Strongest Man in the World

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This article is about the toon. For the contest, see Strongest Man in the World Contest.
Toon Category: Big Toon
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"Really quite an impressive bowl!"

The Brothers Chaps celebrate Homestar Runner's 10th anniversary with a remake of the original story.

Cast (in order of appearance): Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, The Cheat, The Announcer, Mr. Bland, The Robot (storybook), Señor, The Grape Fairie, The Fat Bee

Places: The Field, Gymnasium

Date: Monday, August 21, 2006

Running Time: 4:25

Page Title: The Homestar Runner Enters the Longest Page Title on the Website Contest!

DVD: Everything Else, Volume 3

Contents

Transcript

{The cover page of the Original Book appears. The book opens to the first page.}

{Homestar Runner changes into his modern form, and the old background is replaced by The Field. A record scratch noise is heard.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Everybody loves the me! I'm a terrific athlete!

{Pom Pom enters and pulls out a flier}

POM POM: {bubble noises}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: A strongest man in the world contest? {pan to a closeup of Homestar Runner} Oh, sweet dog, you know I'm all over it.

{Pan to the gymnasium, where Homestar Runner and Pom Pom are wearing aerobic gear and lifting weights. The training music from montage is playing in the background.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Extra-size, Pom Pom! Lemme see ya pour on that extra sauce! That strangest man in the world contest ain't gonna win itself!

{Pan to a scene of the setting sun. Silhouettes of Homestar Runner and Pom Pom jump up and high five each other.}

SINGER: Showdown!

{Fade out. Cut back to the Field, where Homestar Runner and Pom Pom are walking to the right.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Man, Pom Pom, I feel great! I feel fresh as a bagel! I bet I could lift fifty stringiest man in the world contests!

{They approach a sign pointing the way to the contest, where Strong Bad and The Cheat are waiting.}

STRONG BAD: Oh, look, The Cheat! If it isn't the big, fat, yellow blob and Pom Pom!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {closeup of Homestar} Hey! {normal view} W— wait. {closer closeup of Homestar} Hey! {normal view} You— wait. {another closeup} Hey! {normal view} Wait—

STRONG BAD: Lemme break it down for you like this: I am the very strongest. While on the other hand, inversely, you guys are not very strong!

POM POM: {looks angry, loud bubble noises}

{Strong Bad reacts in surprise.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Whoa, Pom Pom! Let's tone down the language before the contest, huh?

STRONG BAD: Come on, The Cheat. We'd better go start signing autographs. There's a pretty big line building up over there. {exits with The Cheat}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {looking determined} Come on, Pom Pom! Let's go get Strong Bad's autograph!

{Pom Pom gives Homestar an annoyed look, but Homestar doesn't notice.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: I hear there's a pretty big line building up.

{Cheering voices over momentarily before cutting to a banner reading "Strongest Man In The World Contest".}

THE ANNOUNCER: {voiceover over microphone} Ladies and gentlemen, you can not be ready for the {pan down to show The Announcer} Strongest Man In The World Contest!

{He flips the microphone from one hand to the other.}

THE ANNOUNCER: Let's meet our smokin' hot contestants!

{Cut to a darkened scene with a silhouette of Mr. Bland and disco lights in the background.}

THE ANNOUNCER: Hailing from the middle of the road, the prince of plain, the master of mundane, it's {spotlight turns on} Mr. Bland!

{Cut to a beige background of panning cubes and "mr. bland" scrolls to the right. Mr. Bland strikes an action pose. Cut back to The Announcer.}

THE ANNOUNCER: And next, our returning champion, the walking—

{Cut to a similar disco lights scene with The Robot in silhouette.}

THE ANNOUNCER: —metal robot... The Robot!

{A spotlight shines on The Robot and he waves. A blue background of screws and hex nuts pans in, and "The Robot" appears while The Robot holds a waving pose. Cut back to The Announcer.}

THE ANNOUNCER: And from Foreign Lands, the foreign man:

{Cut back to the disco scene, now with Señor in silhouette.}

THE ANNOUNCER: Señor Ha-Ha-Ha-Havin' A Little Trouble!

{A brown background of beans pans in, and "Señor" appears while Señor strikes an action pose.}

THE ANNOUNCER: And...

{Cut to silhouettes of Pom Pom, Strong Bad, and Homestar Runner, whose respective spotlights turn on as their names are mentioned.}

THE ANNOUNCER: {quickly} Pom-Pom-Strong-Bad-and-Homestar.

{Homestar looks surprised. Cut back to The Announcer. The scene is bright again.}

THE ANNOUNCER: Grape Fairie! Hit me with da rules!

{Pan up to The Grape Fairie riding his bee. He makes a scroll appear that reads "Rules".}

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: {in a Bronx accent} All right, youse {incomprehensible} brains, listen up smart. I start yas each off with like twenty grapes.

{A pile of grapes takes the place of the floating scroll.}

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: Then I adds one at a time.

{A grape appears above the pile.}

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: The bum what holds the most grapes —

{A golden bowl-shaped trophy appears in place of the grapes.}

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: — wins this gold bowl.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {from offscreen; sounds impressed} Dang, Pom Pom, you see that golbol? {zooms in on "golbol"} That's a nice golbol.

THE ANNOUNCER: Let's get this over with!

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: Allzy oop. {zaps a pile of grapes on top of the contestants}

MR. BLAND: {speaking monotone} Okay.... This is going really well.

{The pile of grapes crushes Mr. Bland.}

MR. BLAND: Oh.

{Cut to silhoettes of everyone on a yellow background.}

THE ANNOUNCER: {voiceover} Down goes Bland!

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: Ka-bu op! {pings a single grape over each contestant}

{Cut to Señor, impossibly balancing the entire pile on one hand.}

SEÑOR: Oh, no, boy. I havin' a little trouble!

{The pile falls on Señor, accompanied by the word "Sblounskched!" and the sound of a bowling ball hitting some pins. He sticks his arm out of the grapes.}

SEÑOR: I still alive!

{Cut to Strong Bad and The Cheat, with Pom Pom in the background.}

STRONG BAD: Hey, The Cheat—

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: —I hear our friend The Robot is about to do a set of his acoustic numbers. Or should I say, unplugged?

THE CHEAT: {affirmative The Cheat noises, salutes}

{The Cheat slides to the feet of The Robot, who is apparently plugged into an outlet on a very small section of wall out of nowhere.}

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises} {looks around, unplugs The Robot's cord, and slides away} {The Cheat noises}

{Cut to The Robot, who shuts down and drops the pile of grapes. General sad "Aw"s among the crowd are heard as the eyes of The Robot disappear slowly.}

{Cut to Homestar, whose grapes appear to be floating in mid-air, due to his lack of visible arms.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {looks around} Did nobody just see that?! Judge? Fairie? Giant bee?

{Cut to The Grape Fairie and The Announcer, who are admiring the bowl and not paying attention to the contest.}

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: Honest to God, Mookie Wilson gave me the golbol to my aunt in 1974.

THE ANNOUNCER: Really quite an impressive bowl.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {off screen} Hellooo?

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: Oh. Right.

{Cut to Pom Pom, Strong Bad, and Homestar.}

THE GRAPE FAIRIE: Crazy eights! {poofs another grape on top of everyone}

{Strong Bad begins to lose his grip on the grapes.}

STRONG BAD: The Cheat? Big help here! Big help!

THE CHEAT: {rushes over} {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Okay.... Even it out there on the south side.

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Jump her up.

{Cut to Homestar.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: All right, seriously. At first it was cute, but this is just borderline unsportsmanlike! Let me outline my master plan. I will (a) drop my grapes, and (b) uncover that cheat! {drops his grapes; walks over to Strong Bad and The Cheat} Could I just borrow this a second? {grabs The Cheat}

THE CHEAT: {surprised The Cheat noises}

{Homestar kicks The Cheat about his feet like a hackysack, then does a slow-motion flip and bicycle kicks The Cheat off screen.}

STRONG BAD: {wobbling, melodramatically} Oh-nooo!

{Strong Bad drops a couple of grapes, then the entire pile crushes him. The action-pose scene appears, this time with a green grapes background, "squished bad", and Strong Bad under his pile of grapes.}

{Cut to Pom Pom}

THE ANNOUNCER: {voiceover} Pom Pom wins!

{Pom Pom winks; a record scratch sounds, cut to Homestar}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Wait, what?!

{Cut to Strong Bad, still buried.}

STRONG BAD: Ohh.... These grapes are succulently crushing my windpipe.... Ooh, but they're seedless! {The pile of grapes begins to collapse as Strong Bad eats it}

{Cut to Homestar and Pom Pom holding the golbol.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: All right, seriously, Pom Pom. Gimme the golbol!

POM POM: {bubble noises, pulls the golbol back a bit}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yeah, that's great. But I still won. I sportsmanliked everybody! Now gimme the golbol!

POM POM: {bubble noises}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: All right, fine. You can give it to me for my birthday. Now check out my victory dance! Huhyayayayaaa!

{Homestar crosses his left leg over his right and jumps into the air. The Grape Fairie and the Fat Bee enter from the upper right, the announcer from the lower left. Pom Pom jumps in the air holding the trophy. The scene fades into the last page of the Original Book with "1996-2006" written across the upper left. The ending also provides a link to the original book.}

Easter Eggs

Dare to Dream!
  • Clicking on the Contest sign when Homestar mentions getting Strong Bad's autograph will show a picture of said autograph, on which is written:
homestar,
dare to dream! believe in yourself
and you can achieve anything!!
your pal
Strond Ba....
wait a sec,
2nd try:
homestar,
you're
a butt.
Strong
Bad
  • Clicking the trophy at the end shows a shot of it (captioned "GOLBOL") in the same style as the ones shown when Mr. Bland, The Robot, Señor, and later "Squished Bad" are introduced. The New York Mets logo is shown in the background.

Fun Facts

Explanations

Trivia

  • The main page message for this toon read "10 years!".
  • This toon is the first time the Grape Fairie, Mr. Bland, and Señor are given voices.
  • Despite its attempt, this toon's page title is not the longest one of the website. Shopping for Danger's page title "Blue Las-alert, Kids! Cheat Commandos will be right back after these messages!" surpasses it by five characters. They are, however, both 19 syllables long.
  • Señor's full name was coined in origins.
  • When Homestar kicks The Cheat, he is utilizing a skill known as juggling, which is usually done with soccer balls or footbags (commonly known as Hacky Sacks).

Remarks

  • When The Grape Fairie's mouth disappears when he isn't talking, his five o'clock shadow disappears with it.
  • Señor holds his pile of grapes on one side with the other half of the pile floating in mid-air. In the original book, he was holding the grapes with his right hand rather than his left.
  • The way the grapes fall on Strong Bad, he should be lying on his stomach since he was holding the pile behind his head. However in the action scene, "squished bad," Strong Bad is shown lying on his back so that he could eat them in the next scene.
    • Also, in the Original Story, when it shows Strong Bad squished under the pile of grapes, he was lying on his back.
  • Señor's introduction background of beans may be a nod to the stereotype that Hispanics eat a lot of beans.
  • The characters are spotlighted, although there doesn't seem to be any place for there to be spotlights in the sky.
  • The grapes appear to hover over Homestar's head.
  • When attempting to see if someone noticed The Cheat's unplugging of the Robot, Homestar looks to his right to look at the Judge and to the left to look at the Grape Fairie. In the very next shot the Judge and Fairie are standing next to each other talking and would have been in the same direction from Homestar's position.

Goofs

  • When Mr. Bland, The Robot and Señor are introduced, the smaller spotlights cross over their feet, yet none of the characters' feet light up.
  • In the silhouette scene following Mr. Bland's loss, the grapes are actually floating above Pom Pom. However, this could just be in keeping with the original book, which has a similar silhouette scene.
  • The first page says "Everyone loves The Homestar Runner..." instead of "Everybody loves The Homestar Runner...", which would have been the correct quotation from the original book.
  • Strong Bad has no purple reflection on his pants, like his fifth design.
  • When the screen darkens and the strobe lights appear, the ones that shine on the bushes in the background do not light up the ground directly below the bushes.
    • Also, the lights do not deform to the depths of the bushes, as if they were 2 dimensional.
  • In the last modern scene (the 'victory dance') and the scene immediately before it, it can be seen that the shadows on Pom Pom's 'limbs' do not properly align - each 'arm' is apparently affected by a different light source when this really shouldn't be happening.

Inside References

  • The music heard in the background when Señor is "having a little trouble" is the same music heard in the email car when Homestar is "deleted" by Strong Bad.
  • When Señor gets squished, the onomatopoeia used is "Sblounskched!", the name of Strong Bad's candy bar.
  • The song during the training scene is "Showdown" from montage, except with vocals by someone who sounds like Larry Palaroncini.
  • The outfit Homestar wears during the training scene originally appeared in lady fan.
  • The autographed picture of Strong Bad in the Easter egg is the same as the one that Strong Bad gives to his "main man" Van Mundegaarde in 2 years.
  • One of the sound effects that plays when the Robot gets unplugged is the loading sound from Thy Dungeonman 3 and Peasant's Quest.
  • Homestar's first speaking line and The Robot being introduced as such are examples of the integral article.
  • The ending music is the remix of the old intro music, which is also heard at the end of flashback and can also be heard on Main Page 20.
  • The Announcer's introduction of Señor suggests that he is a resident of Foreign Lands, the same place Thomas is said to be from.
  • Pom Pom also winks in Marshmallow's Last Stand, just before he gets hit by Strong Mad.
  • It can be assumed from Homestar's "Let's tone down the language" line that when Strong Bad calls Pom Pom and Homestar "not very strong", Pom Pom replies using swears.
  • The Grape Fairie claims that 1974 was the year Mookie Wilson gave him the Golbol to his aunt.

Real-World References

  • Mookie Wilson is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played with the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays from 1980 to 1991. The Mets' logo is shown in the background of the Easter egg.
  • Crazy Eights is a card game in which two players try to get rid of all their cards by discarding a card with the same number or suit as the previous card played. In this game, eights are wild.
  • Homestar's aerobic outfit is similar to the ones Jane Fonda wore when making her workout videos in the 1980s.
  • The Grape Fairie's "Ollzy Oop!" is a distortion of the phrase Alley Oop, which is a play in basketball where the ball is thrown up near the basket by a teammate, and another teammate dunks the ball in to score.

Fast Forward

  • The music during the introduction of Mr. Bland, The Robot, and Señor is recycled in the Tito scene of more armies.
  • The golbol is featured in an Easter egg in Jibblies 2. Homestar finally gets it from Pom Pom, due to his costume of "Artie, The Strongest Man in the World".
  • The Announcer's discussion with the Grape Fairie is nearly replicated (this time about a kickball) in Kick-a-Ball, this time between the Announcer and the Umpire.
  • Three years later, Where My Hat Is At was also remade as a full-length cartoon on the 10th anniversary of the book's creation.

DVD Version

  • The link to the original book has been deleted. It can only be accessed through an Easter Egg in the Toons menu of the DVD (see Everything Else, Volume 3).
  • 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)

MATT: This story is old!

MIKE: It's very old. This is, what, the ten-year anniversary, I think?

MATT: Tenured. Ten—

MIKE: Tenured track anniversary?

MATT: Uh-huh.

MIKE: I think it was a little off. I think we—

MATT: Yeah, we realized it was really— we assumed it was in, like, August, but it was actually in June, I think?

MIKE: Yeah. Something like that. {pause} But it's all based on the original. Look at the background there. The gym, the wall there.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: And those weights— the way the weights look.

MATT: That scene was also immortalized in the Mario Paint — or just Homestar lifting weights—

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: —by himself — in the Mario Paint cartoon.

MATT: So, uh, this was kind of fun to make one of these competition cartoons after not making those kinds of cartoons for many years.

MIKE: And it was fun to try to get to sort of re-write it, and how they would act now about things.

MATT: Right. While being a little self-reflexive—

MIKE: Right.

MATT: —where they have to sort of hit these points from the generic competition story line. {pause} What do you think— What do you think he— Did he drop an F-bomb just then, Pom-Pom, maybe? What do you think he said, Mike?

MIKE: He may have dropped an S-bomb.

MATT: {laughing} Definitely dropped an S-bomb. {pause} Hey, Announcer!

MIKE: The Announcer — I think his graphics got re-done for this.

MATT: I think they did a little bit.

MIKE: Ooh, and look! Very, uh, Alan-Parsons-Project-esque song here.

MATT: That was fun. {pause} It was fun to make those little splash screens for each character.

MIKE: That robot was a Craig Zobel—

MATT: What was—

MIKE: —product of Zobel.

MATT: What was Scottie Pippen's number, Mike?

MIKE: Scottie Pippen's number?

MATT: Mm-hmm.

MIKE: I don't know.

MATT: Oh.

MIKE: Why?

MATT: I was going to be The Announcer, going to see a Bulls game.

MIKE: {laughing} Oh. Oh.

MATT: Bulls always came out to that Alan Parsons—

MIKE: Jordan was 23.

MATT: Well, right, I— I was going to go something more obscure, Mike.

MIKE: Oh. {laughing} Pippen!?

MATT: Well, his number— you don't know his number and you're a big sports guy!

MIKE: {over Matt's previous comment} Well, I can't—

MATT: Oh! {makes noises similar to Homestar Runner's line, "Dang, Pom Pom, do you see that Golbol?"} {pause} Um, I like the direction— Everyone thinks, uh— the Wiki anyways, everyone— The Wiki thinks that's you, Mike!

MIKE: What, Mr. Bland?

MATT: Do your best impression of... that.

MIKE: I don't e— how— what did he say?

MATT: He said, "Uh, my name's Mike and I suck."

MIKE: {doing an impersonation of Mr. Bland} "Hello, my name—" Wait, what!?

MATT: Whoa!

MIKE: Gosh, you almost got me that time!

MATT: He's still alive, Mike! {pause} This is the most inconvenient, worst robot ever. It's like one of those robots from the 1920s World Fair where it's like, "It's a metal man! Thrill at the sounds of the metal man!"

MIKE: {laughing} And it has to be plugged in.

MATT: Uh... Mookie Wilson!

MIKE: Yeah, that gave that bowl to his gold— {laughing} to his gold aunt?

MATT: To his gold aunt! His golden aunt!

MIKE: Mookie Wilson. I think Mookie Wilson hit the— hit the famous ball that went through Bill Buckman's legs... in the World Series.

MATT: Oh, yeah?

MIKE: Red Sox, Mets. I think he hit it.

MATT: The curse?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: You see? There— there's a little reference to the original dialoguer.

MIKE: {laughing} Doing some hacky sacking.

MATT: Yeah, totally. Oh, bicycle kick! Or, no. Is that a bicycle kick?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: A rainbow... kick— are they called that too, sometimes?

MIKE: {laughs}

MATT: Umm, I like the direction we took with The Grape Fairie.

MIKE: Yeah—

MATT: That when he's not talking, he doesn't have a 5 o'clock shadow. But when he starts to talk—

MIKE: {laughing and over Matt's last line} It just appears when his mouth opens.

MATT: That voice can't not have a 5 o'clock shadow.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: If you sound like that, you're gonna— it's just gonna come out immediately. {pause} Huhyayayayaaa! I've always loved that victory dance. That's a total Craig Zobel drawing, right there, isn't it?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Didn't he do that last drawing?

MIKE: He always would make Homestar's body look like a soup can.

MATT: {laughs} He gave it the 3D style.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Bye, Craig.

MIKE: I got Craiged.

Fun Facts

  • Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan were players for the Chicago Bulls. Both Jordan's #23 and Pippen's #33 have been retired by the team.
  • In the 1986 World Series, the Red Sox lost to the Mets in seven games. The most famous play came when Mookie Wilson hit a slow grounder to first that was misplayed by Bill Buckner (not Buckman, as the Chaps claim), leading to the winning run in game 6 being scored.
    • This was said by fans to be due to the "curse of the Bambino", which prevented the Red Sox from winning a World Series since 1918. (The team won the World Series in 2004 and 2007, however.)
  • The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band active from 1975 to 1990, founded by Eric Woolfson and Alan Parsons. Their instrumental piece "Sirius," from their album Eye in the Sky, is used as the court-rushing music for the aforementioned Chicago Bulls, in addition to several other uses for other sports teams.

External Links

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