Greetings, most respected people at Rifftrax. I have been a fan since 2008, and a MStie for 25+ years. I love what you do, love supporting you by purchasing your products, going to your live events, and supporting you on Kickstarter. You are awesome and have made my life better.

That being said, while I enjoyed attending your latest Live event, Samurai Cop, it also left me extremely disappointed. It is actually the latest in a string of minor disappointments I've had with your live shows over the years, and this is why: you take something you have already riffed (whether, as in most cases, it was a movie from the MST3K days, or something you've riffed before for Rifftrax), and you make a live show out of it. At least in the past you have written new riffs, so it made going to the live show a fresh experience, even if I had seen the movie material and previous riffs a number of times. (And there is the exception of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny with a different fairy tale in the middle, Jack and the Beanstalk, which I thought was even better than Thumbelina, and therefore made the whole experience extra worth it.) But for Samurai Cop I saw ahead of time you were taking the "best" jokes and adding new ones. Imagine my horror when apparently that meant 90-95% of the previous jokes were used exactly or slightly retooled.

Some of this is my fault. I tend to buy your riffs right away or shortly thereafter if I like the preview of it, which I almost always do. I, however, don't usually watch them right away. So I had purchased Samurai Cop earlier, but hadn't watched it yet, and thinking it would enhance my experience at the live event if I knew which jokes were previously used and which weren't, I watched it last Saturday (the 8th) in preparation for the live broadcast (on the 13th). Now, because my memory works really well in context, it's not so much that I memorized the jokes that you told the first time around, but as they went along with the movie, it was easy to remember what you had said when I watched it a mere 5 days earlier. In retrospect, I would have had a better time had I not watched your VOD version either at all, or so close to the event. Although I think it would have been worse if I had not watched it beforehand, and then decided down the line to watch the older version, only to discover this later. But I guess we'll never know.

I guess what this really gets down to is this: why do you have to riff at a live event something you've already done? I saw repeatedly in the promotion of the Samurai Cop live event that it was one of your most-requested riffs. I don't know if that was specifically for a live event or just in general, and that's why you had done it previously, but particularly if it was after you had offered it as a VOD feature, I guess I want to know why? I have attended every single one of your Rifftrax Live events, and almost all of them the live shows. (Granted, not the repeat showings like the offering last Christmas, but you get my point.) While I support you happily, I don't like the thought of buying a riff, then paying the money to go see the same one (which Samurai Cop almost entirely was) at a Live showing (and those keep prices keep changing, but usually increasing), and then, sometimes, as the case may be, if I like the Live riff, paying to buy that one, too. (I did that for Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, though in that case, as previously stated that I liked the newer version better, I didn't mind as much.)

As evidenced by the fact that there continues to be plenty of bad movies for you guys to riff after all the years of Rifftrax, the old MST3K, and the reboot out yesterday, it's frustrating to me that you continue to return to old titles. At least in the past you wrote new riffs. Samurai Cop you almost totally did not (though I have to admit, the timely United Airlines customer service riff was hilarious). Oh, and unless I missed it for people near my talking, or the laughter in the audience, you took out one of my favorite riffs of the movie, the reference to Dragon Sound/Miami Connection, which is probably my favorite one of your live shows, period. To have the riifs be almost exactly the same for the whole movie, but my favorite one be removed (again, I may have missed it), that made my experience even worse.

I'm sorry for going on about this. You haven't lost me as a customer, as I'll be at your other shows this year, particularly the Five Doctors riff. When it was revealed, I jumped up and down and freaked out my family at the display of my manic glee. I will continue to buy your products and support you in future Kickstarter campaigns. And I admit, maybe it's wrong of me to basically demand you give myself and other Rifftrax fans more bang for our buck. But I had to let you know, in case there are others out there that feel the same way I do but haven't said anything before. Or maybe there are others who have expressed this, but have done so in a less-respectful way. (I really hope if anything you know that I have utmost respect for all of you at Rifftrax.) Why have a feedback option if you aren't looking for honest feedback?

Thank you for your time. But before I leave, since I have you hear, I would like to end on a positive note. in your riff of Day of the Animals, that line about "Up to my ears in Bull" being the title of erotic Night Court fanfiction made me laugh harder than I have at anything else in a long time, and I laugh just thinking about it, which is often. Thank you for that and everything else you do.

Most affectionately yours,
Bob Kubiak.