caper

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Revision as of 20:01, 9 August 2010

"Thanks for breaking my cow lamp."

Strong Bad tries to pull a caper with The Cheat, but The Cheat screws it up. However, Strong Bad can't stay mad at him for long.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, The Cheat, Homestar Runner, Strong Sad, Strong Mad

Places: Computer Room, Homestar Runner's House, Bubs' Concession Stand (Easter egg)

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Monday, March 31, 2003

Running Time: 2:49

Page Title: Compy 386!

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

Transcript

STRONG BAD: strongbad, underscore, email, dot e-x-e. Enter.

{reading}

Dear Strong Bad,

Why don't you and The Cheat pull a
caper of some sort. It seems like
there has been little cooperation
between the two of you as of late.

James
Detroit Mi

{Strong Bad pronounces "Mi" like "me"}

STRONG BAD: {typing:} Well, you're right. It's no secret that The Cheat and I haven't been getting along very well... since he screwed up our last caper.

{Cut to Strong Bad and The Cheat in Homestar's house at night, stealing his newspaper.}

STRONG BAD: I don't care about the crosswords, man, just the jumbles, the jumbles!

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: I don't know, go look over there.

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises} {goes over to a table with a cow lamp on it}

STRONG BAD: No, look out! Oh, great, man.

{The Cheat knocks over the lamp, breaking it. A light turns on and Homestar comes out. He is wearing pajamas, and it appears he hasn't shaved. Strong Bad looks hastily for an escape and The Cheat puts his hands in the air.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {sleepy} Hey, Strong Sad, Batman. What are you guys doing in my house?

STRONG BAD: We've been ID'd! Every man for himself! {he and The Cheat run away}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Thanks for stopping by, you guys. Thanks for breaking my cow lamp.

{Cut back to the computer}

STRONG BAD: The Cheat, man. {Music begins} Where did we go wrong? It seems like just yesterday we were setting fire to Strong Sad's underwears.

STRONG SAD: {offscreen} That was yesterday!

STRONG BAD: This one's for you. {singing to the Compy's music}
I got mad at The Cheat, uh!
For screwing up the jumble caper, uh!
I hope I don't see his name in the paper, in the obituaries
Cause that would mean he's dead.
{pulls back to show Strong Mad and Strong Sad standing next to the computer clapping to the beat. Strong Bad is standing on his stool, still singing}
The Cheat is not dead,
I'm so glad The Cheat is not dead.
The Cheat is not dead,

STRONG MAD: DEAD!

STRONG BAD: Ohhh, I'm so glad The Cheat is not dead.
The Cheat is not dead,

STRONG SAD: Dead!

STRONG BAD: So glad The Cheat is not— {stops singing, starts bobbing his body left and right on each clap} Just the claps! Just the claps... Strong Sad, I didn't know you had any rhythm.

STRONG SAD: Oh, sure, I got tons of rhythm.

STRONG BAD: Keep it rolling for me guys, keep it rolling.

{Strong Bad runs out to the field where The Cheat is waiting for him. The Compy is still playing the music.}

STRONG BAD: The Cheat, I... I just wanted to say that...

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Oh, I can't stay mad at you!

{He rubs The Cheat's head}

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Aww, how about a little kick for old times' sake?

{The Cheat places his arms akimbo and looks angry}

STRONG BAD: Nah, I'm just kidding, man. {makes several fake kicking motions; The Cheat prepares to dodge each one} Oh, what, watch me now! Had you there.

{The Paper comes down. About five seconds later, Homestar walks out. He is still in his pajamas.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: You guys are so cute. {pause} Man, I should probably get dressed or something. What is it, like three in the afternoon? Looking good, Homestar.

STRONG BAD: Yeah, what's the deal? I didn't know you had to shave.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, I don't. It's cinnamon.

Easter Eggs

• After you see the Jumble Caper happen, you can click on the word "caper" to see their original plan.

"OPERATION JUMBLE JUMBLE"
Objective: Steal Homestar's Jumbles
Details: Strike in the wee hours.
Don't knock over any cow lamps.
Be cool.
Say "hi" to any ladies encountered.

This is a difficult one

• At the end you can click on The Cheat's eyes to see what became of Strong Bad's rhythm section.

{Cut back to Strong Bad's computer room. Strong Sad and Strong Mad are still clapping in time to the music}

STRONG SAD: Um... do you think we can stop now?

STRONG MAD: KEEP IT ROLLIN'!

• Ten seconds after the end, Homestar will come out in his pajamas. Click on his slippers after he is done talking to bring up a Jumble word puzzle starring Bubs and Coach Z. You can also print out the Jumble.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• Homestar's comment, "Hey, Strong Sad. Batman," may be referring to The Cheat's pose when Homestar walks in. With his arms in the air, he resembles the comic book character's mask in silhouette.
• Strong Bad's torso's twitches demonstrate that he has no rhythm during the handclapping part of the song.

Trivia

• This is the first time Homestar is seen wearing his pajamas.
• The answer to the Jumble is "UN TACO" (which means "a taco" in Spanish), and the scrambled words spell "This is a difficult one".
• Although cinnamon appeared first in the Homestar Quiz, this is the first appearance of Homestar's cinnamon beard.
• Homestar's bunny slippers seem to have eyes only on one side, similar to Homestar himself.
• The label on the disk in the floppy disk container reads "manhunter new york".
• The pictures of Homestar on the wall when Homestar discovers Strong Bad and The Cheat are the other four different Homestars in the "Evolution of Homestar" wallpaper.
  • This is also in radio and garage sale.

Remarks

• Homestar's speech impediment lightened up. When he says "What is it, like, three in the afternoon?" his R's are very well enunciated compared to his full waking state.
• When Homestar walks in at the end, he appears in front of The Paper.

Goofs

• If you look closely at the Compy's screen while Strong Bad stands on the stool, you can see that the screen doesn't completely fill the monitor, so a very thin section of the wall is visible on the right.
• After you view the Strong Sad/Strong Mad clapping Easter egg, Homestar walks back in and says his line again instead of just reappearing standing there.

Fixed Goofs

• When this email was first released, after the cow lamp fell down the shadow of Homestar's table extended over it. Matt Chapman noticed this during the 2007 Georgia Tech talk and commented that they should re-upload the email.

Inside References

• Strong Bad favoring the Jumbles was first mentioned in The Interview.
• Homestar is wearing a shirt that used to be available in the Store.
• This is another reference to Kicking The Cheat.
• This is a rare instance of Strong Bad being nice to Strong Sad.

Fast Forward

• "The Cheat is Not Dead" would later be featured as a song on the Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits CD.
• Strong Bad uses the events in this email as an example of his "unphotographic" memory in highschool.
• It is revealed in email thunder that Homestar was aware that they would break into his house, and put cinnamon on his face to throw them off, in response to a hremail asking what he does about burglars in his house.
• Strong Bad and the Cheat manage to pull off a successful caper in Best Caper Ever.
  • Furthermore, "The Cheat is Not Dead" is picked up in a tune played at the end of that short.
• It is revealed in Hremail 7 that Homestar's contract with Melonade ended the month this email was posted, thus allowing him to drink coffee, as seen in the Easter Egg.

Real-World References

• Sleepy Homestar calls The Cheat Batman, a popular DC Comics superhero.

DVD Version

• All of the Easter eggs are intact, except you can't print the Jumble, for obvious reasons.
• The DVD version features hidden 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 is not about—uhm, this email is not about the little spice thingy...vegetable.

MIKE: Ohh, caper? I never even realized that caper...

MATT: It's the same—spelled the same way.

MIKE: It's so weird. Like, words like polish and Polish. I was, like, 25 when I realized "Oh my gosh, these words are spelled the same way." {Matt laughs} It just never occurs to you. It never occurred to me that caper and... anyway.

MATT: Okay, so, look, there's all the different Homestars in the background.

MIKE: Yep. This is a scene we've never seen before.

MATT: Yeah. There's Homestar's {Mike says something inaudible in the background} That cow lamp, though, is, uh, a lamp—we had a little illustration club and one week the theme was drawing lamps. And that was one of my lamps.

MIKE: It's a good one.

MATT: I'd like to make that lamp.

MIKE: I'd like to make that little, uh, desk—that little stand that the lamp was on.

MATT: Yeah. There's—Homestar's wearing, uh—number one, those bunny slippers are incredible. {Mike laughs a little} And terrifying. Are they—are they—they look kind of like their lips, not their ears.

{Mike laughs more}

MIKE: So, here, Strong Bad sings a song.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Um...the, uhm...

MATT: It goes pretty well. It goes pretty well with the music he's playing.

MIKE: Mmm-hm.

MATT: Uhm, what else, Mike?

MIKE: Well, we could talk about the cinnamon on Homestar's face.

MATT: Yes.

MIKE: And how that was a trick of ours when we used to make movies, uh, when we were younger. We never would need to be dirty or have a five o'clock shadow or whatever. We would just get cinnamon and put it on our face.

MATT: Or potato—O'Boise's—

MIKE: {laughing a little} Yeah.

MATT: —in some cases. If you wanted to look like you had—

MIKE: Just crunch up some potato chips—

MATT: —and wet your face and stick some O'Boise's on your face.

MIKE: Wow.

{pause}

MATT: Oh yeah. I love those—look, notice on the shag carpeting there's a couple of spots there just—on the wall where it's just missing. I those were, I think at one point, those behind the legs.

MIKE: {simultaneously} Right, between Strong Mad and Strong Sad. Right.

MATT: And that's why we didn't do it and then we moved it and never bothered to make the little...scrunt, whatever you call those, strands of carpet. "You know, joke kick." Hah, right?

MIKE: Yeah, that's from an email.

MATT: I love the hands on hips The Cheat does, he never has done that and we did that. See? Now just look at him!

MIKE: He's so sassy.

MATT: I know. So there you go—

MIKE: No, Homestar's going to come out.

MATT: Oh yeah, Homestar comes out, so we get to keep talking.

MIKE: Yes, we can keep talking this time.

MATT: Come on, Homestar, where are—where are you at?

MIKE: He's got a cup of coffee. I like the cup of coffee.

MATT: Yeah, look at that steam! It's just little dots.

MIKE: It's good steam.

MATT: It matches nothing else on our website—

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Wearing his own T-shirt there.

MIKE: Yeah.

Fun Facts

• "The little spice thingy" Matt mentions is the caper.
• "O'Boises" was a brand of potato chip made by Keebler in the 1980s and 1990s.
• Matt's quote of "You know, joke kick?" is from little animal.

External Links

• watch "caper" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "caper"
• watch "caper" on YouTube