Man, you wanted answers? You've got ANSWERS!

[Oriana]

I'm very upset about what Joel said in regards to my question. I've been a fan of his since his SNL days (before MST!) and the last thing I'd ever want to do was say something to provoke him. Wow, my heart is actually broken over this. I was really looking forward to this Q&A thingy, but now I no longer care.

[Miss Interoceter]

I really took his response to Oriana in a very different way. I read it as dripping with sarcasm. He just forgot the [/sarcasm] mark at the end. I also have to take exception to calling him out over some perceived Rifftrax rift. One of the points of contention was that he was probably not too busy to view or participate in one. Come on! Look at it analytically for a second. He's brought his original idea to fruition which involved designing and building a set, designing, redesigning, maintaining and running a website, dealing with the business of securing rights, finding a distributor, writing a script, doing three live shows and the travel and planning involved with each, retouching the script when they saw it needed some things after the live show, doing some interviews, generating buzz, and then there's the fact that he's probably trying to provide for and spend time with his family in the meantime while this thing gets off the ground. That sounds pretty busy to me and this time they don't have a tv station to handle any of the work for them. I'll cut him some slack, there.

Add to that, in nearly every interview I've ever read with any of them, none of them seem interested in naming favorite episodes or showing interest in the others' products. I think it's easy to make the mistake of them being fans when this is their job instead. At the end of the day, you'd want to get away from it, not bring it home with you.

Aside from all that, I think these were some of the most in depth answers we've ever heard giving us a lot more insight on the way it all works.

[Oriana]

cocopjojo said:

rocketnumber9 said:

(One tiny little negative: I'm kinda going WTF at Joel's response to Oriana's question - I don't know why he's coming down on her for asking a simple question that 99.9% of the fans have also been wondering about. Or maybe I'm looking too much into it. But he coulda just answered RepSam's question and left her out of it. I dunno, that just bugged me, sorry. )

It was just because of the phrasing. It doesn't sound like she's asking for the premise, it sounds like she's saying "so could we have an actual PREMISE please?" I doubt that's what she meant, but that's how it read to me (and to Joel, too, since he pointed out that he liked RepSam's phrasing better). Oriana's was just phrased a little aggressively.

I wasn't being aggressive, I was asking an honest question that we've all wanted an answer to. There was no reason for Joel to respond the way he did. Heck, there was no reason at all for him to even say anything as he answered the question later on. I really feel like he was mocking me and not in a good way. He hurt my feelings and I'm not sure if I'll ever get over it.

Yesterday was my birthday and it didn't go all that well (think Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles), so when I came home I was really excited to see that he answered our questions. I figured maybe my day would go out on a high note. Man, I was so wrong!

[Shep]

oriana said:

cocopjojo said:

It was just because of the phrasing. It doesn't sound like she's asking for the premise, it sounds like she's saying "so could we have an actual PREMISE please?" I doubt that's what she meant, but that's how it read to me (and to Joel, too, since he pointed out that he liked RepSam's phrasing better). Oriana's was just phrased a little aggressively.

I wasn't being aggressive, I was asking an honest question that we've all wanted an answer to. There was no reason for Joel to respond the way he did. Heck, there was no reason at all for him to even say anything as he answered the question later on. I really feel like he was mocking me and not in a good way. He hurt my feelings and I'm not sure if I'll ever get over it.

Yesterday was my birthday and it didn't go all that well (think Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles), so when I came home I was really excited to see that he answered our questions. I figured maybe my day would go out on a high note. Man, I was so wrong!

I'm pretty sure he was joking around, being playful. (That's the problem with online--you can't read faces, hear voice inflections, etc.)

I don't think Joel would deliberately hurt anyone, especially a fan. He seems like a very sweet guy.

Happy late Birthday btw.

[RAD]

Oriana,

First, a belated Happy Birthday! And I can assure you Joel was just being playful with you. Please don't take it the wrong way. As has been stated, it's so easy to have something misinterpreted in the text-only world of the Internet, I'm sure it's happened to all of us at one time or another. Sorry if you felt hurt by Joel's response, but he was truly just being joking. PM me if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to assuage your feelings.

Best,
RAD

[XerxesTheCat]

Good qs and great answers. Thanks again Rad and Joel.

I loved Joel's joke response to my question. I love the ccasional cerebral humor.

[braindeadzombie]

I feel kind of bad myself as Joel answered my sarcastic question as if I was serious and left my more serious ones alone. Ah well. My question about rotating CT members did get answered in a roundabout way but I'm still curious as to why CT seems to be done as a "in persona" riffing rather than written characters.

I guess that it's going to be part of the premise?

[Oriana]

Thanks RAD. I'm feeling a wee bit better. I just don't get why he even posted my question in the first place. I guess he was just being Joel.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, folks! I appreciate them.

[MonsterX]

So cool to read the answers to everyone’s questions. Thanks for taking the time to humor us Joel and thanks for organizing everything Rad!

[BoB3K]

Thanks Joel! And thanks to RAD. It seems clear to me that a good bit of the info and insight into CT we get is because of RAD. You're good people RAD. I like the cut of your gib, etc.

interoceter said:

in nearly every interview I've ever read with any of them, none of them seem interested in naming favorite episodes or showing interest in the others' products. I think it's easy to make the mistake of them being fans when this is their job instead. At the end of the day, you'd want to get away from it, not bring it home with you.

On one had I see the point here. On the other had, I am a software writer of about 10 years, and I have done dozens of software projects over the years, and I could answer almost without hesitation what projects I've liked, loved, hated if asked. I would think that if you are creating things, whether as your job or hobby, you would have feelings for them. MHO, I guess.

[General Tom Servo]

Well, in re Joel and Mike I don't see why we should assume Mr. Hodgson is being a jerk, as dangfish and others seem to think. If he really disliked Mike and Co. wouldn't he just avoid the topic of Rifftrax altogether? I mean, I don't see why we should assume there's a "rift" between Joel and Mike, after all Joel picked Mike to replace him in the first place.

[Queen Shadowrama]

generaltomservo said:

I mean, I don't see why we should assume there's a "rift" between Joel and Mike, after all Joel picked Mike to replace him in the first place.

We can't assume that there's a rift - not anymore. Mike has said there are no hard feelings, and Joel has now said there are no hard feelings. Speculation is over, done, dead, gone to join the choir invisible, ect. ;D

That being said, I don't mind a playful rivalry between the two (a la Bill and Mary Jo). That stuff is fun!

[Miss Interoceter]

bob3k said:

On one had I see the point here. On the other had, I am a software writer of about 10 years, and I have done dozens of software projects over the years, and I could answer almost without hesitation what projects I've liked, loved, hated if asked. I would think that if you are creating things, whether as your job or hobby, you would have feelings for them. MHO, I guess.

I see your point, too. But creative people tend to think about their own projects first in my experience. I'm a musician and I always compare different arrangements to the way I arrange a song. Unfair? Certainly, different people hear any given song in different ways. But I think that could hold true in their medium as well. If I were one of them watching the other's work I think I'd spend the whole time thinking of how I'd write jokes than necessarily enjoying it on it's own merit. Which goes back to what I said about this being their job. It's hard to separate that from just a pure recreational experience like we all view it as. Just my opinion, too.

[General Tom Servo]

queenshadowrama said:

We can't assume that there's a rift - not anymore. Mike has said there are no hard feelings, and Joel has now said there are no hard feelings. Speculation is over, done, dead, gone to join the choir invisible, ect. ;D

That being said, I don't mind a playful rivalry between the two (a la Bill and Mary Jo). That stuff is fun!

Indeed, I found the stuff about their "son" quite amusing.

[Donna SadCat Lady]

About Joel not having seen any of the Rifftrax--keep in mind that Kevin Murphy said in his recent 20-Q at the RT blog that he's only watched the trailer to Oozing Skull.
This is purely speculation on my part. But sometimes creative people will deliberately avoid the works of others in a similar vein, simply to avoid being unduly influenced. That is, to avoid the problem of unconscious plagiarism.
Also, I've read about other creative types who can't watch or listen to stuff in their own field for enjoyment. They find they get too caught up in analyzing or critiquing the works, from a professional standpoint.
I don't claim that either of these apply to any of the Brains or Titans or Riffers. I just want to point out that there are other possibilities besides jerkiness or feudiness.