The Spoony Experiment - Because bad movies and games deserve to be hurt back!

http://twitter.com/mlp_VelvetFog Velvet Fog

The throat thing is actually a reference to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, when Spock enters V Ger. He finds a giant image of the Bald chick and the gem at her throat turns out to be where V Ger is.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=516165279 Adam Allen

I’ve seen CHUD… >_>

Cthulhu07

As have I. Own on it VHS as a matter of fact. :D

http://www.facebook.com/ChusterMerino Chuster M. Merino

Super-Ego´s Spoony it´s soooooo smexy.

http://twitter.com/ihaveno_life Katrin

I laughed so hard I cried when it got to the Ego bit the first time. Its still one of the most hilarious bits.

Also I liked the love triangle bit being in there because it tied in their shows to the movie more and gave a more satisfying end to the ongoing gags they had about the triangle going in their shows. I do agree the Judge Dread thing was too long though.

Cheese is delicious.

Randy Grant

I get the iconic imagery of the Sting speedo, but I’d've thought in your own head you’d be the Kwisatz Haderach.

Daniel Thomas Stack

Muadib or Usuel is not as Sexy. Spoony might have gotten enough of a taste of godhood in RPG’s as Tandem the Spoony so going with one of the scenes known as having the most sex appeal in a Sci-Fi movie before 1990 doesn’t seem so out of character to me.

http://sbkmulletman.deviantart.com/ sbkMulletMan

I got the CHUD reference, but to my shame, I have not yet seen the movie. I keep “putting it off for later” on netflix because stuff like the Toxic Avenger movies kept stealing my attention first (but hey, at least I’m still favoring those flavor of movies, right?). But after listening to this, I’m definitely watching it today.

Some of the stuff Spoony mentioned with the references is why I got into all these reviewers (mainly Doug, Brad and of course, Spoony) in the first place, because I’m in their age group, I’ve seen a good chunk of the movies they saw growing up (Brad puts me to shame though, that guy is the King of obscurity and crafts those references into an elaborate tapestry of wit and charm) and it just feels good to see jokes and humor on my level. And I love it when a reference is NOT explained; either you get it, or you don’t. And I love that feeling I get when I stop and go, “Wait, did they just make a reference? MAN, that takes me back!”. It’s good to “bait” people with jokes like that, because you get to find who shares your own circle of interests.

This is also why I can’t really fault the movie too much for constantly parodying (and let’s be honest, that’s a euphemism for lazy plagiarism) and referencing to the point where it feels like Family Guy filler, because I’m still LAUGHING and loving many of the references they make. I could bitch about a lot of the stuff in the movie, but I don’t. I grow up and get over it, because I know I’m giggling my ass off at the references I like, such as Dune (keep that spice flowin’, Spoony!), and when my greatest complaint at the end of the movie was a LACK of a reference (I wanted to see the Spaceballs ending for the 3 villains crash-landing onto the Planet of the Apes), I can’t complain about the abundance of other references.

That’s simply how this movie was for me: some parts I love, some parts I didn’t care for, but hey, focus on the stuff you like and just enjoy what you can. That’s movies for ya.

http://twitter.com/ladydiskette Christine Dean

Spoony’s talk about “So Bad its God movies” in the commentary and Oancitizen’s lines about good movies with good storylines and plots side by side really makes you think about cinema in general. Spoony made some great points and so did Oan, it was fascinating to hear them and weigh in on what each was trying to say in thier own words.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Grzegorz-Wojtczyk/100000046280578 Grzegorz Wojtczyk

I will never get enough of your Super Ego Spoony. I always explode in laughter when I see it.

Princess Stabbity

*frowns* Hey.. I’ve seen CHUD.. many times. I have it on VHS, so there, or something. But oh god, the Ego, bit. Still epic, lol.

rj

so in your super ego state you see yourself with Tidus hairstyle?

Kendotuxedo

Oh course he does, Spoony is the god damn Avatar,
AND the star player of the Zanarkand Abes

http://www.facebook.com/yourmanjosh Josh Lake

I really wish Spoony did all the Ma-ti voices.

Dasby

No offense Noah, but I just can’t accept “these movies are our lives” as a justification for outright stealing scenes. And honestly I can accept spoofing, but that’s not what I felt was going on here. Spoof requires some kind of new twist or wrinkle on the scene or movie you’re parodying. It works on occasion in this movie, but there are frequently moments here in which it’s a near line for line, shot for shot, beat for beat theft of a scene from something else without anything added to it to make it unique. And that I can’t abide by.

Malidictus

Really, a scene-by-scene parody of famous movies wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t keep happening year after year. Kickassia had an inexplicable M. Bison/Vega in it, Suburban Knights reused a bunch of trademark characters and now To Boldly Flee comes off like a re-shoot of existing movies. The anniversaries simply come off as having no original content and rely purely on the viewer getting the references.

Where To Boldly Flee really shines is in the few areas of original content, straight-faced acting and genuinely good ideas, but they’re spaced out in-between so much spoofing it defeats its own purpose. Honestly, if all the parts were like the first one and probably the last one, the movie would have come off a lot better.

References are cool, but they have to come with original content, and about the only one who brought any kind of original content to the movie was Mechacara since Linkara’s Gordian knot of continuity has come with quite a bit of original content. Pretty much the only other bit was the Nostalgia Critic ending up in the real world, which was awesome and thankfully played straight.

It’s just that… Once you spot the trend of re-enacting scenes from popular movies, the “punch” really goes away.
- http://www.facebook.com/ematuskey Ed Matuskey
  
  I have to disagree here. The anniversary specials aren’t meant to be an all-original movie–they’re meant to be anniversary pieces for the site, starring many of the reviewers we follow. They’re not meant to be taken seriously–they’re just a celebration of what everyone on the site does. Hence the cast of thousands and the constant references–the sort of thing you do when you’re just having fun, not what you do if you want to make a “serious” movie. Compare and contrast this with the upcoming Cinema Snob movie, which I expect to be much more full of original content and less full of references/parody.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640530637 Denny Wellman
  
  In Kickassia, the M. Bison thing wws CLEARLY a reference to the hugely popular “Of Course!” gag from the Street Fighter review. And since he was acting as the crazy dictator of the new micro nation, of course (!!!!!) he donned the costume.
  
  In Suburban Knights I’ll agree it was too much. Far and away that was the most egregious example. In To Boldly Flee, they scaled back again. Like I was mentioning before, the ROTJ sequences with Brad and Rob were the only ones that bashed me over the head. The rest, even IF it’s basically rewritten on Search For Spock or whatever, it still felt “natural” to the story they were trying to tell, rather than Seltzerberging it and going “LOL REMEMBER THIS SCENE FROM THIS MOVIE? WE’RE MAKING IT STUPID AND GOOFY NOW BECAUSE FUCK YOU THAT’S WHY LOL”
antiquarius

Yeah have to agree. Thats why I only watch the commentary, the “movie” itself is just boring.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640530637 Denny Wellman

Spaceballs. That is my response to this.

——————————————————–
It was probably right around part 3 or 5 (part 4? what part 4? ;) ) that I got that Spaceballs was kind of the mood of the day for this mini-series. Spaceballs itself is basically beat-for-beat A New Hope, just filled with Mel Brooks’ silliness abound.

Same thing is going on here. They’re following the plot points of various science fiction movies and putting in their own brand of TGWTG silliness. Even like how Scary Movie 1 did it with Scream [as Spoony brought up now that I've gotten to that point]. So as long as the execution is fine, I don’t have that much of a problem with it and it never really bothered me. Especially considering I haven’t seen any of the Star Trek films, so it’s new to me!! x-)

It was only up until the later parts where the COMPLETELY beat the Return Of The Jedi references to death that it became a nuisance for me. That was when I was long “Okay okay okay, pull back guys! This is WAY too on the nose and trying-too-hard! Chill out!”
- Dasby
  
  The thing I’m more talking about is the taking of full scenes like the ghost busters sequence. I’m sorry but I don’t support stealing an entire scene from another movie and doing nothing new with it. Multiple people on TGWTG, most notably Film Brain, have said in the past “References aren’t jokes” and they are right. So stealing an entire scene outright.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640530637 Denny Wellman
    
    In this special? I don’t remember any particular Ghostbusters sequence that stood out….
    - Dasby
      
      Watch part 1, or 2, again. Whichever part featured Spoony being hooked to the machine by the two doctors and the senator douche bag coming in and having them shut the computer down. AT that point there’s all kinds of “plot holes” that get released into Chicago. That entire sequence comes directly, beat for beat, almost right down to the dialogue, from the first Ghostbusters.
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640530637 Denny Wellman
      
      Oh yeah, okay then.
      
      I see your point, but again, it personally didn’t bother me. I was already invested into the scene so it didn’t really register to me that it was Ghostbusters until after the fact. It went along with what they were doing, and the dialogue however close it may have been, never went had that “Turn to the camera winking at you” moments, so again it just seemed to fit with what they were going for. That’s the execution part I was talking about; SK’s execution wasn’t good and stuff stuck out like a sore thumb. A lot of the Brad’s Dark Side scenes wasn’t very good and it stuck out like a sore thumb. To me that particular sequence didn’t.
      
      *shrugs*
      I dunno, if you’re going to replicate scenes, at least make it work within the context of what YOU are trying to do so at the very least you can disguise it.
    - Daniel Thomas Stack
      
      actually his name is Lame R. Prick a Lamer Prick than Walter Peck. “Dickless”

Renaissance_nerd

I thought his super ego was his bard Tandem the Spoony… guess I need to watch Dune again.

Daniel Thomas Stack

Remember its the version with Sting and Patric Stewart in the cast list. The other versions didn’t have this moment.
http://twitter.com/Das_Bass Das_Bass

At first I was thinking it would be The Goddamn Avatar or Mad Max, since he can’t get Beyond Thunderdome. Whooooo!

marabackman

I didn’t catch that Spoony’s super-ego was supposed to be Feyd-Rautha. I thought the wig made him look more like Tidus, which I actually found really funny.

Daniel Thomas Stack

SPOONY! How in the World could you forget where that throat bit came from? < – Kidding. Its from Star Trek the Motion Picture. I'm shocked you didn't realize that after all the other Star Trek ties this movie has.
Check it out I have your "Throat of Doom and the "Original" scene side by side in this screenshot.
http://imageshack.us/a/img528/8633/40164408.png
The "Sensor" in Lt. Ilea's neck.

BTW I made a comment on your monologue about movie references to my mom she completely agrees our whole family is just like that as well.

http://twitter.com/Das_Bass Das_Bass

That sing bit cracks me up.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Valerie-Dicaire/100000800421372 Valérie Dicaire

Wow I feel dumb for not getting the Dune reference… I KNEW that speedo from somewhere but couldn’t remember where. To my defense, I haven’t seen Dune in ages. What I thought it was parodying at first was The Cell, seeing as FB enters your subconsciousness in which you perceive yourself as some fucked up monstrous overlord of some sort. Made sense to me. xD

http://www.facebook.com/people/Bryan-John-Sauriol/711670364 Bryan John Sauriol

I’ve seen CHUD … :(

Poddington

My first thought seeing Spoony come out of the steam shower as the na-Baron Feyd-Rautha was remembering that Sting wanted to walk out of the shower stark bollock naked. It was only on the day of shooting that producers stepped in with the speedo. Thank god for that or we’d have seen Spoonys tackle.

Kendotuxedo

Snob does pull out the most obscure references, but I’m glad I get most
of them. It appeals to my own inner snob; and Juno was overrated.

http://www.facebook.com/ematuskey Ed Matuskey

> and Juno was overrated.

But what about Spoony?

That Ruled

I have SO seen C.H.U.D. !! You wound me, sir. :) Loving these commentaries.

That Ruled

Mind you, I couldn’t tell you how many years have passed since that viewing… *sob*

http://www.facebook.com/awelcruiz Adam Welsh

Are you seriously that malnourished Spoony, or was there some kind of digital stretching going on?

jnywest

No, look at him in his videos. He needs some serious nutrition and exercise.
- Daniel Thomas Stack
  
  Both, Spoony could use a bit more meat on his bones, less time getting sick, and some minor digital editing to slim him down. Watch his shoulders you get edge of effect artifacts in a couple of moments where the effect didn’t fully blend.
Adell

His arms do NOT look that skinny in his vlogs/videos. At least to me anyway. I hope it’s just the green screen or something

http://twitter.com/filbypott William Staples

This is the first time I’ve heard the Spoony One giggle, and I pray it will be the last.

Weedleplop

Ahhh, the love triangle…. What can I say. Todds obsession with Lupa – and later the ‘love triangle’ – has unquestionably been responsible for the biggest laughs I’ve gotten from TGWTG over the last 18 months. I guess that isn’t suprising, seeing as the producers I watch most of all are Linsey, Todd and Lupa, but it was some seriously well-written crossover work that never felt forced & always seemed to move forward.

But… I kinda feel that no-one should write the live triangle beyond Todd, Linsey and Lupa. It felt very forced and unnatural in To Boldly Flee. Either way, I think it’d be a good idea for the guys to leave it alone now. In fact, I’m pretty sure they already have.

http://twitter.com/athel228 Jordan

I happen to own a DVD copy of C.H.U.D. I hear the sequel is wqrse somehow.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640530637 Denny Wellman

I think they kept people out of the room for THEIR sake, not yours, Spoony xD

Strelnikov

The bit nine minutes in where Doug is talking Allison and he just walks over to a nearby door to enter “engineering” is a gag stolen from “Spaceballs” though there was something like it in “Airplane II.”

LeeEnfield

So, the NC’s Judge Dredd chase would be cut, the love triangle subplot would be cut, but Harkonan speedo? No! Fight for that! The people -MUST- see your awkward, scrawny body!! It’s the whole movie! Heh, nah, I’m just being mean.

Kendotuxedo

“You dare challenge him mortal, a GOD of OLYMPUS”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Lara-Oude-Alink/1254700189 Lara Oude Alink

I really didn’t mind movie references. I mean, the site is pretty much built around movies and the references and inside jokes I’ve come to know make the running gags fun. So I didn’t expect anything else, and I was very happy with the amount of references. It’s what you do, and if anyone can do it, these guys can.
I gotta say, I also liked robot Lindsay. She can express emotions, but more with her voice than her face, so it was a fitting part, seriously! I also really liked the scene where Snob and Palpatine watched Manos. It’s become something more than a bad movie indeed. I mean, it’s so old and I’ve watched it this year. It lives on foreveeeer!!!
I was screaming at your ‘best scene’…

http://twitter.com/c_l_ethier Charles Ethier

with regard to action heroes shoes, what about jet li?

doresh

He’s a martial artist. The classical Hollywood action hero isn’t, since he spends more time shooting stuff ^^

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1102800024 Benjamin Nate Zalneraitis

In band, we had a guest composer/conductor once, and he gave us his secret to composing music. You take your favorite bits of all of your favorite songs, and you combine all the bits and make your own new song. If you listen to Star Wars and Holst’s Planets, you can hear so many distinct themes in common between the two works. It’s no different here, it’s just that it’s not such a common occurrence in film as it is in other media.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Christina-Masterson/100001614060238 Christina Masterson

hmm… I disagree a bit in that the love triangle should have been cut. It was a continuation of the character development we’ve seen with these characters over the last year, and I think it actually would have been a bit weird and out of character if the movie hadn’t at least touched on or addressed the relationships these characters shared.

fatalrob0t

I died when I saw the Harkonnen scene. Died. From Laughter. That was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant!

http://twitter.com/KaijuZ Emil Petrunov

I feel like a horrible fanboy for not getting the Dune reference.

doresh

I remember Krull :D

And THAT scene was awesome XD !

The throat’s from Star Trek TMP, isn’t it?

smek2

We Will Need A Lot More Hemp Before We’re Through

http://twitter.com/niemla Karen Niemla

I actually liked the Judge Dredd bit. it was ridiculous and energetic. It was fun!

http://www.facebook.com/pandamonium411 Amanda Holland

Dear god, that speedo. Odd, though, that I’m more disturbed by your tiny, scrawny, obviously ‘shopped arms than the Harkonnen speedo.
I did a little research on Ma-Ti being located in the throat. I had in inkling it might have something to do with the chakras. In focusing on exploring and healing the throat chakra, one tends to learn a few spiritual lessons that eerily coincide with Ma-Ti’s role in this miniseries: truthfulness over deceit, confession, and the surrender of personal will over to divine will. I really have no idea whether Doug and Rob intended this, but it may be intended to give a few hints that Ma-Ti is lying, perhaps further that he is so bent on revenge that he fails to see that his purpose was fulfilled in his sacrifice against Malachite. It may also hint that in the end the Nostalgia Critic will surrender his selfish desire to exist in the real world in favor of sacrificing himself to coexistence with the Plot Hole. Kinda deep stuff that may or may not be intentional.

http://www.facebook.com/viktor.akesson.777 Viktor Åkesson

I’ve never seen the movie your Super Ego is based on…. but I did find it funny still. XD
In fact, I have never seen any single Star Trek movie. Hell, the only Star Trek stuff I’ve seen are about 3 episodes of Voyager. It’s simply not my cup of tea. And that makes it even worse with all the references in To Boldly Flee, as I do not get them all.
Speaking of nothing… I don’t know why, but Sad Panda is somehow a comedic genius to me the way he acts and the way his comedic timing is. XD Though, I find it really odd some people have apparently mixed up him with Welshy? Not really hard to see the difference. But then again, Sad Panda isn’t trolling people and trying to make them feel bad about themselves. Yeah, believe it or not – Welshy is actually a very apathetic sociopathic jerk who has something in his head blocking him from being capable of letting things go. It’s like he has been raised by people telling him it’s okay to bully others – especially if it’s cyberbullying, because you don’t have to pay the consequences for your actions. :P Not saying that is how it is – just seems like that’s his view. He has been constantly trolling me after disagreeing with him on Casino Royale. No, I’m dead serious…

… woops, talking about going off topic. XP But yeah, Sad Panda is awesome.

marabackman

Of all the different cuts that there are for David Lynch’s take on Dune, which would you recommend? I watched the theatrical cut again to remind myself of everything that happens, but it seems like they cut some very valuable content. I once saw a documentary where de Laurentiis said that the movie would originally have been 3 hours long, before he forced it to be shortened. Are the extended cuts worth watching?

MichaelKz

Crap on a cracker! That Dune scene is enough to make the Baron Harkonnen switch over to mature BBWs.

http://www.facebook.com/john.knudsvig John Knudsvig

I think you are probably right, most of your viewers probably don’t get a lot of your references.
Then again, most of your viewers are probably not pushing 40 and have been crazy about bad films for more than 30 years of that.
I’ll admit that overall your random bad movie chops are probably a bit nastier than mine as you have been motivated by your work to make it that way, but then I remember when “Pumpkinhead” was a new rental and god help me I have probably seen the thing three or four times.
I not only remember C.H.U.D. I could tell you what the acronym was. Terrible movie, but a memorable one.

Jim Thorpe

hahaha that dune scene i showed to people who don’t even know who spoony is, it was the greatest thing ever

Daniel Thomas Stack

So Spoony its amazing getting so much Counter Monkey at once but I’m beginning to wonder. Have you even done commentary on the remaining parts of To Boldly Flee? 6 7 and 8 do not have links that showed up on the main page while only 6 and 8 without 7 (Space Balls”10, 9, 8, 6″ “Six! What happened to Seven?” “Just kidding”) Asking here since it is the newest of the sequence to get a front page posting.

jnywest

You’ve stop doing the commentaries since you where called out. You went out of line, hurt your friends and co workers feelings. You should sincerely and publicly apologize and ask to join back up with the team. They are your friends, they only wanted you to be better, to be happy. If you are better now, why would they not take you back. We all love you, just ask to come back.

Adell

What’s this about now? His commentaries didn’t seem to step over any lines, he was just explaining his perspective on things.
- jnywest
  
  Well, if you go back and listen Spoony himself said that he was addressing the “elephant in the room” and committing “career suicide”. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx43-KkCMpc&list=UUBlZaka1HbhMlph27-KG2Yg&index=23&feature=plpp_video

http://twitter.com/ladydiskette Christine Dean

Out of all of the commentaries. This one with Feyd!Spoony was the one I had to see XD

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To Boldly Flee, Part 5 (Spoony Commentary)