IRiffs Takes MST3k Open Source 100
An anonymous reader writes "Michael J. Nelson started up Rifftrax as a 2nd act to his stint as host of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and now they're making their website open to anyone and everyone who thinks they're funny with iRiffs — allowing people to upload their own comedy commentary tracks and charge whatever they want. They've already got a few would-be groups online, including one who takes the open source a step further — soliciting jokes from listeners and combining submissions into a final product."
Fine, but (Score:1, Informative)
Re:I have to say... (Score:5, Informative)
Cinematic Titanic is the Real Deal (Score:5, Informative)
Cinematic Titanic is the real evolution of MST3K. Their first 3 DVD's are hilarious.
From the website http://www.cinematictitanic.com/ [cinematictitanic.com]:
Cinematic Titanic is a feature length movie riffing show and is an artist owned and operated venture created by Joel Hodgson, the creator of the Peabody award-winning Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Cinematic Titanic features the original cast and writers of MST3K, which is Hodgson (Joel Robinson), Trace Beaulieu (Crow), and J. Elvis Weinstein (Tom Servo). Filling out the ensemble is Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester) and Frank Conniff (TVâ(TM)s Frank). Cinematic Titanic's focus is to riff on the movies we love, which are 'the unfathomable', 'the horribly great', and the just plain 'cheesy' movies from the past. Our first feature length DVD Cinematic Titanic's "The Oozing Skull" is available for purchase at EZtakes.com
Re:PAL versions available? (Score:3, Informative)
Create a PAL version so our friends abroad can watch your iRiff. Using Audacity, (see above), go to Effects->Change Tempo and enter 4.271% Save this as your PAL version.
Re:Joel already working on a second act? (Score:5, Informative)
Go ahead and pick one host over the other, but the jokes on MST3K were always written by a large staff, including head writer Mike Nelson.
And Mike, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy are also working on The Film Crew [wikipedia.org].
Re:Joel already working on a second act? (Score:3, Informative)
As others have said, Mike Nelson started RiffTrax in 2006, while Cinematic Titanic was announced towards the tail end of 2007. What's more, RiffTrax was an offshoot of the work Mike had been doing with Legend Films, providing DVD commentary tracks for various old films (including Night of the Living Dead and Reefer Madness, to name just two). So Mike's "second act" came well before Joel's.
Mike's delivery is obviously different than Joel's delivery, but Mike was head writer of MST3K since the middle of its first season, so he's clearly got the chops for it. As for why Mike isn't involved in Cinematic Titanic? As you say, there are lots of reasons, but probably the two most likely are that he (and Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett) already had a regular movie riffing gig with Legend Films / RiffTrax, and (arguably more importantly) that he had relocated from to the San Diego area, which put him half a country away from most of the rest of the Cinematic Titanic team.
Personally, I'm just amused by the fact that just about everyone from the MST3K cast and writing staff are back in the riffing business. The only ones who haven't are executive producer / co-creator Jim Mallon (who apparently had a falling out with Joel, causing Joel's departure from the show), and writer Paul Chaplin. They all clearly enjoyed the work, and it makes it all the more sad that the show ended when (and under the circumstances) it did.