Is there an accepted method of categorizing Rifftrax? MST3K is neatly divided into seasons and episodes, but Rifftrax is just released when it’s released. But since Rifftrax isn’t even usually on physical media, it’s even more important to find some way to make sense of it.
So far, I’ve been sorting them by year, with an “episode number” that is just what order they were released that year. This is helpful but not perfect.
I came up with the exact same solution. Couldn’t see any other method, honestly. VODs are one “show,” RiffTrax Live are another, Just the Jokes are another, shorts are another, etc. subdivided further by who’s riffing: Mike/Kevin/Bill are one group, Bridget/Mary Jo is another, etc.
Not wanting to have to later go back and rename/renumber a bunch of files and other data, I’ve been trying to get a comprehensive list of every VOD ever produced, including ones no longer available, so that my episode numbering is accurate.
I just bucket them on my NAS with the following folders:
Rifftrax Features
Rifftrax Shorts (has two subfolders, A-M and N-Z)
Rifftrax MJ&B (has Features and Shorts subfolders)
Within each folder they are just alphabetical, though sometimes I rename them to group them in a more orderly fashion. For example, I added numbers to the four Teenagers movies so that they are in proper cinematic (and riffing) sequence.
I have a lot (correction, “all”) of the early ones burned on disc (both VOD and JTJ) - I believe the last one I did was for Julie and Jack in July, 2015
After that, my favorites were downloaded and put into a flashdrive (just in case RT ever closes shop, at least I have the ones I like)
Organization, what organization?
I do have series discs all collected together (Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Spidey, etc)
And RT Presents gathered by riffers (Matthew & Ian, Janet & Cole, Bridget & Mary Jo)
But other than that they are scattered all over the place, a few in boxes, a few in a bookshelf, a few in a flashdrive, a few still on the RT site.
Yep, downloaded them all and organizing them. I use a media manager built around the show/season/episode model, so I had to find a way to make RiffTrax fit that mold.
I have mine sorted into features, just the jokes, and shorts but that’s it. I used to burn the VODs to disc but gave that up years ago. Now I just download everything onto my big ass hard drive.
If you pick up a streaming device for your TV that can access the web (something like an Amazon Fire Stick, if those can do it), then you should be able to stream them to your TV from the website and save some hassle.
The Amazon Fire TV can access the RiffTrax website with its built-in browser, although navigating with a remote control isn’t an ideal experience.
Or you can install an app like Plex that will stream videos from your computer’s hard drive.
I’m a bit late on this one, but most media metadata readers like Kodi or FileBot will scrape thetvdb.
Here is how they organize Rifftrax:
Season 1: RiffTrax
Season 2: RiffTrax Presents
Season 3: Shorts
Season 4: iRiffs
Season 5: Total Riff Off
Season 6: RiffTrax Live
.