animal

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Current revision as of 08:23, 12 August 2023

This article is about the email where Strong Bad makes up an animal. For the email where Strong Bad is asked what he would do if a little animal came up to him, see little animal.

"Finally, a computer for your lap!"

Strong Bad has a new computer! Introducing... Lappy 486! Meanwhile, Spud Jr. asks Strong Bad what he would like as if he were his own made up animal.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Monstrosity, Homestar Runner, Deep Sea Fangly Fish, Baby Styles, Da Huuuuuudge, Marzipan, The Red Steckled Elbermung, El Pardack, Sterrance, The Cheat

Places: Computer Room, The Show, The Field, Da Huuuuuudge's Enclosure, Strong Badia

Computer: Lappy 486

Date: Monday, November 29, 2004

Running Time: 4:02

Page Title: Compy 386?? Not No More.

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Four, Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD

[edit] Transcript

{Both Strong Bad and the Compy 386 are absent from their usual place at the desk. Clean spots left by the Compy monitor and the keyboard are evident against the slightly faded wall and table. Wind can be heard, and a tumbleweed rolls past.}

STRONG BAD: {offscreen} It is a time of desolation, chaos, and uncertainty. Brother pitted against brother; babies havin' babies. Then one day, from the right side of the screen,—

{Strong Bad walks on from the right, carrying the folded-up Lappy.}

STRONG BAD: —came a man.

{He sits down at the desk and places the Lappy on it.}

STRONG BAD: A man with a plastic rectangle... I MEAN LAPTOP COMPUTER!

{He unfolds the Lappy; the words "Lappy 486" appear on the screen with an accompanying note, then the Lappy's logo appears above; the screen becomes a black screen with a square bracket in the top left.}

STRONG BAD: Now that is a classy start-up noise! {imitating the start-up noise} Dong...ding! And check out all these speculations!

{Some music starts playing. Cut to the set of The Show, with a silhouetted Lappy on the pedestal. As Strong Bad speaks, the camera zooms in and the Lappy becomes visible.}

STRONG BAD: The Lappy 486 {pronounced four eighty-six} weighs in at an extremely portable forty-two pounds—

{The words "42 POUNDS!!! (LBS.)" appear in the top left.}

STRONG BAD: —and features an impressive battery life—

{The words "Several" color monitor" and "2 MB Hard Drive!" appear at the top of the screen.}

STRONG BAD: —of one half of ten minutes.

{The words "WARNING: +/- FIVE MINUTE BATTERY LIFE" appear under the first slogan.}

STRONG BAD: The Lappy 486—

{"512k RAM" appears next to the battery life warning}

STRONG BAD: —by Compy.

{The slogan "Finally, a computer for your lap!" appears at the bottom of the screen next to a Compy logo. An applause accompanies the scene. Cut back to the computer room.}

STRONG BAD: All right! Let's see if this bad boy can check some emails.

{He types in "strongbad_email.exe" as with the Compy.}

subject: made up animal

Dear Strong Bad,
What would you like as if you were your own made up
animal
Sincerely,

Spud Jr.

STRONG BAD: {typing} Come now, Spud Jr. What would Spud Sr. think of such nightmarish grammar and punctuation? And poor Spudmom. "What would you like as if..." I at least hope you're good at sports, for their sake. {He stops typing.} All right, I'm done. {He clears the screen and resumes typing.} Well Stu-Pud Jr., if I was my own made up animal, I would probably like as the coolest made up animal ever made up. I would have all the cool animal options and accessories:

Claws

Horns

Tusks

Tentacles

Power Doors

15 Year Drivetrain Warranty

Proboscis

Segmented Eyes

{Cut to the field, where Strong Bad stands with three compound eyes (see Goofs), two antlers, two tusks, a proboscis, four claws on each hand, and four tentacles. Homestar Runner is also present.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: I say there, Monstrosity! Do you know the times?

{Strong Bad attempts to respond and makes gargling sounds while foaming at the mouth. Homestar steps back, looking shocked. Cut back to the Lappy.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Oh. I guess I couldn't really talk with that proboscis. Not that I'd have much of an answer for "Do you know the times," anyway. Hmmm. Maybe I could be one of those deep-sea fangly fishes.

{Cut to the sea, rendered in Powered by The Cheat style.}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} You know, the kind that have Christmas lights all over them, and those custom lures hanging over their heads.

{An anglerfish with Strong Bad's mask pattern, flashing lights adorning its body, and Homestar's head for a lure appears.}

HOMESTAR LURE: Right this way, everyone! Free puppies, ginger snaps {a fish version of The Cheat swims past}, Pocket PCs...

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} 'Cept I'd also have an awesome back deck on me for dinner and dancing!

{A deck appears on the fish's back. Zoom in to see a woman dancing on it with Strong Bad, with some typical Powered-by-The-Cheat techno-ish music playing.}

POWERED BY THE CHEAT STRONG BAD: Hey there, Baby Styles, do you want to watch me bench-press a lot...of weights?

HOMESTAR LURE: {lowers onto the deck} Turn it out, Strong Bad, turn it out!

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} Oh, wait. {The Strong Bad on the deck disappears.} How could I enjoy the dinner and dancing if I'm already the fanglyfish? {The Homestar lure starts "dancing" and the "Cheatfish" swims by again}

{Zoom out to see the full view of the "fanglyfish". Cut back to the Lappy.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Maybe I'm overthinking this. I should just come up with a cool name and the rest will like as itself. I would be called {considers} da huuuuuudge. {He pronounces each letter of huuuuuudge, as if to say "huh-duh-juh."}

{Cut to Da Huuuuuudge's Enclosure. A sign on the front of the enclosure reads:}

Please, for the love of Pete,
DO NOT feed Da Huuuuuudge

STRONG BAD: Da Huuuuuudge! {Pronounced as "hudge."}

{A large, pus-colored, gelatinous, bubbling creature with Strong Bad's face lands in the enclosure.}

STRONG BAD: Eew! No. No Huuuuuudge. {Pronounced as "hudge" again.}

{Marzipan enters from the right, silhouetted, outside the enclosure.}

MARZIPAN: Oh, wow! Look at the Huuuuuudge! {Pronounced as "hudge" again.}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} Um... How about...the red steckled elbermung?

{An open book descends into the frame with a picture of a red gastropod with a pattern like Strong Bad's mask around its eyes and huge lips. The text in the book reads:}

R is for Red steckled elbermung

STRONG BAD: No no no.

{The lips, the eyes and the tail become annotated with the word "No" each time Strong Bad says the word.}

STRONG BAD: Um...the pardack?

{Some yellow lined paper descends into the frame. On it is a picture of a large blobby creature with Strong Bad's eyes, horns, duck feet, one of Strong Bad's arms and a soolnd with three toes for the other arm. Text under it reads: "el pardack."}

STRONG BAD: What the? {The pardack gains a speech bubble with the text "what the?"} Why do these keep coming out as nasty blob things?

{Cut back to the Lappy.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Okay, okay, okay. Gotta look good for the Lappy. My made up animal {slight pause} would be called...

{Cut to Strong Badia.}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} Sterrance.

{A blue creature with stick arms and legs, red hands, orange feet, angel wings, an orange tongue, buck teeth, and a pattern like Strong Bad's mask around its eyes appears. Some music starts playing.}

STRONG BAD: Hey, I did it! {Sterrance starts dancing to the beat of the music} Look at Sterrance. Aw, Sterrance! I want one! Sterrance is way cuter than that stupid ugly old washed-up The Cheat I used to have.

{Cut back to the computer room. Strong Bad's commentary during the Sterrance scene is written on the Lappy. The Cheat is standing by Strong Bad, looking angry.}

THE CHEAT: {angry Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Oh, Captain Past-His-Prime himself.

THE CHEAT: {angry Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Yeah, I know you heard me. And I stand by it.

THE CHEAT: {angry Cheat noises; walks away}

{Strong Bad turns back to the Lappy, affectionately stroking it.}

STRONG BAD: Don't worry about him, Lappy. That's just The Cheat. He uses {dismissively} new computers. Psssh! The Paper, come on down and meet your new brother!

{The Paper begins to edge down.}

STRONG BAD: Come on!

{It edges down a bit more.}

STRONG BAD: It's okay!

{It edges back a bit.}

STRONG BAD: No, ah! Come on!

{It edges down a bit.}

STRONG BAD: Lappy's not going to bite you or tear at your perforated edges!

{It comes down a bit more.}

STRONG BAD: That's it!

{It comes all the way down.}

STRONG BAD: Lappy, this is The Paper. He lets me know when I've stopped being funny!

{The Paper comes down even more so that it now reads:}

STRONG BAD: Oops! Sorry. Bye, everybody.

[edit] Easter Eggs

• At the end, click on the word 'cuter' to show a small movie of Homestar's head on a lure next to the dancing girl in a dance club.

{The Homestar lure and the dancing woman are at a disco, Powered by The Cheat style. Two disco balls hang from the ceiling and a rough approximation of music is playing.}

HOMESTAR LURE: Hey there, Baby Styles. This is a nice dancing club, right? Do you have a phone at your house?

• At the end, click on the words 'The Cheat' to see what the runners-up get.

{Cut to the pedestal of The Show again. The fanglyfish is on it.}

VOICEOVER: Second-place contestants receive deep sea fanglyfish. Promotional considerations by Sterrance. Strong Bad's wardrobe furnished by Styles Upon Styles. {Some text appears on the screen reading:}

MR. BAD'S WARDROBE
PROVIDED BY
Styles
Upon
Styles

HOMESTAR LURE: Steep prices and trees! {these words appear on the bottom of the screen as he says them}

[edit] Fun Facts

[edit] Explanations

• The Christmas lights Strong Bad mentions on the fish refer to bioluminescence, which is used by various deep sea creatures to attract prey, among other functions.
• The "lure" he mentioned is a feature of many different "fanglyfishes", including the anglerfish, in which the lure gives off a small amount of light in order to attract fish close enough to its mouth in order to eat it. Note that only female anglerfish have lures.
• "Brother pitted against brother" is a term used to describe civil war. It originated in the Bible as a description of the end times.

[edit] Trivia

• This is the first appearance of the Lappy 486.
  • In the DVD commentary for the email "invisibility", Mike said that he and Matt wanted to give Strong Bad a new computer and that it should be a laptop named Lappy. Matt suggested Lappy 486.
• This email was sent in by HRWiki member kerrek slaya.
• The table has been re-drawn with thinner lines with no shadow along the back edge. The obvious differences can be seen with comparison to the table in "virus".
• The label on the disk in the floppy disk container reads "future wars".
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad gets a laptop computer and details what his own made up animal would be like."

[edit] Remarks

• Since the proboscis is where the monstrosity's nose should be, it shouldn't prevent him from speaking at all, but it does anyway.
• The wall behind the computer had been expertly mended, leaving no seams or cracks, and matching perfectly with the silhouetting from where Compy used to be. It is impossible to tell where the shot entered the wall after destroying Compy in virus.
• Despite its supposed portability, the Lappy is plugged into the same socket that both Tandy and Compy used to occupy—which is good, since much of its battery life would have been exhausted during the email. However, Strong Bad is never seen plugging in the Lappy. The Lappy appeared to have been plugged in after Strong Bad cut away from the "speculations" back to the computer room.
• Strong Bad refers to The Paper as a male. (In the email invisibility, the Tandy 400 says that the printer is a female.)
  • Similarly, at the end of this email, Strong Bad refers to the Lappy 486 as the Paper's brother, but refers to it as female in later emails.
• Strong Bad's mention of "Christmas lights" is one of the few references to Christmas on the site, since Free Country, USA celebrates Decemberween.
• Although Strong Bad usually only types what he is saying when his computer is visible, his voiceover for Sterrance's appearance is visible on the Lappy at the end of the email.
• Strong Bad says the word "old" when describing The Cheat, but the word does not appear on the Lappy's screen later.
• The background "disco music" (used when Strong Bad is dancing on the back deck of the fanglyfish and in the dance club Easter egg) sounds similar to "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" by Pigbag.
• In the opening of the email, when the silhouettes of the Compy and the keyboard are seen, the shadow of a connecting cable from the keyboard to the Compy is visible, even though there was never a visible cord that plugged in the keyboard.
  • In addition, the Compy monitor's silhouette is only seen on the wall, even though there had to be a silhouette on the table of where it was sitting
• Strong Bad notices that he couldn't be on the deck when he's the fanglyfish, but fails to catch that he couldn't own a Sterrance for the same reasons.
• Strong Bad breaks the fourth wall by saying the words, "Then one day, from the right side of the screen..."
• In the The Show Easter egg, there is no back deck on the fangly fish.

[edit] Goofs

• In the scene with Sterrance in Strong Badia, the Stop Sign and Cinder Block are on the left side of Strong Badia.
• The first animal Strong Bad makes up has antlers, not horns.
• On the list of Strong Bad's animal options and accessories is "segmented eyes". The proper terminology for the multi-faceted eye found on many insects is "compound eye". On the strongbad_email.exe DVD commentary, The Brothers Chaps admit this goof and say that they found out about it by reading it "on the wiki".
• When Strong Bad says "Not that I have much of an answer for...", he starts typing "Not" and "that" simultaneously.
• In the YouTube version, there is a faint Windows XP popup notice sound just after the Homestar Runner Lure on the Deep-Sea Fangly Fish says "Turn it out, Strong Bad, Turn it out!"

[edit] Inside References

• The Lappy was mentioned in the commentary on the DVD for the email invisibility when the Tandy was replaced by the Compy.
• A tumbleweed rolls by on Strong Bad's empty desk.
• Strong Bad's pronunciation of "lure" when envisioning the fangly fish comes from lures & jigs.
• The fact that horns is the second accessory listed for the Monstrosity is a reference to 3 wishes, when Strong Bad says his second wish would be horns.
• When Homestar greets Strong Bad's first animal, he says "I say there, Monstrosity," just as he does in The King of Town DVD when asking about the sheep. (i.e. "I say there, fair Blacksmith, ...)
• "Baby styles" and "Styles Upon Styles" are references to style.
• The Homestar lure tells Strong Bad to "turn it out". PbTC Homestar had previously told him to "kick it out" in mile.

[edit] Real-World References

• The new email client bears a strong resemblance to a Unix/Linux email client, PINE.
• The Lappy's classic startup noise sounds somewhat like the startup tone on the older Macintoshes. The sound was created on a Casio keyboard, using the "Funny" preset. The first note is the lowest C, the second note a C one octave higher.
• The way Strong Bad describes Lappy is in the style of many game shows.
• The Lappy's logo is a reference to the Apple PowerBook's logo.
• The word "color" in "'Several' color monitor" is the same color scheme as the symbol for the Game Boy Color.
• "Babies Having Babies" is a 1988 hit by Terry Tate; as well as a School Break Special on CBS in 1986.
• Styles Upon Styles is a reference to a lyric from "Buggin' Out", a song on the seminal 1991 album "The Low End Theory" by A Tribe Called Quest.
• The red steckled elbermung seems to have been modeled after Salvador Dalí's surrealist painting titled "Sleep" (or "Le Sommeil" in French).

[edit] Fast Forward

• Styles Upon Styles is later mentioned in modeling.
• Both Da Huuuuuudge and Sterrance reappear in alternate universe along with other Strong Bad-related faces.
• The way Strong Bad first introduces the Lappy 486 is parodied in hremail 3184.
• The music heard when Strong Bad describes the Lappy's features is heard again in Compy Catalog.
• The animal that Strong Bad describes near the beginning of the email appears in Dangeresque Roomisode 2 if you drink the Grodywater. In addition, the phrase "do you know the times," originating as something Homestar asks the "monstrosity," appears multiple times in the game.

[edit] DVD Version

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

[edit] Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman)

MIKE: So here we have the unveiling of Strong Bad's new computer after it was destroyed in the last episode.

MATT: Mike, what is a tumbleweed doing in Strong Bad's computer office?

MIKE: I can't— I can't even imagine.

MATT: Look, "Future Wars." Is that symbolic because this is the future of Strong Bad Emails?

MIKE: It's definitely symbolic. I thought about that for a long time.

MATT: {laughs} You didn't just think of some old game we used to have?

MIKE: No! Was that a game?

MATT: Yeah, Future Wars? By Del— Delphine {pronounces it, "Del-feen"}? Delphine {pronounces it, "Del-fine"}?

MIKE: I was just kidding.

MATT: Oh. And a classy logo, Mike.

MIKE: Thanks.

MATT: —I might add.

MIKE: That comes to, um—

MATT: —Life.

MIKE: Comes to life, with the yellow wig on.

MATT: {as Female Lappy 486} Strong Bad! Don't—! Stave it off! It's best time!

MIKE: So this is, of course, the background from "the show" email.

MATT: Yes.

MIKE: The game show background that I like so much.

MATT: Looks like it might be a prize that you win when you appear on the show.

MIKE: {laughs} Yes.

MATT: Uh, I think that was very heavily inspired by when, uh, Kevin on Starcade is announcing the prizes on Starcade, {Mike laughs} and so, I was like— What's that game? There was one that was a controller that they always did.

MIKE: Uh, I—

MATT: I can't remember.

MIKE: A kind of joystick.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: A spud is, uh, is another word for a potato.

MATT: Yeah, they probably know that already.

MIKE: Who's "they"?

MATT: Those watching— the viewers.

MIKE: I bet— I bet at least one person watching this didn't know that a spud was also a potato.

MATT: Well, that's probably a four-year-old—

MIKE: There you go, buddy. I just taught you something. Pay me later. Oh, we messed up here, like, he says "segmented eyes," but he actually has compound eyes.

MATT: Ohhh.

MIKE: Read that on the wiki.

MATT: Good job.

MIKE: Goofs.

MATT: Goofs. That's a total goof. Strong Bad messed up, Mike. We knew our stuff.

MIKE: That's true. We did that on purpose.

MATT: Yeah. What is "segmented eyes" like?

MIKE: I dunno.

MATT: Is that a made-up thing?

MIKE: Maybe.

MATT: I remember originally—

MIKE: "Segmented bodies."

MATT: The line said, "segmented eyes" and "segmented butt," but we cut out "segmented butt."

MIKE: That's too risqué. Too risky.

MATT: Uh, so, look! The Cheat, out of nowhere! Look! There's my voice! There's the Cheat-whale.

MIKE: It must feel a little weir—

MATT: That Cheat-whale looks kinda like the Jaguar shark from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

MIKE: It does.

MATT: This was before that.

MIKE: {simultaneously} Before that.

MATT: Yes, see? We're suing Wes Anderson as we speak. {Mike laughs} Litigation Jackson is on the case. {Mike laughs} {Pause} Um... I think Powered by The Cheat-style thing should assist in Strong Bad Emails more often.

MIKE: Alright, let's do that for next week's email.

MATT: All— All— Calling all Powered by The Cheats. {Mike laughs} Sorry. That thing is gross, Mike.

MIKE: It is.

MATT: Look, it's like, look at the ground around it. It's greasing out everywhere.

MIKE: {laughs}

MATT: It's really gross. That thing's as gross—

MIKE: {laughs}

MATT: —if not grosser.

MIKE: He's happy, though.

MATT: —or more gross. And that thing has a Strong Sad leg coming out of it, Mike.

MIKE: Yeah, his mouth is kinda like, um, Neo's mouth in, uh, The Matrix when it closes up, and it becomes like...

MATT: Ohhh, GUI? {pronounced "gooey"}

MIKE: GUI. GUI mouth.

MATT: Graphic user interface mouth?

MIKE: Look at little Sterrance!

MATT: {simultaneously} Oh, Sterrance!

MIKE: He appears on the cover of this very DVD on the back!

MATT: Um, will we ever see him again?

MIKE: I dunno. Very possibly not.

MATT: I remember, uh, some people thinking we were gonna ditch The Cheat after this email, that Sterrance was going to—

MIKE: Yeah. They really thought that Sterrance was gonna be the new sidekick for Strong Bad.

MATT: He is pretty harsh to him. That'd be a sad way for The Cheat to go out. The Cheat ain't goin' out like that. Over the years, The Paper definitely has become more and more of a—

MIKE: A character.

MATT: It should have been on that big characters poster we made, I think.

MIKE: Yeah. It definitely has a personality.

[edit] Fun Facts

• Starcade is an early '80s game show where teams played arcade games to win one of their own. "Kevin" is a reference to Kevin McMahon, the show's announcer.
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a 2004 film about an oceanographer who tries to avenge his dead partner.
• The Matrix is a movie released in 1999, "Neo" being the alias of the main character, Thomas A. Anderson, played by Keanu Reeves.
• Sterrance, in fact, did return in alternate universe.
• "GUI" refers to graphical user interface.

[edit] External Links

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