RiffTrax

[spit take] I’m pretty sure releasing that soundtrack on any medium would be in violation of a Geneva Convention.

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Matthew and Ian released another 3 episodes of The Veil. I don’t think it was as funny as the first one, but still had laughs… though I had to look up a few British centric reference I didn’t get (ah, so now I know who the dancing lady is from “Tales of the Unexpected” series)

I also re-watched MK&B first 10 shorts releases. I haven’t seen them in years, forgot many of the quips and how funny they were.

The shorts were: Signal 30 | A Visit to Santa | Act Your Age | Lunchroom Manners | The Terrible Truth | Why Doesn’t Cathy Eat Breakfast? & Petaluma Chicken | Coffeehouse Rendezvous | Safety - Harm Hides at Home| Are You Popular? (the “Yellow Kid” line always made me laugh, and did so again… even though it’s more a name drop than a joke)

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Shoeboogie is an absolute abomination of a character. Worse than any Kenny from any Kaiju flick.

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Truth. I just try to imagine how anybody ever thought that character was a good idea in any way. I fail.

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Wow. I thought I had more of the early shorts, but I think I only have two or three of those. Good thing there’ll be another sale in a few weeks.

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Every time I re-watch Lunchroom Manners I’m more and more disturbed at how sedated and/or deeply uncomfortable those kids seem to be. I bet Death Row has served last meals where the patrons are more cheerful and engaged. (That Thanksgiving one with the incredibly pompous and nasal narrator? Same.)

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I used to live across the street from the one theater in my area that shows Rifftrax (and probably all other Fathom Events). Until two years ago. I don’t drive. An Uber both ways is the cost of an extra ticket, more or less. I contributed to the Kickstarters of the last several years. Seen The Room, Krull, Star Raiders, Giant Spider Invasion. Probably missed more than I would’ve liked after I started even before moving (2017 was a bit chaotic though). But I still remembered the surprise goodies email, so I sent it. It always contains a link to the main goodies page. So if you ever miss it onscreen and don’t want to wait to buy the show, there’s always that way to get the goodies.

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I caught another round of early shorts, the first 3 are classics, IMHO

  • If Mirror’s Could Speak - “We are born astride a grave” - Mike as Robbie - I loved Robbie, though the message he receives about his depression was annoyingly simplistic (think good things and stop being selfish… there, insta-cure!) But the French existentialist quips for him were a riot, “Why would one eat when one faces annihilation?” - Mike

  • One Got Fat - Monkey children on bikes, the horror… the horror!

  • Drugs are Like That - I think drugs are more like kids with short attention spans - What? Who? Hu? That’s dumb!

and a couple of others, not as hilarious… Down and Out, and Patriotism

and finally I closed on a high with Skipper Learns A Lesson, which is about a racist dog who’s into poster paint.

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I wish there had been more jokes about the narrator for Drugs Are Like That being Anita Bryant.

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There was a sly one, but it might have gone over people heads, or they took it literally and were offended by it.

But I think the kids were too funny, I wouldn’t have wanted them to stray from that.

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Oh, certainly. The jokes about the kids were great.

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But yeah, I can hear them doing their narrator voices… “or those times when someone throws a pie in your face… drugs are like that, too”

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I liked the new Veil riffs, the accents were utterly preposterous. Karloff is “The Man of One-and-a-Half Faces and Voices” in this series.

Also, isn’t the young doctor from the first episode of this batch our “hero” from The Beatniks? I kept waiting for a “shut up, Iris.”

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lol She was as punchably smug and self-satisfied as every other narrator of these things. (I would definitely have worked in that time that angry LGBT activists hit her in the face with a pie, personally.) I seriously do wonder why it was ever in fashion for adult narrators to basically spend 10-25 minutes energetically gloating over continued scenes of someone’s confusion or pain. Especially that of a little kid? If this was supposed to make us respect our elders more, I bet it didn’t work that well.

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My favorite Rifftrax short is probably Flash That Smile. It’s extremely 80s and so obsessed with its 80s hobby checklist gimmick, that the educational stuff ends up being an infodump near the end.

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My favorite is Buying Food. It ticks all my boxes.

“Always remember to wear a suit on Bean-Eating Night.”

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I was surprised they didn’t jump on that, they are usually pretty locked into riffing’s past (Matthew’s even done a Filmcrew quip after the sound of a factory whistle was heard in a movie)

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Along those lines, RT Live Hobgoblins seemed to be a bit more self-referential—did anyone else notice that? I don’t recall them referring to their own back catalog quite that much in the past.

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I’m in the other camp. It’s nice to see that without TV censors to worry about, they can let loose a little. I’m honestly surprised at what they hold back on sometimes lol.

All that said, I can totally understand where it feels like a different vibe than MST3K does.

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Sale time—15% off until Thursday at 11:59 PM PT.

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