star trek phase2 reception

[ShadowDog]

I wasn't surprised gabesword because it was a courtesy syncing that rifftrax did as a favor to its fans.  Rifftrax does this all the time, going the extra mile to make things as convenient as possible for us.  Since I have a mac the rifftraxplayer thing doesn't work for me so every single movie I watch I have to go through the huge pain in the ass of syncing up the video.  It's surprising how much of a difference even a half second can make on whether or not something is funny and sometimes it can take as much as the first ten minutes of the movie to get it just right unless I want to keep going back to the beginning.  Sometimes its enough of a pain in the ass that I'm irritated for the next 10-20 minutes and don't enjoy the trax as much as I should.

So I actually like the shorts better because they come already synced up.  If the shorts didn't come already synced I wouldn't buy them because it could take the entire 5 minute short to sync the fucking thing up and it's not worth it.

These Phase Two films are longer, so I'd probably still buy them if they weren't synced, but boy was I glad to see they were already synced.  Saved me a LOT of trouble and irritation.  So thank you Rifftrax.  Thanks for syncing it for me and thanks for not bowing to the pressure of the unstoppable constant wave of bitching we've been enduring for the past week since it came out.

PS.  Yeah, yeah, I know I should learn how to the do the DVD reauthor thing and if it looks like we're never getting a macrifftraxplayer, I probably will eventually.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

I'm suprised that Rifftrax is offering a synced up version of this.  I have no problem with them riffing on it, and I'm looking forward to hearing it.  It seems to me though, that they don't have any right to distribute the video.

Upon checking the Phase II website they say that the show will be distributed from their official streaming video sites or their official video mirror sites.  They also ask that fans not redistribute their work elsewhere on the internet.

CBS/Paramount owns the copyrights on things like the Star Trek logo and the characters used in the production.  They have given permission for the Star Trek Phase II folks to use the CBS/Paramount intellectual property.  I doubt they have given Legend Films the same permissions, though I could definitely be wrong there.

Rifftrax has asked that users don't redistribute their work without permission.  I personally don't think that they should redistribute the Phase II stuff without permission.  Just do the normal .mp3 thing like they did with the Star Wars Holiday Special.


With all of that said, I really am looking forward to checking out the riffs on these Phase II episodes.

Good Idea, let's all demand a pre-synched version of the Star Wars Holiday Special
 

[Nunyerbiz]

I see what you're getting at now.  Yeah, I suppose I agree with you in theory; but what if this draws greater attention to the works themselves? Isn't the point of fan films a) to get to make them (they're supposed to be fun) and b) for people to see them?

Well, I think that's the same flawed logic that people use to justify pirating Rifftrax.

"Oh... but I am helping Rifftrax by seeding this torrent of [insert product name here]".

Sure, they are probably right... despite the powers that be insistance otherwise, it's hard to argue with the power of torrent to get the word out...  But still, it's probably not the desired method.... having other forces control the dominant distribution methods of your product. .

[torgosPizza]

it's hard to argue with the power of torrent to get the word out...

Actually it's really easy - it's basically the opposite. I can see instances of bulletin boards that people have downloaded our tracks from, and it numbers in the thousands (of grabs). The people who are going there aren't having some epiphany of our existence (although in rare instances, this is the case) - it's more along the lines of  "Thank you! Please release [RiffTrax title] next!" and "Do more!"

[Nunyerbiz]

it's hard to argue with the power of torrent to get the word out...

Actually it's really easy - it's basically the opposite. I can see instances of bulletin boards that people have downloaded our tracks from, and it numbers in the thousands (of grabs). The people who are going there aren't having some epiphany of our existence (although in rare instances, this is the case) - it's more along the lines of  "Thank you! Please release [RiffTrax title] next!" and "Do more!"

Well, thanks for confirming the existance of pirates.

Do you really think you are helping the Phase2 guys in their efforts? Or is it more along the lines of "Thank You! Please riff [phase2 title] next!" and "do more!"

You want to complain about losing money when the Phase2 guys were never concerned about money in the first place. Do you fail to see my point?

[Edward J Grug III]

it's hard to argue with the power of torrent to get the word out...

Actually it's really easy - it's basically the opposite. I can see instances of bulletin boards that people have downloaded our tracks from, and it numbers in the thousands (of grabs). The people who are going there aren't having some epiphany of our existence (although in rare instances, this is the case) - it's more along the lines of  "Thank you! Please release [RiffTrax title] next!" and "Do more!"

Well, thanks for confirming the existance of pirates.

Do you really think you are helping the Phase2 guys in their efforts? Or is it more along the lines of "Thank You! Please riff [phase2 title] next!" and "do more!"

You want to complain about losing money when the Phase2 guys were never concerned about money in the first place. Do you fail to see my point?

Wait... Your original post specifically said:

""Oh... but I am helping Rifftrax by seeding this torrent of [insert product name here]".

Sure, they are probably right... despite the powers that be insistance otherwise, it's hard to argue with the power of torrent to get the word out... "

And Torgos defended that point.

Then you start talking to him like he's a retard?

WTF man?

[ShadowDog]

As much as I'm irritated right now that Rifftrax backed down on this issue, internet pirates are total dirtbags and will burn in hell.  No slant or spin is ever going to convince me that torrent sites and other forms of piracy do anything but harm the original creative company.

[Pak-Man]

I'm not sure if it was a matter of backing down at all. If I'm interpreting events right, Rifftrax thought they could without incident, they were told they couldn't, they stopped. I kind of doubt Rifftrax ever gave the middle finger to them and said, "We'll do what we want!" until some threat was made that made them stop.

Question, though: Now that Rifftrax doesn't provide the video, can you talk about Rifftrax at their forum?

[Edward J Grug III]

As much as I'm irritated right now that Rifftrax backed down on this issue...

You live in a bizarre fantasy world!

[ShadowDog]

This can't be a fantasy world, there's not enough PIE!

[nummy muffin]

Or cake.  The cake was a lie.

But Rifftrax did the right thing.  Respectable, in the face of so much nerdy assault.

[ShadowDog]

Much as I hate to admit being wrong, (and I do hate it, believe me) having read most recent torgosPizza's reply in the other thread (which I only read after the comment I made above) I think they did the right thing.  I was just pissed off that the next video wasn't going to be synced up and I went too far venting my frustration.  I'm still not buying the next Phase 2 video, but that's no reason to question Rifftrax's manhood.

[bettertomorrowamy]

Now you're a wuss.  Learn how to reauthor so we don't have to listen to you bitch and moan.

[Flopsy T. Hamster]

Actually, I think the whole reason the Phase II guys asked Rifftrax not to distribute the file has less to do with protecting their episodes than it has to with providing accurate numbers to Paramount about how many copies are being downloaded. At one time, they didn't really care if episodes were posted to torrent sites. But just before "World Enough And Time" was released, Paramount asked Cawley to meet with them, and to set up a screening of the episode for them. The New Voyages producers were worried that maybe it was time for the sword to drop, and they were gonna be asked to stop. Fortunately, Paramount allowed them to continue, but asked them to supply details on how often the show was being viewed. You know those suits... they just LOVE ratings.

For the first few months, the only way to watch the episode was through streaming. Unfortunately, there were so many viewers, they killed the server a couple of time, and they had to withdraw it completely for a few weeks. I think it wound up being counter-productive for tracking purposes, as during that time, the only way to see it was to download a stream-capture from a torrent site.

Even though they'll never be able to supply accurate numbers, I guess they have to try as hard as they can to be as accurate as they can, and ask that only the official mirror distribute the files... even if it's for free.

[mrbasehart]

Yes, I know I can look this up, but how many episodes of New Voyages are there?