We’ve come a long way since the days of “circulating the tapes.” For example, nobody uses tapes anymore. But have you noticed that neither RiffTrax nor Cinematic Titanic has asked anybody to circulate anything? That’s because they want their money. A lot of people justify downloading episodes of MST3K that are not otherwise available. But let’s keep in mind that all Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic productions are available, to everybody, everywhere, at any time.
I know it’s tempting, though. They’re so accessible, and the anonymity of the internet leads otherwise loyal, law-abiding fans to thievery. Oh, sure, one might play it off as a casual offense — nothing more than a proprietary white lie. And it’s not as though the FBI is going to bust down your door because you pirated the riffing of a bad movie.
Yet it is because of this ease of access and the lack of any real consequences that I’m concerned about our community. We are better than this. We are dedicated fans who, despite the allure of the cheap and easy, are willing to sacrifice for the honorable and upright. We are the Rowsdowers to everyone else’s Satoris—the Princes of Space in a world full of Krankors.
So I say to you, fellow MSTies: For serious, don’t steal. After all their hard work and considering the immense joy they’ve given us, Bill, Frank, Joel, Josh, Kevin, Mary Jo, Mike, and Trace deserve every penny.
And let’s try to keep in mind how good Shout! Factory has been to us—if you want more high-quality DVDs, you’re going to have to put your money where your riff is, so to speak.
And if you do steal, they will send Torgo after you and there will be deep hurting.
Thanks, Jennifer. We would only add two things:
1) This site is opposed to SOPA and PIPA. The larger issue is a complex one (and we really don’t want this to turn in to a discussion of that). In this post we are ONLY discussing the pirating of RiffTrax and Cinematic Titanic products, which are created by hard-working artists you know and love.
2) We would ask you to make a personal pledge not to download Cinematic Titanic or RiffTrax products from anywhere but their respective Web sites, and if you know anybody who downloads pirated RiffTrax and/or Cinematic Titanic products — or worse, pirates them themselves — please exert whatever peer pressure you can to discourage them from taking money out of the pockets of these brilliant people.
) to help our users cope with "trolls" and other commenters whom they find annoying. Go to our
I for one have never even downloaded Rifftrax or CT legally, let alone illegally. I always wait for the dvd’s then snag them as soon as they’re available. Stealing from these guys is like stealing from your friends. Would you steal from your friends?
I personally don’t believe in pirating anything. I always pay for everything I watch, read, or listen to. And as for pirating MST3K, Cinematic Titanic, or Rifftrax, I just say no way. These guys have put too much work into creating it for me to come along and take it for free.
And the Master would not be pleased…
I concur. I have purchased all my CT DVD’s legit, and GF and I have paid to watch Rifftrax several times. Furthermore, when you look at the value one gets for the dollars invested, there is nothing, I mean nothing, in the entertainment world right now that is a better value.
Friends don’t let friends steal from each other.
I felt like a pirate after snagging a huge stack of CT in their recent scratch and dent sale. Aaaarrrrrrrr….at those prices me can be legal and feel like I done somepin baaaaadd…. aaaarrrrr…
But yeah, I hope people will buy what they want from these folks. They put a lot into this stuff. The Rifftrax folks are even putting stuff on high quality bluray for us! :yes:
I agree that she is preaching to the choir – I think that most of us here are willing to pay because we want our favorite riffers at RT and CT to be able to continue riffing.
The folks who pirate are not true fans or they would remember the period of time that there were no new riffs with sadness and the sense of desperation to have the glory days of riffing back. Thinking, “Aw, man! I would pay anything to hear the guys riffing again.” The true fans would say, “Less than 4 bucks for a riff of ‘Road House’?!? I’m in!!!”
I have proudly paid from the beginning and I will continue to do so for as long as they are willing to do what they do best. :)
Believe me, I’m trying my damned hardest not to pirate anything. I would love to purchase the Shout Factory DVD’s, their poster art is beautiful and the picture resolution is wonderful…but I live in Spain, which is DVD Region 2. DAMN! I’ve got “El Misterio En El Espacio: La Pelicula”** on DVD but that’s about it.
The same thing goes for a lot of movies I want but can’t get. Would you believe that The Mask still hasn’t come out on DVD here and the last time I saw it was on TV in 2010? Shame, cause I love Jim Carrey and have all his other movies. Hell, I’m still hanging on my VHS tapes (yes, tapes. I made several backup copies in case of armageddon) of “The Cat From Outer Space” since Disney APPARENTLY can’t be bothered releasing it on DVD here, even though it would make a mint.
** Believe it (JACK PALANCE BREATH) or not, MST3K made it to Spain under the title “El Misterio En El Espacio” (The Mystery In Space. Sounds like a Sandy Frank movie!) They used Spanish prints of the movies and dubbed Crow (who is now called Cuervo), Tom Servo and Joel/Mike into Spanish for the theater segments. They did the same for the host segments. It was mainly marketed to children, who ate up the show like candy.
It’s pretty funny noting the differences, including Gypsy being renamed Genie (The word Gypsy has very…negative connotations here) and being voiced by a female (though her voice was still high-pitched and frantic), Tv’s Frank being renamed to just Frank, Brain Guy being renamed to El Observador (The Observer) and Professor Bobo being renamed to El Professor Coco (Professor Coconut), amongst other social changes. The Spanish children’s show in Parts: The Clonus Horror was changed to M&TB shouting out random Mexican phrases and dishes with hilariously mocking accents. Gypsy’s obession was changed from Richard Basehart to Humphrey Bogart with funny results.(In Wild Rebels, The Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea joke is replaced with one about The African Queen.)
It was pretty popular, to the extent where you can buy “Cuervo” T-Shirts in department stores to this day and I think it may still be airing on Clan (public television children’s station).
Wow, Matthew, Shine, I would happily wear a “Cuervo” t-shirt! (But preferably licensed, since, you know…) Did Tom Servo’s name get a translation makeover as well?
I always buy the Shout releases & any CT, pay for all my RT downloads. It’s just the fair thing to do.
Only you. Can prevent forest fires.
Lesse.. between myself and my wife we own two off the air copies of every episode, two copies of every officially released VHS tape, one copy of every DVD released, duplicates of a few DVDs, all the shout re-releases, the Film Crew dvds, all the CT dvds, all the Riff dvds, the Riff blu-ray releases, paid copies of every short and VOD title from the Riff guys, at least a dozen t-shirts, posters, and chunk of the Deep 13 wall. I think it’s safe to say we are more than happy to throw any available cash at the guys and gals who make us laugh. =)
That reminds me, I still need to order Trace’s “Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children”. Keep hoping to get it as a gift but my wife keeps sticking to Amazon…
I paid for the CT and Rifftrax content I own, and I buy all of the Shout box sets of MST3K. If someone wants to download an episode of MST3K that is not available on DVD, I have no problem with that as long as they purchase the commercial DVD if it is ever released for that particular episode. That way you aren’t stealing from anyone. And I think this is what a lot of MSTies do.
I’ve never pirated anything. But if I ever were to I would never pirate from these guys.
I would think the vast majority of people who participate in Weekend Discussion forums would be loyal enough to purchase legally (or in the case of Rifftrax watch them through Netflix), but maybe I’m just being naive.
@7
Tom Servo was usually referred to as just “Servo”, kind of like the KTMA season. The Satellite Of Love was called La Nave Del Amor (The Spaceship Of Love).
I just remembered the episode with the largest amount of changes; Castle Of Fu Manchu (El Castillo De Fu Manchú in Spanish). In Spain, Fu Manchu isn’t considered as taboo as he is in America and so Crow’s Miss Saigon syndrome speech was changed to Crow reciting a silly letter adressed to Fu Manchu. (“Escrito a Señor Fu Manchu: Hola. Soy Cuervo. Me encanta tu peliculas, Señor Manchu, incluso el parte con el castillo y la tortura. Tengo unas preguntas para ti. ¿Como as gusta tus huevos? ¿Cuantos tipos de pez de te gusta? ¿Pueda ir a el Nave Del Amor por un poco de tapas y zumo de naranja? Vaya, mira a el tiempo, tengo que irme. Con Cariño, Cuervo.”) Also, the constant crying over how bad the movie was was changed to them crying thanks to an experimental gas that Dr. F and Frank sent up to the SOL (or in this case, El NDA). The scene with the ending credits was changed from them crying over the movie to them briefly reprising the Fu Manchu song.
But the song was still the same. (:musicnote: ¡DIOS MIO, ESTAMOS EN…EL CASTILLO DE…FU MANCHÚ!:musicnote:)
They changed that much stuff in Mexico? Wow, maybe the next weekend thread can be “differences between Mexican and American MST”. Wild stuff.
I make it a point to oly get offical copies of MST episodes that are commercially available, and only from reputable distributors. I don’t even get used copies, unless it’s something out of print or otherwise unavailable. I figure the more cash BBI or Shout Factory gets, the more they’ll use to get the rights to more shows and produce more extras. And, in their case, they’ve actually done that.
As for CT and RT, I agree that ripping them off would be like ripping off your friends. And, given that they’ve also put their money into new product, including live events, I’d say they’ve shown commitment on their side, so we should do the same.
Besides, why get a cruddy, fifth generation copy of something, when a brand new one is easily affordable?
P.S. Note to Shout Factory: for a future release, get a foreign-dubbed copy of an MST ep so we can compare & contrast.
@ 14 It’s not Mexican, it’s Spanish from Spain. So a more accurate title would be differences between Castillian and American MST.
My word is given. Never will I pirate a Rifftrax or CT. The thing is I am a videophile, and I have never pirated anything, but I hear that pirated products are usually of inferior quality.
The word is given from BobHoncho, aka Jim McDonnell; Livonia, MI.
I’m still a little annoyed that I unintentionally bought a set of those pirated MST3K DVD’s last year.
What…were you born in a barn?! DON’T STEAL!
I’m honestly a bit shocked people would pirate Cinematic Titanic or Rifftrax under the “Keep Circulating The Tapes” excuse. After all, the context between the tape-trading of early MST3K days (or of unreleased episode) and of the modern stuff is so very different … well, I mean, I know people will pirate anything, but to think of fans doing that is a bit of a shock yet.
Sorry, my fault, yeah the differences between Spanish and American MST.
I feel you have to “give to the cause” to keep a good thing going. I don’t really follow Rifftrax as much as CT, but I think I’ll try and pick up a few shorts compilations next paycheck.
Though I mostly lurk on this site, I too pledge to not pirate any MST3k materials. I am vehemently opposed to pirating of any form, so this is a given. I went to my first live CT show last year when they performed at the Best Buy Theater in NYC and I plan to go to at least two of the three shows in Newark NJ in March. Can’t wait!
I havent yet purchased the new sets, but I plan to. I’ve mostly been sticking to Netflix episodes in the mean time. Most of them have a great lifespan of watch-ability. Warrior of the Lost World is hilarious (“Any fruit to declare?!”).I will admit, like a few others have mentioned, to watching MST3k on Youtube, restricted to unreleased or unatainable episodes. Watched Godzilla vs Megalon last weekend. Love the sportscaster commentary when the 2 vs 2 begins. =D
I think of Riff-Trax as a way to spur me into watching movies I might otherwise have buyer’s remorse over (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for eighteen bucks? – what was I thinking?) They also heal bad movies you get as Christmas gifts (Like the lump of coal that is Twilight).
In the good name of ROSDOWER I promise to never illegally download rifftrax or cinematic titanic not that I had ever planned on it before reading this post. I think people should never invoke “circulating the tapes” for ct or rifftrax. And to bear in mind that they (the cast of mst3k) probably dont get any money for the mst3k days (I could be wrong…I hope I am) So the stuff they do now should always be paid for in full and a little extra for all the entertainment the gave us during their mst3k years.
I think we can all be magnificent sons of bitchs and not be like J.C. Even though he tried to show us the way. Dont download ct or rifftrax illegally be like rommel but with out the stupid hat :cowboy:
What’s also nice is that the RT guys have been pretty cool about this, they even have a “Donate/Redeem Yourself” option on the page knowing that people may end up with RTs they didn’t pay for.
I used it after my roomate and I watched a few movies and realized each others’ computers had shows on them the other paid for.
Still: Dude-Don’t rip off these guys. And a Spanish MST dub? There’s got to be online evidence somewhere…
>And let’s try to keep in mind how good Shout! Factory has been to us—if you want more high-quality DVDs, you’re going to have to put your money where your riff is, so to speak.
I have to point out that Shout Factory is not producing high-quality DVDs.
Time and again Shout Factory, like Rhino, has put out several MST3K DVDs with artifacts from master tapes that they refuse to fix and then sold them for full retail price. That is not high-quality. That is doing the least amount of work for the most amount of profit.
At one point I was tempted to pick up some bootleg mst3k eps because I thought they would never see commercial release, mostly the Gamera movies. Now I’m content to wait for Shout.
I really want to see this Spanish MST now, I peomise I’ll pay for it.
Back in the day, “Keep Circulating the Tapes” wasn’t about the tapes, it was about the SHOW–The Comedy Channel was at the bottom of the ratings, and MST3K was a show built entirely on fan loyalty, word-of-mouth, and underground VHS.
Obviously, we don’t have that today with disks–They’re everywhere, Amazon and private websites are just a click away, and if you “have” to pirate them, you’re just being a darn weasel about it.
(But then, it’s easy for me to talk, as I wouldn’t even want a legal version of RiffTrax.) ;)
On Justin.tv’s site, there used to be a streaming RT/CT Channel – I have to admit I watched a couple of CTs and a few RTs on there when I was a poor college student. However, I went back and donated $20 to RT and bought a couple of CTs when I finally got some money. Since then, I’ve sworn off watching RTs and CTs illegally, regardless of whether I have dough in my pocket or not. It’s just not right.
I wish CT had a donation button on their website – sometimes I just want to throw an extra $10 or $15 their way.
Does this include not downloading “The Star Wars Holiday Special” off the web to use with the Rifftrax (since it’s posted without permission of Lucas or the producers and they make no money from it)?
And then there’s all of the people on the Rifftrax forum who talk about waiting for movies to arrive from Netflix or their turn to borrow it from the library so they can rip them to “merge” them with the mp3…even though ripping a movie you haven’t bought is also stealing?
Or is it only stealing when you like the people? :-p
Sometimes I just send Rifftrax and Cinematic Titanic bags of money and I don’t even want anything.
Keep the funny people alive and well fed.
Besides, the thought of having Torgo hunt me down with the godawful clarinet music and “deep hurting” scares the poopie out of me.
Never downloaded Rifftrax or CT unless it’s from their own site, otherwise I purchase DVDs from them. It was a different story back in the day when they asked us to circulate the tapes of MST3K, because they were a television show on a then-little watched specialty cable channel, and wanted to get the word out and grow their fan base by having existing fans show the tapes to their friends. It’s not the same thing now. They’re no longer being paid by a network. They’re trying to make a living via live shows and direct-to-DVD shows, and need the money from that. Pirating their videos robs them of much-needed income.
Pirating – Boo! Purchasing – Yeah! Or, in other words, pirating is bad, Richard Basehart is good (apologies to Gypsy).
When Rifftrax has DVDs, I buy them right from the site, and I always look forward to Riffftrax Live & Cinematic Titanic Live (when they’re in town). So of course yes, support the Brains so they can keep doing the things we’ve all come to love them for.
In the case of Rifftrax, I definitely prefer to buy it on DVD. I have bought a number of their RT commentaries from the site, but often had a problem with playability (mostly cause I’m stupid and don’t understand how the audio files work). So I stick with what they have on DVD.
This is their income, folks. If you steal from them by pirating, you bring closer the day they stop riffing because the income is no longer there for them.
They could say “keep circulating the tapes” back in the days they were on cable because Comedy Central was paying their bills; they didn’t have a home video market then. At all. Now the home video market (and live show ticket sales) are their only source of income for doing what they do.
And I want them to keep at it as long as their funny bones are still tickling!
@29
Sorry, buddy. You’re out of luck. I checked the TV guide and it looks like Clan’s removed El Misterio En El Espacio (probably to replace it with ANOTHER crappy British cartoon… At least they’ve still got Bob Esponja for me to watch. “¿¡QUIEN VIVE EN PIÑA DEBAJO DEL MAR?! ¡BOB ESPONJA!”) from their lineup and their website. So, looks like it’s gone for the ages except for “El Misterio En El Espacio: La Pelicula” (MST3K The Movie) unless some fortunate soul uploads it on youtube. I haven’t recorded any tapes or DVDs.(I should have prepared for this…BUT NO…) If you’re ever in Barcalona, you might be able to pick up a Cuervo T-Shirt for like 5 Euros at El Corte Ingles.
But to get back on topic….
WHY HASN’T DISNEY RELEASED THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE IN REGION 2 DVD?!
Oops, wrong topic…
I’ve downloaded and paid for several VOD Rifftraxs as well as the VOD CTs from their site. (I don’t like buying just the riff, between obtaining DVDS that I’ll probably never use for the family collection of 200+ movies and downloading the rifftrax file on my crappy internet connection, it’s hell to put in the effort.)
I agree with everything Jennifer wrote, except this: “… nobody uses tapes anymore.” Actually, I watch my legally-obtained VHS tapes of MST3K quite often :).
Am I the only one hoping someone trys to justify why its ok for them to download CT and RT illegally just so Torgo can give them DEEP HURTING!
I have and will continue to pay for everything Rifftrax, but prefer the pirate made sync-ups because I always deal with so much sync-drifting whenever I’m doing the work myself. As for Cinematic Titanic, I’ve stlolen everything but have never actually got around to watching any of it. I’m pretty sure I deleted it from my drive already, but unfortunately it seems the damage is already done. Still I will advise anyone out there who suspects a friend or loved one guilty of illegal downloading to stop suspecting them and REP0RT THEM immediately.
I also will not pirate MST3k, RiffTrax, or Cinematic Titanic media. I will admit to occasionally downloading pirated version of movies that have been sync’ed with RiffTrax commentary simply because sync’ing the audio up on my PC and the the movie on my TV is complicated given my home entertainment layout, but I always purchased both the RiffTrax audio AND the movie (or rented the movie) and then deleted the copy upon viewing. Perhaps in violation of the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law (at least from my perspective).
Not that I am going to download anything, but I would like to know if Joel and company get any money/royalties from the DVD sales of MST3k. I thought only Jim Mallon did. Which if true, is ****ty and wrong.
I have never considered illegally downloading anything, EVER, regardless of format. I have watched some MSTs online that aren’t in my collection. But the second the episodes are available for purchase, I demand the uploads be taken down. Besides, the quality difference is enormous. Who’d be satisfied with watching a grainy copy on a small screen?
Randy
I would never rip these guys off – they’ve given me too many hours of entertainment for me to poop on them in that way (or any other way, for that matter……ewww…).
In fact, I just picked up 3 (count ’em, three) Shout Factory sets today at B&N’s “buy two get one free” sale. WOOHOOO!!!!
The other thing to keep in mind about “Circulating the Tapes” is that this was pre-internet. At most one person could make one tape and send it to one person who might share it with a handful of other people and that person might send the tape on to someone else who also might share it with a handful of other people… etc.
Tapes and pre-internet were always going to reach a limited audience.
In the digital age one copy on one digital download site can be downloaded by thousands of people.
It’s all about the internets baby.
I would just like to kindly remind everyone there is a donate button on the rifftrax site (this one as well)…on CT I think too.
(as for myself I would guess I give about half my income to these wonderful guys)
Yeah no pirating for me, but you know…
I’ve only seen 3 of the LIVE Rifftrax shows, a couple DVDs, and I think I watched part of The Matrix Rifftrax once….and that’s it. I like Rifftrax on older movies, low budget dreck and the like, but I’m not really into riffs on new movies, like Clash of the Titans or Twilight or X-Men or Jaws or Star Wars even; that stuff doesn’t interest me as much as, say, Jack the Giant Killer or Plan 9 from Outer Space.
Also, I’ve never seen Cinematic Titanic, but am very interested in doing so, as they do older flicks exclusively.
So yeah, I’ll never pirate that stuff, CT or RT. Besides, my computer stinks, couldn’t handle a download file like that if I wanted it to.
And, @ #6, 39 Matthew Shine: Cat from Outer Space is one of my girlfriends fave movies; I got her a copy for Xmas. Fun stuff.
I have watched portions of MST eps on Youtube, but I have never pirated RT or CT material. I am surprised this site is opposed to SOPA, but then again the UFC and Dana White have gotten into a cyberspace war over SOPA, so I can understand it a bit.