Homestar Runner Reviews - Week 19 (6/24/2014)
Jun 24, 2014 15:10:09 GMT -5
🐍 cahusserole 🐍 and Paleu like this
Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2014 15:10:09 GMT -5
random dude: Hi everyone! This week, we're reviewing a bunch of random non-sbemail cartoons. There's really no theme connecting these cartoons, as we've got two holiday themed cartoons, a couple of very slight cartoons, and an installment of Teen Girl Squad. This week is also a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality, but there's still some pretty funny stuff here. What do you think, Raige?
Cypher Raige: Hey, all. Sorry about the long delay. I guess it took me just under a month to get around to this. Sorry about that. I don't have an excuse, really. Guess I just needed a break. But here we are, and here's this thing again. Enjoy!
Marzipan's Answering Machine: Version 7.0
random dude: We start off with a Halloween-themed version of Marzipan's Answering Machine. This one is marginally better than some of the Brothers Chaps' past efforts with these. Homestar's attempt to prank call Marzipan is adorably pathetic, and the name "Dead Guy Perez" is pretty great. Strong Bad's prank call is as transparent as always. Strong Sad is typically pathetic when leaving his message, hoping that some dead people will want to be his friends. As much as I love Homsar, 15 seconds of him randomly screaming isn't that funny. And I get that Coach Z's creepy infatuation with Marzipan is played off as creepy, but the Brothers Chaps at times seem to think that his harassment is inherently funny, when it's nothing more than an anachronistic comedic trope in the same vein as "to the moon, Alice", that the Brothers Chaps were wise to largely abandon as time went on. All in all, Marzipan's Answering Machine is, at this point, still one of the site's weaker features.
Cypher Raige: Yes, this is a dumb piece of crap that is dumb and crappy. Marzipan's Answering Machine was always one of the least funny gags on the site, and it is amazing that they kept it going as long as they did considering the complete dearth of laughs. However, there is a little good news on the horizon. This one was the seventh version of Marzipan's Answering Machine, and version 8 is actually when there begin to be some genuine laughs. Who'da thunk it?!
A Decemberween Pageant
random dude: I think "A Decemberween Pageant", with it's familiar setting of the theater in which a couple of the site's really old cartoons take place, helps to showcase just how much the Brothers Chaps had improved both in terms of comedic sensibilities and in terms of creating a somewhat structured plot. This is far from the best cartoon we've reviewed, and on the whole this isn't even a particularly noteworthy cartoon, but it's pretty representative of this era where the Brother Chaps' cartoons were improving from usually pretty good to consistently excellent, and the charming surrealism on display here is pretty fun. Essentially the main characters putting on a holiday-themed play, which is in many ways reminiscent of the odd 70s Rankin/Bass special "Rudolph's Shiny New Year". There's quite a bit of playing with tropes, some of them, such as Homestar's generic "I can't believe it's already here" speech at the beginning revealed to be said (presumably unscripted) on stage in front of the crowd, more successful than others, such as Strong Bad's humorously bad performance (which comes across a bit too lazy and ad-libbed to be more than moderately amusing). As Raige is fond of pointing out, the King of Town is a crappy character, and his being replaced in his role by Homestar (wearing a Burger King crown), then replaced in his other role by Bubs, and then told by Coach Z that he can go home, was a pretty great moment. The plot is deliberately nonsense from what we see of it; all we really know is that it centers on an attempt by the cast to find "The First Decemberween", yet the intricacies of the plot ostensibly make sense to the crowd. But that just makes such baffling moments such as The Cheat playing "The Popular Vote" (and later being told by Marzipan not to cry because "you might rust"), all the more delightfully weird. The end of the play is delayed (causing some once-again only moderately amusing poorly-acted ad-libbing by the cast) by Strong Sad, who can't remember his one line as "The First Decemberween", despite the fact that said line may or may not consist of the sole question "What?" In the end, "A Decemberween Pageant" is an inconsistent cartoon, but also a creatively weird cartoon of the sort that the Brothers Chaps probably wouldn't have made a year or two earlier.
Cypher Raige: In my opinion, this whole cartoon was weird and dull all around, and it did not really make any sense or provide any truly funny moments. I did like some of the things that randomdude pointed out, such as the slighting of the King of Town, which is repeated in an easter egg at the end of the cartoon: click on "The End" to reveal the pageant program, then click on the program to open it. The final line says "The King of Town is not in this play," indicating that it was always intended for the stupid KoT to get kicked out of the play, which is good, because he sucks. I also like how Pom Pom and Strong Mad are inexplicably dressed as Kobe #1 and Kobe #2. Another slightly funny bit was the commercial for an upcoming movie at the beginning of the cartoon, Litigation Jackson. But, for the most part, it is pretty obvious that this was an earlier cartoon, and the Brothers Chaps were still figuring out how to unite their funny ideas with a more coherent arc.
The System Is Down
random dude: According to fan wiki hrwiki.org, in January of 2003, as the site was becoming more popular and exceeding its bandwidth, homestarrunner.com legitimately crashed for a couple of days, resulting in the Brothers Chaps deciding to make this cartoon. It's a slight cartoon but I imagine it would've been a cool reassurance that everything was OK with the site again for fans back in the day. Basically, the 'toon consists of Homestar and Strong Bad walking onto a screen displaying a standard 404 error message, and exchanging some fourth-wall breaking dialogue (I particularly enjoyed Homestar's sarcastic claims that people were coming to the site to watch the sbemail "tape-leg". Then Bubs appears and explains that someone tried to stuff a Swiss cake role into the disc drive, which leads to Strong Bad sketchily bolting. It's a silly ending, but the cartoon is pretty neat for what it is.
Cypher Raige: "The system is down, yo!" I actually remember this cartoon from the site's heyday. I can recall clicking on it and immediately being fooled by the fake 404 error before realizing that it was all a joke, and a pretty inventive one for its time. There are also a couple of callbacks, such as Strong Bad's "the system is down" being a reference to the techno sbemail and the "Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined" error message from the 50 emails toon when the Tandy crapped out. This toon is a fine example of how the Brothers Chaps were able to harness internet culture and put a funny spin on it that made us computer nerds feel like we were a part of something.
Superbowl Dealie
random dude: This is an even slighter cartoon than "The System Is Down", posted around the time of the Super Bowl in 2003 mean to explain to Homestar Runner fans that the week's Strong Bad Email (usually released on Mondays) would be late because of the aforementioned quite popular football game. The 'toon basically consists of Strong Mad yelling "Take it to the house!" over and over while watching the TV, despite the fact that the big game had ended hours previously. At the end of the cartoon, Homestar walks in wearing a Boston Bruins t-shirt, either because Homestar confused football with hockey, or as a subtle reminder that with football season over, sports fans had a more exciting sport to turn their attention to. Or something. I like hockey better than football, OK? Anyway, while I'm sure this was probably an appreciated gesture back in the day, there's not much to this cartoon now (although I thought the way that Homestar ducks beneath The Paper after it descends to cover his face was a nice touch).
Cypher Raige: I have nothing more to add to this slight cartoon since randomdude did all the talking so well. I will just add that the authorities are currently on their way over to randomdude's house to deport him to Canada for being un-American and liking hockey more than football. Enjoy your maple syrup and mooses, random!
Teen Girl Squad Issue #2
random dude: Here we have the first Teen Girl Squad cartoon after their introductory sbemail which was apparently such a hit that the Brothers Chaps turned Strong Bad's bizarre and poorly animated comic into its own feature. Teen Girl Squad is one of my favorite parts of the site, and while Issue #2 is probably one of the weaker installments, due largely to its brevity, there are still some great moments. I love the way that the random alien who hits What's Her Face with a bat is named Thomas, for no apparent reason, and all the other things that just come out of nowhere to cause the injury or demise of the characters, such as the random van with the word "CHILDREN" emblazoned on its side which kills the jock who had made the very astute observation that "[TSG's main characters] must be girls." What did you think of this one, Raige?
Cypher Raige: I liked this one okay, but it did seem like mostly a re-hash of the first Teen Girl Squad sbemail. Future editions will see the cartoon branch out a little bit in terms of creativity, while still retaining the look and feel of the earlier toons. For some reason, besides the van with "CHILDREN" written on it, my favorite part of this cartoon is when the TGS goes to get yogurt, and the Ugly One says in an almost defeated manner, "I got jimmies." We all got jimmies, the Ugly One. We all do.
Next week's review will cover:
Strong Bad Email #61: monster truck
Strong Bad Email #62: interview
Strong Bad Email #63: fingers
Strong Bad Email #64: english paper
Strong Bad Email #65: unused emails
Cypher Raige: Hey, all. Sorry about the long delay. I guess it took me just under a month to get around to this. Sorry about that. I don't have an excuse, really. Guess I just needed a break. But here we are, and here's this thing again. Enjoy!
Marzipan's Answering Machine: Version 7.0
random dude: We start off with a Halloween-themed version of Marzipan's Answering Machine. This one is marginally better than some of the Brothers Chaps' past efforts with these. Homestar's attempt to prank call Marzipan is adorably pathetic, and the name "Dead Guy Perez" is pretty great. Strong Bad's prank call is as transparent as always. Strong Sad is typically pathetic when leaving his message, hoping that some dead people will want to be his friends. As much as I love Homsar, 15 seconds of him randomly screaming isn't that funny. And I get that Coach Z's creepy infatuation with Marzipan is played off as creepy, but the Brothers Chaps at times seem to think that his harassment is inherently funny, when it's nothing more than an anachronistic comedic trope in the same vein as "to the moon, Alice", that the Brothers Chaps were wise to largely abandon as time went on. All in all, Marzipan's Answering Machine is, at this point, still one of the site's weaker features.
Cypher Raige: Yes, this is a dumb piece of crap that is dumb and crappy. Marzipan's Answering Machine was always one of the least funny gags on the site, and it is amazing that they kept it going as long as they did considering the complete dearth of laughs. However, there is a little good news on the horizon. This one was the seventh version of Marzipan's Answering Machine, and version 8 is actually when there begin to be some genuine laughs. Who'da thunk it?!
A Decemberween Pageant
random dude: I think "A Decemberween Pageant", with it's familiar setting of the theater in which a couple of the site's really old cartoons take place, helps to showcase just how much the Brothers Chaps had improved both in terms of comedic sensibilities and in terms of creating a somewhat structured plot. This is far from the best cartoon we've reviewed, and on the whole this isn't even a particularly noteworthy cartoon, but it's pretty representative of this era where the Brother Chaps' cartoons were improving from usually pretty good to consistently excellent, and the charming surrealism on display here is pretty fun. Essentially the main characters putting on a holiday-themed play, which is in many ways reminiscent of the odd 70s Rankin/Bass special "Rudolph's Shiny New Year". There's quite a bit of playing with tropes, some of them, such as Homestar's generic "I can't believe it's already here" speech at the beginning revealed to be said (presumably unscripted) on stage in front of the crowd, more successful than others, such as Strong Bad's humorously bad performance (which comes across a bit too lazy and ad-libbed to be more than moderately amusing). As Raige is fond of pointing out, the King of Town is a crappy character, and his being replaced in his role by Homestar (wearing a Burger King crown), then replaced in his other role by Bubs, and then told by Coach Z that he can go home, was a pretty great moment. The plot is deliberately nonsense from what we see of it; all we really know is that it centers on an attempt by the cast to find "The First Decemberween", yet the intricacies of the plot ostensibly make sense to the crowd. But that just makes such baffling moments such as The Cheat playing "The Popular Vote" (and later being told by Marzipan not to cry because "you might rust"), all the more delightfully weird. The end of the play is delayed (causing some once-again only moderately amusing poorly-acted ad-libbing by the cast) by Strong Sad, who can't remember his one line as "The First Decemberween", despite the fact that said line may or may not consist of the sole question "What?" In the end, "A Decemberween Pageant" is an inconsistent cartoon, but also a creatively weird cartoon of the sort that the Brothers Chaps probably wouldn't have made a year or two earlier.
Cypher Raige: In my opinion, this whole cartoon was weird and dull all around, and it did not really make any sense or provide any truly funny moments. I did like some of the things that randomdude pointed out, such as the slighting of the King of Town, which is repeated in an easter egg at the end of the cartoon: click on "The End" to reveal the pageant program, then click on the program to open it. The final line says "The King of Town is not in this play," indicating that it was always intended for the stupid KoT to get kicked out of the play, which is good, because he sucks. I also like how Pom Pom and Strong Mad are inexplicably dressed as Kobe #1 and Kobe #2. Another slightly funny bit was the commercial for an upcoming movie at the beginning of the cartoon, Litigation Jackson. But, for the most part, it is pretty obvious that this was an earlier cartoon, and the Brothers Chaps were still figuring out how to unite their funny ideas with a more coherent arc.
The System Is Down
random dude: According to fan wiki hrwiki.org, in January of 2003, as the site was becoming more popular and exceeding its bandwidth, homestarrunner.com legitimately crashed for a couple of days, resulting in the Brothers Chaps deciding to make this cartoon. It's a slight cartoon but I imagine it would've been a cool reassurance that everything was OK with the site again for fans back in the day. Basically, the 'toon consists of Homestar and Strong Bad walking onto a screen displaying a standard 404 error message, and exchanging some fourth-wall breaking dialogue (I particularly enjoyed Homestar's sarcastic claims that people were coming to the site to watch the sbemail "tape-leg". Then Bubs appears and explains that someone tried to stuff a Swiss cake role into the disc drive, which leads to Strong Bad sketchily bolting. It's a silly ending, but the cartoon is pretty neat for what it is.
Cypher Raige: "The system is down, yo!" I actually remember this cartoon from the site's heyday. I can recall clicking on it and immediately being fooled by the fake 404 error before realizing that it was all a joke, and a pretty inventive one for its time. There are also a couple of callbacks, such as Strong Bad's "the system is down" being a reference to the techno sbemail and the "Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined" error message from the 50 emails toon when the Tandy crapped out. This toon is a fine example of how the Brothers Chaps were able to harness internet culture and put a funny spin on it that made us computer nerds feel like we were a part of something.
Superbowl Dealie
random dude: This is an even slighter cartoon than "The System Is Down", posted around the time of the Super Bowl in 2003 mean to explain to Homestar Runner fans that the week's Strong Bad Email (usually released on Mondays) would be late because of the aforementioned quite popular football game. The 'toon basically consists of Strong Mad yelling "Take it to the house!" over and over while watching the TV, despite the fact that the big game had ended hours previously. At the end of the cartoon, Homestar walks in wearing a Boston Bruins t-shirt, either because Homestar confused football with hockey, or as a subtle reminder that with football season over, sports fans had a more exciting sport to turn their attention to. Or something. I like hockey better than football, OK? Anyway, while I'm sure this was probably an appreciated gesture back in the day, there's not much to this cartoon now (although I thought the way that Homestar ducks beneath The Paper after it descends to cover his face was a nice touch).
Cypher Raige: I have nothing more to add to this slight cartoon since randomdude did all the talking so well. I will just add that the authorities are currently on their way over to randomdude's house to deport him to Canada for being un-American and liking hockey more than football. Enjoy your maple syrup and mooses, random!
Teen Girl Squad Issue #2
random dude: Here we have the first Teen Girl Squad cartoon after their introductory sbemail which was apparently such a hit that the Brothers Chaps turned Strong Bad's bizarre and poorly animated comic into its own feature. Teen Girl Squad is one of my favorite parts of the site, and while Issue #2 is probably one of the weaker installments, due largely to its brevity, there are still some great moments. I love the way that the random alien who hits What's Her Face with a bat is named Thomas, for no apparent reason, and all the other things that just come out of nowhere to cause the injury or demise of the characters, such as the random van with the word "CHILDREN" emblazoned on its side which kills the jock who had made the very astute observation that "[TSG's main characters] must be girls." What did you think of this one, Raige?
Cypher Raige: I liked this one okay, but it did seem like mostly a re-hash of the first Teen Girl Squad sbemail. Future editions will see the cartoon branch out a little bit in terms of creativity, while still retaining the look and feel of the earlier toons. For some reason, besides the van with "CHILDREN" written on it, my favorite part of this cartoon is when the TGS goes to get yogurt, and the Ugly One says in an almost defeated manner, "I got jimmies." We all got jimmies, the Ugly One. We all do.
Next week's review will cover:
Strong Bad Email #61: monster truck
Strong Bad Email #62: interview
Strong Bad Email #63: fingers
Strong Bad Email #64: english paper
Strong Bad Email #65: unused emails
