It would appear that since the unveiling of Janet Jackson’s less than appealing mammary gland on National Television, the FCC sharks have been out trolling for blood. There was a period where everyone was afraid to say or do anything. Lately they have eased up a bit, or the networks are caring less an less what the FCC has to say (much like the rest of the country) and some of the raunchy humor has begun to sneak back into our daily lives. However, during the time that we are all quivering in fear from the FCC’s inconsequential actions, there was one group in the entertainment field that had already snubbed their noses… comprised of animators. With the debuts of shows like “Drawn Together”, “Tripping the Rift” and the ongoing onslaught to our senses and sensibilities that is “South Park”, I’ve noticed and increase in the abundance of crude, rude and offensive humor. Could it be that these animators were truly unafraid of the FCC (as everyone should be), or was it simply the idea that they could fend off any attacks with the catchphrase, “Hey… It’s ONLY a cartoon?”

We may never know, but thanks to these obnoxious guys we can count on our daily dose of required fart jokes.

“Tripping the Rift” was an interesting addition to this fine line of subversive humor in that it originally aired on the Sci-fi channel, a network not initially known for it’s cutting edge entertainment (though this has changed of late). There basis of the series is to be a send-up of every other space movie and TV show ever created. It involves a ship, the Jupiter 42 (can you guess both parts of this reference?), which is captained by the unbelievably obnoxious Captain Chode. He’s short, purple, and completely amoral and has sexual desires that even this writer cannot imagine. He is ‘serviced’ by Six, who is the resident drop dead gorgeous Fem-bot. She also ‘services’ the ship, in the form of a science officer. The rest of his crew is made up of Gus (the ship’s engineer), T’nuk (co-owner of the Jupiter 42) and Whip (Chode’s less than intelligent nephew). Oh, and I believe I should mention Bob (the ship’s alcoholic computer). Occasionally Chode and his crew cross paths with the evil Darph Bobo, a knock off of… oh, you know who….

In any given episode the jokes fly fast and free, with no regard to the level of offense it might cause viewers. And for this, I applaud the show. Not every joke works, and the real laughs only come sporadically, but when they do they are deep belly laughs to be sure. There are scenes where the writers go either a little too far off the deep end, or just drag out a joke too long, which causes some degree of silence from this viewer. But then out of nowhere, something happens that is just so incredibly funny or shocking that you forgive the rest of the episode.

I hadn’t seen this series during its initial 1st season run; only having caught an episode or two in its 2nd. Anchor Bay released a full season DVD set several months ago which allowed me to catch up on what I had missed. I spent the time watching those initial 13 episodes getting a good laugh out of them. I also occasionally found myself a bit shocked at some of the humor that was getting by (applauding it at the same time).

This month, they're releasing the 2nd season and as far as I can tell from the episodes I have watched so far, the writers aren’t holding back at all. They're allowing the offensive (by some standards) humor to run rampant. Just imagine having to unload a stash of 10,000 tubes of Butt Jelly on an all-gay planet and I think you'll… no… never mind… don’t try to imagine it. Just the idea of Butt Jelly makes me cringe….

The 1st season set did not have much in the way of special features, but this time Anchor Bay added a 15 minute Featurette on the making of the series where most of the cast and creative team are interviewed. This featurette also includes a look behind the scenes while some of the cast are recording their lines. You'll also find about a minute and a half of bloopers, which are actually bits of animation glitches. There's no audio on this feature, but some of the shots are still pretty funny. Last but not least, there is a commercial for a new Sci-fi series called "Eureka".

“Tripping the Rift” works very well as a spoof of the Sci-fi genre, and therein lies its one big weakness. There are so many jokes that allude to other classic and not so classic shows that you really have to have a ‘Trivial Pursuit’ knowledge of the genre to really catch everything. Aside from that, if you like to be entertained by humor that you can’t watch with your mom… this show has it in spades!

Episodes:
Cool Whip
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

Starring (the voices of): Stephen Root, John Melendez, Gina Gershon, Carmen Electra
Extras: Featurette, Outtakes and Bloopers, Eureka Promo
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital Stereo
Studio: Anchor Bay
Release Date: 4/4/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Tripping the Rift: Season 2 a B-.