Tripping the Rift is a 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 aired on the Canadian speciality channel, Space, in 2004. Canada's cartoon network Teletoon has been airing the series since August 2006. As of September 2007, Teletoon is airing the third season, and a feature-length movie version was released on DVD in 2008.

Origins

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.

Production

In 2002, CinéGroupe acquired the rights to the five minute short Love and Darph and approached animator Bernie Denk to direct the series, with Sci Fi US submitting the scripts and ordering changes. Bernie Denk's team worked in Montreal on preproduction (character design, modelling and textures) while both Montreal and Malaysian teams worked on animation, lighting and compositing. Keyframe animation was chosen instead of the requested motion capture to give a more cartoon-like effect, and to reduce labour.

Setting

The universe is modeled largely after the Star Trek universe, with references to including 'warp drive' and 'transporter' beam technology, occasional time travel, the Confederation and the Vulcans. The series also includes elements borrowed from other sources such as Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Battlestar Galactica.

Characters

• Chode McBlob - Chode is a three-eyed, purple alien with green spots, who serves as captain of the smuggling spaceship Jupiter 42. His race believes that one's job should be determined by society and not by the individual. Since he strongly disagrees with this philosophy, he left his home planet as soon as he could. He is unintelligent and selfish, often putting his own desires ahead of those of his crew. Chode is frequently aroused and often thinks about and alludes to sex. He was raised by a promiscuous single mother. He has a twin brother, Regis Filbrick, who was adopted at birth and is king of the planet Moldania. His grandfather, Benito, has also appeared. The ship's name is a reference to both the Jupiter 2 of Lost in Space and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which describes the number 42 as being "The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything."

• Six of One/Six of Nine (or just Six) (Patricia Beckmann and Terry Farrell in the pilot (two versions), Gina Gershon in season 1, Carmen Electra in season 2 and Jenny McCarthy in season 3) - Six is a sexy cyborg that was designed as a sex slave. She acts as the ship's science officer, thanks to a programming upgrade by Chode; much to his chagrin, this upgrade has also given her a conscience and sense of decency (in spite of her sexual nature). She often gets the crew out of trouble by using her erotic attributes. Six's name is a parody of Star Trek: Voyager's Seven of Nine and the phrase "Six of One, Half a Dozen of the other". Six's character is also a parody of Zev the Love Slave from the Canadian Sci-fi series Lexx. The final episode of the second season revealed that she was modelled after a stripper named "Haffa Dozen".

• T'Nuk Layor - T'nuk is the ship's ill-tempered, triple-breasted, quadrupedal pilot. Most other characters consider her of grotesque appearance, while she has a great libido and believes herself to be attractive. She was chosen as the pilot because she is particularly good at keeping Spaceship Bob in check; she also acts as cook. Her full name is a reverse misspelling of "Royal cunt," and the T-apostrophe at the beginning is taken from the spelling of various female Vulcan names in Star Trek shows and movies.

• Whip - Whip is a bipedal alien reptile, and Chode's nephew. He serves as the ship's foreman, though he is rarely seen working, and is an impulsive, horny teenager. He is a chameleon, and is able to conceal his appearance and cling to walls, as well as regenerate lost body parts.

• Gus - Gus is Chode's robot slave. He is the ship's engineer and is implied to be homosexual (a running joke, he frequently denies his sexuality, often while engaging in stereotypical homosexual behavior). Though smarter than those around him, he is forced to serve them, as silicon organisms don't have the same rights as carbon-based life. He has a cynical attitude, resulting from the many failures he has experienced due to his less intelligent carbon-based bosses' actions. His appearance and voice is a parody of C-3PO.

• Spaceship Bob (John Melendez) - Spaceship Bob is the A.I. that controls the ship. He suffers from agoraphobia, and often has panic attacks at inconvenient times. Only T'nuk's insults can snap him out of his panic attacks. He also desires Six, even though she says they're just friends. Bob is a parody of 2001: A Space Odyssey's Hal 9000.

• Darph Bobo - Darph Bobo is the supreme Dark Clown. He wants to take over the universe because he was teased as a child. He attended high school with Chode, and the two also spent time in prison together. He has a belittling wife, Bernice, and a daughter, Babette. Bobo is often seen with his "clown trooper" guards - a parody of Storm Troopers. Both his name and outfit are a parody of the Darths from the Star Wars movies, as is his desire to construct a Death Orb, a deadly battle station.

• Captain Adam Francis Shatner - Captain Adam is the captain of a Confederation ship. He has a domineering wife, Nancy, and a clone/son named Adam 12. He has been known to blackmail Chode into doing his dirty work. Adam's halting and exaggerated speech pattern is a parody of James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner. Adam 12 is a reference to Adam-12, the police-themed television show..