50 emails

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 14:12, 4 February 2006

"Hey, Strong Bad, I brought back your fondue pot."

In honor of his 50th email, Strong Bad tries to answer 50 emails, only to have Homestar unwittingly screw it up.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Homestar Runner, Old-Timey Strong Bad (Easter egg), The Sneak (Easter egg)

Places: Computer Room, Telegraph Room (Easter egg)

Computer: Compy 386

Date: November 11, 2002

Running Time: 3:28

Page Title: Lordy, Lordy, Look who's over there!

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} Oh, girl, I want to email you so nice. {stops singing} All right, everybody. In honor of this, my 50th email, I've decided to answer 50 of your emails! Ready? Go!

{reading}

Email #1
Dear strong bad,
Can you please write a book about
come-back jokes!
Mike
Canada

STRONG BAD: {typing} More like, you write a book about come-back jokes, NERD! {hits enter}

{reading}

Email #2
Dear Stong Bad,
what are some cool ways to spell
different words? example, fat = phat

matt

STRONG BAD: Oh, you mean like {types} strong = stong? {stops} You seem to like that one. Or how about this? matt = MATT!! {He types matt = DELETED!, and the following appears on the screen as the email is deleted:}

MATT!!

{reading}

Email #3
Strong Bad,
What is your favorite leg?

Jess and Tiff
Los Angeles, CA

{He stops at "Jess and Tiff."}

STRONG BAD: Well, I like all kinds of legs. You know, like the Great Leg... the Leg of Hope... Tape-Leg? {the phone rings} Oh, man! I was on a roll! Don't nobody go nowheres, I'll be right back. {He walks off and answers the phone} Hello? Yeah, this is me.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {offscreen} Strong Bad!

STRONG BAD: {on the phone} I dunno, what kind of savings?

{Homestar Runner walks in carrying a fondue pot}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey Strong Bad, I brought back your fondue pot. Strong Bad? {He looks around, and then sees the computer} Whoa. That TV has words on it. {He sits down at the computer and re-reads the email} Strong Bad, what is your favorite leg? Jess and Tiff. {Stops reading} Um, {typing} Hey Crapface! Why dontcha blow it out your ear. Your buddy, Strong Bad. {enter} Oh, another one!

{reading}

Email #4
Dear Strong Bad
How do you type with gloves on
your hands?

Scott
Surrey BC Canada

Oh, even I know what to do with this one. {types} BALEETED! {hits enter, nothing happens} Wha—? Oh. Umm... {types} DELTEATED! {enter, nothing happens} No? Uhh... Del Taco?

{Cut to Strong Bad talking on the phone}

STRONG BAD: No, they're more like elephant feet. Yeah. So what do you think, like, 50 bucks? Sounds good. I'll leave the key under the at-may.

{Back to Compy 386. Homestar has typed in many, many words, but none of them do anything.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: What is that stupid word? {He types in "da cheated" and hits enter. The computer plays a tune and the blue "Flagrant System Error" screen comes up. It reads:}

FLAGRANT SYSTEM ERROR

The system is down. I dunno what
you did, moron, but you sure
screwed everything up good.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Uh-oh. This does not look good for Homestar Runner.

{Cut back to Strong Bad on the phone}

STRONG BAD: Okay. Bye!

{He hangs up and walks off. Cut back to the computer}

STRONG BAD: Okay. Back to the 50 emails. {He sits down. There's a piece of paper over the monitor with a Windows error window titled "This is real." It says "System report: Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined." Strong Bad reads the message} Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined. Oh, that's good to hear. Let's just— Wait a minute! {he tears off the paper and sees the blue screen} Wha... Flagrant Error? What the... Where did all my emails go?

{The Paper comes down.}

STRONG BAD: WHAT?!? The paper?! This isn't over yet! Go back up, go back up! {He swats at the paper and then tries to hold it up off the screen} Wait, wait! I think I can remember some of those emails! Uh, "Dear Strong Bad, why are you so awesome? Yours truly, Dumpface." Well, Dumpface, it's a long story. It all started with The Cheat one day when he was going down to the...

{The screen, and Strong Bad's voice, slowly fade out. A paper plate with a Swiss Cake Roll with a "50" candle on it fades in. The Paper comes down again.}

Easter Eggs

• When Strong Bad types the word "book," you can click on it and bring up a picture of Strong Bad's idea of this book.
• At the end, click on the "50th email Swiss Cake Roll" to see an Old-Timey Strong Bad cartoon.

{A title screen reading "Strong Bad and The Electronic Message" appears. Cut to Old-Timey Strong Bad reading a telegram}

Dear Sir Strong Bad stop
How do you manage the telegramophone whilst
wearing gentleman's sport gloves? stop
signed, Lord Elsington Hallstingdingdingworth

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Curses! This is all anyone ever asks me. {manning the telegraph} You buffoon! Stop. You...carpetbagger. Stop. I'll give you what for!

{The Sneak walks onscreen}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: The Sneak! How was that? I told that poor sap I'd give him what for! Yes... now go and steal me fresh jam!

{The Sneak scurries off}

Fun Facts

Explanations

• When old-timey Strong Bad responds to Lord Elsington Hallstingdingdingworth in the Easter egg, he calls him a "carpetbagger." A carpetbagger is actually a post-Civil War term for a Northerner moving to the South after the war to get rich or gain power.
• When Strong Bad says, "I'll leave the key under the at-may," he is speaking Pig Latin. "At-may" would mean "mat."

Trivia

• The title of the page may be a reference to the phrase "Lordy, Lordy! Look who's forty!" which is usually used on someone's 40th birthday, even though this is Strong Bad's 50th email.
• The phone ringing sound effect is "ringin.wav", from the Microsoft system sounds.
• The label on the disk in the floppy disk container reads "tongue of the fatman".

Remarks

• Strong Bad is talking to a potential customer about "elephant feet." Apparently he is planning to sell Strong Sad's legs on the black market. It is later mentioned in the email modeling that poachers have offered several thousand dollars for Strong Sad's feet.
• It is strange that Homestar calls the computer screen a "TV [that] has words on it," yet he immediately knows he can type a response to the email.
• This is the first email in which we see the "DELETED" screen on the Compy. The background is blue, whereas it was green on the Tandy 400.
• The telegram received by Old-Timey Strong Bad has an incomplete boolean truth table in the upper right corner.

Goofs

• When Homestar is talking while reading/answering an email, his lips' movements and the movements in the reflection are not in sync.
• Right before Strong Bad hangs up the phone, you can see it is not connected to anything.
• Telegrams are always typed in upper case. They also never use any punctuation, hence the word STOP at the end of each sentence.

Glitches

• When you adjust the contrast while Homestar is at the computer, his reflection isn't affected.
• When Strong Bad says "Matt" while typing "DELETED", his reflection appears above the Compy for a moment.

Inside References

• Strong Bad starts his email checking by saying, "Ready? Go!" This is a reference to spring cleaning, when he said that to start his spring cleaning.
• When he responds to Email #3 ("What is your favorite leg?"), Strong Bad mentions tape-leg. This is a reference to tape-leg, one of his past emails, and represents yet another inside joke of the Homestar Universe.
• The phrase "The system is down" is from techno.

Real-World References

• This is another instance of Strong Bad's Computer Malfunctioning. The blue "Flagrant System Error" screen is a spoof of the Windows 9x Blue screen of death.

"What is that stupid word?"

Homestar's attempts at DELETED

• Baleeted
• Delteated
• Deltaco
• freaky D'td
• chadeated
• deedleated
• meathead?
• dltd
• duh lee ted
• teeteeted
• bubs
• diddley dee
• repeated
• 733t3d
• 3-D movie
• del monte
• ddddddd
• da cheated
• diggity
• beefeated
• stupid word
• believe it
• received it
• stratego
• 3TDted
• seabed
• whitebread
• open sesame
• marie
• hello
• de la soul
• geleted
• feeted
• Some of the commands Homestar tries are references. Some are more obvious than others:
  • 'del monte' — A popular brand of fruit juice.
  • 'beefeated' — 'Beefeaters' is a nickname for the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London. There is also a 'Beefeaters' London Dry Gin sold in most liquor stores.
  • 'meathead?' — This is probably referring to a catch phrase from the sitcom 'All in the Family' in which Archie Bunker called his son-in-law Mike 'Meathead.'
  • 'stratego' — Stratego is a board game.
  • 'open sesame' — Famous words from the tale 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'. This may be a further reference to the 1937 Popeye cartoon Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves. In it, Popeye fails to remember the magic words 'open sesame', instead trying a series of similar words and phrases to no avail.
  • 'de la soul' — De La Soul is a hip-hop group made of Posdnous, Trugoy, and P.A. Mase. They are best known for their groundbreaking 1989 debut album "3 Feet High and Rising". Their second album, De La Soul is Dead is on Matt Chapman's favorite album list.
  • '733t3d' — A reference to Leetspeak, a variation of language used on the Internet where letters are replaced by numbers or symbols. While this is probably meant to say "leeted," it actually says "teeted."
  • 'Deltaco' — Del Taco is a Mexican fast food chain.
  • 'diggity - A reference to Strong Bad's song in unused emails and car.

DVD Version

• The "Comeback joke book" Easter egg is disabled.

External Links

• BALEETED sound can be downloaded in "System Sounds Pack" at the downloads section.
• watch "50 emails"
• view the Flash file for "50 emails"