Mellow Mushroom

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Current revision as of 23:53, 3 February 2025

Mel O. Mushroom, the Mellow Mushroom

The Brothers Chaps designed the website for Mellow Mushroom, a Georgia-based pizza chain, in the fall of 2001. The appearance, layout, and function of the Flash-based site were very similar to homestarrunner.com; additionally, sound effects and voices were notably similar to those used in Homestar Runner.

In November of 2007, the Mellow Mushroom site was rebuilt and no longer primarily featured the Brothers Chaps' work; their site design has occasionally been included as a bonus element of later revisions.

[edit] History

The owners of Mellow Mushroom had been impressed by homestarrunner.com, and hired the Brothers Chaps to make "the same type of site" for them. Collaboration was easy as both parties were located in Atlanta.^[1] Matt Chapman also did voice work for Mellow Mushroom radio commercials.^[2]

At the time, Homestar Runner had yet to become a priority (much less a full-time job) for the Brothers Chaps so this sort of freelance gig was taken to pay the bills. Their lower focus on Homestar Runner also meant that the brothers "didn't feel bad about ripping ourselves off and making the [Mellow Mushroom] site to be very similar". The menu had listed "Toons" in the plural as the initial plan was to continue producing site content for Mellow Mushroom, but soon after the site's completion the brothers began to focus more on Homestar Runner and no longer had time for such work; Mellow Mushroom did not find another Flash developer to continue creating toons for their website.^[3] By 2004, The Brothers Chaps were no longer taking on freelance work.^[4]

The Mellow Mushroom site was redesigned in 2007 and the former content was archived. In 2009, the site was renovated once again, and the archive of this site was removed. The archived versions reappeared in 2011, but a year later the archived version disappeared. The 2017 redesign of the site added a small button allowing visitors to "TIMEWARP" to the year 2001 and view the Brothers Chaps' version of the site.^[5] In November 2023, the site was again redesigned and currently no longer includes the TBC version.

[edit] Characters

• Mel O. Mushroom — Main character of Mellow Mushroom.
• Dude Shroomington — Mel O. Mushroom's friend. He seems to have a crush on Melody.
• Melody — Friendly employee of Mellow Mushroom.
• The Fun Guys: Port, Toe & Bello — Small mushroom-like men.
• Wizard — Helpful mountain wizard.

[edit] Pages

[edit] Main pages

Several distinct main pages existed. Much like the main pages on homestarrunner.com, they feature Mel prominently in the foreground and he reads off the menu options when they are moused over.

• Mel in his living room
• Mel outside his house, by the mailbox
• Mel cooking in a pizza kitchen
• Mel driving a convertible
• Mel in outer space, stepping along yin-yang platforms
• Mel floating down a river in an inner tube

Several sub-pages were linked from a banner across the bottom, in the manner of the left rail on Homestar Runner main pages. Additionally, a small variable button rotated through options similarly to the main page messages.

[edit] Linked from the banner across the bottom

Melody: A relative of Marzipan?

• Toons — Mellow Mushroom had only one cartoon, entitled "The Sun Almost Rises".
• Games — Mellow Mushroom had four games: Pizza Darts, Skateboarding Dude, Wack-a-FunGuy, and Dress up Mel.
• Characters — The character page was in the style of a fountain drink machine.
• Mel-Locator — Presented the locations of all the Mellow Mushroom restaurants. Replaced with New Site when the site was revived.
• Downloads — Like Homestar Runner, Mellow Mushroom had a few downloads available, such as wallpaper, screensavers, and character icons.
• Menu — The menu showed all the food available from Mellow Mushroom restaurants.
• Gear — Much like the Homestar Runner Store, there were several T-shirts and other such Mellow Mushroom memorabilia to purchase.

[edit] Linked from the variable button at the top

• Links — The links to the individual Mellow Mushroom store websites.
• E-cards — Some e-cards were available to send.

[edit] The Sun Almost Rises Transcript

{Open on a loading screen, a letter on a wood grain table reading "loading...". As it changes to "loaded.", another letter moves on top of it, reading "A Mellow Mushroom Cartoon", followed by "Starring Mel & Dude", then another with "The Sun Almost Rises" written on it. Music plays. Zoom in and fade out.}

{Cut to the inside of a mailbox. Mel opens it, revealing light, takes letters out, and closes it. Cut to Mel walking to his house in the rain, then cut to the interior as he walks in. The ceiling drips.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Sure is coming down hard out there.

{Cut to Dude.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Looks like it's going up to me.

{Cut back to Mel.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Dude, sit up straight-ways.

{Cut to a wide shot, revealing Dude sitting upside down.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Oh, sorry. {sits upright} Hey, you're right, it is coming down! So what came in the mail, anything good?

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Let's see.

{Cut to the letters in Mel's hands as he shuffles through them.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: A bill, a couple of crummy coupons, these can get thrown away. Oh, we got something from Melody up at the restaurant.

{Cut to a wide shot. Dude quickly stands up.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Melody? {cut to a close-up; his pupils turn into hearts} Is it for me?!

{Cut to the letter, showing a list of ingredients.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Uhh... yeah, it says, uh... "Dear Dude, you are the cutest talking mushroom that I ever saw."

{Cut back to Dude.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Really?!

{Cut back to the letter.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Nah, it really says "Dear Mel and Dude, here's a list of the ingredients I need by tomorrow:

{Cut to Dude opening a cupboard as onions topple out and fall on him.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: 16 red onions...

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Got enough onions.

{Cut to barrels of onions as the Fun Guys dive into them.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: 105 black olives...

PORT (THE FUN GUYS): {weird noises}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Got enough of that.

{Cut to a pile of green bell peppers, with a sign reading "A LOT OF PEPPERS". Some of the peppers fall, revealing Dude underneath.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: 8 bell peppers...

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Check.

{Cut to a barrel of garlic, reading "GARLIC". Dude rises up and looks over the garlic.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: 12 cloves of garlic...

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Got those.

{Cut to two baskets sitting next to each other: an empty basket of "sundried tomatoes", and a full basket of "undried tomatoes".}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: And 24 sun-dried tomatoes!

{Cut to Dude looking into the empty basket.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Uhh, we don't have the sun-dried tomatoes. We better start drying 'em now.

{Cut to Mel.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Are you kidding? It's pouring out there! What are we going to do?!

{Cut to the tomatoes.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: {voiceover} I got it.

{A flashlight shines over them. Cut to a wide shot, with Dude holding the flashlight.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Uhh, I don't think that'll cut it Dude, we better call Wizard.

{Cut to a phone. It rings twice, and is picked up by Wizard.}

WIZARD: Hello?

{A diagonal telephone cord separates the screen as Mel appears in the top-left corner.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Hey Wiz, Mel here.

WIZARD: Oh, hello, Mel. What can I do for you?

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Oh, uh, Dude and I have a bit of a problem; we need to sundry a bunch of tomatoes by tomorrow, but the rain is sorta getting in our way. Any ideas?

WIZARD: Hmmm... Have you tried a flashlight?

{Cut to Mel. His eyes widen.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: What?

WIZARD: {voiceover} Just kidding.

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Oh.

{Cut to a crystal ball, showing Dude with the flashlight.}

WIZARD: I saw Dude trying that in my crystal ball.

{Cut back to Wizard and Mel.}

WIZARD: Actually I think you will find the solution in a bed.

MEL O. MUSHROOM: {his eyes widen and he looks around} Say huh?

WIZARD: In a bed, the answer lies in a bed.

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Say huh wha?

WIZARD: Goodbye, Mel.

{They both put down the phones and walk away. Cut to Mel and Dude.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: What did he say?

MEL O. MUSHROOM: He says the answer lies in a bed.

{Cut to Dude.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Say huh?

{Cut to Mel.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: That's what I said! Well, let's start trying.

{Fade out, then fade in to Mel and Dude standing over a bed with tomatoes on it.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Hmmm... the answer lies in a bed. I don't know if this is gonna work.

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Maybe we should turn the lights off and sing 'em a song.

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Hey, wait. Maybe he was talking about a different kind of bed.

{Cut to a garage door opening, revealing Mel and Dude with a brown truck with darts inside.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Where's the bed?

MEL O. MUSHROOM: The truck, Dude, the bed of the truck.

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: I never slept there before.

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Well, do you see anything in there that can help us?

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Oh, there's my jarts! Want to play some jarts, Mel?!

{Cut to Mel.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Dude! Stay on task!!

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Oh, right, beds... let's see, what about a... bed of lettuce?

{Cut to a plate of lettuce.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Here goes! {drops a tomato on the plate; crickets chirp} Now hold on a sec. Sometimes these types of things take a while.

MEL O. MUSHROOM: {voiceover} You can wait there all you want, Dude. {cut to wide shot} It ain't gonna happen. We'll just have to tell Melody we'll get her the sun-dried tomatoes in a few days.

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Oh, all right. {tosses the tomato in the garbage can}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Don't throw them away!

{Cut to the inside of the garbage can.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Hey, that's it!

{Cut to the coupon, which reads "17¢ off at House of Rays Tanning Salon".}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: What?

{Music plays. Cut to the full basket of sundried tomatoes, then cut to a wide shot of Mel and Dude next to a tanning bed with tomatoes on it.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Melody will never know the difference.

{Fade out, then fade in to Mel, Dude, and Melody with ingredients in front of the restaurant.}

MELODY: Well guys, everything looks pretty good, although the sundried tomatoes are smellin' a little bit like Coppertone.

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Oh, uh... yeah, that's, uh... that's olive oil. You know... olive oil, {with air quotes} nature's Coppertone! {winks with a "ding"}

{Cut to Dude.}

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: That's right, Mel! Nature's Coppertone. {winks with a "ding"}

{Cut to Melody.}

MELODY: Why are you guys winkin' at each other?

{Cut to a wide shot.}

MEL O. MUSHROOM: Say huh?

DUDE SHROOMINGTON: Say huh wha?

{A laugh track is heard. A black screen lowers down, and "the end" appears in white.}

[edit] Fun Facts

[edit] Trivia

• The 2017 website refers to the TBC version as "our first site", dated January 2001.^[5] However, mellowmushroom.com has existed online since at least 1999, and the TBC version did not go online until the fall of 2001.
• Because there was only ever one toon created for the site, Matt Chapman would later remark that he had considered sending over an audio file of Mel saying "Toon" instead of "Toons" that could be used to correct the menu button.^[3]

[edit] Remarks

• On the menu, "Munchies" is the only thing that Melody doesn't say when you put your cursor over it.
• When a button on the menu is highlighted, oftentimes, a dog can be heard barking and sometimes whining faintly.
• On the original menu of the old website, located inside Mel's house, the voice sample when the "Links" option is highlighted has a much higher sound quality than the others.

[edit] Inside References

• "Melody-ade", mentioned on the Characters Page, sounds very much like Melonade.
• The characters the "Fun Guys" have a voice similar to that of The Cheat.

[edit] Real-World References

• "Mountain Dude", mentioned on the Characters Page, is a play on Mountain Dew.
• "Magical Mystery Tour" on the Pizza page is the title of an album, a film, and a song by The Beatles.
  • Another possible Beatles reference is on the Dress Up Mel page, where there are glasses and hair that resemble very closely the style of John Lennon.
• The toon title "The Sun Almost Rises" is a reference to The Sun Also Rises.
• The cartoon includes a reference to Jarts, a brand of lawn darts later banned for their potential for injury.
• Coppertone is a sunscreen brand.

[edit] Fast Forward

• On a later version of the old website, Mel's character page instead links to a sign-up form for an email newsletter.

[edit] References

1. ^ Run Devil Run Interview
2. ^ retroCRUSH Interview
3. ^ Late Nite JengaJam Interview - 4 Oct 2007
4. ^ Email FAQ
5. ^ Select the "Do not push!" button on the mellowmushroom.com main page (archive link)

[edit] See Also

• The Brothers Chaps' Other Projects
• The Pizz

[edit] External Links

• Mellow Mushroom main page 1, designed by the Brothers Chaps (archive)
  • Mellow Mushroom intro video, by the Brothers Chaps (archive link)
• Mellow Mushroom current website