HRRP: Part 6

Okay, so I took a week off, but there was a reason. Basically, the next bits of content were mostly old menus and stuff in the museum. I decided to not grade those but instead move on to the next toon. From now on I will only review toons. Any menus or games will come after I finish going through the cartoons, ok? OK! So let's get back on the wagon with. . .

In Search of the Yellow Dello

In this cartoon we first see Coach Z, Homestar, and Pom Pom on the athletic field doing. . . sports, apparently. . . Anyway, Homestar apparently looks sad and Coach Z asks him what's up. Homestar says he doesn't understaaaaaaand the ladies. He tells Coach Z that it's Marzipan's birthday and he doesn't know what to get her. Coach Z tells him to get her something really special, i.e. "Don't just get her a flower. Get her some rare flower from the tallest mountain! That way she knows how much she means to yahs!"

Homestar sits on a rock and thinks for apparently several days and then, suddenly, he "has" the solution! He's going to get Marzipan the Yellow Dello, "the most rare and beautiful bird in this entire cartoon." It's a yellow bird with a long neck, small wings, and some fine gams (is it offensive to call them gams? If it is let me know).

Homestar enlists the help of Pom Pom and Strong Sad in going to northeastern Potamia to find the Yellow Dello. The traveled very far and encountered many dangerous, but they made it to the mountain. After the get to the mountain, we cut to Strong Bad telling Marzipan that a) Homestar is getting her the Yellow Dello and b) Strong Bad is getting her absolutely nothing. Homestar seems quite excited for her birthday present.

Next we see the trio at the bottom of the mountain with the Yellow Dello in a bag. They then go home to get ready for the party. Marzipan arrives at the party and they greet her with a large roasted bird and a hearty happy birthday. Marzipan assumes the roasted bird is the Yellow Dello, killed, stuffed and dressed for a delicious dinner, and is outraged, she screams, slaps Homestar and storms off. The Yellow Dello then pops out of the present in the house and says, "Gee, whaddya think her problem was?" We end with Homestar again lamenting that he doesn't understaaaaaand the ladies.

So, this is the old version of this cartoon, it has limited dialog and sound effects and the drawings are kinda weird, although in the DVD Commentary, Matt Chapman says that for the storyboards he drew he had the weird drawings and Mike basically just said, "Yeah, do it exactly like that." I think the weird drawings and odd animation stuff works well humor-wise. The story is pretty simple, but so are most stories on the website. We do get a little intro to Coach Z's accent, although it isn't as pronounced yet. Also, this is the first toon in which both Coach Z and Strong Sad speak. Also, if you'll notice, this is apparently before the involvement of Missy Palmer, the voice of Marzipan, as the only sound she makes appears to be a stock scream. I give this toon a B+.

The Reddest Radish

This cartoon takes place on the day of the Reddest Radish Competition and opens on Marzipan working in her radish garden. The Cheat throws a forged note from Homestar at Marzipan's. . . feet?. . . telling her that Homestar is sick. Marzipan then rushes to Homestar's house to check up on him. After she leaves, The Cheat, Strong Mad, and Strong Bad jump out from behind the bush and steal the radish that Marzipan left behind so they can win the competition.

Marzipan arrives at Homestar's house and knocks on the door with her head (which I find odd, seeing as how she slapped Homestar and left a hand print in the last cartoon, but, like we'll do many many times, let's ignore continuity). Homestar doesn't answer because, as we see in the next cut, he's waiting for her at the competition. Pom Pom suggests that he kick a can to make himself feel better that Marzipan isn't there. The can hits the wagon that Strong Bad and Gang are using to transport the stolen radish. (Also to be clear, Marzipan has left Homestar's place at this point). The radish flies into the air and Strong Bad, Strong Mad, The Cheat, Pom Pom, and Homestar start fighting over it in a cartoon fight cloud. Homestar ends up winning and shows Marzipan the radish up on stage. Marzipan informs Homestar that the stolen radish was not, in fact, her entrant into the contest. Instead she pulls a much larger and much redder radish from off screen and handily wins the contest.

This is another with a non-orthodox animation style, portraying the characters as paper cutouts and colored with crayon. None of the mouths move and the entire toon is played as if it were filmed in front of a live audience, with laughs and cheers and boos added at appropriate (and sometimes inappropriate) points. The canned laughter actually adds to the humor of the toon, poking fun at sitcoms with canned laughter. This toon is also the introduction of Missy Palmer as the voice of Marzipan. Overall, I give the toon a B.


Okay guys, apparently no one has been reading this, but I'm gonna keep doing it, for my own fun! But if you are reading, please agree with me, or disagree! I don't care, tell me why I'm wrong!

HRRP: Part 5

Alright folks, this is gonna cover a lot of ground tonight. No time to chat, let's go!

She Loves Me!

This is the first Homestar Runner "game" although that word may be pushing it. In the game you learn that, first, Homestar is thinking about Marzipan. He decides to pick a flower and see if she loves him or not. You are then asked to pick the petals off the flower and see if she loves him or not. It will always end with her loving him not. BUT WAIT! A new petal grows right after the last one is picked! AW, she loves him!

Game isn't the best term for this because you can't really do anything to change the outcome, but it is pretty much the first time that The Brothers Chaps have made something that was purely meant to be interactive. Also, this is the first time that we get to hear the name of Marzipan (you'll remember she first appeared in Marshmallow's Last Stand). In the end, the game isn't that fancy but in terms of overall significance, it's strong. I give it a B.

Kick the Can

This is actually 15 different toons all put together on one page. You play each one by clicking on a reel that sits on the floor around a projection screen. The toons all start the same, There's a title card introducing The Homestar Runner (Old-timey version) in a "cartoon" for kids. It then shows The Homestar Runner kicking a can forward, stopping, and then some weird ending. A few examples of endings: his head pops off, he kicks the can into his torso, his head falls back down upside down into his torso and ends with a new face and the caption "gosh!" Another ending has him kicking the can into his mouth and him spitting fire afterwards. To see them all go watch them.

This cartoon does a few interesting things, it creates the first variation of a main character, Old-Timey The Homestar Runner. It also really plays on the bizarre, surreal humor that will become the driving force in the website. Honsetly, there were some moments when I chuckled a little at the endings. All that was done without voice acting, purely visual. I think that this cartoon deserves the grade of A.

Main Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6

I'm gonna get these main pages out of the way all at once. Basically every main page is the same. It has a series of buttons going down the left side labelled, in order, "'toons," "games," "characters," "downloads," "store," and "email." When you mouse over any of these buttons Homestar says the word on the button and an animation related to the main page's theme plays.

Main page 1's theme is Homestar on the moon, it shows things such as a nuclear explosion on earth, an astronaut waving from his rocket, and constellations of Strong Bad and Marzipan.

Main page 2's theme is Homestar in the Alps, It features Homestar in lederhosen and has animations such as a man playing an Alphorn saying "Riiicolaaaa," an Eagle pulling a fish from a river, and a quick Christmas tree decoration.

Main page 3's theme is Homestar on the beach. Animations included are a steam boat going by, a monkey throwing coconuts, and the first appearance of the "Wear a bikini!" banner, pulled by an airplane.

Main page 4's theme is Homestar in a bowling alley. There's a bowler getting a strike, a bowler getting a split and then picking up the spare, and a bowling ball falling from the sky and making a hole in the lane.

Main page 5's theme is Homestar working in a diner. It features a hamburger flipping, Homestar's hat getting flipped around, and a diner working speaking illegibly while a plate of food is held up (Upon consulting the Hrwiki I have learned that the worker says "Quarter-cheese-plate-scattered-smothered-covered.").

Finally Main page 6's theme is Homestar in heaven. It features a harp, fighter jets, and Strong Bad walking on clouds and falling through them yelling "Holy Craaaaaap!"

The thing about the main pages is that they can be mildly humorous, but they aren't generally meant to be the main attraction. However, I did learn that if you time it right, on main page six you can make it look as if the devil is taking Strong Bad out of heaven. Anyway on that note, I give each page, respectively, grades of: C, C+, B, B, B-, B+.

That's all I'm going to do tonight, but tune back in tomorrow!

HRRP: Part 4

Hey everyone! Tonight we're doing another multiple content night! Let's begin!

Old Intro

This one's pretty simple. It starts with an image of Homestar, the first two sentences from the original book, ("Everyone loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete.") appear on either side of him. There are fireworks, arrow, a zoom in on Homestar's eye and then an image of him looking out from a star with the H*R logo and Enter written underneath. You can click on the Logo and Homestar will say "Hello!"

Pretty bland stuff on this one. Not particularly funny, except for the page title (That's Mike going 'Beeoo!') and maybe the way Homestar says "Hello." However, we're early on and this is the very first intro page to the website. And good job to Mike for the Firework sounds. I give this a D+.

If I Ran the Camera

This one's . . . different. It doesn't actually have any Homestar Runner characters but it was a secret page on the site until 2003 when the Brothers Chaps removed it. Anyway, the toon is a flash slide show that tells the story of Astrid Renee, who is the niece of the Brothers Chaps, of what it would be like if she made movies. It's told in the style of Dr. Seuss books, mimicking his signature rhyming style, a few pieces of art, and made up place names. In the poem, Astrid hires her Grandpa Chapman to do basically everything in making the movie and remembers to thank him when she thanks the academy.

It definitely loses points for having no connection to Homestar, but it shows that the Brothers Chaps really started doing this kind of thing for fun. In a recent interview, Matt Chapman said that they just started using Flash to make stupid animations and they put them on the Internet for their friends and family to see. This is evidently one of those early pieces that they used to show their family. In any case, on pretty much the adorableness of it alone, I give it a B-.

The King of Town (Old Version)

This will be the last one tonight. I promise. Anyway, this one introduces us at first to, of all people, The King of Town!

The King of Town is apparently a good ruler who rules over Town very nicely. But alas! His sheep are missing and he fears a dragon has eaten them. He calls Homestar Runner and Pom Pom to help him find out where his sheep have gone. Homestar and Pom Pom question the King's servants: The Blacksmith, the Poopsmith, and the Chef. The Chef knows exactly what happened to the sheep!

Homestar and Pom Pom, using a magical chalkboard explain to the King that the sheep were not eaten by a dragon. This relieves the King, until he is told that the sheep were, in fact, eaten. The King is wondering who could have done such a thing and Homestar essentially tells the King that the sheep were inside him the whole time. . . literally. We all have a laugh!

This toon gives voice to The King of Town and establishes him as a glutton with a terrible memory of what exactly he's eaten. It also, oddly, makes Homestar quite intelligent, in terms of current Homestar. The joke is a little obvious but there are a few little funny moments, like the introduction and naming of the Poopsmith, and the magical chalkboard. All in all, a decent cartoon, but not the best. C.

Well, everyone, that's it for tonight, see you tomorrow!

HRRP: Part 3

So, here we are at part three of my new daily installment of my reviews and summations of as many Homestar Runner pieces of entertainment as possible. Today we're gonna make a big jump and review four cartoons, so let's get started with:

First Flash

So this cartoon, at 7 seconds long doesn't have much, just Pom Pom bouncing around. On the one hand, it has no story, no jokes, and doesn't introduce any characters, however, it is the beginning of The Brothers Chaps' foray into flash animation. For that point alone it avoids the F, but only barely. I give it a D.

NEXT!

Second Flash

This is the second flash cartoon the Brothers made and it's almost as bland as the first. It is simply Homestar, sans-hat, walking in a field in front of a teleset hiding behind a tree. Also at seven seconds long, it has no story, only movement. However, I found the TV behind the tree slightly humorous, so I give this a D+.

TO NUMBER THREE!

Pom Pom, Too

Now we're getting to the real stuff! So this cartoon starts with an image of a pill, although it apparently isn't a pill, it's the "Isle of Pom." This island is where the Poms live, one of which we have met before: Pom Pom.

We are informed that Pom Pom is the best Pom. And the cartoon then explains to us the reasons why he is the best. He loves his parents, he's patriotic, he feeds his dog every day, he treats his neighbors with respect and he doesn't play with matches. We then are informed that "we all love Pom-Pom, too."

This cartoon has a few more things going for it. First we get a little background on one of the characters, Pom Pom. We also get to hear the voice of a Pom Pom, which is little more than bubbling. The artwork isn't the best, in my opinion, but this is early, so I don't place too much emphasis on that. Anyway, considering this is the first story, I would like to call this the first cartoon. I would also like to give it a C.

AND THE FINAL ONE!!

Marshmallow's Last Stand

This one is the first full length cartoon and the first to use voice acting. We start with a disclaimer about the fact that the cartoon was taken off the site because the characters have changed so much since it was made.

The cartoon starts in a marshmallow shop called Marshmallow's Last Stand. Homestar and Pom Pom are seated and enjoying a couple of giant marshmallows. Homestar uses clever trickery to steal Pom Pom's marshmallow. Suddenly, to the sound of squeedly guitars, appears our protagonists, The Brothers Strong, Strong Mad and Strong Bad. Strong Bad says that they are the greatest tag team wrestlers in the world and Homestar is. . .unimpressed. Strong Bad challenges Homestar and Pom Pom to a tag-team match and Homestar says no. Finally an exasperated Strong Bad steals the star of of Homestar's shirt (presumably re-naming him Home). This gets under Home's skin and he and Pom Pom agree to the wrestling match.

At the arena we are treated to the obligatory introduction of the wrestlers. The match begins and Home and Strong Bad fight. Home kick Strong Bad down a few times after which Strong Bad tags in his enormous brother. Strong Mad simply grabs Home by the legs and knocks him around a bit, finally throwing him out of the ring. Pom Pom, in an effort to protect his friend, hops into the ring and right onto Strong Mad's fist. Strong Mad, wearing Pom Pom like a boxing glove, beats him on the ring a few times until Pom Pom falls down. Strong Mad then attempts to jump off the ropes onto Pom Pom but is bounced into space by Pom Pom's bounciness.

We come back to Home and Strong Bad in the ring. Home eventually knock Strong Bad out of the ring and Strong Bad reaches under the ring, pulling out a bomb. He jumps back in an throws the bomb down Home's throat, and punches him in the gut a few times. Suddenly, Home mentions that he ate too many marshmallows and turns an ugly green color. He pukes all over Strong Bad's face and the bomb comes back up, sticking to the side of Strong Bad's face. Strong Bad runs around the ring until his head explodes.

Home and Pom Pom are declared the winners and Home asks for his star back. Strong Bad rage-rips up the star. Home is pissed now! He does a flying kick to Strong Bad's exploded face and takes one of the stars flying above Strong Bad's head. THE END!

So this toon, although being a shadow of what is to come, brings a lot of good things together. First, as I stated before, this is the first cartoon to use voice acting, giving voices to two more characters, Homestar and Strong Bad. We also get to see the first appearance of a few more characters, namely, the King of Town, The Poopsmith, and Marzipan. This means that, of the twelve main characters, we have now seen at least an image of all but Homsar. Finally we can kind of see the beginning of the Easter egg trend, not that there's anything to click on, but if you pay enough attention you can see some goofy jokes, like the picture in the marshmallow stand, or the sign that The Poopsmith holds up. This cartoon is where we really start to see what the Brothers Chaps are capable of and what they are going to do. Although the characters and as fleshed out as they will be, in terms of a pilot episode, this is good. I give it a B+

So that's it for tonight, it's been a long one! Hopefully you'll be back tomorrow for part 4!

Homestar Runner Review Project: Day 2

So, last night, I started my Homestar Runner Review Project, which shall henceforth be called the HRRP. Anyway, in case you missed it, I reviewed the very first appearance of Homestar Runner in his original children's book. Tonight I bring you the second appearance and the first video, simply titled,

Super NES

The cartoon starts with a message that the following cartoon is "The first Homestar cartoon ever made." We are then treated to a series of images of Homestar doing various things such as playing baseball, moving around a wrestling ring with Strong Bad, and playing some type of sports game with Pom Pom. Over all of this is a song that will eventually become the music for the theme song video.

There really isn't much to say about this toon, it's short (less than a minute and a half), and doesn't have any storyline. It was apparently made by making a bunch of different animations on the Mario Paint game for the SNES. Fun fact though, it was made by The Brothers Chaps as a Christmas Present for their brother, Donnie.

This cartoon kind of introduces a few more characters, this is the first appearance of the entire Strong Family - Strong Bad, Strong Mad, and Strong Sad - although the latter two only exist for a few seconds. The cartoon shows the beginnings of the Brothers Chaps' animating skills, which would eventually be honed into the fluid, dynamic, flash cartoons that make up most of Homestarrunner.com. However, the cartoon wasn't very funny and had no storyline, for that I give it a D.

Y'know what, it's still early, maybe I should do another toon tonight? What do you guys think? Yes! Okay! Here we go, next on the list is:

Where My Hat Is At?

Here we have another book, so I'm sure we can expect a story out of this one.

This book starts similarly to the last one, with the same declaration of Homestar's adoring fan base and his athletic prowess, but things take a different turn as we continue. We learn that Homestar has lost his hat! And on the day of the Big Game, no less! What!? And this game has a strict uniform rule stating that a player must wear a hat? Whatever will the Homestar Runner do!?

Interspersed with a de-hatted Homestar asking the grammatically incorrect question, "Where my hat is at?" We learn that the hat is not under the couch, on the teleset, in the pool, cooking on the grill, in the postbox, or under the auto. After having exhausted every option he can think of Homestar starts asking his friends. But sadly, Pom-Pom, Coach Zee, and Bubs have no idea where this hat is. The Umpire informs Homestar (probably unnecessarily) that without his hat he can't play in the Big Game.

Homestar, depressed, resigns himself to the fact that he won't be able to show his athletic skills to all at the Big Game and goes home. Once home he decides he could go for "a few cold ones" and opens the refrige- I mean, icebox. As he opens the icebox, he feels that there is something strange. . . then he notices it! Right between the milk and the cold ones is that familiar blue hat! "There my hat is at!!" He exclaims!

Homestar grabs a few cold ones, dons his newly found hat, and runs to the Big Game. Luckily he appears to have arrived just in time to score the winning run! Hooray for Homestar! Coach Zee asks where the hat was and Homestar replies that it was between the milk and the cold ones. The End.

This heartwarming story of a lost hat being found does more than just make us remember to always check the fridge when we have lost something, it also introduced a few more characters: the minor character, The Umpire, and the two Main Characters, Coach Z(ee) and Bubs. Also, we see more of the type of humor that will be commonplace in the future. Grammatically incorrect phrases, alternate terms for things with simple names, and more of Homestar's naivety. This is a bit funnier than the stuff that we've seen so far, and I feel it has a little more significance to the future direction of the series. I give this book an A.

Alright, so that's two in one night! At this rate, I probably won't ever get through everything. Oh well, it's still fun right?

Anyway, if you agree with these grades, great! If you don't, tell me why! Thanks everybody!

The Glorious Return. . .

"Everybody loves the Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete."

These two simple sentences back in 1996 started a beautiful and weird series of the life and times of Homestar Runner and the other Residents of Free Country, U.S.A. Written by Mike Chapman and a friend named Craig Zobel, this book introduced us to the Homestar Runner universe. Some of the characters in this original book became fixtures in the H*R universe - Homestar, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, and The Cheat - While others would end up being generally forgotten. But, like watching the pilot episode of your favorite TV show after 4 seasons on air, you can still see where things started and look at how far you've come.

In honor of the fact that Brothers Mike and Matt Chapman have once again started updating homestarrunner.com, I've decided that, as long as I can remember to do it, I am going to go through as much of the body of work as I can. Not a small feat, considering the site updated nearly weekly for about nine years. However, I will do what I can to offer my own insights and thoughts about each item.

I plan on doing this in order, so that those who desire to read about this can perhaps follow along with me as we get to see the birth of such iconic characters as Trogdor, Stinkoman, Stiny, Teen Girl Squad, Limozeen, and so much more. We can observe the changes in the characters as Strong Bad moves from main antagonist to main feature. We can find the inside jokes and laugh at the self-referencing humor. And hopefully, we can just enjoy this strange world.

As I go through this, I plan on giving each piece a grade, between A and F. Admittedly, these grades are subjective and you may agree or disagree. I do plan on giving my reasons for each grade.

I may also provide little bits of information that I can gather from other sources. My source will primarily be one of the best wiki's I've ever seen, hrwiki.org. HRWiki has been an invaluable source in helping me to really appreciate Homestar Runner since I found it years ago, and I highly suggest that all of you check it out.

So, without further ado, here is my review of the Original Book:

The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest

This is it, the beginning. Fittingly we are first shown the titular character, (The) Homestar Runner. To clarify, this is the being we usually refer to without the integral article "The" not the 1939 version which won't show up for a while. Or maybe it is the old version colorarizized? An odd thought, hm. . .

Anyway, we learn everything we need to know at this point about Homestar, namely a) everybody loves him, and b) he is a terrific athlete. Now, being a terrific athlete, his friend, Pom-Pom entices him to join a contest, surprisingly titled "The Strongest Man in the World Contest." Homestar agrees and the two train for days.

As the two are heading for the competition, they are stopped by another competitor, the villain of the story, Strong Bad, who informs them that they are not strong and that he is the "very strongest." This is truly the greatest trash talk in the history of the universe.

We are then introduced to the other contestants, three of which we won't see for quite some time and the three more that will become very active characters. All of the competitors are informed of the rules of the contest (which seems like something that should have been covered long before the contest, but whatever). Basically the contest involves holding up a pile of giant grapes as long as possible while more giant grapes are added to the pile by the Grape Fairie, a fairie that is inexplicably riding atop a giant bee.

All six athletes are bestowed twenty grapes to start, this proves to be too much for Mr. Bland and he is crushed by his grapes. Another grape is added to each pile and minor character number two, with a "SPLURT!" sound gets squished like a pancake. Señor is definitely not the strongest man in the world. And then, surprisingly, last year's winner, The Robot, shuts down and drops his grapes. We see a small yellow animal running away from the outlet the Robot was plugged into. Homestar is suspicious.

Another grape is added and Homestar notices Strong Bad getting some help from that little yellow thing. He declares his intentions to drop his grapes and uncover the cheat. He succeeds by pulling The Cheat out from under Strong Bad's grape pile and kicking him far away. Strong Bad is squished under his pile of grapes.

So who's left? Pom-Pom, obviously. He is the only character that is still holding up his grapes, and is therefore the winner! The final panel, however states that Pom-Pom shares his trophy with Homestar because "he could not have done it without The Homestar Runner's help."

Now, the review. To be fair, it wasn't very funny. It was surreal, for sure, but it didn't have many jokes. However, it did do a good job of giving us the names of the characters and some basic traits of theirs. For example, the fact that Homestar accidentally forfeits the contest to stop Strong Bad's cheating shows his impulsive nature and his inability to think very far ahead. We also see the beginning of Strong Bad and the Cheat's relationship, namely that of villain and lackey. Finally we see Pom-Pom, his ability to really not care about what everyone else is doing and getting the job done anyway. Due to the fact that this book is the beginning of the Homestar Runner body of work, I will grade leniently. I give it a B+.

So, feel free to read the original book, and tell me if you agree or not. And just so you know, this is only for fun, so no need to get into any fights with me about what I think.

Also, do you feel like I should make this feature part of this blog or should I create another blog specifically for my Homestar Runner Grading Project? Let me know!