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Nostalgia Critic

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Nostalgia Critic
GenreReview/Rant
Insult comedy
Black comedy
Surreal comedy
Off-color comedy
Parody
Deadpan
Created byDoug Walker
Developed byDoug Walker
Rob Walker
Written byDoug Walker
Rob Walker
Directed byDoug Walker
StarringDoug Walker
Rob Walker
Malcolm Ray (2013–present)
Rachel Tietz (2013–14)
Tamara Chambers (2014–present)
Theme music composerMichael "Skitch" Schiciano[1]
Opening theme"The Review Must Go On" (2013–present)
Ending theme"The Review Must Go On" (2011; 2013–present)
Various
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons11
No. of episodes400
Production
Executive producerMichael Michaud
ProducerDoug Walker
Production locationsDowners Grove, Illinois (2007–12)
Lombard, Illinois
(2013–present)
EditorDoug Walker
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running timeVarious (avg. 10-30 minutes)
Production companyChannel Awesome
Original release
NetworkYouTube (2007–08, 2012–present)
Blip (2008–15)
ReleaseJuly 3, 2007 (2007-07-03) –
present
Related
The Nostalgia Chick

Nostalgia Critic is an American review comedy web television series created/directed by and starring web comedian Doug Walker (born in Italy on November 17, 1981). The series initially launched on YouTube in July 3, 2007 before moving to Walker's own site That Guy with the Glasses, then to Channel Awesome. The show followed Walker as the titular Nostalgia Critic, a bitter and sarcastic critic who mostly reviews films and television shows from his childhood and recent past, usually with comically exaggerated rage. The show often alternates the Critic's angry rants and juvenile humor with legitimate analysis of the episode's subject.

Walker briefly retired the series in August 14, 2012 to work on other projects, even writing the character out of existence in the Channel Awesome film To Boldly Flee. However, on January 22, 2013, Walker announced the show's imminent return in a narrative video called "The Review Must Go On".[3] The show subsequently returned with a more narrative and sketch-driven sixth season, beginning on February 5, 2013 with a review of The Odd Life of Timothy Green.

History

The series was initially launched on YouTube in July 3, 2007 with a review of Transformers but episodes were frequently removed by the website following complaints of copyright infringement. In April 2008, the videos were removed from YouTube but an arrangement between the company and content host Blip in 2009 resulted in them being featured on YouTube once more.[4][5]

James Rolfe as the Angry Video Game Nerd and Doug Walker as the Nostalgia Critic in 2008.

The announcement of a spin-off, called The Nostalgia Chick, was created in "The Search for the Nostalgia Chick" (August 10, 2008). The concept was for a female host to review female-targeted "nostalgic" films and television.[6] The contest ended in a three-way tie between Lindsay Ellis (who reviewed Disney's Pocahontas), Krissy Diggs (who reviewed Sailor Moon), and Kaylyn Saucedo (who reviewed The Last Unicorn). The competition was won by Ellis, then using the name "The Dudette", as announced on the site, "Nostalgia Chick Winner!" (September 15, 2008).[6] Diggs and Saucedo would still join That Guy with the Glasses as That Chick with the Goggles and Marzgurl respectively.

On September 14, 2012, Walker announced the retirement of Nostalgia Critic and that it would no longer be a weekly production, as he and his brother felt that they had gone as far as they could with the series. On January 22, 2013, Walker released a sketch short film titled "The Review Must Go On", that also announced the return of the Nostalgia Critic. In December 30, 2015, Nostalgia Critic aired its 300th episode, a review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Episode format

The series focuses on the Nostalgia Critic. GigaOM describes it as "high energy and shamelessly nerdy".[7] Reuters described him as having "offbeat personalities".[8] The shows mostly focus on the Critic watching a film as he makes fun of the movie's problems with recurring memes, comedic sketches and pop culture gags, such as making fun of famous actors who starred in lesser-known roles before their rise to fame. The show also features other segments, such as the "Top 11" lists countdowns for his favorite films, villains, or moments in television shows and "Old vs. New" which compares a reboot of a popular film or series to the original. Since the revival of the series in 2013, Walker occasionally produces an editorial which discusses relevant film topics; while still featuring the Critic persona, these videos are much less comedic and contain no sketches or other actors. Beginning with Jurassic World in June 23, 2015, the series also occasionally features "clipless reviews" of films that are still currently in theaters to avoid copyright infringement instead of stills and clips. These reviews instead feature scenes from the movies re-enacted comedically by Walker, his family and other Channel Awesome contributors.

Walker describes his philosophy thus: "[We need a critic of nostalgia] because everybody already does it. When we look at movies and shows from our youth, they're rarely as good as we remember them, and oftentimes it's quite humorous to compare what you liked then to what you like now. That's basically what the Nostalgia Critic is about, looking back at just how much nostalgia cloaked our vision in heavenly bliss and how bizarre the reality is."[9] This is mostly reflected in the series, but sometimes he reviews whatever is popular at the moment.

Main cast

  • Doug Walker: Nostalgia Critic, the aggressive and short-tempered film critic. He is characterized by his angry rants and hatred of bad movies. All of the reviews star him as the main character, and feature him providing commentary and criticism while talking directly to the audience.
  • Rob Walker: Rob is the Critic's real-life older brother who appears in most of the Critic's videos as "The Other Guy" as well as different minor and major characters, notably Santa Christ.
  • Malcolm Ray: Malcolm is one of the Critic's friends who appears on the show and works with him on his videos. Malcolm often plays many secondary characters, most notably as the Devil in some of the sketches.
  • Rachel Tietz: She is a friend of the Critic's who worked with him and Malcolm on the show. She played multiple characters, including Evilina (the daughter of the Devil and Kim Kardashian) and Rita Repulsa (though her voice was dubbed by Doug Walker in that role). She later left the show after season six to pursue her career in Los Angeles but has made some cameos in later episodes.
  • Tamara Chambers: After Rachel Tietz left the show to pursue a career in Los Angeles, Tamara stepped in to take her place. She now has her own short series called Tamara's Never Seen, where she opens talking about an iconic movie that she is about to watch for the first time, followed by her immediate impressions. She also plays a recurring character called Hyper Fangirl.
  • Jim Jarosz: Jim is a friend of the Critic's who often works with Tamara and Malcolm, though he is not present in every episode as Tamara and Malcolm are. He is mainly responsible for most of the props and set pieces in the show, most notably for the review of Mad Max: Fury Road.

(Note: All of the cast members often play fictionalized versions of their real counterparts).

Reception

Nostalgia Critic has received a mostly positive response with many praising the humor, characters, and Doug Walker's performance. The series eventually garnered a cult following. Greg Weisman, producer of Gargoyles, stated that he enjoyed the Critic's review of it.[10] Roger Ebert called the episode "A Tribute to Siskel and Ebert" "the best, funniest video about Siskel & Ebert I've ever seen".[11] Walker later stated in his editorial titled "Farewell to Roger Ebert" that he has since had the quote framed and hung up on his wall, and in "The Making of a Nostalgia Critic Episode", it can be seen on his desk.[12] Animation writer Paul Dini also thanked the Critic for his episode "The Top 11 Batman: The Animated Series Episodes".[13] Seth Kearsley, director of Eight Crazy Nights, praised the Critic's review of the movie on his Twitter account.[14] WatchMojo.com placed the Nostalgia Critic at #2 on their Top 10 YouTube Movie Critics list. Jacob Davich, who portrayed Linus in the film, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, highly praised the Critic's review of the film.[15] Both Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy,[16] and Jason Marsden, the voice of Max, praised Channel Awesome after watching the Critic's editorial, Is Goofy Secretly Badass?[17] Animation director Ralph Bakshi praised the review of Cool World, finding it "very funny".[18] On August 27, 2017, the Critic did a crossover with fellow Channel Awesome critic, Nash Bozard. For Here There Be Dragons, Bozard's review series about fantasy films and adaptations, the Critic and Nash reviewed the short-lived Syfy series The Dresden Files. Jim Butcher, the author who wrote the novel series on which the series was based, seemed to react positively, tweeting "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ICANTSTOPLAUGHINGHAHAHAHAHAH".[19]

The series is unofficially translated into many languages. On YouTube, one can find versions with Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish subtitles, as well as a version with Russian dubbing. However, of all of them, only Poland, where Nostalgia Critic is a cult series, has its own unofficial website devoted to Channel Awesome's reviewers and its YouTube channel.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Review Must Go On (Nostalgia Critic Theme)". bandcamp. May 13, 2013.
  2. ^ Variety (July 21, 2015). "Maker Studios Is Shutting Down Blip Next Month". Retrieved July 21, 2015.
  3. ^ "The Review Must Go On". That Guy with the Glasses. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Pickard, Anna (November 19, 2007). "The five-second movies and why you should watch them". The Guardian. London. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
  5. ^ Learmonth, Mke (July 28, 2009). "Blip.tv Brings Programs to YouTube, Ads to 'Channel Awesome'". Advertising Age. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
  6. ^ a b Jenkins, Mike; Bacio, Jose (June 19, 2009). "The Man Hour". Man Hour Goes Nostalgic. Retrieved December 24, 2009. (iTunes)
  7. ^ Shannon, Liz (October 6, 2009). "Nostalgia Critic Takes Apart Your Childhood Favorites — Tech News and Analysis". Gigaom.com. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  8. ^ "South Florida's Largest Video Game Event Gathers Hottest Video Games, Gamers, World Champs and Game Platforms Creators". Reuters. October 13, 2009. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Dunne, Susan (January 28, 2011). "U-Con at UConn is for the Nerds". The Hartford Courant. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  10. ^ "Search Ask Greg : Gargoyles : Station Eight". S8.org. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  11. ^ Roger Ebert [@ebertchicago] (November 14, 2009). "The best, funniest video about Siskel & Ebert I've ever seen. http://j.mp/kpxx8 From Nostalgia Critic http://j.mp/1z4pVJ" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ Walker, Doug (August 11, 2010). "Animaniacs Tribute". Nostalgia Critic Animaniacs Tribute. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ Paul_Dini [@Paul_Dini] (August 17, 2011). "Thanks both to @TGWTG for his nice words about B:TAS and to everyone who pointed me to his list. I miss that show" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Seth Kearsley [@SethKearsley] (June 17, 2014). "Hilarious. 8 Crazy Nights - Nostalgia Critic: via @YouTube" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1244697972263328&id=127127037353766&match=amFjb2I%3D
  16. ^ Bill Farmer [@GoofyBill] (March 4, 2016). "@ChannelAwesome I've been voicing Goofy for nearly 30 years & I totally loved your video on Goofy! Very fresh & fun!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ^ Jason Mars-mas [@JasonMarsden] (March 3, 2016). "Yup that's my pop! @GoofyBill" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ https://www.facebook.com/127127037353766/photos/a.465719730161160.105344.127127037353766/1317668541632937/?type=3&theater
  19. ^ Jim Butcher [@longshotauthor] (August 23, 2017). "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ICANTSTOPLAUGHINGHAHAHAHAHAH" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ "TGWTGpl".

Quotations related to The Nostalgia Critic at Wikiquote

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