dreamail

Strong Bad Email #122

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"But right now, I gotta fly."

Strong Bad describes for us what his dream email, and his dream life, would be like. The pink border doesn't cut it.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Female Lappy 486, The Cheat, Homestar Runner

Places: Computer Room, Nuclear Class Submarine "Soccermom"

Computer: Lappy 486

Date: Monday, January 10, 2005

Running Time: 3:43

Page Title: Lappy 486

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Four

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} Oh, oh, email's in the backyard, makin' some stew...

subject: Perfect email

Hey StrongBad
I was just wondering: what do you look for in an email?
Another words, describe that dream email that you would like
to recieve one day.

With lots of anticipation,
Danny Gedgafov from Glenview, IL

{After reading "Another words," Strong Bad says, "Oh, look! And there's some another words." Also, he has difficulty reading Danny's name, resulting in the following.}

STRONG BAD: Danny Geh-geh-geh... Gih-gih-gih... Ge-ka-koff...from Gleggityvoo, Illinois. {He pronounces the S of Illinois.} {typing} My dream email. My "dreamail." {clears screen, resumes typing} Well plain ol' Danny, there are a lot of email-fish out there in the Email Sea. And while most of them are those nasty bottom-feeders with a suckhole mouth, there are a few that break the glimmering surface of the water, to glisten in the sunset for a few fleeting moments, like some kind of glorious e-marlin. Another words, please allow me to ditch the fishing metaphor and hit you with the pink border.

{A pink border appears around the edge of the screen, causing the center to turn white. The whiteness fades into Strong Bad at the Lappy, which now has a golden chain license-plate cover around its screen reading "MY LAPPY ATE YOUR DOG" at the top.}

STRONG BAD: OK, orchestra, hit it! {The orchestra starts up, and Strong Bad sings in an operatic style.} Email me tonight!

{The orchestra hits its last two notes, and the Lappy booting sequence begins. However, the Lappy emblem now looks female with blonde hair, and speaks to Strong Bad with corresponding text appearing below it.}

FEMALE LAPPY 486: Good morning, Strong Bad. You're looking prooty hot. You have one unread messages.

STRONG BAD: Well, thank you, Lappy. You're looking prooty hot too. On screen!

{Strong Bad clears the bootup screen, and reads the new email.}

subject: French countryside

Dear Mssr. Eleganté,
You left your pocketwatch in the hot tub. When will you be
back to retrieve it?

-128 Hot Katies

STRONG BAD: {typing} My Katies 1-128 {says "one-twenty-eight"}, Good to hear from all y'all (especially you, Katie 80). When my raucous schedule {pronounced as "shedule"} permits, I will triumphantly/abundantly {pronounced as "triumphantly slash abundantly"} return to the chateau for my ruby-encrusted pocketwatch. I have plans tonight, however, but I will, furthermore, heretofore, be back on morrow next. Please tell Adelaide that the poached eggs were tremendous. Forever Young, Chester Eleganté {Strong Bad hits enter, and the female Lappy icon appears back onscreen as the email disappears.}

FEMALE LAPPY 486: Well played, Strong Bad. Those ladies are sure to be all up ons.

{The pink border and such fades away as we cut back to the normal world.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Oh, man. If I got that email, I would have it bronzed, and then dipped in...uh guacamole and The Cheat would read it to me every night at supper.

{The scene cuts back to the pink border dreamworld, this time at a banquet table (made out of a door) with large windows in the background, a covered serving tray and a golden chalice (or maybe just a doorknob). Strong Bad rolls forward in a plush chair with fork in hand to where the serving tray is. The Cheat's arm improbably stretches out from the right side of the screen and lifts the cover}

STRONG BAD: Ooh! Cadbury Creme Egg omelet! {calling offscreen} Continue, The Cheat.

{The camera pans to the other end of the table, where The Cheat is sitting in a similar chair, holding a bronze plaque with guacamole all over it. The Cheat starts to read it, then growls, rubs part of the front of the plaque, and continues. The camera pans back to Strong Bad.}

STRONG BAD: {interrupting} Oh, I love that part! Read it again, slowly, and... backwards.

{The camera pans back to The Cheat, who starts to read backwards, slowly and with some difficulty. Homestar Runner walks on-camera from the left side of the screen.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {while The Cheat is still reading} The Cheat! What's been up?

{The camera pans back to Strong Bad.}

STRONG BAD: Hey!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, Strong Bad, found your pocketwatch. {Homestar tosses a ruby-encrusted pocketwatch in Strong Bad's omelette.} Katie 80 says "What's up". {The camera pans back to The Cheat.} So, The Cheat! What's been up?

{The camera cuts to Strong Bad.}

STRONG BAD: CRAP THE WHAT?! {Strong Bad bangs on the table with his fists.} This pink border is not {Bangs on table with his fists} holding up its end of the bargain! {Bangs on table with fists} Come on, pink border, {bangs on table one last time as he gets up frantically} get your head in the game!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {offscreen} Pink border?

{The scene cuts back to the real world, where Homestar is standing to the right of Strong Bad at his computer desk.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Strong Bad, what are you talking aboot?

STRONG BAD: {looks around for a moment} Oh, we're back here.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yeah. I found your pocket lint. {puts some pocket lint on the desk} And Marzipan says you're an ogre.

{The camera focuses back on Strong Bad and the Lappy.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Awww! I knew I shoulda gone with a puffy white cloud border. Those things never let you down. Homestar never woulda shown up in a Puffy White Cloud Dreamail.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: I do hate white clowns.

{A center wipe suddenly happens with white clouds forming the border. Strong Bad's computer desk is now apparently in a submarine, with the text "NUCLEAR CLASS SUBMARINE 'SOCCERMOM'" painted on the inside of its hull. As Strong Bad types, some creature with a huge eye looks in through a nearby porthole, and the pinging of a sonar can be heard in the background}

STRONG BAD: {typing} And if you ignore all the facts and scientific evidence, then those weird little kids were right. Thanks for your question, Leonard Nimoy. I'll be back next week to solve another Celebrity Murder Mystery. {stops typing and stands up, addressing the camera} But right now, I gotta fly.

{Strong Bad strikes a pose, and strings suddenly appear attached to him. Strong Bad makes various noises as he is lifted away to the upper right corner of the screen, where he gets stuck. The Paper, which now seems to be modeled after the U.S. Constitution, comes down with the Strong Bad email link looking like it has been written on it in marker}

Easter Eggs

An e-marlin breaks the glimmering surface of the Lappy.

• Click on "e-marlin" to cause an ASCII art marlin to jump from the bottom of the screen.
• Click on the graffiti on Strong Bad's dream table to see a zoomed-in view of it. It reads, "Ooh Dang, Strong Bad! You go child!" and is signed "Jackeé".
• Click on the Lappy's screen at the end of the email to hear additional dialogue from the female Lappy.

{The Female Lappy appears back on-screen}

FEMALE LAPPY 486: Don't fly, Strong Bad. Please come down. I worry about you. I can see the strings.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• "You have one unread messages." is a reference to poorly written computer programs that do not special case the number one.
• The misspelling of "prooty" when Lappy 486 says "pretty" is a reference to old speech synthesizers like Software Automated Mouth that forced the user to use phonetic spelling to make the words come out right.

Trivia

• This is another email in which Strong Bad checks multiple emails.
• The label on the disk in the floppy disk container reads "miner 2049er".
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad describes the perfect email with the help of a fade-y pink border."

Remarks

• The words "about" and "schedule" are pronounced using the stereotypical Canadian pronunciations "aboot" and "shedule".
• When Strong Bad gets up, The Geddup Noise does not occur.
• This is one of the few emails that shows Strong Bad actually typing. One of the other times this is shown is in dullard, but Strong Bad's style of typing has changed since then.
• Despite all the fuss Strong Bad makes about correct grammar and punctuation, he fails to realize or acknowledge that Danny has spelled the word receive wrong in his email.
• This is the first appearance of Female Lappy 486.
• This is the first time the new design of Strong Bad's stool appears. The old one just showed two legs and looked two-dimensional while the new design shows all four legs for a more 3D look.
• There is no back button at the end of this email.
• During the dream scene and after the dream scene, Homestar's eyes appear closer than normal. Another instance of this was in time capsule.

Goofs

• The official French abbreviation for Monsieur is "M.", but it is misspelled as "Mssr." in the "French Countryside" dream email. This may be based on the abbreviation "Messrs." or "Mssrs.", standing for Messieurs, the plural of Monsieur. The spelling also resembles the way French actually pronounce Monsieur, which Strong Bad imitates.

Inside References

• The phrase "All up ons" is from the email suntan.
• The strings pulling up Strong Bad may be a reference to a similar flight made by Homestar in A Decemberween Pageant.
• This is another instance of killing someone's dog.
• The Cheat reading the bronzed email backwards is an instance of reversed dialogue.

Real-World References

• The pink border is a reference to Saved by the Bell, which used the same border for its dream sequences. This was confirmed by The Brothers Chaps in the DVD commentary for this email.
• Strong Bad's dreamail dinner table is made from the front door from the show 227 and is signed by actress Jackée Harry who played Sandra Clark on the late '80s sitcom.
• Cadbury Creme Eggs are chocolate eggs with a white and yellow fondant filling produced by Cadbury Schweppes.
• The sign-off "Forever young" also appeared in an Easter egg in personal favorites. It could be a reference to the 1973 Bob Dylan song, the 1988 Rod Stewart hit, or possibly the Alphaville song of the same name, which was a hit in 1984.
• The Cheat's method of removing the cover from Strong Bad's serving tray is an homage to the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham.
• When Strong Bad says "On screen!", it is a reference to innumerable Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes in which Captain Jean-Luc Picard gives the same command.
• Leonard Nimoy was the actor who played "Spock" on the original Star Trek series. Strong Bad's reference to him and scientific facts is probably related to In Search of..., a television show hosted by Nimoy that explored controversial explanations of the paranormal and disputed historical events.

Fast Forward

• The pink border is again used as representing Strong Bad's imagination in an Easter egg in On Break.

DVD Version

• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Matt Chapman, Mike Chapman)

MATT: That was a nice little... jig.

MIKE: Song. A jig is a dance.

MATT: {laughing} But he was probably doing one there in the stool.

MIKE: Yeah we could se—

MATT: Sitting on the stool.

MIKE: What are you saying?

MATT: {laughing} I wanna start this one over.

MIKE: No, let's keep going. It's good.

MATT: Are you sure?

MIKE: Yeah!

MATT: How many of these do you think on this DVD that we said that we were gonna start over and then don't?

MIKE: I think this is the fourth or fifth one.

MATT: Nice!

{short pause}

MIKE: I haven't watched this one in a while.

MATT: I know. I don't know what happens in it. Who's this guy talking right now?

MIKE: Red Head. {both laugh} That's Ol' Red Head.

{pause until Strong Bad types "suckhole mouth"}

MATT: Thats—

MIKE: "Suckhole" is some foul language!

MATT: {laughs} Is that— Are we allowed to say that on the DVD?

MIKE: {laughs} I don't think so!

MATT: I think it's worse than... the DVD standard.

{pause until Strong Bad types "pink border"}

MATT: So the pink border, Mike—

MIKE: Oh!

MATT: Pioneered by Saved By the Bell.

MIKE: It's true!

MATT: Dream sequences.

{both laugh}

MATT: That's a nice license plate border he's got on his Lappy.

MIKE: Yeah. I'd like to get one of those for my, uh—

MATT: Look at that hot logo!

MIKE: Listen to that hot voice!

MATT: Yeah.

{short pause}

MATT: She is a— a fine— a hip, hip, hip, hip, hip lady. The Lappy logo.

MIKE: {laughs}

MATT: Uh... what did Mssr. Eleganté come from? Didn't you— or did you just make that up?

MIKE: I think I just made that up. I don't remember if it was from something or not.

{pause until after Strong Bad types "Katie 80"}

MIKE: That rhymes.

MATT: Umm... "schedule" {says it like "shedule"} obviously is the very highbrow way to say "schedule".

MIKE: Or the very my second grade teacher way to say it.

MATT: Really?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Who was that?

MIKE: Mrs. Wilburn.

MATT: Wilburn?

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: I don't remember her.

MIKE: She was gone by your— by your da— your days.

MATT: {grunts}.

{short pause until Strong Bad types "Chester Eleganté"}

MATT: Is that Adelaide from Facts of Life, Mike?

MIKE: Probably.

MATT: The maid.

MIKE: One of them— one of the several— or I guess it was Different Strokes that kept changing. They had Pearl.

MATT: Oh, maybe she was on— oh Adalaide might have been Different Strokes—

MIKE: Mrs. Garret was—

MATT: Yeah. That's why I'm mixing them up.

MIKE: Yeah.

{pause until scene cuts to the dinner table}

MATT: So this is—

MIKE: Speaking of TV shows that were on Saturday nights—

MATT: Mmm hmm—

MIKE: Like uh— Facts of Life. There's 227.

MATT: Look. It's signed by Jackée!

MIKE: There's a—

MATT: The best part is that I don't think... there was a door that says 227 on it or something err—

MIKE: In my mind that— they were sitting on a stoop and there was a door always that said 227.

MATT: Yeah, maybe a door—

MIKE: But I think I'm making it up.

MATT: But I think that was... the number of the uh-the building 'cause they lived in a brownstone so 227 wasn't like somebody's apartment number, which is sorta what that door looks like.

{short pause}

MIKE: You've got a Cadbury Creme Egg in your desk drawer.

MATT: I still do! I don't—

MIKE: It's from Easter.

MATT: I don't know if I'm gonna eat it.

MIKE: I can't believe I haven't eaten it in some fit of hunger. {laughs}

MATT: That room—

MIKE: That—

MATT: That room definitely looks like that room at the end of, uh— 2001.

MIKE: Mmm hmm—

MATT: When after he's gone through the s— the monolith. It scares me in there. {Mike chuckles} I wouldn't make my— my dream house look like that.

MIKE: I used to have this, uh— dream house that was a giant, like maybe— 30-foot wide carpeted stairway. {Matt laughs} And it just went down to this opening with, like, six doors off of it.

MATT: Uh huh?

MIKE: Gosh. I drew a picture of it in low res on the— on our old IBM.

MATT: Really?

MIKE: On the green low-res graphics.

MATT: Nice.

MIKE: I drew this picture of this giant carpeted stairway.

MATT: We should broach— we should go back and do this again and talk about the email.

External Links

• watch "dreamail"
• watch "dreamail" on YouTube
• watch "dreamail" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "dreamail"
• forum thread re: "dreamail"