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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."
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.
The cool thing about the Open Source movement is that just about anyone who's willing to can step up and become the "public face" of the movement.
The really unfortunate thing about the Open Source movement is that just about anyone who's willing to can step up and become the "public face" of the movement.
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
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.
Create a PAL version so our friends abroad can watch your iRiff. Using Audacity, (see above), go to Effects->Change Tempo and enter 4.271% Save this as your PAL version.
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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.
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Go ahead and pick one host over the other, but the jokes on MST3K were always written by a large staff, including head writer Mike Nelson.
And Mike, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy are also working on The Film Crew.
Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
Rifftrax != MST3K. If it were, you'd have Cambot, Tom Servo and Crow.
What concerns me more:
when you set up something like iRiffs, a community for would-be comedians (particularly people who are just interested in it 'cause they all saw the same funny TV show) you run into a few problems...
First, lots of people think they're funny, but aren't.
Second, a fair number of the ones who aren't funny will use gags sufficiently cheap (memes, particularly) to boost their popularity...
And the end result is you wind up with a few gems, maybe, sloshing around in a sea of crap... And you can't rely on popularity rankings to tell the good from the bad.
I think it's kind of funny that you equate MST3K with "Cambot, Tom Servo and Crow"... I mean, you never even see Cambot. But you left out Gypsy...
Bow-ties are cool.
And the end result is you wind up with a few gems, maybe, sloshing around in a sea of crap... And you can't rely on popularity rankings to tell the good from the bad.
So it's just like TV?
And the end result is you wind up with a few gems, maybe, sloshing around in a sea of crap... And you can't rely on popularity rankings to tell the good from the bad.
So it's just like TV?
No.... Slashdot.
- Despite popular opinion, I am not perfect.
Slashdot has gems? That's a bit had to believe. I'm going to need a link.
Slashdot has its moments. Not many of them, but it has them.
Most memorable gem I can recall from recent Slashdot history was:
Worst pickup line: Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?
This space unintentionally left blank.
As others have said, Mike Nelson started RiffTrax in 2006, while Cinematic Titanic was announced towards the tail end of 2007. What's more, RiffTrax was an offshoot of the work Mike had been doing with Legend Films, providing DVD commentary tracks for various old films (including Night of the Living Dead and Reefer Madness, to name just two). So Mike's "second act" came well before Joel's.
Mike's delivery is obviously different than Joel's delivery, but Mike was head writer of MST3K since the middle of its first season, so he's clearly got the chops for it. As for why Mike isn't involved in Cinematic Titanic? As you say, there are lots of reasons, but probably the two most likely are that he (and Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett) already had a regular movie riffing gig with Legend Films / RiffTrax, and (arguably more importantly) that he had relocated from to the San Diego area, which put him half a country away from most of the rest of the Cinematic Titanic team.
Personally, I'm just amused by the fact that just about everyone from the MST3K cast and writing staff are back in the riffing business. The only ones who haven't are executive producer / co-creator Jim Mallon (who apparently had a falling out with Joel, causing Joel's departure from the show), and writer Paul Chaplin. They all clearly enjoyed the work, and it makes it all the more sad that the show ended when (and under the circumstances) it did.
Sean Daugherty "I have walked in Eternity -- and Eternity weeps."