RiffTrax Shorts
Season 2022
The stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988) riff on weird and oddball educational shorts.
Where to Watch Season 2022
34 Episodes
- Play in the SnowE1
Play in the Snow Worried your childhood didn’t live up to Encyclopedia Britannica standards? It’s time to find out! You’ll be laughing your warm wool socks off (or should we say, on) as we follow Bill, Nell, and Charlie through a film that only an Encyclopedia could produce. Sure, you thought sledding was fun, but did you know there was a proper form to it? Have you been building snowmen wrong all these years? Do you have what it takes to win in a high-stakes game of “Fox and Geese”? Maybe you better think about taking notes before the next time you... Play In The Snow! - The Joy of Living with FragranceE2
The Joy of Living with FragranceThere are times when you need to ask yourself: "Have I been realizing perfume’s full potential?" Have you been living, breathing, eating, seeing, tasting fragrance in every way possible? By the end of this hearty bit of infotainment, you'll be applying perfume and cologne more aggressively than you had ever dreamed. Part travelogue, part educational, and a whole lot promotional, this short film from Avon won’t rest until perfume has altered your very DNA. - Beginning Responsibility: Taking Care of ThingsE3
Beginning Responsibility: Taking Care of ThingsMost vintage Christmas shorts fall into one of two categories. One: a suburban 1950s family with two children eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus. The other: a demented black and white cartoon that feels like it came from some other terrifying dimension. For the first time ever, Toyland is both! We start with the classic nuclear family on Christmas, notable for their small dog who sits upright in a chair. Then dad pulls out a projector and screen and forces the family to watch another film, a cartoon of the ancient variety. Complete with creepy Santa, dogs fighting over bones, and anthropomorphized household objects bouncing up and down to music. There’s a parade of mediocre toys and some kids who look like Felix the Cat. Yes, Toyland has it all! Andy is a kid with a lot of problems. He drops a pencil in his elementary school classroom, and then has to sharpen the pencil in front of the whole class. Sharpening a pencil, so embarrassing, can you even imagine the shame? - Ol' #23E4
Ol' #23Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Proudly wearing the number 23, Jordan played 15 seasons in the NBA, winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls while galvanizing the league with his dazzling showmanship. Unfortunately, this short is about a school bus known as Ol’ #23. The “Ron Howardy” looking bus driver has a routine meeting with superintendent of schools and convinces her that students love “Ol’ #23” so much that they will give up a Saturday to paint and reupholster cushions. The project is a success until the baseball team threatens to ruin everything! - Good Grooming for GirlsE5
Good Grooming for GirlsCoronet, who had previously enriched our lives with insights into how to drink water, and how to keep a job, now tackles the herculean task of general hygiene. Specifically, Good Grooming for Girls. That’s right ladies, this short is packed with the mind blowing beauty secrets you’ve been waiting for like: washing your clothes, washing yourself, washing your shoes… and SO MUCH MORE! According to this short, the best rule of grooming is “to do it, then forget it.” Well, don’t you forget to join Bridget and Mary Jo down at the salon with Good Grooming For Girls! - Holiday from Rules?E6
Holiday from Rules?"Holiday from Rules?" follows four children who exist in abstract space, an empty void, a community theater set without any actual set pieces. These cranky, whiny kids are mad that rules exist, and they make one of the classic RiffTrax short blunders: they wish to live in a world without rules. You fools! You should never make a wish like that! Did you learn nothing from the teachings of Coily?? As you might expect, the omnipotent narrator takes the kids up on their wish and transports them to an island where they can try to live rule-free. So basically it’s Lord of the Flies with a lower production budget and not quite as many homicides. It’s fun to think about a world without rules… just imagine, you could eat all the old ham you wanted without any fussy “expiration dates” holding you back. Join Mike, Kevin and Bill as they study the pros and cons of life in this new utopia, this Holiday from Rules! - A Magical Field Trip to the Denver MintE17
A Magical Field Trip to the Denver MintThe title "A Magical Field Trip to the Denver Mint" is a bit redundant, since obviously ANY field trip to the Denver Mint is going to be magical. What makes this particular journey to a penny factory so special? Well, naturally, it all starts with a vacuum cleaner! The vacuum cleaner in question is wielded by Rosie O’Flanagan, a whimsical supernatural being whose main power is… being extremely Irish. When three youngsters are bored in their school library, Rosie and her vacuum appear to whisk them away to, you guessed it, the Denver Mint! Does this make more sense when you watch the short? Not really! The kids get to explore the ugliest, dullest rooms at the industrial plant, all while Rosie does her magical thing of… well, being Irish. Rosie O’Flanagan should really team up with the Grocery Witch from Magical Disappearing Money and use their combined powers to bother people about small change. - Skippy and the 3 RRR'sE27
Skippy and the 3 RRR'sThis is the story of Skippy Gordon, who, in the fall 1953, did unknowingly fall prey to the influence of Miss Temple and her nefarious cooperation in a federally planned routine which would envelop him for one half of his waking hours, and which would continue for the next ten, fifteen, or twenty years of his life. Suffer with Skippy as he endures the joy-ending trauma of realizing that all his toys and nice mom are at home while he's stuck in a stinky room with twenty paste-eaters painting endless pictures of his house with thick, unruly paintbrushes. Feel, with him, the betrayal as his love and desire for a big-boy bike is twisted by the duplicitous Miss Temple into a sick plan to teach him to read, write, and do arithmetic. Finally, an exposé that has the courage to shine a light on first grade as it truly is.