io9: rifftrax

Rifftrax Twilight Makes Vampire Angst Easier To Bite Into

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:30:00 PDT

If you're still boycotting shiny vamp movie Twilight, considering lifting the ban for this RiffTrax Twilight remix. Now these are the angsty emo vamps I've been looking for. Please make New Moon just like this.

For more information check out RiffTrax.

Join Mystery Science Theater 3000 And Get Paid

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:29:00 PDT

Now's your chance to become part of the movie-watching people (or robots) over at Mystery Science Theater 3000. The MST3K bunch have launched an iRiffs channel on their site, allowing you to submit your own commentary over terrible movies for the gang to judge. If they think your commentary track is funny enough, you could make the big bucks. Already, the RiffTrax site has been working with the MST3K folks for some time now creating some hilarious commentaries. Below, our favorite comentaries for Alien and Star Wars Episode II, with special guest Chad Vader.

Basically iRiff is just a way of letting you submit your own work into Rifftrax. There is a step-by-step guide on the site explaining how to create your on commentary, and you submit it to iRiff. If your commentary is selected by RiffTrax, it'll be sold online, on a revenue sharing basis. We should start seeing the new commentary in October.

Alien

Star Wars Episode II With Chad Vader!

[iRiffs via Wired]

MST3K Crew Reunites for Post-Robot Mayhem

Kevin Kelly — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:40:58 PST

If you've been missing Mystery Science Theater 3000 ever since it went off the air, you're in luck. Longtime fans of the movie-riffing series know that its original star Joel Hodgson left the show in 1993, when it was at the height of popularity. Mike Nelson, the head writer for the series, took over and it lasted another six years before finally going off the air in 1999. Almost ten years later, Joel and most of the original crew including Trace Beaulieu (Crow), J. Elvis Weinstein (Tom Servo), Frank Conniff (TV's Frank) and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester) have returned in the form of Cinematic Titanic, and it's awesome.

The show doesn't air online or on any channel (yet), but you can order the newly available pilot episode The Oozing Skull from their website. The gang doesn't build gizmos or robots this time (unfortunately), but they do appear onscreen in silhouette and riff on movies. It's great just to hear everyone together again, even if we do miss terribly the characters of Tom Servo, Crow, and the Satellite of Love.

There's no theme song introduction this time that explains what the show is all about, but there is the Time Tube. At the end of every episode, the gang puts its review in a massive steel torpedo which is meant to preserve 500 bad movies for over 5,000 years. Meaning if future generations ever do invent time travel, they're going to come back and and wipe most of us out just for subjecting them to this unbearable torture. Joel, if that becomes the premise of your next endeavor, at least tip your hat to us.

Mike Nelson's own RiffTrax offers a similar movie-riffing experience, which is audio-only and features him movie-riffing on popular films with guest hosts. We won't be having a Titanic Riffing head-to-head battle just yet. But wait for it.