Hey all, just wanted to add a note here since a few people have reached out to me on Twitter about part of this video. I wasn't aware that Jacob Chapman and Kinley Mochrie had come out as trans since To Boldly Flee, since I never saw a video made by either of them before or after I saw this movie. I would have addressed that if I knew, so I'm sorry for any confusion.
Wait, i knew Jacob did, but not... well, Kinley. (Seriously, after "To Boldly Flee", Luke just vanished... now i know why. But good on her.) Also, it's crazy how we now live in a world where the Irate Gamer has gotten more respect and better in his vids than anything CA/Brad Jones related... Bob Dylan was right, the times, they are a'changing!
It might be in the document, look up change the channel or not so awesome. Every who used to work for Doug explained the abuses and neglect from the company a couple years ago
Try a new drinking game. Everytime you see someone in the background or in the scene that looks like they would like to be in anywhere else. Take a shot. When you see Phelous, that looks like he wish he would die for real, take two
Roger Ebert (whom, ironically, Doug Walker idolizes) once said “One rule of comedy is that it’s hard to be funny when it’s obvious you’re trying to be funny. Great comedies take their premises seriously and the laughs flow naturally.” And that right there is one of the problems with Doug, he only focuses on being funny.
Fun Fact Guru Larry stayed on out of spite. They forgot he was even on the site during their purge of those who stood against Doug/Mike/Rob, and at this point he's in a win-win situation. Either his content stays on the site as a lingering reminder, or CA concedes and kicks him off which is what he wanted in the 1st place. There was even this meme about the Channel Awesome hunger games, and how he won it all
@@Woodenfan Yeah Brad has fully given himself to the Dark Side so to speak. He's a Channel Awesome stooge who has mocked those in the Change the Channel movement.
the nostalgia critic is hardly a character. he is just a very slightly more exaggerated version of doug walker. avgn, on the other hand, is a character. he acts very differently to james rolfe.
Violet P. Have you watched James away from his reviews? He’s so much more chill than the AVGN, and he also seems to have a calm admiration for films and old media, both good and bad
James and his avgn character is what started it all. James was kind enough to help Doug in his beginnings. I would love to meet James.. not Doug though. I would feel bad for liking and feeling he was nice 10 years ago.
@@apostolosfilippos kinda sad he still helps Doug probally just wants to be nice or feels bad for him or his ignorant in terms of people which cpuld be the case considering he still has mike
Yeah, when Doug speaks , you can hear his ego . He cant get ahead in actual entertainment so he does it through UA-cam. He has to prove to himself that he's good in his dream career :(
14:30 "I don't even consider The Nostalgia Critic to be a character, it's just an outfit Doug wears" - this, a thousand times. I'm baffled how many people fail to get it.
"The movie that made you angry...Angry that people were paid to make it." Well, nobody was paid to make To Boldly Flee because they were all paid in "exposure", so it's even worse.
It’s even more funny looking back on all those collaborations they did in the past and watching through Phelous’s perspective after the drama that happened.
Phelan looking directly at the camera with a frozen open-mouthed half-smile whilst the others are doing miscellaneous 'crowd acting' busywork (e.g. at 23:39) is hysterical. How the hell did he manage to get away with that?
@@videogamenostalgia omg that's hilarious! haha Looks like Joe's doing the same thing. I'm sure they were just trying to stave off boredom, but honestly after reading the doc I wouldn't be surprised if they had forgotten to get them for the scene and then just superimposed their pictures in in post.
@Rich McGee It is hard for me to watch videos in English without subtitles, if you are talking about this channel. But I don't believe it. I don't believe Doug Walker is a bad person.
@@temin2776 Alright, let me explain why people are calling him a bad person. Recently most of Channel Awesome's left the company. They released a massive file documenting their reasons. Among them, their CEO is a misogynistic asshole, and Doug and Rob are incompetent when it comes to business. The producers weren't paid for the movies, and they weren't even provided with food or water during production. As it turns out, the CEO was also aware that a deceased former producer, Jewario, was a groomer and did nothing about it. Most people's issue is that Doug hasn't stepped up. He hasn't apologized, he hasn't left, so it makes him look guilty by association.
@christian crusader I'd heard about the scandal, but I still didn't know how much of it was Doug Walker's fault. But did he really never say anything about it? Never apologized? Never explained what exactly happened? It may be strange, but it hurts me that other people speak ill of him. I've heard that he's a good man. I've watched a lot of episodes of "Nostalgia Critic " and I really love this show. Even if I don't agree with everything he says about movies, his point of view always makes me think. He always admitted his mistakes, even if it was unpleasant. And he is really a very talented person who has inspired many reviewers.
The Hocus Pocus "review" is when I pretty much closed the book on Nostalgia Critic. It wasn't even a review, just a long, boring and unfunny skit. The worst part is that when faced with backlash and criticism for that "review" Doug's response was childish and unapologetic. He basically said: "Well, I made it the way I wanted to make it if you don't like it, don't watch it." That's when I realized who Doug was and the nostalgia glasses came off and I saw Channel Awesome for what it was, a shell of it's former self.
You can really tell that Doug has trapped himself in his own purgatory of the Nostalgia Critic. He doesn't want to do it, but it pays the bills, and he lacks the skill and talent to make original content. He's the epitome of critics just being failed creators. There are ways to show copyright footage on UA-cam for reviews but Doug isn't interested in using that in a transformative way because he wouldn't be able to shove his Saturday Night Live wannabe skits into his videos. It's the closest thing he can have to his Demo Reel. And it's almost sad because here's a guy who wants to be creative but he's so creatively bankrupt.
The thing that's crazy is that he could always just cut out the goofy sketches and just make normal reviews and do other content on the side. The biggest problem is the production value is through the floor and theres nothing entertaining about his sketches for the most part.
@@a.c.slater7989 I think the problem with that approach from Doug's perspective might be the fact that barely anyone would even watch his skits separated from his main reviews. Him shoving them into his reviews is basically a form of false forced self validation. Doug knows that people want to watch his reviews, and he uses that to shoehorn the skits. When people respond to a new review more or less positively, he channels that response and makes himself believe people enjoy his skits just as much. Reality is, of course, not the same. Most people probably skip all the skits or suffer through them to get back to the meat of his reviews. But it's not something Doug wants to consider, or rather, fully acknowledge to himself first and foremost.
In Doug's review of Lady in the Water, he makes fun of M. Night Shyamalan's treatment of the "critic" character who misinterprets Artistic Intent. But then Doug makes all these strawman Hollywood executives and makes fun of THEM for taking critic reviews too seriously. As Ross points out, Doug is just not self aware even though he seems to think he is.
I know most everyone else has pointed this out by now, but years after making To Boldly Flee, in 2019 Doug- I mean "Nostalgia Critic" said that Pink Floyd - The Wall was too long. The Wall is an hour and thirty-five minutes long; To Boldly Flee is three hours and twenty-nine minutes long. You could watch The Wall twice and it'd still take less time than it takes to watch To Boldly Flee. Let that sink in.
@@joannamarieart Same here. I always thought to myself that if he didn't either improve the quality of the skits or just quit the skits entirely, that it was time for me to leave, and I'd been a fan since 2008. But the skits just kept getting worse and worse, making less and less sense, which made me think if doog was ever really funny in the first place, or if we were all just young and dumb back then, or were just too bored to watch anything else at the time... those skits were usually the WORST parts of each and every review. But then, they just started being less review, more failed SNL/MadTV skit, so I couldn't watch anymore. After seeing his review of The Pest, the horrible movie with John Leguizamo, (not the name of doug walker's autobiography), and seeing the JAR Media podcast, reviewing doug's shitty movies, and that's when I decided to stick with IHE, his brother, and his friend, over dog walker's lame attempts at "comedy". Plus, if you have to make choices like IHE over Nostalgia Critic, The NC loses that decision EVERY single time. And we all know Alex is a much better youtuber than doug will ever be. And James Rolfe does Doug's job better. Even if James is still friends with Doug, it really only shows how nice of a dude James is. Doug needs a lesson in humility, and so do bradican and doug's equally as douchey brother, rob. There was a small time when i thought that maybe one day, doug would be worth watching again, but I realize the odds of that happening would be a 100,000,000,000 to 1. But luckily, the people who weren't up their own ass left the site already,(like Todd, Lindsay, Linkara, the Rap Critic, or my personal favorite, AngryJoe), or, like the esteemed and legendary Guru Larry, stayed for shits and giggles. I'll miss the days when I was 15, and enjoyed Doug's older reviews, but he's just not fun to watch anymore. And definitely not as funny, if he still is, or hell, if he ever was... and the increasing number of awful, rejected SNL skits just keep on getting worse with each episode, and with every failed "review". It's embarrassing. Did anyone besides doog like those skits? Like, anyone at all, unironically, I mean? Because I can't think of a single person outside of doug himself that liked his boring, awfully unfunny skits. Goodbye CA, it was fun for awhile, but along the way, things got worse and worse as more and more people left, and began sending out documents about how awful the site truly is, and how awful Doug is as a person, and as a critic. This is one bridge, I'm glad to burn, the one between myself and CA. Because they haven't been funny or fun to watch in years. It just took me a while to realize it. Thanks, JAR Media!
Doug Walker is just an overgrown child at this point, Tamara and Malcolm are like his parents who play dress-up with him and follow his scripts just to humour him as he claps his hands oblivious to the fact nobody else is laughing or having any fun.
He was a film maker first and went to film school. AVGN was a great way for him to develop his technical skills. That separates him from doug. A ton of the reviewers from tgwtg were academically inclined, went to film school or had a trade like animating or design. Others were less classically trained but sheer intelligence or personality made them. That's less true of doug who peaked a long time ago and whose legit talent has been overshadowed by stagnation.
Dude Mike is running the show. I don't feel james has any control anymore, I have a feeling it's because he became a father and thats alot of work and dedication. Mike does not need to have control of cinemassacre after the dick pic
"Lewis, you're going to be playing that character from your show that hates every aspect of human existence." "Is that why this is such a miserable experience?" "Wait, what?"
I will however admit to linking the I’m A Distraction scene. The song is catchy, Lindsay and Kyle are highly charismatic performers, the action scenes intercut decently well and even the banter was fun because it wasn’t able to be relentlessly dragged out.
A ton of people who would have been fanboy/girls and teens at the time are of age now. Looking back on their influences and realising that it just hasn't held up. Doesn't suprise me.
A ton of people who would have been fanboy/girls and teens at the time are of age now. Looking back on their influences and realising that it just hasn't held up. Doesn't suprise me.
I have to say, I do have a guilty pleasure in that joke when Brad (as Darth Vader) comes in and Rob (as the Emperor) says: "I told you to get me an Egg McMuffin." I don't know, just something about the delivery kills me 😂
Doug reminds me of that guy in high school that was complete clown, but had banger jokes, and you did laugh... but after high school he never grew up, or matured and still tried to hit you with those 10 year old jokes
He's the Kevin Smith of the internet. They both built their following on the charm of amateurish production values, but as they got older and more successful their lack of improvement became less charming and more cringeworthy.
@@lanceturley7745 At least Smith is a sweetheart of a person and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot turned into this bizarre acid trip in the last half. And before you asked, I just watched it since it was streaming on Amazon and I was curious about what he was up to post Yoga Hosers.
@@lanceturley7745 That comment aged like fine wine Both Doug and Kevin have no idea how to deal with criticism Doug: criticism outside his circle Kevin: critisim from trolls
Doug's ego is what drove me away long before the document came out. His regular reviews he did with his brother just showed how terrible their opinions were of both movies and themselves.
It's not their opinions that bother me, it's how smug they are about their opinions that really annoyed me. I couldn't stand how they'd speak like their opinions were fact and not subjective. The way they would both dismiss films or certain scenes from a film as "bad" always rubbed me the wrong way, like they thought they were speaking for everyone else just because it's what they thought about the film.
@@jongon0848 Same here. That's mainly why I never liked ANYTHING Rob did, or ever said. It's also because rob is a horrible actor, who's also boring as hell. And Doug is just a smug asshat. And so is Rob, but at first, I thought they were both playing characters. But then, it just turned out both Doug and Rob are just boring and smug asshats. Yeah, that's always been my problem. They think their opinions ARE facts, not just subjective, but they genuinely think they're the only reviewers who matter. Especially Doog. I'm so sick of his smug attitude. How Doug acts like the universe revolves around him, and how he thinks he's God. Or the god of reviewing movies. He's not. He's basically become the "But The Chart Says..." guy at this point. He hasn't really been funny in years. Which is sad. I used to be a huge fan of Channel Awesome back when they actually WERE awesome. But their best creators have already left, and are doing better now than they ever were with CA. People like Allison Pregler(Obscurus Lupa), Phelous, FilmBrain, Todd In The Shadows, Lindsay Ellis, the Rap Critic, Bennet The Sage, Spoony(before he had a mental breakdown), Chris Stuckmann(who was only there for a brief time), and, AngryJoe, who's basically running his own business, a news show, and his skits are WAAAY better acted than Doug's ever will be, even if they're not that much better, OtherJoe and Alex can act better than Doug and the other girl, and generic black guy, at least. Sorry for the unrelated rant here, but when you learn of one of your favorite channels has become such a terrible place, it's... hard not to ignore, and realize how toxic the place had become. I also heard Rerez were part of CA at one point too... if so, then they're also doing better now. But even with their last guy there, Guru Larry, he's still talented, and he's smug jerk on purpose, but that's part of his likeability. Maybe Doog and Rob should take a page out of Guru Larry's book...
Don't feel bad about liking this schlock when you were 14 - I was even worse. I was a junior in college when I discovered the Nostalgia Critic, and I was instantly hooked and thought he was a comic genius. I don't care for bathroom or sex jokes, but I used to think his references to pop culture were funny. And I confess, when I originally saw To Boldly Flee, I loved most of it. I'm a diehard Looney Tunes/Tom & Jerry/Buster Keaton/Three Stooges/Abbott & Costello/Laurel & Hardy fan, and for better or worse, I could still sense their influence on Doug Walker. Plus, I have very minority opinions on many things in pop culture, so I felt satisfied affirmation when he shared my viewpoint. I don't care for The Matrix, and I hate Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, so when he expressed disdain for them, I loved it. Over time, though, I have found myself disagreeing with Walker more and more. Some of his opinions are inconsistent or just make no sense, like how he criticized League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for being all talk and no action, but criticized Van Helsing for being all action and no character development, and never properly elaborated on how and why they failed to find the right middle ground. I found myself skipping certain new reviews because I already knew I wouldn't agree with him. I also found his criticisms of certain filmmakers to be in poor taste (i.e. joking that Anna Paquin looks like she's farting every time she cries on camera) or just downright wrong in some cases (i.e. calling Emmy Rossum a bad singer even though she actually is a professional opera singer IRL). I stopped turning off Adblock for his videos when CA issued the phony non-apology, and then I had an epiphany when he got to "X-Month" last year - not only did I fundamentally disagree with his overall assessment of every film he reviewed that month, but moreover, he has officially reached a point where he'll have one mildly funny joke per half-hour video. That's not a productive use of my time. So, I'm a real late bloomer to the party, but I too have officially outgrown the Nostalgia Critic.
I wouldn't feel super bad about it no matter what age you were. That was the humor of the time. This was the time when internet videos was in it's infancy and things were completely experimental. I think back then we excused the poor production quality just because there was an understanding that this wasn't a big budget thing. There wasn't the online media production companies like there are today. But by today's standards, all of this is cringy as hell.
I just watched the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen the other night and although I hated it “all talk no action” is the last thing I’d say about it. The action is happening constantly because they condensed a full comic book into the movie (I’m guessing) and you don’t have room to breathe. Truly baffling take from dog walker
Poor old Lindsay Ellis is so embarrassed of being a part of CA now she's a heavyweight essayist. She only released the nostalgia chick back catalogue recently- and reluctantly. I don't agree with all of her politics, but she's at least something good to come out of CA, along with Todd in The Shadows, that lady who does Vampire media and a few others.
I love Todd in the Shadows and Lindsey Ellis is one of my fave UA-camrs now, crazy that at the time I never watched them because I was too busy thinking only Nostalgia Critic was worth my 13 year old attention.
I'm studying writing with a focus on screenwriting, and a *large* portion of every class is focused on word and time economy, and how when referencing someone or doing peer review you have to "add to the conversation". I think this is why Doug's earlier work was so much better than before his ego started to grow. It was "Movie-joke-movie-joke" punchy observation that built on what we were seeing, and while it wasn't exactly clever the formula was technically sound. My professor said, "Every successful script basically looks the same when stripped down." Then Doug wanted to write comedy instead of just do what works, and because he didn't know why it worked, we got this.
I remember back in the day one of the Producers from the site (can't remember which one) said they had to go over to his house to press the record button on his Camera or something. Doug really just needs to take some time to teach himself the skills he needs, he seems to just go with whatever gets the job done rather than what is best.
His "movies" are fairly violent. It's cartoon violence, but that doesn't work with live action unless the actors are really, really good at physical comedy.
Tbh a good plot for a movie is all the reviewers coming together to make a movie for a big shot Hollywood company or some shit and in the end, said movie flops. That would be very self-aware and also have a somewhat positive message about humility. Not sayin' it would be Oscar-worthy, but a good setting for the "reviewer"-character to banter and disagree over how "real movies are made".
In his Cat in the Hat review, he jokes that he sold his soul to the devil for a 'good' Zod impression. While that egocentric lack of self-awareness would typically annoy me, the idea of how incredibly jipped Doug got on that deal is actually pretty unintentionally hilarious.
@@contactfront5212 If you pretend that what he actually got from the Devil was not a good Zod impression, but the delusion that his shitty Zod impression is good, then I suppose it is kind of funny.
12:43 And don't forget the fact that he criticised films like Epic Movie for using references in place of actual jokes/story, yet does it all time in his work. Not just in his movies, but also in his reviews, like in his review of Freddie Got Fingered where the framing is literally just No Country For Old Men with some of the words changed. And that's funny because... you wouldn't expect that? I have no idea. Point is: self awareness is very much not Doug's strong suit.
also don't forget him being really dismissive of critical-reevaluation movements people looking at Drop Dead Fred as clever if a bit obnoxious? they don't know True Cinema(TM)! people saying that Freddy Got Fingered is actually good, cite its extreme self-awareness, its influence on modern anti-comedy (i.e. Tim and Eric, Eric Andre, Tim Robinson), and how it seems to mock movies like it that came out around the same time (hell, even the trailers mocked the shallow reasons why people might go see the film)? they're just assholes! people like Man on the Moon because it takes the extreme liberties and mythmaking of films that Andy Kaufman would definitely do if he made a movie about his own life? AAAAH, THEY'RE ENABLING A JERKASS ACTOR, THEY'RE LIKING A BAD MOVIE! AAAAAAAAA! Matthew Broderick has a subdued style of acting? NOOOOOO, HE'S GOTTA BE A BAD ACTOR! KILLED TWO WOMEN IN IRELAND IN A CAR CRASH LOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL! I know Doug is trying to exaggerate problems with a story for comedic effect, but like wow
Wait, he did another review where the framing is a parody of a completely unrelated movie? I remember how bad it was in his Rocky & Bullwinkle review when he framed it with an Amadeus parody. The man really doesn't notice his own creative bankruptcy.
If there’s one thing to be learned from this movie, it’s that Doug truly abused Phelous. He makes him the “red shirt”, meaning that he dies repeatedly throughout the film Dedicates a solid minute of screen time to him being stabbed repeatedly Has Phelan do the special effects, and after seeing the good work, somehow claims Phelan half-assed them. It’s no wonder Phelan makes jabs at Doug in his reviews, and proudly owns the dead skull prop of the Nostalgia Critic. BTW, Phelous makes good content, and y’all should definitely give him a watch.
Don't forget Kyle Kallgren. His content improved tenfold when he left CA behind and makes videos containing actual critique that, like, explores the themes and intentions of film rather than just recapping it.
He managed to talk at length for several dozen minutes on end about the history and possible symbolism of a blue square, and by god it was riveting. Some Jerk with a Camera is also stupendously funny. If he had come around with his sense of humor and editing chops at the early years of internet reviewing (which is perhaps an oxymoron) he probably would have taken the crown. Problem is that his gimmick is he typically films his reviews in theme parks and has a seasonal structure, meaning entry cost and the Miller Light pandemic has kept him from posting for a long time.
Kyle Kallgren was one of those reviewers on Channel Awesome I liked because it felt more academic and analytical. Back then I was still into the nostalgia critic and all the overblown jokes but Kyle, and Lindsay Ellis just hit a different niche for me. Now that I'm older, the only Channel Awesome alum that I still pay attention to are Linkara, Lindsay Ellis, and Kyle Kallgren.
Doug Walker reminds me a lot of Dee from It's Always Sunny. Someone that wants to be taken seriously as an actor and artist, but is just really unpleasant to be around. Except Dee is actually funny. Doug is almost forty years old and still doing the same ol' shit he was doing ten years ago.
I think it's just worth reiterating what a genuinely terrible person Doug Walker is. In the two years since the dossier of all Channel Awesome's abuses emerged, in all that time he has never spoken publicly about all the things that happened, never offered a single apology to anyone who was victimised or even admitted any mistakes were made. So on top of being a self-important buffoon who is utterly delusional about his own capabilities as a film-maker, he is also a total coward who is complicit in a culture of abuse by virtue of choosing to completely ignore it and just carrying on as if nothing ever happened. What a guy, eh.
I just don't understand what Doug was hoping To Boldly Flee would end up being. Even a small poor indie studio is going to give the actors the script ahead of time, pay them, have food and water, not do filming for over 3 hours in like 2 weeks or so, and not have one (probably also unpaid) guy speed through the entire special effects at record pace. Nor would they have a boatload of characters, let alone completely untrained actors. How did he expect this to play out?
Even when to boldly flee first came out, when I was a huge Nostalgia Critic fan, I never finished it. I simply lost interest and never watched it all. I never thought about it at the time, but holy crap, I actually loved Kickassia and Suburban Knights, but I couldn't sit all the way through this one. That either says something about how unnecessarily long it was or how terrible it was. Or both.
I felt exactly the same. I really enjoyed Kickassia, watched it a few times. I enjoyed Suburban Kinghts, especially the villain. But yeah, I aggressively didn't care about To Boldly Flee.
That knife "joke" killed me inside. It could've worked fine if it was done 3 times, but 5?! I've also never been able to sit through "To Boldly Flee" like I could "Kickassia" and "Suburban Knights." So not surprised every "joke" was let's run it into the ground.
@@Rainbowthewindsage And at least that bit had variety to each repeated punchline. It's a lot more creative for the last punchline to involve the line "That was an oval! It has to be a circle!"
I know this is an old video, but the Phelous taking a full minute of being stabbed to die is within his humor. It works for me. Sorry, but that joke works for me.
Want to know the craziest thing? Not only was Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara) able to create better visual effects (both practical and CG) on a significantly smaller budget, but he completely succeeded with his own movie versus what "To Boldly Flee" failed to do. The film made us care about the characters involved, which thus allowed us to become further engaged in the narrative. Sure, the narrative itself was obviously influenced by elements of Star Trek II and was primarily focused on Lewis' characters and lore, but he still took the time to ensure that the other characters had some time in the spotlight and served the story, as opposed to making them all Linkara clones who spout unfunny pop cultural references. It makes more effective use of the continuity of both Lewis' own work and the leftover "plot" elements from the previous anniversary movies, or at least moreso than Doug or Rob ever bothered to do so. It wasn't just a game of "Hey, try and guess what we're referencing!"; it felt much more cohesive and honest with what it was trying to do. It was also one thing that the anniversary movies never could be; FUNNY. I wouldn't say it was laugh-out-loud hilarious, but most of the jokes that were present in the film still got a little chuckle out of me and they didn't wear out their welcome by going on for too long. I also didn't find myself cringing at the few jokes that I didn't make me laugh. And at least I can also take comfort in knowing that Lewis is a genuinely nice dude who takes his time to listen to what people have to say, versus Doug and Rob who constantly shrug off any form of constructive criticism with a laugh and snobbish arrogance. Great video, by the way. Sorry if my rant was a wee bit lengthy. Keep up the good work, mate.
@ULGROTHA Yeah, that was pretty enjoyable, in part due to the nostalgic reunion factor involved. I must admit I'm still glad he's backed off on sticking the "metastory" stuff in his regular videos though. I don't dislike it on its own, but it feels intrusive when I just want to listen to him rip on a bad comic.
Hey now, the jab at Linkara was uncalled for, everything I have heard of him from the very same people who came out against Doug Walker indicates that he is a genuinely nice guy, who whenever he collaborates with other producers goes to great lengths to make sure the collaboration reflects well on *them* as well.
One thing about Linkara's story bits is that they are generally skippable if you don't want to watch them. I like them though. There is no expectation that you watch them, and they are almost always at the end of the episode, usually after the credits even. A few quick jokes or references might pop in, but it rarely interrupts the show's pacing.
Hot damn. Considering the battle at the end with 2 reviewers' ships was one long homage to the climax Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country...I feel bad for you. I recognised it and celebrated for a good long while :( I still love reference humour, but living with a flatmate of an entirely different generation has made me realise that this style of humour can really block people out. No better demonstrated than when I had introduced him to Freakazoid (so 90s it's painful)
You know it's unfortunate given how Linkara and Lindsay Ellis criticized several movies and comics for poorly writing women and putting them in scenes of sexual assault and yet To Boldly Flee had one essentially assault the other. Bottom Line, Doug Walker is another example of don't meet your heroes. Cause some people you used to look up to aren't good people to begin with.
I do agree that people who commit those acts should be confronted. In fact I do think one in particular should have been punished before he took the easy way out.
Oh wow, I knew about Jacob but not Kinley. I'm Googling it and tearing up now at the Mochrie's fervent love and defence of their daughter against bigots.
Wait Luke(Using past tense, as the film was made in the past)really is Colin Mochrie's Son(Again, in the past tense)? I had no idea, and thought that was just a joke in the movie. I Googled it and yeah, seems to be true.
I definitely recommend watching Lady Emily's video on Demo Reel because she REALLY dug into it and how it was the breaking point for Doug and his career and the role it played in Doug now forever being tied to the NC identity. Also, Ross, you are right; only 1 episode of Demo Reel should ever be watched out of curiosity, because the supposed final episode of demo reel (not counting the Review Must Go On) was a culmination of all the issues with Doug's writing, comedy, and acting in less then, i think 20mins?
I don't know about the others but with Linkara most of his skit stuff are usually at the beginning and end of his videos so you can skip over the skit stuff. And it seems like he's getting more and more out of the skit stuff anyways.
Him doing less skits lately is not by choice but more due to IRL stuff (like the Coronavirus lately) getting in the way of him filming them, particularly when other people are involved.
@@MrRadar His skits were limited to the beginning and end of his videos long before that Covid situation. He himself has gone on record to say that it's so people who don't like his skits can just skip to the review.
@@TeamTowers1 Yep. And I have to say I appreciate that, the skits never did much for me. Although I did enjoy that audio drama reunion thing he did with a bunch of the other former CA folks - but I'm still glad it wa its own thing, not folded into a bunch of reviews.
@@EarthboundX They do, but only out of obligation. There's a sense in that website that they really wanna give him the boot, but they'd only be giving him what he wants.
Well apparently, according to ERod the Blockbuster Buster, Doug and Rob once had an argument about what the male version of Hooters would be called and ERod just wanted to scream at them "COCKS! It's COCKS, you morons!" So ... yeah, the Walkers are ... not exactly geniuses.
I don’t know why, but the 1 minute stabbing scene was actually funny to me. Like I slowly cracked up laughing. Maybe because of just how awkward this is. Weird.
i mean, the guy being stabbed is Phelous...even while being stabbed I expect him to be this passive-aggressive guy that probably tells his killer that they are doing a lousy job in the most sardonic tone imaginable
do you think that is always true personally i have not t met any celebs but from what i heard in other peoples account with celebs yeah its not always the never meet your heroes case
I met Doug at a convention years back and he seemed pretty decent. Wasn't mean or short, very polite and happy to interact. But I will agree that the behind the scenes exposes paint him in a really bad light.
Late but I met him and.....I did not enjoy it, he was very fake and just wasn't nice at all, like I was really excited to meet him and ......boy that statement is very very true, and I met him one more time and...that was when I realized, Doug's one if those people where, if you are in his inner circle then, awesome!!!! You are on top of the world and if not.....um...please don't exist in my space please:? Yeah that's him guys
This is like complimenting the Ember Island Players but I genuinely think the opening music rocks. It's a shame the composer didn't get compensated enough :(
16:19 That reminds me of him saying [mainly in the 'honest trailer' for Nostalgia critic but else where] that Hollywood was taking down his videos for copyright because they were 'afraid of him'-ego much?
I asked him along the lines of what he thought of his review of the Pink Floyd movie was and his take on the band when I saw him at my local comiccon last year. He said something about how he made the review for it different because the movie was creatively different than most movies, it was all in good fun, and how he loved the band and their music. Yeah but why shit on a great movie/band like that? There was probably other ways he could’ve made that review better somehow but he had to make it like...that.
So, basically, Pitch Meetings does what Doug tried to do with Demo Reel yet actually succeeds? Edit: In retrospect, a lot of what's happened, and a lot of what I've said, has been because I got caught up in the rage and anger stemming from the controversy, so much so that I wanted to see Channel Awesome's reputation completely fall apart. That was uncalled for. I shouldn't have said this.
Having watched this a few times and (thus far) not actually sat through the full film, I've noticed something: one of Doug's most common humor tools is extending jokes far beyond what they need. Done sparingly it's hilarious, think Family Guy where Peter hurts his knee. Doug, however, does it CONSTANTLY and I wonder how much of the run times on these movies would be shortened if the jokes had been trimmed. Like, that face stab scene is funny in a vacuum but when it's one of a hundred similar gags...
I definitely respect James Rolfe in comparison to Doug. I intentionally put on ad-block whenever I get curious about what NC is up to because I don't want to fund any of his trash in the slightest.
FWIW, Linkara's backed way off on the "storyline" stuff in recent years, and mostly sticks to doing reviews in his, y'know, reviews. He did do an audio drama thing with a slew of former Channel Awesome folks and other creators a while back that had them all in their "channel personas" for areunion of sorts but that was its own thing, not part of his regular content.
Nice shout out to Lindsay Ellis and Todd in the Shadows, I would say that from the other poor souls in the movie, Kyle Kallgren, Allison Pregler, Pheolus, Maven of the Eventide, Mike Jeavons, Diamanda Hagan, Rap Critic all make good content on the You Tubes.
Pushing up roses makes fun stuff too and suede is still around and making regular content. I've never heard A bad word said about him through the controversies.
Yeah I remember this was doled in half-hour pieces, so the overall length didn't really hit me until well after it was finished. And it may have been the only reason I was able to get through this three and half hour ego trip in the first place.
Imagine how a fourth Channel Awesome movie would be like: Nostalgia Critic, Cinema Snob, and Guru Larry team up to participate in Doug Walker's ego trip for four and a half hours
Guru Larry was never invited to any Channel Awesome events, and only stays on the website out of spite. It would just be NC and CS making movies together…which they already do.
You mentioning if he even likes movies is really apt. I remember when he did his first crossover with AVGN where he interrupted him at a fan signing to make him review a movie. In the behind the scenes footage they're figuring it out and AVGN says they should do something like the good the bad and the ugly and Doug had never heard of it. A man who built his entire career off of reviewing movies had never seen/heard of one of the most iconic western films ever made. That moment always stuck out to me even when I was a huge fan I was like "wait... he doesn't know what it is??"
He had heard of the film but he just hadn’t seen it. James asked “are you familiar with the good the bad & the ugly?” & Doug replied with “parts of it”
My favorite videos of Doug Walker's are part of the Disneycember series. Those seem genuine. That said, the best thing to come out of Channel Awesome is Lindsay Ellis' solo career. Her videos are consistently great!
I like how Rob Walker apparently kept leaning on the "plot hole" whenever someone pointed out something inconsistent, almost to justify laziness, but after a certain point, pointing out and making fun of how bad and stupid what's going on is just results in a bad and stupid movie, and I don't think Rob realized or cared about that. Neither did Doug, for that matter, especially given that yeah, you ARE supposed to care about these characters, so it's as if the movie is telling us not to be invested but also to be invested. But I guess that's what happens when you make a movie within one week and quite literally make stuff up as you go along. I also like what you said about the "Nostalgia Critic" not really being a character, it's often his go-to defense when people call him out on this or that action he takes in one of his reviews. But even then, now more than ever, it feels like Nostalgia Critic is less of a character, but just Doug Walker wearing a tie and hat who screams more. Edit: you're statement about Doug Walker making criticism worse is so true, both it and CinemaSins ruined movie criticism for me. Edit2: Fun Fact, Guru Larry only stays on Channel Awesome because he knows they don't care about him and just sticks around as a "fuck you" to them for never caring about him and to watch them implode from the inside out
I still watch Brad Jones aka The Cinema Snob from time to time. His content still amuses me because it's clear that he's taking the piss and doesn't pretend that his videos are a legitimate form of criticism. More often than not it's a good showcase for fun, low-budget movies he thinks are entertaining. As for this video, it is striking how poorly the Channel Awesome trilogy has aged. I found To Boldly Flee amusing and poignant at the time (I was young and impressionable, just like you were Ross). However, this video makes it clear that Doug Walker's brand of criticism is vacuous and devoid of substance. Your videos about Channel Awesome showed up on my recommended page and I am glad I clicked on them. You managed to entertain me while making convincing arguments. I hope to see more of your videos in the future! Thank you for making this content!
A part of why they seemed so good at the time, other than that we were simply younger and less sophisticated, was because of the novelty. There was nothing else like it. The idea of people on the Internet having some kind of cinematic universe is an interesting idea on paper. The idea of seeing your favorite reviewers go on an adventure at all was considered worth watching all on its own. Remember, this was pre-Twitch, pre Tik-Tok, pre-Vine. Twitter was still relatively new, with limited functionality. Even with the Internet freeing a lot of people, there was still a lot of gatekeeping by today’s standards. Today, ANYONE can instantly make a video and post it to one of many platforms. The Internet evolved. The beginning of any medium is filled with a lot of experimentation and awkwardness.
I don't think they were all that devoid of substance at the time, and the themes touched upon weren't actually wrong, and frankly if he had just ended there for good I'd have more respect. Even if the material of TBF wasn't good as a result, I could've respected some attempt to do something with a bit more depth and meaning than the usual fare...which Kickassia and The Brawl lacked [which tbf have aged well because of it] But alas, he ran out of material [or doesn't really hit it often enough to justify a watch] that he actually had anything to say, he had no subtlety at all to those very themes, and despite the bluster he ultimately caved and brought The Critic back...but it truly wasn't the same. I was exiting high school when he hit big and already halfway through college when this came out, so I can't say that I was some manipulated and crying or whatever, but there did feel like a good finality to it all...but wow, did all that blow up when Demo Reel failed. Ironic how everyone there got out quickly and he's still there.
I'm always left wondering if Doug feels the need to cram as many pop culture references as possible into everything he makes because he thinks piggybacking on their popularity is the best way to get viewers or if he really just thinks media crossovers are the apex of comedy or something
Possibly a mix, but I think way more of the latter. As Ross said in part 1, Doug seems to be incapable of engaging with art other than just referencing it explicitly and then changing just enough to fit whatever weird plot line he also likely ripped off. Doug seems incapable of “homage”…the anniversary movies have premises that are not terrible on paper, and he could have easily made them with similar plots and themes with clear signs of inspiration from movies and media he loves. Hell, that’s exactly how super-famous directors like Spielberg, Lucas, Rodriguez, Tarantino, and Anderson made their mark. And essentially every director does that to some extent. But Doug WANTS you to know he’s referencing something he did not make. Some of the time he doesn’t even KNOW much about what he’s referencing. He had never even watched Cowboy Bebop, and JesuOtaku had to help them rewrite the script because their version of Edward was not even close. Doug seems incapable of creating something “new” from what inspires him, like how most artists should be. Even when Demo Reel stopped with the terrible parodies and tried to get serious, the serious moments STILL were basic rip-offs of other movies or real-world events in the movie world.
To say this thing gets worst with age/hindsight is an understatement. This is probably the worst thing I've seen that was free online but as far as movies ya pay to see, Movie 43 or Epic Movie is the drizzling shits. Absolute trash. Glad ya covered this, Ross. Love the content.
To Boldly Flee and Suburban Knight honestly remind me of those old terrible “parody” movies like Epic and Date movie. Where all the jokes are just pop culture references or acknowledgements of things that exist. But at least those movies knew they were terrible and didn’t try to care. Imagine if one of those movies demanded to be taken dramatically seriously and you would get Doug Walker.
Yeah, me too, even though I know what movie they're referencing, that one dude's trying to make a reference to, it's still slightly funny(not the actual reference from Shitty Doug Waker Movie 3).
14:29 THANK YOU. Nobody else in their reviews of CA's content has said this. I suppose it's more of an opinion, but still, I 100% agree. The "Nostalgia Critic" to me was always just the name of the show, and Doug just called himself the NC while wearing a typical outfit. And the "character traits" were just anger, rage, and unpleasant expressions.
Hey all, just wanted to add a note here since a few people have reached out to me on Twitter about part of this video. I wasn't aware that Jacob Chapman and Kinley Mochrie had come out as trans since To Boldly Flee, since I never saw a video made by either of them before or after I saw this movie. I would have addressed that if I knew, so I'm sorry for any confusion.
Otherwise, spot on man.
Wait, i knew Jacob did, but not... well, Kinley. (Seriously, after "To Boldly Flee", Luke just vanished... now i know why. But good on her.)
Also, it's crazy how we now live in a world where the Irate Gamer has gotten more respect and better in his vids than anything CA/Brad Jones related... Bob Dylan was right, the times, they are a'changing!
At least you acknowledged your mistake and apologized for it. Which is more than CA and Doug has done in his entire career.
Thank you for acknowledging it!
Wait so Brad said "remind to ask him if he's a transvestite" to someone who was transitioning? I have no words
Former CA producer Kyle Kallagren summed up Doug in the best way; he’s “a grown man, angry at the world because he can no longer be a child.”
Is there a video of Kyle saying this? If so, what is it called and where can I see it?
@@jdrvargo287 seconded. I need this like the desert needs the rain
It might be in the document, look up change the channel or not so awesome. Every who used to work for Doug explained the abuses and neglect from the company a couple years ago
You literally just described EVERY adult on the internet.
I think that describes a lot of angry nerd/gamer personalities on UA-cam too.
Phelous is legendary in this movie for looking like he doesn't give a shit every-time you spot him in the background.
I think he actually gave up
Phelous was devastated after doing effects for free, getting told they were half-assed.
@@apostolosfilippos no wonder he half assed the effects, he was forced to do this shit for exposure, poor guy
Phelous is my favorite.I binge his videos.
Try a new drinking game. Everytime you see someone in the background or in the scene that looks like they would like to be in anywhere else. Take a shot. When you see Phelous, that looks like he wish he would die for real, take two
“Doug Walker seems to understand what a joke is, but not how to make it funny”
That’s it, you’ve summed up what I think of Doug’s humour perfectly.
Roger Ebert (whom, ironically, Doug Walker idolizes) once said “One rule of comedy is that it’s hard to be funny when it’s obvious you’re trying to be funny. Great comedies take their premises seriously and the laughs flow naturally.” And that right there is one of the problems with Doug, he only focuses on being funny.
Fun Fact
Guru Larry stayed on out of spite. They forgot he was even on the site during their purge of those who stood against Doug/Mike/Rob, and at this point he's in a win-win situation. Either his content stays on the site as a lingering reminder, or CA concedes and kicks him off which is what he wanted in the 1st place.
There was even this meme about the Channel Awesome hunger games, and how he won it all
His Twitter during change the channel was hilarious. He took it like battle royale or the hunger games!
Isn't Brad Jones still affiliated, too?
@Woodenfan
Sadly, yes. He is, Corey
Yes but as far as i know Brad Jones and Doug are close friends in real life so he would never be kicked out anyway
@@Woodenfan Yeah Brad has fully given himself to the Dark Side so to speak. He's a Channel Awesome stooge who has mocked those in the Change the Channel movement.
Nostalgia Critic: Or, How to Remain Perpetually In the Year 2010 for 10 Years
Or _The Joke That Wouldn't Die!_
2007*
hey. if you peaked that hard you'd wanna be in a time warp too
The Yakoff Smirnoff of our time
@@FIXTREME He's the Kevin Smith of the internet.
the nostalgia critic is hardly a character. he is just a very slightly more exaggerated version of doug walker.
avgn, on the other hand, is a character. he acts very differently to james rolfe.
Violet P. Have you watched James away from his reviews? He’s so much more chill than the AVGN, and he also seems to have a calm admiration for films and old media, both good and bad
James and his avgn character is what started it all. James was kind enough to help Doug in his beginnings. I would love to meet James.. not Doug though. I would feel bad for liking and feeling he was nice 10 years ago.
@@apostolosfilippos kinda sad he still helps Doug probally just wants to be nice or feels bad for him or his ignorant in terms of people which cpuld be the case considering he still has mike
Yeah, when Doug speaks , you can hear his ego . He cant get ahead in actual entertainment so he does it through UA-cam. He has to prove to himself that he's good in his dream career :(
@@apostolosfilippos 10 years ago, it may well have been true. But like M. Night Shyamalan, the humility once there is now gone.
14:30 "I don't even consider The Nostalgia Critic to be a character, it's just an outfit Doug wears" - this, a thousand times. I'm baffled how many people fail to get it.
"The movie that made you angry...Angry that people were paid to make it." Well, nobody was paid to make To Boldly Flee because they were all paid in "exposure", so it's even worse.
Similar to radiation exposure
Phelan is the chad of this movie for his sleep protesting during filming. He channeled the audience so much, it's kinda crazy.
Wait what?
@@HOTD108_ Phelan was so bored of the movie, he fell asleep standing up. So funny, yet it projects the overall feel of the movie too.
It’s even more funny looking back on all those collaborations they did in the past and watching through Phelous’s perspective after the drama that happened.
Phelan looking directly at the camera with a frozen open-mouthed half-smile whilst the others are doing miscellaneous 'crowd acting' busywork (e.g. at 23:39) is hysterical. How the hell did he manage to get away with that?
@@videogamenostalgia omg that's hilarious! haha Looks like Joe's doing the same thing. I'm sure they were just trying to stave off boredom, but honestly after reading the doc I wouldn't be surprised if they had forgotten to get them for the scene and then just superimposed their pictures in in post.
I hate the fact that these movies' run time corresponds in order of which they released.
- 1st: 1.5 hours
- 2nd: 2.5 hours
- 3rd: 3.5 hours
@Select Digital too bad they're anything but decent. Or even okay.
Shit, thank god they didn't do a 4th or 5th Anniversary movie.
-0st: 0.5 hours.
@Select Digital even if they were good, I'd still hate it
luckily we never got the 4.5 hours long 4th movies.
doug walker really got copyright claimed once and made a movie claiming the film industry hates him
His whole career is based on him believing that he is a copyright martyr
Lee Anderson it’s become that, he really didn’t get a shit before it happened to him
Doug: “You took everything from me.”
Film industry: “Number 1: I don’t even know who you are. Number 2: no, you did that to yourself.”
To sum it all up, Doug has a really big ego against movies for stupid reasons.
He's not a bad person for making those movies.......He's a bad person for other reasons.
Who? Doug Walker? Why? He's not bad person!
@@temin2776 Yes, yes he really is. You did watch the first video in this series, right?
@Rich McGee
It is hard for me to watch videos in English without subtitles, if you are talking about this channel. But I don't believe it. I don't believe Doug Walker is a bad person.
@@temin2776 Alright, let me explain why people are calling him a bad person. Recently most of Channel Awesome's left the company. They released a massive file documenting their reasons. Among them, their CEO is a misogynistic asshole, and Doug and Rob are incompetent when it comes to business. The producers weren't paid for the movies, and they weren't even provided with food or water during production. As it turns out, the CEO was also aware that a deceased former producer, Jewario, was a groomer and did nothing about it. Most people's issue is that Doug hasn't stepped up. He hasn't apologized, he hasn't left, so it makes him look guilty by association.
@christian crusader
I'd heard about the scandal, but I still didn't know how much of it was Doug Walker's fault. But did he really never say anything about it? Never apologized? Never explained what exactly happened? It may be strange, but it hurts me that other people speak ill of him. I've heard that he's a good man. I've watched a lot of episodes of "Nostalgia Critic " and I really love this show. Even if I don't agree with everything he says about movies, his point of view always makes me think. He always admitted his mistakes, even if it was unpleasant. And he is really a very talented person who has inspired many reviewers.
The Hocus Pocus "review" is when I pretty much closed the book on Nostalgia Critic. It wasn't even a review, just a long, boring and unfunny skit. The worst part is that when faced with backlash and criticism for that "review" Doug's response was childish and unapologetic. He basically said: "Well, I made it the way I wanted to make it if you don't like it, don't watch it." That's when I realized who Doug was and the nostalgia glasses came off and I saw Channel Awesome for what it was, a shell of it's former self.
You can really tell that Doug has trapped himself in his own purgatory of the Nostalgia Critic. He doesn't want to do it, but it pays the bills, and he lacks the skill and talent to make original content. He's the epitome of critics just being failed creators. There are ways to show copyright footage on UA-cam for reviews but Doug isn't interested in using that in a transformative way because he wouldn't be able to shove his Saturday Night Live wannabe skits into his videos. It's the closest thing he can have to his Demo Reel. And it's almost sad because here's a guy who wants to be creative but he's so creatively bankrupt.
The thing that's crazy is that he could always just cut out the goofy sketches and just make normal reviews and do other content on the side. The biggest problem is the production value is through the floor and theres nothing entertaining about his sketches for the most part.
@@a.c.slater7989 I think the problem with that approach from Doug's perspective might be the fact that barely anyone would even watch his skits separated from his main reviews.
Him shoving them into his reviews is basically a form of false forced self validation. Doug knows that people want to watch his reviews, and he uses that to shoehorn the skits. When people respond to a new review more or less positively, he channels that response and makes himself believe people enjoy his skits just as much.
Reality is, of course, not the same. Most people probably skip all the skits or suffer through them to get back to the meat of his reviews. But it's not something Doug wants to consider, or rather, fully acknowledge to himself first and foremost.
@@Silver_Warden Spot on. Demo Reel flopped hard but he likes to think it didn't by forcing it into the NC episodes.
In Doug's review of Lady in the Water, he makes fun of M. Night Shyamalan's treatment of the "critic" character who misinterprets Artistic Intent. But then Doug makes all these strawman Hollywood executives and makes fun of THEM for taking critic reviews too seriously. As Ross points out, Doug is just not self aware even though he seems to think he is.
I know most everyone else has pointed this out by now, but years after making To Boldly Flee, in 2019 Doug- I mean "Nostalgia Critic" said that Pink Floyd - The Wall was too long. The Wall is an hour and thirty-five minutes long; To Boldly Flee is three hours and twenty-nine minutes long. You could watch The Wall twice and it'd still take less time than it takes to watch To Boldly Flee. Let that sink in.
I can't imagine a whole 3 and a half hours of Doug's sketches I always used to skip those during the Nostalgia Critic reviews
Yeah even when I regularly liked and enjoyed his content, my eyes glazed over during all of the sketches. :P
@@joannamarieart Same here. I always thought to myself that if he didn't either improve the quality of the skits or just quit the skits entirely, that it was time for me to leave, and I'd been a fan since 2008. But the skits just kept getting worse and worse, making less and less sense, which made me think if doog was ever really funny in the first place, or if we were all just young and dumb back then, or were just too bored to watch anything else at the time... those skits were usually the WORST parts of each and every review. But then, they just started being less review, more failed SNL/MadTV skit, so I couldn't watch anymore. After seeing his review of The Pest, the horrible movie with John Leguizamo, (not the name of doug walker's autobiography), and seeing the JAR Media podcast, reviewing doug's shitty movies, and that's when I decided to stick with IHE, his brother, and his friend, over dog walker's lame attempts at "comedy". Plus, if you have to make choices like IHE over Nostalgia Critic, The NC loses that decision EVERY single time. And we all know Alex is a much better youtuber than doug will ever be. And James Rolfe does Doug's job better. Even if James is still friends with Doug, it really only shows how nice of a dude James is. Doug needs a lesson in humility, and so do bradican and doug's equally as douchey brother, rob. There was a small time when i thought that maybe one day, doug would be worth watching again, but I realize the odds of that happening would be a 100,000,000,000 to 1. But luckily, the people who weren't up their own ass left the site already,(like Todd, Lindsay, Linkara, the Rap Critic, or my personal favorite, AngryJoe), or, like the esteemed and legendary Guru Larry, stayed for shits and giggles. I'll miss the days when I was 15, and enjoyed Doug's older reviews, but he's just not fun to watch anymore. And definitely not as funny, if he still is, or hell, if he ever was... and the increasing number of awful, rejected SNL skits just keep on getting worse with each episode, and with every failed "review". It's embarrassing. Did anyone besides doog like those skits? Like, anyone at all, unironically, I mean? Because I can't think of a single person outside of doug himself that liked his boring, awfully unfunny skits. Goodbye CA, it was fun for awhile, but along the way, things got worse and worse as more and more people left, and began sending out documents about how awful the site truly is, and how awful Doug is as a person, and as a critic. This is one bridge, I'm glad to burn, the one between myself and CA. Because they haven't been funny or fun to watch in years. It just took me a while to realize it. Thanks, JAR Media!
Yeah I used to like watching his reviews in the background, but whenever the skits came on I skipped them.
Doug Walker is just an overgrown child at this point, Tamara and Malcolm are like his parents who play dress-up with him and follow his scripts just to humour him as he claps his hands oblivious to the fact nobody else is laughing or having any fun.
Hey! I laughed so much at his jokes. He's a great comedian.
Rob is also his surly teenage brother who is never happy with anything
I'm sure the payment helps them get through the filming
An overgrown child could be creative. Doug isn't.
3:28 Oh, that wasn't in the script. Brad Jones really DID sell his soul that day.
it's so very true.
“I don’t mean to brag but it was a pretty big hit. Haha”
Yeah he actually wrote that.
"[Doug Walker] doesn't seem too self-aware"
Story of his life.
James Rolfe is a perfect example of how to evolve over time
He was a film maker first and went to film school. AVGN was a great way for him to develop his technical skills. That separates him from doug.
A ton of the reviewers from tgwtg were academically inclined, went to film school or had a trade like animating or design. Others were less classically trained but sheer intelligence or personality made them. That's less true of doug who peaked a long time ago and whose legit talent has been overshadowed by stagnation.
Eh, it’s clear he hates what he does now
Dude Mike is running the show. I don't feel james has any control anymore, I have a feeling it's because he became a father and thats alot of work and dedication. Mike does not need to have control of cinemassacre after the dick pic
I wish James would finally move on from the AVGN tbh
@@luffyduffy7817 Maybe some of it, but not everything. His solo movie reviews and retrospectives are where his passion is and it shows.
Granted, he’s playing MechaKara, but Linkara doesn’t seem to smile once during this entire movie.
I don’t think that’s acting.
Talk about Method acting!
"Lewis, you're going to be playing that character from your show that hates every aspect of human existence."
"Is that why this is such a miserable experience?"
"Wait, what?"
Same with Phelan except that really sarcastic "smile" time to time.
Ironically, Linkara at one point said he considers this movie a guilty pleasure, if only because he got to spend time with his friends making it.
Lewis actually said on Twitter that he enjoyed working on this movie
Regardless of quality, I like Linkara's movie more than To Boldly Flee.
He paid the actors and actually filmed his movie legally.
Seems like everyone is tearing apart To Boldly Flee these days.
As it should be
I will however admit to linking the I’m A Distraction scene. The song is catchy, Lindsay and Kyle are highly charismatic performers, the action scenes intercut decently well and even the banter was fun because it wasn’t able to be relentlessly dragged out.
A ton of people who would have been fanboy/girls and teens at the time are of age now. Looking back on their influences and realising that it just hasn't held up. Doesn't suprise me.
A ton of people who would have been fanboy/girls and teens at the time are of age now. Looking back on their influences and realising that it just hasn't held up. Doesn't suprise me.
I have to say, I do have a guilty pleasure in that joke when Brad (as Darth Vader) comes in and Rob (as the Emperor) says:
"I told you to get me an Egg McMuffin."
I don't know, just something about the delivery kills me 😂
Doug reminds me of that guy in high school that was complete clown, but had banger jokes, and you did laugh... but after high school he never grew up, or matured and still tried to hit you with those 10 year old jokes
He's the Kevin Smith of the internet. They both built their following on the charm of amateurish production values, but as they got older and more successful their lack of improvement became less charming and more cringeworthy.
@@lanceturley7745 At least Smith is a sweetheart of a person and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot turned into this bizarre acid trip in the last half. And before you asked, I just watched it since it was streaming on Amazon and I was curious about what he was up to post Yoga Hosers.
@@tatehildyard5332 I definitely agree that Smith seems like the nicer and more humble of the two, I'm just comparing their career paths.
He's the '90s version of that guy at Homer and Marge's high school reunion who was still doing the Ed Sullivan and Nixon impressions.
@@lanceturley7745 That comment aged like fine wine
Both Doug and Kevin have no idea how to deal with criticism
Doug: criticism outside his circle Kevin: critisim from trolls
Guru Larry still waiting for CA to notice he's still on the site somehow.
The other chad
I hope we get next anniversary movie soon. Only starring Doug Walker, Larry Bundy jr. and Brad Jones.
@@FlyingKipperEh And it'll follow the existing pattern and be four and a half hours long. That won't be awkward or anything. :)
I literally have no idea who that is lol.
I'm surprised he hasn't commented here yet, the guy is EVERYWHERE. Larry is life.
Doug's ego is what drove me away long before the document came out. His regular reviews he did with his brother just showed how terrible their opinions were of both movies and themselves.
His brother creeped me the fuck out.
@@msminmichigan Yeah, rob always looks like he's killed a few people before, or he's hiding some dark secrets in his closet... very creepy.
It's not their opinions that bother me, it's how smug they are about their opinions that really annoyed me. I couldn't stand how they'd speak like their opinions were fact and not subjective. The way they would both dismiss films or certain scenes from a film as "bad" always rubbed me the wrong way, like they thought they were speaking for everyone else just because it's what they thought about the film.
@@jongon0848 Same here. That's mainly why I never liked ANYTHING Rob did, or ever said. It's also because rob is a horrible actor, who's also boring as hell. And Doug is just a smug asshat. And so is Rob, but at first, I thought they were both playing characters. But then, it just turned out both Doug and Rob are just boring and smug asshats. Yeah, that's always been my problem. They think their opinions ARE facts, not just subjective, but they genuinely think they're the only reviewers who matter. Especially Doog. I'm so sick of his smug attitude. How Doug acts like the universe revolves around him, and how he thinks he's God. Or the god of reviewing movies. He's not. He's basically become the "But The Chart Says..." guy at this point. He hasn't really been funny in years. Which is sad. I used to be a huge fan of Channel Awesome back when they actually WERE awesome. But their best creators have already left, and are doing better now than they ever were with CA. People like Allison Pregler(Obscurus Lupa), Phelous, FilmBrain, Todd In The Shadows, Lindsay Ellis, the Rap Critic, Bennet The Sage, Spoony(before he had a mental breakdown), Chris Stuckmann(who was only there for a brief time), and, AngryJoe, who's basically running his own business, a news show, and his skits are WAAAY better acted than Doug's ever will be, even if they're not that much better, OtherJoe and Alex can act better than Doug and the other girl, and generic black guy, at least. Sorry for the unrelated rant here, but when you learn of one of your favorite channels has become such a terrible place, it's... hard not to ignore, and realize how toxic the place had become. I also heard Rerez were part of CA at one point too... if so, then they're also doing better now. But even with their last guy there, Guru Larry, he's still talented, and he's smug jerk on purpose, but that's part of his likeability. Maybe Doog and Rob should take a page out of Guru Larry's book...
Don't feel bad about liking this schlock when you were 14 - I was even worse. I was a junior in college when I discovered the Nostalgia Critic, and I was instantly hooked and thought he was a comic genius. I don't care for bathroom or sex jokes, but I used to think his references to pop culture were funny. And I confess, when I originally saw To Boldly Flee, I loved most of it. I'm a diehard Looney Tunes/Tom & Jerry/Buster Keaton/Three Stooges/Abbott & Costello/Laurel & Hardy fan, and for better or worse, I could still sense their influence on Doug Walker. Plus, I have very minority opinions on many things in pop culture, so I felt satisfied affirmation when he shared my viewpoint. I don't care for The Matrix, and I hate Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, so when he expressed disdain for them, I loved it.
Over time, though, I have found myself disagreeing with Walker more and more. Some of his opinions are inconsistent or just make no sense, like how he criticized League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for being all talk and no action, but criticized Van Helsing for being all action and no character development, and never properly elaborated on how and why they failed to find the right middle ground. I found myself skipping certain new reviews because I already knew I wouldn't agree with him. I also found his criticisms of certain filmmakers to be in poor taste (i.e. joking that Anna Paquin looks like she's farting every time she cries on camera) or just downright wrong in some cases (i.e. calling Emmy Rossum a bad singer even though she actually is a professional opera singer IRL). I stopped turning off Adblock for his videos when CA issued the phony non-apology, and then I had an epiphany when he got to "X-Month" last year - not only did I fundamentally disagree with his overall assessment of every film he reviewed that month, but moreover, he has officially reached a point where he'll have one mildly funny joke per half-hour video. That's not a productive use of my time. So, I'm a real late bloomer to the party, but I too have officially outgrown the Nostalgia Critic.
I wouldn't feel super bad about it no matter what age you were. That was the humor of the time. This was the time when internet videos was in it's infancy and things were completely experimental. I think back then we excused the poor production quality just because there was an understanding that this wasn't a big budget thing. There wasn't the online media production companies like there are today. But by today's standards, all of this is cringy as hell.
I just watched the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen the other night and although I hated it “all talk no action” is the last thing I’d say about it. The action is happening constantly because they condensed a full comic book into the movie (I’m guessing) and you don’t have room to breathe. Truly baffling take from dog walker
You leave Godzilla King of the Monsters out of this
Fr
Preach brother!
Amen!
Agreed, King of the Monsters doesn't deserve to be associated with something this awful. The 1998 Godzilla film, on the other hand...
@@richmcgee434 Thats a lotta fish
Poor old Lindsay Ellis is so embarrassed of being a part of CA now she's a heavyweight essayist. She only released the nostalgia chick back catalogue recently- and reluctantly.
I don't agree with all of her politics, but she's at least something good to come out of CA, along with Todd in The Shadows, that lady who does Vampire media and a few others.
Same with Angry joe
Yeh I forgot him. Also Dominic Noble is great
Maven of the Eventide 💜
Also I think Kyle Kallghren, Linkara, and Hagan are still good
I love Todd in the Shadows and Lindsey Ellis is one of my fave UA-camrs now, crazy that at the time I never watched them because I was too busy thinking only Nostalgia Critic was worth my 13 year old attention.
I'm studying writing with a focus on screenwriting, and a *large* portion of every class is focused on word and time economy, and how when referencing someone or doing peer review you have to "add to the conversation".
I think this is why Doug's earlier work was so much better than before his ego started to grow. It was "Movie-joke-movie-joke" punchy observation that built on what we were seeing, and while it wasn't exactly clever the formula was technically sound. My professor said, "Every successful script basically looks the same when stripped down."
Then Doug wanted to write comedy instead of just do what works, and because he didn't know why it worked, we got this.
I remember back in the day one of the Producers from the site (can't remember which one) said they had to go over to his house to press the record button on his Camera or something. Doug really just needs to take some time to teach himself the skills he needs, he seems to just go with whatever gets the job done rather than what is best.
His "movies" are fairly violent. It's cartoon violence, but that doesn't work with live action unless the actors are really, really good at physical comedy.
Tbh a good plot for a movie is all the reviewers coming together to make a movie for a big shot Hollywood company or some shit and in the end, said movie flops.
That would be very self-aware and also have a somewhat positive message about humility.
Not sayin' it would be Oscar-worthy, but a good setting for the "reviewer"-character to banter and disagree over how "real movies are made".
Lol Adaptation reference here
29:55 to add onto that, I think Phelous deserves a mention, he's been making good consistent videos since 2009!
ua-cam.com/channels/Up4yFAjgOA11a4h568vnrA.html
Phelous could make a whole 4 hour Wabuu fan movie and it'd blow these movies out of the water
Most of these critics are sooooo stupid. heheheh
I love the idea that Hollywood feels threatened by Doug Walker
What gets me is that Doug's Zod acts nothing like Zod.
It's like he looked at Family Guy's style of parody and thought it was subtle.
Next to his execution yes it is subtle quite the shameful accomplishment that one shouldn't flaunt.
Ironic considering how much Walker criticizes McFarlane's sense of humor.
You think that's bad?!
In his Cat in the Hat review, he jokes that he sold his soul to the devil for a 'good' Zod impression. While that egocentric lack of self-awareness would typically annoy me, the idea of how incredibly jipped Doug got on that deal is actually pretty unintentionally hilarious.
@@contactfront5212 If you pretend that what he actually got from the Devil was not a good Zod impression, but the delusion that his shitty Zod impression is good, then I suppose it is kind of funny.
12:43 And don't forget the fact that he criticised films like Epic Movie for using references in place of actual jokes/story, yet does it all time in his work. Not just in his movies, but also in his reviews, like in his review of Freddie Got Fingered where the framing is literally just No Country For Old Men with some of the words changed. And that's funny because... you wouldn't expect that? I have no idea.
Point is: self awareness is very much not Doug's strong suit.
also don't forget him being really dismissive of critical-reevaluation movements
people looking at Drop Dead Fred as clever if a bit obnoxious? they don't know True Cinema(TM)!
people saying that Freddy Got Fingered is actually good, cite its extreme self-awareness, its influence on modern anti-comedy (i.e. Tim and Eric, Eric Andre, Tim Robinson), and how it seems to mock movies like it that came out around the same time (hell, even the trailers mocked the shallow reasons why people might go see the film)? they're just assholes!
people like Man on the Moon because it takes the extreme liberties and mythmaking of films that Andy Kaufman would definitely do if he made a movie about his own life? AAAAH, THEY'RE ENABLING A JERKASS ACTOR, THEY'RE LIKING A BAD MOVIE! AAAAAAAAA!
Matthew Broderick has a subdued style of acting? NOOOOOO, HE'S GOTTA BE A BAD ACTOR! KILLED TWO WOMEN IN IRELAND IN A CAR CRASH LOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!
I know Doug is trying to exaggerate problems with a story for comedic effect, but like wow
Wait, he did another review where the framing is a parody of a completely unrelated movie? I remember how bad it was in his Rocky & Bullwinkle review when he framed it with an Amadeus parody. The man really doesn't notice his own creative bankruptcy.
If there’s one thing to be learned from this movie, it’s that Doug truly abused Phelous.
He makes him the “red shirt”, meaning that he dies repeatedly throughout the film
Dedicates a solid minute of screen time to him being stabbed repeatedly
Has Phelan do the special effects, and after seeing the good work, somehow claims Phelan half-assed them.
It’s no wonder Phelan makes jabs at Doug in his reviews, and proudly owns the dead skull prop of the Nostalgia Critic.
BTW, Phelous makes good content, and y’all should definitely give him a watch.
Don't forget Kyle Kallgren. His content improved tenfold when he left CA behind and makes videos containing actual critique that, like, explores the themes and intentions of film rather than just recapping it.
I love Brows Held High. His Watermelon Woman piece is probably my favorite thing he's done.
He managed to talk at length for several dozen minutes on end about the history and possible symbolism of a blue square, and by god it was riveting.
Some Jerk with a Camera is also stupendously funny. If he had come around with his sense of humor and editing chops at the early years of internet reviewing (which is perhaps an oxymoron) he probably would have taken the crown. Problem is that his gimmick is he typically films his reviews in theme parks and has a seasonal structure, meaning entry cost and the Miller Light pandemic has kept him from posting for a long time.
Kyle Kallgren was one of those reviewers on Channel Awesome I liked because it felt more academic and analytical. Back then I was still into the nostalgia critic and all the overblown jokes but Kyle, and Lindsay Ellis just hit a different niche for me. Now that I'm older, the only Channel Awesome alum that I still pay attention to are Linkara, Lindsay Ellis, and Kyle Kallgren.
Mostly all who left Channel Awesome their content has improved tremendously.
Meh, just another idéologue confusing emotional reactions with substance, just like Ellis.
Doug Walker reminds me a lot of Dee from It's Always Sunny. Someone that wants to be taken seriously as an actor and artist, but is just really unpleasant to be around.
Except Dee is actually funny. Doug is almost forty years old and still doing the same ol' shit he was doing ten years ago.
But he really funny! I am still laughing on these jokes.
I think it's just worth reiterating what a genuinely terrible person Doug Walker is. In the two years since the dossier of all Channel Awesome's abuses emerged, in all that time he has never spoken publicly about all the things that happened, never offered a single apology to anyone who was victimised or even admitted any mistakes were made. So on top of being a self-important buffoon who is utterly delusional about his own capabilities as a film-maker, he is also a total coward who is complicit in a culture of abuse by virtue of choosing to completely ignore it and just carrying on as if nothing ever happened. What a guy, eh.
I just don't understand what Doug was hoping To Boldly Flee would end up being. Even a small poor indie studio is going to give the actors the script ahead of time, pay them, have food and water, not do filming for over 3 hours in like 2 weeks or so, and not have one (probably also unpaid) guy speed through the entire special effects at record pace. Nor would they have a boatload of characters, let alone completely untrained actors. How did he expect this to play out?
You'd think at the very least he'd pick up a book on how to make films or something, Doug seems so adverse to improving.
Even when to boldly flee first came out, when I was a huge Nostalgia Critic fan, I never finished it. I simply lost interest and never watched it all. I never thought about it at the time, but holy crap, I actually loved Kickassia and Suburban Knights, but I couldn't sit all the way through this one. That either says something about how unnecessarily long it was or how terrible it was. Or both.
I felt exactly the same. I really enjoyed Kickassia, watched it a few times. I enjoyed Suburban Kinghts, especially the villain. But yeah, I aggressively didn't care about To Boldly Flee.
I can't imagine anyone finishing To Boldly Flee. I could not even finish Suburban Knights. That was more of Doug's legs than I needed to see.
I think Doug could probably be pretty funny again if he went to night school and learned writing, production or something.
That knife "joke" killed me inside. It could've worked fine if it was done 3 times, but 5?! I've also never been able to sit through "To Boldly Flee" like I could "Kickassia" and "Suburban Knights." So not surprised every "joke" was let's run it into the ground.
It's pretty much the same joke as Squidward getting mauled by a seabear over and over in early spongebob, but less funny and more drawn out.
@@Rainbowthewindsage And at least that bit had variety to each repeated punchline. It's a lot more creative for the last punchline to involve the line "That was an oval! It has to be a circle!"
I know this is an old video, but the Phelous taking a full minute of being stabbed to die is within his humor. It works for me. Sorry, but that joke works for me.
Arguably it’s the only funny joke.
I totally cracked up at the stabbing gag around the 45 second mark.
The intro sounded like a search for the worst video from ihe
Want to know the craziest thing?
Not only was Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara) able to create better visual effects (both practical and CG) on a significantly smaller budget, but he completely succeeded with his own movie versus what "To Boldly Flee" failed to do.
The film made us care about the characters involved, which thus allowed us to become further engaged in the narrative. Sure, the narrative itself was obviously influenced by elements of Star Trek II and was primarily focused on Lewis' characters and lore, but he still took the time to ensure that the other characters had some time in the spotlight and served the story, as opposed to making them all Linkara clones who spout unfunny pop cultural references.
It makes more effective use of the continuity of both Lewis' own work and the leftover "plot" elements from the previous anniversary movies, or at least moreso than Doug or Rob ever bothered to do so. It wasn't just a game of "Hey, try and guess what we're referencing!"; it felt much more cohesive and honest with what it was trying to do.
It was also one thing that the anniversary movies never could be; FUNNY. I wouldn't say it was laugh-out-loud hilarious, but most of the jokes that were present in the film still got a little chuckle out of me and they didn't wear out their welcome by going on for too long. I also didn't find myself cringing at the few jokes that I didn't make me laugh.
And at least I can also take comfort in knowing that Lewis is a genuinely nice dude who takes his time to listen to what people have to say, versus Doug and Rob who constantly shrug off any form of constructive criticism with a laugh and snobbish arrogance.
Great video, by the way. Sorry if my rant was a wee bit lengthy. Keep up the good work, mate.
@ULGROTHA Yeah, that was pretty enjoyable, in part due to the nostalgic reunion factor involved. I must admit I'm still glad he's backed off on sticking the "metastory" stuff in his regular videos though. I don't dislike it on its own, but it feels intrusive when I just want to listen to him rip on a bad comic.
I’m not really a fan of the AT4W movie, it takes itself a bit too seriously
Hey now, the jab at Linkara was uncalled for, everything I have heard of him from the very same people who came out against Doug Walker indicates that he is a genuinely nice guy, who whenever he collaborates with other producers goes to great lengths to make sure the collaboration reflects well on *them* as well.
Right? I've only ever seen evidence of Linkara being a cool dude
It was a joke, but I agree it might have been a bit too mean. You may not like his content, but he has integrity.
"So did you learn your lesson?"
One thing about Linkara's story bits is that they are generally skippable if you don't want to watch them. I like them though. There is no expectation that you watch them, and they are almost always at the end of the episode, usually after the credits even. A few quick jokes or references might pop in, but it rarely interrupts the show's pacing.
I remember watching this when it came out, having never seen a second of Star Trek. I felt like I was going insane
Hot damn. Considering the battle at the end with 2 reviewers' ships was one long homage to the climax Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country...I feel bad for you. I recognised it and celebrated for a good long while :(
I still love reference humour, but living with a flatmate of an entirely different generation has made me realise that this style of humour can really block people out. No better demonstrated than when I had introduced him to Freakazoid (so 90s it's painful)
@Sam Paget Was Star Trek meant to be comedic?
You know it's unfortunate given how Linkara and Lindsay Ellis criticized several movies and comics for poorly writing women and putting them in scenes of sexual assault and yet To Boldly Flee had one essentially assault the other.
Bottom Line, Doug Walker is another example of don't meet your heroes. Cause some people you used to look up to aren't good people to begin with.
100% correct. Same with any other ex-members of CA like Todd in the Shadows, Spoony or Angry Joe.
Or maybe we should?
And confront anyone being an asshole even when we like what they do?
I dunno pretty funny especially when you see how big of hypocrites the pair actually are
I do agree that people who commit those acts should be confronted. In fact I do think one in particular should have been punished before he took the easy way out.
@@charlesman8722 what are you talking about.
At least with linkara he keeps the story contained to the beginning/end of reviews but Doug makes his stupid sketches the entire video
Actually Luke Mochrie is now Kinley Mochrie. To be honest I was out of the loop about her and JesuOtaku being trans until recentlyv
thank you for mentioning this. :) it just makes it awkward to hear it not being mentioned.
I was also incredibly impressed with Colin Mochrie's reaction to his daughter coming out as trans, and how totally cool he was about it.
Oh wow, I knew about Jacob but not Kinley. I'm Googling it and tearing up now at the Mochrie's fervent love and defence of their daughter against bigots.
Thank you for bringing this up. It felt kinda awkward to hear him refer to her as Colin Mochrie’s “son”
Wait Luke(Using past tense, as the film was made in the past)really is Colin Mochrie's Son(Again, in the past tense)? I had no idea, and thought that was just a joke in the movie. I Googled it and yeah, seems to be true.
I definitely recommend watching Lady Emily's video on Demo Reel because she REALLY dug into it and how it was the breaking point for Doug and his career and the role it played in Doug now forever being tied to the NC identity.
Also, Ross, you are right; only 1 episode of Demo Reel should ever be watched out of curiosity, because the supposed final episode of demo reel (not counting the Review Must Go On) was a culmination of all the issues with Doug's writing, comedy, and acting in less then, i think 20mins?
Nothing about Nostalgia critic feels nostalgic anymore seeing as how he reviews modern movies now
(19:58) And Doug has the audacity to call out Michael Bay for his portrayal of women.
Glass houses much?
Perfect timing. Some particularly masochistic friends and I rewatched To Boldly Flee last night.
You poor fools.
why are you doing that arentb ypu afraid of covid
I don't know about the others but with Linkara most of his skit stuff are usually at the beginning and end of his videos so you can skip over the skit stuff. And it seems like he's getting more and more out of the skit stuff anyways.
From what I understand he does it on purpose so people who don't like it can skip it.
@@TeamTowers1 he does for that reason and it's smart.
Him doing less skits lately is not by choice but more due to IRL stuff (like the Coronavirus lately) getting in the way of him filming them, particularly when other people are involved.
@@MrRadar His skits were limited to the beginning and end of his videos long before that Covid situation. He himself has gone on record to say that it's so people who don't like his skits can just skip to the review.
@@TeamTowers1 Yep. And I have to say I appreciate that, the skits never did much for me. Although I did enjoy that audio drama reunion thing he did with a bunch of the other former CA folks - but I'm still glad it wa its own thing, not folded into a bunch of reviews.
Colin Mochrie’s daughter was told a transvestite “joke” in one of the three videos by cinema snob lmao
Woooow
Well Brad isn't exactly a nice person.
Wait, Guru Larry is still there?! CA have to know that he is trolling. They can't be that oblivious.
yes they are that obilvious
I just don't think they care. There's no way they are promoting his current content are they?
@@EarthboundX They do, but only out of obligation. There's a sense in that website that they really wanna give him the boot, but they'd only be giving him what he wants.
Well apparently, according to ERod the Blockbuster Buster, Doug and Rob once had an argument about what the male version of Hooters would be called and ERod just wanted to scream at them "COCKS! It's COCKS, you morons!" So ... yeah, the Walkers are ... not exactly geniuses.
I don’t know why, but the 1 minute stabbing scene was actually funny to me. Like I slowly cracked up laughing. Maybe because of just how awkward this is. Weird.
Yeah I know, like it was almost so unfunny it was funny to me
i feel like it could be done well and be very funny but it just was awkward, but i get why some people would find it funny
i mean, the guy being stabbed is Phelous...even while being stabbed I expect him to be this passive-aggressive guy that probably tells his killer that they are doing a lousy job in the most sardonic tone imaginable
Reminds me a scene from the movie "The Party"
That's because Phelous's sense of humor saves that scene.
What and who Doug is, can be summed up with never meet your heroes.
do you think that is always true personally i have not t met any celebs but from what i heard in other peoples account with celebs yeah its not always the never meet your heroes case
I met Doug at a convention years back and he seemed pretty decent. Wasn't mean or short, very polite and happy to interact. But I will agree that the behind the scenes exposes paint him in a really bad light.
thelastholdout still my point stands right
Late but I met him and.....I did not enjoy it, he was very fake and just wasn't nice at all, like I was really excited to meet him and ......boy that statement is very very true, and I met him one more time and...that was when I realized, Doug's one if those people where, if you are in his inner circle then, awesome!!!! You are on top of the world and if not.....um...please don't exist in my space please:? Yeah that's him guys
....and then he remade The Wall. >_<
Lol, Guru Larry going the distance.
allison/obscuruslupa’s new content (especially her series about baywatch) is a huge step up from her CA videos
Too bad she's almost as bad as Doug and Rob in taking criticism
i agree she's the only one i still regularly watch her videos just kinda cheer me up
This is like complimenting the Ember Island Players but I genuinely think the opening music rocks. It's a shame the composer didn't get compensated enough :(
someone needs to make a vid which is just clips of phealous not even trying to act in the background
That would be awesome
16:19 That reminds me of him saying [mainly in the 'honest trailer' for Nostalgia critic but else where] that Hollywood was taking down his videos for copyright because they were 'afraid of him'-ego much?
...that scene Lindsay was forced to participate in now hits doubly hard now that we know her past...
Can we get a vid on NC’s ‘take’ (if it can be called that) on Pink Floyd?
That "review" is probably the worst critique on UA-cam.
I don't even know what he was trying to achieve with that videos
I asked him along the lines of what he thought of his review of the Pink Floyd movie was and his take on the band when I saw him at my local comiccon last year. He said something about how he made the review for it different because the movie was creatively different than most movies, it was all in good fun, and how he loved the band and their music. Yeah but why shit on a great movie/band like that? There was probably other ways he could’ve made that review better somehow but he had to make it like...that.
@@playwonderwall Doug claims to be a fan of Pink Floyd? He's a liar.
So, basically, Pitch Meetings does what Doug tried to do with Demo Reel yet actually succeeds?
Edit: In retrospect, a lot of what's happened, and a lot of what I've said, has been because I got caught up in the rage and anger stemming from the controversy, so much so that I wanted to see Channel Awesome's reputation completely fall apart. That was uncalled for. I shouldn't have said this.
Yeah, but Ryan did them really short and he is funny. He's self aware of how silly he looks. Also, he just talks about them and not replace the movie.
Being better than Doug is super easy barely an inconvenience
Having watched this a few times and (thus far) not actually sat through the full film, I've noticed something: one of Doug's most common humor tools is extending jokes far beyond what they need. Done sparingly it's hilarious, think Family Guy where Peter hurts his knee. Doug, however, does it CONSTANTLY and I wonder how much of the run times on these movies would be shortened if the jokes had been trimmed. Like, that face stab scene is funny in a vacuum but when it's one of a hundred similar gags...
James Rolfe started "the skit" being included as part of the reviewer's routine. This movie is that concept's entropic end-state.
I definitely respect James Rolfe in comparison to Doug. I intentionally put on ad-block whenever I get curious about what NC is up to because I don't want to fund any of his trash in the slightest.
FWIW, Linkara's backed way off on the "storyline" stuff in recent years, and mostly sticks to doing reviews in his, y'know, reviews. He did do an audio drama thing with a slew of former Channel Awesome folks and other creators a while back that had them all in their "channel personas" for areunion of sorts but that was its own thing, not part of his regular content.
I'm pretty sure he only backed off cause of the pandemic.
Nice shout out to Lindsay Ellis and Todd in the Shadows, I would say that from the other poor souls in the movie, Kyle Kallgren, Allison Pregler, Pheolus, Maven of the Eventide, Mike Jeavons, Diamanda Hagan, Rap Critic all make good content on the You Tubes.
Pushing up roses makes fun stuff too and suede is still around and making regular content. I've never heard A bad word said about him through the controversies.
I love Kyle's Shakespeare adaption series. He's an extremely engaging content creator, although he uploads with much less frequency.
Yeah I remember this was doled in half-hour pieces, so the overall length didn't really hit me until well after it was finished. And it may have been the only reason I was able to get through this three and half hour ego trip in the first place.
Imagine how a fourth Channel Awesome movie would be like: Nostalgia Critic, Cinema Snob, and Guru Larry team up to participate in Doug Walker's ego trip for four and a half hours
Guru Larry was never invited to any Channel Awesome events, and only stays on the website out of spite.
It would just be NC and CS making movies together…which they already do.
You mentioning if he even likes movies is really apt. I remember when he did his first crossover with AVGN where he interrupted him at a fan signing to make him review a movie. In the behind the scenes footage they're figuring it out and AVGN says they should do something like the good the bad and the ugly and Doug had never heard of it. A man who built his entire career off of reviewing movies had never seen/heard of one of the most iconic western films ever made. That moment always stuck out to me even when I was a huge fan I was like "wait... he doesn't know what it is??"
He had heard of the film but he just hadn’t seen it. James asked “are you familiar with the good the bad & the ugly?” & Doug replied with “parts of it”
Doug Walker has four jokes and they're just references to Batman, LOTR, Ghostbusters, and The Big Lebowski.
>lindsay ellis
>flourishing
This didn't age well.
That line about Doug being ready to work in Hollywood... oooofff, brutal
My favorite videos of Doug Walker's are part of the Disneycember series. Those seem genuine. That said, the best thing to come out of Channel Awesome is Lindsay Ellis' solo career. Her videos are consistently great!
:( sad she got swallowed by an angry mob and quit
Doug´s problem with copy right is simple, he CANT create something original so he suck the fame of the movies he " review"
“To boldly flee” is far too cool of a title than it has any right to be
"What's the worst movie you've ever seen in your life?"
After Last Season. There are no words to describe how incompetent it is.
After Last Season is a brilliant metacommentary on the inherent artifice of filmmaking
Lost In Translation
I passed out several times during its runtime bc I was so bored
Where the dead go to die.
Jaws 3 Jesus christ 😑
I like how Rob Walker apparently kept leaning on the "plot hole" whenever someone pointed out something inconsistent, almost to justify laziness, but after a certain point, pointing out and making fun of how bad and stupid what's going on is just results in a bad and stupid movie, and I don't think Rob realized or cared about that. Neither did Doug, for that matter, especially given that yeah, you ARE supposed to care about these characters, so it's as if the movie is telling us not to be invested but also to be invested.
But I guess that's what happens when you make a movie within one week and quite literally make stuff up as you go along.
I also like what you said about the "Nostalgia Critic" not really being a character, it's often his go-to defense when people call him out on this or that action he takes in one of his reviews. But even then, now more than ever, it feels like Nostalgia Critic is less of a character, but just Doug Walker wearing a tie and hat who screams more.
Edit: you're statement about Doug Walker making criticism worse is so true, both it and CinemaSins ruined movie criticism for me.
Edit2: Fun Fact, Guru Larry only stays on Channel Awesome because he knows they don't care about him and just sticks around as a "fuck you" to them for never caring about him and to watch them implode from the inside out
@ULGROTHA also wasn't the whole point of boldly flee that criticism is nothing but pointing out plot holes?
"...from the first draft on..." Oh, it's adorable that you could sincerely think the script for this was reviewed or editted at all.
I still watch Brad Jones aka The Cinema Snob from time to time. His content still amuses me because it's clear that he's taking the piss and doesn't pretend that his videos are a legitimate form of criticism. More often than not it's a good showcase for fun, low-budget movies he thinks are entertaining.
As for this video, it is striking how poorly the Channel Awesome trilogy has aged. I found To Boldly Flee amusing and poignant at the time (I was young and impressionable, just like you were Ross). However, this video makes it clear that Doug Walker's brand of criticism is vacuous and devoid of substance.
Your videos about Channel Awesome showed up on my recommended page and I am glad I clicked on them. You managed to entertain me while making convincing arguments. I hope to see more of your videos in the future!
Thank you for making this content!
A part of why they seemed so good at the time, other than that we were simply younger and less sophisticated, was because of the novelty. There was nothing else like it. The idea of people on the Internet having some kind of cinematic universe is an interesting idea on paper. The idea of seeing your favorite reviewers go on an adventure at all was considered worth watching all on its own. Remember, this was pre-Twitch, pre Tik-Tok, pre-Vine. Twitter was still relatively new, with limited functionality. Even with the Internet freeing a lot of people, there was still a lot of gatekeeping by today’s standards.
Today, ANYONE can instantly make a video and post it to one of many platforms. The Internet evolved. The beginning of any medium is filled with a lot of experimentation and awkwardness.
I don't think they were all that devoid of substance at the time, and the themes touched upon weren't actually wrong, and frankly if he had just ended there for good I'd have more respect. Even if the material of TBF wasn't good as a result, I could've respected some attempt to do something with a bit more depth and meaning than the usual fare...which Kickassia and The Brawl lacked [which tbf have aged well because of it]
But alas, he ran out of material [or doesn't really hit it often enough to justify a watch] that he actually had anything to say, he had no subtlety at all to those very themes, and despite the bluster he ultimately caved and brought The Critic back...but it truly wasn't the same.
I was exiting high school when he hit big and already halfway through college when this came out, so I can't say that I was some manipulated and crying or whatever, but there did feel like a good finality to it all...but wow, did all that blow up when Demo Reel failed. Ironic how everyone there got out quickly and he's still there.
Literally just rewatched Part 1 and was wondering when the second part would be out. Excellent timing, bud!
I'm always left wondering if Doug feels the need to cram as many pop culture references as possible into everything he makes because he thinks piggybacking on their popularity is the best way to get viewers or if he really just thinks media crossovers are the apex of comedy or something
Possibly a mix, but I think way more of the latter. As Ross said in part 1, Doug seems to be incapable of engaging with art other than just referencing it explicitly and then changing just enough to fit whatever weird plot line he also likely ripped off.
Doug seems incapable of “homage”…the anniversary movies have premises that are not terrible on paper, and he could have easily made them with similar plots and themes with clear signs of inspiration from movies and media he loves. Hell, that’s exactly how super-famous directors like Spielberg, Lucas, Rodriguez, Tarantino, and Anderson made their mark. And essentially every director does that to some extent. But Doug WANTS you to know he’s referencing something he did not make. Some of the time he doesn’t even KNOW much about what he’s referencing. He had never even watched Cowboy Bebop, and JesuOtaku had to help them rewrite the script because their version of Edward was not even close.
Doug seems incapable of creating something “new” from what inspires him, like how most artists should be. Even when Demo Reel stopped with the terrible parodies and tried to get serious, the serious moments STILL were basic rip-offs of other movies or real-world events in the movie world.
I feel like Doug “likes” film in the same way that David Benioff and D. B. Weiss “like” film. Only as a means to make money
Which film?
@@temin2776 I'm guessing hes talking about how they rushed GoT so they could get more money for Star Wars
The only good thing that Doug Walker brings to table is the never ending supply of jokes dunking on him
The thing is, there is movie CRITICISM and then there is movie NIHILISM.
To say this thing gets worst with age/hindsight is an understatement.
This is probably the worst thing I've seen that was free online but as far as movies ya pay to see, Movie 43 or Epic Movie is the drizzling shits. Absolute trash.
Glad ya covered this, Ross. Love the content.
At least Movie 43 has lighting and is in focus
Wait. You *paid* to see Epic Movie? I mean with money, not the chunk of your life you'll never get back or all teh brain cells it killed? Why?
@@richmcgee434 it was a date with an ex and she wanted to see it. What's the worst that could happen? So much shit
@@JoeChillton Guess we know why they're your ex.
Be glad it wasn’t Disaster Movie, cuz that one is somehow much worse than Epic Movie.
To Boldly Flee and Suburban Knight honestly remind me of those old terrible “parody” movies like Epic and Date movie. Where all the jokes are just pop culture references or acknowledgements of things that exist.
But at least those movies knew they were terrible and didn’t try to care. Imagine if one of those movies demanded to be taken dramatically seriously and you would get Doug Walker.
Okay that ”canada” got a chuckle out of me.
Yeah, me too, even though I know what movie they're referencing, that one dude's trying to make a reference to, it's still slightly funny(not the actual reference from Shitty Doug Waker Movie 3).
14:29 THANK YOU. Nobody else in their reviews of CA's content has said this. I suppose it's more of an opinion, but still, I 100% agree. The "Nostalgia Critic" to me was always just the name of the show, and Doug just called himself the NC while wearing a typical outfit. And the "character traits" were just anger, rage, and unpleasant expressions.