The first two movies I can remember then riffing were THE ROBOT MONSTER and THE CRAWLING HAND. I became hooked and pretty much watched it right up to the point where original presenter Joel Hodgeson (seen far left in the photo) bowed out and was replaced by Michael J. Nelson.
I kind of stopped watching religiously around that point. I've softened up towards Mike Nelson in recent years. Although, I always thought he was better when he'd either appear as characters from the movie interacting with Joel and the Bots or as random celebrities like Morrissey. My favorite two Mike impersonations was Hugh Beaumont and Glenn from THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN. His Torgo as a pizza delivery man was my second favorite.
Since the show's cancellation, many of the cast involved with MST3K have continued riffing in various live projects. The two projects that have been most successful for the cast have been CINEMATIC TITANIC and RIFFTRAX.
CINEMATIC TITANIC features the original three cast members of MST3K which include Joel Hodegson (Joel Robinson), J. Elvis Weinstein (Tom Servo/Dr. Laurence Erhardt), Trace Beaulieu (Crow T. Robot/Dr. Clayton Forrester) as well as later cast members Frank Coniff (TV's Frank) and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester. RIFFTRAX features the later three cast members Michael J. Nelson (Mike Nelson), Kevin Murphy ( Tom Servo Mark II) and Bill Corbett (Crow T. Robot Mark II).
The difference between the two is CINEMATIC TITANIC tends to stick with the original premise layed out by MST3K by riffing on low budget b movies which are in the public domain or are inexpensive to obtain. RIFFTRAX, however, has deviated into riffing on popular movies such as the Indiana Jones or Star Wars films as well as series's such as Harry Potter and Twilight.
This was actually something that was started by Mike, Kevin and Bill while they were still working on MST3K during Oscar Season back in 1998 or 1999 where they were riffing on the movie Titanic.
The other difference between the two projects is since it would be expensive to secure the rights to use the footage and to avoid any legal headaches by using the movies without permission, Michael J. Nelson and company sell the audio tracks seperately and what people do when they purchase the tracks is sync them up with the movie on their computer.
I think I read somewhere Mike's statement behind riffing on popular films is that riffing isn't just limited to old movies. Hollywood is still making bad films. I'm misquoting but its something like that.
I can't say I completely agree with the sentiment. Most the films RIFFTRAX are riffing on are actually films I really enjoy. So, now you're venturing into the realm of the subjective and personal opinion. Meaning, Michael J. Nelson isn't a fan of the Star Wars series so therefore he considers them to be bad movies.
He is most certainly entitled to that opinion. I just don't agree with it. But there are fans of RIFFTRAX. So I'm more than certain there are people that don't agree with my opinion.
I had outlined what makes a bad movie in a previous blog about MANOS. Which RIFFTRAX has riffed recently. Or re-riffed. Which the CINEMATIC TITANIC crew did with SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS several years back.
However, if you enjoy what Mike and the crew at RIFFTRAX are doing, keep on enjoying it. I'm not forcing you to stop or telling Mike and company to cut it out. They're free to do whatever the wish.
But being an old skool fan, my preference tends to lean towards CINEMATIC TITANIC over RIFFTRAX. I just feel there has to be more of a reason to make fun of a film just because you don't like it. And Joel and the crew have nailed it.
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