rampage

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Revision as of 01:39, 29 January 2007

"I'm on a rampage!"

Strong Bad reveals to 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

Date: April 11, 2005

Running Time: 3:41

Page Title: Lappy 486

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Four

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, wearing a pair of half-moon reading glasses, 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! {Strong Bad moves away slightly}

{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 the 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; both the King and Strong Bad look at the camera} 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!

{Homestar pulls out judge's gavel and hits himself three 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. The Cheat glares at him.}

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 simplistic, old-video-game-style "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 hood! {pronounced "hawd"} Remind me again: what part of the streets are you from, exactly? {He 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 from "Halloween Fairstival", 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! {Marzipan starts frowning.} Caramel corn for president, please!

{Homsar's hat flies in a circle, but lands about half an inch from his head. 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! {He 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, {He 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. {slightly mumbling and said 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, to the music which was played under Strong Sad's rap. After some time, Strong Mad runs on the screen and a speech bubble over his head says "MY PANTIES! MY PANTIES!", which flashes slowly.
  • The Cheat appears to be an altered George sprite from the game. George was a giant gorilla very similar to King Kong, who used his arm furthest from the player to aid him in walking, just as The Cheat does.
• 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 the cover of the Strong Sad CD "Witness the Whiteness". The sub-title is "Spoken word ... is bond!" In addition, there is a "Parental Advisory" warning that the CD is "Very Boring". Unlike other CD-related Easter eggs, this one does not play a song when clicked.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• The phrases "Ong-stray Ad-bay" and "epressing-day erd-nay" are of 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, citation, 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...."
• "Sub-po-ena" is an intentional mispronunciation of the word "subpoena" (pronounced sub-PEE-nah), a court order which legally forces testimony or evidence be presented.
• 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. Ironically, while Strong Sad glorifies iambic pentameter, his creation is a pretty bad example of it. He twists the stresses on "lyric rampage," properly pronounced LY-ric RAM-page (a pair of trochees), into ly-RIC ram-PAGE (a pair of iambs).
• Notice Strong Bad's word flow regarding the four rampages he shows us: reading, regal, legal, lyrical. Iambic pentameter was popular with such poets as William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer, and was for a long time the standard English meter.

• The Cheat is using a battle record, which is a vinyl record made up of samples and simple drum loops (like Strong Sad's "do—doodoo" beat). They're used by DJs, primarily for scratching. When the records are scratched, or spun at different RPMs, the simple "do do" beats produce the more familiar "phat" sounds (like Strong Bad and Coach Z's beats).

Trivia

• Reading Rampage book titles:
  • Sweatshirtguy
  • The R in Routine
  • Soup, Right?
  • Brown Story
  • Biscuit
  • Smart Investing for Jerks
  • BUG (Strong Mad's waffle)

Remarks

• Marzipan seems to stutter uncharacteristically during the phrase "would be proud."
• After he stops speaking, Homsar's hat remains suspended 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.
• This is another example of Strong Bad wearing a shirt.

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.
• Strong Mad was previously seen wearing reading glasses in the Email Processing Room.
• In the Rampage Easter egg, The Cheat looks like the Strong Badman The Cheat from the DVD Sketchbook feature.
• Litigation Jackson is a reference to a film advertisement and sponsor in the beginning of the toon A Decemberween Pageant.

Real-World References

• The parental advisory on Strong Sad's CD 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.
• "Reading Rampage" is a reference to the PBS series Reading Rainbow hosted by Levar Burton.
• 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 parody of the numerous ...For Dummies books.
• "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 Halloween.
  • Note that, although in the early days of hip hop the distinction was not so clearcut, "DJ" has come to mean someone who manipulates the background music (The Cheat's role here), whereas the actual rapper is more commonly referred to as the "MC".
• The phrase "I'm on a rampage!" appears in the DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince song "Then She Bit Me."
• "Word is Bond" is a song by the hiphop group House of Pain.
• "Witness the whiteness" is a reference to the song "Witness the Fitness" by British rapper Rodney Smith a.k.a Roots Manuva

DVD Version

• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch your DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman, Jonathan Howe, and Ryan Sterritt)

RYAN: Hey guys.

MATT: Email checker c'mon and c'mon, y'all.

MIKE: Oh, gosh.

MATT: What was that a reference to, Mike? Do you remember?

MIKE: Uh, a rap song you made in college called "The All-Star Rapper".

MATT: That's right. "I'm a star rapper c'mon an' come on, y'all."

RYAN: "What's the 411?"

MATT: That's from high school.

RYAN: That's a good one.

JONATHAN: Do you, um, do you write those in advance, or do you just, whatever? Do you just... freak from your head?

MATT: The Strong Bad— I can do that. {laughter} You know, I'm sorry, but that's just how I do it.

JONATHAN: No disrespect.

MATT: Uh, remember, Mike, we discussed making an Easter egg that was a reference to Reading Rainbow, but it was, like, Reading Rampage instead? It was the beginning of a show: "Take a look! It's in a book! Reading Rampage!"

MIKE: {regarding the email} There was a story there called Brown Story.

MATT: {laughing} I would like to know what Brown Story is all about.

MIKE: {also laughing} I don't know if I do.

JONATHAN: That looks like the Fisher Price, um—

MATT: Flute?

JONATHAN: —magic wand.

MATT: Oh, I was gonna say yeah, it was musical, right?

RYAN: I love that he has a jacket on here.

MIKE: That's a bad sound effect, actually.

MATT: Yeah.

JONATHAN: No, it's good.

MATT: It's uh, we don't use it so much anymore.

MIKE: It's one of the very cartoony sound effects that we used to use.

MATT: It's reverb on the wrought iron.

MIKE: You've gotta like it when Coach Z raps.

MATT: Yeah, you've got to.

RYAN: I like the old record player.

MATT: The Fisher Price record player?

JONATHAN: I like that— that Coach Z is smart enough to rhyme his own mispronunciations.

{laughter}

MATT: Exactly.

JONATHAN: He's, he's uh, very clever about it

MATT: I remember taking— I took a— I would just take a Fisher Price record player to college with me and not have a stereo and just listen to vinyl, and then I realized that the needle, or something with it, like, unless you were listening to, like, really slow stuff or jazz, it just couldn't handle it. I remember trying to listen to some Steel Pole Bath Tub {laughs} in my dorm room, and it was just skipping all over the place; the needle couldn't handle the grooves.

MIKE: It didn't approve.

JONATHAN: Was not hi-fi.

MATT: It didn't approve of the groove.

{pause}

MATT: Does it say anything on that 45? I don't even remember.

MIKE: Uhhhh.

MATT: Or is it just scribbles?

MIKE: Let's see, I think it looked like scribbles.

JONATHAN: Is— was that iambic pentameter?

MATT: It was. I looked it up; I did extensive research to make sure I was accurate.

JONATHAN: What's that, ends of the lines? How does it—

MIKE: Yeah, it's like, two-word couplets,—

MATT: Five syllable— two syllable coup— five two syllable couplets, I guess.

MIKE: With the second syllable being stressed.

MATT: Right. Iambs.

MIKE: Right. Yeah. Exactly. Pentameter. Five iambs.

JONATHAN: You researched that better than I researched the, uh, spelling of MLA. {laughing} At the beginning.

MATT: That's all right.

MIKE: Yeah, Jonathan did the, um, he moved Strong Bad's head around and did the, uh, typing animation, um, for this email.

MATT: That's right.

JONATHAN: Pretty exciting.

MIKE: He hasn't done it since.

JONATHAN: Yeah.

{laughter}

JONATHAN: I've been asked to go home on Sunday nights.

{big laughter at the email}

MATT: That's a rare example of Coach Z laughing.

JONATHAN: I like Coach Z laughing a lot. I really— I like it when Strong Bad goes, "What is wrong with you?"

MATT: He's obviously having a problem making jokes.

JONATHAN: Yeah.

MIKE: Ryan?

RYAN: Hi guys.

MATT: We'd like you to take this one home for us.

MIKE: Yeah, finish it off!

RYAN: I'll be, I'll be... here.

{laughter}

External Links

• watch "rampage"
• watch "rampage" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "rampage"
• forum thread re: "rampage"