montage

Strong Bad Email #117

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"You're a girl. Or maybe a wagon. Filled up with pancakes."

Strong Bad "creats" a few montages about a wagon fulla pancakes.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Wagon Fulla Pancakes, The Cheat, Homestar Runner, Coach Z

Places: Computer Room, The Field, Bubs' Concession Stand, The Pond, Homestar Runner's House, The Stick, The Movie Theater, Marshmallow's Last Stand, Race Track, Gymnasium

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Monday, November 8, 2004

Running Time: 3:15

Page Title: Compy 386!!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Four, Sbemails' 50 Greatest Hits DVD

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {announcing} Tonight on Strong Bad Email: Comedian Coach Z, actress Marzipan, and some guy from a zoo.

{reading}

Dear Strong Bad,
Why don't you creat a montage?

Steve
Surf City, NJ

{Strong Bad pronounces "creat" as "cree-at" and reads NJ as "No Job"}

STRONG BAD: {typing} {in a high-pitched, mocking voice} Oooohhh! Why don't you creat an alternate reality where you don't have to spell correctly {short pause} and I talk like this. And your name is Watered Down! {Strong Bad clears the screen and continues typing in normal voice.} A montage, eh Watered Down? Like, about whatever? Okay. I'll make a montage about...

{cut to an empty field}

Me. {Strong Bad appears}

And a wagon. {a wagon appears, and a short tune starts playing}

Full of pancakes. {pancakes appear in the wagon}

{Diamond wipe to Strong Bad and the wagon walking past Bubs' Concession Stand.}

{Wipe to a field where Strong Bad kicks the wagon calmly.}

{Cut to Strong Bad pulling the wagon uphill. Music stops when Strong Bad starts speaking.}

STRONG BAD: Oooh, or maybe a montage of me falling in love with the wagon full of pancakes.

{Heart wipe to Strong Bad in a boat with the wagon. They are both holding glasses of red wine, romantic music starts playing.}

{singing}

Let's make this moment be the symbol of our lives
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon listening to a Taranchula LP on headphones.}
We'll pawn your dad's computer
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon, under the stars. Strong Bad points to some shooting stars in the distance.}
and we'll sail to paradise
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon spinning around, holding "hands".}
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon at the movies. Strong Bad drops some popcorn.}
You're a girl... or maybe a wagon...
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon at Marshmallow's Last Stand. Strong Bad puts ketchup on some fries while laughing and smiling.}
filled up with pancakes
{Cut to Strong Bad frolicking across a field as the wagon follows.}

STRONG BAD: Or maybe a montage of the wagon full of pancakes—

{Cut to a front door view of The Cheat and the wagon, both sporting business-class fedoras.}

STRONG BAD: —and The Cheat being down-on-their-luck door-to-door salesmen.

{Cut to The Cheat lying in the wagon as the wagon rolls past.}

{Several doors slam on The Cheat at different angles.}

{singing} You can't do it so give up now
Whatcha gonna do when your dough runs out?
Ain't that a draaaaaag?
{Cut to the wagon sitting in an arm chair while the Cheat lies on the floor in front, smoking.}

STRONG BAD: {He stops singing.} No, I got it. A montage of the wagon full of pancakes training—

{Cut to Homestar in a black shirt that says "The #1" looking at the wagon in a field.}

STRONG BAD: —for the championship.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: A wagon fulla pamcakes? In the Champeenship?! I'd like to see ya try!

{Zoom in on pancakes as training music starts to play.}

{Cut to the wagon climbing the steps of a stadium.}

STRONG BAD: {singing} Guts, guts, and might {The wagon's handle slowly collapses on top of a barbell.}
{Cut to Strong Bad and the wagon on a track.}
Liftin' weights and feelin' all right {Strong Bad clicks a stop watch.}
{Cut to a silhouette of Strong Bad and the wagon running past a sunset and an ocean.}
It's a showdown going downtown
You're gonna mess around showdown
{Cut to the wagon ascending the bleachers again.}
Put your nose down showdown
{Cut to quick shot of wagon jumping up and down at the top of the bleachers.}

{Cut to Homestar Runner, who is now wearing a karate black-belt and head-band, and the wagon in a gym as Coach Z looks on in a referee costume.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hi-yah! Hi-yah! {Homestar kicks.}

{The wagon's handle falls on Homestar, just like it did while training with the barbell, and Homestar falls down.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oof!

COACH Z: The pamcakes wins!

{A buzzer sounds and the score changes from 6–6 to 6–7 on the scoreboard.}

STRONG BAD: {singing} Showdown.

{Cut to Strong Bad at the Compy 386.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Those were some good montages, eh Watered Down? That was like, a montage of montages. The only thing we left out is the end credits photo montage. {Music starts up} Hit it!

{Cut to a glossy of Strong Bad and the wagon in the boat.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {singing} Partying... party party party
{Cut to glossy of Strong Bad about to kick the wagon.} It's the weekend... party party party
{Cut to glossy of Strong Bad and the wagon in the movie theater.}
{Cut to a closeup of The Cheat lying on the floor.}
CAPTION: The Cheat never sold a single box of toner. He is currently unemployed.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {still singing} And a wagon... party party party.
Full of pancakes...
{Cut to Homestar kicking in the gym.}
CAPTION: Homestar sold his "The #1" shirt for $3(US). He got a good deal.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {still singing} party party party
{Cut to a glossy of Strong Bad frolicing across the field, the wagon not in the photo.}
CAPTION: Strong Bad went on to host some show on Animal Planet.
It was cancelled before the first commercial break.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {still singing} And we're partying... party party party
{Cut to the wagon with a fedora.}
CAPTION: After winning the champeenship, the Wagon Fulla Pancakes did some local TV spots for a used car dealership.
HOMESTAR RUNNER: {singing} It's the weekend... party party party
And we're partying... party party party
Everybody does it tonnniiight...
CAPTION: It currently resides in Long Beach with its spouse and 2 children.

{Homestar quits singing.}

{The Paper comes down over the photo.}

{After about 5 seconds, cut to a captioned photo of the current scene}

CAPTION: The Paper stuck around until email #173, at which time Strong Bad upgraded to an inkjet printer.

Easter Eggs

It's a showdown!

• At the end, click on "4 Wheels" on the wagon to see Homestar, undefeated in spirit, trying to recreate the tournament scene from The Karate Kid.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {singing in the now dark champeenship stadium}

I'm the best around!

Sombadubba sombadubba, take me down!

I'm the best around!

Dubba dubba dubbado, take me down!

{His score on the scoreboard behind him turns from 0 to -1 as the buzzing sound is heard.}

• At the end, click on "Strong Bad" to see Strong Bad helping the Wagon train.

{Highly pixelated versions of Strong Bad wearing a pink jogging suit and the Wagon Fulla Pancakes are running through a highly pixelated city, which is the New York City backdrop from Punch-Out!! on the NES.}

STRONG BAD: It's a showdown going downtown

You're gonna mess around showdown

Put your nose down showdown

Fun Facts

Explanations

• In filmic terms, a montage sequence is a series of short shots edited in sequence to condense time and information. Montages are often used to illustrate the passage of time, show character growth, or highlight several brief moments out of a larger complex event. As montages do not display events in real time, the audio is often substituted for a song, musical piece, or narration.

Trivia

• This is the earliest email confirmed to be sent by an HRWiki user: Porplemontage.
• In the original version of this email, the background was static while Strong Bad and the wagon were spinning around. It has since been fixed to blurred trees and The Stick.
• This email introduces the seventh iteration of Strong Bad's character design.
• Homestar's pronunciation of "champeenship" resembles the name of rejected character Champeen.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad creates a montage."

Remarks

• Though not a proper word, creat is a system call in the Unix operating system used to creat(e) a new file.
• Strong Bad probably changed Steve's name to Watered Down to prevent another "Eh! Steve!" crack, like he did in kids' book and different town.
• While Strong Bad is mocking Steve about his poor spelling, he arguably makes a grammar error himself: he ends his sentence with a period instead of a question mark. ("Why don't you creat an alternate reality where you don't have to spell correctly and I talk like this.") Rhetorical questions, however, do not necessarily need question marks.
• Homestar gets less money for a shirt than he gets for a half-eaten breakfast burrito in "Some Type of Online Auction".
• The scoreboard in the gym has the word "TIMES" written under the timer.
• The first and last house that The Cheat and the Wagon Fulla Pancakes stop at are the same house.

Goofs

• As The Cheat keeps getting doors slammed in his face as a salesman, the last place he visits with the blue wall and white door, the door frame ends before the bottom of the toon's frame, and the right end of the door ends before the right of the frame.
• Just after Strong Bad clicks his stopwatch, the landscape shifts slightly and the piles of pancakes change in height and location. This occurs because the jpeg image used for the screen transition didn't exactly match the previous frame.

Inside References

The symbol of our lives

• The scene with Strong Bad and the Wagon Fulla Pancakes sitting in the canoe is reminiscent of lures & jigs, where Strong Bad and Coach Z fish in the exact same spot. This is probably prompted by the lures & jigs DVD Commentary, in which The Brothers Chaps decide to reuse the lake, and which was presumably recorded before this email came out. In this email, TBC also reused Marshmallow's Last Stand, the ketchup and fries from funny, the house from The House That Gave Sucky Treats, and The Movie Theater from A Jorb Well Done.
• The song Strong Bad sings when he falls in love with the wagon is reminiscent of the style of The Kinda Long-Haired Band.
• The Taranchula album cover was previously seen in the liner notes of Strong Bad Sings and Other Type Hits.
• The houses are the same format of the house that the viewer gave treats from in The House That Gave Sucky Treats.
• This is the first toon that depicts The Cheat smoking. His habit was alluded to in Where's the Cheat?, The Cheat's Smoking Challenge and big white face.
• The sparkling water seen while Strong Bad is running on the horizon seems to be the same from Main Page 3.
• The lyric "Lifting weights and feeling all right", from the song played during the training montage, may be a reference to dangeresque 3's "Riding in a Corvette and feeling all right" lyric.
• The buzzer used for the scoreboard is the same as the DELETED buzzer.
• The score of -1 is the first instance of an irregular score.
• During all scenes with Strong Bad in love with the Wagon Fulla Pancakes, Strong Bad smiles.
• This is another toon with Homestar Runner Left Behind in the Easter egg.

Real-World References

• The "some guy from a zoo" line by Strong Bad during the "Late-Night Talk Show"-style intro refers to the practice of such shows featuring an animal expert as a guest, showcasing exotic or specially trained animals to the audience.
• Much of the wagon's training sequence (especially the wagon "running" up the stairs) is a parody of training montages from sports movies; training montages accompanied by high-energy songs are especially prominent in the Rocky series, with a scene of Rocky triumphantly running up a flight of steps achieving particular pop-culture fame.
  • One instrumental piece from the Rocky IV score is named "Training Montage".
• Homestar parodies The Karate Kid with his headband and gi, as well as singing "You're the Best" from the movie during the Easter egg.
• The Strong Bad Easter egg is a take on the popular NES game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, in which players saw a similar sequence in between bouts of various boxing circuits (the jumps from Minor to Major, and from Major to World).
  • The Punch-Out!! sequence itself recalls the Rocky montages.
• The "Where Are They Now?" epilogue is a common narrative tool in both historical and fictional storytelling. The "freeze-frame and subtitle" format was originated by American Graffiti in 1973, while the 1978 movie Animal House presented comedic or ironic fates for the characters and popularized using this finale in a humorous manner.
• The End Credits Photo Montage song is reminiscent of the Queen song "Headlong".
• Animal Planet is a TV network dedicated to programs about animals and nature.

Fast Forward

'Twas foretold

• The Wagon Fulla Pancakes really does do some spots for a used car dealership, as it shows up in a commercial for Senor Cardgage's in Senorial Day.
• Strong Bad and his pink jogging suit from the Easter egg show up again in rock opera.
• Homestar's "weekend" song plays at The King of Town's party of boring (really).
• Homestar sang "You're the Best" again a 2005 appearance at the Alamo Drafthouse, "montage" was among the toons shown to the audience.
• The Showdown song plays while Pom Pom and Homestar work out in Strongest Man in the World, and during the montage of Strong Bad digging a hole in Marzipan's front yard in Homestar Ruiner.
• The Paper does indeed stick around until email #173 (the paper), at which time Strong Bad actually does upgrade to an inkjet printer. This change was also foreshadowed in email #172 (more armies) when The Paper comes down torn and sickly-looking. Strong Bad remarks that "that's a bad sign".
• The song from Strong Bad's "falling in love" montage is used (albeit a modified version) in the Social Media Crap Compilation 1 "Fan Pamcakes" segment, as is Homestar's quote before the training montage.

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, Marzipan)

MATT: Listen...

{Strong Bad says, "actress Marzipan" in the background.}

MATT: And we've got Marzipan right here with us!

MIKE: {simultaneously} And it's you!

MARZIPAN: Yeah!

MATT: He called you an actress. Isn't that nice?

MARZIPAN: Yeah!

MATT: Seems like usually he calls you something worse than that.

MARZIPAN: Yeah!

{Matt and Mike both laugh.}

MIKE: You're doing a good job acting right now, saying the word "yeah" over and over again.

MARZIPAN: Thank you.

MATT: Oh, thank you. A new word.

MARZIPAN: So, what are we here for, today?

MIKE: We're doing the commentary for the "montage" email.

MATT: Yeah. We're here in this tiny, glass-enclosed booth, recording some commentary.

MARZIPAN: It is getting smelly in here, too.

MATT: It is. Mike and I have been in here all day.

MARZIPAN: It smells like Fritos.

MIKE: Have you ever seen this email before?

MARZIPAN: I... haven't.

MATT: {laughs}

MIKE: Look, he's got a wagon fulla pancakes, isn't that something?

MARZIPAN: Those are not real pancakes.

MIKE: No? What are they?

MARZIPAN: I dunno, I think they're made out of plaster.

MATT: Look, Mike, there's the lake that did appear later as per your, uh, prophecy on the old DVD.

MIKE: Oh, yeah.

MATT: Your comments of the—

MIKE: {simultaneously} The fishing show?

MATT: Yeah, that we were going to use it later and—and we did, just a few weeks after that I think.

MARZIPAN: It really is starting to smell.

MATT: {laughing} D— Let's comment more on the—on the email. Is that—that was completely new, that—? I mean it looks kind of like the one from, uh, "Can't Say Job", doesn't it? But that theater—?

MIKE: It's been modified, the theater. Yeah.

MATT: Yeah. Um... we should head back there someday, Mike.

MIKE: Maybe we will.

MATT: For a movie.

MIKE: Look, there's your friend The Cheat.

MARZIPAN: Yeah!

MATT: {laughs} Look, the pancakes are wearing a hat, Marzipan.

MARZIPAN: I see.

MATT: And holding... a briefcase somehow.

MARZIPAN: Yeah.

MATT: And now they're enjoying a highball.

MARZIPAN: {gasps} I didn't know that The Cheat smoked!

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Yeah.

MATT: He's got a problem.

MARZIPAN: I didn't know that—

MIKE: {whispering} There's your boyfriend.

MARZIPAN: Homestar had that— that's my shirt.

MATT: That's yours? Uh oh, 'cause he sells it later on in this email, so—

MARZIPAN: That was mine! I was wondering what happened to it.

MATT: He got a good deal for it, at least.

MARZIPAN: What'd he get?

MATT: Uh, I'm not sure. Probably, like, 17 dollars.

MARZIPAN: I'll tell him he needs to split the proceeds.

{Mike and Matt both laugh}

MATT: He should. Sounds like it should all go to you; it was your shirt.

MIKE: That's a nice sunset.

MARZIPAN: It's okay.

{Pause}

MATT: Ohhh, Homestar looks like Daniel LaRusso. {in faux-aggressive voice} His karate's a joke. You think you can rely on that crane crap?

MARZIPAN: He's actually trained in Tae Kwon Do.

MATT: Really? Homestar is?

MARZIPAN: Yeah.

MATT: Wow.

MARZIPAN: That's probably why he didn't do well with the karate.

MATT: {laughing} Ohh! He learned the wrong martial art.

MARZIPAN: Right.

MATT: What do you think of this, um, end of the—end-of-the-movie photo montage?

MARZIPAN: I think it's okay.

MATT: See, look. Oh! He—no, sorry, I lied. He got it for three bucks. Not seventeen.

MIKE: You got a buck-fifty comin' to ya.

MARZIPAN: I—Animal Planet's my favorite program.

MATT: Hey, isn't "cancelled" spelled wrong there?

MIKE: Was it?

MATT: I think "canceled" only has one L. Let's change that before we put out this DVD.

MIKE: We can— {Pause} Oh, it's not over yet.

MATT: Oh, it's not, Marzipan.

MIKE: You might think it's over, but it's not.

MATT: Say something!

MIKE: Now it's over.

Fun Facts

• Mike had mentioned his plan to reuse the fishing scene in the DVD commentary for lures & jigs.
• Daniel LaRusso is the main character from The Karate Kid.
  • "Your karate's a joke" and "You think you can rely on that crane crap?" are quotes from the movie series.
• "Cancelled" appears on both the website and DVD. Though both are correct ways of spelling, "canceled" is generally a more American way of spelling it.
• Unlike her prior DVD commentary appearances in emails 1-100, Marzipan has largely dropped the premise that homestarrunner.com is a show and not "real" life.
• "Can't Say Job" is the name of the HTML and Flash files for A Jorb Well Done.
• Tae Kwon Do (literally hand and foot art) is a Korean form of martial arts.

External Links

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