MST3K or Rifftrax?

[williamsmith]

hello,
I enjoy Rifftrax live, as I've gone to two - Godzilla and Sharknado 2. I've also seen a few of the Rifftrax shorts and a couple of movies.

To me, I dunno what it is, but I think that it's just not as good as MST3K, because it seems to me that Mike, Kevin, and Bill are trying too hard, and often I find myself cringing rather than laughing.

On MST3K the pace was better to me, it was more laid back, and they seemed chill and cynical. They often surprised me with laughter and when it wasnt funny it sort of washed over me, since it was just some guys hanging out watching a bad movie. At rifftrax, there's a hamminess that wasn't there before, everybody is just, as I said, trying too hard. And when the jokes are cheesy and fall flat (which is like 70% of them) it sort of detracts from things. A bad impression was also left at Sharknado 2 which was trying to be bad, so ruined a lot of their jokes (They would say how much the movie sucked but it was trying to suck! So its not much of an insult)
I dunno for some reason I find their pre-movie banter and a lot of their riffing a little awkward, and corny/cringey. I think they should maybe take a step back and relax and try to get that cynical moviegoer edge back, some of the things they say I don't even get how it's supposed to be funny, it's just stupid. The original show had this problem to an extent, but not as bad, and the genuine quips used to be overall better. but really it's a mood thing overall
I mainly watch Rifftrax b-movies, shorts and anything they do live. The B-movie releases, while more expensive are every bit as good as the later seasons of MST3k after Joel left. I will say that I don't care as much for many of the Riffs they do on movies that are either good, or not that bad such as Marvel movies. Some of the mainstream movie riffs are hilarious such as Twilight and Jaws. The entire series of the 1940's Batman serials are totally up to snuff next to MST and I feel like the money they charge for them is a real bargain.

If you haven't seen many of the b-movie riffs I recommend Supersonic Man, Nightmare at Noon, The Final Slumber Party, Rock 'n Roll Nightmare, and Kingdom of the Spiders.

[wihogfan]

I HATE TOM SERVO'S NEW VOICE!!!

[CJones]

Tough call. The biggest thing missing from Rifftrax are the host segments. But I can see how that wouldn't work here. I do wish they'd do intros for every movie, not just the MP3 ones.

It does seem a bit odd that MKB are less believable playing themselves than playing fictional characters.

Your recommendations are pretty solid. I would add The Guy from Harlem and Ghosthouse. As for MP3 riffs, absolutely watch Battlefield Earth, Twilight, ID4 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (By FAR the best HP riff)

[wihogfan]

Not gonna really comment on a comparison of the 2 (MST3K and Rifftrax) other than to say that even when both were at the top of their game, I found/find them both to be 50/50 hit/miss.
(And my least favorite iteration of MST3K/Rifftrax/Cinematic Titanic was the new MST3K Season 11 crew, but the live show I got to see from that crew was better than any Rifftrax or Cinematic Titanic show I've seen even though I really love (or loved in the case of CT) lives shows from each).

As far as current Rifftax goes, I wish they'd bring back the Film Crew for some of the really, really bad B movies.  I know sets have been destroyed...yada...yada...but those sets weren't very elaborate and could cheaply be improvised/replicated...skits help break up some of the tediousness of the really bad flicks.
And the skits (and a plot outside of riffing) give some justification for cutting movies like Rifftrax continues to do (see 15 minutes cut out of Omega Cop as most recent example).

[MrTorso]

Both.

MST3K has some duds, RiffTrax has some duds.  Just the way it goes.

[linszoid]

I'm a bigger fan of Rifftrax at the moment due to its steady releases. It's easier to keep interest. I do miss the skits but I'm not a big fan of waiting a year and a half for six episodes.