RiffTrax Totally Explained

Everything about Rifftrax totally explained

RiffTrax are downloadable audio commentaries featuring comedian Michael J. Nelson heckling (or riffing) films in the style of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The RiffTrax are sold online where users can purchase and download the commentaries. The site was launched by Nelson and Legend Films in 2006 and is based in San Diego.

History

The movies chosen to riff in Mystery Science Theater 3000 were predominantly low-budget B-movies because the show itself was low-budget and producers could only afford films with expired copyright or had otherwise cheap licenses. The idea of RiffTrax came about after Mystery Science Theater 3000 was cancelled when Nelson researched and consulted a lawyer about the possibility of directly releasing DVDs of films with the commentaries included, but realized that he'd be "sued out of existence". The best-sounding method of distributing the commentaries would be to sell them independently of the films to avoid having to obtain the rights to distribute the movies themselves. There would be no legal or monetary restrictions to prevent Nelson from producing them, though viewers would have to provide the movies themselves.

Use

RiffTrax commentaries must be synchronized at the start of the movie using a cue. To reassure consumers that the MP3 file is synchronized with the film, a fictional character named DisembAudio occasionally speaks a line in exact synchronization with the movie. DisembAudio has also occasionally been known to join in on the riffing. "RiffTrax Presents" commentaries feature a female synchronization voice, Debbie. Though RiffTrax are suggested to be played on an MP3 player or with computer software, they're sold as unrestricted MP3s, allowing users to choose the viewing method that suits them the best. A Rifftrax Player is also offered as a free download.
The movies chosen for RiffTrax are based on two criteria: whether the movie lends itself towards a funny riffing, and whether the film is widely available on DVD.

RiffTrax Player

The RiffTrax Player is a program which automatically synchronizes the commentary playback to the DVD playback. The RiffTrax Player makes use of a hybrid file (.riff) containing the MP3 of the original commentary as well as synchronization information. The crew at RiffTrax has said that future commentaries will be released in both MP3 and RIFF formats, and older commentaries will also see RIFF-format releases in the future. As of this writing, the RiffTrax Player is currently in open beta and only supports NTSC DVDs.

RiffTrax On Demand

RiffTrax On Demand features DivX video files of films with RiffTrax commentaries embedded. The service offers permanent files available for purchase or temporary files available for rental at a lower price. A majority of the files available through RiffTrax On Demand are sourced from Legend Films DVD releases. Recently, RiffTrax On Demand has begun releasing short, public domain, educational films, similar to the ones that MST3K would sometimes mock before a full-length movie began.

Guest riffers

Nelson has been accompanied by former Mystery Science Theater 3000 co-stars Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett, Mary Jo Pehl, and Bridget Nelson, in addition to Internet personalities Richard Kyanka (of Something Awful fame) and Chad Vader, as well as actors Neil Patrick Harris and Fred Willard, and satirist "Weird Al" Yankovic. Nelson has said that he'd like to bring in other guests as well. Though Nelson first released RiffTrax primarily as solo efforts, there are now more tracks available with guest riffers than by Nelson alone.

Featured catalog

RiffTrax

The following is a list of films for which Nelson has provided commentary, in order of the release date of the RiffTrax.

Movie	Guest riffer(s)	Rifftrax Released	Original Release
Plan 9 from Outer Space		January 1, 2006	1959
Night of the Living Dead		January 18, 2006	1968
Road House		July 21, 2006	1989
The Fifth Element		August 1, 2006	1997
	Kevin Murphy	August 18, 2006	1989
Cocktail		August 29, 2006	1988
xXx		September 6, 2006	2002
Crossroads		September 15, 2006	2002
X-Men	Bill Corbett	September 22, 2006	2000
Top Gun	Bill Corbett	September 29, 2006	1986
Point Break		October 10, 2006	1991
Halloween	Kevin Murphy	October 19, 2006	1978
The Matrix	Kevin Murphy	October 25, 2006	1999
	Kevin Murphy	November 1, 2006	1999
The Grudge	Kevin Murphy	November 10, 2006	2004
	Kevin Murphy	November 21, 2006	2001
The Island of Dr. Moreau	Kevin Murphy	December 1, 2006	1996
Firewall	Kevin Murphy	December 8, 2006	2006
Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey		December 19, 2006	1977
Reign of Fire	Kevin Murphy	December 22, 2006	2002
Daredevil	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	January 18, 2007	2003
Battlefield Earth	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	January 28, 2007	2000
Troll 2	Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka	February 2, 2007	2000
	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	February 9, 2007	1991
Over the Top		February 16, 2007	1987
Æon Flux	Kevin Murphy	February 23, 2007	2006
The Wicker Man	Kevin Murphy	March 2, 2007	2006
	Kevin Murphy	March 16, 2007	2003
Lost (Pilot)	Kevin Murphy	March 30, 2007	2004
	Kevin Murphy and Chad Vader	April 6, 2007	2002
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory	Neil Patrick Harris	April 13, 2007	1971
Casino Royale	Kevin Murphy	April 30, 2007	2006
Eragon	Kevin Murphy	May 11, 2007	2006
Glitter	Mary Jo Pehl	May 21, 2007	2001
Predator		June 1, 2007	1987
Grey's Anatomy (Pilot)	Bridget Nelson	June 11, 2007	2005
Fantastic Four	Kevin Murphy	June 22, 2007	2005
Star Trek Generations	Kevin Murphy	July 2, 2007	1994
300	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	July 31, 2007	2007
The Bourne Identity	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	August 7, 2007	2002
Independence Day	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	August 14, 2007	1996
Heroes (Pilot)		September 4, 2007	2006
	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	September 25, 2007	2005
Raiders of the Lost Ark	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	October 2, 2007	1981
Spider-Man	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	October 9, 2007	2002
Next	Bridget Nelson	October 16, 2007	2007
Missile to the Moon	Fred Willard	October 30, 2007	1958
Transformers	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	November 20, 2007	2007
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	November 27, 2007	2001
The Star Wars Holiday Special	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	December 10, 2007	1978
	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	December 18, 2007	2007
Plan 9 From Outer Space	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	January 22, 2008	1959
Batman & Robin	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett (material provided by Riff Raff Theater)	January 29, 2008	1997
Jurassic Park	"Weird Al" Yankovic	February 5, 2008	1993
The Matrix Reloaded	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	February 19, 2008	2003
Beowulf	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	March 18, 2008	2007
Spider-Man 3	James Lileks	April 8, 2008	2007
Cloverfield	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	April 23, 2008	2008
I Am Legend	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	April 29, 2008	2007
	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	May 23, 2008	2002

RiffTrax Presents

Movie	Riffer(s)	Rifftrax Released	Original Release
	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	May 8, 2008
Dark Water	Matthew J. Elliott	May 8, 2008	2005
Saw	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	May 13, 2008	2004
House of Wax	Matthew J. Elliott	May 28, 2008	2005
To Serve All My Days	Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett	May 28, 2008

RiffTrax On Demand

The Three Stooges In Color (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
Three Stooges: Greatest Routines (with Kevin Murphy)
Swing Parade
Reefer Madness
The Little Shop of Horrors
Night of the Living Dead
Carnival of Souls
House on Haunted Hill
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Missile to the Moon (with Fred Willard)
A Visit to Santa (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (Three Riffer Edition) (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
Act Your Age (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
Lunchroom Manners (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
The Terrible Truth (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
Why Doesn't Cathy Eat Breakfast?/Petaluna Chicken (a short double-presentation [withKevin Murphy and Bill Corbett])
Coffee House Rendezvous (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
Safety - Harm Hides at Home (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
Are You Popular? (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
If Mirrors Could Speak (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)
One Got Fat - Bicycle Safety (with Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett)

Live shows

As part of SF Sketchfest in San Francisco, California, Nelson, Murphy and Corbett have appeared several times performing live riffs alongside a screening of a film. As of 2008, they've appeared three times, having riffed Daredevil and Over the Top in 2007 and the classic Plan 9 from Outer Space in 2008, the last being shown in the historic Castro Theater.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Rifftrax'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://rifftrax.totallyexplained.com">RiffTrax Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.