The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods
From Homestar Runner Wiki
| Toon Category: Holiday Toon |
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Strong Bad reads the tale of The Homestar Runner turning into a ghost, and venturing into the Spooky Woods to face three fears and earn back his corporeal form.
Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, The Homestar Runner (storybook), Pom Pom, Tiny-Handed Strong Bad, Strong Mad, Strong Sad, The Poopsmith, Coach Z, Bubs, The King of Town, Homsar, The Cheat, Homestar Runner, Marzipan, The Wheelchair (Easter egg), Eh! Steve! (Easter egg), Sherlock (Easter egg)
Places: Storybook World, The King of Town's Castle, Spooky Woods, The Field, Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Land (Easter egg)
See The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods Costumes for more information on what everyone was wearing.
Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Running Time: 9:18 (TV Time Toons Menu), 6:06 (Actual), 10:05 (YouTube)
Page Title: The Homestar Runner Exits This Mortal Coil
Contents |
Transcript
{Music plays as the cover of a storybook is shown against an orange background, titled "homestar runner enters the spooky woods contest" and subtitled "a thoroughly hallowed ween story for kids and children aboth"}
STRONG BAD: {narrating} The Homestar Runner Enters the Spooky Woods Contest. Er—never mind. {an X appears over the word "contest"}
{The first page shows The Homestar Runner against the same orange background, in front of a red-orange pumpkin. The caption reads, "Everyone loves The Homestar Runner. He is a terrific athlete."}
STRONG BAD: Everybody loves The Homestar Runner. {Homestar poses happily} He is an athletic terrife. {the caption changes to "athletic terrife"; Homestar plops down again and gives Strong Bad a weird look}
{The next page shows The Homestar Runner and Pom Pom in the storybook field.}
STRONG BAD: Once upon that singular time, The Homestar Runner and Pom Pom were playing it safe.
{The Homestar Runner concentrates for a moment with his eyes closed, then straightens, his eyes popping.}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Mmm... ah! I did it! Now it's your turn to think about a soft pillow, Pom Pom!
POM POM: {bubbles, eyelids lowered}
{Enter Tiny-Handed Strong Bad, Strong Mad, and Strong Sad, each wearing a mask}
STRONG BAD: Up bounded The Fearsome Brothers Strong wearing scary monster outfits.
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: {wavy motion lines coming from his mouth} HORRORSHOW!!
STRONG BAD: Burped Strong Bad.
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: SUCH A FRIGHT!
STRONG BAD: Squelched The Homestar Runner, and he lay down and died.
{The Homestar Runner lays down and turns transparent. A white ghost Homestar with a wiggly tail floats up from his body.}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: Uh... that was unexpected.
STRONG BAD: Admitted Strong Bad just now.
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: {as his ghost} Oh no! I gave up the ghost!
STRONG SAD: You'll stay that way unless you enter the spooky woods {the spooky woods is shown as ominous music plays} and face your 3 fears before the witching hour!
STRONG BAD: [Said Strong Sad.] Quothed Lord High Plotlayer.
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: {determined look} It's what I must do! Let's go Pom Pom!
{Wide shot reveals Pom Pom is gone. Homestar looks distressed.}
STRONG BAD: But Pom Pom had already gone to a party at some rich kid's house.
{Cut to outside the Prince of Town's castle, where Pom Pom, wearing sunglasses, is floating in the pool. The Poopsmith bounces on the diving board repeatedly. Party music plays. Cut back to a close-up of The Homestar Runner.}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: {each gulp is simply captioned "gulp"} I (gulp) guess (gulpo) I'm on (gulpamundo) my own (Gulp Fantasy 2000).
STRONG BAD: Tedioused The Homestar Runner at great risk to the listenability of the story.
{Cut to the entrance to the spooky woods, where ghost Homestar floats in, looking nervous}
STRONG BAD: And so The Dead Homestar Runner entered the Spooky Woods.
{The Dead Homestar Runner floats through the spooky woods}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: No amount of gulps can express how scared I am!
STRONG BAD: Just then, he came face to face with his first fear!
{A life science textbook with a picture of a frog on the cover pops into existence before him, then opens to page 73, which has a picture of an pink organelle}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh no! Page 73 of my old life science textbook!
COACH ZEE: {speaking as the organelle} Can you identify this organelle, that is located in a plant cell?
STRONG BAD: Asked the life science textbook in Coach Z's voice for some reason.
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: {angrily} I'm not gulp-afraid of you... Golgi Apparatus!
COACH ZEE: Apporparortus! {the textbook closes and vanishes}
{The Homestar Runner's hat "ding"s into color}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: That was easy! I'll have my corporeal form back in no time!
STRONG BAD: Said The Homestar Runner after clearly consulting a thesaurus.
{The Homestar Runner leaves the scene. The Brothers Strong rise up from behind a teal-colored bush with purple berries.}
STRONG BAD: Meanwhile, behind a very great bush, the Brothers Strong were schemin' and steamin'.
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: All types of drat!
STRONG BAD: Said Strong Bad, {not captioned} coining an awesome new phrase that will endure throughout the ages. {Tiny-Handed Strong Bad grins}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: We've got to make sure his next fear is so gruesome, he won't be able to face it!
STRONG MAD: Grunt!
STRONG BAD: Grunted Grunt Mad.
STRONG SAD: I'm here because family is hard to say no to.
STRONG BAD: Said a pallid bust of Pallas.
{Cut to ghost Homestar floating through the woods}
STRONG BAD: And so The Little-Bit-Less-Dead Homestar Runner forged ahead, and faced his next fear. Which was...
{A bathtub full of vomit and eyeballs appears against a pink and purple background as a spooky sound plays}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: Eyeball barf bath!
{Wide shot. Strong Mad is vomiting eyeballs into the bathtub while Tiny-Handed Strong Bad stands by him.}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, I'm not scared of that. Boooo! {jumps into the bathtub, sticks his head up, and spits out an eyeball} Pa-too!
{Close-up of The Homestar Runner, who is surrounded by a golden aura}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Luxuriates my skin!
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: What the...?
STRONG BAD: Almost cussed Strong Bad. {Tiny-Handed Strong Bad puts a glove over his mouth}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: {suddenly scared} But I am scared of... gulp gulp gulp gulp gulp gulp... FRILLY TOOTHPICKS!!!
{Cut to Strong Sad, who is holding a plate of club sandwiches with frilly toothpicks}
STRONG BAD: And all eyes turned to Strong Sad's club sammich.
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: That's stupid! No one's afraid of frilly toothpicks!
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh. {gets out of the bath} Oh, you're right. Thanks Strong Bad!
{The Homestar Runner gains his red star shirt.}
STRONG BAD: {"had" is not spoken aloud} And with that, The Homestar Runner [had] successfully faced his second fear.
{The Homestar Runner floats on}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: All types of drat!
STRONG BAD: Repeated Strong Bad, flirting with oversaturating the market with his new phrase too soon.
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: It looks like we have to come up with something stupid and weird, not gruesome.
{Cut to The Homestar Runner floating through the woods}
STRONG BAD: And so The Nearly-Not-Dead Homestar Runner ventured deeper into the spooky woods.
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Two down, one to go! I wonder what horrors my third fear will bring.
STRONG BAD: Just then he came to a clearing in the woods.
{The Homestar Runner witnesses Tiny-Handed Strong Bad and Strong Mad playing ping-pong on a round kitchen table}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: Look at us! We're playing ping-pong on a kitchen table. Not regulation in the slightest!
STRONG BAD: Said Strong Bad wearing dress shoes with no socks. {close-up of Tiny-Handed Strong Bad's feet; he is indeed}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: While definitely illegal, I don't think non-regulation ping-pong is my third fear.
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: Well it doesn't matter anyway, {wide silhouetted shot; the moon has a clock displayed on it that's nearly at midnight} 'cause it's almost the witching hour and now you'll be stuck like this forever!
{Dramatic close-up of Tiny-Handed Strong Bad whacking the ping-pong ball in midair}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: SLAMMA JAMMA!
STRONG BAD: And Strong Bad slammed the ball with wicked topspin. {the ball soars past The Homestar Runner in slow motion, then rolls into some brambles} And it flew into the Thorny Thicket, revealing...
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: OH NO!! My final fear!!
{Cut to the gruesome sight of exactly what Homestar describes:}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: A half-decomposed raccoon being carried around by a family of wet pigeons!! {the pigeons approach the ping-pong ball}
{Cut back to The Homestar Runner, Strong Mad and Strong Bad}
STRONG BAD: Said the Homestar Runner in a children's book. {the words each become italicized as he reads them}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Awww, but look. The gross wet pigeons think Strong Bad's ping-pong ball is an egg!
{The pigeons plus raccoon sit down on top of the ball}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: They're gonna hatch it!
{Cut back to the trio}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: They were just as gulp of me, as I was gulp of them!
STRONG BAD: Said the Homestar Runner, really shoe-horning some kind of half-baked moral into this thing.
STRONG SAD: Behold! The witching hour!
{The moon clock strikes midnight with a gong sound}
STRONG BAD: And so having faced his three fears, Homestar Runner gained back his corporeal form. {The Homestar Runner gains back his legs} Said narrator Strong Bad, who totally already knew what 'corporeal' meant, like, way before this book.
{Close-up on The Homestar Runner, whose backside seems to "ding"}
THE HOMESTAR RUNNER: Well, hey hey! {wide shot; a transparent ghost tail is protruding from under his shirt} Looks like I get to keep my squiggily ghost-tail! {turns his rear to Tiny-Handed Strong Bad} Does it tickle your fancy, Mr. Strong Bad? {makes a duck face and starts making high-pitched noises}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: SUCH A FRIGHT!
STRONG BAD: Moaned Strong Bad and he lay down and died.
{Tiny-Handed Strong Bad lays down and turns transparent. A white ghost Strong Bad with a wiggly tail floats up from his body.}
TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: Now I gave up the ghost!
{Silhouetted wide shot}
ALL BUT TINY-HANDED STRONG BAD: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
STRONG BAD: Laughed all the other characters in a satisfying, end-of-story fashion.
{The page turns to a gray "end." screen. As Strong Bad speaks, a new storybook appears: "strong bad's ghost enters the homestar runner", with an illustration of Tiny-Handed Strong Bad's ghost being sucked into a surprised The Homestar Runner}
STRONG BAD: Join us next week, children, when we read "Strong Bad's Ghost Enters The Homestar Runner, Thereby Possessing Him Demonically". {the additional part of the title appears as he reads it}
{Cut to the modern day characters, costume-less, standing in the field at night. Strong Bad is holding the book.}
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Such a great story, Strong Bad.
STRONG BAD: Thanks, I just r—read it. To you.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {puzzled} Um, I know.
COACH Z: Say, is there something missin' here?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh crap! We forgot to put on our costumes!
STRONG BAD: Wait, our costumes or our costumes?
HOMESTAR RUNNER: We'd better peow outta here and get changed!
ALL: PEOW! {they dash off, then reappear in their Halloween costumes}
Easter Eggs
- At the end, click on The Cheat.
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey, The Cheat! I really like your Emperor Eh! Steve costume!
- THE CHEAT: {in a Powered-by-The-Cheat voice, as the top part of his head swivels to allow his mouth to open wide} Cheatsa Cheatsa!
- STRONG BAD: Whoa! Did no one else just see that?!
- THE CHEAT: It's just a certain way I do things.
- At the end, click on Bubs.
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: Say Buuubs! Say Bubs! Say Bub-Bub-Buuubs! {rocking back and forth and punctuating each word lightly} You are dressed as the Aladdin Genie dressed as Captain Lou Albano and there's nothing you can do to make me think otherwise.
- BUBS: Okay.
- {Organ music plays as Homestar turns into a skeleton. He then collapses, but returns to his normal self after a moment.}
- At the end, click on Strong Mad.
- STRONG MAD: SYD BARRETT!
- STRONG BAD: Uh, sorry, big guy. He wasn't in the band when they made that album.
- STRONG MAD: UH... WIZARD OF OZ!!
- STRONG BAD: Yeah, nope, wrong album there too.
- STRONG MAD: MY BODY'S A REALLY HARD SHAPE TO MAKE COSTUMES FOR!
- At the end, click on Homestar.
- STRONG BAD: Sooo... what am I looking at here, Homestar? You dressed as '70s Homestar that dropped out of college and backpacked across Scandinavia?
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yeah, pretty much.
- STRONG SAD: No way! He's dressed as Snufkin from {exaggerated accent} Tove Jansson's {normal} Moomintroll books, comics, and cartoons!
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: {singing} Doo-doo-doot doot! {leans toward Strong Bad} Bah bahbah baah bah baah baah bah baah baah! {leans toward Marzipan} Bah bahbah baah bah baah baah bah baah baah! {leans toward Strong Bad} Bah bahbah baah bah baah baah bah baah baah baaaaaaaaah!
- At the end, click on the King of Town.
- STRONG SAD: Nice Mighty Boosh reference there, King of Town!
- KING OF TOWN: Mighty what? This is just what happens when you fall asleep chewing eight packs of Hubba Bubba!
- STRONG BAD: You're a Hubba Bubba nightmare, all right.
- At the end, click on Pom Pom.
- STRONG BAD: Oooh, Pom Pom! Do some Mode 7 for us!
- {A pixelated image of Pom Pom in costume grows and spins toward the camera, and then back to Pom Pom's original position as he returns to normal.}
- STRONG BAD: Aw yeah! Pixels the size of your face!
- At the end, click on Strong Sad.
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey, Strong Sad! I really like your "give me nightmares forever and always" costume!
- STRONG BAD: Yeah, what are you supposed to be, the lovechild of Dobby the house elf and Ron Weasley from some of your fanfiction?
- STRONG SAD: No no! I'm from the Cremaster Cycle! I assure you it's way more pretentious than any of my fanfic!
- At the end, click on the Poopsmith.
- STRONG BAD: Ah, The Poopsmith. Looking at your costume, I can almost hear the satisfying-slash-skin-crawling plastic squeak of that oversized white clam shell VHS case!
- {The Poopsmith spreads his wide orange wings with a loud plastic squeak}
- STRONG BAD: That's it!
- {The Poopsmith folds his wings back in}
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: I thought you already dressed up as Trondorman, like, twenty years ago!
- STRONG SAD: Ooh! I smell a shared cinematic universe—!
- STRONG BAD: Shut up.
- At the end, click on Coach Z.
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: Coach Z, if you don't want to I can live with that, {rhythmically} but you gotta put back the double-knit reversible stripèd pants!
- {Coach Z produces a pair of red and white striped pants}
- STRONG BAD: There's no need to argue, I just don't understand how you haven't run out of costume ideas yet!
- COACH Z: I'm pretty sure this is the last one! I'm grarspin' at straws here!
- At the end, click on Homsar.
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: Homsar, that is the most accurate patriotic Hovan Roll costume I've ever seen!
- HOMSAR: AaAaAa! Contraption flaption, what's your hedge fund?
- At the end, click on Strong Bad.
- STRONG SAD: Uh, Strong Bad, you're a big devotee of Bic pens now apparently?
- STRONG BAD: Of course, shut up! I'm known far and wide for my enthusiasm for... Bic ballpoint pens. Look it up.
- At the end, click on Marzipan.
- HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey Marzipan, I really like your—
- MARZIPAN: Homestar, let me stop you right there. I have no idea what this is from. I just wore what Strong Sad told me to wear.
- STRONG SAD: Yeah, and honestly, I only saw the movie once when I was, like, ten. I just like that pirate guy.
- At the end, click on the moon to see a Sweet Cuppin' Cakes scene.
- THE WHEELCHAIR: Emperor Eh!-gustus Steve!, what hath you wrought?
- {Reverse shot shows Eh! Steve! with a laurel crown, holding a spear topped with Sherlock. A line of Homestar statues is in the background, as well as a number of palm tree shapes.}
- EH! STEVE!: Eh! Steve!
- At the end, click on the stars a little above and to the right of Bubs's head to see an edited scene from dragon:
- {Strong Bad is at the Compy 386, having typed, "A dragon? That's easy!"}
- STRONG BAD: {typing} Feel free to follow along with my simple step by step instructions.
- {The scene is paused, VHS style. A Powered by The Cheat Strong Bad face is drawn on the back of Strong Bad's head.}
- STRONG BAD FACE: {holds up a blue pen shape labelled "Bic" with a misshapen glove and speaks in Powered by The Cheat voice} And don't forget to use a Bic... point pen! I...
- PEN: {speaks in the same voice} I am always using it.
Fun Facts
Explanations
- The golgi apparatus is a part of a eukaryotic cell that encloses protein products within vesicles and transports them throughout the cell.
Trivia
- The YouTube description for this toon is "Strong Bad reads the gang a chilling new children's book for Halloween! All types of drat!"
- This is the first time The Cheat is shown onscreen while speaking comprehensibly.
- This is the first time all 12 main characters have an Easter egg when clicked on at the end.
- The gong sound heard as the Witching Hour strikes comes from the 2013 first-person exploration/puzzle game, 'Kairo'.
Remarks
- The Poopsmith is seen partying at the pool, while he was specifically forbidden from entering in keep cool.
- While in costume, Homestar does not blink as he normally does.
- Marzipan's line is presented in a slightly lower audio quality from the rest of the toon.
Goofs
- In the Flash version, the first line on Strong Bad's computer is not displayed in the correct font. The same line is displayed correctly in the YouTube version.
Inside References
- Pom Pom abandoning Homestar to go to a cooler party occurred previously in senior prom.
- Homestar bathes in eyeball puke.
- I'm Just a Bill was previously referenced in 4 branches.
- When Homestar says The Poopsmith previously dressed as "Trondorman", he's thinking of the Tron costume in Homestarloween Party.
- Homestar guesses that Bubs is dressed as Captain Lou Albano, the costume he wore in Pumpkin Carve-nival.
- The stripèd pants were previously seen in highschool.
- Hovan rolls were previously mentioned in Halloween Potion Ma-jig.
- Mode-7 was previously mentioned in the Haunted Photo Booth Teaser and SBCG4AP Advertisement.
- The Homestar statue seen in the Eh!-gustus Steve Easter egg was previously seen in April Fool 2014.
- The phrase "Cheatsa [Parties]" was first used in mile and then used in better context in pizza joint.
- Strong Sad's fan fiction was previously shown in fan club.
- The skeleton scene from Bubs' Easter egg was previously seen in Mr. Poofers Must Die. (See also #Real-World References)
Real-World References
- The Life Science textbook Homestar encounters is based on the 1999 edition of Life Science by Lucy Daniel, Edward Paul Ortleb, and Alton Biggs (ISBN 0028277775).
- "A pallid bust of Pallas" refers to Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven.
- Two references are made to Don Bluth and his works:
- Bubs is dressed up as Commander Borf, the antagonist from Space Ace, a game similar to Dragon's Lair.
- In response, when Homestar Runner turns into a skeleton and collapses during the costume discussion at the end, it is a reference to one of the ways Dirk the Daring dies in the original Dragon's Lair. Homestar was dressed as Dirk the Daring in Mr. Poofers Must Die, doing the same gag.
- Mode 7 was a processing technique that allowed the Super Nintendo Entertainment System to scale and rotate visual elements. Although it wasn't used to animate Burt the Bashful in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (The Super FX-2 chip was used instead), his animations did distort his sprite in a Mode 7-esque manner.
- Strong Mad yells the name of Syd Barrett, a founding member of Pink Floyd who was ousted from the band in 1968.
- Strong Mad yelling "WIZARD OF OZ!", as well as Strong Bad's response that that's the "wrong album", is a reference to the Dark Side of the Rainbow theory, which states that the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon can be synchronized to The Wizard of Oz.
- Homsar's line in his Easter egg is a corruption of a line from another Schoolhouse Rock cartoon: "Conjunction Junction, what's your function?"
- Dobby and Ron Weasley are both characters from the Harry Potter franchise.
- The "pirate guy" from Galaxy Express 999 that Strong Sad refers to could either be Emeraldes, who was the captain of the Queen Esmeraldes and aimed to switch bodies with Maetel, or Captain Harlock, who was the ruler of the Time Castle. Both are recurring characters in the works of Leiji Matsumoto.
- Strong Bad references the white clamshell VHS case Disney movies came in.
- The Eh!-gustus Steve Easter egg, with its Roman-style statues and cyan- and magenta-outlined palm tree, references the Vaporwave aesthetic.
- Homestar sings part of the theme to the 1990 Moomin TV anime series (on which the design of his costume is largely based).
External Links
- watch "The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods" on the old Flash site
- view the Flash file for "The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods"
- watch "The Homestar Runner Enters The Spooky Woods" on YouTube
