What was the explaination for the switch from Joel to Mike in Mystery Science Theater 3000? I mean, they were just drifting out in space, right?
It was a satellite (the Satellite of Love) orbiting Earth. The bots helped Joel to escape and the scientists sent up Mike as a replacement so they can continue their experiments.
As I recall it that is.
If I’m remembering right, the switchover played as the background story to the movie “Mitchell” with Joe Don Baker. The mads hired Mike in as a temp to help them get organized for a mad scientist audit (or something like that). Gypsy heard them talking about killing someone in a jumpsuit (Mike) and thought they were talking about Joel. She asks Mike what to do and Mike finds a one person escape capsule listed in the stations manifest. It was hidden in a box of Hamdingers. End of the episode, Joel heads back to Earth in the S.S. Hamdinger and the mads find themselves short of a victim until Mike walks up to have them sign his time card.
What was the real reason for the switch? Wasn’t Joel more or less the creator? Was he squeezed out? Did he decide to move on?
Joel got tired of the show, basically.
-Joe
If I remember correctly, the name of the escape shuttle was the Deus Ex Machina.
Joel had been co-creator of the show, but Mike had been the head writer (and played bit characters) for some time (maybe since the beginning). So there was a remarkable amount of continuity.
Joel was never entirely comfortable on the show, or so I’ve heard - and add five years of fatigue of doing the same sort of thing again and again - and he just felt he had to do something else. I think mst3kinfo.com has links to some interviews where he discusses the matter in his own words, though.
Fern Forest and Harborwolf have the onscreen explanation.
Joel wasn’t the only original cast member to leave, either. J. Elvis Weinstein, who played Dr. Laurence Erhardt and Tom Servo, left after the '91 season, and Trace Beulieu, who played Dr. Clayton Forrester and Crow T. Robot, left after '96.