RiffTrax Shorts
Season 2014
The stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) riff on weird and oddball educational shorts.
Where to Watch Season 2014
20 Episodes
- Norman Gives a SpeechE3
Norman Gives a SpeechYes, Norman, the sack of failure in a bad suit last seen soliciting strangers for money in a public restroom, now has to give the big speech to a crowd of investors. Why? We don’t know. Perhaps a stupid dog that won’t stop licking its crotch was unavailable. Will Norman triumph over the odds and wow the executives with a masterful speech? Or will he just Norman the entire operation down his leg? - At Your Fingertips: CylindersE7
At Your Fingertips: CylindersYou’ll learn how to make the world’s worst planetarium. Yes, even worse than that one where the laser show is set to Dogs Barking Jingle Bells instead of Pink Floyd. Also: cardboard tube zebras! Because who hasn’t looked around their home and thought “It doesn’t look like a lunatic decorated. I should change that.” And last but certainly not least, a robot kite that violates all three of Asimov’s laws, plus several more you didn’t even know existed! - Fashion HorizonsE8
Fashion HorizonsFrom Phoenix to Panama, there’s no blisteringly hot locale these ladies won’t be forced to suffer in their shiny plastic clothing. And might the narrator focus a little too much on the “Latin flavor” of Esther Fernandez, credited in the opening as “Paramount’s Mexican Discovery”? The answer is yes, yes, the narrator definitely focuses on that too much. Don’t hesitate, join Mike, Kevin, and Bill on this journey through the world of probably toxic glamour, Fashion Horizons! - Read On! From Left to RightE10
Read On! From Left to RightRead On From Left To Right doubles down on the madness by throwing puppets into the mix. Just let that sink in for a second: an ACI short with puppets. Their names are Lem and Mel, and they make reading fun! And if you believe that, ACI has a fancy headdress to sell you. The lesson of the short is basically, don’t try to read things backwards. Most teachers simply find it easiest just to tell their students that, without subjecting them to the mind-warping powers of ACI. But if you do choose to watch it, you’ll be treated to the trademark ACI cutaways, disembodied limbs, confused children, and puppets who loathe each other. Don’t say we didn’t warn you! - A Case of Spring FeverE15
A Case of Spring FeverOne of these baggy clothes wearing schlubs is at the center of our tale. In a lapse of judgment, he wishes to never see another spring again, which a spring sprite named Coily is happy to instantly oblige. Coily evidently didn’t have much else going on. Schlub-o (our hero’s legal full name) then takes a harrowing, George Bailey-esque journey into an alternate reality, only instead of “Making Violent Love” to Donna Reed, he can’t get his glove compartment to stay closed. Needless to say, he cracks under the madness of this terrifying new world almost immediately and spends the rest of the short evangelizing springs, for fear that Coily will punch him in the face like Mr. Welch did to George after he told off his wife. Join Mike, Kevin, and Bill in wondering why there are no Google image search results for “Coily tattoo” riffing A Case of Spring Fever! No springs! - At Your Fingertips: Play ClayE17
At Your Fingertips: Play ClaySo hop on board, because your favorite shorts-making lunatics have 16 millimeters of pure crazy to mainline into your eyeballs. Roll up a big ball of homemade clay, gnaw off a bite or two (because you know that they were doing that), and form it into one of the various abominations depicted on screen. Because you can’t spell “The company that made these was likely shut down by the feds after parents complained that their children couldn't sleep because they were plagued by dreams of fancy headdress-wearing cylinders tunneling into their brains” without ACI! - Zlateh the GoatE19
Zlateh the GoatOh, it got off to a good start when a young boy was forced to drag the family goat off to sell at the market. Despair, bleakness, the tears of children - you know, everything you look for in a holiday special. But then he kept dragging it. And dragging it. Just how far away is this market anyway? We almost gave up hope. And then Zlateh showed us that miracles do happen – and that we had a new RiffTrax Holiday Classic on our hands.