Finally available on demand. See a sample or download it here.
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New VOD Title from RiffTrax…
15 Replies to “New VOD Title from RiffTrax…”Commenting at Satellite News
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Ah, finally I can eat candy, too.
I’ll be honest, I forgot about this one. I have so many different versions of this movie now between MST3K, Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic, it totally fell off my radar. I’m a bad fan :(
I blame Godzilla, I’ve been caught up in the Blu Ray releases for his movies and that messed with my mind.
Yay! Didn’t think it would be released until Christmas.
I watched the preview for this release on the Rifftrax website and I have to say, I was not impressed. Didn’t look very good for a live release. For those that have seen it, where does it fall in the pantheon of “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” releases? Better than the CT version? I have been wrong before in judging these by the little trailers they post…
Worth it just for “Santa and the Snow Fairy Queen”, in which Sid Davis challenges K. Gordon Murray (the “K” stands for “kwality”) for the title “most bizarre vision of Christmas ever filmed”.
I don’t get it. What’s so funny and/or incredulous about that lion thing saying he can eat candy?…
All the times I have watched versions of this film, including unriffed, and it took this version to realize Voldar is watching the one Martian land the ship way too intently. Now I can’t unsee it, I’m always watching Voldar in that scene.
Millej89 (#4),
Personally, I like the MST3K version the best. This is because of the “total show” concept MST3K had that CT and Rifftrax has not quite mastered. That said, this live show is a good second on the list. The movie is more complete (eradicating a lot of the confusion of the first one) and Bill, Mike, and Kevin respond well to a live audience. It is more of a show, and face it, you are not here just to see a movie riffed. You like and respect the talent.
Another good example of this is Birdemic. The audio commentary of the film was Okay (with is still great for rifftax) but the LIVE show is one of the efforts I have watched several times. It is the one I use to introduce friends to Rifftrax. The gang interacts with the audience and the energy level rises. Santa Clause is a good effort by Rifftrax, but the real effort is how Bill, Kevin, and Mike respond to the people in front of them.
Enjoy.
If it wasn’t for being the 3rd freakin time it has been riffed I would be more excited. It was really lazy of both CT and Rifftrax to re-riff this film when there are plenty of other bad Christmas films to riff. I don’t want to be mean but I would hate to see Rifftrax just repeat films ha were already riffed by MST3K or CT, it is sort of like beating a dead horse.
Thanks Mr. Lion-Footed! I love the live riff of Birdemic (I think it’s Rifftrax best so far) so I may have to check this one out at some point. Probably pick it up a little closer to Christmas time…also very excited for Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny this year! That’s one weird mamma-jamma.
I just finished watching the Rifftrax Live version of SCCTM. Ranking it relative to the MST3K and CT versions is actually harder than I thought it would be. I’m very glad to finally have it: it definitely has its moments, and the presence of a live audience adds a level of energy that the other versions obviously lack. This would probably be the best version of the three to show to a group, particularly an uninitiated group of younger folks who don’t know MST3K or would find the humor in that version to be too dated.
But overall, I think the writing and riff density in the CT version was the best of all, even though the performance was more static and studio-bound. The Rifftrax Live version has several “gaps” in places where the MST3K and CT versions managed to work in some good jokes, and the humor seemed more topical and less quotable than the MST3K version, so I don’t think it will have quite the same staying power (although I suppose the same could also be said of the CT version). The MST3K original is a genuine perennial classic, and as #8 says, it has the “total show” concept and the MST3K universe and characters going for it, so it almost seems unfair to compare it to the others.
So, I’d place the MST3K version in one column all by itself, and in the other column, the CT version ever so slightly above the Rifftrax Live version, though both are worthwhile. You may rank them differently if an energetic live performance is more important to your enjoyment than the cleverness of the writing.
I did like the “Santa and the Snow Fairy Queen” short. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the truly brain-crushingly bizarre K. Gordon Murray Christmas shorts (available in the Rifftrax “Santa’s Village of Madness” collection), but the instant I saw “Snoopy”, I immediately knew they had to make at least one “Mr. B Natural” joke. (I was disappointed that they didn’t make more, which they could easily have done, but I’m sure they wanted to avoid the really obvious MST3K references.)
Damn, I just realized that I got the name of the short wrong: it’s “Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen”, from 1951. I must have been eating too much candy before (insert “Snoopy” laugh/whinny here).
The version Rifftrax used was apparently edited, but the uncut version is on YouTube, for those who dare:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iPo3CwEoxy0
I’m happy to finally know what the deal is with, “I can eat candy!” as technical difficulties made my theater miss the first half of the short during the initial broadcast.
I love all three versions, but funny enough, I don’t enjoy the movie. I’m generally against re-riffing, though I understand there’s a huge practical gain to doing so, drawing in MST3K fans who haven’t sampled CT or RiffTrax yet. The MST3K version has it for being first on the scene, hard not to hear those riffs again in my head, the RiffTrax version has it for doing a hell of a job on the third time through, but the CT version may be my favorite for a few reasons. For one, I think it was their first big breakthrough, the funniest one they had done yet, and for another, I was really depressed at the time I drove down to St. Louis to see them live, first time, and this cheered me up in a great way. Better than I had expected. Finally got to meet Josh, Joel, and Trace.
Jaybird3rd pointed out the “gaps” in the RiffTrax version. I’ve noticed this with re-riffed versions of movies as well, sometimes with other films, often it’s a RiffTrax thing. As an armchair critic, I always see great big spaces that *I* would fill up with commentary. But I think RiffTrax tries a big picture approach, and when they know something is coming up in the movie that they need the audience to hear, a bizarre line or plot point ripe for many references, they hold out on the safe side to let it get through. Maybe it’s the smarter way to do things. In Manos and Santa Claus/Martians, I think it’s helped them target new material for mockery that MST3K missed. RiffTrax has done tons of movies that I’ve made fun of with my own friends, and we’re usually so talkative and traffic-jamming our witticisms that we miss great big pieces of plot or silly things that they catch. Which is why it’s wise to write it ahead of time.
Does anybody else really enjoy RiffTrax more when it seems like the guys are having a real blast? I recently watched the Star Wars Holiday Special VOD they did, and while it might not have been their strongest work in comparison to more polished or inventive riffs and references, it was a great deal of fun since their enjoyment came through.
The one thing I do not like about the VOD versions of the lile show, is that they do no include a PDF file of the hilarious pre-show slides they show in the theater. Jack the Giant-Killer, which was a DVD had them as an extra and I think including them with VOD would be worthwhile.
I also love it when Bill messes up a line. This is like an actor breaking the fourth wall. The illusion is that this is all ad-lib, and we play along. But when they foul up a line it is even funnier. It sometimes inspires actual ad-lib riffs later. CT had this happen often as well.