RiffTrax Looks To Riff A 'National Treasure' Among New Live Show Kickstarter Stretch Goals

You can eat candy just like Candy Lion as his ornament design is revealed, or you can eat up all these stretch goals! Or both!

As the two weeks remaining in the Kickstarter for Rifftrax Live: TimeCop, which has raised $466,460 at 4,666 backers. Having already reached some stretch goals in pursuit of riffing the 1994 film TimeCop starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kevin, Mike and Bill promised more stretch goals, both fund-based and by number of backers, already delivering on the former, they brought more of the latter on Wednesday.

But first, the guys revealed the design for the Candy Lion holiday ornament, featuring the character from the Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen short originally riffed as part of their Santa Claus Conquers the Martians live show. He can eat candy. Priced at the $150 tier, he emblazons the 3" brass ornament with his memorable catchphrase, "I Can Eat Candy" underneath as another Nikol King creation. As the guys’ official description for the short reads “When thinking of classic Christmas specials, it’s not long before Snoopy comes to mind… dog? What dog? We’re talking about the much more better known Snoopy the Brownie, of course, who works for Santa and helps keep his menagerie of terrifying living toys in line while he naps off his most recent egg nog bender… Snoopy and Santa are far from the most iconic characters featured here. We’re talking, naturally, about the Candy Lion! Yes, the Candy Lion, the lion who can eat candy. Oh the concept still isn’t clear enough yet? Well fortunately his catchphrase, which he loves to blurt out at random times, will clear that right up. We won’t spoil the surprise, but-- “I CAN EAT CANDY!” --oh come on Candy Lion, who let you in here??”

'RiffTrax Live: TimeCop' Kickstarter Sets First Dollar-Based Stretch Goals

In a very different economic situation, this TimeCop Kickstarter only has just over half of the over 8,000 backers from last year, but even just a dollar will help things along to boost backer count. At 5,500 backers, Dumb Industries, the company behind the Trace Beaulieu and Frank Coniff-hosted The Mads Are Back and RiffTrax star Mary Jo Pehl’s The Mary Jo Pehl Show, are offering The Mads Are Back: A Night of Shorts As Chosen By the Fans (Volume Two!), a curated collection of short film riffs for all backers regardless of reward level. At 6,000 backers, all backers at the $40 Live Show Download Package tier and above will have their name displayed in glorious 2 pt font on the pre-show (and in the home video versions) of the live show. 6,500 backers will unlock 50 new clips to be added to the highly popular Rifftrax: The Game, all from recent riffs including this very live show for free. Of course, being a prize for something already widely available, this would be available to non-backers too. At 7,000 backers, Dumb Industries will also be providing the special "pilot" episode of The Mary Jo Pehl Show will be included as a goodie for backers at the $80 Digital Only + Digital Stretch tier and above. “Pilot” is in quotes because according to producer Chris Gersbeck, it is actually a “compilation episode” of the series edited from various show segments over the years into a single 30-minute episode.

With the live show Blu-ray unlocked, those at the $100 Live Show DVD Package level can choose one or the other when the surveys go out. However, getting to 7,500 backers will take the choice away by including both the DVD and Blu-ray in a single package. At 8,000 backers, Mike, Kevin, and Bill will follow up their excursions to the water, the local Golden Corral, and the mini-golf course by going back in time! Or more accurately a loving recreation of a period from the past, anyway! Enjoy turkey legs and the festivities of yore at the nearby Renaissance Faire! Backers at the $80 Digital Only + Digital Stretch tier and above will also have this video included for free as part of their rewards. And finally, at 8,500 backers they will also get a Just the Jokes MP3 of an all-new riff of the Nicolas Cage classic National Treasure. As the guys put it “Nicolas Cage and riffing go together like peanut butter and jelly. We've selected a wonderfully goofy flick here, where The Constitution isn't the road map to a successful representative democracy, but is actually the key to finding a whole lotta GOLD! We'll turn this movie into comedy gold.” Directed by Jon Turteltaub, the film also stars Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, and Harvey Keitel. This is on par with last campaign’s three-person riff of the Sylvester Stallone film Over the Top, which was released in November, as well as the riff for the original The Karate Kid, whose stretch goal was not hit but was still produced and eventually released on February 21.

TimeCop takes place in the futuristic world of 2004, coincidentally the year National Treasure was released. Max Walker, played by Van Damme, is splitting the very barriers of space and time after the death of his wife, played by Mia Sara, at the hands of time-traveling goons, he is recruited to an elite task force of time-based police officers, the Time Enforcement Commission. Unfortunately, a U.S. Senator (Ron Silver) has gained access to their system of time travel and he’s using it to commit unspeakable evils across generations and must be stopped. The riff of the film will be performed live by the guys at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, TN on June 26, and be broadcast to the big screen in over 700 movie theaters across America on Thursday, August 14 with an encore on Tuesday, August 19 as a Fathom Event, which is how it’s always been done, give or take an encore or change of performance location.

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Source: Kickstarter (1, 2)