How about some balance?

[James of LinHood]

First of all, let me say that I've purchased every Rifftrax and been with you since the beginning.  So, I hope that my words will have a little more weight than someone who's new to this and doesn't exactly get what Rifftrax is all about.

I understand that this is not MST3K.  Good movies are going to get riffed.  Still, I think that lately, there have been more and more mainstream movies riffed.  This wouldn't be so bad if the movies were as riffable as Road House or Over the Top.  But they are not.  So, the quality of the riffs are not as good as they have been, IMO.

Part of the problem might be that Mike could be looking to riff movies that will sell a lot of Rifftrax rather than looking to riff movies that are truely riffable.  I know that Rifftrax has to make money but I was under the impression that Rifftrax is doing very well.  So, why couldn't Mike riff a Road House-esqe film one out of every three Rifftrax?  Is that too much to ask?  Maybe.  Still I think that the quality of those Rifftrax would be far superior to anything else.

Again, I'm not asking Rifftrax to do Over the Top type films all of the time.  A little balance would be nice, is all.

I know that this post will probably be glossed over and nothing will change.  But I figured that at least I'd get my voice out there.  Hopefully, I'm not the only one who feels this way about Rifftrax.

[Kor]

I agree, the 80's is loaded with movies ripe for riffing.  I for one would love to see some stuff like John Hugh's movies or the Back to the Future series.  The new films are cool too, especially the new tv shows, but some cheesy 80's classics would rock.

[RVR II]

That is A Good Point!

The Variety is good.. pick one from Back to the 80's & 90's, then to current/recent releases.
The 3 TV shows just haven't caught my interest so much as.. say.. 5th element, ID4, Road House, etc.
Maybe an 80's or 90's TV show could get a different response from me at least. Just my thought.

[BathTub]

Road House is still number 1 in the cataloge rankings.

I would certainly like to see a bit more mature cheese occasionally.

*edit* And quite surprising, to me, is over the top is currently number 6.

[SmilinJackRoss]

First of all, let me say that I've purchased every Rifftrax and been with you since the beginning.  So, I hope that my words will have a little more weight than someone who's new to this and doesn't exactly get what Rifftrax is all about.

I understand that this is not MST3K.  Good movies are going to get riffed.  Still, I think that lately, there have been more and more mainstream movies riffed.  This wouldn't be so bad if the movies were as riffable as Road House or Over the Top.  But they are not.  So, the quality of the riffs are not as good as they have been, IMO.

Part of the problem might be that Mike could be looking to riff movies that will sell a lot of Rifftrax rather than looking to riff movies that are truely riffable.  I know that Rifftrax has to make money but I was under the impression that Rifftrax is doing very well.  So, why couldn't Mike riff a Road House-esqe film one out of every three Rifftrax?  Is that too much to ask?  Maybe.  Still I think that the quality of those Rifftrax would be far superior to anything else.

Again, I'm not asking Rifftrax to do Over the Top type films all of the time.  A little balance would be nice, is all.

I know that this post will probably be glossed over and nothing will change.  But I figured that at least I'd get my voice out there.  Hopefully, I'm not the only one who feels this way about Rifftrax.

You certainly have a point, I have similar feelings about the choice of riffs.  But it's been this way since the beginning.  Rifftrax started out doing cheese-fests, but then they did The Matrix, Episode 1, and Lord of the Rings all in one clump.  I have no doubt that this was a way to get their name out there, riffing on movies that are huge hits.  This no doubt brought in more attention than the Over the Tops and Point Breaks, but they went back to the cheesey stuff eventually.  I think it's all about balance, and I feel like they are keeping the balance quite well.  Don't forget, they just riffed ID4, which was one of the most requested rifftrax out there.

Road House is still number 1 in the cataloge rankings.

I noticed recently on last.fm that The Matrix was the most played rifftrax (which would imply it is the bestselling too).  Which shouldn't be surprising, it's one of the best selling DVDs ever.

[BathTub]

While I don't doubt that the matrix is very popular, last.fm's rankings would be inaccurate due to the 'artist' tag in the mp3s being inconsistant. so they won't all be ranked against each other.

[SmilinJackRoss]

While I don't doubt that the matrix is very popular, last.fm's rankings would be inaccurate due to the 'artist' tag in the mp3s being inconsistant. so they won't all be ranked against each other.

Ah, I see...good point.

[bettertomorrowamy]

How about some patience?  You act like they can just shove these out like an assembly line.
Personally I take what I can get, and don't complain if it isn't exactly what I want. 
I would like to see older movies riffed, but they will be.

[Kor]

It's called  Feedback, as the forum title states.  We're just saying what we would like to see more or less of in future releases.  I don't see anyone in this thread complaining about the number of Rifftrax or the time between when they come out.

[bryak]

It's called  Feedback, as the forum title states.  We're just saying what we would like to see more or less of in future releases.  I don't see anyone in this thread complaining about the number of Rifftrax or the time between when they come out.

Agreed, feedback is pointless if it's always, "Everything's perfect! May I drink your bath water now?" 

The problem, as I see it, is that the more people that own the DVD, the more Riffs they sell.  That means that they would have to figure out a way to make the books justify a Riff that will sell fewer copies.  They could price it at $8.99 to get it out of those of us who would buy their Riffs at any price, but all you have to do is wonder how many copies of Nester the Long-Eared Donkey have been sold at 99c to see why that probably won't work.

This is why I propose this as a solution...

Figure out the profits in an average month's sales of Disembaudio's Cheap Turkish Cigarettes Kickbutt Energy Balls.  Subtract that average, then figure out the average expected profit on a mainstream movie Riff.  Figure out how many Disembaudio's Powdered Tiger Marrow Kickbutt Energy Balls have to be sold in a given time frame to make equivalent to what a blockbuster Riff makes.  Keep a thermometer type bar on the front page that tracks Disembaudio's energy level.  Once the bar is filled by purchases of Disembaudio's Depleted Uranium Transdermal Patches Kickbutt Energy Balls, a poll with five riffable cheese-fests can be posted in the forum, and the winner becomes a bargain 99c special Riff (to cover bandwidth cost, since the primary costs have already been covered).

This would benefit in multiple ways.  The forum members would feel involved and like a bone has been thrown directly to them (like Ask Mike!), it would increase circulation and advertisement for Disembaudio's Energy Balls, people like to combine shipping, so it would likely increase sales of shirts and other items, and it would require minimal risk-investment because the time and resource intensive portion wouldn't even happen until after the bar filled.  It would be like a fan investment in the future of Rifftrax.

I know that a lot that we don't know about goes on with the man behind the curtain at any business, but I'm just pitching this out as an idea that could make fans like James of DeadHood and myself happy, while keeping the Riffers swimming in our ill-begotten pesos.

[James of LinHood]

How about some patience?  You act like they can just shove these out like an assembly line.
Personally I take what I can get, and don't complain if it isn't exactly what I want. 
I would like to see older movies riffed, but they will be.

How about lightening up a bit?  I'm not making any demands nor am I begging.  I'm just making a suggestion.  Call me crazy but I thought that's what this feedback section was for.  Am I wrong about that?  Surely if I was torgosPizza would've come in here and told me by now.

[mrbasehart]

I agree with ya James.  The reason I think that Mike chooses more recent stuff over older stuff is that the new is relevant to a larger group and the "classic" 80s cheese will always be "classic".  It doesn't matter if it comes out in 3 or 4 years, as it's not going to change in people's minds.  With something like Firewall or Bourne Identity however, I think Rifftrax are counting on their current relevance in the marketplace to get people to check out the Rifftrax of them.  I still think that picking some cheesy 80s movie - or even earlier - would help tremendously in balancing out the product for a wider range of fans.  Plus, cheesier movies seem to be easier pickings for Mike and the gang.

[torgosPizza]

You're right James, the feedback forum is for feedback. And we do take it seriously, even if we can't always do exactly what it is everyone wants.

There are lots of factors that go into choosing what movies get riffed. And it's hardly up to me - it is always ultimately Mike's call (as well as his guest riffers).

Bryak, I do like your idea. Of course not sure if that's something we could feasibly do, but hey, I like your way of thinking.

I'll send this thread around and see what people think. I know that James has been here since the beginning (and we can look up his purchase history to see if he's fibbing!) - but that's not to say that only the long-time members' feedback is the MOST important. But I think in this case it's a balanced view, since you are a fan and not just someone joining the party yelling "Riff on that crappy 70s movie that no one's heard of and you can only import from Japan!"

So anyway. Your suggestions are noted (tagged, categorized and filed) and well ... we'll see what happens. Thanks for writing something with thought behind it!

[James of LinHood]

Thanks for writing something with thought behind it!

For a change, right?

Seriously though, thanks for actually looking into this for me.  I really appreciate it.

[BathTub]

Thanks for writing something with thought behind it!

For a change, right?

He says what we all think!