island

Strong Bad Email #52

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"Are we rescued yet?"

This article is about the Strong Bad Email. For the place, see The Island.

Strong Bad imagines the lurking horrors of being stranded on an island with Homestar.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Homestar Runner

Places: Computer Room, The Island

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Monday, November 25, 2002

Running Time: 1:57

Page Title: COMPY 386

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Two

Transcript

STRONG BAD: Strong Bad Emails are a part of this balanced breakfast.

{reading the email}

Dear Strong Bad,

What would you do if you where stuck
on an desert island with Homestar
Runner?

Yami Yugi
England

{Strong Bad says "were" instead of "where" and "a" instead of "an".}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Well Yami Yugi {says the name hesitantly}, I suspect it would be like most cartoons. You know, we'd start to go nuts after a while and I would look at Homestar and he would look like a big steak. And then Homestar would look at me and I'd look like {stops typing} you know {starts typing again} some kinda brownie sundae. {clears screen} So we'd chase each other around the island, trying to eat each other. And at some point my foot would look like a sandwich and I'd put salt on it and try to eat it and it's like, "Oh! It's my foot!!" {clears screen} But that's a best-case scenario. I'm sure in real life it would be much more annoying and painful with Homestar involved. {he types "Dumpface" instead of "Homestar"}

{cut to Homestar and Strong Bad on an island}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey, Strong Bad.

STRONG BAD: What?

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Are we rescued yet?

STRONG BAD: You're gonna need to get rescued in a second if you don't quit asking me that. {shakes his fist at Homestar}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Ohhhhhhhh... Hey, Strong Bad.

STRONG BAD: What?

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Is there ice cream yet?

STRONG BAD: You're gonna need to get ice cream in a second if you don't quit asking me that. You know... 'cause I'm gonna hit you...and you'll need the ice cream to... stop the swelling.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey, Stinkoman.

STRONG BAD: Um... did you just call me Stinkoman?

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yes, sir, I did.

STRONG BAD: Geez. You don't happen to have a gun on your side of the island, do ya?

HOMESTAR RUNNER: No. Hey, Strong Bad, check this out! {turns away}

STRONG BAD: Oh, don't start with that—

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Toons! {An ocean liner passes by with a loud "toot"}

STRONG BAD: Homestar—

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Games! {An angry-looking, red-eyed, white sperm whale, with harpoons embedded in its body, emerges from the left side of the water. It spurts water from its blowhole and then goes back into the water.}

STRONG BAD: Don't do another—

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Email! {A propeller plane with a "WEAR A BIKINI!!" banner attached to it flies by}

STRONG BAD: Ugh!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Man, I love doing that. {A bottle washes up on the island.}

STRONG BAD: Whoa, check it out. A message in a bottle. {takes a piece of paper out of the bottle and reads it} What?

January 20, 1985

Super
XIX
Bowl

Stanford Stadium
Stanford, California

Miami Dolphins

VS.

San Francisco 49ers

Super Bowl Nineteen... Miami Dolphins vs. San Francisco 49ers... {sarcastically} Great.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: We're saved!

STRONG BAD: This is the worst deserted island ever.

{The Paper comes down}

Easter Eggs

• At the end, click on Strong Bad and Homestar to make them turn into various things.
  • Strong Bad:
    • Some kinda brownie sundae
    • Hot dog
    • "Pinner" plate of marshmallows, with a derby, eyepatch and cigar from Meet Marshie
    • San Francisco 49ers helmet
  • Homestar:
    • A big steak
    • Stack of pancakes
    • Guitar from new hands
    • Miami Dolphins helmet

Fun Facts

Explanations

• The alias of the email sender, Yami Yugi, comes from the name of a main character of the popular anime series and card game Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Trivia

• The YouTube description for this email is "The classic episode where Strong Bad and Homestar get stuck on a desert island."

Remarks

• Strong Bad's remark about it being "like most cartoons" seems to support the idea that the characters are aware that they are cartoons thus creating one of many fourth wall breaks.

Goofs

• Homestar's Main Page joke refers to Main Page 3 (see Inside References), but on the real Main Page 3, the plane actually flies past on "Store." A monkey hits Homestar in the head with a coconut when "E-mail" is activated.
• The San Francisco 49ers' helmet facemask is incorrect. They wore a gray facemask in the 1984-'85 season.
• The 49ers also had a large red and white stripe, much more visible than the one shown.

Inside References

• Homestar references Main Page 3 when he yells out "Toons," "Games," and "E-mail" and various things appear. (see Goofs for more)
• Strong Bad describes the island as the "worst deserted island ever".
• In the Easter egg, Homestar turns into the guitar from the Easter egg in new hands.
• Strong Bad turns into the "pinner" marshmallows from Meet Marshie in the Easter egg.
• Strong Bad creates one of the names ending in -face in this email.

Real-World References

• The 49ers beat the Dolphins 38–16 in Super Bowl XIX.
• The first cinematic instance of hunger-induced delirium altering the appearance of a character from their actual resemblance to an edible object actually took place in Charlie Chaplin's 1925 movie The Gold Rush, which was filmed, not animated. It later took place in the 1943 Looney Tunes cartoon Wackiki Wabbit.

Fast Forward

• Five emails later, in japanese cartoon, Strong Bad creates a Japanese cartoon character named Stinkoman.
• Strong Bad salting his foot is used again in interview.
• The island is revisited in disconnected, Weclome Back, and the paper.

YouTube Version

• At the end, the Easter egg plays automatically. It starts with Homestar, cycles through each transformation alternately, and ends with both football helmets at the same time.

DVD Version

• To make Homestar and Strong Bad transform into various things, select the hidden Strong Bad head to the left of Strong Bad.
• 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: Welcome back, I'm Matt Chapman.

MIKE: I am my brother Mike.

MATT: What?

MIKE: Uh-huh? Isn't, uh... {pause} Sorry.

MATT: Yeah? Go ahead.

MIKE: Oh, I don't remember what I was going to say. I like this email, though. I like the, um, visuals.

MATT: This is a lot, this is pretty much referencing, I mean it's done a lot in cartoons, but there's that one Bugs Bunny where he's on the desert island with those two—the ski— tall skinny guy—

MIKE: Rightio.

MATT: —the fat short guy.

MIKE: Right.

MATT: That's where a lot of this comes from. I think they see each other as like, a steak and a hot dog. And I think that Bugs tricks one of them into eating his own foot at some point probably.

{pause}

MIKE: This is the origin of the term Stinkoman, too.

MATT: It's true. We were just screwin' around and I said "Stin"— the word Stinkoman.

MIKE: Yeah, I think so. {pause} But I like that scene right there.

MATT: Yeah, Mike keeps talking about wanting to revisit this little desert island scene.

MIKE: It might be revisited by the time you're all listening to this commentary.

MATT: Not if I have anything to say about it.

MIKE: Matt hates me.

MATT: I'm just kidding.

{in the email, Homestar calls Strong Bad Stinkoman}

MIKE: Look, there it was!

MATT: Yeah, see?

MIKE: He did, yeah. {chuckles}

{pause}

MATT: You haven't got a baboon in your pocket, have you? There you go, Mike.

MIKE: {still chuckling} Yeah, thanks. Uh—

MATT: I like this. {pause} Those actually are incorrect, aren't they? That's not exactly what he does on that menu page, I think.

MIKE: Oh, maybe, {distantly} maybe not. {normal} Look at those clouds. They're a little different than usual.

MATT: They are. Oh that—that's nice, I remember Scott Edwards was over for that one. I think it snowed.

MIKE: Dave Brown, yeah, I think—

MATT: And then it snowed and we didn't have to go to school the next day.

MIKE: I think you're right.

MATT: No, it was great.

Fun Facts

• The Bugs Bunny cartoon in particular that Matt and Mike refer to is Wackiki Wabbit.
• The phrase "You haven't got a baboon in your pocket, have you?" was originally uttered by Groucho Marx in A Night at the Opera.

External Links

• watch "island"
• watch "island" on YouTube
• watch "island" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "island"