Pom Pom, Too

watch

A motley crew of Poms

A short Flash about the origins of Pom Pom, found in the Museum under old Flash. Based on a sketch from the Museum Sketchbook.

Cast (in order of appearance): The Poms, Pom Pom, General and Fraulein Pom Pom

Running time: 1:04

Current page title: The Original Website!

Original Page title: The Isle of Pom

Date: 2000 or earlier

DVD: Everything Else, Volume 2

Transcript

{Sound of heartbeats. A red and white pill fades in against the white background, with a caption appearing above it.}

CAPTION: this is the isle of Pom

{Alarm clock rings. An arrow points to the pill, which enlarges and is highlighted with a yellow-orange burst. Pan left to the next caption.}

CAPTION: on it, live the Poms

{Printing noise. Many colored Poms (who look like Pom Pom) emerge from the word "Poms". They fill the screen, covering the text. The mass of Poms turns black as the next caption rises from the crowd.}

CAPTION: Pom-Pom

{Pom Pom emerges, with a creaking sound, from the second "O" in the caption. The next caption, in turn, emerges from his body.}

CAPTION: is the best Pom.

{Ding! A ribbon reading "First" appears on Pom Pom. Cut to a green-and-yellow striped wall, where a picture of Pom Pom and his parents hangs. The picture zooms toward the camera with a slide whistle sound and the next caption slides down from the bottom of the picture frame.}

CAPTION: he loves his mom & dad

{The picture tilts with another slide whistle sound, then falls off the wall and offscreen with a shattering sound. Cut to Pom Pom on a blank white screen. A wooden stage slides up from offscreen under him and he lands with a slam. A red and white striped flag fades in behind him, waving back and forth, and the caption slides in from the left.}

CAPTION: he is very patriotic

{He turns green and a book and torch appear in his hands, along with a crown on his head, à la Statue of Liberty. Reveille plays.}

{Cut to a white background, with a falling slide whistle accompanying a growing shadow where a dog bowl falls with a slam. The bowl reads "Trivia Time". The caption appears above it.}

CAPTION: he feeds his dog

{Ding! The dog bowl tilts as food appears in it, highlighted briefly with a yellow burst. The next caption appears below.}

CAPTION: everyday

{The bowl settles back on the ground. Cut to Pom Pom standing on the right of the screen, facing left. The caption appears above him.}

CAPTION: he treats his neighbors

{Doorbell noise. Two Poms appear on the left, accompanied by the noise of a firework burst and an arrow pointing at them from the word "neighbors". The arrow is replaced by the next caption.}

CAPTION: with respect

{A dotted line descends from the word "respect", leading to a bottle reading "Respect" appearing in Pom Pom's hand. Pom Pom tosses the bottle to the neighbors with a "boing" sound. They exit to the left. Cut to a medium shot of Pom Pom facing the camera. The caption rises from behind him.}

CAPTION: he doesn't play with matches

{A match comes in from the right side of the screen, strikes on the white background, and burns the word "matches", which turns black before falling and fading into the background. The match moves back offscreen and the caption disappears.}

POM POM: {bubbles}

{Pan slightly right as a thought bubble fades in from Pom Pom's head with text reading "I sure do hate matches." Cut to a rounded horizon with a red-orange gradient sky. Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" plays as a silhouette of Pom Pom rises over the horizon. He moves toward the screen, lightening slightly to come out of silhouette. A spotlight appears and hits him, also revealing the final caption.}

CAPTION: we all love Pom-Pom, too

Fun Facts

Trivia

• This toon was co-written by Craig Zobel.
• This old Flash short contains the first example of cross-dressing.
• This is the first mention of Pom Pom's pet, Trivia Time, as well as the only time he is referred to as an actual dog rather than a cookie jar.
• Comments in the Sketchbook indicate Pom Pom, Too was originally planned as a storybook before being reworked into a Flash toon. Matt Chapman jokes that Mike wouldn't let him keep the toon on the site, presumably due to its age and quality, but it was eventually added to a later revision of the Old Flash Stuff Museum feature.

Remarks

• Two of the Poms look like ordinary NBA basketballs, and one like an ABA Basketball.
• This is the only time that Pom Pom's bubbly speech is expressed in plain English to the viewers.

Goofs

• "Every day" is misspelled "everyday" on one of the slides. In that context, it should be the two-word adverb, not the one-word adjective.

Fixed Goofs

• Originally, some of the text was obscured by the border when viewed from the old version of the old Flash menu. This was fixed when the museum was updated in 2006.

Real-World References

• "Isle of Pom" could be a spoof of Isle of Palms, a city located near Charleston, South Carolina.

Fast Forward

• The ribbon was used later in Pumpkin Carve-nival, although the first place was never awarded.
• The printing noise which accompanies the scene with the Poms would become the sound effect for The Paper in the Strong Bad Emails, with its onomatopoeia being Preeeeow.
• The ABA basketball Pom was later used in the email different town.
• The Isle of Pom's design would later be used for health capsules in Stinkoman 20X6.

External Links

• watch "Pom Pom, Too" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "Pom Pom, Too"