Darn it, what is the main page blurb based on? I think it's a Green Day song. Is it Basket Case? Welcome to Paradise?

Also, I'm bumping up this topic 'cuz I think it's fun. Also, it hasn't been used recently and Strega has made some references lately that might be worthwhile.

ETA: Thanks, Kalbear. I kind of figured, but at first, my mind would sing that song to a whole different tune, and I'd get completely confused. Hee.

It's basket case: here's the way it would be broken down:

"Do I need a shrink / to analyze my dreams?
Running Wolfram & Hart is bringing me down.
I'm feeling pretty sore, /and want to smash some doors,
because my Shanshu might go to...that clown.
I thought that I would get some sleep,
but there's a monster stuck to me.
Spike drinking from a cup;
nightmares of burning up.
Am I just paranoid?
I'm just boned."

Original:
Do you have the time to listen to me whine,
About nothing and everything all at once?
I am one of those,
Melodramatic fools,
Neurotic to the bone,
No doubt about it.

Sometimes I give myself the creeps,
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me.
It all keeps adding up,
I think I'm cracking up.
Am I just paranoid?
Am I just stoned?

Okay, this thread looks superfun. Strega, could you start the games again, pleeeaase? You know how I am about references.

Heh. I've been meaning to point out this one:
"Is this Dimension X? Where are the killer penguins?"

There is a clue earlier in the recap, but I think that, unless someone is already familiar with the source material, it's going to be very hard to identify. But there are also the last few index blurbs. I'll try to dig some others up.

Okay, first guess. Is Dimension X a reference to the Ninja Turtles?

Yeah, this thread is fun. I enjoyed it, but I wasn't a poster last time it was used. So I enjoyed reading it in the archives.

Oh, yeah, and a new thought: I think the "Casket Case" blurb was based on the second verse of the song, which goes thusly:



and then there's the chorus.

And the title should have given it away. D'oh again!

Oh lord, I've already started drooling....

Sigh. Stupid IE ate my earlier post. I believe this is the reference to Dimension X - the key was Randy the Wonder-Lizard:

Though, according to the sources I looked at, it was Vulture Warriors, not Killer Penguins, but I don't have the paranoia books anymore so I couldn't say for sure. God damn, but that was a cool RPG. Gamma-Lot. Hah!

Goodness, I overlooked this in all the thread churn!

But yes, it's Paranoia's Orcbusters. Yowza! The killer penguins are in the dungeon -- it turns out they have a "voracious hunger for ruthless Machiavellian diplomacy" so they aren't really that dangerous. The Vulture Warriors are a option at the end.

Did I mention I worked in a game store for three years? ;) I'm not just a geek - I'm an uber-geek.

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm stumped. I definitely need a hint for the index blurb for "Destiny":

I'm just going to throw out Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 for "Harm's Way" even though I know it's wrong because someone brought that up at the time of the episode and I find it hilarious.

CleaPet, I think that's from the Blues Brothers' Soul Man. Here are the lyrics I think it corresponds with:

Which makes perfect sense, given the subject matter. Hee!

Picturing Angel and Spike as the brothers is all kinds of fun. "We're on a mission from...TPTB. "

I don't think the Blues Brothers made the original version of "Soul Man," they just popularized it. I don't know who made the original. Some Motown group.

"Harm's Way" = "Agony!" from "Into the Woods." Best. Musical. Ever.

alliterator - D'oh! Also, hee!

I never would have guessed the the 'Harm's Way' one.

Yay for alliterator and Tabbyclaw. (I believe that "Soul Man" is originally by Sam & Dave.)

"Unleashed" and "Soul Purpose" are... annotatable?

And here's an easy one:

[edited for lack of fact-checking]

In the recap, it says Peter Graves, which makes me think this is a reference to a specific episode of Mission: Impossible.

Weird. Oh, wait, I know why that happened. It's 'cause I'm dumb and pulled the quote from a draft and not the final version. I'll change the quote for clarity, but yeah, it's Peter, but not an MI reference.

Is it Stalag 17?

Yes! Yay!

Hm, lesseee. For the "Unleashed" blurb, the headline is a clue.
For the "Soul Purpose" blurb, "A nasty little critter called a Selminth" is probably the phrase to key in on. Although I should have used more alliteration.

"Little Angel In Slumberland" sounds like a Windor McKay reference (substitute "Nemo"for "Angel"), although I'm not familiar enough with McKay's work to know for sure. (It would be very appropriate to have it from Dreams of the Rarebit Fiends, also by McKay.

"Arf" is a clue?

The blurb is a clue. I think "Arf" is more Strega's opinion of the episode. *Hee*

Actually, "Arf" is a clue, too.

Yes for "Little Nemo" in the headline, cool. The blurb isn't related to it(except maybe thematically).

Ooh, I know this one! MC Hammer!

Edit: Oh, yeah, on another note, I think I've got completely insane, but my brain keeps singing the "Soul Purpose" blurb to the tune of "Grandma got run over by a raindeer." What? It'd work, I think:

Wow, it's disturbing how well that works. Heh. But no, that's not the intended reference.

For "Unleashed" -- what's another sound that dogs make?
For "Soul Purpose" -- where does a lot of the episode take place?

Soul Purpose refers to Roy Orbison, "In Dreams"

Nice save, Not From Here!



The hell? Interesting lyrics.



You know, Strega, I'm starting to wonder if the blurb is off something from Snoop Dogg. Yeah, I'm crazy. Bow wow wow yippie-yay!

All this time, I thought I was going crazy. I would notice that the meter was similar to a song, and I assumed that I had spent too much time listening to music. Now I know that I am not crazy, and I don't spend enough time listening to catch all of the references.

edited because even though I can't type, I can spell.

Wow, that's going to vex me all weekend. Bark, woof, bow wow? Howl? I feel like I'm in a monty python sketch. "And what also floats?"

Good find on the Roy Orbison grab.

Yay, Not From Here!

Oh, Kalbear, you got it, but you don't know that you got it. I feel like Angel with the mix of delighted sadism and guilt.

Kalbear, thanks for the inadvertent hint ultrahintifed by Strega:



From Allen Ginsberg's "Howl":



Nice one, Strega. *shrinks* I've never read the poem; I used Google.

Thank god it wasn't a song. I kept doing searches for songs, and the only lyrical part was 'on and on'.

Do you have any idea how many shitty songs have 'on and on' in them? Do you know how many shittier websites with midi versions of Celine Dion there are? I have a good idea now.

LOL! So true, so true. See, Polter-Cow? Googling random words and phrases is fraught with life-scarring possibilities so your props are well-earned.

Yay, Polter-Cow! I haven't read the whole thing, either, so don't feel bad.

I shall be very depressed if nobody knows what I meant when I said "It's like the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime!" No, not the book; it's referencing the same thing I am. Was. Whatever.

"Destiny":

And this one will probably be hard, because, as I mentioned once upon a time, I forgot to include any of the original lines, but maybe I'll think up some hints tomorrow...
"The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco":

Strega-

You're referring to The Hound of the Baskervilles, yes? That, and the book that references it are great reads. Hellbound, Hellhound, same thing!

The "Destiny" blurb is Ariel's Act III, scene iii speech in The Tempest. Veeeery nice parallel!

I think it's referring to another story - which is actually 'the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime'. It's also a title of a book (go google, choose google), but I doubt that's what Strega is referring to. The specific quote is this:
. The mystery is called 'the silver blaze'. And I knew that, though I didn't know I knew it.

The beat to cinco seems really stupid familiar. It almost fits the rhythm to 'bust a move', but that can't possibly be right.

D'oh! I knew that "The curious incident..." is a book title: that's what I meant with "and the book it references" in my sentence. I had my Sherlock Holmes plotlines all in a tangle, however.

I know it's not correct, but I keep singing the "Cinco" blurb to alternatively "You Were Always on My Mind" and "Margaritaville." I think I'm just a weeeeee bit tired.

I googled "Five's Fable", which is the title of the index blurb of TCToNC: there are videotapes called "High Five! Fables & Fairy Tales" (once upon a time) that have the original version (original lines) and then the version as a deaf person would tell it.

Yes for The Tempest and Holmes, hooray! (To nitpick, it's actually just "Silver Blaze.")

CleaPet, heh, but I wasn't actually being abstruse there. Let's see... You'll need to revisit the magical music of the 1980's.

Okay, now i've got it. "Mexican Radio".

If it isn't, it's scary how well it fits:

Angel can't care, /or doesn't wanna.
Spike says he's /a prima dona.
Meets a wrestler/who's all alone,
lost the mission --/now will he atone?

Wesley's worried /that Angel's bitter.
A demon's searching/for something that glitters.
But we learn there's/ truth in cliché:
heroes don't die,/ they just fade away.

(Chorus)Luchadores contra el monstruo.
Donde es El Diablo Robotico?
-------------------------------------------------
Wish I was in Tijuana -
Eating barbecued iguana
I'd take requests on the telephone
I'm on a wavelength far from home

I feel the hot wind on my shoulder
I dial in, south of the border
Hear the talking of the DJ -
Can't understand, what's he say

I'm on the Mexican radio
I'm on the Mexican radio

Hee. Yes. The "cliché/away" bit is two different lines (hey, I didn't say it scanned perfectly), so it's 8 lines and then the chorus. If that makes any sense.

Mostly I just like changing their "whoa-o" to "Diablo."

Well, the song fits the episode perfectly.

I can't tell what the Recaps & Extras Annotation for "You're Welcome" is, but on the TWoP front page:






Great choice, Strega.

Damn and I got all excited because the "Awwwwwwwww (shut up)" made me think it was Le Freak by Chic. (Or Freak by Le Chic?)

Gosh. That poem is perfect. I think I'm having a delayed reaction to the episode, jeez...

Yay, Aatrek! Bonus points for speediness.

I do recommend you read the whole poem if you haven't; that's just the first verse. (Though poor Angel & Cordy didn't ever get to ride at all.)

Hee. *after mental image sinks in* Ewww.

I love the yellow submarine reference. Though I can't quite get the mailing blurb:

I thought it was American Pie, but it doesn't quite fit.

Well, the blurb is obviously "Yellow Submarine," so I'll go ahead and do the compariquote:





Good job with that one, Strega. I like how close it actually sounds to the original.