Review: Tripping the Rift, Complete First Season DVD set.
Some people just love this program. Many have told me that it’s on the edge and as funny as can be — my humor center must be damaged. I’ve just watched the entire first season and well, it’s okay but I’m glad I didn’t pay for these disks (renting is a good thing).
The animation is fine, colors are bright, scenery is not fully developed so it often is lacking in texture and depth but still okay. After all, it’s supposed to be cartoonish. The dialogue is even clear and understandable (except when beeped for language–and I’m wondering if the beeps were in this when on TV or only on DVD).
Underlying some of the episodes is some serious material but it’s so buried in juvenile sex humor that you’d be hard pressed to pay enough attention to catch the other themes. At least for me it was. I just don’t care for sex, sex, and more sex jokes. Which is weird since the only two characters that have any redeeming characteristics are Six (the love slave robot) and Gus (another robot). Most of the humor is on a level with junior high locker room bragging and showing off.
All in all, I’m glad I saw it so I know what everyone has been talking about but I’m very happy that I didn’t go with the hype and buy the set. On the other hand, I wish it could have risen above the juvenile level when dealing with the rights of robots/clones, political payola, control over one’s body, ecology, gun control, and some of the other topics that were in the series — I’m sure they could have found a way to be just as funny (or in my case, funnier) without stooping to the lowest common denominator.
So, if you’ve wondered about this series…rent it first before buying just to be sure it’s your idea of comedy.