I disagree. This would mean that Shout Factory would have to release an all joel boxset, wait 6 months and then release a mike set and so on. I've always hated the idea of themed sets and a set with episodes from just one season is just screwing yourself because eventually you're going to run out of releaseable episodes. Plus some episodes just don't fit into themes, try to connect Hamlet with any other episode in the series, You can't. Keep the format of 2 and 2 I say.

I would actually really dislike having an all Joel or all Mike boxset. Rhino did a couple of those. I was never a big fan of them then. I like the variety of having two of each host - keeps things interesting and gives the sets variety.

To me, the randomness of pulling from all ten seasons (theoretically of course given that some seasons are harder to get episodes from) and splitting them up evenly makes it fun waiting for the next set to be announced. You can actually take a stab at guessing with some hope of being right, too.

I think most fans enjoy both hosts, though I know there are those who prefer one to the other. I went back and forth myself for a while, but I've really come to have no preference at this point. So, unfortunately, I can't back the only one host sets.

Sounds good Brian.

Say, I had heard that you already had two title confirmed for XVII. Have any more titles come into your hands? I know you won't say which ones at this juncture...but it's always interesting to see how things are shaping up for that next set.

At times I thought Rhino intentionally did "host-based" boxed sets themselves; remember Volumes 4 & 5 were all Mike (all Sci-Fi era, come to think of it) and then Volume 6 was pre-dominately Joel (3 eps and Shorts volume).  While it's been argued that Volumes 4 and 5 are the best sets released so far, those who stress that generally favor Mike anyway (and in some cases have a big disdain for Joel).  While I do prefer Joel over Mike, it's only because I started watching MST when Joel was on. I'll always contend that Mike was the perfect replacement for Hodgson, and the show didn't miss a beat.

Frankly, I'm glad that SF is releasing these eps that stretch out from different eras. Volume XIV, for example, had both a Joel and Mike ep that I had never seen before (Mad Monster and Final Justice).  And it won't suprise me if something like that happens again.

I always wondered, even back in the days when Rhino was distributing MST3K, if there was any preference of one host over another.  When MST started coming out on DVD, for example, there was a lopsided amount of Mike eps to Joel: after the release of Volume 5, there were several more Mike-era eps, and I for one was starting to wonder if Joel had become completely forgotten.  Thankfully, that ratio has become more balanced, although I do agree that in the end Mike will have more commercially-released eps than Joel, based largely on the fact that Season 3 seems to pose a major problem for attaining rights to several movies (Gamera, Master Ninja, and the Susan Hart-owned titles). In fact, I think it would be easier for SF to get some of the early Season 8 titles before getting any Season 3.   

By the way, in terms of overall episodes, Mike does have a slight edge on Joel:  90 to 86 (with KTMA eps factored out).

That's really not a good idea. Lot's of people have already said this, but it's great that Shout! has given us a variety of episodes. It's great to see how the series evolved over the years.