The Review Goes On pt.1

Way back in the far off year of 2001, I had just graduated high school, got the Internet as a graduation present. In the beginning, I only used it for research for class, fan fiction writing, and other things; however, I didn't discover Internet entertainment until 2004 while bored at work. I discovered the video above  while on a site called newgrounds.com. I received a recommendation for the site from a classmate while making small talk before class. The video above is an animation coded in Micromedia Flash (now Adobe Flash), as all of Newgrounds's videos were. The show, called Neuoritcally Yours, created by Jonathan Ian Mathers, introduced me to Internet entertainment. We'll come back to this show later, as well as Newgrounds, at a later time.

By 2007, I had grown bored with Newgrounds, and YouTube had never particularly had any content that interested me, so for awhile my Internet usage waned. The next year, I transferred to UH and shortly after the fall 2008 semester began, I attended my first Anime no Kai meeting. As the name implies, Anime no Kai is the university's anime club. While there was a delay before the first meeting, one of the members brought out his laptop and asked us if we wanted to watch something called, "The Nostalgia Critic," while we were waiting. I wasn't interested initially, but between the maxed volume of his laptop and the acoustics of the room, I didn't have much choice but to listen. What happened next changed the way I would kill time between classes and at work forever.

(Author's note: there is some bad language in this video, so viewer discretion is advised.)

The video above is one of Doug Walker's best Nostalgia Critic episodes: his review of the final 90s Batman film, "Batman and Robin." My first impressions left me struggling to hold back my laughter through the beginning of it, that is until Walker's "Bat Credit-Card" sketch, which left me laughing hysterically, and still does to this day. After the video was over, the club member wanted to play a video in which the Critic does a crossover with James Rolfe's Angry Video Game Nerd, though the delay ended before we could get to the video. Oddly enough, by the time I got home, what I searched for wasn't more Nostalgia Critic episodes (though I would do that eventually), but instead searched for the Angry Video Game Nerd. Growing up both a nerd and a gamer myself, the infusion of something I love with comedy sounded like a match made in heaven. This is what I found:

(Author's note: If you thought the previous video had some bad language, your virgin ears are bound to be accosted by this video, so remember, viewer discretion is advised.)

I was hooked immediately. I found true enjoyment from these videos and stayed with them as the characters evolved, as did the creators. Walker, with help from webmaster Mike Michaud, would eventually leave YouTube and form their own website, thatguywiththeglasses.com, and with the new website, I and everyone else were introduced to several Internet personalities which, for the most part, endure to this day. These humorists literally made a living off their videos, and would be joined by others far across the world, all connected by YouTube, blip.tv, justin.tv and other video-hosting websites all over the Internet.

If I were going to look at these auteurs and their works in chronological order, I would start with Neurotically Yours and Newgrounds; however, in honor of bringing a beloved character back, I am going to review the show that brought me back to Internet entertainment - Walker's Nostalgia Critic. This week, I am going to review Walker's comeback show, "The Nostalgia Critic and the 'Odd Life of Timothy Green'" as well as list off My Favorite 12 Nostalgia Critic Episodes, but I'll preface my reviews with a little back story on Walker, the character and his website. Stay tuned.