This was written months ago, just posting it here because I never did
So I had some thoughts to share and I hope
you will indulge me. As everyone is no doubt aware, Doug Walker has
ended the Nostalgia Critic. I have mixed feelings about this. I hope
this is not a mistake for him. I really mean that sicnerely, I am not
threatening to leave the site and never come back or anything. But I
have not liked everything he has done. Ask That Guy is very hit or miss,
his improv stuff is not very funny, and lots of his sketches fall flat.
I respect his need to move on, but I would have kept the character
going just in a limited fashion. Maybe once a month, for example, until I
had tried some new things and seen what the audience is. This is a
review site, and I think that is what most expect from here not a sketch
comedy. I say all this because I love Channel Awesome and hope it goes
on for a long time. There is a more than good chance I will love
whatever he does, but he is taking a risk which may be why he did it. To
spice things up a bit, I can see how it could get boring playing the
same character every week for over four years. I respect that, and just
hope he finds success.
Now that I have
said that, I want to share one last time how much appreciation I have
for this character. I said before, I stumbled on to him in a low point
in my life. His videos made me laugh, and if you know me you know I
don't laugh easily. But his videos did, and laugh my a** off. When I
first found the site I couldn't stop watching, I literally had to force
myself to stop and go to bed because it after 1:00 in the morning. It
kills me I became a fan so late, just March of last year, I feel like I
missed out on something special. But at least I had a year of good
times, waiting anxiously every Tuesday night for a new video. Thank
goodness for Suburban Knights, which inspired me to check out the rest
of the site.His show also introduced me to things I had not had exposure
to, before him I had no idea who Tommy Wisseau of Don Bluth was. He
made me relieved I missed other things, thank goodness I never saw Felix
the Cat, that awful Titanic movie, or Milk Money. And he also helped me
understand why some things did not work, like Free Willy or The
Flinstones movie. He was also fair, not every movie he reviewed was
awful and he talked about stuff he loved often too.
I
already did a list of my top ten favorite Nostalgia Critic episodes.
Indepndance Day is my favorite just because it was the first review I
saw, and I laughed and laughed. I loved pretty much every review, from
Star Trek Month to the holiday specials. There were only three times I
didn't like his review. He was way to hard on Full House, and even
harder on You Can't Do That on Television. The Masters of the Universe
review was ruined by his endless "he-man is gay" jokes. But those were
the only times I did not find him funny, that's pretty good. His stuff
was always great. Then you have the reucrring bits, "Of course!" My
favorite? Fucking Bubbles!! and anything with Casper. And WHAT ABOUT
BOOMER???
In a way it's not accurate to call his
stuff reviews, he even kind of refers to this in TBF. He really just
yells at movies he doesn't like and makes fun of it. But there's nothing
wrong with that if done well, and he did it well. My favorite memory of
him is watching a review before a job interview. Not sure what review,
but it was a funny one and I went into the interview feeling good from
laughing. I got that job, and I wonder if that was in some small part to
The Nostalgia Critic for putting me in such a good place,
Before
I go I wanted to talk a second about To Boldly Flee. I was worried when
I heard this would be Sci Fi, and man was I impressed. They pretty much
exceeded my expectations. I already left a very long (ok, to long)
comment on part 8 so I will spare you my full analysis. I liked what
they did, it was a very well done film. It was a very emotional send off
to the character. So Nostalgia Critic is now a wormhole space? For some
reason, I find that hard to accept. Not sure why. The sci fi parodies
and jokes were good and I like how the silly costumes were only used to
serve the story.
At least I have
consolation in re-runs, over 220 episodes I can watch and enjoy again
and again. I would have loved to see that show continue forever, but as
the cliche says all good things must come to an end. So I thank Doug
Walker for making things better when they were bad, for giving something
new and fresh to look forward to every Tuesday, and wish him nothing
but success in the future.
Thanks for indulging me, and now I ask what is your memories of The Nostalgia Critic?
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