Movies have always been an important part of my life. I got so into film that I even bought a pair of 35mm projectors and a few movies, back before DVD was released. One of my favorite things to do was listen to the running audio commentaries that the filmmakers and actors had to say about the film as they ran on laserdisc and DVD. They were great insights into the films.
Back in January of 2002, a movie buddy of mine sent me an email referencing an article Roger Ebert wrote. In the article, Roger suggested that film fans record their own commentary and put them on the internet. This was years before the word “podcasting” took form. My friend and I tossed the idea around at a time when the notion of an RSS-based audio feed hadn’t been fully realized yet. Eventually, we lost touch, but the idea kept bouncing around in my head.
When Ron Moore started doing podcast commentaries for Battlestar Galactica, the idea resurfaced and quickly died again. About a year ago, I decided to seriously start the project, pitching the idea to both Scott Johnson and Veronica Belmont who liked the idea (Veronica reminded me about Riff Trax, more on that in a moment). However, work on geekistry.com (then: delomni.com) kept me busy. A year later, I’m about to start this up. Big time.
The approach is to take a film that we love, and talk about the experience of seeing the film for the first time, what the movie meant to us, and how it still sticks with us. It would be personal, rather than making fun of a film like Riff Trax does. I haven’t found a single person that does this on a regular basis. The closest I found was Riff Trax, but we’re not taking a directly comedic approach. That doesn’t mean there aren’t movies out there we’ll comment on just to poke fun at it (we’re looking at YOU, Star Trek V).
There won’t be a regular co-host. Instead, I plan on bringing people on based on the movie that I want to do commentary on. It will be a community effort, and I already have a list of people that I can’t wait to do the show with.
More information will come around as I solidify a few things in the upcoming weeks. I’m looking forward to sharing this idea with everyone.
-Mike
Email: mike@filmraiders.com
