QuipTracks LLC is an online riffing troupe. Along with Ice on Mars and TreacheRiffs, they are part of the riffing collective The Order of the League.
History
QuipTracks was founded in 2006 by Tracy Bowersox and Tegan Somers (then credited as Cody Somers). Initially conceived as a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan project called "MST4K," it quickly became clear that a video format would not allow the group to riff the movies they wanted to riff (specifically Jurassic Park), and the project was halted. The sudden emergence of Rifftrax later in the same year proved that a audio-based syncing method (initially considered and rejected by the QuipTracks crew) was in fact an effective way to allow for the riffing of modern movies, and the project was restarted. The result was a sloppy, unpolished riff of Jurassic Park recorded on one microphone in a living room with the TV turned down low. In an improvised intro to the track, the riffers came up with a group name on the spot, choosing "QuipTracks", wondering aloud if they would be sued for it. Although meant mainly for the group's own amusement, the riff was posted on the Rifftrax Round Table, and a few positive reactions from other users prompted the group to keep producing more tracks.
While Jurassic Park was the first outing for QuipTracks, Lady in the Water introduced their unique synching method, Beeper. Because of both this and the fact that the Jurassic Park riff was later rewritten and re-released, Lady in the Water is listed as the group's first riff in the catalog. (In fact, Lady in the Water was also redone, and 5 years after its original release, QuipTracks produced a third edition of Jurassic Park.)
Soon, the crew became more serious about QuipTracks, and, as writing and production quality improved, created a website to sell their riffs. The first riff sold was The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which they later removed from the catalog, promising to redo it as they had Jurassic Park. Years later, that has yet to happen. Despite initial misgivings, the riff was well enough received that all subsequent tracks were sold for profit.
Between 2006 and 2014, QuipTracks released 21 feature-length riffs and three short episodes. QuipTracks took a hiatus after their Halloween, 2013 release of The Covenant, producing nothing until the short VOD "Fury of the Cocoon" in November, 2014. Their next full-length riff was The Lake House in the following February.
Collaboration
In March of 2010, during a prolonged maintenance of Rifftrax's iRiffs service, Ice on Mars was getting ready to release their riff of Twilight: New Moon and needed a place to host it. Since QuipTracks was already selling their riffs on their own site, Michael T. Bradley approached them about hosting New Moon as well. QuipTracks accepted, soon hosting the entire Ice on Mars catalog. They then expanded their library to include the riffs of TreacheRiffs and The Turkey Shoot with Scott Zee; these later additions were sought out by QuipTracks.
What started as shared hosting evolved into more of a collaborative effort as QuipTracks, Ice on Mars, and TreacheRiffs did occasional peer reviewing for each others' riffs, swapping writers, and even producing a few crossovers. The first of these was Ice on Mars and TreacheRiffs' short, "Seagram's Nightmare," released June, 2011. More recently, QuipTracks and Ice on Mars have announced four episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, to be riffed by Michael T. Bradley and each of Tristan McQueen, Tracy Bowersox, Kelly McQueen, and Kevin Bowersox. Tristan's episode, "The 37s," was released early July, 2015, and Tracy's. "Initiations," the following November.
Due to all of this intermingling of talent, the three groups decided to officially form a riffing collective, called The Order of the League. Consequently, the QuipTracks website, while still accessible at quiptracks.com, is now officially theootl.com. While the current web catalog skews toward a QuipTracks theme, the upcoming website redesign will allegedly feature more League-related branding, giving the groups equal status.
QuipTracks: The Show
For their riff of the Rocky Jones episode "Escape into Space," QuipTracks filmed an opening theme and host segments, calling the riff episode one of QuipTracks: The Show. The host skits were shot on a futon in a corner of their dining room and marked the first on-screen appearance of QuipTracks' sync technology, Beeper, who appears as a traffic signal flanked by bookshelf speakers. While there was no syncing necessary for the riff, Beeper counts down to the feature presentation, appearing to be in control of the audio-visual equipment.
While the much later VOD "Fury of the Cocoon" uses the 'Show icon style in its thumbnail, it lacks both the opening theme and host segments. QuipTracks has implied that these may be added in a later release of the short. They have long been working on a more professional set and props for The Show, and a re-release would come after their completion.
Riffography
- Lady in the Water
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (unavailable for purchase)
- Godzilla
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
- Van Helsing
- The Happening
- Rocky Jones, Space Ranger: "Escape into Space"
- Mission: Impossible II
- The Core
- Star Trek: Voyager: "Eye of the Needle"
- Hulk
- The Forgotten
- GATTACA
- Dragonball: Evolution
- The Last Airbender
- Equilibrium
- Signs
- Jurassic Park (5th Anniversary Edition)
- Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
- Ghost Rider
- Abduction
- Paycheck
- The Covenant
- Tales of Tomorrow: "Fury of the Cocoon"
- The Lake House
- Star Trek: Voyager: "The 37s" (with Ice on Mars)
Cast
- Tracy Bowersox
- Tristan McQueen (formerly Bowersox)
- Tegan Somers (formerly Cody Somers)
- Kevin Bowersox
- Matt Doyle
Writers
- Tracy Bowersox
- Tristan McQueen (formerly Bowersox)
- Kevin Bowersox
- Ryan Downey
- Tegan Somers (formerly Cody Somers)
- Michael T Bradley
- Matt Doyle
See Also
- TreacheRiffs
- Ice on Mars
- The Turkey Shoot with Scott Zee