colonization
From Homestar Runner Wiki
Strong Bad Email #90
Strong Bad is asked if he celebrates Thanksgiving like everyone else, or if he celebrates some weird holiday. We are then shown a history book about the colonization of Strongbadia.
Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Strong Sad, The Cheat, Bubs, Homestar Runner (Easter egg)
Places: Computer Room, The Field, Strongbadia
Computer: Compy 386
Date: November 25, 2003
Running Time: 1:56
Contents |
Transcript
STRONG BAD: {singing} Email me don't email me, email me don't email me. {He pulls up the email and reads it aloud.}
Hi Strong Bad!
Do you celebrate thanksgiving
normally? Or do you have special
traditions for when Strong Badia was
first colonized? What's the story
about?
From your Buddy,
Shana Ma.
Los Angeles, CA
{He pronounces "Los Angeles" with a hard "g".}
{typing} Oh, Shanama, the story of the colonization of Strong Badia is a tale as old as, say, the wireless Web {pause} or energy drinks maybe. It began in a period of strife...
{Cut to a shot of an old book on a wooden table. It is open and pictures Strong Bad, in a pilgrim hat, squirting ketchup onto a plate of eggs, next to Strong Sad in a wig and typical 17th-century clothing.}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} ...when I was being persecuted for my beliefs.
STRONG SAD: {voiceover} Ewwww! Ketchup on eggs?!?
{A caption reading "Ewwww! Ketchup on Eggs?!?" appears beneath the picture. The page turns to show Strong Bad reading the newspaper and seeing an ad saying "LOT FOR SALE! along with a page saying "Homestar declares eggs not a fruit."}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} I learned of a place where a man can be free. Free to do what he wants to do. Free to ketchup his eggs without being hassled by the man.
{The page turns to show Strong Bad and The Cheat, also wearing a pilgrim hat, travelling across Free Country, USA, Strong Bad carrying a musket and eating a sandwich and The Cheat dragging a bag along behind him. A caption along the bottom reads "The Three Stout Sub Sandwiches: The Ham 'n' Swiss, The Dijon Chicken and the Veggie Delux."}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} So I set sail with three stout sub sandwiches, and my best The Cheat to find this mystical land.
{The page turns to show the two of them meeting Bubs, who is waving at them, wearing a Sioux-style feather headband and wearing a loincloth.}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} I met a strange man who had strange ways and strange odors.
{The page turns to show Strong Badia in front of a glorious sunrise, above a caption reading "The Neu Wirlde."}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} And he led me to the new world, out beyond the dumpsters.
{The page turns to show the Tire falling onto The Cheat, whose hat is sent flying from his head.}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} There was a brief struggle with the indigenous peoples.
{The page turns to show Strong Bad handing Bubs the rent check.}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} At last, we reached an agreement to peacefully co-exist in this land, after I gave him my first and last months' rent deposit.
{The page turns to show a ploughed field where Bubs is planting a fish. Strong Bad is looking at him, holding a fish and a corn cob in his hand.}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} Then the strange man probably showed me how to put fish in the ground with corn, for some reason.
BUBS: {voiceover} This'll grow ya some nice fishcorn bushes!
{A caption reading "This'll grow ya some nice fishcorn bushes" appears at the bottom of the page. The page turns to show Bubs, The Cheat and Strong Bad sitting at a picnic table in Strongbadia, feasting on fast food.}
STRONG BAD: {voiceover} Then we celebrated with a feast of some cold Hardee's he had laying around.
{Cut back to the Compy.}
STRONG BAD: {typing} So there you have it, Shana... Shanamana... {singing} Shanamanamanamanamana tonight! That shoulda been in your history books at school. I gotta get on those people over at Hoofton Mifflin. Those guys are slackin off. {stops typing} Okay, so until next week, leave me alone!
{The Paper comes down.}
Easter Eggs
- After the email is over, click the first part of the word Shanamanamanamanana and Strong Bad will "Shanama" into some songs.
- STRONG BAD: {singing} O Shanama... Do do doot doot doot doo... {stops singing} What else is there? Shana... Shanamatopoeia. Ooh, how 'bout this? {singing} Shanama! Shanama ho ho ho huh ho!
- Click on the the words "history books" to hear Homestar Runner address the imaginary masses.
- {Cut to a page in a history book with a drawing of Homestar is dressed in Colonial American attire (with powdered wig), with text below it reading "Homestar Runner addresses the imaginary masses." The imaginary masses cheer.}
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: A-hem. From this day forward, I hearby declare eggs...not to be...a fruit! {The imaginary masses cheer.} Yes, yes, quiet down. And furthermore, no longer shall dirty diapers be accepted as legal tender! {The imaginary masses cheer.} Hang on, I got one more. Henceforth, those named Henry will no longer be allowed to call themselves Hank. That's just too much of a stretch. {The imaginary masses cheer.}
Fun Facts
Remarks
- According to the later e-mail monument, the stop sign and cinder block make up a monument of Strong Bad's right foot. However, they are shown in this e-mail as being part of the area when Strong Bad bought it from Bubs.
- Apparently, Bubs had been living in Strong Badia since before Strong Bad (and The Cheat) ever arrived.
Inside References
- The crowd cheers in the second Easter egg are from A Decemberween Pageant. Also, in Marshmallow's Last Stand.
- The intentional spelling error of new in "The Neu Wirlde" may be a reference to "Neuconsin" in Mr. Shmallow. (Also see Real-World References.)
- Strong Bad moving around the screen jerkily may be a reference to Lookin at a Thing in a Bag, where Homestar does the same thing while ordering drinks.
Real-World References
- The entire story is based on the historical accounts of Roger Williams founding Providence, Rhode Island, after he was persecuted for his beliefs in the Massachusetts Colony.
- "Shanama, Shanama ho ho ho ho ho!" is sung to the tune of "Panama" by Van Halen; "Oh Shanama" is to the tune of "O Canada," the Canadian national anthem.
- Homestar declaring eggs not to be a fruit may be a reference to the famous 1893 Supreme Court decision (Nix v. Hedden) that tomatoes were not fruits.
- Neu (pronounced "noy") is the German word for new. (Also see Inside References.)
- Bubs planting fish-corn bushes is a reference to when the Native Americans showed the Pilgrims how to grow corn (they used fish heads as fertilizer).
- "Hoofton Mifflin" is a misspelling (and mispronunciation) of scholastic publisher Houghton Mifflin.
