Hi, welcome back!
For this installment, to wrap up my look at 'MST3K'- related Christmas things, I'll be looking at one they did just 2 years ago, as part of their current company Rifftrax.
As I explained in a couple of my Monster- Fest reviews, 2 years ago, the Rifftrax crew began occasionally doing one- night live riffing events broadcast to theaters around the country. In December of 2009, they brought us the 'Christmas Shorts- Stravaganza.' It mainly just consisted of them (Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy aka the voice of Tom Servo, and Bill Corbett aka the voice of Crow, with guest riffer Weird Al Yankovic showing up to help riff one of the shorts) riffing a bunch of cheesy old Christmas shorts.
The first of these (After the intro which kind of pokes fun at the way that some people make a point of doing multiple holiday- related greetings to avoid leaving out people of certain faiths), is a live- action/ animated mix called 'Christmas Toy Shop.' In it, two children go to bed on Christmas Eve, overhear their clumsy oaf of a father trying to set up a Christmas tree and presents downstairs (One of the guys notes, "Is the dad a retired Stooge?"), and dream that Santa Claus (Who looks rather bored/ disinterested) has come. In their dream, they go down and meet Santa, and he starts to tell them a story. Here the animated part comes in, as Santa's story is told in the form of an incredibly weird cartoon in which a toy shop's toys come to life every night after the toymaker goes home (Sort of like a poor man's 'Toy Story'). They spend most of the time just dancing and partying, until an evil spider (Whom Bill Corbett claims haunted his childhood nightmares) comes in and starts trouble, at which point the toys declare war on him and defeat him, ending Santa's tale and the kids' dream. This short is definitely one of the best in the special, it is incredibly funny all throughout, with awesome comments from the guys.
Next up on the list is another weird Santa- related short, 'A Visit to Santa.' In this, two kids named Dick (As you can guess, the guys have a little fun with his name, though never enough to make it grow stale) and Ann, who talk in what is apparently English though you can never understand a word they're saying, are given the chance to visit Santa Claus (Who here seems even lamer and even more bored than he did in the previous short). He first shows them stock footage of different things that Santas around the country apparently do, such as riding in parades and appearing at department store events. Then, he shows them around his workshop to see the various odd and cheesy toys that his elves make for children, from dolls to toy trains. It looks more like some kind of antique toy museum than like Santa's workshop. This short isn't as good as 'Toy Shop,' but it still has plenty of funny moments.
The next short, 'Christmas Rhapsody,' gives Santa a rest for a bit as it instead focuses on the life of a Christmas tree in the Alps. The tree in question is tiny and puny amidst the bigger trees in the forest, and regularly points out this fact in voice-over narration (Sort of like if you crossed the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree with an emo kid), a fun drinking game could probably be made out of all the times the tree's voiceover refers to itself as "Small, and of no account." Then, however, a poor woodcutter and his kids see that the tree is the perfect size for a Christmas tree, and cut it down (The commentary from the guys during this scene, especially from Kevin Murphy, is absolute gold). They cover it with Christmas decorations in their house (Again, Kevin Murphy makes some great comments on this), and the tree feels important and beautiful at last. This is a boring special, but the guys' commentary injects a ton of humor into it.
Guest- riffer Weird Al Yankovic comes in to help the guys review the fourth short, 'Three Magic Words,' a musical short about pork (They justify the Christmas connection by how many families enjoy ham for Christmas). It centers around an obnoxious singing trio of butchers/chefs who help an incredibly dim- witted housewife (As one of the riffers points out, "She makes Jessica Simpson look like Stephen Hawking") throw together a delicious pork dinner for her husband and his friends. The short's title comes from the fact that the singers frequently (As in, another drinking game could be made out of this) sing about how 'Quality, Freshness, and Flavor' are the three magic words for preparing pork. Weird Al (Who is actually a vegetarian in real life) unsurprisingly proves to be a pretty good riffer, with some good zingers to go along with the other guys. The only way that short could have been better would be if Weird Al also did a bit of singing.
Next, we're right back to Santa Claus with 'Night Before Christmas.' A cheesy live- action version of the classic Christmas poem, it's pretty straightforward. Lots of good Santa jokes (In particular, when Santa gets out his pipe, the guys make some freaking hysterical stoner jokes), and random funny observations from them.
After this, we head into some REALLY weird and even scary territory with 'Christmas Dream.' In this one, a little girl on Christmas Eve receives new Christmas toys (A doll, a teddy bear, and a stuffed giraffe), and is so excited with them that she tosses aside her old rag doll. Then, she falls asleep, and Santa gives her a dream in which the neglected rag doll comes to life, not happy about being thrown aside. While this would normally be the backstory for a horror film, here the doll (With a bizarre design, I think stopmotion animation, and VERY creepy voice) just enchants and impresses her with various things he does to win back her love. He interacts a little with the new toys (The guys make a particularly funny observation about what the teddy bear does) and unwittingly tears the room apart, yet the little girl just stays enchanted. Finally, she I guess wakes up, and likely will be kinder to her old doll in the future. This short kept me laughing all throughout, as the guys gleefully rip apart how strange and at times quite scary this short's premise is.
The next short after this, "Parade of Aquatic Champions," is definitely the weak link of the set. It has nothing to do with Christmas (Other than Bill Corbett introducing it by claiming it's a Christmas tradition in his family to watch it), dealing instead with some kind of old celebrity swimming show. The guys get a few good comments in, but it's nowhere near as good as the others.
Lastly, to close out the show, they look at an ultra- cheesy 'Rudolph the Red- Nosed Reindeer' cartoon, made by Max Fleischer in 1947, 17 years before the premiere of the beloved Rankin- Bass special. The animation's freaky, the reindeer's antlers are green, there are a lot of awkward scenarios in it, and just Santa's line in it of "Rudolph, I need you tonight" caused the audience (It was a live Rifftrax event, after all) to explode in laughter and applause without the riffers needing to say anything. This special too has a lot of funny moments, usually geared around the aforementioned awkward scenarios involving Santa.
So, that's the Rifftrax Live Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza. Hilarious, good for repeat viewings, and its DVD can be found on the Rifftrax website and on Amazon.com. Check it out if you can. See you for the next installment!
