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 a couple of weeks ago which allowed me to catch up on what I had missed. It includes all 13 episodes of the 1st season, but very few extra features. You’ll only find some character and artwork galleries and copies the scripts.

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

Starring (the voices of): Stephen Root, John Melendez, Gina Gershon
Extras: Character Gallery, Artwork Gallery, Teleplays
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital Stereo
Studio: Anchor Bay
Release Date: 10/25/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Tripping the Rift: Season 1 a B.