I wonder how this will compete with Blame Society's riff of the same movie.

[Invisible NanoGhost]

Both versions seemed very enjoyable and funny to me.  I'd say that the official rifftrax one was better, but that's probably because they seemed to have more jokes which tied into episodes 1-3 (the prequel triology).  I never tire of jokes about how much Darth Vader HATES sand.  But that said, the Blame-society one had some great lines too.  The movie has all the building tension about the death star clearing the planet so it could shoot the moon.  "But if the death star is a planet-killer, why doesn't it just blow up the planet?  Wouldn't that also destroy the moon?" (paraphrased).

I don't get all the talk of "dead air" on the rifftrax version.  I went back and watched the movie with the rifftrax version one more time after reading the comment about dead-air, and the riffing still seems fine to me.  IMO, it has plenty of riffs.  I'm sure they could have fit more in, but it's not like I felt short-changed with the jokes they did.

I could come up with a few more riffs for this too, but that's just because I've seen the star wars movies so many times now.  I suspect Riff Raff Theater could also do a riff track for Star Wars Episode IV, and come up with yet another set of riffs for most of the movie which wouldn't repeat what is in these two tracks.  One missed riff is that somewhere someone should have made an riff where Obi-wahn explicitly says something like "I should teach you the ways of the force, Luke.  After all, I taught your father and that certainly turned out fine!".  Or when Darth Vader notes that Princess Lea has "unusual resistance to the mind probe", have a riff that says "It's a pity that he can't Jedi the fact that she's HIS DAUGHTER while he's wondering how she can possibly resist the mind probe.  No tests for midiclorians here, I guess!".  Or some observation on the physics of what would happen with the death-star blowing up a planet as it orbits that very same planet.  Wouldn't the sudden loss of the planet cause at least a few people to be tossed around in the death-star?

I do think the official rifftrax version had a few bits which worked simply because it's done by the three Riffers who are very familiar old friends for all of us by now.  I expect that few groups could have done the Jaba/Jawa bit and have it seem as funny.  But, they are the three riffers who are old friends for us by now, and the bit was funny (IMO, at least), so I'm not sure why I would complain about that.  I'm buying the riff tracks for laughs, and if the track does deliver on the laughs, then it's doing what it should be doing.

[Invisible NanoGhost]

I do think we (listeners) are starting to suffer from the effects of having too much of a good thing.  There are a lot of pretty good riff tracks showing up as iRiffs, and add to that the CT and Rifftrax output, and everything starts to sound "same-y" after awhile.  I've certainly noticed that for some of the iRiff shorts which were released in the second half of December.  They may be better than earlier iRiff'ed shorts, and yet I'm not as amused by them.  Riffing burn-out, I guess.

[bratpop]

The reason it's not the greatest riff of all time is that they didn't try to make it the greatest riff of all time. They riffed the movie like they riff any movie, instead of giving us a product worthy of the Star Wars name. If you're going to make fun of Star Wars, you have to give it a little extra effort, since everyone has seen and joked about it. The guys being pros isn't enough. It's the difference between a Robot Chicken episode and Seth Green drawing on a napkin. Most people expect Star Wars to be Rifftrax: The Movie. (And it is, because it's just like MST3k: The Movie. Not funnier, just a more "classic" movie riffed.)

Darth Vader HATES sand

He never said he HATES sand, he said he doesn't LIKE sand. It's a mundane line they blew way out of proportion. They could have done that with any line. It's the equivalent of me following Kevin around and constantly joking about he "HATES" olives because he said he didn't like them once.

[Invisible NanoGhost]

The reason it's not the greatest riff of all time is that they didn't try to make it the greatest riff of all time. They riffed the movie like they riff any movie, instead of giving us a product worthy of the Star Wars name. If you're going to make fun of Star Wars, you have to give it a little extra effort, since everyone has seen and joked about it. The guys being pros isn't enough. It's the difference between a Robot Chicken episode and Seth Green drawing on a napkin. Most people expect Star Wars to be Rifftrax: The Movie. (And it is, because it's just like MST3k: The Movie. Not funnier, just a more "classic" movie riffed.)

Yeah, I can see that.  This is rifftrax is more likely to pull in some first-time listeners than most tracks, so one would expect them to make it an extra-special rifftrax.  I wasn't thinking of it that way, but I do know that I've heard a few friends of mine say they were going to get this rifftrax, even though they haven't bought any previous tracks.

Darth Vader HATES sand

He never said he HATES sand, he said he doesn't LIKE sand. It's a mundane line they blew way out of proportion. They could have done that with any line. It's the equivalent of me following Kevin around and constantly joking about he "HATES" olives because he said he didn't like them once.

Speaking for me, I noticed the stupidity of that line the first time I saw the movie, which was in the theater on the day of release.  He's more vehement about his feelings about sand than almost anything else he says in SW2 and SW3.  It isn't just what he said, it's the way he said it, and situation he was in when he said it.  Or at least, that's the way it struck me at the time, and thus I love the jokes about him hating sand.

[bratpop]

No, he said it as cardboardedly as every other line. It's the sort of non-sequiter that stands out. She's talking about water and suddenly he says, "I don't like sand."

[Invisible NanoGhost]

No, he said it as cardboardedly as every other line. It's the sort of non-sequiter that stands out. She's talking about water and suddenly he says, "I don't like sand."

(rewatches the scene) Yeah, I guess it's a pretty tame scene, but it did stick out in my mind at the time.  Here he is alone with a woman that he's been infatuated for ten years, "thinking about her every single day", and he starts taking about how he doesn't like sand.

[dalem]

I love the water.

-dale

[TheUnabeefer]

I love the water.

Personally, I want more "I love the water" jokes.  The ONE they did in Casino Royale had me in tears, I was laughing so hard.

That being said.... the only REAL problem I had with the official Riff of this was how they acted as if this was as painful to watch a movie as Battlefield Earth.  Sure, Episode IV may have its very obviously cheesy moments, but it's by far NOT the worst movie ever, nor is it that hard to sit through.

It seemed a bit forced and too much for me (especially at the very end) how they spoke as if this was a massive hardship to watch this movie, or that it couldn't possibly be what all the hype was about back in the 70's because it was so bad.... it wasn't.  All in all, it's one of the best space movies ever made, and NOTHING as bad as the Prequel trilogy.

Especially after knowing how many HORRID movies they have sat through (and made ME sit through).... it just seems forced and fake hearing them act as if this movie was causing them so much pain.

Other than that, I quite enjoyed it.

[Invisible NanoGhost]

That being said.... the only REAL problem I had with the official Riff of this was how they acted as if this was as painful to watch a movie as Battlefield Earth.  Sure, Episode IV may have its very obviously cheesy moments, but it's by far NOT the worst movie ever, nor is it that hard to sit through.

It seemed a bit forced and too much for me (especially at the very end) how they spoke as if this was a massive hardship to watch this movie, or that it couldn't possibly be what all the hype was about back in the 70's because it was so bad.... it wasn't.  All in all, it's one of the best space movies ever made, and NOTHING as bad as the Prequel trilogy.

I agree with that.  I now stop the rifftrack at the end when Bill starts up on how they must not be watching the right movie.  I listened to that bit the first time, but it does seem pretty forced and unnecessary.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

well, after the pure unbridled awesomeness that is The Dark Knight, the best movie ever made, anything else is just garbage

[Zandrax]

well, after the pure unbridled awesomeness that is The Dark Knight, the best movie ever made, anything else is just garbage

I figured that was part of the joke.

[Conor]

I don't get all the talk of "dead air" on the rifftrax version.  I went back and watched the movie with the rifftrax version one more time after reading the comment about dead-air, and the riffing still seems fine to me.  IMO, it has plenty of riffs.  I'm sure they could have fit more in, but it's not like I felt short-changed with the jokes they did.

That's because this isn't true.  Opinion of the quality of a Riff is certainly subjunctive, but this one was not different timing wise from anything else we've ever done, (the exception being the last part of Batman & Robin.) 

I don't want anyone to be scared of thinking that there are half minute to minute long gaps a la B&R, because there aren't.

[Piobman]

It seemed a bit forced and too much for me (especially at the very end) how they spoke as if this was a massive hardship to watch this movie, or that it couldn't possibly be what all the hype was about back in the 70's because it was so bad.... it wasn't.  All in all, it's one of the best space movies ever made, and NOTHING as bad as the Prequel trilogy.

I agree with that.  I now stop the rifftrack at the end when Bill starts up on how they must not be watching the right movie.  I listened to that bit the first time, but it does seem pretty forced and unnecessary.

It certainly felt natural to me when they were ripping on the movie. They had me laughing hard on this one. I personally like Star Wars... but it is not as great a movie as everyone seems to claim. It has all the characteristics of a Lucas movie. Annoying robots, sub-par acting, and a very simple story. I think the biggest benefit of the original star wars was that lucas couldn't gag us with all of the CGI that he does now. And all of the recent enhancements seemed to kill the flow of the original movie. Mike & co. will probably upset the die hard fans on this one... but a superb rifftrax. Now on to empire strikes back! Show no mercy mike!

[Zandrax]

It seemed a bit forced and too much for me (especially at the very end) how they spoke as if this was a massive hardship to watch this movie, or that it couldn't possibly be what all the hype was about back in the 70's because it was so bad.... it wasn't.  All in all, it's one of the best space movies ever made, and NOTHING as bad as the Prequel trilogy.

I agree with that.  I now stop the rifftrack at the end when Bill starts up on how they must not be watching the right movie.  I listened to that bit the first time, but it does seem pretty forced and unnecessary.

It certainly felt natural to me when they were ripping on the movie. They had me laughing hard on this one. I personally like Star Wars... but it is not as great a movie as everyone seems to claim. It has all the characteristics of a Lucas movie. Annoying robots, sub-par acting, and a very simple story. I think the biggest benefit of the original star wars was that lucas couldn't gag us with all of the CGI that he does now. And all of the recent enhancements seemed to kill the flow of the original movie. Mike & co. will probably upset the die hard fans on this one... but a superb rifftrax. Now on to empire strikes back! Show no mercy mike!

I pretty much agree with this. One of the things about Star Wars and it's endearing longevity has been how different it was for it's time. Ask anybody who was around at the time, and the big Hollywood movies before that were pretty much gritty cop dramas and disaster flicks. Star Wars was pretty cliched, but very imaginative for its time. I've seen teenyboppers watch the original for teh first time and wonder what the fuss is about because it "looks so fake". But for geeks like me who grew up on it, it still looks fine because we treasure our youthful memories.

As for the comedic pacing, like said before, a lot of times Rifftrax doesn't talk over the dialogue. Or at the very least they keep it to a minimum so we can enjoy both the movie AND the commentary. That way if we haven't seen the movie before, we won't be lost. It was like that going back to the MST3K days, because many times the viewer was watching the movie for the first time. I haven't watched the Blame Society version, but it sounds like they figure the viewer is already familiar with the material, so they are more rapid fire.

[Invisible NanoGhost]

It seemed a bit forced and too much for me (especially at the very end) how they spoke as if this was a massive hardship to watch this movie, or that it couldn't possibly be what all the hype was about back in the 70's because it was so bad.... it wasn't.  All in all, it's one of the best space movies ever made, and NOTHING as bad as the Prequel trilogy.

I agree with that.  I now stop the rifftrack at the end when Bill starts up on how they must not be watching the right movie.  I listened to that bit the first time, but it does seem pretty forced and unnecessary.

It certainly felt natural to me when they were ripping on the movie. They had me laughing hard on this one. I personally like Star Wars... but it is not as great a movie as everyone seems to claim. It has all the characteristics of a Lucas movie. Annoying robots, sub-par acting, and a very simple story. I think the biggest benefit of the original star wars was that lucas couldn't gag us with all of the CGI that he does now. And all of the recent enhancements seemed to kill the flow of the original movie. Mike & co. will probably upset the die hard fans on this one... but a superb rifftrax. Now on to empire strikes back! Show no mercy mike!

Just to be clear: The riffing was fine for me, I enjoyed both riff tracks a lot.  There's so much to make fun of in this movie that we have two complete riff tracks for it and I bet a third one could be made.  But Bill pretending that "this can't be the movie which was so big" as if he had never seen it before is what seems forced and unnecessary to me.  Just my 2 cents.

I've listened to this 2-hour rifftrax several times now, and I think it's great.  I just skip the last 45 seconds of it, with no loss in laughs.