Tripping The Rift
– Tripping the Rift is a CGI science fiction comedy television series. It is based on two short animat..
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 was produced by CineGroupe in association with the Sci Fi Channel. It did very well in ratings; however, because Sci Fi didn't have a major 18-34 demographic coming to the network regularly and Sci Fi was not seen as a source of comedy programming, the network decided to postpone ordering more episodes. CineGroupe continued producing the series for the other North American and International broadcasters. The series aired on the Canadian speciality channel Space in 2004. Canada's cartoon network Teletoon has been airing the series since August 2006. The third season aired on Teletoon in 2007, and a feature-length movie version was released on DVD in 2008. Its main character is Chode McBlob.
Many episodes parody or allude to movies, television shows or novels. For example, "23½" makes reference to the series 24 and Snakes on a Plane. In fact, the opening of each of the series' episodes pays homage to three specific science fiction shows and movies; Star Trek, Star Wars, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
04 Mar 2004
English
This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefore may be unsuitable for children under 17 years old. It contains content that is unsuitable for children.
Chuck Austen, Chris Moeller
Stephen Root, Maurice LaMarche, John Melendez, Gayle Garfinkle
Tripping the Rift is a CGI science fiction comedy television series. The universe is modeled largely after the Star Trek universe, with references to 'warp drive' and 'transporter' beam technology, occasional time travel, the Federation and the Vulcans. The series also includes elements borrowed from other sources such as Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Battlestar Galactica. The general setting is that known space is politically divided between two superpowers: the Confederation (led by Humans, and a parody of the Federation from Star Trek) and the Dark Clown Empire (a parody of the Galactic Empire from Star Wars). The Dark Clown Empire is a totalitarian, tyrannical police state, led by the evil Darph Bobo. In contrast, the Confederation is technically a democratic and free society, but in practice, is dominated by mega-corporations and bloated bureaucracies. Ultimately, both superpowers end up exploiting and restricting their inhabitants, albeit in different ways. For example, the value placed on life is so commercialized in the Confederation that clearly sentient robots and androids are reduced to essentially slave-status. The Dark Clown Empire practices actual slavery, and while the Confederation does not, most of its inhabitants (including the Human ones) are openly described as living in wage slavery. The only place that anyone can truly be free is in the border region between the two superpowers, which is directly controlled by neither. This borderland is known as "the Rift", hence those outlaws on the fringes of society who cling to their freedom by moving back and forth around the Confederation/Dark Clown Empire border to evade detection are said to be "Tripping the Rift". The series follows one such group of outlaws led by Chode aboard the Spaceship Bob, taking odd-jobs and usually pursuing various get-rich-quick schemes.