ghosts

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 19:07, 31 December 2004

Who ya gonna call?

Strong Bad Email #48

Strong Bad gives the ol' kingdom a thorough ghost check.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, The Cheat, General Tso's Chicken, Bad Graphics Ghost, Strong Sad (Easter Egg)

Transcript

STRONG BAD: Boy, is it ever Monday.

{reading}

Yo yo, Strong Bad!

Are there any ghosts in Strongbadia?

Your Favorite Cowboys,
Josh, John & Doug
Nashville, TN

STRONG BAD: Whoah. Took all three of ya to come up with that one, huh? You're some bright young men! {typing} You know boys, cowboys, I've never really given the ol' kingdom a thorough ghost check. {calling out} The Cheat! {The Cheat zips right up to Strong Bad} Meet me in the Strong Bad Cave! {The Cheat makes a quizzical noise} Erm, well...meet me in the closet and, uh...we'll put on some costumes.

{We see an old Batman-style transition, with the eye portion of Strong Bad's facemask used as a logo to designate a scene change. Strong Bad and The Cheat walk out into Strong Badia at night, both dressed in Ghostbusters T-Shirts.}

STRONG BAD: Okay, The Cheat, let's just turn on my ghost-detecting equipment here...see if we can't get any readings. {turns on a flashlight and waves it around} Hey sign! You haunted? What about you, tire? Any ghosts? Chinese food! You a ghost? {the top of the box of chinese food opens up with a green mist escaping} IT'S THE GHOST OF GENERAL TSO! Oh--wait. It's just grody and rotten. The Cheat, will you please freaking clean up after yourself?! Oh well, looks like Strongbadia is ghost-free and proud to be.

{The ghost of Tandy appears behind him}

STRONG BAD: Oh! Uh...my old computer! Umm...what's up, man? Sure is one...spooky sound you're making there...

{The Bad Graphics Ghost materializes on the Tandy screen}

STRONG BAD: Ooh, lookit that! Little...bad graphics ghost. Heh. Hey, little guy...look old computer. Sorry I threw you out and everything but, uh...The Cheat, um...Chea-chea-cheat's got soccer practice, so uh...did you remember your cleats, The Cheat? THROW THAT CHINESE FOOD AT HIM!

{The Cheat does, and they run off. The ghost computer flies away. Cut back to the Compy. The Paper comes down, and the Bad Graphics Ghost appears on the Compy's screen}

Easter Eggs

• At the end of this one a "Bad Graphics Ghost" appears. To make the pieces disappear, you can mouse-over them or hold down the Tab key.
• If you manage to get all the pieces to be gone at the same time, the scene will change to Strong Sad in the center of all Time and Space, where he will sing a song for you:

Have you seen the ghost of John?

All white bones with the skin all go-o-o-one!

Whoo! whoooo! whooo!

Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin ooonnnn...?

{stops singing} Whoa, check it out! It's like I'm the master of time and space in here!

Fun Facts

• Strong Bad comments, "Boy, is it ever Monday!" because this was released late, on a Wednesday.

• The printings on Strong Bad's and The Cheat's shirts are the logo for the movie Ghostbusters 2.

• This is one of only four emails to feature both the Tandy 400 and the Compy 386. The others are invisibility, personal favorites, and no loafing.

• The front disk in the Floppy Disk Container says "Tongue of the Fatman".

• This email also contains some very obvious references to the old Batman TV series from the 1960s, both in Strong Bad telling The Cheat "Quick! To the Strong Badcave!" and the scene cut between Strong Bad's computer room and Strong Badia.

• The Tandy 400 is apparently obsolete and can only display images of poor graphics, and yet it was able to clearly show a screenshot from Hairstyle Runner in homestar hair.

• This is one of the only times you will see Strong Bad in a shirt (other than Halloween toons). He also wore a shirt in stand-up.

DVD Version

• You don't have to select all of the blocks on the Bad Graphics Ghost to kill it this time. You merely have to select the hidden Strong Bad icon in the lower left corner of the Compy 386 screen.
  • As well, it sounds like reverb was added to Strong Sad's song and dialogue, for added creepiness.
• The DVD version adds a hidden creator's commentary. To access it, change your DVD player's audio language selection while watching this email.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman)

STRONG BAD: {heard in the background} Boy, is it ever Monday.

MATT: That--

MIKE: Uh, I think we put it up on Wednesday that time.

MATT: Yeah, because Monday we did the, uh, Halloween cartoon, which was the Pumpkin Carve-nival -- or maybe that was Tuesday -- I don't even know, but yeah. So this was, uh, it's only -- it's weird, the only themed, uh, time of the year, Strong Bad emails are Halloween ones. There's the halloweener one and this one.

MIKE: That's true -- well, the flag day one.

MATT: That's true, that was on flag day, wasn't it?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: That's of course a reference to the old Batman TV show.

MIKE: Spider-Man.

MATT: What? It was Batman.

MIKE: Scrapeman. Scrape-on-the-knee-man. Uh, I like doing Strong Badia and the blue for night.

MATT: Yeah, this was good, there's the masking--

MIKE: Yeah, like three maskings right there.

MATT: Yeah, that's the good...

MIKE: Remember when the toons menu used to be an old Chinese menu?

MATT: I do.

MIKE: That was the dragon that we used on that menu.

MATT: I like that they're both wearing Ghostbusters 2 outfits. My friend Jamie still has a Ghostbusters 2 outfit, I think. My friend Jamie's the guy that first said the words Homestar Runner all together. I like--all these sound effects are just me going {blows to make wind sound} and {pssswishyswish sound}

MIKE: You're so talented.

MATT: Yeah, listen how much more talented I am than Mike. {powacahoowachoo sound}

MIKE?: {powankydoowow musical sound}

MATT: This is supposed to sound like a laser.

MIKE: A laser. {pee-oww musical sound}

MATT: Watch; listen. {fweeowwoosh} {blows to make ghost sound}

External Links

• watch "ghosts"
• view the flash file for "ghosts"