The Pre-RiffTrax DVDS

[azwarwilf]

So, I'm talking about the six Pre-RiffTrax Legend Mike-Solo-Riff DVDs. Or these:

• Reefer Madness
• Night of the Living Dead
• Carnival of Souls
• House on Haunted Hill
• Plan 9 from Outer Space
• Little Shop of Horrors

And I'm just trying to make sure I have them in the right order. That is, I am obsessed with keeping them in the order in which they were released.

Can somebody help me out and tell me if I've got them right in the list above?

[MrTorso]

• Reefer Madness - Released 04/20/2004
• Night of the Living- Dead Released 09/07/2004
• Carnival of Souls - Released 03/29/2005
• House on Haunted Hill - Released 09/06/2005
• Plan 9 from Outer Space - Released 06/27/2006
• Little Shop of Horrors - Released 06/27/2006
• The Three Stooges: Swing Parade (official street date - 03/27/07)
  

Looks like you got em right. Those were the street dates I could find.

[BathTub]

Man, 1 out of 7, I am falling behind!

[azwarwilf]

Danke schön, Herr Torso.

[gammer]

Man, 1 out of 7, I am falling behind!

I guess if you are getting them for continuity its all good. But I find that they are not in the same 'ballpark' as the regular RiffTrax; a bit low key.

[MrTorso]

I guess if you are getting them for continuity its all good. But I find that they are not in the same 'ballpark' as the regular RiffTrax; a bit low key.

The first ones (actually all of them up to Swing Parade) seem more like satire of real commentary tracks. Not full on riff the movie to shreds Rifftrax style. For example on NOTLD and Reefer Madness Mike offers jokey trivia about actors and places and stuff like that. That kind of stuff is not in the Rifftrax releases.

[Tarantulas]

Yes.. the DVDs are very different from Rifftrax for reasons I'm not 100% sure of..

the comments seems different somehow... Rifftrax contains 100% less drink recipes for example...

[BathTub]

Well as I understand it, the original concept was more along the lines of A Goofy take on DVD Commentaries, rather than direct riffing in the MST3K vein.

[mrbasehart]

Well as I understand it, the original concept was more along the lines of A Goofy take on DVD Commentaries, rather than direct riffing in the MST3K vein.

Yeah, in the first couple, Mike actually gives out some biographical information on some of the people involved! 

[gammer]

I think the only one that I truely enjoyed and could watch again was Plan 9.

It was bad enough to make it entertaining...with or without Mikes commentary.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

you know some of the rifftrax came out before the dvds though right?

[azwarwilf]

you know some of the rifftrax came out before the dvds though right?

I'm pretty sure you're incorrect there. Swing Parade just came out, but the other six came before RiffTrax.

Well as I understand it, the original concept was more along the lines of A Goofy take on DVD Commentaries, rather than direct riffing in the MST3K vein.

I think maybe Mike designed the pre-RT DVD commentaries to (at least in part) spoof the genre of DVD commentaries in order to detract from the awkwardness inherent in making fun of something that your employer is trying to sell. Legend does kind of weird thing with those DVDs in that they are marketing the movie to people who want a cool old movie while at the same tome they are appealing to people who want a bad movie to be ripped apart. On one hand, they're trying to sell it because it's good, on the other they're trying to sell it 'cause it's bad.

With RiffTrax, there's none of that awkward conflict. Mike can say anything at all about the riffed movie because he doesn't have to worry about damaging the movie's endorsement. That's a really nice thing about RiffTrax: they really don't need anyone's permission to do this!

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

nope several were also out before house on haunted hill as well  

I think house came out the week before halloween did.

[MrTorso]

nope several were also out before house on haunted hill as well  

I think house came out the week before halloween did.

House on Haunted Hill was released September of 2005. The first Rifftrax came out in July of 2006.

[starfighter]

  Yeah, I bought all of them before Rifftrax. Mst3kinfo was e-mailing members for every new release.
   They offered them for sale here after Rifftrax started, since I know I paid more for them than the offered price here.  I've only seen a couple of them at Best Buy.