montage

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Revision as of 17:45, 9 January 2005

A girl. Or maybe a wagon. Filled up with pancakes.

Strong Bad Email #117

Strong Bad "creats" a few montages about a Wagon Fulla Pancakes.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, The Cheat, Homestar Runner, Coach Z

Date: November 8, 2004

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {announcing} Tonight on Strong Bad Email: Comedian Coach Z, actress Marzipan, and some guy from a zoo.

{reading}

Dear Strong Bad,
Why don't you creat a montage?

Steve
Surf City, NJ

{Strong Bad pronounces "creat" as it is spelled and reads NJ as "No Job"}

STRONG BAD: {typing} {in a high-pitched, mocking voice} Oooohhh! Why don't you creat an alternate reality where you don't have to spell correctly and I talk like this. And your name is Watered Down. {clears screen, continues typing in normal voice} A montage, eh Watered Down? Like, about whatever? Okay. I'll make a montage about...

{cut to an empty field}

Me. {Strong Bad appears}

And a wagon. {a wagon appears}

Full of pancakes. {pancakes appear in the wagon}

{Diamond wipe to Strong Bad and the wagon walking past Bubs's Concession Stand.}

{Wipe to a field where Strong Bad kicks the wagon calmly.}

{Cut to Strong Bad pulling the wagon uphill.}

STRONG BAD: Oooh, or maybe a montage of me falling in love with the wagon full of pancakes.

{Heart wipe to Strong Bad in a boat with the wagon. They are both holding glasses of wine (Or some sort of juice).}

{singing}

Let's make this moment be the symbol of our lives
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon listening to a Taranchula LP on headphones.}
We'll pawn your dad's computer
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon, under the stars. Strong Bad points to some shooting stars in the distance.}
and we'll sail to paradise
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon spinning around, holding "hands".}
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon at the movies. Strong Bad drops some popcorn.}
You're a girl... or maybe a wagon...
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon at a fast food place. Strong Bad puts ketchup on some fries while laughing and smiling.}
filled up with pancakes
{Cut to Strong Bad frolicking across a field as the wagon follows.}

STRONG BAD: Or maybe a montage of the wagon full of pancakes {cut to a front door view of The Cheat and the wagon} and The Cheat being down on their luck door to door salesmen.

{Cut to The Cheat lying in the wagon as the wagon rolls past.}

{Several doors slam on The Cheat at different angles.}

{singing} You can't do it so give up now
Whatcha gonna do when your dough runs out?
Ain't that a drag?
{Cut to the wagon sitting in an arm chair while the Cheat lies on the floor in front, smoking.}

STRONG BAD: {stops singing} No, I got it. A montage of the wagon full of pancakes training {cut to Homestar in a black shirt that says "The #1" looking at the wagon in a field} for the championship.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: A wagon full of pamcakes? In the champeenship? I'd like to see you try.

{Zoom in on pancakes as training music starts to play.}

{Cut to the wagon climbing the stairs of a stadium.}

STRONG BAD: {singing} Guts, guts and might {The wagon's handle slowly collapses on top of a barbell.}
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon on a track.}
Lifting weights and feeling all right {Strong Bad clicks a stop watch.}
{Cut to a silhouette of Strong Bad and the wagon running past a sunset and an ocean.}
It's a showdown going downtown
You're gonna mess around showdown
{Cut to the wagon ascending the bleachers again.}
Put your nose down showdown
{Cut to quick shot of wagon jumping up and down at the top of the bleachers.}

{Cut to Homestar Runner and the wagon in a gym as Coach Z looks on in a referee costume.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hiya! Hiya! {Homestar kicks.}

{The wagon's handle falls on Homestar, just like it did while training with the barbell, and Homestar falls down.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oof!

COACH Z: The pamcakes wins!

{A buzzer sounds and the score changes from 6-6 to 6-7 on the scoreboard.}

STRONG BAD: {singing} Showdown.

{Cut to Strong Bad at the Compy 386.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Those were some good montages, eh Watered Down? That was like, a montage of montages. The only thing we left out is the end credits photo montage. Hit it!

{Cut to a glossy of Strong Bad and the wagon in the boat.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {singing} Partying... party party party
{Cut to glossy of Strong Bad and the wagon on the beach.} It's the weekend... party party party
{Cut to glossy of Strong Bad and the wagon in the movie theater.}
{Cut to a closeup of The Cheat lying on the floor.}
CAPTION: The Cheat never sold a single box of toner. He is currently unemployed.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {still singing} And a wagon... party party party.
Full of pancakes...
{Cut to Homestar kicking in the gym.}
CAPTION: Homestar sold his "The #1" shirt for $3(US). He got a good deal.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {still singing} party party party
{Cut to a glossy of Strong Bad frolicing across the field, the wagon not in the photo.}
CAPTION: Strong Bad went on to host some show on Animal Planet.
It was cancelled before the first commercial break.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {still singing} And we're partying... party party party
{Cut to the wagon with a fedora.}
CAPTION: After winning the champeenship, the Wagon Fulla Pancakes did some local TV spots for a used car dealership.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {singing} It's the weekend... party party party
And we're partying... party party party
Everybody does it tonnniiight...
CAPTION: It currently resides in Long Beach with its spouse and 2 children.

{Homestar quits singing.}

{The Paper comes down onto the photo.}

Easter Eggs

• Wait a bit at the end to see what becomes of The Paper.

• At the end, click on "4 Wheels" on the wagon to see Homestar, undefeated in spirit.

HOMESTAR: {singing in the now dark champeenship stadium}

I'm the best around

Dubba dubba dubba, can take me down!

I'm the best around!

Dubba dubba dubba, can take me down!

{his score on the score board behind him turns from 0 to -1 as the buzzing sound is heard}

• At the end, click on "Strong Bad" to see another scene.

{highly pixelated versions of Strong Bad and the Wagon Fulla Pancakes are running through a highly pixelated city, which is the NYC backdrop from Punch-Out from the NES}

STRONG BAD: It's a showdown going downtown

You're gonna mess around showdown

Put your nose down showdown

Fun Facts

Template:funfacts

• This is an email that was sent in by an HRWiki member. Congratulations porplemontage!

• The song Homestar is singing in the Easter Egg ("You're the Best") comes from the 1984 masterpiece, The Karate Kid. Homestar's headband, bearing the design of an old Japanese flag, is also a reference to this film, and has appeared before in both pom pom and Theme Song Video.
  • The scene during which "You're the Best" plays in The Karate Kid is another well-known martial arts training montage.

• The scene with Strong Bad and the Wagon Fulla Pancakes sitting in the canoe is reminiscent of lures & jigs, where Strong Bad and Coach Z fish in the exact same spot.

• The song Strong Bad sings when he falls in love with the wagon is reminiscent of the style of The Kinda Long Haired Band.

• Much of the wagon's training sequence (especially the wagon "running" up the stairs) is a parody of the training sequence from the immortal boxing epic, Rocky. It could also be seen as an homage to the Matthew Modine classic Vision Quest in which the steps of a stadium are used during the workout routine.

• The Strong Bad easter egg is a take on the popular NES game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, in which halfway through the game you saw a similar sequence.
  • The Punchout sequence itself was a clear reference to the training sequence in Rocky.

• The Taranchula album cover is the same one from the liner notes of the Strong Bad Sings CD. The name "Taranchula" also appears in the e-mail "Band Names".

• When Strong Bad is in Marshmallow's Last Stand with the wagon, he's using the bottle of ketchup and eating the fries from funny.

• There actually is a system call in the Unix operating system called "creat." It creat(e)s a new file.

• The reference to Strong Bad going on to host a show on Animal Planet that got cancelled before the first commericial break is a reference to how the Cable network Animal Planet will sometimes hype a new show beyond a belief, making you think it will be a great new series.... then all they show is the pilot and nothing else.

• Besides the smoking game, this is the first actual cartoon in which you see The Cheat smoking. Strong Bad originally acknowledged The Cheat's nicotine habit in Where's The Cheat?

• The "some guy from a zoo" line by Strong Bad during the "Late-Night Talk Show"-style intro is most likely a reference to how such shows often resort to the gimmick of having zoo workers appear on the show, accompanied by their animal partners, whose mischievous antics can often get a cheap laugh from the audience.

• When The Cheat and the wagon are door-to-door salesman, they visit the house from The House That Gave Sucky Treats twice.

• In the original version of this e-mail, the background was static while Strong Bad and the wagon were spinning around. It has since been fixed to blurred trees.

• Homestar gets less money for a shirt than he gets for a half-eaten breakfast burrito in "Some Type of Online Auction"

• The Cheat not being able to sell any toner is reminiscent of the movie The Salesman, where traveling salesmen have varying rates of success selling bibles. The poorest selling bible seller of the group winds up losing his job.

• The sparkling water seen while Strong Bad is running on the horizon seems to be the same from Main Page 3.

• The Movie Theatre that Strong Bad and the Wagon go to is the one from A Jorb Well Done.

• At the rate of one e-mail per week, The Paper will be around for almost exactly one more year, as the 173rd e-mail would land on December 5th, 2005 (fifty-six Mondays away).

• In filmic terms, scholars David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson define a montage sequence as "a segment of film which summarizes a topic or compresses a passage of time into brief symbolic or typical images." Also, montage sequences generally represent a longer passage of time than the also-typical "dissolve" or "fade" techniques between shots.

• When Strong Bad sings the line "Lifting weights and feeling all right" during the training montage, it might be a reference to dangeresque 3's "Riding in a Corvette and feeling all right" lyric.

• Strong Bad probably changed Steve's name to Watered Down to prevent another "Eh Steve" crack, like he did in kids' book and different town.

• Strong Bad, who makes a point of criticizing every e-mailer's spelling and grammar, makes a critical mistake here himself. "Why don't you creat an alternate reality where you don't have to spell correctly and I talk like this." This sentence should have a question mark, but it doesn't!

• The line about Strong Bad's show being canceled before the commercial break may be a reference to Turn-On, which was cancelled 10 minutes into its pilot episode.

• This email introduces an updated, more symmetrical version of the gray "horns" on Strong Bad's mask.

External Links

• watch "montage"
• view the flash file for "montage"
• forum thread re: "montage"