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Just Released: The Star Wars Holiday Special RiffTrax!

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Just wanted to let you all know that today RiffTrax.com has released their riff of The Star Wars Holiday Special for only $3.99! It has been stated that they are using the WMAR boadcast with commercials. See the legendary Special get what it deserves!

Get it here!

Also... anyone plan on making a Special DVD of this with the Rifftrax, using a good source of the WMAR broadcast with commercials, and possibly some other extras?
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I smell a C&D in the air...

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan

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Originally posted by: boba feta
I smell a C&D in the air...


What does that mean? lol
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Originally posted by: scallenger

What does that mean? lol


Cease & Desist?
I saw the original theatrical release of the Old Trilogy on the big screen and I'm proud of it...
How did I accomplish that (considering my age) is my secret...
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Is there a reason they used the WMAR version over other versions (like KCCI)?

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I think they also really wanted to riff the 70's commercials, and also a version that was available to download easily from the internet (in this case Google Video).
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Originally posted by: boba feta
I smell a C&D in the air...


No, sorry, that is not a C&D you smell, it was just me. Made a pot of chili yesterday and boy... well, that is not important. There will be no C&D because there is absolutely no grounds for one whatsoever. There is nothing George, Fox, or anyone else could possibly do about this. If you don't understand how RiffTrax work, here is you go,

Former cast members of MST3K sit down and watch a movie together, throughout the entire film they crack jokes and make fun of the movie, meanwhile a recording device captures their banter. Then the recording of their banter, known as a riff is sold in mp3 format as an instant download from their website. They tell you which version of the DVD to rent/buy/own on their website, and you can play it the mp3 along with the movie, or rip the movie to your computer and sync them together and burn them onto your very own special edition of that DVD. Either way, they are not touching the copyrighted material. The only thing they offer is the recording of their own creation, which they hold the copyright to. And if you read their announcment for the SW HS, they were very smooth in the way in which they told us what version would be the one they are riffing. And they said since it is not commercially availibe, they were counting on all of us having recorded it off of TV back when it originally aired (obviously a joke), but the point is, they never told us where to get a copy from. It would be no different than me recording a commentary track to the HS and selling it or offering it for free to you guys and letting you know what version of the HS I had watched to record it.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Originally posted by: scallenger


Also... anyone plan on making a Special DVD of this with the Rifftrax, using a good source of the WMAR broadcast with commercials, and possibly some other extras?


That would be great actually. I even thought about doing that, nothing fancy, just a basic DVD with a static menu, but this thing doesn't fall under preservation or anything like that. I think everyone who wants to own this ought to be paying the RiffTrax guys the 4 bucks for this. They own the copyright to their riff.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Perhaps, but they are using the likeness of characters owned by Lucasfilm/Fox to promote their own product.

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan

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They're parodying them, which is 100% fair. They've already riffed all three flicks in the prequel trilogy. Trust me, these guys have their legal bases covered. There will be no C&D.

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OK I'll shut up now.

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan

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If LFL do issue a C&D, it would be addressed to Google Video, not RiffTrax...

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Originally posted by: C3PX
Originally posted by: scallenger


Also... anyone plan on making a Special DVD of this with the Rifftrax, using a good source of the WMAR broadcast with commercials, and possibly some other extras?


That would be great actually. I even thought about doing that, nothing fancy, just a basic DVD with a static menu, but this thing doesn't fall under preservation or anything like that. I think everyone who wants to own this ought to be paying the RiffTrax guys the 4 bucks for this. They own the copyright to their riff.


I think a way to see if whoever wants a cool DVD of this made by someone else would be to prove that they have the Riff. How? I would have it so they show the Readme document included with the Riff, and have them show you a select minute from the Riff file (which can easily be done with an audio editor/cropper).

I would love to have this on DVD with the Riff in it. I however do not posses the tools to do this (or a DVD burner). So I have a downloaded RiffTrax file and it just sits there. lol. Unlike the other RiffTrack files (which can be auto-synced with the official DVDs using a RiffTrax Player) this one has no DVD to use, etc.
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It should be easy enough to convert that google video file to DVD. Oh, but I ignorantly forget that many people don't have DVD burners. This is certainly not the ideal method, but you should be able to play the avi with your video player, and play the mp3 and the same time with your audio player. A bit of pausing at the beginning ough to work to get it synced up well enough.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I watched it and it is painfully funny. I have seen quite a few Rifftrax, but none of them really quite reached the quality of the old MST3K episodes IMHO, but the riff of the HS certainly does. It is one of the funniest things I've watched in a long time. I am really glad they decided to do the version with the commercials left in, they are some of the funniest parts. Actually makes me wish it had a lot more commercials than it does. Anybody else see this yet?

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I finally found a way to see it and you are right: it was one of the funniest 2 hours ever. Funnier than almost every comedy this year (with an exception of course for SUPERBAD. McLovin!!!)! You are also right about how the other RiffTrax on the site haven't come close to the good MST3K quality till this one was made. In fact I think it was actually better than some of the MST3K episodes! Although some may say that's a stretch, it isn't really. Ever seen the earlier MST3K eps? You'll see what I mean. I'm one of those guys that didn't think MST3K got REALLY funny until Mike Nelson was the human riffer. Not Joel. Although one of my favorite MST3K episodes was a Joel episode: MANOS: The Hands of Fate. And I think the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL RiffTrax was on the level with that episode.
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"In fact I think it was actually better than some of the MST3K episodes!"

Yeah, it definately was. MST3K had some duds. It wasn't that every single episode was spill your guts funny. But if we were to consider RiffTrax as a sort of series parallel to MST3K as Star Trek:TNG was to Star Trek, then I would say that the overall series of MST3K was a lot funnier in general than RiffTrax. I think it is the switch over from old bad movies to mostly modern big budget films that has taken it down a few notches. Having never been a fan of the intermissions in MSTK3 and the intentionally cheesy sub plots of each episode, I thought RiffTrax would have been an improvment when I first heard about them, but after having watched several (and some are side splitters! Top Gun for instance) I feel that they mostly fall way short of MST3K. The Riff for SWHS however, I feel ranks up there with some of the better MST3K episodes. Sure, it is no "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank", but it is quite good none the less.


The old episodes of MST3K were scripted right? I am pretty sure the RiffTrax are on the fly, which is probably one of the reasons they are not quite as good.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Do recordings of season 0 even exist? I thought those ones were lost?

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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There are no recordings of the first four shows (the unaired pilot, and the first three episodes), but there are circulating recordings of K04-K21. And let me tell you, they pretty much suck.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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No, they are alright. I was the one going on about feeling they were subpar, so you already no my opinion. But that was not to say they are not worth watching. I guess riffing good movies is not as funny as the cheap low budget dogs they use to do, but I am not sure you could consider most of the movies they riff "good movies" I mean, were talking about Glitter, Road House, that Brittany Spear's movie whatever it was called, Firewall, Revenge of the Sith. Sure they do a lot of popular films, and some are pretty decent movies, but a lot of them like I just mentioned are horrible movies. Then there are movies with just Mike riffing them by himself, which kind of gives you the sad impression of a guy going to the movies by himself and talking during it to keep himself company. I am not sure how many he did Solo, Preditor was the only one I watched. Riffing definately works better when you have others to work off of. I throughly enjoyed Fellowship of the Rings riff, and that was a riff of a good movie. But I had a hard time staying awake during the Phantom Menace riff and that was of a bad movie. So I am not so sure about the good movie bad movie theory. They riffed a few TV show pilots too, I watched the riff of the Lost Pilot and thought it was one of the funnier riffs I have seen yet.

If you are wondering if they are worth $4 bucks each, I would say with you being a MSTK3 fan and all, you would probably find it worth it. If you have never listened to any, the SWHS is a good place to start, and maybe try Lord of the Rings and the prequel trilogy (they have riffed all three) or some other movie/s you own and enjoy watching. That way if you decide you don't like them, you can just give up.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I have found the majority of the RiffTrax I've purchased to be absolutely hilarious. My personal favorite (aside from the SWHS) is Star Trek V, though I have about 30 and have gotten laughs out of every one. Plus, it's a fun little project to re-author them to new DVDs.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.