Ask MST3k Creator Joel Hodgson

As turkey day approaches, we have the chance to ask Joel Hodgson whatever you can think of. If you've lived without electricity since the 80s, you might not be aware that he was the creator and original host of what may be the funniest show in history - Mystery Science Theater 3000, as well as the upcoming Cinematic Titanic. I've still got my fan club membership card even after nearly 2 decades. Standard Slashdot interview rules apply: ask your questions here, and we'll pass a bunch of the highest scoring ones for Joel to answer.

Re:What do you do in your own off-time?

[Anonymous Coward]

And, perhaps most interestingly, are there any particular movies that you wouldn't dare lampoon?

Schindler's List?
Mississippi Burning?
Philidelphia?
There are a ton of movies that, yes, you could lampoon but you would not be popular ...

What do you think of KTMA episodes being available

[antifoidulus]

on sites like the Digital Archive Project. I know many current and former MST3k staffers have shown support, but I am interested in what you think about the early stuff(KTMA era and season 1 era) episodes being available for all to see. In the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide there are a couple of statements telling us not to go seek those out because they aren't very good, but fans have encoded them anyway. Does it still bother you? And also, can we please have the master tapes for the first 3 KTMA episodes? Please!

Re:Rifftrax & The Film Crew

[Anonymous Coward]

Never mind the Joel vs. Mike controversy -- it will just lead to endless arguing. Joel, do you prefer vi or emacs?

Illegal video downloads

[fonik]

Recently on my college campus there has been a huge rise in popularity of MST3K among people who have never seen an episode before. I think this is due to the ease of illegally watching episodes online. Do you think that this trend is good or bad?

Alternate question: What is it like to watch regular movies with those jokes going on inside your head?

Re:Do you feel proud or ashamed

[geekoid]

Why is this expectation so prevalent among fans?

What, he was supposed to do the same thing forever? He wanted to go other places with his career.
He doesn't owe you crap.

Re:Sci-Fi Channel Years

[ConceptJunkie]

I gave up on the Sci-Fi Channel when I realized they were really the Low-Budget Horror Channel with occasional forays into SF.

MST3K was, and always will be a niche show, and TV executives as a group have some sort of bizarre mental block when it comes to niche shows. They don't understand them, don't like them and usually destroy them (see Futurama). If it's not "American Idol" or some similar lowest-common-denominator dreck, they treat it like some kind of radioactive waste. And these guys are geniuses compared to network TV execs who are to good TV what Microsoft is to good software... if any slips out it is almost by accident.

The irony is that as we are approaching the proverbial "500 channels" we've been promised and yet there is still no place for something like MST3K. That's why I turned off satellite, turned on Netflix and have almost worn out my MST3K collection.