iJust Finished Watching

[Darth Geek]

One Man Band iRiff of Ice Pirates - Good God this movie is wierd! This is what would happen if you had the sets from Space Mutiny, had an incompetant wardrobe department but gave them WAY too much money, and let an unfunny business executive try to write Spaceballs, and then let his angry lesbian secretary do a quick rewrite. If that doesn't make any sense, NO FUCKING SHIT! The movie's soundtrack is SO hilariously out of place too.
After watching The Cinema Snob episodes so long, it's odd to see John Carrodine in a bad movie where he actually interacts with the other actors.
The ending cop out is embarrasingly bad. In fact, there really isn't any of the intentional comedy that works, but this thing is still very funny.

The riff is good, not great. I can see why it placed on the Top 50 iRiffs LoC, though. I am glad they didn't riff much on how the comedy doesn't work, more on the situations and dialog. I watched the Stupend-O version with the skits throughout. It's an admirable attempt to do MST3K style "host segments", but after a while I tended to forget about them. So when the bell rang it took me a bit to remember to pause  the movie, so the sync got screwed up. It's not too bad, as those moments are in the .txt file with the riff. But it was unusual. Unfortunately the skits weren't all that great, so the extra effort didn't seem worth it. 
Also, the premis of the setup for the riff seems to go a looooong way for little purpose. Still, I would recommend people check this riff out.

There's three stormtroopers just sitting there with their guns ready.

The origin of the rock hand explained.

The horrible truth behind Hebrew National hot dogs.

Lasers generously provided by the COBRA foundation.

ABC's Fencing With The Elderly.

[SJP]

Thanks for the review.  I've cut down on Stupend-O skits heavily as time went on, because they don't seem to get a response in sales either way (some of those do well, others do not) though I think the ones on The Thing are the best I've done in terms of any sort of build-up and payoff (which is why I went the extra step and included a separate file with the skits only on it with some in-between narration, because I thought those really turned out well).  I think T: Salvation's were ok as well, but the skits weren't a problem on that one; trying to get the riff done overall almost sent me out of riffing completely.  Bale's not the only one who was driven to near insanity by that movie.   

But it's nice to finally hear what somebody actually thought about the process.  I don't think anybody's ever commented directly on it, one way or the other.  I think most people end up just listening to the regular edition in the long run, but I've always wanted feedback on whether it's a process worth investing the time in or not.

[k1]

We're kind of wondering that as well with our Hitchcock riff.  We're waiting to see how the little breaks in the riffing go over.  If people enjoy them we may continue with them.

[SJP]

Ok, since I'm still awake when I should be asleep for work in the morning, I might as well finish up by reviewing these, since I redid my script while listening to them head to head...

Dragonball: Evolution

Quiptracks - Seriously, you WANT me to release mine?  How can it compete?  Good energy, good gags, good voices...what could mine possibly have to offer?  The only real complaint is a couple of times there are some mumbled lines and a few that go by so fast I had to rewind and turn off the movie sound to catch it...and some even then I had to replay a time or two.  But really, saying I missed a few quick jokes is the worst I can say about it.

Best Line:
Now, it may look loike fiah-bending, but it's nah.  It's AIAH-bending. (The voice sells it, in all honesty...I rewound this one four times and stopped editing just to hear it again for GOOD reasons)

Team Four Star - It competes pretty well, but staggers a bit under a LOT of dead air towards the end of the track, a number of "How in the world did they screw this up?" "Well, it's because..." gags that sound too forced, and a few too many "Wow, this movie sucks" jokes.  Not that it's a BAD track by any means, just...not AS good.  You can tell it's a group that did this riff as a side project as opposed to being a 'professional' riffing group, but it is a lot better than a few I've heard crop up on the iRiff site from time to time.

Best Line:
She missed with a f^(&!ng car!

There, now I've listened to both and modified a couple of jokes in my own.  I had two I was very sad to give up (if you've seen the movie, you'll know the context):
He landed on Sergeant Wilhelm.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the second half of the movie will be directed by Mr. Tim Burton.

I did find replacements, but one of these was too similar to a Four Star one, and the other a Quiptracks one.  There are a few others, but they're not EXACT jokes, and some of them occur at different points in the movie than when I bring them up, so it's not too big a deal.

And just for reference for those who don't know, I originally wrote this in the summer of 2010, and just as I was about to record, Quiptracks released theirs, so I shelved it for a year.  When I was about ready to consider trying it again, Team Four Star released theirs.  So, now it's about a year later again, and I don't see any new versions on the horizon, so here, finally, I'm about to finish this sucker up this week.  During this time, I also lost not one, but TWO people I was going to record this with (one of whom wrote jokes which will appear in the first few minutes of the script, and who I'm thankful to have worked with in the past), but I have found a third person who I will be recording with, so like Underworld this one will have a duo as opposed to just me.

[Darth Geek]

Funny you should be looking at those, SJP, as I am watching the Four Star riff of Dragonball Evolution as well. I will finish it up tonight, but I mostly concurr with your assesment.

[Darth Geek]

I watched the first half of IT with iRiff by Cinester Theater with a friend of mine last night. She really liked it. So did her fiance, but half an hour in he left to watch pay per view wrestling with his friends. SERIOUSLY?! Fuck that noise!

Cinester Theater always brings the funny. I miss them a lot.

[mattwnelson]

I watched the first half of IT with iRiff by Cinester Theater with a friend of mine last night. She really liked it. So did her fiance, but half an hour in he left to watch pay per view wrestling with his friends. SERIOUSLY?! Fuck that noise!

Cinester Theater always brings the funny. I miss them a lot.

Pretty much the whole exchange between Pennywise and Georgie had me and my best friend rolling on that one. We still quote "From da SEWER" back and forth to each other sometimes.

[Asbestos Bill]

Dragonball: Evolution

Quiptracks - Seriously, you WANT me to release mine?  How can it compete?  Good energy, good gags, good voices...what could mine possibly have to offer?  The only real complaint is a couple of times there are some mumbled lines and a few that go by so fast I had to rewind and turn off the movie sound to catch it...and some even then I had to replay a time or two.  But really, saying I missed a few quick jokes is the worst I can say about it.

Heh. Yeah, we call that replay value, but some jokes may really just be too low. Sometimes I like to do "throwaway" jokes, that are kept low so they feel more spontaneous, (which means they probably weren't worth rewinding for). Do you happen to remember what they were?

In general, when watching a QuipTrack, don't worry too much about missing a joke, because there's always another just around the corner. Then later, when you watch it again, you'll be more familiar with the jokes you caught the first time, which will let you catch the other ones more easily and it'll be a whole new experience 

...In theory, anyway. Joke density is something we've been working to adjust since Hulk, which is very very dense. While we're working, though, 15 second gaps seem huge, and of course we're able to keep up with the movie and the riffs at the same time because we've seen it 20 times.

[Bob]

These reviews are just fun to read............

[SJP]

I feel bad if I leave a gap of ten seconds, so there's no problems there.  The only time I was ever turned off by too many jokes was the one Yor riff.  The jokes were good, but every single one was artificially slid in, to the point where you could tell there was no way a human being could talk like that.  Literally, one joke ended, the next started, with nary a breath in-between, and at least the first half hour is completely unintelligible because there's just a sheer wall of gags.  Shame he only did two, because I think he had potential if he'd kept going, but I guess that's just what happens sometimes.

Also, I think somebody on MST3Kinfo did a joke density ratio and found that the Sci-Fi channel years averaged 8-10 seconds between jokes, so that's a reasonable level...unfortunately, that was also three people doing jokes written by a roomful of writers, so there might be some give and take to be found.

[mr.b.natural]

I feel bad if I leave a gap of ten seconds, so there's no problems there.  The only time I was ever turned off by too many jokes was the one Yor riff.  The jokes were good, but every single one was artificially slid in, to the point where you could tell there was no way a human being could talk like that.  Literally, one joke ended, the next started, with nary a breath in-between, and at least the first half hour is completely unintelligible because there's just a sheer wall of gags.  Shame he only did two, because I think he had potential if he'd kept going, but I guess that's just what happens sometimes.

Ditto.

One of the criticisms I get is that I don't have enough jokes but just one guy babbling on the whole time would just be annoying; like in Yor.  You need to let the audience get a feel for the movie.  The movie is as much a character as you are and even even MST3K averaged how ever many jokes per minute they almost NEVER talked over dialogue and were the better for it.  So would we.

[Darth Geek]

These reviews are just fun to read............

I'm glad people are enjoying them.

I am definitely in favor of more density of jokes than less. I have never tried the Yor riff, but I heard about how joke heavy it is. But ultimately, I sat down to watch a movie with riffs, and any "dead air" is just grating to me. I don't mind talking over a little of the dialog, as long as it doesn't hurt the understanding of what is going on.
  A good example of this is the Rifftrax for Transformers Rise of the Fallen, where they did talk over some of the dialog (especially when Megatron went to whatever planet that The Fallen was staying on). But when I replayed that part of the movie to see if anything I missed would help me figure out WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON, none of it did. So it was no loss for them to talk over that bullshit.

[Darth Geek]

I watched the VOD riff Hor-Riff-ic Productions did of the Halloween Safety Shorts again. Really good, as to be expected from them. Although the video is in the wrong proportions (stretched vertically), which is annoying.
  The changing of the little girl's witch costume into the all white costume definitely reminds me of the gag in South Park when they dressed Cartmen up as a Clansmen instead of Hitler.
  Was the "saying a joke" when Trick-or-Treating a regular thing back in the day? I don't ever remember anybody doing that when I was a kid. Of course, the jokes these kids tell are painfully bad, which just adds to the sanitized hilarity.


Hey, I'm a grown-assed man, who stole a mask from a little girl.

Must be for a Jewish pirate.

Yes, running over children has never been easier, with reflective patches.

Those with the Meagan's Law sign out front are sure to have the best candy.

"That's how those parts will look when car headlights will shine on them." --- Right before the child explodes in a technicolor of gore and innerds.

"Cut fruit into pieces before you eat it." --- This way you can fill it with candy, so you'll actually eat it.

[Darth Geek]

Funny you should be looking at those, SJP, as I am watching the Four Star riff of Dragonball Evolution as well. I will finish it up tonight, but I mostly concurr with your assesment.

I'm actually going to get to that tomorow or Wednesday. I will give one critizism now, though. There are sync lines in this, but there is no .txt file with times, so it almost impossible to sync back up after you have turned it off completely. You would have to just happen to remember what the last sync line had been, and then look for it in the movie. Then estimate where that is in the track, and play it back and forth till you found it. Pointlessly difficult.

I have seen this several times from various groups, so it bears repeating. Having a .txt file with sync line times is crucial for replayability.

So I will watch the Dragonball Evolution riff from the beginning again when I have enough time to get through it.

[Darth Geek]

Watched the Turkey Shoot short Fire! Patty Learns What to Do. Turkey Shoot is always great, and this is no exception. I love how the ultimate lesson for Patty is that she is useless.


Hey, the Villiage of the Damned tryouts.

Ok, I'm gonna make an ascention up to the second story and OHHHH don't think so very scary, back to the truck.

Uh, fellas...there are six other buildings. Hello?

"Each man tries to get the news to his paper first." --- Wow, it's great you give a rats ass!