Our pal the ever-vigilant blogger Skendenberg has been keeping track of the “Darkstar” project, and directs us to a news update here that says the project is “now content complete and working on testing and QA.” They now project a release in time for Christmas 2009.

The “Darkstar” mastermind, J. Allen Williams, recently contacted us and promises to provide us with more information. Stay tuned!

Alert reader Laura recommended this cute story: A Morning in the Life of a Humble Bot.
Sweet!

My apologies for creating confusion on various versions. Watch this RiffTrax with the Special Edition DVD.

Download it here.

Free sample:

During the heyday of MST3K, most TV critics stayed above the “Joel vs. Mike” fray. One rare exception to that was The Washington Post’s Tom Shales, who made no attempt to hide his admiration for Joel, and his disdain for any MST3K product that did not feature him.
It’s clear that’s still true today, judging from his piece today about Cinematic Titanic.

Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks!

Due out January 8.

It’s been a big year for RiffTrax, as 2008 comes to an end, let’s look back at their best efforts. Here are my top 10.

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban–Maybe it’s just because the memory is freshest, but I laughed my wand off.
• The Dark Knight–Fanboy dismay notwithstanding, this riff is proof, once again, that a “good” movie (though, frankly I don’t really understand the “greatest movie of all time” talk; it’s just a Batman movie…a GOOD Batman movie, granted, and Heath Ledger’s performance is gripping, granted … but it’s still just a Batman movie) can be riffed with hilarious results.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers–I’m not ranking these, but I think if I were, this one would top the list. Tears were literally streaming down my face, I was laughing so hard. Sheer brilliance.
• Cloverfield–The dopiest monster movie in recent memory, featuring a millennial cast you immediately hope will be eaten, provides great fodder.
• Spiderman 3–The mellifluous voice of pop culture vulture James Lileks adds a different dimension to this riff. Great fun.
• Jurassic Park–This terrific riff, featuring the fabulous but “weird” Al Yankovic, was one of the most talked about RiffTrax of the year, and brought a whole new audience to RiffTrax.
• Rifftrax On Youtube–In the heat of the primary season, the RiffTrax guys released a series of hilarious political ads. Great stuff.
• Spiderman 2–In this “RiffTrax Presents” offering, Kevinand Bill were joined by Josh Fruhlinger, aka “the Comics Curmudgeon.” I’m not into comics, so I admit I had not heard of Josh before this, but I’m a fan now.
• Dirty Dancing–Another “RiffTrax Presents” feature with a difference: “SF Sketchfest” founders Cole Stratton and Janet Varney brought their own distinctive style and brand of humor to this riff. I cannot recommend this one enough.
• One Got Fat–One of the most surreal shorts ever forms the basis for one of the most talked-about riffs of the year.
Honorable mention: Coffeehouse Rendezvous–The oh-so-pretentious comments of nerdiest nerds ever are the target of this memorable short.

Your picks?

Last summer our favorite cowtown puppet show was mentioned on TV’s “Jeopardy.”

On December 18, it happened again.

Thanks to Ken for the heads up!

It took a few days, but Chicago’s Lumino Magazine has a report about last weekend’s Cinematic Titanic shows. The story is pretty basic, but the page also has the really cool image above.

And Film.com mentions both MST3K and CT in a piece about weird Christmas movies.

In Dec. 25’s Internet Movie Database “Hit List” (at the very bottom of the main page) there was a link to the “Patrick Swayze Christmas” segment…

It’s gone now…

Thanks to Eric for the heads up.

Legend Films announced today that it will release a new colorized, 3D version of “Night of the Living Dead” on April 1, 2009.
It will have a limited theatrical release in the U.S. It will also be downloadable at Rifftrax.com. The downloadable version will include a RiffTrax commentary by Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy. Stay tuned for more info.