The director was apparently cool with it (and supplied MST with a print), but the cast apparently found it really offending for some reason, the star and the guy who played Bob Evil/JK Robertson in particular took it really badly.

Back when Mary Jo Pehl was a bit more active on social media and more open (she's getting back there now that she's part of Rifftrax) she hinted that someone involved with Time Chasers was the most "problem" they ever had from anyone in terms of nasty mails/phone calls, etc.. but she never elaborated beyond that.

Wow, didn't know Mary was on board with rifftrax, would be great if they could snag Trace or TV's frank, since they don't seem to have any connection to the new MST3K.

Mary Jo was always the crossover riffer between Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic. Her and Mike's wife have put out shorts and "lady" themed movies for years.

If I were to predict who we'll see in the new MST3K, it's:
Mary Jo
Frank
Kevin
Trace
Bill
Joel (obvs)

I'd like to see Mike but honestly, when I see him at Rifftrax life stuff, he doesn't seem as into it as Kevin and Bill, and looks uncomfortable in his own skin. Might be reading into it too much, but I get the impression Mike is the odd one out in the cast. J. Elvis seems unenthused about the project on his twitter, too. Kevin remains one of the more enthusiastic guys about his job, so I could see him at least contributing his voice for the "change the voice modulator" moment, Bill always seems like he's having fun so I figure he'd be game, Trace and Joel worked together on Other Space last year and Mary Jo also seems willing. Frank is a big maybe, but I think that he'd be willing if not able. He didn't age super well.

I heard with Time Chasers a bunch of the people involved in it got excited when it was going to premiere, and got together to watch it. They apparently didn't really think MST3K would say things like "this is a bad movie". Also some cast member they all loved got completely edited out of MST3K's version for time. So they all got together and got really sad.

As for new MST3K, I wouldn't hold my breath for any of the original cast members to appear other than Joel. I sort of get the sense from twitter that some of them think new MST3K is a little illegitimate without them as cast members and/or they all got together to hold off on appearing on the new MST3K until they get a better residual deal on streaming and DVD sales of the old episodes.

The weirdest thing I've heard about Mike is that he has massive reoccurring migraines and so sometimes when he doesn't seem so enthused he's actually in a lot of physical pain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/magazine/10funny-humor-t.htm l?_r=0

From what I understand re: the new MST3K, Joel simply didn't tell the other original performers about it or cut them in at all. Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu have said as much on Twitter; not sure about anyone else.

The new MST will probably not feature any cameos from the older folk. Joel somehow got the rights back (in tandem with Shout Factory) and, to put it simply, most of the old cast are a little pissed that Joel allowed the entire show to get controlled by Shout when they spent decades trying to get the show away from Jim Mallon (Best Brains). Joel insisted that everyone from MST get royalties from the DVDs and streaming deals, so that's a lot of progress from the Best Brains days, but the way he handled the new MST coming about sorta rubbed most of the alumni the wrong way. None of this has really been spoken per se (although Trace has talked about this in the Q&A sessions for him and Frank's new "Mads Are Back" shows), but it's what is going on. Joel has invited all of the MST alumni to participate in the new show, but so far the only takers have been Beez McKeever (the costume designer who is super awesome) and Paul Chaplin (one of the writers, played various roles). Of course who knows...maybe something will change.

Hmm. I didn't know there was bad blood in that regard. I know Rifftrax is selling old MST3K episodes now and their parent company is Legend Films, not Shout Factory. Dunno if that was some hard fought concession or was always the deal, but Shout Factory doesn't seem have a total exclusive deal.

It's really surprising because of the aforementioned shared job between Joel and Trace just last year on Other Space. Though, Trace was just a voice in that show, so perhaps they didn't really work together per se.

Is....is Joel the new Jim Mallon? Oh shit!

Also, I never knew that tidbit about Mike's migraines. That puts those pained grimaces he makes in a new light. I just thought that we was too old for this shit but couldn't quit because a guys gotta eat.

Well, I hope more than Beez and Chaplin come over. I still dream of a Mike/Joel matchup happening some day, some how on Rifftrax or MST3K or wherever.

I eventually tossed a few bucks at the kickstarter, but the way it went definitely made me feel like the Mike crew wasn't in to it/actually invited which has been a put off. I'll still enjoy going to Rifftrax shows in the theater in the meantime...

I'm going to skip the new MST3K because of the lack of the old crew. The good news is I have ten seasons of the old show plus rifftrax to enjoy instead.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting Joel is unethical or "the new Jim Mallon." He clearly is just overjoyed that his creation is now back under his creative control and you can tell he just cannot WAIT to get back into MST production. The problem is that in his gleeful abandon, he kinda slighted the old cast and crew a bit. Frank and Trace are not really mad at Joel, they just think that it was weird of Joel to do the kickstarter and everything without consulting any of them. However, they have been very clear that Joel has offered them healthy amounts of money to participate if they want to and he has extended his offer to virtually everyone who ever worked on the show. He's a genuinely cool guy, and certainly not a Mallon-type (who actively tried to prevent the cast/crew from money off the show), but I think he got carried away with his dream coming true. The rifftrax guys have politely declined involvement because Rifftrax is a full-time business and they are happy with what they have. Again, though, this might all change once the show goes into production in earnest.