rock opera

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Revision as of 01:26, 28 February 2005

SBEMAIL: The Musical

Strong Bad Email #125

Strong Bad sings his rock opera 'SBEMAIL!'.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Little Strong Bad, Anonymous, Tompkins, Strong Sad, The Cheat, Coach Z, Homestar Runner, Marzipan, Grape Nuts Robot, Vector Strong Bad, Baby Styles, The Poopsmith, Bubs, Strong Mad, Homsar, King of Town, Pom Pom, Dangeresque (easter egg)

Date: February 22, 2005

Transcript

STRONG BAD: Checkin' email and take it to the flipside! !edispilf eht ot ti ekat dna liame 'nikcehC

subject: rock opera

Strong Bad,
I think it's high time you composed a rock opera. You
simply owe it to society. What should it be about?
That's up to you.
Best Wishes,
Anonymous Contributor
Gambier, OH

{Strong Bad pronounces "Contributor" as "ContribuTOR" and "OH" as "hhhough"}

STRONG BAD: Ugh, poor guy. {typing} Hey! Mr. and Mrs. Contributor, way to name your kid! I can only imagine the taunts and jabs the kids on the playground musta come up with.

{A piece of notebook paper appears onscreen with Teen Girl Squad-esque drawings on it. On it are drawings of a swingset, Strong Bad, and Anonymous, who looks suspiciously like Strong Sad with a question mark for a face. Anonymous is kicking a soccerball}

NOTEBOOK STRONG BAD: Hey Anonymous! Why don't ya, um, write a poem or something and not attribute it to yourself!

STRONG BAD: Or like...

{The paper switches out. This one features Anonymous with his hands glued to his butt, Strong Bad, and Tompkins}

NOTEBOOK STRONG BAD: Yo Anonny! Maybe try calling the cops and giving them some valuable information to help solve a crime without revealing your own identityyyy!

{The paper disappears offscreen}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Oh. Kids can be so cruel. {clears screen, resumes typing} OK, back on task. To tell you the truth, you guys have already heard mosta my rock opera. I've been composing it over the last three and a half years. It's simply entitled "SBEMAIL!" {A poster for SBEMAIL! appears onscreen} And the lyrics consist of one word from each of my 125 emails! {The poster disappears} Now, it may not make a whole lotta sense but when have I ever backed down from a bad idea, right? Now let's get this train-wreck a-rollin'!

{Cut to some curtains, which open, beginning the opera}

STRONG BAD:
Join me on my single—

STRONG SAD:
hundred—

STRONG BAD:
toilet dreams picture.
Everybody wanna scam some sweet bucks or potential—

LITTLE STRONG BAD:
pizza.

STRONG BAD:
Oh! Oh! Ummm. Nevermind.
Ummm... double—

COACH Z:
pants.

STRONG BAD:
Awesome, awesome fancy danish.
Professional funky totally diggity-underdrawers.
Oh tonight,—

HOMESTAR RUNNER:
cool,—

MARZIPAN:
healthy,—

STRONG BAD:
ones, eh?
Whatever action baby actually went jibblie.
Oooh! Oh. Party like completely great, good.
Down town ladies get consummate—

MARZIPAN:
yeah.

STRONG BAD:
Awkward sweet peaches crackin' action!
Wha-Ho! Problematic.
Solid jumble!

GRAPE NUTS ROBOT:
Crazy—

STRONG BAD:
beans double the real gold!
Computer—

STRONG SAD:
internet—

STRONG BAD:
bulging—

HOMESTAR RUNNER:
out.

STRONG BAD:
Yeah, oh!
Dynomite afterparty!
Like, fangoriously world-class and—

POWERED-BY-THE-CHEAT STRONG BAD:
grand.

STRONG BAD:
Ooooh! Oh!

STRONG SAD:
Ewww!

STRONG BAD:
Oh-ho-ho-ho! Definitely, definitely—

VECTOR STRONG BAD:
baby.

HOMESTAR RUNNER:
Yup,—

STRONG BAD:
I totally—

HOMESTAR RUNNER:
always—

STRONG BAD:
look awesome singing backwards metal.
Experience dance tonight! Unh!
Oooh! I'm pleasant.
Positate without pizzaz and—

STINKOMAN:
jam!!

STRONG BAD:
Whoa!
Tonight equals dancing,

CANNED AUDIENCE:
yeah!

STRONG BAD:
Famous—

FEMALE LAPPY:
ladies—

STRONG BAD:
always like—

ALL:
SBEMAIL!

{The screen fades to black and the SBEMAIL! poster slides down from the top of the screen. Cut to the Lappy. Strong Bad is clapping and making crowd noises with his mouth while roses are being thrown on him from off camera}

STRONG BAD: Bravo! Encore! Encore! �ndale! �ndale! Arriba! Arriba! {typing} Thank you! Thank you! The rave reviews are already pouring in! It's only a matter of time before the chicks {due to the keyboard getting covered in roses, this is typed as "It's only a msyyer pd tun/ blegfr teh chekts"} -uh.

{The camera pulls out, and we see The Cheat on the computer desk holding a rose}

STRONG BAD: The Cheat... ixnay on the cut-it-out-throwing-roses-at-me! ...may.

THE CHEAT: Meh!

{The Cheat throws his rose at Strong Bad's face and it sticks there}

STRONG BAD: Augh! {clutches his face, starts flailing his limbs wildly} Rose face! ROSE FACE!!! {falls off his stool}

{Cut back to the Lappy, where the Paper comes down}

Easter Eggs

• Click rave reviews to see some reviews of Sbemail:
  • "SBEMAIL! Is a Triumph of Some Sort!!!"
    "It will leave you you wanting MORE, MORE, MORE!"
    -(Perhaps)The Deke
  • "A million stars!!!"
    -Age 7
  • "SBEMAIL! is better than a goat!!"
    - The biscuitdoughhandsman Review

• Click Pouring in to see a poster for SBEMAIL!

"an off¹³ broadway rock opera from the man who brought you 'dangeresque: put em on ice!'"

• While on the poster, click 'Dangereresque: put em on ice' to see a clip of Dangeresque: Put 'Em On Ice!

{Cut to somewhere in The Field in winter, with a small ice pond in the foreground. Strong Bad (as Dangeresque) skates in from the right, wearing sunglasses}

DANGERESQUE: So I'm gonna have to jum-

{Dangeresque falls through the ice.}

THE CHEAT: {offscreen} Meh! {throws a rose onto the ice}

• Click the invisible Encore on the bottom-right of the Lappy screen to see the rock opera again.

Fun Facts

Trivia

• This is the first time where we see Strong Bad's whole body walking by a straight-on view.
• This is the first email where all twelve main characters appear in person. (The Poopsmith and Pom-Pom were only on playing cards in your friends and different town, respectively.)
• Second time Strong Bad talked about both the sender's parents. This was last done in animal about Spud Jr.

Remarks

• The email rap and the flipside version are clips of Strong Bad saying the same thing, but they are different versions of it. If you reverse the clip, the most obvious difference is that the flipside version doesn't have a pause after the word "email."
• The Poopsmith, Bubs and Pom Pom all remain motionless when the cast yells "SBEMAIL!", though it may be that the Poopsmith is silent on purpose, courtesy of his vow of silence.

Goofs

• You can still click the contrast buttons on the Tandy while the opera is playing, although it doesn't actually affect the contrast of the screen.
• When roses are being thrown with the Lappy in the background, you can't see the reflection of the roses on the Lappy screen.
• When the cast yells "SBEMAIL!" Strong Mad's mouth appears on Homsar's torso for a few seconds.
• Though not noticeable without zooming in, once everyone has finished yelling "SBEMAIL!", Homsar's lip comes between Homestar's torso and his head; more specifically, in front of the head, and behind the torso.

Inside References

• The shoes that walk across the screen are the back button of the old main page.
  • The shoes were also used as a back button in the first Homestar Runner game where you had to play the "She loves me/not" game. It also introduced Marzipan.
• On the second making-fun-of-Anonymous piece-of-paper, Anonymous has his hands glued to his butt, which also happened to Strong Sad in the e-mail 1 step ahead.
  • Also, the drawing of Anonymous has two toenails, much like Strong Sad.
• Also on the second piece-of-paper, Strong Bad's legs are positioned like those of Wrestleman from the Weekly Sketchbook.
• The Teen Girl Squad character Tompkins can be found on the second making-fun-of-Anonymous piece-of-paper, in his miniaturized form from Teen Girl Squad Issue 7.
• When Strong Bad's typing starts going awry as The Cheat is throwing roses at him, he types "the chicks" as "teh chekts", a reference to the immediately preceding Strong Bad E-mail secret recipes.
  • "Teh" is also a leetspeak word for "The".
• When Strong Bad appears to have two electric guitars sticking out of his head, it's a reference to the cover art for the CD Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits.
• Strong Bad sitting in the chair swirling the wine in the cup is modeled after a similar scene from the Powered-by-the-Cheat music video Everybody to the Limit.
  • Strong Bad also swirls his wine in montage.
• The action figures of Strong Sad and Strong Bad are from the Strong Bad Email action figure.
• The pants Coach Z temporarily dons seem to be modeled after Rather Dashing's short pants.
• The background of the area with the pyramid of gold bars (pre-explosion) is taken directly from RhinoFeeder.
• The "Goodtime Palace" is modeled after similar scenes from animal and even features Baby Styles.
  • Also, the normal "black frame" around the screen changes to the Cheat's poorly drawn frame from his "Powered by the Cheat" Cartoons.
• The picture of the "Hardest Guitar Chord Ever" comes from privileges.
• The jogging pixellated Strong Bad is originally from montage.
• Club Technochocolate is originally from extra plug.
  • But just the word "technochocolate" comes from monument.
• The rock music which starts at Club Technochocolate is based on The Cheat Is Not Dead from caper.
• The stage the entire cast is grouped on at the end is the same stage from A Decemberween Pageant, among other holiday toons.
• The "biscuitdoughhandsman review" in the Easter Egg is yet another reference to everyone's favorite unapprehended villain, Biscuit Dough Hands Man.
• "The Deke" is originally from autobiography.
• Strong Bad's dance move with Baby Styles is a reference to virus when he compliments Bubs for being a computer genius man.
• Vector Strong Bad makes an appearance, this time with rock and roll hair and a headband.
• "Sbemail" is a reference to the filename of every Strong Bad e-mail. Strong Bad also refers to this in unused emails
• This isn't the first time Strong Bad has spoken backwards, he also does it on Strong Bad's Message Bored.
• None of the guitars have frets and there is no white guitar with strings.

Real-World References

• Strong Bad's "�ndale! �ndale! Arriba! Arriba!" at the end is quoting the famous Warner Bros. cartoon mouse Speedy Gonzales except backwards as Speedy usually says Arriba! Arriba! �ndale! �ndale!
• The electric guitars in the opera are (or are modeled after) Gibson Flying Vs.
• The amps are modeled after Marshall stacks, but instead of "Marshall," the logo reads "An Amp". These were also used in different town, but labeled "Marzipan".
• Sbemail, in containing multiple sections of different styles, is remiscent of such songs as The Who's "A Quick One, While He's Away" and (more famously) Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
• Strong Bad's rap at the beginning of the e-mail may be a reference to Missy Elliott's "Work It," where she says "I put my thang down flip it and reverse it! Ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gnaht ym tup I!"
• Strong Bad moving walking towards the camera while neon-signs fly by is also a commonly used movie-cliche when the main-character gets overwhelmed by the nightlife of the city.

See Also

• The context for all of the words from rock opera

External Links

• view "rock opera"
  
• view the flash file for "rock opera"
• forum re: "rock opera"