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RiffTrax Running Riff ContestRiffTrax is asking fans to submit riffs for certain spots in “Reefer Madness,” as part of a contest they are running. More information here.
33 Replies to “RiffTrax Running Riff Contest”Commenting at Satellite News
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Argh x.x I’m reminded of Tom Lehrer’s condemnation of folk songs–“The reason they’re so atrocious is that they were written by the people.” Consider also the fan-written Batman and Robin Rifftrax and all those “iRiffs”. Wretched, all of them.
Ehh, I don’t know. I watched the clips and came up with decent riffs for eight of them. And it’s not like the a handful of riffs out of several hundred will turn the entire evening into an abomination.
We also don’t plan to pick winners that aren’t funny, in case that wasn’t clear.
Looks like we were given nice softball spots to riff.
Anyone else think this is a form of rebuttal for all those whining about new riffs? An indirect way of saying, “If you think it’s so easy then prove it.” Not that I’m complaining at all. Even if I just see conspiracy in everything this could still prove to be a fun contest and bring a little something extra to the show.
Reefer Madness……It’s not just a title! ;-) ;-) nudge nudge
Sounds like fun. I just submitted 10 lines for the contest. This MST3K style riffing is different comedy than the kind I’m used to writing though.
“Reefer Madness”?….. More like: “Riffer Madness”! :mrgreen:
Conor@Rifftrax said: “We also don’t plan to pick winners that aren’t funny, in case that wasn’t clear.”
Ugghh…. that leaves me out.
We need a easier contest…….How about a contest to write a contest?
I submitted my riffs. One or two of them are truly unfunny, but rest are pretty good. I do have one naught riff in there, but it’s subtle and the right people will get it.
I’m doubting that entries not involving Schnappi or making reference to bacon will get any serious consideration. ;)
We also don’t plan to pick winners that aren’t funny, in case that wasn’t clear.
In that case, why disingenuously pick Legalizationists’ Favorite Pop Paper-Target as a write-in contest?…What, thought your fans wouldn’t be able to think up House on Haunted Hill riffs? :roll:
(Now, me, I was going to follow “Play faster!” with “…And a young Philip Glass starts his career!”, but realizing WHO the contest was being deliberately pitched toward, just to be noticed, brought down the whole level of conversation. :sad: )
I also do not understand why Rifftrax has to constantly retread the same material over and over. The original Legend DVD came out in 2004… a “three riffer” DVD was release last year… why the constant need to double and triple dip customers for the same material?
I mean, I understand the business side of it, but as EricJ commented, it’s disingenuous to the long time fans. There’s been a very steady march away from where Rifftrax started to coming off as purely “product.” When the new writers came in and skewed things younger, and the release schedule switched to “new this Tuesday on DVD” I tuned out.
Rifftrax should trust in their brand, and take some chances. Not to draw comparisons, but a certain other group of folks is selling tickets to movies no ones ever heard before and seems to be making a good way of it.
Jack the Giant Killer is heavily rumored to be coming as a live show next year. As a long time fan and critic of Rifftrax, it does renew my faith somewhat.
TL;DR I’m a cry baby, wah wah wah.
I also do not understand why Rifftrax has to constantly retread the same material over and over. The original Legend DVD came out in 2004… a “three riffer” DVD was release last year… why the constant need to double and triple dip customers for the same material?
Because, back before RT came up with the idea of audio-only tracks, Legend were basically weasels, and tried to run the Public-Domain Roster into the ground, because those were the only movie-disks they could release for free. (And, for reasons mentioned above, slap a free copy of Reefer on a disk, and you think you’ve got a license to print money.)
Anyone who grew up with the birth of DVD can still recite the List from memory, starting with Night of the Living Dead, House on Haunted Hill, Reefer Madness, Plan Nine, the same six Three Stooges shorts…And M&tB, of course, were willing to crank out their act on demand.
Cinema Titanic’s first movies (Legacy, Doomsday, etc.) also seem to be floating around dubious-rights ether, so there’s no messy expensive performance/disk rights–But at least they’re creative enough to do NEW ones.
The 1980s brought us all into the era of watching movies at home, and with it, many companies jumped on the bandwagon by selling things that had fallen into the public domain (and even things that where questionable e.g. It’s a Wonderful Life) in an effort to make a buck.
Legend has done a lot more than just crank out a cheap DVDs of the various PD movies we know and love. Their colorization process is some of the best out there, and they’ve helped introduce people to classics that neophytes may not watch because “yuk, it’s in black and white.” I think that while financially motivated is a rather noble effort; but we’re talking about riffing here, right?
Granted, the early Legend DVDs that had a Mike Nelson commentary track are light on riffs (the Night of the Living Dead disc is basically a 96 minute drink recipe) but they got better with time. Rifftrax is the delivered promise of what began as those earlier commentary tracks. It was a creative way to get around the licensing which allowed for newer films and cut out anyone else from getting in on the earnings. It’s a genius idea, and has obviously worked well for them (I’d like to know who’s idea it was originally… I think that someone once told me it was Conor’s).. I certainly don’t fault them for it.
As for the licensing issues, the CT crowd says they have an agent that handles the licencing to separate them from some obscure holding house that might try and make a claim. Since they are creating new derivative works, the new titling works well too.
I’m not wanting to say that one project is better than the other, I just want Rifftrax to challenge themselves more.
Legend has done a lot more than just crank out a cheap DVDs of the various PD movies we know and love. Their colorization process is some of the best out there, and they’ve helped introduce people to classics that neophytes may not watch because “yuk, it’s in black and white.”
Legend’s colorization for real studios–the Fox Shirley Temples, the Harryhausen monsters, and the “real” Stooges shorts that Sony OWNS–actually manages to pretty good on a legitimate studio’s budget, and shows how colorization can escape its sordid Ted Turner past to become a tool, not a genre…
And then we get Legend’s own PD efforts, which remind us of all those candy-colored pink-pastel days. Reefer, unfortunately, included. :sad:
Yes, this is true. However we are trying to sell seats in 500 theaters, not one (or a dozen, if we were doing a national tour that took days or weeks instead of one night). It’s much harder to do.
And AFAIK we are still planning to do Jack next year. There are some factors this year that we are watching very closely that will decide how we approach next summer’s show, but I think things will work out.
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians notwithstanding – I understand that it was a completely new riff, and that’s fine, but I don’t recall anywhere near as big a backlash for that as what some of the commenters on this site have given us. Maybe they just like Joel better, maybe they are all longtime fans who feel slighted – I don’t know.
Anyway, back to the contest, which was the original subject of the post before Tarantulas so cruelly (and unsurprisingly) derailed it. :P
The thing that I appreciated about Legend’s release of The Little Shop of Horrors is they actually restored the print to the point that you could actually tell what was going on in the nighttime scenes. Leagues better than any public domain release out there.
#15 – A CT SCCTM refresher: https://www.mst3kinfo.com/?p=1484#comments
I’m sure all you crybabies moaning about double-dipping have never watched any MST episodes more than once. *eyeroll*
Anyway, we’re paying for the privilege of seeing Reefer Madness Riffed on the bigscreen with a crowd of fellow fans. If you’re not interested in that experience nobody’s holding a gun to your head, so quit your bellyaching. It’s like some people can’t exhale without complaining about something.
@Erik – Hold the phone, I didn’t derail it… EricJ did, I just shouted “The red log’s about to blow” and got out my hoverboard. ;)
My point still holds true… double and triple dipping fans = ?_?
Whomever in the organisation that thinks Rifftrax is somehow “synergizing the paradyme” by picked Reefer Madness in an effort to bring in random viewers must not understand that the real audience for Rifftrax:
1) Already know it’s it’s happening
2) Already know what Rifftrax is
3)
PROFIT!Are already willing to spend $14.50 after Fandango fees to see it.I agree.. CT doing Santa Claus Conquers The Martians from the outside is weak cheese… the only thing I can say in it’s defense is that different writers got to take a wack at it, and it were able to take it in a slightly different direction… plus it was uncut, which the MST version wasn’t. Did it add anything? No. Did it take anything away? No. It just exists.
None of this precludes me seeing on Aug 18th, and waiting to see if Conor shot my contest entry into the sun.
TL;DR I’m a fan, and you guys owe me… also, I’m still a cry baby.
@Sharktopus – What’s the deal with airline food?
My back hurts. Why?
THINGS COST MORE THAN THEY USED TO!
YOUNG PEOPLE USE CURSE WORDS!
“We also don’t plan to pick winners that aren’t funny…”
One man’s funny is another man’s dud. Even “The Guys” don’t hit it out of the ballpark every time. I know, I’m being picky, but “I’M EVIL!”
I’ll take a RT “retread” over the crap hollywood sells as “entertainment” any day! And I now i’ve got to have a couple winners in me for something so ripe as Reefer Madness!
Curse you, Tarantulas! You know my weakness for Futurama quotes. I stand defeated.
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians notwithstanding – I understand that it was a completely new riff, and that’s fine, but I don’t recall anywhere near as big a backlash for that as what some of the commenters on this site have given us. Maybe they just like Joel better, maybe they are all longtime fans who feel slighted – I don’t know.
Okay, since it’s so hard to understand, here’s part of the backlash translated:
The “whole Joel vs. Mike thing” runs a lot philosophically deeper than we give it credit for: CT is still the Joel philosophy of Found Humor, showing bizarre obscure movies, and finding the inherent absurdity in them…While RT is the Mike & Kevin “school bully” philosophy of finding LOTR, Harry Potter and Twilight fans on the schoolyard, pantsing them and trying to make them cry. ;)
One obviously appeals to an older, more experience audience used to arcane scholarly references and a more abstract humor; the other appeals to a hard and fast Adam Sandler audience that wants quick laughs and quick “revenge” for their own pop-culture anger-management issues.
Which is okay: That’s why one audience goes to one and not the other.
But when you ask your presumed demographic to riff on Reefer Madness, and pick the most right-wing “drugs are evil” clips to laugh at…it don’t take Stephen Hawkings to figure out what you’re doing: Some older MSTies are ashamed by their presumed association with the “angry” RT kiddies, and throwing stoners into the mix is a flat out INSULT to those of us who followed Joel’s oddball dream from the beginning.
If you want to turn the post-MST3K legacy into Cartoon Network Adult Swim, that’s your own jumped shark, but you do it WITHOUT US.
The rest of us will be going to the CT shows and Keeping The Faith.
His name is actually Stephen Hawking, Mister “I’m Smarter Than You.”
Bravo, Derek. Another completely deranged rant that illuminates nothing except your love of your own verbiage. Have you noticed how often, when you get into these exchanges, you are forced to restate your case? That’s because all the SANE people are scratching their heads and saying “what the sam hill is he nattering on about?” It’s a hint, Derek. You’re talking to yourself.
So people know: “EricJ” is a longtime ratmm troll who hates Mike Nelson with a white-hot passion, and sees dark, malevolent motives behind everything he does. 17 years have gone by since Mike ruined MST3K in his eyes, and he’s still pounding the same crap down the same rat hole.
As I have advised you many many times before, Derek, get over yourself. And this isn’t ratmm. You post here at MY pleasure. Continue being the skunk at the picnic and you WILL get banned.
What was the topic again? ;-)
I was a bit of a latecomer to the interweb – although I do remember back when the Dominion BBoard was yellow – so pardon my ignorance when I ask what did RATMM stand for, anyhow? (Rage Against The Mike Machine, perhaps?)
I know I’ll probably regret saying this, but didn’t Mike work for Best Brains from practically the start of the Comedy Channel deal, and serve as Head Writer during the supposed good ol’ days, meaning that the only episodes he was completely uninvolved with were the ones widely considered to be crummy, even by Joel and Jim? I believe that would make any argument that “Mike ruined the show” utterly illogical.
Sooo… How ’bout that weather?
Sampo for president!
what did RATMM stand for, anyhow?
rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc
It was the segment of the Usenet hierarchy devoted to mst3k discussion. Some people say there’s still discussion there …
I’m agreeing with the Sampo, Derek. Another unnecessary off-topic slighting like this will swiftly bring the appropriate repercussion.
But you refuse to learn about Wink Martindale!