Helium

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"Check out that ugly bird."

Shaq Shack wants to know what Strong Bad sounds like under the influence of helium.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Strong Mad, The Cheat, Homestar Runner, Marzipan, Strong Sad (Easter egg, voice only)

Places: Computer Room, Living Room of the Brothers Strong, The Field

Computer: Tandy 400

Date: Monday, July 29, 2002

Running Time: 1:46

Page Title: Tandy 400: Still Broken.

DVD: strongbad email.exe Disc One

SBEmail Menu Description: Strong Bad temporarily joins the high-voice crew with the help of leftover party balloon. The Cheat learns to fly!

Transcript

STRONG BAD: {Bounces his head slowly up and down, right and then left while he sings, imitating a car going through its gear shifts.} Emaillll eeeemailll eeemmailll...

Dear Strong Bad,

What do you sound like when you breathe helium?

Shack

Whittier

STRONG BAD: {typing} Oh I dunno, Shack. {types "Shaq" and then quickly replaces "q" with "ck"} I haven't done that in a while. Though I think we have some leftover balloons from a party we threw last night. Lemme see.

{Strong Bad leaves his seat. Cut to him, Strong Mad, and The Cheat standing in their living room. Strong Bad takes a yellow helium balloon and breathes it in.}

STRONG BAD: {in a high-pitched voice} Hey guys! How do you like my sounds?

{Strong Mad laughs.}

STRONG BAD: Pretty great, huh? I sound like...one of the Golden Girls. Or, like, some type o' guy who might... sing a song. You know like {singing} "Welcome to the High Voice Crew! {Strong Mad starts to tap his foot to the beat} I hope you have a high voice, too! When you've got a high voice, you don't have a choice, {gradually descends to his regular tone, Strong Mad's face descends to a confused frown} your voice is high all the time. Welcome to the High Vo..." {stops singing} Oh, I guess... I got kicked out of the High Voice Crew.

STRONG MAD: MEEEE. {takes a blue helium balloon angrily} MEEEEEEEE! {breathes it in but his voice doesn't change} THIS IS MY FUNNY VOICE! {more emphatically} THIS IS MY FUNNY VOICE!!!

STRONG BAD: Yeah, that's a pretty funny one, big guy.

{He rubs his head, while The Cheat inhales nearly all of the helium from a blue balloon. The balloon suddenly gets stuck inside The Cheat, who becomes large and round and begins floating. He flies smoothly across the room as Strong Mad looks on in shock, but Strong Bad doesn't seem to notice.}

STRONG BAD: Aagghh... I've got a wicked head rush.

{Homestar Runner and Marzipan are talking to each other in The Field.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: So from then on, it was pork and beans.

MARZIPAN: I don't know if that's entirely healthy.

{Homestar Runner looks above behind him and sees the large, round, floating The Cheat soaring across The Field.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Whoa, Marzipan. Check out that ugly bird.

{The Cheat floats offscreen.}

MARZIPAN: Homestar, I think that bird is The Cheat.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: No way! The Cheat is one fine-looking young man. That is an ugly bird.

{The Paper comes down. The Cheat reappears, floating through the sky further in the background and in the opposite direction.}

Easter Eggs

• After The Paper comes down, click on The Cheat as he floats by to hear Strong Sad say, "I'm sad that he's flying."

Fun Facts

Explanations

• The reason Strong Bad got a head rush (or neurological vertigo in scientific terms) was that the helium in the balloon momentarily replaced the oxygen normally carried to his brain.

Trivia

• This email marks the first appearance of Marzipan's new mouth movement style.
• This is also Marzipan's first appearance in a Strong Bad Email.
• The Cheat's appearance when he's inflated would seem to imply that he doesn't have any legs.
• This is the first email to have a clickable Easter egg at the end with a limited amount of time to activate it.
• When The Cheat is scrolled over to activate the Easter egg, he becomes slightly lighter as long as the cursor is over him.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad temporarily joins the high-voice crew with the help of leftover party balloon. The Cheat learns to fly!"

Goofs

• When Marzipan is talking to Homestar, her mouth uses a "smiling" speech animation (corners are slanted upwards) while her static expression is a frown.
• A very thin line on the Tandy's shadow on the bottom left corner can be seen jutting out to the edge of the black border.

Inside References

• During the helium scene, a keg that reads "melonade", which is the same keg from the old A Jumping Jack Contest cartoon, sits off to the side.
• The Strong Sad Easter egg is a reference to Main Page 15 ("I'm sad that I'm flying.").
• This is another appearance of Strong Mad smiling.
• Homestar mentions pork and beans.
• The Cheat flying in while Homestar was talking to Marzipan is another instance of interrupted conversations.

Real-World References

• "Shaq" refers to then-NBA player Shaquille O'Neal.
• The Golden Girls was a popular sitcom about four elderly women that ran from 1985 to 1992.

Fast Forward

• Strong Mad manages to get a high-pitched voice by sucking up Bandwidth in isp.
• The Cheat also becomes inflated in an Easter egg in licensed, and there Homestar sings "ugly bird" over and over.
• Pork and beans are mentioned in Arcade Game, business trip, and Flash is Dead!.

DVD Version

• Strong Sad automatically says, "I'm sad that he's flying."

External Links

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