Rifftrax Provides Debate Relief With Starship Troopers Online Show

This group of citizens are just as happy as those who chose Rifftrax's online presentation of Starship Troopers instead of the political cage match between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in Cleveland Tuesday night.
If the bugs from that movie also were part of the debate, they would've won based on their coronavirus plan and support for Medicare For All. They'd be too smart to eat Trump.

Anyway, the third attempt by Rifftrax to show a movie via Scener was the best attempt of all when Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy figured out if they turned off their cameras but left their mikes on to riff, it would be a smooth show. 
It was. Fathom Events may have something to worry about now.
The only problem was that the pre-game show was 45 minutes late because of problems getting Scener off the ground. Considering the show started 15 minutes after the debate started, it may have been the alternative people were looking for.

Otherwise, it was a great show. Anyone who's seen the Mads' online shows would have been happy with this show. It was just like the live show seven years ago except no gorillagrams were there to cover Diz's bare chest...or hide Carmen's face trying to look smart.

The movie, of course, is a "war movie" where young teens from the Beverly Hills section of Buenos Aires become "citizens" fighting big bugs from outer space. It's supposed to be satire, and could have been with better actors.
Just remember one thing, whatever Jake Busey was in that movie, he outgrew it and became better looking by Stranger Things (yes, he's in season three). 

The riffs are about the same as the mp3, with some updates, like Denise Richards as Carmen flying a ship while thinking "I'm going to be a Real Housewife".
Surprisingly, no Trump or coronavirus jokes, but there were these...

"Rico"
Polo

Diz asks Rico why they never got together
Well, crucifying a squirrel on my front yard...(actually she was way sexier than Carmen)

"I'm going for federal service"
I'm going to be a mailman

Carmen is in a Dear John letter to Rico (which winds up not being that)
Let me tell you about the Flex Belt
and of course, Rico's sad
Just like my childhood letter to Captain Kangaroo

"We thought we were smarter than the bugs"
Just like Elmer thought he was smarter than Bugs

Diz and Rico have sex
Now call me Saber Raine
She later dies in battle
Give my hair to Felicity (or is it Zorii Bliss?)

Then Carmen and Zander meet the Big Bug
Van Morrison has not aged well (maybe the only coronavirus joke after all)

There were also riffs on How I Met Your Mother, Pretty in Pink, United Airlines, Chris Farley, Twitter and Albert Knobbs. Again, though, the riff from the Scener show is about the same as the mp3.
You can get the riff at the Rifftrax site.
Next up, coronavirus pandemic pending, people can see a VOD Halloween show on three weeks in theaters. The movie is Jack-O, and it's about a scarecrow that kills people.
It also includes Rifftrax staples John Carradine and Cameron Mitchell....sort of.
Some of the gore is also taken out to make it PG-13, but there will be a horrifying short. The event will be a regular VOD about two months later.

Rifftrax Tries Live Online Riffing, Gets Stuck In Upside Down For A While

After the country was overrun by the coronavirus, media companies have been forced to provide us with entertainment through cable or streaming channels. That's why we got several concerts or Zoom gatherings at first, followed by more complex events.

Since Rifftrax's theater events have been in limbo thanks to the pandemic (we're still waiting for Hobgoblins, which will be shown in theaters just before Halloween...we hope), the gang decided to experiment with something called Scener, where a couple thousand people can see the same screen and respond with others. The idea was to have Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy riff the first episode of Stranger Things while the viewers also rant via text. It was similar to The Mads doing an online riff on Glen or Glenda recently. The viewers were mostly either backers through Kickstarter or Patreon.

It was a rough first voyage for the crew, more glitchy than the live broadcast of MST3K's final day of their Kickstarter campaign. It started about five minutes late, and the tech crew had a tough time trying to get all three riffers online. At one point, Bill's mike was down and Kevin and Mike had to reboot like crazy to be heard. It was something to see.

Also, Mike was singing like Bing Crosby while coming up with puns. For example, he thought about a broken golf club that was "Stranger Pings" or how Chandler from Friends would show up in a spinoff called "Stranger Bings". This was while he couldn't hear or see anything else.
Ah, bloopers.

Once they got past the opening credits at around 6 PM Pacific, it worked very well. All three riffers were online, the video lagged a bit, but it worked great.
This shows Mike and the guys should try a couple more "beta tests" before making this the alternative to Fathom Events shows since nearly all theaters are closed for now, They have riffed on Game of Thrones, Westworld and Walking Dead's first episodes. They can use those for future beta tests or maybe a chapter from the Batman serial.

OK, now, how about the riffs?
They were rather 80s-centric, even commenting on what songs were being played in the background.
Again, they got much better once the Scener process worked better.

Now, let's list a few:

A scientist at the Hawkins lab runs into an elevator after something goes wrong (natch)
The elevator blood from The Shining is very late today.

Chief Hopper makes his first appearance
My Joe Don Baker Detector is going off the charts

The scientists at the lab get into hazmat suits before they confront the Upside Down
They're going to the grocery store in 2020 (only current riff)

Hopper talking to Will's friends:  One at a damn time
My personal feeling about Marvel movies

Eleven stares at a fan and makes it stop
Kubrick stare. Everybody duck!

Joyce, Will's mom, answers the phone, hoping for news
Do you like scary movies? Oops, sorry, wrong number.

This version, different from the "Just the Jokes"version, also included riffs on Toto, Molly Ringwald, Schlitz, Delaware, and Stand By Me.

The riff for Stranger Things is available now at the website. It can be downloaded into the app, and people can synch it up if they see it on Netflix, or have the download or the DVD set