Mike vs. Joel POLL

I've always thought of myself as a Joel person, but you have to give Mike credit for picking great movies during his tenure. You had to put up with a lot of godawful Sandy Frank movies during the Joel Era, but Mike brought us delights such as Werewolf and Time Chasers.

joel, for being more nebbishy.

Joel, cause he made a lot more pot jokes and the skits he did between moviesigns were waaaaay better than Mike's.

Joel! Reason #324: Gypsy sounds way funnier saying his name.

"Jooooellll!"

i never really contribute to ILXOR, but really have to here. often mike has the funniest riffs and some of the greatest episodes of the series come under his tenure, but... it has to be joel. mainly because, as my wife always says (who grew up with the show rather than this brit whose upbringing was bereft of MST3K goodness) mike is just some guy the bots like hanging out with. with joel there's more of a family dynamic - he's like an uncle or an older brother and as such the rapport with gypsy, servo and crow seems somehow more *special*. plus, you know, he's one of the most immediately affable personas i've ever seen in tv history.

this is totally a Bon Scott vs. Brian Johnson kinda debate. you almost gotta go with the former for pretty much inventing the whole shebang, but you'd be a total wet blanket for not giving the latter his due for filling some big shoes admirably and occupying the spot for a longer and in some ways more fruitful tenure.

I have had so many people, at the start of MST3K conversations, shoehorn in a "No Mike v. Joel, ok?" disclaimer.

great post, some dude!

you too, Chris Browning!

Totally feeling the AC/DC comparison. That said, I have to pick Mike even though I don't want to, mostly because I know his host era better.

I'm in Dan's predicament. I know more Mike eps than I do Joel bc I came to the show pretty late.

Yeah, same here too.

but they are both so goddamn handsome and adorable :(

Joel is the dreamier of the two.

and therein lies my dilemma

He's not that dreamy, tho.

Dreamy in a nerdy way, cutest boy at the library way

Hahah goddamn well I suppose this poll had to happen at some point. some dude pretty much called it, I am down with the whole shebang and in many ways it's best to talk about different eras throughout the lifespan instead of a clearcut Mike/Joel split. (This has become clearer to me lately thanks to seeing the KTMAs as well as more of the first season episodes featuring Josh instead of Kevin as Servo.)

Really, if Jim Mallon and Joel hadn't've had their falling out we'd never have this poll to start with -- but would the show have lasted as long? Perhaps but you never know...

I grew up with the Mike episodes, so him

Voted MIke. It feels like a betrayal somehow though

I might as well use this thread to note that the next box sets will include the two Master Ninja episodes plus all five Gamera episodes. He is really neat and filled with turtle meat.

Oh man Josh as Servo... great stuff. I think those early riffs on the Commander Cody shorts are some of the best ever, but the first season just always seems off to me with its differently-voiced Servo and lack of TV's Frank. I still haven't seen any KTMA stuff, mainly because I've always heard its terrible and/or no good copies exist.

you can find KTMA stuff on youtube - it's not so great

I'm having a real Sophie's Choice moment here.

lol

Joel for sure, but Mike deserves credit for keeping the riffs funny and sharp during his tenure even if the sketches suffered.

Also, Space Mutiny omg

It is my precious.

Space Mutiny really is top five for me in the end. EVERYTHING about it is just so wrong.

it's really amazing on all levels

"I've lost POWER!"

"Relax, you're in your room."

As for KTMA a lot of it is a slog and a half, especially those episodes they redid in a much puncture fashion. A few of them hold up in the end though -- I have a fondness for the total terribleness of _Superdome_ but the keeper might be _The Million Eyes of Su-Muru_. Very much of the same "the fuck?" Eurogenre as _Operation Double 007_ and _The Castle of Fu Manchu_, not to mention a Klaus Kinski cameo that will melt your brain. He plays President Boong, but of course.

Much puncture? Much punchier. Gotta love iPhones.

We put our faith in BLAST HARDCHEESE!

I love both for different reasons. Joel's in-movie jokes were kind of lame but his host segments were very funny. Mike Nelson is the exact opposite, his host segments suck post-Forrester and Frank but damned if he doesn't make the best cultural references during the movie.

I also kind of love the lameness of Joel's jokes, there's a sweetness there that I think is what people really respond to in his character generally.

Favorite Joel riff of the moment: The guy in Manos tells Torgo to hurry it up with the luggage. "Oh, yeah, here I go... VROOOM."

In Mike's favor: I like Rifftrax a lot better than I like Cinematic Titanic.

^^^

The writing of the riffs notably improved going into the Mike era, but as a host, Joel was just better.

Plus, Joel has nice calves.

I liked how Joel always tickled the person on screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZyJCV_dyug

"who was the better host, not the men themselves... no subtracting points for odious politics!"

is it possible to parse their character out? by "pure" hosting prowess you'd end up with craig kilborn over stewart and leno over conan -- totally disastrous results.

I mean on a technical level, Carrot Top probably would defeat Joel in prop comedy, but I wouldn't want to eat at that restaurant.

I like MST3K, but as a fan of cult films there's nothing more frustrating than finally finding a DVD of some film you wanted to watch only to discover that it has talking robot puppets and comedy bits all over it.

Joel, no question. I started watching in season 3 and always thought of Mike as the replacement host. Also, I liked the Joel sketches a lot more.

I like MST3K, but as a fan of cult films there's nothing more frustrating than finally finding a DVD of some film you wanted to watch only to discover that it has talking robot puppets and comedy bits all over it.

Early on in the release of MST3K on DVD, they used to actually feature the unedited, un-riffed versions of the films on the flip side. Must've dropped it when they realized not many people really care to own The Creeping Terror IRL.

Anyway, the trick about Joel with skits is that they simultaneously felt like skits and not at all like skits. Whereas you felt Mike constantly trying to do skits that were clearly skits and they just often fell flat. Every once in awhile he'd hit one out of the park by his standards (I'm thinking the full show's worth of Urkel), but just about everything Joel did was effortless.

I thought you didn't like comedy?

Just not what you find funny.

Inspiration for one of my favorite Joel skits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJoNR0ILZrM

"Secretaries were groped in the mailroom...keys would be exchanged...and even though it was Christmas...Jesus was nowhere to be seen."

Joel. Mike rules too, though.

I much prefer Joel's stoner amiability over Mike's cokehead manic energy though I may have only dreamt the latter.

I guess that I shouldn't have been so quick to vote when I have three weeks to really mull this over.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Mike holds up to Joel movie-wise, but (at least once TV's Frank joins the cast), I enjoy the hosting bits of Joel's a lot more than the Mike ones (I usually skip them entirely by the Sci-Fi years). So Joel.

If we're comparing the eras of the hosts, the absolute peak of the show was during Mike's tenure (seasons 5-7), but he has the Scifi channel years and all the awful host segments therein to deal with. Maybe Mike was always kind of worse at host segments, but it's kind of unfair to judge him without Trace or Frank (who were always the funniest part of the show IMO).

As far as who was actually better as a performer on the show, Mike was funnier during the movie segments, and close enough to Joel in the host segments that I have to tip it to him.

also it's unfair to judge them on "movie picking," that was always up to the rights holders and whatever the staff as a whole decided on.

Just remembered invention exchange. If I hadn't already settled on Joel, that would have sealed it.

Also he did a better job reading fan letters. And singing!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

After perusing some of the comments and episode ratings at Satellite News, I have come to the conclusion that I am not in lockstep with most MST3K fans w.r.t the show's best episodes. But, for the record, I can't really comprehend how anyone can get through most of the Sci-Fi Channel episodes.

There are some plenty funny ones during those times, though! Different dynamic, sure, but I wouldn't want a world without Space Mutiny or Soultaker.

I like Merlin and The Wisconsin Spider Invasion as much as the next guy, but for them to rank a full half-star above all of those episodes from the season 4-6 peak? Uh-uh.

</MST3K nerdery>

I'd POX right now, but I want to sleep on it.

the scifi-era host segments are irredeemably awful.

err, I guess that's a redundant post from me haha

"irredeemably" is kind of a harsh word.