RiffTrax Announces Ingenious RiffPlayer Software Application, Enabling Seamless "Mystery Science Theater 3000" Type Experience of Major Blockbuster Films

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- RiffTrax, an online entertainment company started by the comedians from the hit TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000(MST3K), today announced RiffPlayer, a new software product that allows RiffTrax users to seamlessly experience hilarious audio commentary keyed to major hit films like Star Wars, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and many others. The free software application can be downloaded immediately from the RiffTrax web site www.rifftrax.com/riffplayer, and is available for personal computers running Microsoft Windows™ or Macintosh OS/X™. 

Founded in 2006, RiffTrax is the brainchild of Michael J. Nelson, head writer and on-screen talent of the legendary MST3K series, which ran for 10 years on Comedy Central and the SyFy Channel. The Emmy™-nominated and Peabody™ award-winning show featured animated characters "riffing" or making fun of low-budget science fiction and action films and was voted a Time Magazine Top 100 Television show of all time. Nelson founded RiffTrax to enable the show's fans, as well as many who had never seen it, to bring this unique brand of humor straight to their personal computers via the Internet with downloadable MP3 audio files that could be played alongside popular blockbuster films.

Prior to RiffPlayer, in order to enjoy the hilarious MP3 commentaries Mike and his co-writers and performers (Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy) have created, a RiffTrax fan would purchase an MP3 commentary file, load the DVD into their PC and run the movie and the audio track simultaneously.  To help this process, RiffTrax has provided audio cues through the clever DisembAudio character, who periodically speaks words of dialogue to ensure the MP3 commentary track and the movie are in synch.

Now, with today's formal release of RiffPlayer, RiffTrax fans can enjoy "instant laughter" in a way previously unavailable.

"I started RiffTrax five years ago because technologies such as MP3 and the Internet made it possible to bring our style of humor to a wider audience—and, of course, because Keanu Reeves continues to make movies," said Nelson. "I'm thrilled that with the success of our core RiffTrax audio commentaries, along with our RiffTrax Live shows, DVDs and other products, we can now bring to our fans the RiffPlayer. This really is an innovative piece of software that makes it even easier to, quite literally, 'click play, and laugh.'"

In order to use the RiffPlayer, the user simply downloads the free software from the RiffTrax web site www.rifftrax.com/riffplayer, purchases a compatible MP3 from the vast library of those available, including the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter and other series, and is ready to go. The player loads on the user's screen, and once the DVD of the movie is inserted in the PC or Mac, and the MP3 file has been loaded into the player, the movie and MST3K-style comedic commentary begin playing automatically.

For a limited time, new RiffTrax customers who download the RiffPlayer will receive a free MP3 audio commentary—worth up to $4.99—in order to get them started.

"For those of you looking for a worthy successor to Mystery Science Theater 3000, you can't do any better than RiffTrax," said Brian Henry of Satellite News, the leading news source for fans of MST3K.  "And the new RiffPlayer is the best way yet to get the full RiffTrax experience, short of having Mike, Kevin and Bill standing in your living room to riff the movie for you."

RiffPlayer for Microsoft Windows has been available in Beta for several months. With this announcement today, the final release version of RiffPlayer for Windows is now available, along with a first-ever release of RiffPlayer for Mac OS/X.  The product requires an Intel-based personal computer running Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista or Windows 7) or OS/X (10.6 Snow Leopard and higher).

About RiffTrax

Featuring former members of the Emmy-nominated, Peabody Award-winning show Mystery Science Theater 3000, RiffTrax is composed of Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. Nelson has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows, written a regular column for TV Guide and authored many best-selling books. Perhaps best known as the man behind the plucky red robot Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater 3000, Murphy is also author of the bestselling book A Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey, and has provided film commentary for NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. In addition to being a screenwriter and an internationally-produced playwright, Corbett was the voice of the robot Crow (version 2.0), as well as many other strange characters including the clueless alien The Observer (a.k.a. "Brain Guy"). To find out more about RiffTrax, visit www.RiffTrax.com.

SOURCE RiffTrax