rampage

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I'm on a rampage!

Strong Bad Email #128

Strong Bad reveals to Peter Comma the rampages he has been going on.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Strong Mad, The King of Town, Homestar Runner, Coach Z, The Cheat, Strong Sad, Marzipan, Homsar

Places: Computer Room, Strong Bad's Basement, King of Town's Castle, Homestar's House, The Stage, Bubs' Concession Stand/Bubs' Ha-Ha-Halloween Comedy Club

Computer: Lappy 486

Length: 3:41

Date: April 11, 2005

Contents

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} Email, check it, come on, a-come on, y'all-a. Email check it, come on, a-come on, y'all!

subject: Overdue rampage
Der Ong-stray Ad-bay,
I thinks it's been entirely too long since you went on a
rampage.
Sincerely Peter,

{Strong Bad pronounces the misspelled "der". He also states "Sincerely Peter" as the closing greeting and "Comma" as the sender's name.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Well, Epressing-day Erd-nay, I thinks it's been entirely too long since you consulted your M.L.A. handbook! {clears screen, returns typing} Eh, so maybe it has been a while since my last rampage. But that doesn't mean I'm goin' soft or nothin'. I've just grown more selective of the types of rampages on which I go. Like the other freakin' day: me and Strong Mad went on a Reading Rampage.

{Strong Mad and Strong Bad are seen on The Couch with many books stacked around them. Strong Mad is holding a waffle that reads "BUG" in syrup, and Strong Bad reads "Smart Investing for Jerks". The waffle drips syrup onto the floor.}

STRONG BAD: Man, this book really speaks to me. In like, {flips book upside-down} a couple of different languages, even.

STRONG MAD: THIS BOOK IS TOO LONG!

{Back at the computer, Strong Bad keeps typing.}

STRONG BAD: See? It's not all rampage-stompin'-boy style rampages. The pie's the limit as far as rampages are concerned. Why, ye could go on a regal rampage.

{Strong Bad appears in The King of Town's Castle, wearing a blanket around his neck, holding a scepter and wearing The King of Town's crown. The crownless King of Town stands nearby.}

STRONG BAD: {Whacking king with scepter} I bequeath thee! I bequeath thee! I bequeath thee!

KING OF TOWN: {While getting whacked} Ow! Ow! One more!

STRONG BAD: {raising scepter} Ye hath quivered me tuppence!

KING OF TOWN: Oops, you lost me!

{Strong Bad whacks King with scepter two more times.}

KING OF TOWN: {While getting whacked} OW! OW!

STRONG BAD: {Voice-over} Ooh, ooh! Or how about a legal rampage?

{Cut to the outside of Homestar's House, with Homestar peeking out the door and Strong Bad walking in in a business suit with a bunch of papers}

STRONG BAD: This is a sub-po-ena! {throws papers onto steps} I summons exhibit 4-B to my chambers!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Sustained! {pulls out judge's gavel and hits himself 3 times, accompanied by sound effects}

{Cut back to the Lappy}

STRONG BAD: {typing} And don't forget the lyrical rampages me and Coach Z are always going on. Or more like, going OOORRRRFF! {The last word is said in a fake Coach Z accent.}

{Cut to the Stage, where Strong Bad and Coach Z are standing with microphones. Music is playing in the background}

STRONG BAD: I'm on a rampage!

COACH Z: I've got problems with my feet and my back!

STRONG BAD: I'm on a rampage!

COACH Z: I'm about to have a dope rhyme attack!

STRONG BAD: I'm on a rampage!

COACH Z: Coach Z, rock all type of sports!

STRONG BAD: I'm on a rampage!

COACH Z: And if you don't believe me, you can get with the Chort!

{Cut to the Cheat, who is scratching on a children's record player. Then Strong Sad enters. The music screeches to a halt.}

STRONG SAD: May I please ask how repeating the same four words constitutes a lyrical rampage?

STRONG BAD: May I please ask how a round mound of gray fatness constitutes a younger brother? {Points at the audience.} I'm on a rampage!

STRONG SAD: But what about rules of verse? Iambic pentameter is where it's at! Hit it, The Cheat!

THE CHEAT: {angrily} Meh?

STRONG SAD: I dunno, drop some beats or something.

STRONG BAD: Uh, they're gonna have to be fat beats in your case. Go ahead, The Cheat. Let's witness the whiteness.

THE CHEAT: Meh.

{The Cheat starts the record player - playing a very childish "beat".}

STRONG SAD: The quill! The page! Ly-ric, ram-page! Umm... Word up?

{Strong Bad and Coach Z snicker}

STRONG BAD: Oh, that was great, Strong Sad. I didn't know you was hard! {pronounced "hawd"} Remind me again: what part of the streets are you from, exactly? {snickers again}

COACH Z: You're a real MC, Strong Sad! Master of ceremonies!

{Coach Z and Strong Bad laugh for a moment, until Strong Bad realizes what was just said.}

STRONG BAD: Er, wait...

STRONG SAD: Forget you guys! It went over great at my Poetry Slam!

{Cut to the side of Bubs' Concession Stand, which still has the comedy club decorations, but has a banner marked "Poetry Slam" in front of them. Strong Sad stands by the microphone, while silhouettes of Marzipan and Homsar are in the foreground.}

STRONG SAD: The quill! The page! Ly-ric, ram-page! Word up?

MARZIPAN: Good style there, Strong Sad! Geoff Chaucer would be would be proud!

HOMSAR: AaAaAaAaAaAaA! Caramel corn for president, please!

{Cut back to the Stage}

STRONG BAD: Yeah, run along, DJ Dumpy Dump! We gotta get back to rampagin'!

COACH Z: 'Ey, maybe we should start calling you "SS"! For Strong Sad! {laughs maniacally}

{Strong Bad and The Cheat stare at Coach Z increduously}

STRONG BAD: {to Coach Z} What is wrong with you?

{the beat starts again}

COACH Z: I'm bad at abbreviations!

STRONG BAD: You're on a rampage?

COACH Z: The number one jam on all the stations! {Strong Bad's boxing gloves move in a jazzy motion, then his head does.}

{Cut back to the Lappy}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Ya see Comma, {pronounces both the name "Comma" and the actual comma} you can still hurt people and their feelings with all manner of different rampages. Until next time, bailiff, I'll be in my chambers. I mean, The Cheat, I'll be in my office... which is this room. {quickly} So, I'll be right here.

{The Paper comes down}

Easter Eggs

  • At the end of the e-mail, click on "rampages" for a parody of the classic video game Rampage, published by Bally Midway in 1986. In this, a The Cheat-like monster runs across the screen holding underpants. After some time, Strong Mad runs on the screen and a speech bubble over his head says "MY PANTIES! MY PANTIES!". It reappears after a while.
  • Also at the end, click on "chambers" to see the poster for Litigation Jackson 2: Legal Rampage.
  • Again at the end, click on "different" to see a Strong Sad CD. Unlike other CD-related easter eggs, this one does not let you hear a song when clicked.

Fun Facts

Explanations

  • When Peter says "Ong-stray Ad-bay" and Strong Bad says "epressing-day erd-nay," this is a fake language called Pig Latin. Translated, Peter said "Strong Bad," and Strong Bad said "depressing nerd."
  • The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is a guide for punctuation, quotation, and documentation of sources published by the Modern Language Association. It is the most popular standard for academic writing.
  • Shortly after referring to the MLA Handbook, Strong Bad writes, "I've just grown more selective of the types of rampages on which I go." The slightly odd phrasing at the end of the sentence ("on which I go" rather than the more natural "which I go on") pokes fun at a rule of formal writing (as the MLA explains) that no sentence should end with a preposition. In the very next sentence, however, Strong Bad employs a grossly ungrammatical construction using the object pronoun case "me and Strong Mad..." (instead of the required subject pronoun case "Strong Mad and I..."), and later "me and Coach Z...."
  • Definitions of Strong Bad's "regal" language:
    • bequeath: verb, To leave or give (personal property) by will. To pass (something) on to another; hand down.
    • quiver: 1. verb, To shake with a slight, rapid, tremulous movement. 2. noun, a case for carrying arrows. 3. noun, the arrows in a quiver.
    • tuppence: noun, British variant of twopence, or two pennies. Esp. in pre-decimal coinage.
  • Strong Sad mentions iambic pentameter, which is a syllable pattern used in poetry. An iamb is a pair of syllables, the first unstressed and the second stressed. Iambic pentameter is five iambs per line. Strong Sad says "The quill! The page! Ly-ric, ram-page! Word up?" in exaggerated iambic pentameter. Note that "lyric" and "rampage" are normally pronounced with the first syllable accented, so Strong Sad's line is not truly iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter was popular with such poets as William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer, and was for a long time the standard English meter.

Trivia

  • Reading Rampage book titles:
    • Sweatshirtguy
    • The R in Routine
    • Soup, Right?
    • Brown Story
    • Biscuit
    • Smart Investing for Jerks

Remarks

  • This is the first time we've ever heard Coach Z actually laugh.
  • After he stops speaking, Homsar's hat still hovers in mid-air instead of returning to his head.
  • It's interesting that Strong Bad advises Peter to consult his "M.L.A. handbook"; if he'd checked his own, he would have seen that the MLA doesn't use periods when it refers to itself.

Inside References

  • The book "The R in Routine" and Strong Mad chasing The Cheat (who has Strong Mad's "panties"), are references to morning routine.
  • "Poetry Slam" is the title of Strong Sad's character page.
  • The glasses Strong Mad is wearing are from his costume in the Email Processing Room.
  • In the Rampage easter egg, The Cheat looks like the Strong Badman The Cheat from the DVD Sketchbook feature.

Real-World References

  • On Strong Sad's CD (when "different" is clicked), there is a "Parental Advisory" warning for "Very Boring". This advisory is a parody of the advisories found on music albums containing explicit lyrics or otherwise offensive content. Parental Advisory labels became required by most record companies in America following the 1985 "Porn Rock" congressional hearings spearheaded by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), led by Tipper Gore.
  • The Cheat uses an old '80s Fisher-Price record player to "drop some beats." The drum beats he plays to back Strong Sad are from a Yamaha PSS-180 home keyboard's "custom drummer" section.
  • "Smart Investing for Jerks" is a reference to the numerous ...For Dummies books, which insult the reader in their title.
  • It's rumored that the song playing during "lyric rampage" is the beat to Jay-Z's Song Dope Man from Volume Three; Life and Times of S. Carter.
    • Or, that song could be the theme of the old TV show, SWAT.
  • "Geoff Chaucer" refers to Geoffrey Chaucer, a 14th century English poet famous for The Canterbury Tales.
  • Strong Bad calling Strong Sad DJ Dumpy Dump is a reference to the rapper Humpty Hump, who Coach Z dressed up as for Holloween.
  • The scene shown in the "rampage" easter egg is taken from the Rampage Arcade game, in which up to three players control mutated monsters on a city-destruction rampage, in the style of the King Kong/Gozilla movies.

External Links

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