That Time of Year

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search
watch
"The boy gets financial advice from the rat king."

"That Time of Year" is a holiday children's story by Leomard Sportsinterviews, reinterpreted by Strong Bad in the style of his kids' book. It is found in Decemberween in July.

Date: Monday, July 12, 2004

Running Time: 1:14

Page Title: From the Whimsical mind of Leomard Sportsinterviews

Contents

[edit] Transcript

{A book is seen resting on a table. Its title is "That Time of Year". On the front, there is a picture of a boy making a snowman and holding a hat with a sprig of holly at the top. A Cheap as Free logo is in the top left.}

VOICEOVER: "That Time Of Year", by Leomard
STRONG BAD: {quickly} Strong Bad!
VOICEOVER: Sportsinterviews.

{The book opens to show the first page, which features the same picture as the front cover. For all the pages, the voiceover reads the text, which then changes to an edited version that Strong Bad reads.}

VOICEOVER: Decemberween is almost here. Get ready.

{The holly becomes edited to resemble a praying mantis and a pistol is drawn in the boy's hand.}

STRONG BAD: De Giant Mantis is almost here. Get ready to be pistol-whipped, snowman! Or... {eyes appear on the hat the boy is holding and a worm's body is drawn, attached to it} "Erweenga" is the name of the striped {pronounced "stripèd"} worm. Get dead, kid.

{The page turns to show a picture of a present and a mouse wearing a Santa Claus hat pointing to it.}

VOICEOVER: Does the package have a—

STRONG BAD: troll in it? {a troll appears, peeping round the edge of the present}
VOICEOVER: {simultaneously} doll in it? Or maybe—

STRONG BAD: a troll? {another one appears on the other side}
VOICEOVER: {simultaneously} a train?

{The page turns to show a boy pulling a sled and holding out his hand on a snow-covered landscape.}

VOICEOVER: Snow falls from the 'bove. It's cold when it snows.

{The falling snowflakes become the centers of eyeballs and a rat wearing a crown appears in the boy's hand.}

STRONG BAD: Now, a million eyeballs fall from the 'bove. The boy gets financial advice from the rat king. Or... {a black orb appears in the boy's hand and his face is shown to be on fire} Show the future, magic ball!! It burns flesh when it glows.

{The page turns to show three adults singing at the end of a walled path, while a young girl peeps out from behind the legs of one of them. One of the adults is holding a candy cane.}

VOICEOVER: The Martins sing festive songs for the neighbors.

{A lampshade appears on one of the adults' heads. Glasses of some alcholic beverage appear on the candy cane, in one person's hand and in the air. A spray paint can appears in the girl's hand and an image of Trogdor appears on the wall.}

STRONG BAD: The martinis have gone straight to their heads. The neighbors will probably call the cops.

{The page turns to show a wooly hat on a table next to a plate of seasonal biscuits. An arm is pointing to it.}

VOICEOVER: Wear a hat. Don't forget to wear a hat!

{Angry eyes, horns, and a mouth with a forked tongue protruding from it appear on the hat. Copious jewelry appears on the hand.}

STRONG BAD: I swear that thing is evil. Liberace is fixing to lose a finger.

{The page turns to show a girl opening an oven, while a mouse in a Santa Claus hat looks on.}

VOICEOVER: Greta is making cookies. When will they be done?

{A punk hairstyle and fishnet tight patterns appear on Greta and a can of bug spray appears in her hand. She is spraying a cloud of it at the mouse.}

STRONG BAD: Greta is feeding the mouse bug spray. When will he be done for?

{The page turns to show people emerging from a store, carrying presents.}

VOICEOVER: The store is crowded with

{A face and robotic arms appear on the nearest stack of presents. An agonized expression appears on the man who is carrying them. Other robots appear in the background.}

STRONG BAD: robots bursting out of people. Oh the humanity!
VOICEOVER: {simultaneously} people buying things for other people. Oh boy!

{The page turns to show three children looking in at a stack of presents from another room.}

VOICEOVER: Decemberween is here. Decemberween is here. Today.

{A glowing aura appears around the presents and arms appear on the children's heads.}

STRONG BAD: Radioactivity is here. Growing arms out of heads is here. Today! Or... {Strong Bad appears, wrapping his arms around the presents.} I am here stealing your presents. Sorry kids, today is not your lucky day.

{The book closes.}

[edit] Fun Facts

[edit] Explanations

  • Martinis are a type of mixed alcoholic drink, hence the comment about martinis going to people's heads.
  • Whenever the page turns, a bell sound plays. This may be a reference to audiotaped versions of children's books that play a sound whenever the reader is supposed to turn the page.

[edit] Trivia

  • When the Martins' page turns, the text reads, "The song they sing is pretty. Very pretty, indeed." for one frame.

[edit] Remarks

  • The voiceover reading the original book sounds like Mike Chapman.
  • Strong Bad says, "Liberace is fixing to lose a finger." The phrase "fixing to" is commonly found in dialects of the southern United States to mean "about to". The Brothers Chaps live in Georgia.
  • Even though the page is turned several times (and possibly to the end), the thickness of both the left side and the right side of the pages (the right side is thicker) always stays the same.

[edit] Goofs

  • When the page about Greta is turned, the text changes to "Greta ismaking cookies. When will they be done?"

[edit] Inside References

"And the Trogdor comes in the WAAAAALL!!!"
  • The nametag at the beginning of the book shows that it belongs to Cherry Greg.
  • When describing Erweenga the worm, Strong Bad describes it as stripèd.
  • The boy gets financial advice from the Rat King. The book also features a mouse in the kitchen.
  • During the "Martinis" part, the little girl spray paints a picture of Trogdor on the bricks.

[edit] Real-World References

  • Liberace was a professional piano player, famous for his exuberant and often flamboyant act and pianos. He was very fond of his expensive jewelry and rings.
  • The striped worm that Strong Bad draws on the first page looks just like the snake that eats Christmas trees and presents in The Nightmare Before Christmas (which, in itself, was based on the Saturn Sandworm from Beetlejuice).
  • The golden stripe on the book is a reference to Little Golden Books.
  • The rat king is likely a reference to the Mouse King, the main antagonist in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's famous Christmas ballet, "The Nutcracker", which is shown as a rat rather than a mouse in many adaptations.
  • "Oh the humanity" was a famous exclamation made by Herbert Morrison while he was watching the Hindenburg burst into flames.
  • "Show the future, magic ball!! It burns flesh when it glows" may be a reference to the Loc-Nar from Heavy Metal, which, in turn, is based off the Den series of comics.

[edit] DVD and YouTube Versions

"That guy's gonna kick that puppy!"
  • Both "trolls" appear simultaneously. Strong Bad also doesn't scribble out the replaced "d" and "ain", but instead draws a line through each word and writes the full word "troll" next to each one.
  • In Strong Bad's "magic ball" rewrite, he only scratches out the words "falls from" once (instead of three times) and the word "'bove" is not scratched out at all (Strong Bad still does not read it).
  • In just the YouTube version, after Strong Bad edits the page with the store, but right before the page turns, an unused Strong Bad edit is shown for one single frame. It shows the shoppers with various shovels through their bodies, and in front of the closest man's bent leg is a puppy. The caption now reads: "The store is crowded with people impaled by shovels. That guy's gonna kick that puppy! Oh by!"

[edit] External Links

Personal tools
Subtitles