A few months back (well, maybe almost a year ago now), I asked this board if I should do a watchthrough topic of the Nostalgia Critic and/or AVGN. I got a resounding yes.
I didn't end up doing it.
However, I did start watching random reviews of his, and soon enough I did end up watching them all on my own time, catching up just after sequel month got started. (Which, spoilers, includes a few of my favorite reviews.) Now that I've seen all of them at least once, just for the hell of it, since I love the Nostalgia Critic's humor (at least, when he's on his game) and since the topic actually was something people wanted to see, I'll do a sort of "hindsight review" sort of thing, where I can rank them within the grand scheme of his work to date.
Note: This probably will not end up being finished.
Another note: Having followed a lot of topics on this site that involve number rankings out of ten, I find that almost nobody uses the same kind of scale, so I'll give you mine. This is pretty much inclusive for anything I rate out of ten.
1/10 - Trash with absolutely zero redeeming qualities. Rare ranking, even for things I hate. 2/10 - Hated it, but there are a couple things present that can make me see why people didn't hate it. Still a rare ranking. 3/10 - Still hated it, but can objectively comment on merits without getting pissed off. Lowest ranking I commonly give to things. 4/10 - Disliked it. I can see how other people would like it, but I don't. 5/10 - Average. However, I expect things to be better than just average. 6/10 - Meh. Didn't have too strong a reaction to it one way or the other, and probably won't remember it for any reason, good or bad. Different from "average" in that I'm not necessarily disappointed. 7/10 - Meets my expectations. In a way this is also "average" for the things that I watch, but that's only because I expect things to exceed an "average"; I expect things to have more merits than they have flaws. 8/10 - Memorably good in many ways. 9/10 - Memorably great in many ways. 10/10 - The best a particular genre, setting, or show has to offer. I give out fewer of these than some, more than others.
Anyway, off I go. Hopefully there's people here who are interested in my opinions (Note: I'm not just a blind fanboy), and if not, then this topic will probably just sort of dwindle down and die. But I'm interested in keeping it up, anyway.
As everybody has pretty much remarked, the first Nostalgia Critic review...isn't actually a Nostalgia Critic review, it's a Bum review, and I've never been particularly fond of Bum reviews. That being said, there's a certain charm to be had from the s***ty 4:3 webcam with terrible sound quality, bad editing, and Doug Walker just being hyper in front of a camera. He's a charming fellow.
This review being the first Nostalgia Critic review I ever watched, because I started going in order, I found myself a bit hesitant. But reading the comments, I realized that this wasn't the style he'd taken on for himself, so I decided to try watching just one more....
"Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to."
Much more like it. This 7:31 review is the one that got me hooked.
But, to be honest, as hilarious as it was the first time I saw it, it's not quite as good in hindsight.
Now, to be fair, it's got some great moments. Part of the appeal of the Nostalgia Critic for me is that Doug Walker is actually a really good actor who is capable of fantastic comedic timing. For example:
"OH MY GOD, GEORGE BUSH IS STARTING THIS THING OFF! ...Oh my God. George Bush is starting this thing off."
The double-take after Simon says "marijuana" is classic.
Also the "....Oh my God" after Simon's ridiculously specific clarification that yes, that is in fact what they're talking about.
Hello tiiiny little paragraphs.
But ultimately the ridiculousness of the Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue special speaks for itself. He doesn't have much to add, other than some extremely well-delivered zingers and facial expressions, and ultimately he's just playing clips. A review that I once considered an all-time classic turns out to be not that insightful or interesting compared with a lot of his later stuff. The hilarity to be had comes from...
Well...
I can already hear Alan Menken rolling over in his grave. He's not dead yet.
I wonder if people ever bring this thing up to him.
7/10, hilarious, but not necessarily because of the review.
Early NC imo is annoying because he keeps doing that thing where he'll say something and he'll have a character from the movie "respond" to what he just said with a short clip. That stuff isn't really funny, luckily he phased that out.
-- ~Wigs~ WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL I do what Ninten-Don't.
I'll review your review of his review of Roger Ebert's reviews.
This is some Inception level s*** right here.
Early NC imo is annoying because he keeps doing that thing where he'll say something and he'll have a character from the movie "respond" to what he just said with a short clip. That stuff isn't really funny, luckily he phased that out.
I actually don't know why I didn't mention that because that stuck out to me rewatching the Drug Cartoon special, and then I remembered that he used to do it all the time. You're right, it is a bit annoying - the only time I've ever really seen that pulled off well is in Plinkett reviews, where it can actually be pretty funny because he doesn't "force" it like the Nostalgia Critic used to for a cheap gag.
"...Heyyy! Did you forget something? The...title?"
Why do I get the impression that a giant robotic Donkey Kong Jesus riding a puff of smoke would be cooler than what we actually got? And I haven't even seen the movie.
In any case, this is another one of those early reviews that doesn't stick to the format, which I've always found odd. If you're trying to make a niche for yourself on the Internet, why would you do a "special exception" type episode twice in your first three episodes? Maybe I'm missing something about their original upload order since many of these original videos were actually posted on YouTube sometime in 2007, but it just kind of makes going through them in order for the first time confusing.
Why is this reminding me of the horrendously confusing history of Dr. Who, except boiled down to four or five episodes?
Anyway, nothing really laugh-out-loud funny here like in the Drug Cartoon Special, but I give him credit, it's pretty entertaining regardless (the illustrations are pretty funny and again, his delivery is superb), and he does a good job here for the first time injecting himself into his commentary and making the main draw him, simply by saying what we were all thinking when we saw the Cloverfield teaser for the first time.
And a movie about a giant robotic Donkey Kong Jesus trying to make a twist ending for the Bible would be pretty badass. Too bad the evangelicals would go ape****.
I always wanted to enjoy the Nostalgic Critic (since I'm a fan of AVGN and the like), but the few episodes I saw were waaaaaay over the top. Good comedic timing and pretty solid writing ruined by caffeine-charged overacting and overdone facial expressions. This is especially bad in the review of The Room.
That said, this topic seems like a good place to try picking it up again! Anything that gets an 8/10 or above will get a viewing from me, since you seem to be fair with the scores so far.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpfwpOPXNc&NR=1&feature=fvwp I watch Planet Chasers Starlight Excellent all day, every day.
That said, this topic seems like a good place to try picking it up again! Anything that gets an 8/10 or above will get a viewing from me, since you seem to be fair with the scores so far.
Fair enough. There are plenty of reviews (especially recently) where I think he's gotten a bit too over-the-top and clownish, and in the beginning he didn't quite have that enough in his reviews, so probably the ones that get 8/10 or above will be that happy medium that's easier to enjoy. I like to think I'm pretty fair with my scoring.
I used to really really like the NC, but after seeing some of the better reviewers even on his own site he kinda lost me.
Now I'm curious. Who might these be? Granted, I'm not too familiar with most of them, but of the more popular ones that I am familiar with, the Chick's boring, Linkara's more annoying than the word "annoying" allows for, and Spoony's okay when he's reviewing something interesting (his FFX review being hysterical), but other than that he comes off as too nerdy for his own good. Who would you consider the best reviewers on his site?
"In fact, when the show first premiered, I remember saying to myself, there's no way this is gonna catch on. People can't possibly be this stupid. ...And this is why I'm not in the stock market."
Another thing you'll hear me saying quite a bit is that a lot of the things he finds nostalgic, I don't. Probably because I'm from the '90s and he's from the '80s. So there's a bit of disconnect here. But nowhere is this more prominent than when he talks about A) Power Rangers, or B) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, neither of which I've ever seen anything of.
Okay, maybe I *was* a bit sheltered too.
One other thing I've noticed, that I think he actually pointed out in his Drug Cartoon commentary (yes, I watch the commentaries), is that his fury in these first few episodes is a bit held-back and reserved, and part of what I find so fun about the Critic is when he lets loose with his anger AVGN-style... except not as annoying and unfunny. No, I don't like AVGN. So shoot me.
But anyway, the review. This is, in a way, the first of the normal model of NC reviews, where he tries to pick apart a nostalgic piece of entertainment that we can all agree is bad and points out the specifics that we might not think about that actually make it objectively bad. Drug Cartoon doesn't necessarily qualify because he was only pointing out the obvious, but here, he's actually picking the thing apart.
Just one problem: it's boring. I didn't remember ever watching this review, and for good reason - there's really nothing memorable about it. His expression when whats-his-head is "reborn" is great (kind of a predecessor to that thing he does when he makes the high-pitched squealing sound and throws his hands up in the air and swivels back and forth in his chair - you know the one I'm talking about). But apart from that, I just watched it and I've already forgotten most of it.
And there's another factor that severely detracts from my enjoyment of the review: the sound is mixed wrong. His audio only comes out of the left channel, whereas the movie's comes from both. This is particularly irritating when you're wearing headphones, because you can partially unplug them so the sound isn't in stereo, so you can hear him in both, but then you don't hear the movie dialogue at all so you miss some of the jokes. Very irritating, and I have to dock points for it. >_>
So yeah, one of the first real efforts, and I give it a point up for that, but overall one of the least memorable and most boring of his early stuff. Possibly because I never cared about Power Rangers.
That's basically the realization of everything I hate about the NC at his worst: lame-beyond-belief "acting" segments, flipping out over nothing, and an insufferably raspy voice. You want to talk irony? Spoony criticizing Tidus's VA for being "nasally."
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpfwpOPXNc&NR=1&feature=fvwp I watch Planet Chasers Starlight Excellent all day, every day.
AVGN: An obnoxious, over-the-top nerd who can't act or deliver a line to save his life who relies solely on screaming things to make his point. NC: A really good actor who's obnoxious and funny at the same time because he has these things called "timing", "vocal inflections", and a hilariously expressive face.
As for the FFX review, meh. To each his own. I thought it was funny, but then again, FFX is one of my favorite games of all time so I didn't really take anything he said seriously.
AVGN: An obnoxious, over-the-top nerd who can't act or deliver a line to save his life who relies solely on screaming things to make his point. NC: A really good actor who's obnoxious and funny at the same time because he has these things called "timing", "vocal inflections", and a hilariously expressive face.
Don't want this topic to delve into the classic Nerd/NC debate, but really now. Most of the best AVGN videos are the ones where he tones down the ranting, or at least condenses them into bite-sized sections, so it's hardly fair to say he "relies solely on screaming" to be funny. The NC, on the other hand, can't go two sentences without shrieking, wailing, and/or flailing his hands and arms around like he's got... problems. And the Nerd's faces are about 1000x better and more expressive, not to mention varied.
Carry on!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpfwpOPXNc&NR=1&feature=fvwp I watch Planet Chasers Starlight Excellent all day, every day.
This honestly sounds like you not having seen nearly enough NC to make a judgment and me not having seen nearly enough AVGN to make a judgment. What little I have seen from AVGN makes your description of the Nostalgia Critic sound much more like AVGN, frankly. There are very few reviews where he "can't go two sentences without shrieking, wailing, and/or flailing his hands and arms around" - these are not what I would call defining factors. And NC is an extremely expressive person.
Anyway, yeah, let's not dive any further into the annoying Nerd/NC debate, because it always seems like nobody on either side has opinions that are representative of actual fact. I shall carry on.
Anyway, yeah, let's not dive any further into the annoying Nerd/NC debate, because it always seems like nobody on either side has opinions that are representative of actual fact.
That's basically the modus operandi of all internet debating lol
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpfwpOPXNc&NR=1&feature=fvwp I watch Planet Chasers Starlight Excellent all day, every day.
Ah! Look at that! A well-balanced Nostalgia Critic review that overviews what he's reviewing in a fairly calm, even-keel fashion, and pretty much makes it work! How interesting!
Well, that is, until the last two minutes, but even that makes for a great "brick joke", if you will, in his later collaborative review with the AVGN (at least I think that's where it came in). There might not be too much actively memorable about this, so I can't really put it up past the threshold set by the Drug Cartoon Special, but this is one of the first NC reviews that sort of gives a feel of things to come.
Of course, he can't go as in-depth as he might've liked because of YouTube time limits back in the day being so restrictive, but hey, we've still got some of the better episodes coming up soon before he made the switch to his own website.
In any case, an entertaining review that I don't really have much to say about. Not as memorable as his first "normal review", but fun to watch, and for that, a surprisingly even-keel review as far as his delivery goes (I know somebody in this topic is gonna watch this and note that he does, in fact, scream a few times, but A) it's funny, and B) it's done in great moderation).
I also automatically approve of any review that mocks Vanilla Ice.
7/10
Master List
1. Drug Cartoon Special 2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3. Cloverfield Trailer 4. Harry Potter Book 7 Launch 5. Transformers 1 6. The Power Rangers Movie
Not to bring up anymore debate, but your opinion of the AVGN seems like one of someone who has not seen many episodes of him. Not that I'm accusing you or anything, nor saying that you can't have your own opinions, but if you enjoy internet reviewers like NC you should like into AVGN more.
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You beat yourself up with your past. Don't blame yourself, blame the world. Blame God. Blame me.
Not to bring up anymore debate, but your opinion of the AVGN seems like one of someone who has not seen many episodes of him. Not that I'm accusing you or anything, nor saying that you can't have your own opinions, but if you enjoy internet reviewers like NC you should like into AVGN more.
Tag, even though I haven't seen all the NC videos (only on topics that interest me, mostly of things I've heard of).
Oh, and if you mishear things, just check the TGWTG wiki, which among other things has transcripts (I'm even considering finishing the ones for this year's massive crossover).
"Why Top 11? Because I like to go one step beyond."
Perhaps my favorite Nostalgia Critic "thing" is when he does either Top 11 lists or Old vs. News. Why? Because that's the time when he gives us interesting opinions of his own, and gets particularly analytical - and he has quirky and eclectic enough tastes that A) we're always treated to something new, and B) they're well-thought-out enough that we can generally agree with his reasoning.
That being said, this is one where he's actually retracted a few things because they're clearly not right. For example, the #1 scariest nostalgic moment being a banshee from some obscure Disney movie - which isn't in itself a mistake, but then he shows the scene itself and it's kind of underwhelming, especially compared to some of the other things he showed in the list. Also not having the Willy Wonka train ride at #1. That's just...incorrect.
But this is a good start to the traditions of Top 11 lists, and it's agreeable enough. Pretty run-of-the-mill compared to some of the later stuff (Dumbasses in Distress, Awkward Christopher Walken Moments, and Disney Villains stand out just off the top of my head), but it's all right. Nothing to write home about.
I also still have yet to see the Pee-Wee movie all the way through, but I have to admit, that scene looks pretty damn startling.
6.5/10
Master List
1. Drug Cartoon Special 2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3. Top 11 Scariest Nostalgic Moments 4. Cloverfield Trailer 5. Harry Potter Book 7 Launch 6. Transformers 1 7. The Power Rangers Movie
let me goi and give these quick ratings too why not
1. Drug Cartoon Special 8.5/10 2. Harry Potter Book 7 Launch 8/10 (Loved this, hilarious. Like the reporter style) 3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 5/10 (why didn't he review the 3rd one???) 4. The Power Rangers Movie 4.1/10 5. Cloverfield Trailer 4/10 6. Transformers 1 3/10 7. Top 11 Scariest Nostalgic Moments 2/10
-- ~Wigs~ WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL I do what Ninten-Don't.
I........didn't even make it a minute in before I turned this off in lieu of reviewing more early NC. How do people make it through this guy's reviews? He's just....not funny.
All right, the VHS almost falling out of the box was pretty funny. But just in the first minute the delivery, writing, expression, all made me turn it off less than a minute in just like you would any bad Youtube video. >_>
Completely understandable. Some people like funny guys like AVGN, some people like Ritalin-deprived motormouths like NC. Preferences. Also, we're ~8 episodes in now, and there appears to be not a single good episode of this guy, even by your account. By this point, AVGN already had McKids, Simon's Quest, and TMNT.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpfwpOPXNc&NR=1&feature=fvwp I watch Planet Chasers Starlight Excellent all day, every day.
"And this is why you don't see Dennis Hopper any more."
For better or worse, I'm pretty sure this is the moment when Doug Walker truly became the Nostalgia Critic. Nothing before this makes that much of an impression any more, but this is still highly entertaining. This much is apparent even from the very first line:
"You know, Hollywood has a talent for taking symbols of our cherished childhood and smashing them into indescribable amounts of fecal matter."
This review, despite a mere nine-minute runtime, has it all - a nice background retrospective on the franchise (including trailer reactions), a sense of humor, and the feeling that we've gone over the entire movie, or at least all of the relevant parts. That's actually pretty impressive considering sometimes he doesn't even manage to make you feel like he's covered as much as he could have even in a full half an hour. This review really makes you realize how terrible this movie has to have been, even if you haven't seen it (as I haven't).
It also has some great examples of what I think makes him so funny. From very clever writing and editing (unexpected Brokeback Mountain montage for the win), to some great, subtle line delivery ("I'm not going to act today!), to some terrific facial expression (going through the opening scene), to even an awesome classic freak-out-over-nothing moment when the Mario Brothers' last name is explained.
It's an easy target, but it's a good one, and this review hits almost every joke, and makes the most of an unusually short runtime. I have to admit that the whole "people in the movie responding to what he's saying" bit still feels forced, but that's a "thing" about his older reviews that you just have to get past, really, and it's pretty easy to ignore.
I think the biggest laugh the review got out of me, though, was the part riffing Dennis Hopper's performance, though. Don't want to say any more than that because if you agree with me you'll know what I'm talking about and if you disagree you'll continue flaming this topic and my opinions. You've also got to admit he gives credit where credit is due here - what little there is to be had; he will admit when something is good, and I like this tendency.
Short, sweet, and to the point, he's still not COMPLETELY invested in the character of the Nostalgia Critic at this point, but it's definitely getting there, and this marks the start of a great stretch in his video making history.
8/10
Aside: If you don't like the character of the Nostalgia Critic that's kind of like freely admitting you don't like the character of Daffy Duck, because that's basically what he's doing. I'm fine with that, but the term "Ritalin-deprived" is just kind of rude and uncalled for, and you wouldn't say Daffy Duck has "issues". There's probably a better way to get my point across, but I'm just saying. He's acting, guys. Chill.
Second aside: I swear not all of the reviews will be nearly this long.