Tripping the Rift
| Tripping the Rift | |
|---|---|
Title Card
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| Created by | Chris Moeller, Chuck Austen |
| Directed by | Bernie Denk |
| Starring |
Stephen Root Carmen Electra Maurice LaMarche Jenny McCarthy Gina Gershon |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of episodes | 39 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Andrew Makarewicz |
| Running time | 20 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
CineGroupe Film Roman |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Sci Fi Channel Space Teletoon |
| Original release | March 4, 2004 – December 13, 2007 |
Tripping the Rift is an adult 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.
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 (Whip's remote toy), Star Wars (Gus' vacuum), and 2001: A Space Odyssey (the back of T'Nuk's chair).
In 1997, Chris Moeller, who was working on King of the Hill and who had been producing animation shorts with Dark Bunny Productions, met Chuck Austen and pitched their idea for a science fiction comedy to animation studio Film Roman. In early 1998 they launched the first pilot Love and Darph on the Internet. The Chode character first appeared in the 1994 short, Wisconsin. In 2001 Film Roman released the Oh Brother teaser for episode 2, and Chris claimed the full version was made, but its release was left up to Film Roman.
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