Homestar Runner Reviews - Week 18 (5/19/14)
May 19, 2014 19:18:07 GMT -5
🐍 huss 🐍 and Pear like this
Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on May 19, 2014 19:18:07 GMT -5
Cypher Raige: Hello, all. Again this week we are looking at a bit of a mixed bag in terms of laughs, but the bonus is that we are viewing a massively popular cartoon that really put this site on the map. We'll get to it in a bit, but first, let's hear from random dude.
random dude: Hey everyone! First off, sorry this review is so late in going up, that's totally on me. As for this week's cartoons, I agree with Raige in that this is far from the best crop of cartoons we've reviewed, but in addition to that aforementioned massively popular cartoon, there's another really great sbemail thrown in there, and those two more than make up for the couple of lackluster cartoons that we're reviewing this week.
Strong Bad Email #56: current status
Cypher Raige: Our first email of the week is fairly slight. In it, we see an abandoned desk with an idle Compy and no Strong Bad to be found. Within a few seconds, we hear footsteps rapidly approaching as Strong Bad runs by. He stops to answer an email asking about his status with the ladies, to which he replies with some kind of math talk. And that's about it. We then hear voices calling out Strong Bad's name, and he runs away. Qucikly approaching are Bubs and Coach Z, their heads somewhat amusingly swapped onto each other's bodies. They bicker, and the email ends, revealing an appropriately slight easter egg: click on the floppy disks on Strong Bad's desk, and you will get a status on"Coach B/Zubs Project." While the status says "pretty hilarious," I would probably put it somewhere around "pretty mediocre."
random dude: Yeah, this one was pretty lame. Strong Bad's faltering "I'm a logarithm...for the ladies", was sort of funny, but the visual gag of switching Coach Z and Bubs' bodies is pretty dull. Luckily, we've got two fantastic cartoons coming right up to make up for this dud.
Strong Bad Email #57: japanese cartoon
Cypher Raige: Next up we have the creation of yet another alternate Homestarniverse, this one being the year 20X6. When Strong Bad is asked by James Ffffffffffffffffffffffff what he would look like as a Japanese cartoon, he obliges with a pretty great parody of Dragonball Z called "Stinkoman K 20X6." After getting the character design worked out, Stinkoman and a 20X6'd Homestar appear in a short cartoon together, complete with weird exaggerated American accents and questionable Japanese-to-English translations, as well as an appearance by Pan Pan, the 20X6 panda bear version of Pom Pom, the fat bastard. It all ends with a hilarious theme song with the lyrics, "Challenge and fighting and fighting and challenge toniiiiiiight!" Click on the words "japanese cartoons" at the end to first bring up an easter egg of the opening title sequence of Stinko Man K 20X6. When that is over, click on the same words again to reveal Homestar watching the show and singing along to the theme song. Within this second easter egg, there is yet another easter egg: click on the VHS tape labeled "NES endings" to see screencaps of the ending shots of many various Nintendo games. Why someone would have static images on a VHS tape is a mystery.
random dude: I like the 20X6 version of the Homestarniverse. In my own limited experience with anime, it does a very good job of parodying both the some of the medium's tropes and that which gets lost in translation when translators of less-than-fully-bilingual language skills attempt to adapt Japanese entertainment for English-speaking audiences. The Brothers Chaps' deliberate misspelling of "Congratulations" as "Combolations" in the ending credits might not be as confusing or as funny as some of the "people die if they are killeds" of the bad translation world, but 20X6's blue-haired, robot-booted, and poorly-dubbed inhabitants make for an interesting addition to the ever-growing cast of alternate characters that make up the Homestarniverse, and we haven't seen their last (or best) appearance on the site by a long shot. On a side note, Strong Bad's 20X6elganger is named Stinkoman, a callback of sorts to Homestar's unbelievably idiotic mangling of Strong Bad's name back in the sbemail "desert island". And Homestar singing along to the 20X6 theme in this cartoon is pretty adorable, especially when he just starts substituting lyrics too rapid for him to make out with "something something something something…"
Strong Bad Email #58: dragon
Cypher Raige: Well, this is it, people. I think it is safe to say that this cartoon is the single most popular thing to have ever appeared on the Homestar Runner website, and I am sure that it was the gateway to the site for many a Homestar fan. I first learned of Homestar Runner via a link posted on Fark.com back around the time this email came out (2003), and while I cannot say for sure that this was the first Homestar cartoon I ever saw, it is probably one of the ones that hooked me. At over three minutes, it is the longest sbemail of all that we have reviewed so far, and it is also the most iconic. After being asked how to draw a dragon, Strong Bad, after one false start, applies his simple art skills to create Trogdor: The Burninator, a funny looking winged dragon with one beefy arm and lots of majesty. Next, Strong Bad goes to see how some other members of the Homestarniverse are doing with their own dragon drawings, with Coach Z drawing what looks like a fat worm, Strong Mad carving the word "DARGON" into the table (click on the R to see another character's interpretation), and Strong Sad actually draws a good dragon using chiaroscuro shading techniques. Strong Bad is jealous of his wimpy little brother's drawing skills, so he takes a page from his own creation and burninates the shit out of Strong Sad's drawing. And this leads us into the main draw of the email, and what has made it such an iconic piece of web history: the Trogdor theme. The song itself is pretty simple, featuring a generic metal riff over which Strong Bad bumbles through some lyrics before bringing the Dio-esque metal screams of Trogdor's name. It's hilarious and weird, and it's unlike anything else that had been seen on the web up to that point. I would actually be very curious to see how much this cartoon affected the traffic on the site. It was a viral hit before "viral" was really a thing, and this cemented Homestar Runner as a true web phenomenon.
random dude: Although I didn't start watching Homestar Runner until sometime around 2008, Trogdor references were one of the things that drew me into the site as well. And apart from its significance the Homestar Runner cartoon that has penetrated into wider pop culture perhaps more than any other, "Dragon" is also just a fantastic cartoon, from Strong Bad's own mockery of his failed "the s is for sucks" dragon, to his insistence on the use of consumate Vs, to his claim that "That [arm] looks real good, comin' out of the back of his neck there." And of course, there's the Trogdor song, one of the funniest and most iconic songs the Brothers Chaps would write, what with its 80s heavy metal aesthetic, and shrieks of "thatched roofed cottages". This is undoubtedly one of the best cartoons we've reviewed yet.
Strong Bad Email #59: marzipan
Cypher Raige: Well, after such a huge milestone as the Trogdor cartoon, the next one was bound to be a letdown, but it still has its charms, and we at least get to finally see Marzipan in a situation that does not just depict her as "Homestar's girlfriend." When an emailer questions the veracity of Strong Bad's proficiency with the ladies, citing Marzipan's disdain for him as an example, Strong Bad sets out to prove that Marzipan is in love with him. Through a fairly lame linguistic trick, Strong Bad convinces himself that he made Marzipan admit to something. The only real laughs I got out of this were the vocalized Instant Message noises and the Cheat's video for Marzipan's "I Don't Like Strong Bad" song, accessed by clicking on the words "video for a client" in the Cheat's IM. Marzipan's hippy dippy song was probably ghost-written by Daniel Johnston from the sound of it.
random dude: Yeah, there's not a whole lot to this one. I still liked a couple of little things about it though, like Strong Bad's stumbling through Emily's awkward phrasing "the only girl I've seen even near you", or Marzipan not knowing what a screen name is (because of course such a hippy hipster like Marzipan wouldn't), or the dumbfounded instant message from Strong Sad insulted that his older brother would even think him capable of being pranked by vinegar toast (which does sound pretty disgusting). And of course, the Cheat's music videos are always delightfully bizarre and low-quality (he misspells the name of Marzipan's guitar as "Carl").
Strong Bad Email #60: huttah!
Cypher Raige: Strong Bad is kind of a jerk. He consistently cock-blocks the Cheat by deleting the Cheat's fan mail from the ladies, but he does not realize that the Cheat is apparently watching Strong Bad answer this email in real time on the Homestar Runner website, a little meta joke that lands fairly soft. I didn't get a lot from this email either. Perhaps it's a come down from the greatness of the Trogdor cartoon. Perhaps I will still be chasing the "dragon", as it were, always trying to find another fix as good as the Trogdor one. But in truth, there are many more great sbemails and toons to come, so don't jump ship yet, dear readers!
random dude:
Yeah this one is also kinda dull. The only thing I really found marginally amusing was Strong Bad trying to pass off emails that were obviously insulting him as being addressed to The Cheat. There's an easter egg if you click on the seagull on Strong Bad's "Takin' a Break" program at the end of the cartoon, but as it just lets you download the program for yourself, it's nothing special.
Well, that's it for now, everyone. Next time we'll be reviewing:
Marzipan's Answering Machine: Version 7.0
A Decemberween Pageant
The System Is Down
Superbowl Dealie
Teen Girl Squad Issue # 2
random dude: Hey everyone! First off, sorry this review is so late in going up, that's totally on me. As for this week's cartoons, I agree with Raige in that this is far from the best crop of cartoons we've reviewed, but in addition to that aforementioned massively popular cartoon, there's another really great sbemail thrown in there, and those two more than make up for the couple of lackluster cartoons that we're reviewing this week.
Strong Bad Email #56: current status
Cypher Raige: Our first email of the week is fairly slight. In it, we see an abandoned desk with an idle Compy and no Strong Bad to be found. Within a few seconds, we hear footsteps rapidly approaching as Strong Bad runs by. He stops to answer an email asking about his status with the ladies, to which he replies with some kind of math talk. And that's about it. We then hear voices calling out Strong Bad's name, and he runs away. Qucikly approaching are Bubs and Coach Z, their heads somewhat amusingly swapped onto each other's bodies. They bicker, and the email ends, revealing an appropriately slight easter egg: click on the floppy disks on Strong Bad's desk, and you will get a status on"Coach B/Zubs Project." While the status says "pretty hilarious," I would probably put it somewhere around "pretty mediocre."
random dude: Yeah, this one was pretty lame. Strong Bad's faltering "I'm a logarithm...for the ladies", was sort of funny, but the visual gag of switching Coach Z and Bubs' bodies is pretty dull. Luckily, we've got two fantastic cartoons coming right up to make up for this dud.
Strong Bad Email #57: japanese cartoon
Cypher Raige: Next up we have the creation of yet another alternate Homestarniverse, this one being the year 20X6. When Strong Bad is asked by James Ffffffffffffffffffffffff what he would look like as a Japanese cartoon, he obliges with a pretty great parody of Dragonball Z called "Stinkoman K 20X6." After getting the character design worked out, Stinkoman and a 20X6'd Homestar appear in a short cartoon together, complete with weird exaggerated American accents and questionable Japanese-to-English translations, as well as an appearance by Pan Pan, the 20X6 panda bear version of Pom Pom, the fat bastard. It all ends with a hilarious theme song with the lyrics, "Challenge and fighting and fighting and challenge toniiiiiiight!" Click on the words "japanese cartoons" at the end to first bring up an easter egg of the opening title sequence of Stinko Man K 20X6. When that is over, click on the same words again to reveal Homestar watching the show and singing along to the theme song. Within this second easter egg, there is yet another easter egg: click on the VHS tape labeled "NES endings" to see screencaps of the ending shots of many various Nintendo games. Why someone would have static images on a VHS tape is a mystery.
random dude: I like the 20X6 version of the Homestarniverse. In my own limited experience with anime, it does a very good job of parodying both the some of the medium's tropes and that which gets lost in translation when translators of less-than-fully-bilingual language skills attempt to adapt Japanese entertainment for English-speaking audiences. The Brothers Chaps' deliberate misspelling of "Congratulations" as "Combolations" in the ending credits might not be as confusing or as funny as some of the "people die if they are killeds" of the bad translation world, but 20X6's blue-haired, robot-booted, and poorly-dubbed inhabitants make for an interesting addition to the ever-growing cast of alternate characters that make up the Homestarniverse, and we haven't seen their last (or best) appearance on the site by a long shot. On a side note, Strong Bad's 20X6elganger is named Stinkoman, a callback of sorts to Homestar's unbelievably idiotic mangling of Strong Bad's name back in the sbemail "desert island". And Homestar singing along to the 20X6 theme in this cartoon is pretty adorable, especially when he just starts substituting lyrics too rapid for him to make out with "something something something something…"
Strong Bad Email #58: dragon
Cypher Raige: Well, this is it, people. I think it is safe to say that this cartoon is the single most popular thing to have ever appeared on the Homestar Runner website, and I am sure that it was the gateway to the site for many a Homestar fan. I first learned of Homestar Runner via a link posted on Fark.com back around the time this email came out (2003), and while I cannot say for sure that this was the first Homestar cartoon I ever saw, it is probably one of the ones that hooked me. At over three minutes, it is the longest sbemail of all that we have reviewed so far, and it is also the most iconic. After being asked how to draw a dragon, Strong Bad, after one false start, applies his simple art skills to create Trogdor: The Burninator, a funny looking winged dragon with one beefy arm and lots of majesty. Next, Strong Bad goes to see how some other members of the Homestarniverse are doing with their own dragon drawings, with Coach Z drawing what looks like a fat worm, Strong Mad carving the word "DARGON" into the table (click on the R to see another character's interpretation), and Strong Sad actually draws a good dragon using chiaroscuro shading techniques. Strong Bad is jealous of his wimpy little brother's drawing skills, so he takes a page from his own creation and burninates the shit out of Strong Sad's drawing. And this leads us into the main draw of the email, and what has made it such an iconic piece of web history: the Trogdor theme. The song itself is pretty simple, featuring a generic metal riff over which Strong Bad bumbles through some lyrics before bringing the Dio-esque metal screams of Trogdor's name. It's hilarious and weird, and it's unlike anything else that had been seen on the web up to that point. I would actually be very curious to see how much this cartoon affected the traffic on the site. It was a viral hit before "viral" was really a thing, and this cemented Homestar Runner as a true web phenomenon.
random dude: Although I didn't start watching Homestar Runner until sometime around 2008, Trogdor references were one of the things that drew me into the site as well. And apart from its significance the Homestar Runner cartoon that has penetrated into wider pop culture perhaps more than any other, "Dragon" is also just a fantastic cartoon, from Strong Bad's own mockery of his failed "the s is for sucks" dragon, to his insistence on the use of consumate Vs, to his claim that "That [arm] looks real good, comin' out of the back of his neck there." And of course, there's the Trogdor song, one of the funniest and most iconic songs the Brothers Chaps would write, what with its 80s heavy metal aesthetic, and shrieks of "thatched roofed cottages". This is undoubtedly one of the best cartoons we've reviewed yet.
Strong Bad Email #59: marzipan
Cypher Raige: Well, after such a huge milestone as the Trogdor cartoon, the next one was bound to be a letdown, but it still has its charms, and we at least get to finally see Marzipan in a situation that does not just depict her as "Homestar's girlfriend." When an emailer questions the veracity of Strong Bad's proficiency with the ladies, citing Marzipan's disdain for him as an example, Strong Bad sets out to prove that Marzipan is in love with him. Through a fairly lame linguistic trick, Strong Bad convinces himself that he made Marzipan admit to something. The only real laughs I got out of this were the vocalized Instant Message noises and the Cheat's video for Marzipan's "I Don't Like Strong Bad" song, accessed by clicking on the words "video for a client" in the Cheat's IM. Marzipan's hippy dippy song was probably ghost-written by Daniel Johnston from the sound of it.
random dude: Yeah, there's not a whole lot to this one. I still liked a couple of little things about it though, like Strong Bad's stumbling through Emily's awkward phrasing "the only girl I've seen even near you", or Marzipan not knowing what a screen name is (because of course such a hippy hipster like Marzipan wouldn't), or the dumbfounded instant message from Strong Sad insulted that his older brother would even think him capable of being pranked by vinegar toast (which does sound pretty disgusting). And of course, the Cheat's music videos are always delightfully bizarre and low-quality (he misspells the name of Marzipan's guitar as "Carl").
Strong Bad Email #60: huttah!
Cypher Raige: Strong Bad is kind of a jerk. He consistently cock-blocks the Cheat by deleting the Cheat's fan mail from the ladies, but he does not realize that the Cheat is apparently watching Strong Bad answer this email in real time on the Homestar Runner website, a little meta joke that lands fairly soft. I didn't get a lot from this email either. Perhaps it's a come down from the greatness of the Trogdor cartoon. Perhaps I will still be chasing the "dragon", as it were, always trying to find another fix as good as the Trogdor one. But in truth, there are many more great sbemails and toons to come, so don't jump ship yet, dear readers!
random dude:
Yeah this one is also kinda dull. The only thing I really found marginally amusing was Strong Bad trying to pass off emails that were obviously insulting him as being addressed to The Cheat. There's an easter egg if you click on the seagull on Strong Bad's "Takin' a Break" program at the end of the cartoon, but as it just lets you download the program for yourself, it's nothing special.
Well, that's it for now, everyone. Next time we'll be reviewing:
Marzipan's Answering Machine: Version 7.0
A Decemberween Pageant
The System Is Down
Superbowl Dealie
Teen Girl Squad Issue # 2
