OT: Michael J. Nelson and RiffTrax

[Bugsmer]

This is off-topic, but has anyone heard of RiffTrax? I'm sure a lot of you know why you don't see Mystery Science Theatre on TV anymore, and why only a very few have been released on DVD. The rights to air the movies they showed had to be purchased from the holders of the movie rights for each specific movie. It became very costly later on when the show became popular to keep renewing their contracts.

Some people wouldn't give them initial permission to make fun of their movies. The team at MST3K were usually forced to take on old, obscure, mostly unpopular movies that were good and cheap. Well...

...Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy have solved this problem. They've taken to making commentaries (containing no audio from the original movie, if I'm not mistaken) of any movies they please. You buy the DVD (which they don't have to buy the rights for) and you listen to their audio while seperately listening to the audio from the original movie, as you watch it. They've taken on big-budget movies that would never have been leased to MST3K, with no worry of being sued. Some of the movies they've made commentaries for are "The Phantom Menace", "Troll 2", "XXX", "X-Men", "Battlefield Earth", and "The Fifth Element".

Here's their official website:
http://www.rifftrax.com/catalogue.php?view&release=new

Here are some examples put up on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/rifftrax

I just heard about this today. Knowing there are a lot of MST3K fans on this board, I decided to spread the news.

[trevthetoonfan]

I'm an MST3K fan. Neat idea. It's a shame MST3K went off the air. I'm glad to see that more well-known movies are being used. The one I always wanted MST3K to was the original War of The Worlds.

[samtheq]

...Michael J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy have solved this problem. They've taken to making commentaries (containing no audio from the original movie, if I'm not mistaken) of any movies they please. You buy the DVD (which they don't have to buy the rights for) and you listen to their audio while seperately listening to the audio from the original movie, as you watch it. They've taken on big-budget movies that would never have been leased to MST3K, with no worry of being sued. Some of the movies they've made commentaries for are "The Phantom Menace", "Troll 2", "XXX", "X-Men", "Battlefield Earth", and "The Fifth Element".




Well said. And, they are CHEAP!
Let me give a very enthusiastic plug for their skewering of "The Phantom Menace"....it was truly wonderful, and I implore anyone remotely interested to buy it!

One of my favorite quotes: Jabba the Hutt appears on the balcony at the start of the "Pod Race," and Mike quips, "And now, Rosanne Barr to sing our national anthem..."

brant

[Bugsmer]

Well said. And, they are CHEAP!
Let me give a very enthusiastic plug for their skewering of "The Phantom Menace"....it was truly wonderful, and I implore anyone remotely interested to buy it!

One of my favorite quotes: Jabba the Hutt appears on the balcony at the start of the "Pod Race," and Mike quips, "And now, Rosanne Barr to sing our national anthem..."

brant

When I first watched that movie, I promised myself I'd never see it again. Now I guess I'll have to, and this time I'll probably enjoy it. As a matter of fact, this is the film I most want to see riffed. It's been needing it for a long time.