regular series on Rifftrax with Mike's wife.

My point was the same as yours: Invasion of the Neptune Men is abysmal, TF3 was just kinda lame. The Rifftrax overblew its badness and couldn't just roll with the silliness for comedic effect. It wasn't even that funny of a track when they weren't being melodramatic. But to each their own. We're really drifting pretty off topic at this point anyway.

 

[Azure Dream]

for comparison, those Rifftrax Live Kickstarters typically made about 250k

I'm never backing one of those again, after what they pulled with the Twilight one. "Help us get this movie! Oops, we can't get it, we'll do something completely different instead and use your money for that!"

My question was the first one Joel answered! Good info here.

Good to read. People need to be confident in the new hosts.

I really hope Joel ran it by the other hosts first, instead of just springing this out without warning.

 

[OuterLimits]

Getting close to 500k already. Damn. Can't see this not at least reaching the 2 million 3 episode mark. Probably do much better.

 

[WyndhamPrice]

Here's the cost breakdown from the AMA that Joel just posted, if anyone's curious about why it's 2 million to start:

 

[Enk]

...is a much, much more unwatchable movie than TransFormers 3 or whatever it was. It really served the commentary well then. Here it rang hollow and I was able to just finish watching the movie just fine without the Rifftrax, even if it was kind of dumb. I couldn't do that with IotNM.

I like RiffTrax, depending on how on-the-ball they are. The Batman and Robin shorts I saw were great (in spite of the dirtier jokes they peppered them with), and their shorts in general are pretty good from my experience. But, on average, it's not as funny as MST3K.

Much like MST3K, RiffTrax has hit and miss commentaries. There have been plenty of films MST3K has done where it just felt like they were on the joke autopilot, and same with RiffTrax. I will say that when RiffTrax hits a flow it comes off just as strong as some of the best MST3K episodes. Usually you would have to avoid the more modern films and seek out the more obscure trash to find them. It's those films where Mike, Kevin, and Bill play off the movie and each other real well.

Some RiffTrax recommendations:

The Guy From Harlem
Zindy The Swamp Boy
Fun In Balloonland
Kingdom of Spiders
Santa & The Ice Cream Bunny
and Rollergator (The absolute worst film they have ever done. MST3K or RiffTrax)

Also I've enjoyed pretty much all their live shows as well. If I were to pick from those I would go with Birdemic and the more recent one of The Room.

 

[mcrommert]

Has he actually been outspoken about anything since 2004? That's seems to be the last time I can find that he every openly mentioned anything political and it's that interview that gets quoted anywhere. If he was some huge right-wing nutjob his comedy certainly doesn't reflect that at all.

He's right wing..thats enough

smh

 

[Lupin the Third]

Much like MST3K, RiffTrax has hit and miss commentaries. There have been plenty of films MST3K has done where it just felt like they were on the joke autopilot, and same with RiffTrax. I will say that when RiffTrax hits a flow it comes off just as strong as some of the best MST3K episodes. Usually you would have to avoid the more modern films and seek out the more obscure trash to find them. It's those films where Mike, Kevin, and Bill play off the movie and each other real well.

Some RiffTrax recommendations:

The Guy From Harlem
Zindy The Swamp Boy
Fun In Balloonland
Kingdom of Spiders
Santa & The Ice Cream Bunny
and Rollergator (The absolute worst film they have ever done. MST3K or RiffTrax)

Also I've enjoyed pretty much all their live shows as well. If I were to pick from those I would go with Birdemic and the more recent one of The Room.

Thanks for the reccomendations. You mention avoiding the big budget stuff but actually Twilight 1 turned out to be a hoot, going from memory. And TF1&2 were fine. So I know they have it in them.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

My point was the same as yours: Invasion of the Neptune Men is abysmal, TF3 was just kinda lame. The Rifftrax overblew its badness and couldn't just roll with the silliness for comedic effect. It wasn't even that funny of a track when they weren't being melodramatic. But to each their own. We're really drifting pretty off topic at this point anyway.

Actually, my point was that Invasion of the Neptune Men may be abysmal, but Transformers 3 is outright painful. Better an embarrassing movie than a merely bad one. But you're right this is tangential, so I'll end it at that.

Based on current funding, it'll make the initial goal easily but getting the full season stretch goal is unlikely.

You mention avoiding the big budget stuff but actually Twilight 1 turned out to be a hoot, going from memory

Twilight 2 is probably my wife's all-time favorite Rifftrax. And this is coming from someone who hates the series.

 

[rootbeerafloat]

I'm never backing one of those again, after what they pulled with the Twilight one. "Help us get this movie! Oops, we can't get it, we'll do something completely different instead and use your money for that!".

They didn't "pull" anything. They said upfront that it was a possibility that they wouldn't be able to get the rights. Didn't read the Kickstarter before you backed it? That's your fault. That's on you.

 

[gabbo]

Some RiffTrax recommendations:
Santa & The Ice Cream Bunny

Watching (or listening) to three people's minds melt away in front of you is not something for the faint at heart, and this movie/track is something else. Manos//Mitchell-level quality

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Past $500K!

Also:

So...any guesses? Maria Bamford?

 

[Blader]

Watching (or listening) to three people's minds melt away in front of you is not something for the faint at heart, and this movie/track is something else. Manos//Mitchell-level quality

Isn't that their next live show? My dad wanted to go see it. Haven't seen a live Rifftrax in years.

Past $500K!

Also:

So...any guesses? Maria Bamford?

It's a Belarian.

 

[mclem]

Past $500K!

Also:

So...any guesses? Maria Bamford?

The hair looks vaguely Weird Al-y. Female strikes me as more likely, though.

 

[Azure Dream]

They didn't "pull" anything. They said upfront that it was a possibility that they wouldn't be able to get the rights. Didn't read the Kickstarter before you backed it? That's your fault. That's on you.

Read the Kickstarter. They should not have gone to Kickstarter if their "possibility" was so flimsy. Twilight was still a popular franchise, and they should've locked things down firmly before opening up crowdfunding.

Not only that, they decided on a film I would've never backed as a Kickstarter, that wasn't even close to the original plan. Starship Troopers? That movie is an intentional farce to begin with. How is that remotely similar to Twilight?

So screw "you didn't read it's your fault." I had presumed (incorrectly) they did the legwork ahead of time for them to go to Kickstarter like that. They've probably been more careful about it since, but I don't feel like backing them again after that. It was a really bad chain of events.

 

[gabbo]

That sounds like Jonah Ray as the "host" in the intro video. I'm actually almost 100% sure it's him.

I would be okay with this.

HOLY shit, yes, and get Matt Mira to do one of the robot voices...and hell, bring in what's his fucking face, because kids love him and he's done voices in the past and we need more support through his massive Nerd network.

If that's not him, then he has a vocal doppleganger.
As for the other, it looks to be a female, someone perhaps associated with Nerdist?

Isn't that their next live show? My dad wanted to go see it. Haven't seen a live Rifftrax in years.

If that is the case, see it. But be aware that movie is really hard to sit through

 

[gabbo]

woops. Double Post

 

[IrishNinja]

Mike just said he's not involved: https://twitter.com/michaeljnelson/status/664160798499995648

aw, huge bummer here

wait where's everyone getting his political stance from

 

[Tom_Cody]

My question was the first one Joel answered! Good info here.

They host is clearly Jonah Ray (great pick!) but I have no idea about the Mad/lady.

My guess is Heather Anne Campbell.

 

[morningbus]

Let's not keep talking about Mike's politics, as it is kind of irrelevant to this project.

He's a conservative and he's very religious. Yet he has never let that get in the way of him telling jokes.

 

[morningbus]

They host is clearly Jonah Ray (great pick!) but I have no idea about the Mad/lady.

My guess is Heather Anne Campbell.

I'd love for the show to be filled up with @midnight regulars, but Joel also said this during the AMA:

I think that's a hilarious idea. I really hope I can figure out a good character to do for my own cameo. I'd love to be a Mad for an episode or two. But I'm also really excited about the person we're hoping to bring on as the next Mad. You simply won't believe it when you hear. If you look at the outline of the "Future Mad" on our Kickstarter page, maybe you can guess who it is.

So it's definitely someone pretty well known.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

According to Joel, the new Mad will be the offspring of Dr. Clayton Forrester, and the grandchild of Pearl Forrester, and therefore heir to the MST3K Experiment.

 

[Tom_Cody]

I'd love for the show to be filled up with @midnight regulars, but Joel also said this during the AMA:

So it's definitely someone pretty well known.

Hmm, Felicia Day maybe?

 

[Escape Goat]

Felicia Day? We just got rid of her on

Spoiler

Supernatural

. Nooo.

 

[Blader]

Just watched the pitch video. I'm ok with that Crow. I am not down with that Servo.

 

[Seraphis Cain]

Just watched the pitch video. I'm ok with that Crow. I am not down with that Servo.

My thoughts exactly. Crow (and the new host) sounds great, love 'em. Servo? Needs to dial it down a few notches. Going too far in the "tryhard radio DJ" direction.