alternate universe

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 15:53, 13 April 2006

"Save the last email for Strong Bad..."

Strong Bad makes an interuniversal portal and visits alternate realities. Homestar tries to make a real fruit smoothie.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Strong Sad, The Cheat, Strong Badman, Old-Timey Strong Bad, Vector Strong Bad, Stinkoman, Tiny-Handed Strong Bad, Pom Pom (silhouette), Strong Mad (silhouette), Coach Z (silhouette), Bubs (silhouette), Marzipan (silhouette), The Grape Fairie's Bee, Keyboard Strong Bad, Puppet Strong Bad, Da Huuuuuudge, Teenage Strong Bad, Homestar Runner, Senor Cardgage, Sterrance

Places: Computer Room, Strong Badman's Apartment, Old-Timey Stage, Vector Field, Flashback Race Track, Strong Badia (puppet), Da Huuuuuudge's Enclosure, Pie Factory, Interdimensional Void, Recording Studio, The Pond (Easter Egg), Black Lodge (Easter Egg)

Computer: Lappy 486

Date: April 4, 2006

Running Time: 5:53

Page Title: Lappy 486

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing over guitar music} I've been walking on clouds and flipping off rainbows, on the wiiiiings of an emaiiil...

{Cut to a wide view of the desk. Strong Sad is standing to the right of Strong Bad with a classical guitar. Strong Bad turns to face him.}

STRONG BAD: Thanks, man.

STRONG SAD: No prob, Bob.

{Cut back to the Lappy.}

subject: alternate univer$e

Dear Strong Bad,
Got some ?'s for you:
1. What would you do with a hundred million dollars?
2. What would you do if you suddenly found yourself in
an alternate universe somehow?
Jody (not a girl), TX

{Strong Bad says "question marks" for "?'s", and "Number one" and "Number two" for "1." and "2.", respectively.}

STRONG BAD: {says everything inside parentheses normally} Ya know, you could probably ditch that (not a girl) thing, if you just replaced it with something tough and cool and kool and tuff. Like (Bulldozer). Jody (Bulldozer). Nobody's gonna think that guy's a girl. {clears screen} Well Ms. Dozer, you pretty much answered question mark #1 {read "number one"} with question mark #2 {read "number two"}. Cuz a hundred million dollars is exactly how much The Cheat spent on our alternate universe portal.

{Cut to a wide view of the desk. The Cheat is standing to the right of the Lappy with a blender containing a Nintendo Game Boy.}

STRONG BAD: Isn't that right, The Cheat?

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: What? This thing only cost us fourteen bucks?

THE CHEAT: {agreeing The Cheat noise}

STRONG BAD: Well... that's like a hundred million dollars in... dog years, right?

THE CHEAT: {affirmative The Cheat noise}

STRONG BAD: {leans towards The Cheat suddenly} All right! Mash go on that blender!

{Camera zooms out a little as The Cheat presses a button on the blender. The blender shoots out white bolts as the lighting in the room flashes. Soon after, the blender stops with the Game Boy intact, and there is a large swirl to the right of the desk.}

STRONG BAD: Oh-ho-ho! Swirly Photoshopped magic! I bet this thing could release some serious Cacodemons. So...

{The Cheat turns to face Strong Bad}

STRONG BAD: What? I— I just jump in?

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: {leaning backwards} Ohbee Kaybee! {jumps off the stool and towards the swirl} Jump!

{As soon as Strong Bad touches the swirl, everything except him and the swirl turns black and white. Strong Bad distorts horizontally and vertically, then "springs" into the swirl. Cut to a panel of a comic strip with a number of buildings drawn in it. A caption at the top of the panel reads "IN A BULDING..."}

NARRATOR: In a bulding...

{Camera shifts to the next panel, which shows an empty room. Strong Bad appears, with "VOIP!" appearing next to him briefly. While in the comic, everything Strong Bad says is also shown in a speech bubble. The music from action figure plays.}

STRONG BAD: Whoa! Where am I?

{Next panel. Strong Badman is in an action pose on a yellow background. Everything he says also appears in a speech bubble, and is not lip-synced.}

STRONG BADMAN: {in large red text} STINY! {normal text} We have a visitor from an alternate universe!

{Next panel. Strong Bad appears in the same room.}

STRONG BAD: {looking to the right} It's Strong Badman! And his well drawn abs! {looks to the left} But... why are we in a crappy apartment instead of a secret underground lair... {looks back to the right} ...filled with secret underground gadgets?

{Next panel. Strong Badman is shown from the chest up in front of a blue background.}

STRONG BADMAN: Because mere mortal... this apartment...

{Next panel. Strong Badman appears in front of a red background with his arms in the air. A thunderclap can be heard in the background.}

STRONG BADMAN: {speech bubble is large, yellow and pointy} ...is rent controlled! {next speech bubbles are regular} And... water's included.

{Next panel. A kitchen and bathroom sink are shown with the faucets running. The bathroom tap has the word "FROSH!" next to it.}

STRONG BAD: {offscreen} Is that why all your faucets are running?

{Next panel. Strong Badman is standing in a room.}

STRONG BADMAN: {each syllable appears individually in red text and is not in a speech bubble} Mu-hu-ha-ha-hah! {regular speech bubble and text} Those dimwits down at the public works won't know what hit them!

STRONG BAD: {walking in from left} So, that's your evil plan? To waste water?

STRONG BADMAN: And not pay for it!!

STRONG BAD: I gotta tell ya, Strong Badman... this part of your comic is pretty boring. I'm gonna see what's going on further down the page. {jumps out of the current panel} Jump!

{He falls down three panels. There is a woman with a big knife sitting on a giant robotic snake.}

STRONG BAD: Oh! Now we're talkin'!

{Next panel. Strong Badman is in the left of the panel, Strong Bad in the center, and there is a TV with the previous panel on it (minus Strong Bad) to the right.}

STRONG BADMAN: You're not kidding!

STRONG BAD: Wha?

STRONG BADMAN: Now we have expanded basic cable...

{Next panel. Close-up of a cable running through a hole in the wall.}

STRONG BADMAN: {offscreen} Stolen from my neighbor!

{Next panel. Strong Bad is in front of a yellow background.}

STRONG BAD: Who's writing this issue? The geniuses behind She-Hulk? {looks up} The Cheat?

{Cut back to the Computer Room.}

STRONG BAD: {voice is slightly distorted, and a speech bubble appears from the swirl} A little frappe action, if you please.

THE CHEAT: {Single "squeak"}

{The Cheat turns around and turns on the blender. Cut back to the previous comic panel. Strong Bad disappears with the same "VOIP!" with which he appeared.}

{Next panel. Strong Badman is in the same pose as when he first appeared, but flipped around and with a green background.}

STRONG BADMAN: {in large red text} STINY! {normal text} Keep flushing those toilets!

{Cut to the Old-Timey stage. Old-Timey Strong Bad is standing on the stage with curtains behind him. To the left of him is a sign that reads "STRONG BAD and his GOODE-TIME PARLOR TRICKS". An audience can be seen silhouetted at the bottom of the screen.}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Yes, and for my next parlor trick, I shan't make anything {faces left} appear!

{Strong Bad appears to the left of Old-Timey Strong Bad. He is still in color.}

STRONG BAD: Oh. H-hi.

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: {crowd starts booing} You brightly colored baboon! You ruined my vaudeville!

{The Homestar Runner's dance music from 20X6 vs. 1936 plays as tomatoes are thrown at the two Strong Bads.}

STRONG BAD: Ah! Shades of grey tomatoes!

{Strong Bad disappears as Old-Timey Strong Bad looks to the left.}

{Cut to Vector Strong Bad floating above a vector drawn field. Strong Bad appears to the right. The spitting drum beat from Main Page 21 plays.}

STRONG BAD: What is up, my enormous vector brother?

{As Vector Strong Bad speaks, his words come out of his mouth in red vector-style text. They disappear after a short while.}

VECTOR STRONG BAD: HELLOTE.

STRONG BAD: So, uh... {cut to close-up of Strong Bad} what do you do for fun around here? {cut back to previous view}

VECTOR STRONG BAD: I SPLO STUFF UP.

{Strong Bad jumps backwards slightly to avoid the "UP", which promptly explodes with vector graphics.}

STRONG BAD: Whoa, that's pretty cool.

{Stinkoman walks in from the left.}

STINKOMAN: Hey, guys! How's challenges?

VECTOR STRONG BAD: WHAT IT IS MY DOGE?

STRONG BAD: Whoa, you two know each other?

{Cut to close-up of Stinkoman.}

STINKOMAN: {smiles} Oh, totally sure! {leans forward and waves one of his arms} He's my training simulator!

{Cut back to previous view.}

STINKOMAN: Check it out!

{Vector Strong Bad starts moving left and right, shooting squares from his mouth. Stinkoman jumps around and dodges the squares. Strong Bad also jumps over and around the squares, but appears to have more difficulty doing so. Game music from video games plays. After a few seconds, they all stop.}

STINKOMAN: Nice work, big nose!

STRONG BAD: Big nose?

STINKOMAN: Your nose!

VECTOR STRONG BAD: LEVEL 2

STRONG BAD: Uh-oh.

STINKOMAN: {simultaneously} Uh-oh.

{Stinkoman silently laughs as Vector Strong Bad shoots a series of squares directly at Strong Bad. As they explode, Strong Bad disappears. Vector Strong Bad then shoots some squares at Stinkoman, which he dodges.}

{Cut to a field in the style of flashback. Tiny Handed Strong Bad is standing close to the camera. Strong Bad appears to the right. All text appears in a white rectangle near the bottom of the screen.}

NARRATOR STRONG BAD: And so, {Strong Bad starts looking around} both Strong Bads entered the 'Dig To China With Your Ears Contest.'

STRONG BAD: This is just about... the second or third to worst contest I ever heard of.

{Cut to a silhouetted view of the field. Pom Pom, Strong Mad, Coach Z, Bubs and Marzipan are standing to the right of a banner which reads "the contest began!!". Tiny Handed Strong Bad is underneath the banner.}

NARRATOR STRONG BAD: The contest began!

{Cut to a close-up of Tiny Handed Strong Bad rubbing his head on the ground near a line marked "start".}

NARRATOR STRONG BAD: And tiny-handed Strong Bad rubbed his head on the ground... {cut to a wide view; Strong Bad is sitting on a hammock with his Dangeresque sunglasses on.} while our Modern Day Hero maxed and relaxed.

{Cut to Tiny Handed Strong Bad standing near the camera again, as in the first shot. A hole is visible near the background, and a giant glass of root beer appears in the center.}

TINY HANDED STRONG BAD: I struck it rich!

NARRATOR STRONG BAD: Said T.H.S.B.

{Cut to a zoomed out view of the previous scene, but with the giant glass of root beer in the center. A bee is seen holding Strong Bad's hammock up.}

TINY HANDED STRONG BAD: A giant mug of frosty root beer!

{Old-Timey Strong Bad appears to the left in a bathing suit. Tiny Handed Strong Bad looks at him.}

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Zounds! A sarsparilla swimming hole! Last one in's a freemason! Jump! {he half-runs toward the root beer and jumps in}

{Strong Bad disappears. Keyboard Strong Bad appears at the bottom left of the screen and dances while playing a tune.}

{Cut to a screen in the style of Puppet Stuff. Puppet Strong Bad is standing in front of the Strong Badia fence. The Tire and Stop Sign are visible. Strong Bad appears to the right. Music starts playing and both Strong Bads dance in sync with each other. After a moment, Strong Bad disappears again.}

{Cut to Da Huuuuuudge's Enclosure. Strong Bad appears lying down on top of it. He slowly slides down, then disappears.}

{Cut to the abandoned factory from highschool. Teenage Strong Bad is standing to the right. Strong Bad appears to the left.}

TEENAGE STRONG BAD: Striped {pronounced as "stripe-ed"} pants.

{Strong Bad disappears. Cut to the interdimensional void, which changes colors constantly.}

STRONG BAD: {voice slightly distorted} The Cheat! Cool out on the liquefy button, man!

{Cut to a close-up of Homestar standing next to the blender in the Computer Room. The blender still contains the Game Boy, but now also contains a green substance. One and a half avocados are sitting on the desk, along with a jar that reads "Total Load". Homestar is pressing buttons on the blender.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: I'm trying to make me a real fruit smoothie here!

{Cut to a wide shot. Tiny Handed Strong Bad is standing to the left, with Senor Cardgage, Old-Timey Strong Bad and Da Huuuuuudge to the right.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Any of you guys got any bee pollen?

{As Homestar presses another button, Strong Bad appears next to the portal and Strong Badman appears on the left side of the screen.}

STRONG BAD: Homestar! Quit messing with my alternate universe portal!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {slowly} I'm trying to replenish some electrolytes, if you don't mind!

{Homestar presses another button on the blender. He and the portal both suddenly disappear, and Sterrance appears on the desk.}

STRONG BAD: {looking around} Wow. Just look at all these Strong Bad-related faces. What an all-star cast! What say we all form a super group and record a number one jam!

{All of the Strong Bad clones groan but remain motionless, except for Old-Timey Strong Bad.}

STINKOMAN: {simultaneously} I guess...

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: {simultaneously} If we must.

{The screen fades to black, and then cuts to Strong Bad in a recording studio. Some music starts playing, and continues through the rest of the e-mail.}

STRONG BAD: {singing} There's a crazy world of e-mails in this crazy world. {Cut to a reversed view of Strong Bad.} Checkin' 'em down, checkin' 'em down...

{Cut to Stinkoman standing next to Strong Badman and Old-Timey Strong Bad.}

STINKOMAN: {singing} I hope it's from a girrrrrrrl!

{Old-Timey Strong Bad winces and looks toward Stinkoman on his last word. Cut to a zoomed out view of the scene, revealing (from left to right), Stinkoman, Strong Badman, Old-Timey Strong Bad, Strong Bad, Vector Strong Bad, Keyboard Strong Bad, Senor Cardgage, Teenage Strong Bad, Sterrance and Tiny Handed Strong Bad. Strong Badman's words appear in speech bubbles next to him.}

ALL STRONG BADS: {singing} Save the last email for Strong Bad!

{Cut to Senor Cardgage at the recording studio.}

SENOR CARDGAGE: {singing} Let the little children go.

{Cut to Vector Strong Bad in the field, which now has blue lines running above and below it.}

VECTOR STRONG BAD: {singing} I HOPE THEY DON'T A SPLODE

{Cut back to a panning view of all the Strong Bads.}

ALL STRONG BADS: {singing} Save the last email for Strong—

{Cut to Old-Timey Strong Bad in the recording studio just before "Bad".}

ALL STRONG BADS: —Bad!

OLD-TIMEY STRONG BAD: Save the last email for Strong Bad!

{Da Huuuuuudge fades in from the right.}

DA HUUUUUUDGE: {singing in a high voice with vibrato} Save the last email for meeeee!

{A comic panel with Strong Badman in front of a green background slides into the upper-left corner toward the end of Da Huuuuuudge's line.}

STRONG BADMAN: Save the last email!

{Cut back to a view of all the Strong Bads. The camera slowly zooms out during Strong Bad's line.}

STRONG BAD: All my Strong Bad doppelgängers represent. Sesquicentenn-email, 2005. I-I mean six.

{The music stops. The Paper comes down.}

Easter Eggs

• At the end, click on Teenage Strong Bad's hat to see a creation of Strong Sad's ideas:

{Piano music, fade in on Coach Z holding a pear covered with eyeballs while black coffee continually streams down his mouthless face. Cut to a close-up of the pear, then another close-up of the pear from a different angle where its eyes google. Then cut to a close-up of Coach Z's head. Fade via black to the original shot. Homestar appears next to Coach Z.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {subtitled, in a fake backwards-sounding voice} Coach Z, if you're not going to eat that eyeball pear... {clears his throat, starts talking normally with no subtitles} I suggest you give it to someone who will.

COACH Z: I don't know what's going on, Homestar, but I'm not at liberty to discuss what I just did in my pants...

• At the end, click on Senor Cardgage's head to see Strong Bad's meeting with him:

{Senor Cardgage is sitting in a boat on a lake, holding a stick with fishing line tied to the end, hanging over the side. Strong Bad appears in the boat.}

STRONG BAD: Wow, a fishing trip with Senor Cardgage! My life is complete.

SENOR CARDGAGE: Alonzo Mourning to you, Myrtlebeth. Say hello to my tacklebox. {holds up said tacklebox}

STRONG BAD: Hello there, tacklebox. {smiles} I'm such a big fan.

SENOR CARDGAGE: Well, if you could just sign right here on the dotty line, the adaption will be complete.

STRONG BAD: You're gonna adopt me?

{Strong Bad disappears}

STRONG BAD: {offscreen and echoing slightly} Aw, man!

Fun Facts

Explanations

• A Doppelgänger refers either to a creature from folklore that mimics people's appearances as an omen of death, or to the theory that everyone in the world has someone else that looks exactly like them.
  • They are also apparent in Twin Peaks, making it a double reference.
• Sarsaparilla (spelled incorrectly as "sarsparilla" in the flashback scene) is a type of plant used to make beverages, and is a common ingredient in root beer. It is more commonly pronounced "sass-parilla" than "sar-sparilla" or "sar-sa-parilla".
• Rent control is a policy used in some urban communities where the market price is deemed too high. Rent controlled dwellings are highly coveted in the communities where they are available.
• Strong Bad's conversion of fourteen dollars into dog years refers to the often-confused (and inaccurate) folk formula that dogs age seven "years" for every human year.
• A freemason is a member of the York Rite, the Scottish Rite or any of their allied organizations (DeMolay, Job's Daughters, Eastern Star, etc.) which fall under the umbrella of freemasonry.
• Electrolytes are solutions of ions (such as sodium and potassium salts) that are lost during perspiration. Drinks containing electrolytes, such as popular sports drinks, are often used to ease dehydration.
• Vaudeville is a style of multi-act theatre that flourished in North America from the 1880s to the 1920s, later succeeded by silent movies. Acts included anything from acrobats to mathematicians, from song-and-dance duos to trick high divers.

Trivia

• This email is the longest email to date, almost a full minute longer than flashback (previously the longest).
• When Strong Bad jumps down several panels in the Strong Badman comic, he passes a panel containing an explosion (with the word "TADAOW!"), and another panel with Deutschman (from haircut) holding a chain of sausages. Deutschman is saying "KINDER UBERRASCHUNG!!", the German name for Kinder Surprise (though Uberraschung should be spelled Überraschung).
• The Floppy Disk Container reads "weird dreams".

Remarks

• Strong Bad has no visible nose or ears, despite the fact that those body parts were mentioned in this e-mail.
• Senor Cardgage is the only one of Strong Bad's alter egos who had been seen talking with him prior to this email, as seen in kind of cool, garage sale, and Senorial Day.
• This is a rare occasion of Strong Bad being nice to Strong Sad.
• In Strong Bad is in Jail Cartoon, Strong Sad is seen writing with his right hand. However, in this email, Strong Sad is playing the guitar left-handed, though it is possible that Strong Sad is ambidextrous.
• Strong Sad plays a Spanish-style guitar.
• Although it can be argued whether or not Stinkoman has actually smiled before, this is the first time his mouth has been recognizably smile-shaped.
• The puppet Strong Bad is the only doppelgänger Strong Bad visited that did not appear in the ending screen, for obvious reasons.
• This is the first time we hear the Da Huuuuuudge's voice.
• Frappé is spelt as "Frappe" when Strong Bad talks to The Cheat. It is lacking the accent.
• In the recording studio, the characters are using a wireless microphone. While wireless microphones are handy in live performance (to prevent signal loss on a long cable run, as well as to avoid tangling of cables), they are actually rarely used in studio work because a cabled microphone will deliver truer fidelity.
• Homestar pronounces the word "fruit" without a lisp.

From blue to green.

• The Lappy only has 5 minutes of battery life. This email was 5:53 but it didn't run out of juice.

Goofs

• During the "Because, mere mortal" comic scene, the panel below the next panel has a blue background. In the next scene ("Is rent controlled!"), that panel now has a green background.
• At the end, when The Paper comes down, you can see that Strong Bad's pants have changed from black to dark navy, but not the pant legs. (Compare to Keyboard Strong Bad standing next to him.)
  • This happens a few times in the email, such as when Strong Bad meets Vector Strong Bad.
• During the recording session at the end, the wall's grey spot pattern is made from a single image of dots copied and pasted multiple times. This results in some half dots appearing between the copied images.
• When Strong Bad first jumps into the Alternate Universe Portal, his stool disappears briefly while he's in the process of warping. For the remainder of the email, the stool is missing.
• After cutting to the wide shot showing The Cheat with the blender, the Compy's screen includes the text "Isn't that right, The Cheat?", even though Strong Bad didn't actually type it.
• In the "Save The Last Email" song, Vector Strong Bad is behind Strong Badman, yet his white and green lines appear above Strong Badman when talking/singing.

Fixed Goofs

• When the email was released, "girl" was misspelled as "gir" in Jody's email. This was fixed shortly thereafter.

Inside References

• Strong Bad's intro song refers to flipping the bird.
• Strong Sad was previously seen playing an acoustic guitar in a recent Sketchbook, although that guitar was a twelve-string. Here he plays a six-string classical guitar.

Homestar's Time machine

• The alternate dimension machine is a Game Boy in a Blender. In 2 emails, Homestar claims to have made a time machine by sticking a Game Boy in a blender while the email is fast-forwarding.
• Strong Bad's "Mash go on that blender" is based on similar lines from flashback, ("The Cheat mashed play on an extremely expensive jambox"), strongbad_email.exe ("make your selection and mash go, moron!"), and Everybody Knows It ("Mash play on that jambox").
• The "In a bulding" line, including its accent and pronunciation, is straight from the DVD Sketchbook (though it was spelled correctly there).
• Strong Bad visits many previous emails in his travels:
  • Strong Badman and Stiny originated in superhero name.
  • Deutschman originated in haircut.
  • Vector Strong Bad is from video games.
  • Stinkoman originated in japanese cartoon.
  • Tiny-handed Strong Bad is from flashback.
  • Keyboard Strong Bad originated in crazy cartoon.
  • Da Huuuuuudge and Sterrance are both from animal.
  • Teenage Strong Bad and the term "striped pants" are from highschool.
  • Senor Cardgage originated in kind of cool.
• The Easter egg with coffee-drenched Coach Z and the eyeball pear begins exactly as described and storyboarded by Strong Sad in Sbemail 150?!?. Also, the word sesquicentenn-email, which would mean "150th email", was coined by Strong Sad in Sbemail 150?!?.
• The fishing boat, lake and background sounds are all from lures & jigs.
• "Doge" is a reference to Biz Cas Fri 1, where Homestar misspells "Dawg".
• Strong Bad comments that the "Dig To China With Your Ears Contest" is the "second or third to worst contest I ever heard of." The worst contests that originated in children's storybooks are likely to be the "Strongest Man in the World Contest" from the Original Book, and the "Ten Step Footrace" from flashback.
• Homestar Runner's "real fruit smoothie" is another example of a concoction.

Real-World References

• Cacodemons are evil spirits or demons, the opposite being an angel or "agathodemon". However, the name cacodemon is better known as the flying, red, one-eyed enemy from the Doom series of computer games. The plot for these games involved demons coming out of portals to hell.
• Adobe Photoshop is a widely used image editor from Adobe Systems Incorporated. The term "Photoshopped" has come to mean any digital edit done to an image, even if it wasn't done in Photoshop itself. The term is often used pejoratively to say that something is rather obviously edited.
• The pronunciation "ohbee kaybee" for "okay" originated with Bill Cosby. It was heard in his "Dentist" routine, and was also popularized by the character Mushmouth from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
• The way Strong Bad travels from panel to panel while visiting Strong Badman may be inspired by the videogame Comix Zone.
• She-Hulk is a comic book heroine from Marvel Comics and the cousin of The Incredible Hulk. She-Hulk comics were once noted for their fourth-wall breaks, similar to Strong Bad's comments on the quality of the Strong Badman comic and his ability to travel from panel to panel. These not-always-appreciated gags were introduced by writer John Byrne, who may be the "genius" Strong Bad ridicules.
• The surreal Coach Z Easter egg is an homage to a famous scene from the similarly surreal TV series, Twin Peaks. The background for the scene featured red drapes, and the starring character, Dale Cooper, spills coffee on himself, represented here by Coach Z's streaming hat of coffee. The unusual speech used by Homestar, meanwhile, was the hallmark of the scene; the actors actually spoke their dialogue backwards, and the recording was then played in reverse, so that the words were heard by the audience in their proper order (though they still sounded unusual and contorted, just as Homestar sounds here). It seems as though Matt Chapman faked this technique, rather than actually recording his lines backwards. Twin Peaks was co-created by director David Lynch, who Strong Sad cited as an influence in Sbemail 150?!?. Additionally, in Three Times Halloween Funjob, Marzipan dressed as the Log Lady from the show.
• Alonzo Mourning is an NBA basketball player.
• The phrase 'maxed and relaxed' may be a reference to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song, in which Will Smith states he is "maxin' and relaxin' all cool". Additionally, Smith uses the phrase throughout the series and his own raps.
• Stinkoman calls Strong Bad "big nose", a derogatory term used in eastern Asia to describe Westerners, whose noses tend to be genetically larger than Asians'.
• The all-star super group recording a number one jam calls to mind USA for Africa, a group of forty-five U.S. musicians that collaborated on the number one single "We Are the World" in 1985, the profits from which were used for famine and disease relief in Africa.
• The font in the comic book alternative universe, known as "Peanuts", was designed to emulate the style of lettering used in the Peanuts comics.
• The sound effect in the fishing Easter Egg that starts right after Strong Bad says "Wow, a fishing trip with Senor Cardgage!" is from Fishing With John.

External Links

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