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Episode 3 (April Fools)
Starbarians April Fools gif
The Starbarians become trapped in a cosmic cloud that visually degenerates them.
Watch online Newgrounds logo Watch on Newgrounds
YouTube logo Watch on YouTube
YouTube logo Watch on YouTube (animatic)
Release date 1 April 2017
Length 2 minutes 6 seconds
Note(s) April Fools' Day episode that plays on the viewer's expectation of Episode 3
Credits Harry Partridge (writer, animator, voice actor)
Joyce Oder (assistance)
Brian Sadler (musician)
Episode guide
Previous
The Incredibly Strange Creatures That Stopped Living and Became Mixed up with the Starbarians (part I)
Next
The Incredibly Strange Creatures That Stopped Living and Became Mixed up with the Starbarians (part II)

"Episode 3 (April Fools)" is an additional episode of Starbarians. It was uploaded to both Newgrounds and YouTube on 1 April 2017.[1][2]

The episode has been described as not being canon[3] and pokes fun of the long development of the third episode in utilizing it as an April Fools Day joke. It also contains several allusions and references to popular culture (see Trivia below).

The animatic for the episode was released on 29 April 2017.[4][5]

Development[]

Due to the episode's nature as a surprise April Fools' Day joke that played on viewers' expectations for the actual third episode, which had at the time long been in development, the development of this episode is not well documented. Three days before its release, Partridge temporarily stopped updating his Twitter, writing that he would "come back when [he had] a new cartoon".[6][7]

The episode was completed and uploaded on 1 April 2017: April Fools' Day.[8][1][2] Initially named "Episode 3", the words "(April Fools)" were appended to the title the following day.[9]

When asked, Partridge stated that the episode was always planned to be an April Fools' Day episode, meaning that the episode had probably been in development for less than a year.[10] Partridge also stated his desire to find some way to change the way he animates in hopes that he could tell his stories faster.[11]

Partridge later revealed that one of the final scenes that he animated was when Hogstrong is explaining what is happening to The DD Rex early in the episode; the shot on Killgar's face is from something else entirely, and the use of it in this episode (due to him running out of time) bothered Partridge.[12][13] The particular shot of Killgar was decided when Partridge and his girlfriend looked at several unused shots, and both laughed when they came across the one that ultimately appears in the episode.[14]

Plot[]

In this non-canonical episode,[3] The DD Rex becomes trapped inside a "sentient cosmic cloud" that visually begins to degenerate the ship, Killgar, and Hogstrong. Hogstrong attempts to pilot the ship away from the cloud but is too slow, and the two are transformed into potatoes. Killgar considers that at the very least they finally got a third episode, though Hogstrong reveals that this isn't the third episode but is instead an April Fools. The two laugh, but in an aside Hogstrong relents how disrespectful this joke may be at the viewer's expense.

Transcript[]

Hogstrong: No... No... No!

Killgar: What is it!?

Hogstrong: This ship has become ensnared by a sentient cosmic cloud emitting waves of temporal interference manifesting as visual degeneration!

Killgar: ...The fuck's that mean?

Hogstrong: It means our animation is about to get cheaper.

Killgar: Argh! We look like a Harry Partridge cartoon from 2010!

Hogstrong: Argh! Now we look like one from 2004!

Killgar: And now we look like one from recent years...

Hogstrong: Well this one isn't so bad. I mean— [Gasps twice] Motion tweens!

Killgar: Eww! I feel all practical and cost-effective!

Hogstrong: This has to stop... before... any... permanent... damage... is done. Ooh, but I actually kind of like this one.

Killgar: Yeah! I mean, hey, ha, at least it's not—

Hogstrong: [Interrupting Killgar] Don't... say a word.

Hogstrong: Oh great, now we're Stickbarians.

Killgar: My heft! My precious heft!

Hogstrong: It's now or never! I have to get the ship free from the cloud while we still have a background layer to interact with!

Hogstrong: Oh! Nope! Too late! Too late...

Killgar: You know, Potato-Hogstrong, things could be worse.

Hogstrong: Whaddya mean, Potato-Killgar?

Killgar: Well, we may have been reduced to literally two potatoes on a desk being wiggled to simulate motion, but at least we finally got that third damn episode!

Hogstrong: And no, this is not the third episode. This is not the third episode. This is April Fools.

[Killgar and Hogstrong both laugh]

Hogstrong: Oh, what a disrespect to the fans.

Video descriptions[]

Newgrounds
It's finally "here"![2]
YouTube
This is not the third episode.[1]

Reception[]

As of 3 April 2017, "Episode 3 (April Fools)" has over 215,000 views and 26,993 "likes" to 255 "dislikes" on YouTube,[1] and over 8,000 views and an average rating of 4.74/5 stars on Newgrounds.[2]

Trivia[]

Hogstrong Link The Faces of Evil

The CD-i games from The Legend of Zelda series have a poor reputation among players, and Starbarians pays homage to them with Hogstrong striking a similar pose to Link in Link: The Faces of Evil.

  • The episode contains several allusions to past episodes and popular culture:
    • Killgar emerges from his bedroom with a Gladius foam hand which was last seen in "The Incredibly Strange Creatures That Stopped Living and Became Mixed up with the Starbarians (part I)". The unnamed woman from the same episode is also seen on the bed with a glazed look on her face; the implication being that Killgar had been fingering her with the massive foam hand.
    • After the first visual degeneration of the ship, Killgar exclaims, "Argh! We look like a Harry Partridge cartoon from 2010!"; visually, they resemble their appearances in the teaser, which indeed came out in 2010.
    • As Hogstrong is repeatedly interrupted by further visual degeneration, he appears in different mediums, first in flip book animation format and then as a Japanese dating sim.
    • Hogstrong then appears yawning in a crudely animated sprite-like appearance, a reference to Link: The Faces of Evil, in which Link is seen yawning in the same way.
    • Hogstrong also appears to resemble something from The Annoying Orange.
    • Killgar and Hogstrong transform into action figures at one point; Harry Partridge had these made several years prior. When asked, Partridge stated his desire to one day try to have them produced.[15]
    • In their penultimate transformation before transforming into potatoes, the two appear to resemble a GoAnimate cartoon. In 2011, Partridge created an animation criticizing the at-the-time increasing popularity of the program, believing that it stifled the creativity of potential animators.[16]
  • Despite the cosmic cloud being described (by Hogstrong) as "sentient", the cosmic cloud does not seem to display any intelligence (unless transforming the Starbarians into potatoes was indeed its intended goal).
  • The unnamed woman in Killgar's bedroom is censored below on all versions and dubs of the episode; she was also censored in her appearance in the previous episode on Newgrounds and the original English version on YouTube, though not in the French dub.[17] Whereas the censorship in the previous episode seemed quaint (particularly on Newgrounds, which has significantly lax rules in regards to nudity and sex when compared to YouTube) because the positioning of the woman and Killgar meant nothing would be seen even without the pixelization, the mosaic in this episode is understandable (at least on YouTube).
  • The animatic for this episode has Killgar say "And now we look like one from 2015", rather than the eventual, "And now we look like one from recent years";[5] when asked, Partridge answered that both 2015 and 2016 "sucked for output."[18]

Gallery[]

Click on any of the images in this gallery to view them at a larger resolution.

Videos[]

STARBARIANS_-_Episode_3_(April_Fools)

STARBARIANS - Episode 3 (April Fools)

Starbarians April Fools' Day 2017 episode

STARBARIANS_-_April_Fools_Animatic

STARBARIANS - April Fools Animatic

Episode animatic


References[]

(view template) Episodes
Episodes The Starbarians' DieEpisode 1.5 • The Incredibly Strange Creatures That Stopped Living and Became Mixed up with the Starbarians (part Ipart II)
Miscellaneous Space OperaAnimaticTeaserEpisode 3 (April Fools)Killgar's Kode
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