| The Spoony Experiment | |
|---|---|
Title Screen (2008-2010) |
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| Also known as | TSE |
| Genre | Reviewer |
| Created by | Noah Antwiler |
| Creative director(s) | Noah Antwiler |
| Starring | Noah Antwiler |
| Theme music composer | The Irresponsibles (Opening theme) Sad Panda (Ending theme) |
| Opening theme | Various (2007-8) Break Me (2008-present) |
| Ending theme | Various (2007-11) Long Live The Spoony One (2011-present) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Mesa, AZ, United States |
| Running time | Varies |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | YouTube (2007-2009) Blip.tv (2007-present) |
| Picture format | FLV, H.264 |
| Original run | January 24, 2007 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The Spoony Experiment (TSE) is a website run by Noah Antwiler (born December 27, 1980) aka "The Spoony One" or just "Spoony".
The primary format of the site is a series of video reviews on video games and movies. From 2010, it has also incorporated some video game journalism at trade shows such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Some supporting material, such as Vlogs and announcements, are broadcast on the site in a similar manner. Early movie reviews are text based with picture complements. The mascot of the site is "Burton the Robot", a puppet made by Antwiler.
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The pseudonym "The Spoony One" or "Spoony" grew as an in-joke among Antwiler's friends. At the time Antwiler was playing a bard character in Dungeons and Dragons called Tandem. While playing Final Fantasy IV, he encountered the infamous line "You spoony bard!" leading to this becoming a joke with his other Dungeons and Dragons-playing friends. The name evolved from the original "Tandem the Spoony" to simply "The Spoony One".[1]
The first iteration of The Spoony Experiment was "Tandem's Movie Rants" which focused primarily on written movie rants, "with a viewpoint always controversial", at the same time writing for the Gamer's Rant section of the Knights of the Dinner Table magazine.[2] Gamer's Rant was discontinued as of issue #150 (April 29, 2009). The section ranked lowest in a reader poll and attracted a large amount of hate mail.[2]
The initial iteration of The Spoony Experiment was dropped due to a "generally 'meh' public response"; however, it was later continued and this time also reviewed videogames and at a more frequent rate, thus reviving The Spoony Experiment into a new, improved, more popular version. This new popularity helped spawn The Spoony Experiment's own forum and online store.
Later, "Burton the Robot" was added as a co-star, having been pointed out in the background of earlier reviews. The puppet was designed for an aborted attempt at a Mystery Science Theater 3000-style series. Like Mystery Science Theater, three robots were planned: Burton, Sorbo and Morgan. However, only Burton was completed before the project was abandoned.[1]
In the latter half of 2008, a standardised opening sequence was implemented into all new episodes. A montage of scenes from the series is shown over the series' theme tune, "Break Me". The song was produced by The Irresponsibles, an Australian rock band, and licensed to Antwiler for The Spoony Experiment.[1] Later, in 2010, a new custom animated intro was implemented.
In terms of games journalism, Antwiler attended both the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in 2010 on press passes and subsequently broadcast episodes with game previews and interviews with creators.[3][4] Antwiler also attended PAX East and E3 in 2011.
The Spoony Experiment was first created by Noah Antwiler as a homage to Mystery Science Theater 3000. In addition to reviews, which include the sub-series "FMV Hell", The series contains "Riffs" and "Let's Play" episodes. Antwiler's film reviews include such films as movies starring B-Movie actor Reb Brown. His game reviews include a series about Final Fantasy VIII in which Antwiler voices his various frustrations about it. The "FMV Hell" series reviews older games featuring Full Motion Video, often for personal computers and the Sega CD, such as Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, Microcosm, and Ripper.
Antwiler also collaborates with That Guy With The Glasses; frequently with Linkara (Lewis Lovhaug), who hosts another series on the site called "Atop the Fourth Wall", a majority of these collaborations are cameos.[5] Antwiler plays other characters within his reviews; most notably Doctor Insano, a bumbling and stereotypical mad scientist who concocts various plans to take over the world.[6] Doctor Insano was the subject of a major subplot in the website's two-year anniversary special, the action/war movie spoof Kickassia.
Video game journalist and internet personality Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw mentioned "Noah Antwiler of Spoony Experiment" as his favourite Internet reviewer, with particular mention of his review of The Thing, in a 2008 interview with Gamespot.[7] In 2009, Noah Antwiler won the award for "Funniest Person to Follow" in the Open Web Awards.[8] In 2010, Antwiler was one of the finalists for the "Must-Follow Personality" category of the renamed Mashable Awards but did not win.[9]
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