Review of Rifftrax Kickstarter 2016: The Ultimate Bargain

Rifftrax just finished its most successful Kickstarter campaign, despite only scheduling two of their four shows planned for this year.
It wound up earning nearly 621 thousand dollars thanks to more then eleven thousand backers, more than twice than what it got last year. That was due to two very wise moves.

First, fans found out there would be a big MST3K reunion June 28th.featuring most of the old staff, including the Mads (Trace Beaulieu and Frank Coniff) and Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Nelson (who are doing well by riffing shorts about suburbia). The excitement grew when original host Joel Hodgson and future host Jonah Ray announced they'd appear.

Then, Mike Nelson came up with a brilliant idea: offer free Rifftrax shorts depending on how many individual backers the campaign attracts. This helped keep up interest while he and the staff try to confirm the rights to two more movies. As a result, all backers will get ten free shorts, even those who donated a dollar. If a backer already has a short he bought individually, he'll get a credit for another one.
Later, that offer applied to planned riffs for several movies and even first episodes for popular shows. This meant, for just one dollar, a backer would get

*ten educational shorts
*mp3 riffs for the first episodes of Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Daredevil
*mp3 riffs for Star Wars:  The Force Awakens, Gravity (with Mary Jo and Bridget), Jurassic World, and the original Road House (the first major Rifftrax release).

That's what more than 1700 people will be enjoying, then realize they're going to have to buy those DVDs and maybe subscribe to Netflix to see the TV shows to enjoy the riffs. In a way, that boosts America's economy in so many ways.
The second biggest group (more than 1600) was those who donated 100 bucks. They get all of the above, and other stuff including two t-shirts, the MST reunion DVD and a coloring book. Not bad. Some of them will also have to get those DVDs, too.

The Periscope event, mainly Mike, Kevin and Bill talking about stuff, did reveal two interesting things. First, the app should be updated in the next two weeks that will allow people to download all the mp3 riffs they own. Hopefully that will include hearing the riffs during the opening credits to the Star Wars movies, too. Second, Kevin says he'd like the crew to take on The Godfather. That would be the biggest classic ever, easily toppling Jaws and Casablanca,
Some  very wise fan decided to save the Periscope event, and it's located here. 

It's actually interesting the crew will be doing more mp3 riffs this year. It looks like they're getting fans to use the new app by providing more titles. It's certain they'll get a lot more business once the app is improved, and when they offer the Star Wars and Gravity movies to everyone.

Now, all that's left is the waiting for those sweet shorts and mp3's, and the first Rifftrax Live show, Time Chasers, coming on May 5th.
And, we have a trailer...

Rifftrax Kickstarter 2016: Forresters, Nuveena and Time Chasers Live

This is a tough choice for the average American:  how should you spend your upcoming tax refund?
Support a candidate of your choice?
Buy Girl Scout Cookies?
Set a ten dollar bill on fire, which would be the same experience of Batman v Superman, Dawn of Justice without going to see it?

Well, take that ten dollar bill and whatever you set aside from Samoas or Thin Mints or Marco Rubio and give to Rifftrax's Kickstarter campaign today.

What would be the best reason to do so?
The second show on June 28th will feature many alumni from Mystery Science Theater 3000, including the Mads, Trace Beaulieu and TV's Frank Coniff, and Rifftrax's Real Housewives of Riffing, Bridget Nelson and Mary Jo Pehl. It all takes place at the State Theater in Minneapolis, which was the site of a couple of MST3K conventions back in the Comedy Central days.

The gang from the new MST3K (also brought to you by Kickstarter) have been invited, and maybe another familiar face will arrive (coughJOELcough). Besides, if there's ever a time for Kinga Forrester to show up and create the worst-case-scenario for a non-holiday family reunion, this is it. The Rifftrax troika of Mike, Kevin and Bill would welcome such a moment, as do we all.
The reunion apparently will be similar to the last Sketchfest show Rifftrax offered, where they lobbed riffs at terrible educational shorts. The difference is it'll be broadcast live in lots of theaters nationwide, then the public can get its copy by next fall.

Before that, they'll take on an old MST chestnut, Time Chasers, about a couple from Vermont who turn their airplane into a time machine. They don't wind up in a world where Bernie Sanders is president, however. That movie will be shown on May 5th, also in theaters.

The goal this time is 225 thousand dollars, which to some fans seemed a bit high. However, it's raised 167 thousand bucks in the first day, which means this is also going to succeed. The Time Chasers print is in HD, and the producer, David Giancola, is on board with the show. More shows will be scheduled after the first goal is hit.  Maybe we'll get a live version of I Believe in Santa Claus, an example of how France can also made lousy holiday movies.
Come to think of it, there IS a third Sharknado movie, right? Yeah, it's an excuse to see if they come up with riffs that are better than mine, and they definitely will. (UPDATE: it's now a moot point because they've decided not to riff that movie)
More goodies may be available, too, like maybe new mp3 riffs on certain blockbusters (Hello, Gods of Egypt).

Of course, there are bonuses for contributors. It includes downloads of Time Chasers and the MST3K show, t-shirts, autographed stuff, the chance to write a riff, and even get your own jingle thanks to Kevin.

For more info, head to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rifftrax/rifftrax-live-2016-mst3k-reunion-time-chasers-live/description.