Back when Mystery Science Theater 3000 was still on the air, people always asked why they couldn't make fun of big-budget Hollywood productions instead of cheap B-movies from the fifties and sixties. The answer, of course, was that MST3K was filmed on an extremely low budget, so the producers could only afford to feature films whose copyright had lapsed or which could be obtained very cheaply. (The one exception: Universal's 1954 sci-fi "classic" This Island Earth, featured in the 1996 MST3K movie.) God knows, movies like Flash Gordon and Highlander II: The Quickening were just begging for running commentary from Mike (or Joel) and the 'bots, but even if the studio was willing to allow it, there's no way they could have afforded it.
But as far as I know, there's no law that says you can't record your own synchronized audio commentary for a major-studio film and make it available for download over the internet, and that's precisely what MST3K writer and co-star Michael J. Nelson has done with Rifftrax. For a piddling fee ($1.99, though this may increase in the future) you can get Nelson's running commentary on the Patrick Swayze epic Road House or Luc Besson's insane The Fifth Element, put it on your iPod or cheap imitation thereof, line it up with the DVD and laugh your ass off.
Not that Road House, with immortal dialogue like "I used to fuck guys like you in prison," wasn't hilarious without Nelson's audio commentary. But Rifftrax makes an unintentionally funny classic even funnier - as good as the best MST3K episodes, in fact. One of my favorite things about MST3K were the running gags directed against individual actors - Joe Don Baker in Mitchell, Peter "Biography" Graves in Parts: The Clonus Horror, and poor Arch Hall, Jr. in Eegah! - which Mike/Joel and the 'bots were somehow able to beat into the ground without ever becoming tiresome. For Road House, Nelson has a field day with Sam Elliott's American Beef Council affiliation and Swayze's repeated shirtlessness. ("If he does put on a shirt, it would have a picture on it of him with no shirt on," he says at one point.)
Article comments
1 - Rumpusgoopus
While I'm very excited for upcoming Rifftrax releases, I must disagree with you on Lileks taking part in the commentary. Sure, he can be hilarious, but I doubt he can keep his commentary empty of snide conservative remarks.
2 - Just John
I'd disagree with you, Rumpusgoopus; even on his own site, Lileks generally warns his readers when he's about to go on a "rant", saying, "You should skip down to the end instead." I think he'd be able to stick to commenting on the movie, especially these sorts of movies.
But I agree with you in saying, I'm looking forward to these tracks, especially "The Fifth Element".
3 - Scott
oh, how i miss mst3k
hopefully rifftrax can help fill some of that void
4 - Rumpusgoopus
Well, I have to agree that Lileks does warn against these rants sometimes, but certainly not always. As far as commenting on films, however, how can there be good protection against such rants in Rifftrax? I hope Nelson would be good enough to stop such things, but he is an admitted conservative too, so I do wonder about his ability. He can police himself, let’s just hope he can police others. And, honestly, I can’t imagine a Lileks commentary of that length without at least some snide conservative statements.
5 - Tuby
I'm so glad Mike Nelson is back. Theres others out there doing this too, for free. (get what you pay for?) THere's a site (click my URL) that has a searchable database of many of these, some of them "serious", other aspiring to live up to MST3K. And "Stealth" is in there.
6 - Bunk Foss
Mike is an equal-opportunity offender. He jokes on both Conservatives and Liberals. I'm sure Bill and Kevin are more Liberal than Mike. They've been showing up in most of the Rifftrax offerings.