Tripping the Rift: The Movie

The TV series Tripping the Rift has always been crude, willing to take swipes at popular culture, and often extremely funny. Tripping the Rift: The Movie is a direct-to-dvd full-length adventure that isn't as good as the series' episodes.

All the regulars are back for this computer-animated cartoon about the universe's most messed-up space adventurers: Chode (Stephen Root), the ship captain who's short, purple with green spots, has four tentacles, and is obsessed with sex, money, and sometimes his crewmates; Gus (Maurice LaMarche), the barely-closeted golden robot who's the chief engineer; Six of Nine (Jenny McCarthy), the ship's android science officer and Chode's sexbot; T'nuk (Gayle Garfinkle), a grosteque, raspy-voiced centaur-like woman who's thoroughly vain; Whip (Rick Jones), Chode's reptilian teenage nephew; and Bob (John Melendez), the ship's computer that acts as if it's a neutoric human. Darph Bobo (Terrence Scammell), Chode's nemesis and leader of the Dark Clown empire, returns as well to torment Chode.

The movie has very little plot. The main storyline, a Terminator 3 parody, is that a Terminator-like Darph Bobo is chasing Chode from planet to planet while Chode plans his own birthday bash. There are also extended parodies of Young Frankenstein (in black and white) and Desperate Housewives , plus a jungle treasure hunt, time travel, numerous pop culture references, and more.

But not much more. Maybe the crude humor works best in 30-minute installments, but here the humor is hit and miss. Worse, the show's creators didn't take advantage of the gross humor opportunities an "unrated" movie offers: All we get is cursing that isn't bleeped out. And the only dvd extras are a making-of feature and, if bought at Best Buy, three episodes called "Best of Six."

Die-hard fans of Tripping the Rift may want to buy Tripping the Rift: The Movie. Me, I'd urge you to pick up seasons 1 and 2; I'll be waiting for season 3 to be released instead of rewatching this.

Overall grade: C

Reviewed by James Lynch