sb_email 22

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Strong Bad offends the royals!

Strong Bad is asked by Mark from England what he thinks of the English. It's a disaster in the making.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, The Cheat (Easter egg), The Announcer (Voice only, Easter egg)

Places: Computer Room, Press Conference (Easter egg)

Computer: Tandy 400

Date: Monday, September 2, 2002

Running Time: 0:34

Page Title: The Lost Email!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc One

SBEmail Menu Description: The Cheat helps Strong Bad recover from a PR nightmare after he offends the UK.

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} Do, du, dadada do, du, dadada do... {stops singing}

Hi Strong Bad,

I'm from England. What do you think of
the English?

Thank you,
Mark

STRONG BAD: Uh, gee, Mark, if you're really from England, shouldn't you have some kinda unnecessary vowel at the end of your name? {adds an "e" to the end of Mark's name} And what is this "Thank you"? Whatever happened to "Cheers" or "Cheerio" or "Nevermind the Bullocks"? {changes "Thank you" into these words as he says them} Call yourself "English". But, anyways, what do I think of the English, huh? Oh, I'll tell you what I think of the English!

{A big red sign with white letters appears across the screen saying "BANNED IN THE UK." Cut to an issue of The Guardian, which contains pictures of a cricketer, The King of Town and a policeman, and the following article about Strong Bad on the front page.}

Strong Bad Offends
The Royals!

In this Monday's edition of U.S. based "Strong Bad
Email," the title character, Strong Bad, an odd little
bloke with a Mexican wrestling mask for a head and
boxing gloves for hands made such comments that
warranted the Queen to ban the edition from UK
shores. Strong Bad has been charged with "verbal
crimes against the crown" and the Strong Bad Email,
now simply being called the infamous "sbemail22,"
has been removed from broadcast in both the UK and
the States. At a press conference held on Tuesday,

Easter Eggs

• After the newspaper comes up, click the words "press conference" to see the press conference.

{Cut to a press conference room, where The Cheat, wearing a suit and tie, and Strong Bad are behind a desk. Multiple cameras flash.}

THE ANNOUNCER: Strong Bad, how do you respond to claims that your comment brought the entire royal family to tears?

{The Cheat whispers a response to Strong Bad. Strong Bad clears his throat and speaks into the microphone.}

STRONG BAD: Screw all y'all.

{Gasps are heard from the crowd.}

THE ANNOUNCER: Cor blimey!

{A black-and-white photograph snaps Strong Bad and The Cheat.}

MAN: {off screen, in a Scouse accent} I can't believe he said that.

{The Paper comes down.}

• After the press conference, click on the stack of papers to see what The Cheat told Strong Bad. The paper reads, "Just say, 'Screw all ya'll'. Trust me. It'll work."

Fun Facts

Explanations

• This is called "The Lost Email!" because after The Brothers Chaps made email 21, cartoon, they went ahead and made email 23, little animal, skipping over number 22. Between vacation (#40) and invisibility (#41), they made email 22.
  • The skip makes this email the last of the Tandy era.
  • The newspaper's date is 10 April, 2002. This date is between the release dates of cartoon and little animal.
  • This email was originally listed on the sbemail menu between cartoon and little animal. However, as of the December 31, 2020 update, it is now listed between vacation and invisibility, reflecting when the email was originally released.
• "Bobby" is English slang for a policeman, hence the joke about a policeman actually named Bobby.
• The article on cricket is a reference to America's stereotyped attitude to the sport of cricket which the English are renowned for embracing.
• "Some kinda unnecessary vowel at the end" refers to differences between American English and British English (especially archaic British). Examples include words like annexe, programme, shoppe, olde, pointe, towne, and grille, and famous names such as Locke.
• According to The Guardian: "The King Of Town Eats Treacle". Although the King of Town is known for his proclivity for strange food items, treacle is not all that strange. The word is not used by many Americans, but it's really just molasses.
• "Bollocks" is a British slang term that would be considered swearing in Britain. That said, Strong Bad misspells it as "bullocks", which refers to young bulls.
• The section listed for info on cricket is listed as "sport". This is because "sport" is both singular and plural in British English.

Trivia

• This is the shortest Strong Bad email, with a time of 34 seconds. Thus the email's Easter egg is the second-most significant proportion of any email to date, after comic.
• The YouTube description for this email is "The Cheat helps Strong Bad recover from a PR nightmare after he offends the UK."

Remarks

• This is an email in which The Paper does not come down in the main toon; here it comes down only at the end of the Easter egg. Another example of this would be the end of the email part-time job.
• The black and white picture used when the "BANNED IN THE UK" banner comes up is a raster image.
• Despite supposedly being a British publication, The Guardian uses American-style punctuation, as opposed to using the British style.

The see-through hand

Goofs

• When Strong Bad covers the microphone with his hand, there is a gap between his hand and the edge of the mic. Strong Bad's hand also covers the pole that the mic is set on, even though his glove should be behind it.
• The words "press conference" in the newspaper (which form the link to the Easter egg) don't match the stretch and skew of the rest of the words on the page.

Glitches

• If the contrast is changed all the way to green during the beginning, the "BANNED IN THE UK" banner changes it back to black just before the newspaper appears.

Inside References

• The Guardian describes itself as "Britain's Pranciest Newspaper".

Real-World References

• The song Strong Bad sings in the beginning of the email is from original Donkey Kong game.
• "Nevermind the Bullocks" refers to the Sex Pistols' controversial album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. Upon its release in 1977, Virgin Records was sued for obscenity but won the case (with the chairman famously declaring "we must reluctantly find you not guilty of each of the four charges."), the album was banned from the three largest retailers (but was otherwise legal), and their proposed tour for the album was drastically shortened after half their shows were canceled by political pressure or illness.
• The newspaper that appears is a very faithfully reproduced version of UK broadsheet The Guardian, including references to that paper's supplement, G2. The Guardian has since undergone a major design overhaul and no longer resembles the version depicted in the toon.
• In the corner of the photo of Strong Bad, a classic London bus can be seen. There is also an advert on the side of it for easyJet, a British airline.
• Somebody sounding suspiciously like Ringo Starr says "I can't believe he said that" at the end of the press conference. This could be in reference to the infamous John Lennon quote stating that The Beatles were "more popular than Jesus" and the uproar that ensued.

Fast Forward

• The Cheat's whispering to Strong Bad is one of the quotes on the "Learn to Speak The Cheat" record in cheat talk. It translates as "Check it out, this is going to be great! Just say, 'Screw all y'all!'"

External Links

• watch "sb email 22"
• watch "sb email 22" on YouTube
• watch "sb email 22" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "sb email 22"