Tripping the Rift

Infobox Television
show_name = Tripping the Rift


caption = The Cast on the Season 1 DVD box set
format = Animated series, science fiction, sitcom
runtime = 20 minutes
creator = Chris Moeller, Chuck Austen
producer = Andrew Makarewicz
starring = Stephen Root Carmen Electra Maurice LaMarche
country = CAN

network = Sci Fi Channel Space Teletoon (Canada)
first_aired = March 4, 2004

num_episodes = 39

"Tripping the Rift" is a CGI science fiction comedy television series. It is based on two short animations published on the Internet by Chris Moeller and Chuck Austen. The series aired on the Canadian speciality channel Space in 2004. Canada's cartoon network Teletoon has been airing the series since August 2006. As of September 2007, Teletoon is airing the third season, and a feature-length movie version was released to DVD in 2008.

Many episodes parody or allude to movies, television shows or novels. (EX: "23 1/2" to series 24 and "The Graduate")

Origins

In 1997 Chris Moeller, who was working on King of the Hill and who had been producing animation shorts with his Dark Bunny Productions, met Chuck Austen and pitched their idea for a sci fi comedy to animation studio Film Roman and in early 1998 they launched the first pilot "Love and Darph" on the Internet. The Chode character first appeared in Chris' 1994 short "Wisconsin". [http://www.darkbunny.com/dbfilms.htm A chronological history] Chris Moeller, Dark Bunny Productions] In 2001 Film Roman released the "Oh Brother" Teaser for episode 2 , and Chris claimed the full version was made but up to Film Roman to release. [ [http://www.darkbunny.com/2002_11_01_blogarchive.html Dark Bunny blog] Chris Moeller, 2002-11-23]

Production

In 2002, production company CinéGroupe had acquired the rights to the five minute short Love and Darph and approached animator Bernie Denk to direct the series, with Sci Fi US submitting the scripts and ordering changes. Bernie Denk's team worked in Montreal on preproduction (character design, modelling, texture) while both Montreal and Malaysian teams worked on animating, lighting and compositing. Keyframe animation was chosen instead of the requested motion capture to give a more cartoony effect, and to save work. [http://www.sadgeezer.com/html/Reviews+index-req-showcontent-id-660.html Tripping the Rift: Interviews: Director Bernie Denk] SadGeezer.com, 2004-04-24]

etting

Space, the future. The universe is modeled mostly after the "Star Trek" universe, including warp drive and transporter beam technology, occasional time travel, the Confederation and the Vulcans. The series also includes elements borrowed from other sources such as "Star Wars" and "".

Characters

* Chode McBlob (Stephen Root) — is a three-eyed, purple alien with green spots, who serves as captain of the smuggling spaceship "Jupiter 42". His race believes that one's job should be determined by society and not by the individual. Since he strongly disagrees with this philosophy, he left his home planet as soon as he could. He is not too bright and tends to be fairly selfish, putting himself in front of his friends numerous times. On top of this, Chode is constantly aroused and tends to think about and allude to sex constantly. Chode was raised by a promiscuous single mother. He has a twin brother, Regis Filbrick, who was adopted at birth and is king of the planet Moldania. His grandfather, Benito, has also appeared. The ship's name is a reference to both the Jupiter 2 of "Lost in Space" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", which describes the number 42 as being "The answer to life, the universe, and everything." Through out the series the unclothed Chode will periodically reach behind and suddenly have some sort prop in hand that fits the story as if he "pulled it out of his ass."

* Six of One/Six of Nine (or just Six) (Patricia Beckmann and Terry Farrell in the pilot (two versions), Gina Gershon in season 1, Carmen Electra in season 2 and Jenny McCarthy in season 3) — Six is a sexy cyborg that was designed as a sex slave. She acts as the ship's science officer, thanks to a programming upgrade by Chode; much to his chagrin, this upgrade has also given her a conscience and sense of decency (in spite of her sexual nature). She often gets the crew out of trouble by using her erotic attributes. Six's name is a parody of 's Seven of Nine, the phrase "Six of One, Half a Dozen of the other", and a parody of 69 - a sexual position. Six's character is also a parody of Zev the Love Slave from the Canadian Sci-fi series Lexx. The final episode of the second season revealed that she was modelled after a stripper named "Haffa Dozen". Although both Patricia Beckmann and Terry Farrell were listed in the credits of the pilot as Six of One, a small pamphlet included in the Season 1 DVD Box set listed her name as Six of Nine.
* T'nuk Layor — (Gayle Garfinkle) T'nuk is the ill-tempered, triple-breasted, quadrupedal pilot of the ship. Most other characters consider her of grotesque appearance, while she believes herself attractive with a great libido. She was chosen as the pilot because she is particularly good at keeping Spaceship Bob in check. She also acts as cook, and is apparently half owner of the ship. Her full name is a reverse misspelling of "Royal cunt," and the T-apostrophe at the beginning is taken from the spelling of various female Vulcan names in "Star Trek" shows and movies.

* Whip (Rick Jones) — Whip is a bipedal alien reptile, and Chode's nephew. He serves as the ship's foreman, though he is rarely seen working, and is an impulsive, horny teenager. As a chameleon, he is able to conceal his appearance and cling to walls, as well as regenerate lost body parts.

* Gus (Chris Moeller in the pilot, Maurice LaMarche in the series) — Gus is Chode's robot-slave. He is the ship's engineer and is implied to be homosexual (a running joke is that he frequently denies it, often while engaging in extremely stereotypically homosexual behavior). Though smarter than those around him, he is forced to serve them, as silicon organisms don't have the same rights as carbon-based ones. He has a cynical attitude due to the many failures he has experienced due to his less intelligent carbon-based bosses' actions. His appearance and voice is a parody of C-3PO. Further continuing the homosexuality joke, his chest is a replica of a penis.

* Spaceship Bob (John Melendez) — Spaceship Bob is the A.I. that controls the ship. He suffers from agoraphobia, and often has panic attacks at inconvenient times. Only T'nuk's insults can snap him out of his panic attacks. He also desires Six, even though she says they're just friends. Bob is a parody of 's Hal 9000.

* Darph Bobo (Chris Moeller in the pilot, Terrence Scammell in the series) — Darph Bobo is the supreme Dark Clown. He wants to take over the universe because he was teased as a child. He attended high school with Chode, and the two also spent time in prison together . He has a shrewish wife, Bernice, and an insanely attractive daughter, Babette. Bobo is often seen with his "clown trooper" guards - a direct parody of Storm Troopers. Both his name and outfit are a parody on the Darths of the "Star Wars" movies as well as his want of a Death Orb, a deadly battle station.

* Captain Adam Francis Shatner — Captain Adam is the captain of a Confederation ship. He resembles Al Gore, has a domineering wife named Nancy and a clone/son named Adam 12. He has been known to blackmail Chode into doing his dirty work. Adam's halting and exaggerated speech pattern is a parody of James T. Kirk, who was played by William Shatner. Adam 12 is a reference to Adam-12, the police-themed television show..

Episodes

Pilot

* Love and Darph (1998) (two versions with differing dialogue for Six)
* Oh Brother (Teaser) (2001)

eason 1

# God is Our Pilot
# Mutilation Ball
# Miss Galaxy 5000
# Sidewalk Soiler
# The Devil and a Guy Named Webster
# Totally Recalled
# 2001 Space Idiocies
# Power to the Peephole
# Nature vs. Nurture
# Aliens, Guns & A Monkey
# Emasculating Chode
# Love Conquers All...Almost
# Android Love

eason 2

# Cool Whip
# You Wanna Put That Where?
# Honey, I Shrunk the Crew
# Ghost Ship
# Benito's Revenge
# All for None
# Extreme Chode
# Roswell
# Santa Clownza
# Chode and Bobo's High School Reunion
# Creaturepalooza
# Chode's Near-Death Experience
# Six, Lies and Videotape

eason 3

# Chode Eraser
# Skankenstein
# To eBay or Not to eBay
# 23 ½
# The Need for Greed
# Chuckles Bites the Dust
# Hollow Chode
# Raiders of the Lost Crock
# Witness Protection
# The Son also Rises
# Extreme Take-over
# Battle of the Bulge
# Tragically Whip

International broadcasting

The show aired on Space in Canada and Sci Fi Channel in the United States in March 2004. Sky One began airing the show in the United Kingdom in early 2005. Space and the Sci Fi Channel aired the second season in the fall of 2005. In Latin America it appeared on Adultswim. In Australia the show appears on the Sci Fi Channel. Reruns of the show now air in Canada on Teletoon. Both Seasons 1 & 2 are now available on DVD in North America. In Russia, a music television channel My3TB ( [http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D1%83%D0%B7-%D0%A2%D0%92] ) aired season 1 & 2 in 2007, and season 3 in early 2008.

The Movie

Anchor Bay released the unrated "Tripping the Rift: The Movie" on DVD March 25th, 2008. [cite web |url=http://anchorbayentertainment.com/index.asp?p=CatalogDetail&SKU=DV15168&PriCatID=4 |title=Tripping the Rift: The Movie |accessdate=2008-03-29 |work=Anchor Bay Entertainment ]

Trivia

* Throughout the series, Chode has to answer to charges made by The Confederation. The Confederation is a parody of the "United Federation of Planets" from the Star Trek universe.
* In one of the original short films made for the Internet, "" alumna Terry Farrell provided the voice of Six. Originally, this film short featured Patricia Beckmann as the voice of Six and was subsequently replaced by Farrell's voice for an episode of the Sci-Fi Channel's short film series "Exposure" in which Farrell was guest host. Farrell's version of Six was heard only once on television.
* In the opening sequence Six reads a book where the words "Once Upon a Time" resemble the Star Wars opening crawl, Gus is seen using a vacuum cleaner that looks and sounds like R2-D2, Whip flies a remote-controlled model of the Enterprise, and there is a view of the back of T'Nuk's chair that resembles the black monolith from "". Bob the computer utters a different phrase in each opening sequence (as Darph Bobo threatens the ship), including on one occasion referencing voice actor John Melendez's recent appointment as announcer for "The Tonight Show".
* Former SNL writer/castmember Terry Sweeney and his partner, Lanier Laney, are credited as story editors and creative consultants.
* Several runs of the DVD box set include stickers stating that the material is uncensored, however, much of the show is the same as the censored, syndicated run.
* Ghostface from the Scream trilogy is a judge in some episodes.
* In the episode "Roswell" (Season 2), when the Greys try to use their "On Star" system to call for help, it mentioned that service will arrive in six centuries. Since the events of Roswell took place in 1947, that means that the characters from this series come from the year 2547.
* The writers reacted very fast in the second season, premiering with the "You want to put that where?" episode featuring a straight "Governor McJersey" on an all-gay planet, a direct take-off of disgraced New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey.

ee also

* List of science fiction television programs

Notes

External links

* [http://www.trippingtherift.tv/ Official site]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mX5BU_N6jQ Tripping the Rift - "Oh Brother" Trailer]
* [http://www.skyone.co.uk/programmes/trippingtherift/gallery.aspx sky.com (UK) site]
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* [http://tripping.riftshighway.com Rifts Highway Fansite]
* [http://www.bitte-downloaden.de/animationen/tripping_the_rift.htm German Animation Fansite | Trailers and Pilot]