Homestar Runner (body of work)
From Homestar Runner Wiki
Homestar Runner (abbreviated as H*R, occasionally as HR or HSR) is an animated comedy series produced by the Brothers Chaps (Mike and Matt Chapman), primarily taking the form of short Flash cartoons presented on homestarrunner.com. The series centers on the adventures of a large and diverse cast of characters, headed by the titular Homestar Runner. It uses a blend of surreal and absurdist humor, incorporating inside jokes, satire, and references to popular culture — in particular video games, classic television, and popular music.
Homestar Runner originated in 1996 as a short book parodying children's literature written by Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel. Whilst learning Macromedia Flash, Mike and his brother Matt expanded the concept into a website, which was launched on New Year's Day 2000. While the site originally centered on the title character, the Strong Bad Email series quickly became the site's most popular and prominent feature, with Strong Bad, initially the series' main antagonist, becoming a breakout character. Over the decades, the site has grown to encompass a variety of cartoons and games featuring Homestar, Strong Bad, and numerous other characters. At the peak of its popularity, the site was one of the most-visited sites with collections of Flash cartoons on the web, spreading via word of mouth. The site sustains itself through merchandise sales and has never featured advertisements.
The site is updated irregularly, without a set schedule and often with months passing between updates. From 2002 through 2009, the site featured weekly updates of new toons, as well as interactive games and other site features. After a four-year hiatus beginning in 2010, Homestar Runner returned with a new Holiday Toon on April Fools' Day 2014; afterwards the site has been "updated every someday" on an occasional basis, usually to celebrate holidays. Though global support for Flash ended on December 31, 2020, homestarrunner.com has maintained a fully functional website through the Flash emulator Ruffle.
Contents |
[edit] Site Content
[edit] Characters
- See main article: Characters
The cartoons nominally center on Homestar Runner, a somewhat dim but good-hearted athlete. The character Strong Bad, however, is often more popular among fans, mostly through his Strong Bad Email cartoons (released near-weekly for several years) in which he answers actual emails from viewers. Strong Bad works closely with his sidekick The Cheat and uses his brother Strong Mad as the muscle in his operations. Together, the three prey on Strong Bad's depressed brother Strong Sad. Many of the site's features — music, games, main pages, characters, etc. — are based on concepts from the Strong Bad Emails.
Several other characters fill out the world of Free Country, USA, where most of the characters live: Homestar's hippie girlfriend Marzipan, whose answering machine is a frequent target for prank callers, his best friend Pom Pom, the verbally challenged Coach Z, local concession stand owner Bubs, and The King of Town and his Poopsmith. Rounding out the cast is Homsar, an odd-speaking character created on account of (and in mockery of) a poorly written email to Strong Bad. Many of these characters have alternate versions.
[edit] Toons
- See main article: Toons
From January 2002 to November 2009, new content was added to the website nearly every week, usually on Monday, such as a short, a longer cartoon, a Strong Bad Email, an online Flash game, or real-life merchandise like DVDs and action figures. Strong Bad Email is the most expansive and popular series on the website, and has produced several spin-offs, such as Strong Bad's crudely drawn comic series Teen Girl Squad. The comic parodies four archetypal high-school girls and their equally archetypal quest for attractiveness, popularity, and love, which is continually frustrated by their violent deaths in every issue.
Some other types of cartoons include Marzipan's Answering Machine, toons with little animation in which characters call Marzipan on her answering machine; Puppet Stuff, which uses live action puppets instead of animation; and Powered by The Cheat, poorly animated and voice-acted cartoons created by The Cheat. Some toons feature the characters celebrating holidays, like Decemberween, a holiday similar to Christmas, and Halloween.
The website, built mostly out of Flash animations, is filled with hidden Easter eggs: if a certain area on the page is mouse-clicked at the right time, an additional cartoon or screen will appear. For example, in the Strong Bad Email studying, viewers can view a hidden Web page about a book that Strong Bad mentions. Also, at the end of the email vacation, viewers can click on one of five postcards to hear what Strong Bad thinks of the particular place he has visited.
Some cartoons feature spin-offs like Old-Timey, black-and-white cartoons parodying the style of the 1930s; 20X6, a parody anime cartoon featuring the main character Stinkoman; and Dangeresque, a film series created by Strong Bad.
[edit] History
- See also Timeline of Homestar Runner
[edit] Development (1990s)
Homestar Runner was created in July of 1996. Mike Chapman and friend Craig Zobel were working for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta;[1] Mike worked the night shift as a lighting technician for an Australian sports channel.[2] On a day off, the duo visited a local bookstore and found themselves looking through the children's section. Joking that many of the books there were "total crap", the duo decided to make a book of their own that spoofed the genre.[1] That same afternoon, Chapman and Zobel wrote and illustrated the small handmade book The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest, creating the characters Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad and The Cheat. At less than twenty pages, the book was finished in a few hours.[3] About a dozen copies of the booklet were made at Kinko's and given to friends and family; the book was created as a lark without any serious plans to publish it.[1][3] A few months later, early plans were made for a sequel titled Homestar Runner Goes For The Gold! — this book, which would've introduced Strong Bad's siblings Strong Mad and Strong Sad, was scripted but never completed.[4]
For Christmas 1996, brother Matt Chapman joined Mike and Craig in creating a Mario Paint animation featuring the Homestar Runner characters as a Christmas gift for eldest Chapman brother Donnie. Mike Chapman made another parody children's book starring Homestar, Where My Hat Is At?, in 1999.[7] Unlike the paper books Strongest Man in the World and Goes for the Gold, this was published digitally to Mike's website.
The term "Homestar Runner" had originated several years before the character or book was ever conceived: from an ad-libbed joke by James Huggins, friend of the Brothers Chaps. A local Winn-Dixie commercial in the early '90s featured Atlanta Braves second baseman Mark Lemke; Huggins would impersonate the commercial's announcer but, being unfamiliar with baseball positions, riffed that Lemke was the "Home Star Runner for the Braves".[5] The humorously idiosyncratic term was "filed away" by the brothers as a gag to return to.[6]
The earliest Homestar Runner works were created to have an intentionally bizarre tone, as if the reader was encountering something from another country that had been poorly translated or that they lacked the cultural context to fully understand.[8][9] Japanese children's music and British shows like Bod served as early influences for this "foreign" feeling.[10]
[edit] Launch (2000)
By late 1999, Mike and Matt had both finished college (having studied photography and film production, respectively) and had moved back to Atlanta, sharing an apartment together.[11] Fascinated by the creative potential of Flash animation and Internet self-publishing, and desiring to work on a project together as they had in their childhood, the brothers returned to the Homestar Runner characters as they taught themselves Flash and other creative programs.[3][12] After completing several simple Flash animations, they decided to host their work online: the website homestarrunner.com was launched in January of 2000, consisting of a few simple short cartoons and games. New cartoons and games were created in the brothers' spare time, as both had full-time jobs elsewhere.[12] The site serves as the platform for cartoons and games featuring the characters.
The Brothers Chaps took a split approach to production, with Matt providing characters' voices. They were also joined by other creative contributors. Mike's girlfriend (and later wife) Missy Palmer was brought on to voice lone female main character Marzipan, also writing for a few toons. Homestar co-creator Craig Zobel occasionally returned to contribute art and writing. Chad Eikhoff contributed to a pair of early toons. By 2003, writing and art duties were nearly always handled solely by the Brothers Chaps.[13]
[edit] Creative expansion (2001)
The site grew slowly at first; its spread was through word-of-mouth, as the Brothers Chaps did not advertise, and the site launched as a side project with no set schedule. Early attention was gained from fellow Flash enthusiasts, graphic artists, and web designers.[15][16] In the early 2000s, the Internet had yet to become as ubiquitous as it is in the modern day: many homes did not have high-speed Internet access, or indeed any home Internet at all. Early fans were typically office workers or college students who had easy access to high-speed connections for browsing, with collegiate fans particularly driving the site's early success;[14] Homestar Runner quickly gained fans from across a wide variety of demographics.[16][17]
The site initially focused on short cartoons centering around competitions between Homestar Runner as a heroic character and the villainous Strong Bad, such as tag team wrestling or a jumping jack contest. Focus soon shifted to telling stories about events between competitions, allowing for more variety.[12] Recognizing Strong Bad's growing popularity, the brothers decided to give him his own series in 2001: Strong Bad Email, where he would respond to fan mail.[16]
[edit] Weekly schedule and popularity (2002–2009)
MATT CHAPMAN: I have no idea when our peak was viewership-wise, but 2002–2005 was definitely when we got to go the most nuts creatively. We expanded into weird live action and puppet stuff, CDs, DVDs, video games, toys, all kindsa crazy dream-come-true stuff we never thought we'd get to do.[3]
In 2002, the Brothers Chaps (who were now sharing an apartment) decided to dedicate more time to the website and established Strong Bad Email as a weekly feature; over 200 sbemail toons would be released at this near-weekly pace. This weekly pace allowed the site to build momentum, with its popularity dramatically growing throughout the year.[14] By 2003, nearly 300,000 visitors were coming to the site every Monday to see the newest Strong Bad Email.[2] The site became a juggernaut of late Web 1.0, gaining more web traffic than larger, more mainstream competitors like South Park or The Simpsons.[18] The site's popularity also led to it being referenced in television shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.[3]
Rising merchandise sales not only covered the costs of running the website but also allowed both brothers to leave their other work to focus on Homestar Runner full-time by late 2002.[11] Said merchandise grew from simple apparel to include figurines, plush dolls, DVD compilations, and a CD of exclusive music.
Toons also explored a variety of different formats, including live-action puppet footage, often in distinct formats that varied greatly from standard toons; annual toons were also produced for several holidays.
The brothers began working with programmer Jonathan Howe, creating sophisticated games such as the Sierra adventure game pastiche Peasant's Quest or Mega Man homage Stinkoman 20X6.
In a retrospective interview, the brothers considered the period between 2002–2005 to be their most creative and successful, exploring various different media for the shorts and having a large quantity of merchandise. Matt considered a day in February 2004 to be the highlight of his work on Homestar Runner, having received a demo tape from They Might Be Giants for a song to use in a toon and a life-sized replica of Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theater 3000 producer Jim Mallon on the same day.[3]
[edit] Hiatus (2010–2013)
- See also Hiatuses
Updates to HomestarRunner.com began to slow in late 2009, quickly and dramatically dropping to where only three toons were produced in 2010. The site entered an extended hiatus in 2011, with no new toons for over three years.
Through 2010, Homestar Runner had remained financially viable for the brothers. However, the ten-year mark provided an opportunity for reflection and to take a break — a combination of family obligations (both brothers were married with children by this time), creative burnout, and considerations about the longevity of Homestar Runner impacted the decision to put the website on hold.[3][14] During this time, the Brothers Chaps worked on other projects, with Matt moving to Los Angeles to take advantage of creative opportunities.[14]
[edit] Comeback (2014)
MIKE CHAPMAN: We really just didn’t know how long it’d be before we could get back to Homestar. Maybe one month, two months, six months. After a certain point it almost became weird to say something about the break. In retrospect, we probably could’ve handled it a little better.[3]
The site's silence was broken on April Fool's Day 2014 with the release of a new toon — the first in over three years; the toon acknowledged the length between updates by making the site's index page look dilapidated, and ended with a tongue-in-cheek implication that it might continue to be a long wait for more updates.
In several later interviews, the Brothers Chaps credit the large positive response to this toon as a major encouragement to continue site updates.
Matt appeared on The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show on July 7, in the first interview with either of the Brothers Chaps in several years. Matt expressed that the Brothers had an interest in "making more stuff, hopefully on a more frequent basis"[14] — borne out with more site activity in October with Fish Eye Lens, Halloween Safety, I Killed Pom Pom (the first full-length Halloween toon since 2009), and the first updates to Quote of the Week, Weekly Fanstuff, and Sketchbook in exactly five years. In the same interview, Matt also mentioned plans for a new Strong Bad Email, a more accessible website redesign, and a Homestar Runner-themed social media account, all of which eventually came to pass.
[edit] Modern era (2015–present)
The @StrongBadActual Twitter account began posting regularly on September 26, 2014; it has since become the most active facet of the Homestar Runner body of work. In a Rolling Stone interview on October 3, the Brothers Chaps specified that they were not planning to return to full-time work on the site due to the stress and deadlines of the former schedule. Rather, they would simply create any new toons at their own pace, closer to every couple of months rather than weekly. 2015 was the true start of the modern pace of updates; there was new content every second month. In the years since, the site has been updated slowly but semi-regularly, with new content every 1-4 months; Halloween toons have been released annually since 2014.
[edit] Post-Flash
[edit] Licensing
Though the Brothers Chaps had pitched Homestar Runner to Cartoon Network in 2000, where they were turned down,[3][10] they quickly developed a preference for the freedom of self-publishing. In interviews across later years, they would indicate little to no interest in adapting Homestar Runner for television or film.
Because the Brothers Chaps run their own website, they have a creative freedom that they would not have doing a regular TV show. Though the site sells Homestar merchandise, it has no advertisements, and a few of the cartoons parody advertising, with made-up products like Fluffy Puff Marshmallows. Business aspects of Homestar Runner are handled through Harmless Junk, Inc. (often branded as fictional company Cheap As Free).
The Brothers Chaps have frequently worked with other contributors to create additional media such as music CDs (including live performances as fictional bands) and live-action video.
2008 video game Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, produced in partnership with Telltale Games, was the first time that Homestar Runner had been licensed out to a third-party company. In an interview, Matt reflected that the partnership was "the biggest thing that we'd probably [ever] do." Strong Bad also appeared in Telltale's crossover game Poker Night at the Inventory.
Trogdor!! The Board Game was funded by Kickstarter in 2018, co-produced with game designer James Ernest.
In 2020, new Homestar Runner merchandise was created and sold in partnership with Fangamer. Homestar Runner is the first webtoon series that Fangamer has worked with; the collaboration largely featured merchandise designed by creators other than the Brothers Chaps.
[edit] References
Select content adapted from: "Homestar Runner." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Dec 2004, 03:57 UTC and 10:21, 8 July 2023
[edit] See Also
[edit] External Links
- Homestar Runner official website
- Homestar Runner article on Wikipedia
- "Homestar Runner" entry on TVTropes
