Once again, Rifftrax has gotten more than enough funding for its annual live shows. It also broke a record, snagging just over 501 thousand dollars from more than 9400 backers.
The stretch goal rewards were a bit impressive, including riffs on Last Jedi, Ready Player One and the first episode of Stranger Things. They also gave out its first set of pins to rival the ones MST3K has been selling, a VOD of a movie that features the voice of Eric Roberts (which you can call "Uninvited II: Look Who's Talking Meow), a blu-ray of the Space Mutiny live show, and a new DVD of shorts.
Even the one dollar donors came out ahead by getting ten shorts, and an upcoming riff of Solo: A Star Wars Story for free. This should be interesting since no one knows how a movie about a young Han Solo will do come Memorial Day weekend.
Even with a 100 dollar pledge (which I made), backers got good value. It's too bad it'll be only two shows this year with Space Mutiny and Krull. It would have been nice to get another Halloween live show in there, but it's possible it could add a "best of" show again.
Besides, people will get a chance to hear alternative opinions about three blockbuster movies. The Avengers and Marvel should be grateful they won't be targets this year.
What's interesting is that the campaign isn't really over
People who contributed to the MST3K Kickstarter campaign two years ago got a chance to buy some of the rewards separately, including USB drives shaped like Servo and Crow, a special DVD set of season eleven, t-shirts, calendars and even a coffee table book.
It only makes sense that Rifftrax follow suit. Clicking to this link will send you to a BackerKit showing all the non-video rewards. They're all reasonably priced, too.
The pins are 12 bucks apiece, but the full set is 40 dollars. The Space Mutiny DVD is priced the same as the other DVDs in either form. People who just want the digital media in one package can do that, too.
In fact, that section has already raised a thousand bucks in the first day. If only the number of backers could be added so we can get closer to more people getting a free riff of Ready Player One. Oh, well...
The shorts should be available soon, but you can bet a lot of people just can't wait until the Last Jedi riff is available, It'll please those who liked the movie and those who felt betrayed by weird stuff by seeing Leia float in space and live, Rey and Kylo getting a bit too close, or Luke milking that....whatever it was.
Meanwhile, the MST3K season 11 DVD is coming in a month, but people can get it just after Easter if they order now at the website or Shout Factory. It'll include a documentary about how the show finally came back. Maybe once everyone can get it in three weeks we'll know when they'll start making season 12.
