User:QuestJ65/Nostalgia Critic
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Nostalgia Critic is an American review comedy series created by and starring Doug Walker for Channel Awesome. It first launched on YouTube in 2007, spanning over 680 episodes across 17 seasons (as of May 8, 2024). Between 2008 to 2015, it was featured on the website Blip until its shutdown in the last year. A spin-off, titled The Nostalgia Chick and starring Lindsay Ellis, also ran from 2008 to 2014, before Ellis left to focus on long-form video essays.
The series follows the Nostalgia Critic, a fictionalized version of Walker, who is a short-tempered and immature film reviewer that looks back on movies from his childhood and adolescence. Each episode focuses on a recap of the film in question, with the Critic explaining plot-points, providing commentary and criticism, and joking on mildly questionable or amusing scenes. In addition to its references to other media, the series also features special episodes, including "Top 11" list countdowns, "Old vs. New", which compares the reboot of a popular film or series to the original; and video essays of certain subjects.
Since it calls back to media considered nostalgic, movies based on Hanna-Barbera's shows get covered in their own individual episodes. References to Hanna-Barbera are also featured as well.
Dexter's Laboratory
- Main article: Dexter's Laboratory (TV series)
- "Conquest of the Commercials:" In a segment for a Power Rangers toy commercial, the Critic mimics an announcer by telling the audience they if they have Power Rangers-branded gloves, they could be tough by "looking like a cross between a NASCAR driver and Dexter's mom."
Flintstones
- Main article: Flintstones (franchise)
- "Commercials:" The Critic covers a Christmas-themed commercial for Fruity Pebbles cereal in a short segment, with him joking on its historical anachronism by impersonating Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble.
- "Return of The Commercials:" A 1980s commercial for Cocoa Pebbles, featuring Barney disguising himself as a rock star on stage, is covered in its own segment of the episode. In it, the Critic points out the logical question as to why he couldn't get the cereal by himself and is astonished with the lengths he goes with trying to steal them from Fred. He questions why Fred keeps getting feeding into Barney habit, and impersonates him asking Barney what makes his cereal apart from other cereals, only to chase him down with a gun when the latter answers that the cereal "came from [his] wife's box."
- "Top 12 Christmas Commercials:" The aforementioned Christmas commercial for Fruity Pebbles is listed number 8 in the video. The Critic points out several questions regarding the commercial, including how Fred and Barney celebrate the holiday if Jesus wasn't born yet, where caveman Santa Claus came from, Dino's involvement with a singing carol, and Fred giving an apple to Santa instead of cookies and milk.
- "Planet of the Commercials:" A commercial for Flintstones Vitamins is featured as a segment of this episode. However, the Critic points out that the vitamin branding was ironic considering that The Flintstones once had sponsors for unhealthy products back then, including Winston Cigarettes and Busch Bear. Throughout the remainder of the episode, the Critic does a long interview with composer Michael Salvatori, who co-wrote the Flintstones Vitamins jingle with Martin O'Donnell, and tries several attempts to get rid of him.
- "Commercials Resurrection:" A commercial for Cocoa Pebbles, which parodied The Karate Kid, is featured as its own segment. The Critic brings out Barney's disguise as a Japanese martial arts teacher in that commercial, stating that the Stone Age was a different time and that "Rox News" (a spoof of Fox News) was telling everybody that this wasn't racist at all. This is followed up by clip of "The Prowler," featuring a similarly racist caricature with Rockimoto, and the Critic telling the viewers that the Flintstones were replaced by James Bond as the spokesperson of the cereal; although it later cuts to an image of Bond's disguise in You Only Live Twice much to his bemoaning.
Pac-Man
- Main article: Pac-Man
- "Dawn of the Commercials:" In a segment for Chef Boyardee Dinosaurs pasta, the Critic points out Pac-Man pasta as one of the products based on a certain theme.
The Smurfs
- Main article: The Smurfs
- "Dawn of the Commercials:" In a segment for Chef Boyardee Dinosaurs pasta, the Critic shows Smurfs pasta as one of the products based on a certain theme.
Tom and Jerry
- Main article: Tom and Jerry (franchise)
- Tom and Jerry: The Movie: The Critic reviews the film in its own episode. Before starting his review, he first points out that he is a fan of the Tom and Jerry cartoons, going so far as to buy the DVD collections of them. The notable standout scenes are his Shakespearean monologue on Tom and Jerry's roles as friends; his bewilderment over the film's musical numbers; and pointing out that Robyn's father is Indiana Jones. He gives a film an unfavorable review, stating that was an hour and a half too long, and that it had strange and complicated plot. He comments in the end that if he were to go back to Tom and Jerry of 50 years ago that "they would be making a film of this caliber about them," a clip of Tom saying "Don't you believe it!" in Mouse Trouble is played when he tells the viewers to guess what they think.
- Tom & Jerry: The film is recapped in its own episode by the Critic. He points that as a fan of Tom and Jerry, he felt more positive with the film compared to others in the franchise. He concludes that the scenes involving the titular characters were entertaining due to the faithfulness of its source material, but felt that those involving the comedic support were weak.
