BECOMING A CAPTAIN (feat. Danny of Game Grumps) | Space Quest V pt. 1
Вставка
- Опубліковано 3 лис 2024
- An indeterminate amount of time has passed between Space Quest IV and V. Roger is now enrolled in the StarCon Academy on his way to become a starship captain. But how did that happen? And, more to the point, how did this game happen? Yes, the story is sordid indeed. Let's find out.
Closing theme: "Space Quest III Main Theme" by James Mulvale
(Originally composed by Bob Siebenberg)
Available here: / space-quest-3-intro
Support the show: / spacequesthistorian
Weekly live streams: / spacequesthistorian
Blogs, reviews, etc.: SpaceQuestHisto...
Space Quest V is one of my favourites, I just love the comic book aesthetic the artwork had.
The artwork is undoubtedly fantastic. SQ4 was beautiful, but SQ5 is just straight up gorgeous. So much love and care and attention went into these graphics.
YOU: there is no CD ROM Talky version so you get to hear my voice reading everything
ME: once again, you are apologizing for one of the best things about your playthrough series.
I understand that you hear your voice differently when it's recorded than when you're speaking and it's easy to be over critical of yourself, but one of the things we, the fans, have come to love about your narration is that you are just as excited for the little jokes, easter eggs, turns of phrase and straight-up glitches that make the Space Quest series such a beloved touchstone of computer gaming history. Your narration is interrupted by you laughing, being surprised, getting sidetracked by a story and telling us where you were in your life the first time you experienced a certain story element as well as where Sierra was at the time and how that influenced this technology or that inside reference. If you just relied on the in-game narration and soundtrack we would enjoy the experience, yes, but it would be far less of a shared experience between you and us.
You might see your narration as a bug, but out here on the other side of the screen, we see it as a feature and it's a large part of why we look forward to Tuesdays every week.
That is seriously heartwarming. Thank you so much for saying that. Really. Thank you.
Absolutely agreed with all of this, you're a great guide through this series!
2 years after the fact, I owe you both an applause. SQH for doing what he does and you for explaining our side perfectly.
@@spacequesthistorian He's not wrong. I just found this after watching the Grumps play Space Quest V, and I clicked on this cause DANIAL AVIDANIEL but I'm not 7 minutes in, and this is great.
@@nandabun That's so great to hear. Thank you! 😁
This game is a huge Star Trek spoof, and I love it!
I really liked this game, because it was the one time, where Rog got a little bit of respect. In all the other games, no matter how ingenious he was at saving his planet & it's people, he never got an ounce of respect, even from his own narrator. Sure, he got a bit of pomp & circumstance in SQ1, but that was over very quickly. Now, note, he didn't get respect from his superiors, or most of the others around him. It was just his crewmates. They learned to work together, and even developed respect for each other. They were all outcasts, but they were outcasts together. There's still some "Solitude" there. Cliffy was likely the only one onboard, that would get even a hint of a nod of recognition. They would all have to stick together. Because of this, I still consider it a Space Quest game. Sure, it's a team of sanitation engineers, now, but they're still underdogs. We know it won't be permanent, anyway. It even has some of the ship piloting freedom from SQ3. It's an enjoyable package. It's a refinement of what went before: Nice graphics like SQ4, invisible robots, like SQ3, wierd & exotic planetscapes, like SQ3, fun adventure & saving the galaxy, like SQ1. The music fit extremely well & always seemed to fit the mood. It sounded really good, with an AWE32.
I know I’m 5 years late to this video. But I truly wonder if anyone has ever noticed that the bridge simulator has bits of the Millennium Fulcan design sprinkled inside it
I still read every comment that comes in, even on old videos. :) Yes, it was quite common for Mark Crowe and his art team to hide little nods to other sci-fi classics in the art. In SQ3, you can see the Starship Enterprise leaving Monolith Burger as you arrive, for instance. And the pod you use to rescue Cliffy with in SQ5 is a very clear nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
@@spacequesthistorian hah! Wow, My dad pointed out the Enterprize to me when I watched him playing it as a kid- but I never noticed the clear reference that design of the EVA Pod was until now. Their love and homage to all things sci-fi in the media at the time was always so delightful to look for
@@Spilled_Pizza Yeah. Most of that stuff came from Mark Crowe. He'd usually draw something and Scott would work it into the writing.
Fun fact: the TIE Fighter in the garbage freighter in SQ3 originally had "The Empire Sucks!" spray-painted on the side, but Ken Williams made them take it out. You can still see it in some promo shots of SQ3, though.
Haha... had a scroll through the old comments on this video and look what I found. 😂 imgur.com/a/YeKSWU2
@@spacequesthistorian ah Ol’ Ken Williams, just as the leader of the Sierra Empire won’t allow silly Easter eggs of him in the begging SQ1. So shall no other Empires be besmirched on Ken’s watch 😂
Danny brought me here, and I’m not disappointed. Funny thing is, Space Quest brought me to Game Grumps. Great work by the way.
Thank you! Happy to see things go full circle. :)
Just came across this and wanted to say what a wonderful trip down memory lane it was to watch. While I'm still making games, when asked what my overall favorite game to work on was, the answer is always Space Quest 5. - Shawn Sharp
Also, seeing Danny included was a particular delight as we're also huge fans of Gamegrumps and NSP.
Hey, Shawn! Thank you so much for leaving a comment. It's always a thrill to hear from Sierra/Dynamix alumni who were around at the time, and I most definitely recognize your name from the opening credits. I assume, you being art director, that it was your decision to hoist Sean Murphy onto a flatbed scanner (as depicted in the hint book)? :P
Oh, man, I know it's a shot in the dark, but I hope you somehow held on to some of the artwork you guys did for SQ5 before it got squashed into 320×200 VGA. One thing you can never take away from SQ5: it looked drop-dead gorgeous in 1993, and it still does today.
Hey there! In terms of the Sean, yep, we were also trying to set fire to him but he somehow managed to escape that scene. Also, Sean played the part of Roger for the rotoscoping. The hand drawn animations we did all as cell animations. Actually I think that, and Willy Beamish, were the last cell animation games I worked on.
As to the originals, I'm not sure what ever became of the finished paintings. I drew the backgrounds and out on paper, made photocopies and then Rhonda Conley hand painted them. The cells I think I drew on paper and we probably "painted" in Dpaint. I did at least hold on to some of the drawings but years ago turned most everything I had from the ol Dynamix days over to Art of Sierra Project for safe keeping.
SQ5 was SO much fun to work on. Being a huge science fiction nerd I was able to geek out with working all sorts of sci fi tropes in and of course working with Mark was a blast.
Yay!!! My favorite Space Quest! Looking forward to it! Sorry I'm so late to the party. I'm REALLY behind on UA-cam videos. You're awesome, Troels!!!
It's a lot of people's favorites, so I promise I'll stop harping on the game from now on and just enjoy it for what it is. ;) Thank you! YOU'RE awesome!
23:28
Yes...
I recognize a Xenomorph in a uniform when I see one!
I thought in this universe, Xenomorphs had big red lips!
Space Quest II was my first and Space Quest IV was my de facto favourite when I was really young, but I think Space Quest V ended up being my favourite. It feels more focused than the other games in the series as you go through this journey from being an inept cadet who lucks into being a ship captain who is despised by his shipmates to being respected for your resourcefulness under pressure which leads to a genuine camaraderie among your motley crew. The plot falls into place much more naturally than SQ3 as well - perhaps apart from the first three 'missions' which are a bit separate from the rest of the game. It's funny too, maybe not quite so much as SQ4 but close to par.
IMO, SQ5 felt a bit more in the vein of SQ3 (where Roger went to planets, and got into trouble), where as SQ1, SQ2, SQ4, and SQ6 all have the same formula (Roger is lead by the nose somewhere, mostly by accident, and there is a race against time at the end.) I love playing all of them though.
I screen capped 15:03 and use that text box in my powerpoints for my review sessions with my students
That is a very good quote! :)
Strong hair look, love it. So excited for this series!!!!!!
The hair won't be returning anytime soon, but the series will go on. :P
Goin' bald?
Thank God
23:46 D'OH
Just wanted to say I was having a crappy day and I just laid down for bed and popped this playthrough on and can confidently say I'll be going to sleep much happier. Cheers.
I'm very happy I could brighten your day a bit! Thank you. 😁
I am loving all these space quest videos (never seen the channel before)
Love the background information you give while playing
Thanks, man! Very glad you like it. :)
Need to point out the vacuum cleaner shaped Garbage Scow is called the Eureka like the vacuum cleaner brand. Our family had one of those vacuums when I was a kid playing this game, it was one of my favorite and funniest references in the game.
I gotta be honest: I didn't know it was a brand of vacuum cleaners. 😄
I missed space quest the first time around and just now found out how much Zap Branagan is from here
OH BABY IT'S TUESDAY!!!
It is not Wednesday, my dudes.
Dynamix created other simulators as well. They made the first MechWarrior game in 1989 and when they lost the BattleTech license, they went on make their own mech sim with MetalTech: Earthsiege and the Starsiege franchise, that itself led to the Tribes spin-off as we know it today.
Wait... During the meeting at 33:00, the guy sleeeping is captain Picard from Star Trek, I think! 😂
Yup! Or at least that's the prevailing theory.
That green thing is called Flo... Like the short version of my name........ Florian haha
Nice hair-sprout :D I didn't notice at the time because I've only ever played the Space Quest series in bits and pieces, but the amount of terrestrial life in this one really does stand in contrast to the rest of the series where you're usually only around humans for a scene before they're blown up.
Apart from that, the thing that most stands out to me here are the sound effects - I'd only played SQ5 from a dodgy Czechoslovakian pirate site and I had been convinced that someone had swapped the sound effects out as they're so incongruent with the game! That "D'oh!" sound in particular (which is clearly sampled from The Simpsons - how did they get away with that?) doesn't sound like it belongs to Roger or anyone in the scene.
Thanks for the hair-compliment. ;) The "d'oh" sound is the one thing from this game that really hasn't aged well. This was 1993, which I believe was at the height of The Simpson's popularity, so it was a colloquialism that was on everybody's tongue at the time. As to how they got away with it, heh ... I don't think anyone told Matt Groening. Maybe Dynamix didn't *sample* it as such; maybe they had a dude in the office who did Homer impersonations (as I would imagine many did around this time).
I love the whistle version of the Space Quest theme. Very reminiscent of Star Trek OS
The soundtrack to SQ5 is amazing, especially considering it was made in a massive rush in a matter of weeks before the game's release. There was a contract dispute with the original composer, Ken Allen (who also scored SQ4), so they had to replace his soundtrack at the last minute.
Aww, man... You missed the "Golf Ball in the Airhose" joke.
Of course, Captain Quark's boots don't leave prints. Probably has them polished every hour on the hour
You know we love your voice, no need to apologize!
You people are so nice and weird. ;)
This was the point where you wanted a GENERAL MIDI module... the MT-32 was merely remapped as close to GM as they could and no longer the gold standard. From this point, it was Sound Canvas or BUST!
There might not be the CD ROM voice polish, but the music is certainly fantastic!
The music is spectacular, and even moreso when you think of how short time they had to put it together!
SQ5 is definitely the spaciest of the Space Quests. The exact rankings so far, for the curious, are as follows (from least spacy to most spacy):
Space Quest IV
Space Qust II
Space Quest I
Space Quest III
Space Quest V
Criteria used are the number of space locations and the amount of space travel. Dunno about SQ6 yet, but I doubt it's spacier than 3.
Some of the questions have hints the rest of the game.
Anyone else noticed that the simulator looked like the Millennium Falcon.
31:30 Wait, okay. In the windows of the StarCon Academy there's "one of the nine moons of Nova" but also the orange planet Davicon 5... Okay...
The only way those names make any sense is if the star in this system is named Davicon, the fifth planet in the system is called Nova (this orange one), and the grey moon is just one of nine nameless satellites.
This game is confusing. It would be like someone calling our moon "The moon of Earth", but in the next breath referring to Earth as "Sol 3".
Look! There's a Klingon sitting behind Roger in class xD
It's Cadet Woof!
Space Quest Historian SIR YES SIR
Menudo is Spanish for cow's stomach, tripe, komage.
I did not know that! Thank you. So the Menudo Triangle is basically the "cow guts triangle" (maybe they were going for a subtle "bullshit" joke?).
Not quite. Menudo is a term clearly for food. The joke is entering the "super gross food quadrant" like Scottish Haggis, British Marmite, or Lutfisck quadrant.
*Doh!* I'm with Danny; this is the very finest, funnest, freakiest, spaciest Space Quest IMO. I know it does a few things different, but I like progression with a franchise, I like the world building and I like that Roger has dreams of improving himself - especially following his glimpse of the future - but he's still Roger, and it takes a good while to earn the respect of his garbage scow crew. I love that self-affirming optimism on his character portrait. I think what the 2 guys set up with SQ4 deserves to go in this kind of direction with more continuity and a returning cast of characters. And while it's great to keep the same creative duo helming the series, I don't think it's absolutely necessary for this sort of story to remain Space Quest - most of the fan games feel like the Space Quest spirit to me - it's not so unachievable (I think) as say; writing a sequel to Lord of the Rings without Tolkien, or even Gabriel Knight without Jensen.
one nitpick though; it's a little contrived how Roger gets expelled if he fails (to cheat) on the test, even though the grade-master2000 is going to get sabotaged anyway - so how much should it really matter that you copied Cadet Cranium?
I see what you're saying. I had this discussion on Twitter just a couple of hours ago, actually. From one perspective, it *is* a very nice progression of the series and really the first true attempt at character development on Roger's part. The thing that bugs me is that Roger behaves like he's supposed to be a hero (but is just terrible at it) -- he's driven but hampered by his incompetence. The Roger I "knew" from the earlier games (and, granted, a lot of that is up to interpretation, since he wasn't really much of a character and didn't speak for the first 3 games) was a guy who really had a lot of ingenuity, was a bit clumsy, but really just didn't want to be in the situation he found himself in. An anti-hero, really. Not anti-hero as in what we've come to understand it in modern terms, i.e. "bad guy ends up doing good things," but an anti-hero like "I'm not supposed to be here, how do I get out of this situation?". The true antithesis to do-good chivalrous heroes like Graham in King's Quest. Graham wants to save the princess and do good -- Roger just wants to go back to sleep. That, I feel, is a core trait of Space Quest that was lost in Space Quest V.
Yeah, I see what you mean; it wasn't exactly "established" in the previous games that Roger had a "life-long dream of becoming a star ship captain, it was stated in this game, and is either accepted, or seen as a ret-con. Roger is undeniably lazy, but I still saw him as someone who would quite enjoyed his renown as a hero once he stumbled into it and could easily have had such fantasies throughout his life (while doing very little to advance his station (hence he's an inept Cadet who's promoted due to a glitch)). He must like his fantasies more then the reality of the situations when he's stuck in them, yet they persist, maybe because he's proud in his saving the day numerous times.
I submit Space Quest 3 as evidence that he wants to be in these situations, either altruisticly, or as an addict looking for another fix - I'm not sure which: He decodes a distress message of a couple of game designer slaves and decides to risk his life to help them. We got almost no internal dialogue in SQ1-3, so his motivation is questionable, but I can't rationalize that he somehow knew these guys would design interactive fiction of his heroics, or be responsible for his whole existence - he's not deadpool, even though he becomes aware of Gary Owens in Space Quest 6 so...maybe he was heading that way?
Decades ago, I had big prequel fan game that I very roughly outlined - and then dropped - that would have fleshed out Roger's character during Janitor School years - I took for granted at the time that it might have been a hard sell for some old skool anti-hero Space Questers.
I'm ready!
Ace!
As cool as it sounds to live in Oakhurst, I wonder if Sierra could have been stronger and lasted longer if they had started in a bigger city. I know the ended up in a bigger city, but wonder what the first decade would have been like if they were in a place with more appealing community to have a family and find other jobs (for spouses, etc.)
This is the reason why SQ5 is the Sierra game that took leaps forward and one leap backwards at the same time because of no CD-Rom version of SQ5. But don't get me wrong I like SQ5. Interesting that there was supposed to be a CD-ROM version of SQ5 with Gary Owens as Narrator. Oh what might have been.
The lost Ken Allan soundtrack - *ahg!* I do love the music as is, with it's warbly 60's Star Trek aesthetic (yet still Space Quest) but I hate hearing about these lost pieces of probably great art - and how different might the tone of SQ5 might have been? I wonder if there's a warehouse somewhere, maybe in Oakhurst, filled with 486s with this sort of missing work sitting, waiting to be recovered, and released as a patch.
The crushingly sad story is that, when Sierra were eventually shut down by their new owners, all the machines and all the technology they had hand-crafted throughout the years were destroyed.
Well...crud.
Nice episode 1
that's BS there was no talkie version.
someone should do a crowd funder for one.
Unfortunately, that means you'd have to rebuild the game from scratch. All the original game files and game code were destroyed, as far as we know.
@@spacequesthistorian Reverse engineer it! heh
@@nandabun You could technically use a tool like SCI Companion to introduce voices into the game. You would have to export all the scripts and assets and then rebuild the entire game in a newer version of SCI, though, because the SCI version that SQ5 uses doesn't have support for voices!
SQ 5 is still my 3rd favourite SQ game. As I have mentioned before, it was neat to see Roger Wilcos character evolve somewhat. He was still bumbling, stupid, and lazy, but putting those qualities into captaining a starship, even if it was a garbage scow, felt to me like the character was really developing. I know a lot of people do not see it that way, but that is why I felt that SQ6 was a huge step backwards, though still absolutely hilarious (Once again Gary Owens nails it)
Is that email about the punch in the face why they actually did that bit in the kickstarter video? Or was that a HUUUUGE coincidence?
The email about the punch in the face is *exactly* why they did that bit in the Kickstarter video. :)
0:05 My wife thinks that your wife low-key wishes you'd spend less time up there lol. I hope she knows how very much we appreciate the content you make!
Since I made these videos, we now have a young son (he's 2 now), so I do in fact spend a lot less time up there! 😅
Yes, Nova 9 is the sequel to Stellar 7, and its bad guy, Gir Draxon makes an appearance in the feelies for the game :)
I remember seeing that in the manual! I always wondered who the hell he was. ;)
The population of Oakhurst is under 3000 according to Wikipedia. I don't blame Mark.
Me neither. It did cause some tension but Scott has since apologized for not being understanding about it. Mark needed a change of scenery and he had a family to think of. Meanwhile, Scott was newly divorced and buried himself in work. They had drifted apart without realizing it.
I know what obscure movie you are thinking of. The title is on the tip of my tongue! There was a lot of action in the film. Lots of war. Lots of...space.
I think it was Flash Gordon.
Yeah, I think you're right!
he saved the universe four times before this game and he still is a janitor weird
Yeah, but nobody cares about that. He was famous for, like, five minutes after SQ1, and then everybody stopped giving a shit about him.
It's somewhat true to life. As an underdog if you succeed you are only granted a fleeting amount of recognition until things go back to normal and the kiss asses get all the recognition because they are good at kissing ass (many times even taking credit for your own accomplishments.) Sadly we live in a world where words speak louder than actions.
Roger's a little too competent in SQ5. But yeah it's good.
Amazing they slipped Wankmeister past the censors. Or did this game come out before the rating system? Either way, that got a solid chuckle out of me.
I think "wank" wasn't really a well-known euphemism in the U.S. back then; it's more of a British slang word. So they probably had a chuckle about it and no one at Sierra raised an eyebrow. Also, Space Quest IV came out in 1991, way before the brouhaha of DOOM, Mortal Kombat, and Night Trap, so there was no ratings system back then. Space Quest V was released in 1993, so it was right around that time, but by then the name Wankmeister was already canon, so - whaddayagonnado. :)
I do love me some blue suede shoes
I may be late to the party here cause I've been working all week but just wanted to mention you look like that girl from the Grinch who stole Christmas
Achievement unlocked!
I feel like qwark would be voiced by Patrick warburton
SpaceVenture, still in development, as of watching... or at least it's not for sale anywhere.
Correct. The team is working on it in their spare time so it's slow going. It will be out eventually, though!
Yes
Ja!
Do you know Dan or did you just reach out to him? Cool to see him supporting a smaller channel.
Dan reached out to me after listening to my podcast on Space Quest, and we quickly became buds. He gave me a shoutout that put me from 300 to 1400 subs overnight, and I'll always be grateful for that. ;)
What a wonderful man he is. I've just discovered your channel and I'm enjoying the playthroughs! You're pretty good as a LP'er.
Thank you! Yeah, I'm pretty amazed myself, that he would take the time to hit up someone like me who is -- and I'm not blind to this -- barely a blip on anybody's radar. Sometimes life just deals you a curveball of delightfulness.
10:29 the game starts ... you're welcome ..
wow i didn't know we could cheat.. thanks..
when does Danny come in?
Between my dumb ass talking and my dumb ass playing the game.
Don't worry, your voice is fine and your hair is cyoot!! 😘
Quark is SQ version of Gaston
You're not far off there. Does Gaston turn into a giant, gelatinous blob of snot at the end of the Hunchback movie? I forget.
d'oh
Hey Troels, I have a Notification Squad Haiku for you!
Oh snap, first comment!
But I don't have a good joke...
Guess I'm not funny. ;(
Made me chuckle. :)
Hey, cool, glad I could return the favor. That... "fashionable hairdo" made me chuckle, too!
If nothing else, I am trying to turn myself into an icon of fashion.
Demoted to redshirt status
Droole even makes a joke about that later in the game. :)
Until you speak Flash Gordon i was so shure the name was Gordon Freeman.
I realy cant see your videos in my cellphone goddamit. Just your videos! UA-cam crazy non sense.
Gordon Freeman wasn't even a twinkle in his dad's testicles when this game came out. :P
So sorry to hear you're having problems watching these on your phone. I don't know what to tell you. They work on mine. Does it give you an error message, or just flat out refuse to play?
nice hair doo
Thanks. Props to my stylist.
yup yup i really like dig your stylist
She clearly has good taste
Keep that hair
Sorry, it's already gone. :P
I don't believe your wife recommended that hairstyle. Do you have any evidence to support such an outlandish claim?
#dabformemes
:D