Being a fan of vindictive movie commentary is getting expensive...and worth every penny.
It's bad enough the new MST3K on Netflix is pulling a lot of fans' hard earned money thanks to an upcoming DVD set, t-shirts, pins, oven mitts and aprons. Now Rifftrax is asking the fans to give again for this year's live shows.
The drive started on February 20th and will continue through just before Easter. Its goal is 250 thousand dollars, same as last year. It earned 430 thousand bucks, and might hit it again if it offers the right stretch goals. Last Jedi and It's A Wonderful Life riffs, anyone?
Two movies are confirmed, as shown in the above photo. Space Mutiny, a fan fave from season eight, will be shown on Flag Day. This movie was best known for giving leading man Reb Brown alternate names to his character David Ryder. The complete list is here, but for $500 anyone can come up with something stranger like maybe Ty Tanium or Lun Dolphgren.
It's also remembered for a missed opportunity. Aside from Cameron Mitchell appearing as a commander who stole Santa's beard, and a woman who dies in one scene yet is alive again 30 seconds later, there's lots of unused footage from the original Battlestar Galactica. Mike and the bots didn't notice that, but he, Kevin and Bill won't make that mistake again.
The other movie, set for August 23rd, is Krull from 1983. It's a space swashbuckler where some prince gets some lowlife pirates to help save a queen from some beast or other. It also has cool frisbee blades that are tossed around. Checking the wiki for this movie, Liam Neeson had one of his earliest roles here. The cast includes Robbie Coltrane, Francesca Annis just before Dune, and the body of Lysette Anthony (she was dubbed because her voice wasn't mature enough).
The movie was not popular, although it has some fans. It should be interesting how many Star Wars, Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings jokes they can fit into the movie. People who pledge 25 bucks or more can get the mp3 of the Krull riff around Thanksgiving AND a ten dollar credit to cover the cost of getting the movie via Amazon Prime or DVD. That should get a lot of people to pledge at least that much cash.
As of 6 PM Pacific time, or about five hours after the Kickstarter began, it's earned 124 thousand dollars. That's much faster than last year, when the campaign hit the first goal in two weeks. Maybe it'll hit the all-time record of 630 thousand two years ago. It all depends on what else the Rifftrax gang will offer between now and March 24th.
UPDATE: Mission accomplished after less than five days, a new record.
Last Jedi next?
