That a Ghost

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 02:58, 21 January 2020

"I'll be marching around in gold pants in no time!"

The Old-Timey characters seek a reward for the capture of a ghost.

Cast (in order of appearance): Old-Timey Marzipan, The Homestar Runner, Fat Dudley, Old-Timey Strong Bad, The Sneak, Strong Man, The Guys, Old-Timey Bubs, Sickly Sam, Old-Timey Ghost

Places: The Field (Old-Timey), The Old Pietimer Place, Punkin Patch, Cholera Acres Cemetary, Clothing Store (Easter egg)

Page Title: Bury me deep I'm cold and clammy!

Date: Monday, October 18, 2004

Running Time: 3:44

DVD: Everything Else, Volume 2

Transcript

{The following titles appear:}

{Open to Old-Timey Marzipan with a plate of bones on the table}

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: We haven't eaten in weeks.

{The camera zooms out to reveal The Homestar Runner and Fat Dudley standing behind Old-Timey Marzipan.}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Guess what I read in the news-papper today.

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: I can't guess.

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: I read that a ghost.

{Cut to a closeup of Old-Timey Marzipan. The screen flickers for a brief moment.}

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: You read that a ghost what?

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: {cut to closeup} I read that a ghost is.

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: {cut to wide shot} You read that a ghost is what?

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: I read that a ghost is here in town and there's a 27 cent ree-ward for its capture.

FAT DUDLEY: {musical noises}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: You said it, Fat Duds. We sure could buy a lot of corn pone with 27 big ones.

{Cut to Old-Timey Strong Bad's Telescope. Fat Dudley and the Homestar Runner can be seen in the telescope's reflection. The camera pans along the telescope to reveal that nobody is watching it on the other end. Cut to Old-Timey Strong Bad, standing nearby reading a newspaper, with the Strong Man and the Sneak silhouetted in the background.}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Says here in the news-papper that the encapturement of the new apparition garners top reward of 26 and one pennies.

{Cut to Old-Timey Strong Bad, Strong Man, and The Sneak}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: We could buy the monocle off Rockefeller's very eyeball with that kind of cash!

STRONG MAN: Raaar!

{The Sneak wiggles his nose}

{Danger music. Cut to The Homestar Runner, Old-Timey Marzipan and Fat Dudley in front of a gate signed 'Pietimer'. A spooky house can be seen in the background.}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Let's check out the old Pietimer place.

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: We should split up.

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: We can do more damage that way.

{They walk in. Cut to a closeup of Old-Timey Marzipan with a teacup on a table.}

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: {lifts the teacup} Under here?

{Cut to The Homestar Runner, who is looking at a bookshelf full of books with ghost-related titles, and one book titled 'A Goodtime Story'.}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hrmm. Let's see. Maybe it's in here.

{He removes 'A Goodtime Story'. He opens the book with a POOF!, and a moth flies out.}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Just a moth. {He tries to eat the moth, but it flies away.} Dernit!

{Cut to Old-Timey Marzipan looking under a plate.}

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: Under here? {Spiders run out.}

{Cut to The Homestar Runner walking past a set of portraits. The portrait on the left, marked "Mr. Pietimer", appears to be watching him. The picture on the right is labeled "Cory".}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: That picturemadrawin' looks sur-spicious. {He lifts it off the wall, revealing two one-eyed crows with a label reading "The Guys".} It's just two weird one-eyed crows. Aw, phooey!

{Cut to Fat Dudley amidst some barrels, holding a cigar and raising a jug marked 'XXX'. The Homestar Runner pops out of a barrel.}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Fat Dudley, were you gonna sneak a nip of hooch?

FAT DUDLEY: {musical noises}

{Cut to outside the house. The Homestar Runner, Old-Timey Marzipan and Fat Dudley are standing inside the gate.}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Aw, there's no ghosts here. Just a bunch of gross aminals. Let's go look somewheres else.

{Cut to Cholera Acres Cemetary, then to Old-Timey Strong Bad and The Sneak in front of a grave. The gravestone reads "Eustice Pietimer (skinflint and junk codger)".}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Listen smoothly, The Sneak. {The Sneak stands up on his hind legs.} We're certain to catch a ghost once we exhume this grave using my new grave-exhuming invention!

{Cut to Strong Man holding a shovel.}

STRONG MAN: Raaar!

{Cut back to Old-Timey Strong Bad and The Sneak. The Sneak moves his nose.}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: What what? Why, no! Of course that's not just the Strong Man holding a shovel. It's my newest invention! Besides, the Strong Man's over there doing some manner of stylish jig.

{Cut to Strong Man, who is now tapping his foot on another grave in time to The Homestar Runner's dance music. The tombstone reads "Unmarked Grave (Son of Mark Grave)". Old-Timey Bubs's head comes up out of the grave.}

OLD-TIMEY BUBS: Would you please keep it down?

{Cut to The Homestar Runner, Old-Timey Marzipan and Fat Dudley in the Punkin Patch.}

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: The Homestar Runner, I'm {slowly and in an exaggerated manner} suh-suh-suh-suh-scared!

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Scared of what? Punkins? They're just punkins.

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: {in the same slow and exaggerated manner} But I'm suh-suh-suh-suh-SUH-scared!

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, fine. We'll go look in the graveyard.

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: {smiles} Hooray!

{Cut back to Cholera Acres Cemetary. The Homestar Runner, Old-Timey Marzipan and Fat Dudley enter and meet Old-Timey Strong Bad, Strong Man and The Sneak, who have dug up the grave of Eustice Pietimer.}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: You're too late! The reward will be ours! I'll be marching around in gold pants in no time!

OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: Where's the ghost?

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Behold! The fantoustic phantasm.

{Sickly Sam rises out of the grave and floats above it.}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: That's no ghost. That's just our worst friend Sickly Sam.

SICKLY SAM: I bury myself alive on Tuesdays.

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Criminy crickets! Foiled again!

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Then where's the real ghost?

{A black-cloaked ghost with spindly arms fades in, floating above the tombstones and making a motorcycle-like noise.}

THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: {eyes bulging} Wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a. {Rather than screaming, he merely "says" his scream. His skin falls off, leaving his skeleton.}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Wa-a-a-a-a-a! {Also "saying" his scream. His skin also falls off, leaving his skeleton.}

{Cut back to the ghost, which fades away, then to The Homestar Runner and Old-Timey Marzipan (who has also turned into a skeleton.}

SKELETAL OLD-TIMEY MARZIPAN: At least we'll never go hungry again.

SKELETAL THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: 'Cept for Fat Dudley. {Cut to skeletal Fat Dudley, who is 'eating' a shoe with a soup spoon, with a jug labeled 'XXX' nearby.} He's livin' the high life.

SKELETAL FAT DUDLEY: {makes musical noises}

{Transition accompanied with closing music, to:}

Easter Eggs

• At the end, click on the "D" in "THE END" to see Old-Timey Strong Bad shopping for gold pants.

{Show Old-Timey Strong Bad's skeleton in the "Men's Slacks" section of a clothing store. He is trying to pull up a pair of pants, but they repeatedly fall down. Strong Man's skeleton is in the background.}

SKELETAL OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Curses! Now I'll never find gold pants to fit this tiny waist!

Fun Facts

Explanations

• A skinflint is a person who would save, gain, or extort money by any means.
• A codger is a mildly eccentric and usually elderly fellow.
• Corn pone is a bread-like dish made from corn meal that is traditionally fried in butter, lard or bacon grease. It's a popular food in the southern United States, and is also known as cornbread.
• Cholera is a disease that caused multiple fatalities around the time this cartoon is said to take place. This was largely due to the fact that no one had developed a cure yet.

Trivia

• This is the first cartoon featuring the "Old-Timey" characters in the far-flung year of 1937.
• This is Sickly Sam's first appearance where he does not disappear.
• 27 cents in 1937 are worth roughly $3.50 in 2004, when the toon came out.
• The books on the bookshelf are titled:
  • Dead Things Book One
  • Ghostly Measures
  • Creepy Stories for Toddlers
  • The Haunted Jacuzzi
  • 27 Cent Ghosties
  • The Ghost In My Pocket
  • Creepiness, Oh My!
  • There Is A Ghost In This Book
  • A Goodtime Story (The Homestar Runner chooses this book)
  • Banshees, Indeed!
  • Ghastly Monsters
  • Zombies Are Cool
• The YouTube description for this toon is "Everyone's trying to capture the ghost."
• On YouTube, the title of this toon is "That-a-Ghost".

Skeletons

The skeletons of most of the characters were seen when the ghost literally scared them out of their skins. (The Sneak's skeleton is not seen in the toon.) See also: Old-Timey Other Costumes.

The Homestar Runner

• His foot bones are the same shape as his shoes.

Old-Timey Marzipan

• Her ponytails have bones in them.
• Marzipan's skeleton also reveals that her "skirt" has its own skeletal structure. This is in agreement with The House That Gave Sucky Treats, where contemporary Marzipan wore jeans with a hole near the hem, and skin was visible underneath.

Fat Dudley

• He has hands, but no arms.
• Fat Dudley's skeleton also shows that he is not fat, but rather big-boned.

Old-Timey Strong Bad

• His mustache has bones in it.
• Strong Bad's skeleton also shows that his shoes have bones, or at the very least that his feet are shoe-shaped.
• His hands look like his "gentleman's sports gloves", which proves that he doesn't just wear them; those are really what his hands look like. The same would then apply to modern-day Strong Bad's boxing gloves, and maybe even his mask, which is consistent with his response in the email some kinda robot.
• He has no visible mouth; it may be behind his mustache, which moves when he talks.
• There is a crack in his skull showing exposed brain.

Strong Man

• His shoulders are part of his skull.
• His lower jaw is much narrower than the rest of his skull, and his jaw is noticeably off center.
• His pelvis is as wide as his skull.
• His humerus is swapped in position with his radius and ulna.

Remarks

• The stylish jig is the first time the Strong Man has moved his legs. In previous appearances he moved by bouncing from one foot to the other.
• Based on the tombstones in Cholera Acres Cemetary, Sir Rondello Shmallow could be Mr. Shmallow's full name.
• The theme for Old-Timey Strong Bad is different from that of his previous appearances.
• The Homestar Runner's voice isn't as scratchy and Fat Dudley's voice is deeper than in Parsnips-A-Plenty.
• Fat Dudley has no arm bones, yet he was able to reach his plate with the spoon.
• Assuming that this toon takes place in October 31, 1937, John D. Rockefeller would already have been dead for 5 months.
• Although Sickly Sam comes out of a grave, the tombstone reads "Eustice Pietimer", meaning he was in the grave with a corpse or previously took the corpse out.
• Assuming that this toon takes place on October 31, 1937, that day was Sunday. If Sickly Sam buried himself alive on Tuesday, he would have been buried alive for 5 days.
• The TV Time Toons Menu lists the year this toon came out as 1937.
• Strangely, Strong Bad's brain is exposed when he is a skeleton despite the fact that none of his other organs are present.

Goofs

• The two one-eyed crows' eyeballs do not match up with the painting after the painting is removed.
• When Fat Dudley smokes a cigar in the Old Pietimer Place, the smoke abruptly disappears when he waves it around and then appears again when it's still.

Inside References

• The page title, "Bury Me Deep I'm Cold and Clammy!" is taken from an interview with Matt Chapman in which he says this line as Homsar. The interview can be seen here.
• The Homestar Runner's eyes ballooning up in fright is similar to The Cheat in Pumpkin Carve-nival.
• One of the gravestones reads, "Sir Rondello Shmallow 'Look Lively?'" This is a reference to the Mr. Shmallow toon, in which he says many times, "Look lively!!!"
• Strong Man dancing on Old Timey Bubs's grave may be a reference to one of the backgrounds in Dancin' Bubs, in which Bubs is dancing on "YOUR GRAVE".
• Sickly Sam claims he buries himself alive. Old Timey Bubs also appears to be still alive despite being buried in a grave.
• Fat Dudley is caught drinking hooch, another appearance of alcohol.

Real-World References

• The Old Pietimer Place looks inspired by the house from Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, Psycho.
• The quote "let's split up, we can do more damage that way" is a reference to the 1984 film Ghostbusters.
• The Homestar Runner says the "news-papper" is offering a reward of 27 cents. This may have come from an old Rocky and Bullwinkle show when Rocky offers a 27-cent reward for the capture of the Boxtop Bandit.
• Fat Dudley eating the shoe may be a reference to Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush.

Fast Forward

• "Cory" appears again on Main Page 22 as part of the "Downloads" sequence.

DVD Version

• The DVD version features creators' commentary. To access it, switch your DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Matt Chapman, Mike Chapman)

MATT: This was a year where we did two updates, Mike.

MIKE: Two Halloween updates is what he means.

MATT: No, the whole year, {Mike laughs} we only did two updates.

MIKE: We did this one, what, maybe two weeks before Christmas and then, what was—

MATT: Halloween, Mike.

MIKE: Chri— No, two— Christmas.

MATT: We're both getting—

MIKE: Yeah, I often ask people what they are gonna dress up for for Christmas. {quickly} Do you know what you're going to dress up for for Christmas?

MATT: Really?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: You do that a lot, like you've done that years— several years?

MIKE: Yeah, I started doing it in college.

MATT: {laughs} You just— You're not doing it on purpose.

MIKE: No, no. I don't know why.

MATT: Maybe you like Halloween better than Christmas.

MIKE: Maybe.

MATT: Don't tell church. {Mike laughs} They'll be offended. That's some new talks for Fat Duds right there. {makes Fat Dudley's musical noises} That's not his usual.

MIKE: I like that the telescope is just, uh, the transition to get to— {Matt laughs} It's nothing—

MATT: No one's looking at it. I don't know if Rockefeller actually wore a monocle, Mike.

MIKE: I don't know either.

MATT: Or an eyeball, for that— {Mike laughs} He may not have had eyeballs for all I know. {pause until Old—Timey Homestar says "we can do more damage that way"} That's what Bill Murray says, Dr. Peter Venkman.

MIKE: Ah. Look, isn't there some Zelda sounds when some spiders scurry away?

MATT: Are they Zelda sounds? I thought they were the fret noise on the keyboard.

MIKE: Ah.

MATT: On the Yamaha keyboard. There's that fret—

MIKE: For some reason, I thought it was... some—

MATT: It sounds kinda like the Skulltula sound.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: I suppose.

MIKE: That's what I thought it was. {Matt laughs} Maybe the wiki told me what it was {Matt laughs again} and they— they steered me wrong.

MATT: No, it's clearly the guitar fret noise sound effect from Yamaha.

MIKE: The same noise from the Rhino Feeder.

MATT: Mhm, it's like all of the different noises on Rhino Feeder are just different notes of the fret noise. He's living the high life there, it looks like to me, Mike, more than at the end of the cartoon. Got a bottle of hooch and a nice cigar.

MIKE: You see a little of Fat Dud's butt right there?

MATT: Yeah, you see that in the first, uh, the first Fat Dudley cartoon... {quickly} the first cartoon that Fat Dudley makes an appearance in.

MIKE: So, that, uh, gravestone said "skinflint and junk codger" and junk codger... Where did that come from?

MATT: It's one of the Strong Bad Email menus, one of the Strong Bad Email DVDs, the menu for it, when it zooms quickly past the screen of the Lappy or Compy or whichever computer it is. We made a bunch of fake, place holding Strong Bad Email names and one of them was "junk codger".

MIKE: It's an email I'd like to make some day.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: I don't really know what a codger is, {Matt laughs} let alone a junk codger.

MATT: There's also, uh, uh— Who is it? Somebody, um... Mr. Shmallow?

MIKE: Mr. Shmallow is something, yeah.

MATT: {laughs} One of the graves has that name on it.

MIKE: Oh, yeah.

MATT: Sir Rondello Shmallow. That's what it is. "Look Lively?" it says, question mark? {in a voice similar to Old—Timey Strong Bad's} The fantoustic! {normal voice} Oh. Wait, a minute, Mike.

MIKE: It's just our worst friend. So...

MATT: We're to believe that he just comes by and just buries himself in someone else's grave or does he always bury himself in Eustice Pietimer's grave?

MIKE: I bet it's a different grave.

MATT: Ah! That thing scares the crap out of me.

MIKE: It scares the...

MATT: It scares the skin off of—

MIKE: Everything off of—

MATT: So, this is a rare glimpse into the physiology or at least, the skeletal structure of some of these characters.

MIKE: I like how Marzipan's ponytails are...

MATT: Same with Strong— Strong Bad's—

BOTH: —mustache—

MATT: —has bones.

External Links

• watch "That a Ghost" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "That a Ghost"
• watch "That a Ghost" on YouTube
• forum thread re: "That a Ghost"