Gimpysoft

Young Pups - Episode 1
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Commentary	Ah yes... Young Pups in all it's primitive glory. We were mere lads when we put this one together and still getting our video chops in shape. Hampered by outdated equipment, many of the skits ended up with poor sound and video. And five years later, my second generation copy of the show hasn't gotten any better. There are some gems in here, but if you've never seen any of the shows, I'd suggest starting with Episode 3. If you've watched 3 and 4 and liked them, check this one out to see where it all began.

Continuity Skit	In this sketch, we discuss that wacky, zany concept known as continuity. After giving a thorough rundown of the many errors we may make during the course of the show, we issue the Young Pups Cinematographic Error Challenge, or YPCEC. Please ignore the address shown. All entries in the YPCEC should now be sent to gimpy@gimpysoft.com.
Dr. Science 1	In what became one of our recurring characters, Dr. Science is introduced to us in Episode 1. Dr. Science is the mildly psychotic host of a children's science show. On today's show, we learn about the propogation of sound waves by sealing Johnny in an airtight booth. When the air is pumped out of the booth, we see that since there is no medium for sound waves to propogate through, Johnny cannot hear us. We then harness the fury of the atom to measure speed.
The Bad Pickup Artist	Charlie trys (sic) his luck with four women, and is shot down each time. Goes to show that I was just as slick with the ladies back then as I am today. Also, this is one of the few surviving images of me without facial hair. And I have my shirt open. Ugh... I believe this sketch was also our first use of our dummy, Ian. This was originally a single sketch, but since it was a bit repetative, we thought it would work better broken up throughout the show.
Rise!	Rise! is the first ever soap containing a transdermal stimulant. One shower with Rise has the same stimulant effect as three pots of coffee. And it's still legal in 32 states! Includes music by Ed. I'm glad Bob agreed to do the shower scenes... I sure as hell wasn't going to do it.
Zima Ad	This was a parody of the "what if there was no beer?" ads for Zima, which was a brand new product at the time. Bob and Ryan walk into a bar and order a beer. The bartender replies that he's never heard of it. Bob and Ryan are not happy. This was also one of the many uses of the gunshot sound effects that we stole from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. The moral of the story? Always stock beer.
X-Shclager	If I remember correctly, this was never actually written. Ed was playing with my video camera, and taped some stuff that was so funny/disturbing, we had to use it in the show. The plot revolves around two liquor company executives. Since the introduction of Goldshclager, their profits are down significantly. So they go about trying to come up with a competing project. Michael comes up with Uraniumschlager, but that's shot down because everybody knows that the Uranium would just decay into lighter elements, and they'd be sued for false advertising. Woodschlager won't work because environmentalists won't put up with clear-cutting just for a cinnamon schnapps. But it turns out that Glassschlager is just what the company needs. But the funny parts of this one are the commercials that Ed envisions to advertise the products. These were shot on my video camera, so the video is worse than usual, but they're downright frightening.
Serve Immediately for Best Results	Ed is making some Ramen as he's locking up the studio for the holidays. Unfortunately, he leaves it on over the break, and the Ramen becomes sentient. When he returns, he finds it trying to grab its flavor packet. Ed taunts the ramen, and is killed. This was our first use of fake blood, and a damn good one if I do say so myself. The shots of Ed being killed by the ramen are nice and bloody. We got to flex our puppetry muscles for this one. See how many strings you can count in the shots of the ramen in the bowl, and in the death scenes. I noticed one in one shot that I'm not even sure what it was supposed to be moving. Unfortunately, the ramen puppet was perishable, so it has not survived for posterity. The ramen monster's name is Glaii, which I believe should be the correct pluralization of glass.

Ed Walsh on Episode 1	Holy crap, was I involved in the making of this show? Damn, that was a long time ago. I'm very proud of the 'Continuity' skit, I think it's very funny especially where Ryan is talking and he speaks in gunshots. Note how crap accumulates on the table throughout the skit. Also, you should pay attention to the 'cup moving across the table' comment. This will be referenced in at least two later YP episodes. Another gem from this episode is 'X-Schlager'. Parts of that one were me holding the video camera pointing it at myself while I was drunk. You'll know which parts. These scenes are very disturbing. At the end of the skit when I fly off the table you'll see that I have no shoes on. Why not? Hell if I know. The 'Serve Immediately for Best Results' skit had great potential, but since we were so new to the art of crafting TV magic, we didn't pace it well. It moves _almost_ as slow as 'The Thin Red Line', one of the worst movies ever made. Plus, I actually tried to act in that one - bad idea. The Glii hand puppet was actually made from real Ramen, by the way. And the blood was real, too! Finally, Dr. Science makes his debut here. The skit is ... ok, and more importantly it led to later Dr. Science skits that I think are some of our best. Ryan came up with the idea, wrote one paragraph of the skit and then gave up. I took the script, made drastic writing improvements, and wrote six more pages while I waited for my friend Julie to get a haircut at the Galleria. I was very happy with the script and wanted to share with someone, but I couldn't explain it to her. Girls just don't understand. Lastly, the 'Bad Dating Guy Skit' - pretty funny, although my favorite parts were Crystal slapping the be-Jebus out of Ryan and Smeeta trying to throw water on Ryan at point blank range and MISSING! Oh, yeah - I forgot 'Rise!' - that's a funny skit if you could only hear the script. That was the closest to being in a shower with Bob that I ever want to be. 'Rise!' also has my first musical contribution to Young Pups - the lyrics to the 'Rise!' theme song are: "Mesmorize! Galvanize! Tantalize! Rise, rise, rise!!" Very cryptic indeed. Please pay attention to the "Power Up!" sound effect in this skit. It's lifted directly from the Sega video game "Altered Beast" - Ryan and I spent a lot of time getting that right with our 1963 linear editing machine. There's also a sound effect from an "X-men" video game in the Dr. Science skit - the vacuum chamber. It's Nightcrawler teleporting, if you care. Finally, if you don't understand any reference that is made, watch Reservoir Dogs.
Raj Choudhary on Episode 1	This all took place during my first semester away from The Collective. I was raking in the dollars as an Resident Assistant in another building and seeing all of the freshman girls on my floor - and my bed, and anywhere else I could think of. In short: good ideas, good execution, bad equipment. The same can be said for Episode 1.