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IRiffs Takes MST3k Open Source
An anonymous reader writes "Michael J. Nelson started up Rifftrax as a 2nd act to his stint as host of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and now they're making their website open to anyone and everyone who thinks they're funny with iRiffs — allowing people to upload their own comedy commentary tracks and charge whatever they want. They've already got a few would-be groups online, including one who takes the open source a step further — soliciting jokes from listeners and combining submissions into a final product."
Rifftrax != MST3K. If it were, you'd have Cambot, Tom Servo and Crow.
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
Watch Weird Al's Rifftrax commentary for Jurassic Park. THEN you'll be impressed.
So how exactly is this "open source"?
There might be one or two shining gems, but I really feel that this is going to end in pain.. DEEEEP HURTING...
In His Likeness - A sarcastic webcomic about God & the Devil.
Has anyone watched Robin "roblimo" Miller's youtube videos? They're comedy gold, in an unintentional way. You'd think Open Source would get a better public face than roblimo, eric raymond, richard stallman, etc.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
If it's as good as his commentary on UHF, then sign me up! I admire a man that can riff his own movie.
I prefer Wetriffs. It's just waaay cooler.
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I was born in '77 and started watching the show in the early 90's. While I got a lot of the jokes, some of them were simply before my time. When I got a hold of the MST3K episode guides where every reference was explained, I was amazed at how much slipped by me. Most of my friends enjoyed the show but I had one who was intelligent but just didn't "get" it, mainly because he had no familiarity with the pop ephemera being referenced. Some of the jokes will remain timeless: "I got a man who knows all the angles -- yeah, the name's Euclid." Other jokes will become incomprehensible: "What, a V-2 rocket? He could have had a V-8!"
It's sort of the same problem with watching certain anime with a lot of in-jokes, Excel Saga for example. So many of the jokes rely on having a familiarity with animes that came before or silly puns that only work in Japanese, easily half the humor is lost in translation. Even when the subbers explain the jokes, jokes just aren't as funny when they're explained.
But this new riffing stuff is good. By open-sourcing it, we should get even better yucks.
Gamera is really neat! Gamera is turtle meat! We love Gamera!
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
This is something I couldn't find in the FAQ on the site - but anyway, PAL versions of DVDs are usually 4% faster (25 fps as opposed to 24 fps achieved via 3:2 pulldown) than NTSC versions. Thus, the sound pitch is (not noticeably) higher (although some releases are pitch-corrected). Anyway, if there is no separate version for PAL, playing one of these audio tracks would result the lip-sync going off within minutes and after that the experience would only get worse..
Of course you could fix it yourself by resampling the whole thing, but would of course hope that the Rifftrax would provide the correct versions directly.
Gennaro: You're supposed to come here and defend me against these characters and the only one I've got on my side is the bloodsucking lawyer!
Aide: *leans in*
Mike: Sir, you've just been sued for defamation by the American Bar Association.
Cinematic Titanic is the real evolution of MST3K. Their first 3 DVD's are hilarious.
From the website http://www.cinematictitanic.com/:
Cinematic Titanic is a feature length movie riffing show and is an artist owned and operated venture created by Joel Hodgson, the creator of the Peabody award-winning Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Cinematic Titanic features the original cast and writers of MST3K, which is Hodgson (Joel Robinson), Trace Beaulieu (Crow), and J. Elvis Weinstein (Tom Servo). Filling out the ensemble is Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester) and Frank Conniff (TVâ(TM)s Frank). Cinematic Titanic's focus is to riff on the movies we love, which are 'the unfathomable', 'the horribly great', and the just plain 'cheesy' movies from the past. Our first feature length DVD Cinematic Titanic's "The Oozing Skull" is available for purchase at EZtakes.com
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
Pretty much 90% of the cast is already doing a second MST3K show called Cinematic Titanic. Why isn't Mike in it? Lots of reasons. Why is Mike's different? I guess it's a little different. But bottom line is, Joel made a second act like a year ago. I always loved Joel way more than mike, I guess mike just needs a little help making jokes.
I guess it's open source in the way that Carlos Mensteala's jokes are "open source"... meaning that he's shamelessly using someone else's material.
Let's hope this isn't what OSS people think Open Source really means.
It is the entire motivation behind Mandatory Fun Day.
I was watching Rifftraxx J Park friday ..
Great.. But for a REAL work of art .. Watch the Riff of Roadhouse..
That one kills me.
(X men was good too)
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order- Ed Howdershelt Via Tass
One thing that people aren't really talking about with this story but which I find really interesting, is they are going to accept all sorts of commentary tracks, not just riff-style comedy. This opens up lots of possibilities; self-styled film aficionados and fansite crews can do "standard" commentary tracks for their favorites, people can record alternative scripts to existing films in the vein of "What's Up Tiger Lily" or "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist," and more. Pretty much any new content based on putting new sound onto an existing video can be put out there.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
I normally couldn't care less about the quality of the summary or any mistakes it contains. What does drive me batty is the horrible misuse of THEN. From the department of:
because-your-friends-are-clearly-funnier-then-the-professionals?
Part VLC media player.
Part Flash based Shadow puppet overlay
Part MP3 / sync mixer.
All MST3K all of the time.
Just open source out the crow and tom server and mike nelson shadow overlay. People already Fansub anime on the net, we could just have people animate the shadow puppets for Mike and the gang.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
I forgot to add, you want it so that you...
1. put the DVD movie in your computer and launch the "Riff Player.
2. Select the MP3 you want to use that has the Riff Tracks on it.
3. Select the animation overlay file for the movie and riff trax you are using.
4. Get popcorn and throw it at the computer screen.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Gennaro: You're supposed to come here and defend me against these characters and the only one I've got on my side is the bloodsucking lawyer!
Aide: *leans in*
Mike: Sir, you've just been sued for defamation by the American Bar Association.
Err... That line was Hammond. Gennaro WAS the blood-sucking laywer.
Doh! Quite right. *turns in geek card*
Scene: cafeteria. A young man sits at a table pouring salt into a teaspoon and eating it. A young woman comes up and sits down across from him, then watches him fill his spoon for a moment before sliding over a can of V8 juice. The young man slaps his head and exclaims: "I could have had a V8!"
-- thinkyhead software and media
Ahh, but there's the rub, isn't it? One man's crap is another man's "MUST SEE". Of course, most people would much rather tell people what their opinion is about others' creations than actually try their hand at creating.
You've lost me there in your tangled mess of pronouns. I guess you're accusing me (or is it really a more general accusation?) of knocking people who are trying to build something grand - point being that they're building something while I'm just sitting around saying it's gonna suck? That's fair, I guess. But if I'm cynical it's because I've seen more than one fan-produced MST3K-style riffing deal already, and they usually aren't very good.
All I'm saying is a lot of people out there don't give any kind of thought to the editorial process. I just hate this attitude of "I made something and it's not that great but it's good enough to share with the world". If it's "not that great", then fix it, then share it with the world. We can wait.
Bow-ties are cool.
This is really an opportunity for individuals in the forums who created their own fan riffs (and actually did a good job) to get the advertising they need. The Film Crew in particular stands out. Hopefully, the fan riffs will all meet a certain level of production quality (i.e. no dead air noise and such) that you wouldn't typically get over the internet.
Go watch the free sample for SPEED and tell me you didn't laugh once.
Social/collab site, not so much open source. It's as much open source as CafePress. At the rate the definition of "Open Source" and "Terrorist" are expanding, in about 3 months anything open source will be an incarnate of terrorism.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
Can we stop putting "i" in front of things?
All caps added for emphasis.
I know I sound like a troll. Using "then" incorrectly in place of "than" really drives me nuts. This mistake is sooooo below Taco's level.
Great, now they *want* you to spoof like they do. You can even get paid!
Too bad that about a year and a half ago, MST3K took legal action to force a name change of six year old Austin comedy group Mr. Sinus Theater, a trio who went around to area movie houses spoofing bad films.
Mr. Sinus was (and, now as the duo Master Pancake Theater, remains) a treat to experience. The name may have been a little similar, so yes, it's obvious where they got the initial inspiration. But there all similarities cease.
The performances were live, for one thing, with the guys sitting off to the side of the screen, mics in hand, riffing off the movie and each other. They certainly talked beforehand about what they'd say, but nothing like a written script was used. No silhouettes were visible at the bottom of the screen. There was no pretending one of the characters was a robot. (They weren't even characters, just voices piped into the sound system.) They never produced a TV show, or recorded their performances for purposes of reproduction.
One could argue (if one were silly and wanted to waste a lot of time belaboring the obvious) that, applying their own logic to themselves, MST3K itself should be shut down, as they infringe upon the act of viewers worldwide who talk back to the movie.