road trip

Strong Bad Email #156

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"Oh, this trip is definitely going to be jumbo/LARGE."

Strong Bad and The Cheat go on a road trip. Or more accurately, a car trip. Or even more accurately, a car.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, The Cheat, Homestar Runner, Bubs (Easter egg), Coach Z (Easter egg)

Places: Computer Room, The Field, Inside the Gremlin, Bubs' Concession Stand (Easter egg)

Computer: Lappy 486

Date: Monday, September 4, 2006

Running Time: 4:18

Page Title: Lappy 486

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Five

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {singing} Good morning, Mr. E-mail, there's a call for you, on line two. {He brings up the email.}

subject: road trip

Dear Fatty bad,
Do you ever go on road trips with your gang?

That guy, from that place

{Strong Bad says "I've actually lost two pounds in the last nine months, thank you very much" instead of "Fatty", and "Pete from Pete's parents' basement" instead of "That guy, from that place".}

STRONG BAD: Oh, yeah! Me and The Cheat, we're roadtripcionados. And one thing I've found, is that every good road trip needs a good inside joke that only the people that went on the road trip will get. {clears screen} And your friends that didn't go on the road trip will want to {haltingly} kill your legs {normally} every time you bring it up. These days, I make up the inside joke before I go on the road trip, just in case one doesn't happen. For this road trip, we'll make it... jumbo/LARGE. {snickering slightly} Get it? jumbo/LARGE? It's like a maxymoron.

{Wipe to the Field. Strong Bad and The Cheat are standing in front of the Gremlin, and a large rectangular-looking object covered by a yellow-splotched cloth is on the right.}

STRONG BAD: All right, you ready to go, The Cheat? Why is Strong Mad—

{Pan to the right so that the entire object covered by the sheet is visible.}

STRONG BAD: —hiding under that not-originally-yellow-spotted sheet from Strong Sad's bedroom? Not my bedroom.

THE CHEAT: {Exclamatory The Cheat noises; he pulls back the sheet to reveal many stacked aluminum cans.}

STRONG BAD: Whoa! Eighty-something cases of Bull Honkey! {close-up of Strong Bad} That's my favorite caffeinergy sauce! {back to wider view} Oh, this road trip is definitely going to be {dances} jumbo/LARGE.

THE CHEAT: {looks annoyed; quizzical The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Just laugh at it. It's an inside joke. It's going to be hilarious.

{Cut to the inside of the Gremlin. The Cheat is sitting behind the wheel. Strong Bad enters the passenger's seat and shuts the car door.}

STRONG BAD: Road trip city, here we come!

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Keys? I don't have any keys. Look, the only thing I know about this car is what Bubs told me. And that's that the windows and doors are broken and you can't open them from the inside.

{The Cheat glares at Strong Bad, annoyed.}

STRONG BAD: Oh. Right. {under his breath} This is pretty poor planning on my part.

{Cut to a distant view of a silhouette of the Gremlin against a yellow sky.}

STRONG BAD: {calling out} Bubs? Green Bubs? {as a tumbleweed rolls by} Anybody?

{Cut back to inside the car.}

THE CHEAT: {dismissive The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: All right, forget it. I'm not gonna let a little setback like this ruin our road trip. What we need is some grub. Pull over at this next exit up here. {The Cheat starts turning the steering wheel as if he's driving.} I know a little roadside diner called "Beneath the Passenger's Seat". {Strong Bad goes under the seat.}

THE CHEAT: {shocked, confused The Cheat noises}

{Cut to a view of the passenger's seat from above. Strong Bad's leg is poking out from under the seat.}

STRONG BAD: All right, we got {brings out three rotten-looking and slightly hairy fries} a small order of petrifries, {throws the fries on the floor and holds out an old, brown-stained fast food cup reading "Melt Shake" with a curled, crushed straw} a large Melt Shake that's almost eaten through the cup {throws the cup on the floor}, ooh, and for dessert, {holds out an orange, egg-shaped candy with black hair, in the shape of a beard, and a nail clipping attached to it} a half-sucked booterscotch {zoom in on the butterscotch} in desperate need of a shave.

{Return to front view of the Gremlin as Strong Bad comes back up.}

STRONG BAD: All right, cool, that was disgusting. Now alls we need to wash the taste out of our brains is some jammin' tunes!

THE CHEAT: {Exclamatory The Cheat noises; he brings out a CD with "road trip mix" written on it.}

STRONG BAD: A mix CD! {singing} That, my friend, is jumbo/LARGE. {normal voice} Now, let's put it in and crank it up!

{Cut to a view of the Gremlin's dashboard, which has an eight-track player labeled "8-TRAX".}

THE CHEAT: {Confused The Cheat noises; he demonstrates there's no CD player.}

STRONG BAD: Naw, just force it in there. {cut to front view of the Gremlin} I'm sure that thing's forwards compatible.

{Cut back to the dashboard; The Cheat pushes the CD into the player. The edges of the CD break off as he does so.}

STRONG BAD: Oh, yeah, The Cheat. {cut back to front view of the Gremlin} These are some jammin' tunes! {singing} And now we're jammin'! {in falsetto} Jammin' tunes! Jammin tunes {in his normal voice} Now we're jammi— {shouting quickly} Oh, who am I kidding; this is the worst road trip ever! {He puts his head down on the dashboard.} The Cheat {as he talks, the camera cuts to a silhouette view of the Gremlin}, we're gonna die in this Gremlin!

THE CHEAT: {sad The Cheat noises}

{The sky darkens}

SINGERS: {unseen, in high voices} And now we're jammin'! Jammin' tunes! Jammin' tunes! Now we're jammin'!

{Cut to a view of Strong Bad and the Cheat in the Gremlin, lying on the front seat and looking at the Gremlin's ceiling.}

SINGERS: {unseen, in high voices} jumbo/LAAAAARGE!

STRONG BAD: Like, look at that little stain over there!

{Cut to a view of the ceiling. It is covered in stains, and there is a switch labeled "DOOR" and "OFF", set to "DOOR". Strong Bad gestures at one of the stains.}

STRONG BAD: That could be a whole 'nother world.

{Cut back to Strong Bad and The Cheat.}

STRONG BAD: With a whole 'nother Strong Bad and The Cheat stuck in a Gremlin. {A light shines on The Cheat and Strong Bad.}

{Cut to a view looking out the window; Homestar Runner is standing outside holding a flashlight.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {annoyed} All right, young lovers. Move it along! What do you think this is, Make-out Point?

{Cut to a view of the Gremlin from outside.}

STRONG BAD: Homestar, it's me and The Cheat! We're stuck in here!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Unlikely story, {clicks the flashlight multiple times} Backseat Bradley!

STRONG BAD: Just open the door; I'll explain everything!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: All right, but before I do, {suddenly in a friendly, conversational tone} I'm looking for my jumbo/LARGE Melt Shake! I think I left it in there a week or month ago. {Cut back to view of Homestar Runner through the car window.} Either of you guys find it? {He opens the door.}

{Cut back to view of the Gremlin from outside. Strong Bad falls from the Gremlin onto his hands and knees. Homestar looks surprised.}

STRONG BAD: {relieved} Oh, sweet two feet from where I just was! How I've missed you so!

{cut back to the Lappy}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Luckily, Officer Cheese-for-butt let us off with just a warning. And that was our road trip. Or, more accurately our car trip, since we didn't go on any roads. Or, even more accurately, our car, since we didn't go on any trips either. So yeah, Pete from Pete's parents' basement, I go on car with my gang all the time. And that's the end of this email. Until next time everybody, remember to stay j-LARGE.

{The Paper comes down.}

Easter Eggs

"Honk 'em if ya got 'em!!"

• Click on the eighty-something cases of Bull Honkey to see a close up of a Bull Honkey can.
• Click on the car bumper when Homestar finds Strong Bad and The Cheat to see a bumper sticker.
• At the end, click on "everybody" to see a conversation between Bubs and Coach Z.

COACH Z: Whaddya mean, I'm the green Bubs? If anything, you're the orange Coach Z!

BUBS: The first person to call me the orange Coach Z is gonna get a free consultation with my friends {balling up his left, then right, fists} Jacoby and Meyers!

Fun Facts

Explanations

• Petrifries is a reference to petrification, which is the process by which organic material is converted into stone or a similar substance.
• Forward compatible products try to cater to future technology, such as new input devices.
• Maxymoron is a play on the word "oxymoron", although jumbo/LARGE is not actually an oxymoron; it behaves like a pleonasm, or the opposite of an oxymoron.
• The "honk 'em if you got 'em" bumper sticker is quite possibly a jab at the military expression "smoke 'em if you got 'em", a term soldiers use for being allowed to smoke cigarettes when standing at rest in formation.

Trivia

• There appear to be 204 cans of Bull Honkey.
  • If there really were "eighty-something" cases of Bull Honkey, then there would be from 2.29 to 2.55 cans per "case".
• This email has four portmanteaus; the most featured in any toon on the site besides Teen Girl Squad Issue 8, which also has four portmanteaus.
• This is the first time Bubs is seen clenching his "fists".

Remarks

• Homestar is able to open the Gremlin's door, even though the car door has no visible handles.
• Strong Bad claimed in the email car that he did not own a car. The Gremlin is presumably the car he won from Bubs in the email pop-up. Interestingly, The Cheat won the key to the Gremlin; however, it isn't present in this email.
• With the exception of one knee, Strong Bad is able to fit his entire body under the seat of the Gremlin, even though it would appear that his head is far too big to fit.
• When The Cheat slams the CD into the 8-track player, it is not shaded.
• Even if The Cheat had put an 8-track into the 8-track player, the car would still need to be on for it to play.

Goofs

And now for my next trick!

• The passenger seat's shadow doesn't move while Strong Bad is rummaging under the cushion.
• The Melt Shake doesn't appear in the first few frames of animation as Strong Bad is bringing it out from under the cushion, although his hand is visible. This makes it seem as though it appears out of thin air.
• When the silhouette of the car is shown, there are no cases of Bull Honkey next to it.
• Strong Bad's door of the Gremlin does not even have a handle on the outside.

Inside References

• "Bull honkey" was previously mentioned in record book, in which Strong Bad set the record for "Longest Bull Honkey".
• Homestar Runner looking for people in the night with a flashlight and acting like a cop is a reference to Strong Bad is in Jail Cartoon, where Homestar appeared to be part of the "police force" of Free Country, USA.
• A tumbleweed rolls by as Strong Bad and The Cheat are trapped in the gremlin.
• The Jammin' Tunes song is by the same band that makes the song that The Dancing Brothers dance to in A Folky Tale, as revealed in a DVD commentary.

Real-World References

• The Bull Honkey caffeinergy sauce is a parody of the Red Bull energy drink, spoofing its signature tall, slim can adorned with a simple blue pattern and even featuring a red bull on the label.
• Jacoby and Meyers is the name of a California tort law firm famous for its television advertising. Bubs's usage of its name mirrors the more violent cliche "my friends Smith and Wesson", referring to the manufacturer of firearms.

DVD Version

• The DVD version features 2 hidden creators' commentaries. To access them, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching.
• For some reason, the Clogdor Easter egg from retirement is on here. This is probably a glitch.

First Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman, Karen Wagner)

MIKE: Ohh – ha, ha. I remember that road trip we went on, guys.

KAREN: Oh, yeah, we went on a lot of road trips.

MATT: One time I made a joke on that road trip, and we might still make that joke today.

MIKE: Ah, road trips.

MATT: Yeah.

KAREN: So, okay.

MATT: Yeah-uhh.

KAREN: Yeah... The noisy machine. {laughs} Okay, there's an inside joke right there.

MIKE: I haven't been on an actual legit road trip in a while... Sad!

MATT: You went on a road trip with the Homestar puppet from Houston to Austin...

MIKE: That's true.

MATT: ...one time.

MIKE: Two or three hours {Matt laughs} doesn't really constitute a road trip.

MATT: But we even stopped along roadside attractions.

MIKE: That's, that's right.

KAREN: That empty field.

MIKE: That what?

KAREN: That empty field where Homestar ate all the muffins.

MATT & MIKE: That's right.

MIKE: All right, let's talk about something we're watching.

MATT: Okay.

MIKE: So, something... {laughs}

MATT: Well, we're talking about something that's relevant to what we're watching.

MIKE: All right, we can keep talking about...

{short pause}

KAREN: Okay, here comes Bull Honkey. All right.

MATT: {referring to the sheet covering the Bull Honkeys} That's really gross.

KAREN: {overlapping} I think you guys, um, drink a lot of that, don't you?

MATT: We— we used to...

MIKE: {overlapping} Not as much anymore. We used to rely on— that's why emails aren't up always on Monday mornings like they used to be. {Karen laughs} We used to just drink a bunch of Bull Honkey until they were done and then I'd just go to bed and finish up by morning.

MATT: Yeah...

MIKE: Babies and— babies and things. Babies and those darn wives. {Matt laughs} Ever since we got those darn wives.

KAREN: Hey, I'm calling Jackie and Melissa.

{Matt laughs}

MATT: Strong Bad did not think this road trip through very well, you guys.

KAREN: Nope, not at all.

MIKE: What happened? Oh, the door's broken and..

MATT: Yeah. And they're stuck in it.

KAREN: {overlapping} No keys.

MIKE: No wh-? Oh. {laughs} Green Bubs.

MATT: {laughs} Coach Z does not like being referred to as Green Bubs.

MIKE: Coach Z has had a decline unlike any other character of the website over the last few years. Like Strong Sad's gotten better, like he's a much— and even the King of Town...

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Originally the hated characters... the original ones have gotten a little better...

KAREN: Strong Sad, yeah.

MIKE: But Coach Z has definitely gone from being kind of a...

KAREN: {interrupting} Strong Sad's been holding his own.

MIKE: Yeah. Coach Z just gets more depressing... {laughs}

KAREN: Oh, melt shake! Melt shake. That is... makes an appearance in the store, actually.

MIKE: That's right. It's part of the combo.

KAREN: Yup. In our combo value menu.

MIKE: The melt shake makes an appearance in my car frequently. {laughter} In— a melt cup of coffee as the thing that's the most frequent.

MATT: Yeah, more than a melt shake.

KAREN: Caffeine—

MATT: So I... I imagine this...

KAREN: {interrupting} Caffeine cuts through the Styrofoam.

MATT: I imagine that this song is by the same recording artist that does the, uh, what's the one from Saddy Dumpington called? Um.. What's that song called?

MIKE: Uhhh...

MATT: The Dancing Brothers dance tune.

MIKE: Yeah. I don't remember what it's called! But I think that the band that must have the word "power" in their name; they're called like "The Power Surge", or something.

MATT: {laughs} That's a good one. What is this? Like, we can't— we know our own cartoons so... We don't know. At all.

MIKE: All right, you keep talking—

KAREN: Thank you! Thank you, Wiki. Thank you, Homestar Wiki, for helping Mike and Matt to remember their own cartoons.

MATT: Mike, you made those...

MIKE: Look at those fireflies!

MATT: Yeah. You made those like—

MIKE: I made those like, five years ago.

KAREN: These guys are so lazy, they're pulling stuff out of the hat that they used five years ago.

MIKE: No, we didn't use them. That's the thing.

KAREN: Ohh.

{short pause}

MATT: So, here's another instance of Homestar kind of being the police— the local police. {Mike laughs}

KAREN: Always clicking the flashlight on and off.

MIKE: Well, without any arms, he's gotta have to be expressive somehow, so that flashlight and the clicking is like...

MATT: {interrupting} ...gives it a sense of expressiveness

MIKE: Expressiveness.

{short pause}

KAREN: Oh, I forgot to mention that for a long time after this email came out, there was another phrase that made its way, uh, into my daily life was—

MIKE: {overlapping} What?

KAREN: {sing-song} That, my friend, is jumbo/LARGE!

MATT: That's a pretty good one. That's kind of like Strong Bad said, sort of like, {as Homestar} And you smell like pea soup!

{Mike and Karen laugh}

KAREN: Oh yeah! It's the same tune.

MATT: Yeah.

{short pause}

KAREN: So, we're just, uh, watching it.

MIKE: Talk, talk! j-LARGE! I can say j-LARGE, right? Talk!

MATT: Talk.

Second Commentary Transcript

Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman, Very, Very Little Girl

MATT: We're doing this— a bonus style commentary. Bonus bonus commentary. Because we found this list of proposed titles for Strong Bad and The Cheat's road trip.

MIKE: What was the one they decided on?

MATT: Uh, they— I don't even think they give it a name really.

MIKE: Okay, yeah, 'cause initially that was one of the big things in this email is they give it a name.

MATT: Right.

MIKE: You gotta have a name for your road trip.

MATT: And so, um, well, let's go down 'em, Mike. We'll alternate, how 'bout that?

MIKE: Okay.

MATT: You— you start.

MIKE: Well one of them was "Bro's on the Roa' Apostrophe Nine Whatev".

MATT: "Bro's on the Roa' for the Nine Whatev".

MIKE: {overlapping} "...for the Nine whatev".

MATT: Uh, this is one Mike contributed... that is one of my favorites. "Gettin' and The Lengthy Boy" is the name of their road trip.

MIKE: Uh... I guess Strong Bad is Gettin'?

MATT: Okay.

MIKE: And maybe The Cheat is the The Lengthy Boy?

MATT: It's kind of like they're making a Burt Reynolds movie out of their road trip.

MIKE: {overlapping} Exactly. Uh, then there's "Putting the Bro back in Bro-oad Trip".

MATT: Okay. And just plain—

MIKE: But it's just spelled "Broad Trip".

MATT: Yeah. And then there's just straight up "Bro-oad Trip" by itself.

MIKE: And then there's "Quite Wild for the Nine Seven".

MATT: They like to not have it be the year that it is—

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: —when they name things with the... ninety-something. Ninety-something, I think, is— the '90s are good for that. Adding, like, a— a year to the end of anything. The ninety— ninety-whatev— like, ninety-whatev.

MIKE: It doesn't work for 2004.

MATT: Yeah, or even the '80s. Like, eighty— '86 something. '86... just doesn't have the punch that— the '90s were good for naming things with years in them, apparently. Uh, so next one: "Oops, I Rocked Your Mind, Friend, World Tour".

MIKE: Uh... "Gettin' Spicy on the Road".

MATT: Uh, this one's pretty good: "Oh, Excuse Me, Can I Borrow a Cup of Road Trip Ninety-Whatever".

MIKE: And then the last one was "Honk 'Em If You Got 'Em".

MATT: All right. And then, uh, there's a little drawing of— of, uh... sort-of-Homsar, and his body as a shoe, and looks like a bad drawing of Mike is inside that shoe. Um...

MIKE: Yeah, I couldn't tell who the drawing was.

MATT: Yeah. {pause} Is one— Is there an Easter egg in here that's the bumper sticker? Oh, yeah, it's the— somethin' about soccer.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: Is that what it is?

MIKE: Somethin'— Real men— Some— Some riff on the "Real Men Play Soccer"—

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: —bumper sticker, maybe. I'm not sure. {pause} Oh, are we about to hear the Jumbo Large song?

{Very, Very Little Girl begins cooing off and on for the remainder of the commentary}

MATT: Yeah, it's a pretty good song. We probably mentioned this before, but I always feel like this is by the same guys that wrote the "Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight" song.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: We— We should definitely make some more songs by them. The High-Pitched Voice Singers. Falsettos.

MIKE: I— At one point they were the somethings... The Power Surge or something.

MATT: Oh, you had a name for them?

MIKE: I think I— No, I just— In another commentary, I think I may have said that they were called The Power Surge.

MATT: {laughs, then begins singing along with the Jumbo Large song} B'deedle deedle derdle. ... Buhhhhh. {pause} We have a guest here in the commentary booth.

MIKE: You may have heard her squeaking and squawking.

MATT: She liked that song. She was dancin' to it. It's Very Little Girl.

MIKE: {singing} Very, Very Little Girl. {pause} This is another instance of Homestar being the police.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: There's three or four... instances—

MATT: I think we talked about that on the other commentary for this.

MIKE: Oh. All right, let's talk about something else.

MATT: Uh... Bro's on the Roa? Is this one we did with Karen... I think.

MIKE: Might have been.

MATT: {overlapping Mike} Might have been a Karen one.

{Mike laughs as Strong Bad types "Officer Cheese-for-butt"}

MATT: You like that?

MIKE: I forgot about Officer Cheese-for-a-butt.

{pause}

MATT: I remember it was a big deal when my friend, Jamie, and I got to go on our first road trip... to Chattanooga.

MIKE: Nice. What'd you do?

MATT: We just went— Stayed in— At— We— At the Snake River Zoo, we stayed at that Holiday Inn and that's where that— that giraffe thing— that plastic giraffe came from.

MIKE: Is that also when you guys went to the {unintelligible}, uh, burial mounds and took your pants off and ran around?

MATT: {laughs} Shhh.

{Very, Very Little Girl continues cooing until the email ends}

Fun Facts

• Mike and Matt talk about their road trip from Houston to Austin with Puppet Homestar Runner, which was in Puppets on the Road.
• Matt thinks that the jumbo/LARGE song is by the same band that did the Dancing Brothers' song in A Folky Tale. This was somewhat confirmed in Trogdor Was A Man, along with the band's name, "The Pow-uh Surge".
• Matt saying "and you smell like pea soup!" is a reference to kind of cool.
• This email does include a bumper sticker for "Honk 'em if you got 'em!". The bumper sticker riffing on "Real men play soccer" appeared in lady fan ("Real men play two-handed push-ups!").

External Links

• watch "road trip"
• watch "road trip" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "road trip"
• forum thread re: "road trip"