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RiffTrax mocks 'Rogue One,' father fetishes, weird names and all

"Mystery Science Theater 3000" alums release a comic commentary for the hit film. It's uncanny what Lucasfilm and the Air Bud people have in common.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
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Gael Cooper

One of the delights of RiffTrax, the movie-mockery project from three "Mystery Science Theater 3000" alums, is that the trio can even make enjoyable movies and TV shows hilarious.

On Thursday, for Star Wars Day, Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy tackled "Rogue One," releasing a comic commentary that matches up with the 2016 film. The Force was with them.

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When the logo shows up, Corbett cracks, "Lucasfilm! We make movies faster than the 'Air Bud' people now."

The somewhat creepy recreated version of late actor Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) gets a jab, too. When Tarkin witheringly notes, "Apparently, you've lost a rather talkative cargo pilot," Murphy asks, "Have you tried looking in the Uncanny Valley?"

But most of all, the Riffers show they know Star Wars like the Ewoks know fleas, with jokes about weird galactic names ("Ask your doctor if Galen Erso is right for you.") and the series' father fetish. When Jyn demands to know, "What does this have to do with my father?" Mike responds, "It's Star Wars, honey, everything has to do with fathers."

You can buy the riff for $3.99 (£3.08, AU$5.38), and run it against your own copy of the movie. (The RiffTrax app syncs everything up perfectly.)