The King of Town (original)

watch

"He is a good king and he rules the land quite nicely"

The King of Town sends Homestar and Pom Pom to investigate the whereabouts of his missing sheep. This is one of the earliest Homestar Runner toons, later receiving a "special edition DVD" upgrade.

Cast (in order of appearance): The King of Town, The King of Town's Sheep, Multi-Function Dragon, Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, The Blacksmith, The Poopsmith, That Little Chef Guy

Places: King of Town's Castle

Date: c. January 2000

Running Time: 1:26

Page Title: The King of Town

DVD: Everything Else, Volume 2

Transcript

{Open to a white background.}

TEXT: [This is the King of Town]

{The King of Town appears above the text with a cartoon sound effect; a few inches above his head is his crown, which hangs for a bit before falling on his head. The text moves to the left and off the screen.}

{Cut to a hilly pasture, as a harp strum plays and a butterfly passes by. Pan over to reveal three sheep standing by a fence, with the King of Town's castle and several hills in the horizon. One of the sheep bleats.}

[He is a good king and he rules the land quite nicely]

{Cut to the inside of the castle, near a window. The King is pacing back and forth nervously, sweating.}

[But he worries all the time.]

THE KING OF TOWN: {sweating} My sheep are missing! My sheep are missing!

{Cut to a pasture where several sheep are grazing and bleating. A pink dragon appears from behind the hills, growling, and eats one of the sheep, taking a bite out of the hill at the same time. The dragon then disappears behind the hills.}

[And I'm afraid a dragon has gobbled them up!]

{Cut back to the castle interior, where a hatless Homestar Runner and Pom Pom have appeared, facing the King. The Knight has appeared beside the King. A harp strum plays.}

[So he called Homestar Runner and Pom Pom and asked if they would help.]

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {nods} Ooookay!

{Cut to The Blacksmith at his shop, where there is a hearth above an anvil. Homestar and Pom Pom are facing him. Metal is heard striking in the background.}

[So they questioned the Blacksmith...]

THE BLACKSMITH: {shrugs}

{Cut to The Poopsmith at his pile of whatsit, where there are flies buzzing around. Homestar and Pom Pom are facing him. Splats are heard in the background.}

[They questioned the Poopsmith...]

THE POOPSMITH: {shrugs}

{Cut to The Little Chef Guy at the castle interior, where there is a pantry stocked with foods and a large piece of meat with a knife stuck in it, spilling blood on the floor. Kitchen ambience is heard in the background.}

[And finally they questioned the King's Chef...]

THE LITTLE CHEF GUY: {nods}

{Homestar and Pom Pom look at each other, surprised. An exclamation mark appears over their heads. With a harp strum, the King of Town's coat of arms appears, growing to cover the screen as a transition into the next scene, where it is placed on the wall. The King, Poopsmith, Chef, Knight, and Blacksmith stand in a group before Homestar and Pom Pom. There are flies buzzing around The Poopsmith.}

[So they gathered everyone together]

{A blackboard falls onto the wall over the coat of arms, and a graduate cap and pointer fall into Homestar's head and "hand" from above. Cut to a closer shot of Homestar at the blackboard.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: I have found that the King's sheep were not eaten by a dragon.

{As he says this, a sheep appears on the blackboard, which Homestar moves to the left with his pointer, after which he points to the right side of the blackboard, where a drawing of the dragon appears. He draws a big red "X" over the dragon with the pointer. Cut to a closeup of the King of Town.}

THE KING OF TOWN: Phew!

{Cut back to Homestar at the blackboard, with a drawing of a sheep.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {opening his mouth wide} But, they were eaten! {he points to the drawing as a bite mark appears on the sheep}

{Cut back to the King}

THE KING OF TOWN: {sweating} Oh, no! What could have done such a thing?

{Cut to a wide shot of Homestar, Pom Pom and the King. The blackboard is gone.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Why don't you ask yourself, King? {pokes King's belly with pointer}

{Cut back to a closeup of the King}

THE KING OF TOWN: {blushes} Oh, yeah. They were delicious! {burps; his crown jumps}

{Cut to the outside of the castle as everyone laughs. Zoom out of the castle to focus on a sheep grazing in the field. The sheep bleats.}

[end.]

Easter Eggs

• Click on the sheep at the end of the toon to make it fly off behind the mountains.

Fun Facts

KoT's mouth

Remarks

• The King of Town's mouth is visible under his mustache when he belches.

Fast Forward

• In 2001, this toon was remade and rereleased in a format reminiscent of Special Edition DVDs.

DVD Version

• The sheep Easter egg has been removed.
• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman)

MIKE: So here's the first cartoon that we ever put on the Homestar website.

MATT: Yeah.

MIKE: Matt made this all by himself at work, right?

MATT: I made that fence. That fence was really good looking. {Mike laughs}

MIKE: The King of Town doesn't say "Doo hoo hoo" as much as he used to.

MATT: He— he definitely doesn't. There's some line width issues, Mike.

MIKE: Yeah, there's bricks— that background has very thick outlines right there.

MATT: This is the cartoon that introduced the King of Town, the Poopsmith, the Blacksmith, all the King's men.

MIKE: The Poopsmith was never intended to, uh, make it past this cartoon any more than the Blacksmith or the Chef was, but uh—

MATT: Right, he was just sort of a, uh, sight gag in the midst of those few guys.

MIKE: For whatever reason, he transcended.

MATT: He transcends times and space...s.

MIKE: Those flies stopped buzzing.

MATT: {laughing} Apparently. This is a nice magical chalkboard Homestar has.

MIKE: At the beginning of every scene, there's two or three seconds of silence before anything happens or anyone says anything.

MATT: Yeah, that's some good looping animation on his sweat. {Mike laughs} Some good red cheeks too. Just kinda sp— Oh, look, he had a mouth there! See his mouth?

MIKE: Yeah, he did. I didn't even notice. Wow.

MATT: A rare glimpse. Bye.

External Links

• watch "The King of Town"
• watch "The King of Town" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "The King of Town"