On this edition of Web Wednesday I am going to tackle one of the big wigs. He is arguably one of the most popular web entertainers at the moment and is consistently laugh out loud hilarious. Recently he has also become quite controversial as well. I am talking about Mashable award winner Noah "The Spoony One" Antwiler.
Spoony was born Noah Antwiler on December 27, 1980 in Saint Louis, Missouri. There isn't much information available about Spoony's early life. What is known is that he has been a lifetime fan of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. This fascination began when his older brother allowed Noah to play Ultima 3 with him. Noah has said that the experience not only helped him learn to read, he was very young at the time, but also instilled a deep love of Fantasy in him.
As he grew up Spoony never lost that love. He was an avid D&D player and dabbled with many other desktop RPGs, video games, and anything geeky. In fact the name "Spoony" came from a combination of these loves. Spoony saw the phrase "You spoony bard!!" while playing Final Fantasy 2 and later used it as the name for a D&D character (Tandem the Spoony) he played. Noah decided to use "Spoony" as his internet handle because it was more memorable than his real name. Can't argue with that.
Noah's first venture into the world of reviews was as a freelance movie critic for Knights of the Dinner Table. At the same time Spoony had created "Tandem's Movie Rants" a series of written movie reviews. During this period Spoony was acting in a number of small projects, he appeared on the Arizona State University main stage, in a few short films, and was a part of a touring dinner theater.
As time went on Spoony had a dream, he wanted to create a show in the vein of "Mystery Science Theater 3000". He even went so far as to create a robot for the show named Burton. The show would eventually be scrapped but elements of it made their way into The Spoony Experiment. Most obviously being the title of the show itself.
The first iteration of The Spoony Experiment was met with less than stellar reactions. Spoony was undaunted and pushed forward with an improved version of the show that included different types of reviews and a more consistent release schedule. The show became a hit and spawned a forum and store.
This success led to Spoony joining ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com in 2008. He was one of the first contributors on the site and arguable one of the most popular. As 2008 went on more changes were made to The Spoony Experiment, a new opening segment which used the song "Break Me" was added.
With ever growing Internet Fame Spoony became a 'legitimate' member of the 'press'. This meant that he was able to attend Gaming shows like E3 and PAX with press passes, which enabled him to film at the shows, show game previews, and interview game creators.
It is at this point where I should talk about Spoony's work itself. The Spoony Experiment is not only the name of his website but of his main review series as well, kind of. Most of what Noah does is branded as "The Spoony Experiment". Even if certain reviews are part of their own sub-sect. For now let's stick to Noah's main subjects, which are Movies and Video Games. The games can range from old school NES games like Dirty Harry: The War Against Drugs to his epic Ultima retrospective. When it comes to movies he seems to center his attention of the more obscure titles, such as the work of one time action 'star' Reb Brown. That isn't to say that he hasn't touched upon more familiar fair, such as the Highlander series. The reviews themselves swing from SFX heavy and story orientated to very low key. Either way Spoony's special brand of snark and sarcasm are always on show.
As with most, if not all, Internet Review shows, The Spoony Experiment has it's share of running gags and characters. Almost all of the characters are played by Noah himself. Sometimes Noah's brother Miles (not the same brother from before) will be used as a body double. There are very few instances where anyone other than Spoony is on the show. When this happens it is usually in the form of a crossover.
The main secondary character is Dr. Insano. This manic, incompetent, and thoroughly hilarious mad scientist began as Spoony's, and later Linkara's, main nemesis. As the show went on he became more of a petty annoyance. The rest of the characters are usually based on whatever Spoony is reviewing at the time, these include Squall Leonhart from final Fantasy 9, Terl from Battlefield Earth, and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7. Usually the characters are part of an overarching storyline featured throughout the videos. For instance at the end of the Final Fantasy 8 review Dr. Insano hired Squall Leonhart to kill Spoony.
Another of Spoony's frequent targets are FMV (Full Motion Video) games from the early to mid 90s. This is one of those sub-sects I was talking about. These reviews are titled as FMV Hell but are still under the Spoony Experiment name. As far as pure comedic content these are probably some of Noah's best works, I would recommend "Make My Video" and "Bloodwings: Pumpkin Head's Revenge".
Spoony has also dabbled in the world of Let's Play. The most noteworthy of these ventures was his multi part riff series on the FMV game Ripper. This game, which stars the likes of Christopher Walken, Jimmie Walker, and former Awesome Fat Guy of The Week John Rhys-Davies. While the Ripper series can be looked at as more of a Riff than a Let's Play he does have more traditional examples of the genre. His Swat 4 series fir example.
Aside from Movies and Gaming, Spoony is also a fan of Professional Wrestling. This led to the now apparently defunct Wrestle Wrestle series. The series, which I adored, was nothing more than a series of Vlogs. It wasn't ground breaking by any means, but Spoony's over the top reactions to the often ridiculous world of Pro Wrestling always brought a smile to my face.
Speaking of series that are nothing more than Vlogs there's also Counter Monkey. This is a series of videos that recount some of the funnier things to happen to Noah while engaging in Table Top RPGs. I have to admit that isn't a world I have ever been in, but I enjoy the show nonetheless. Spoony is just a born story teller and listening to him talk is a pleasure.
Considering that Noah is a huge MST3K fan it is no surprise that he has done riffs under the TSE Riff Theater name. These videos feature Spoony making fun of different odd short videos. There have only been 6 episodes so far but they are all fantastic. The best of them has to be TSE Riff Theater: Gamecrazy Training Video.
As you can imagine Noah has also taken part in many crossovers. His three way crossover with Linkara and the Nostalgia Critic is especially funny.
Now that we have talked about the man's work there is something else that needs to be addressed. Earlier I stated that Spoony was one of the more controversial Internet Entertainers. That has only come about in the last few months. Above is a picture of a Twitter remark made by Noah some time ago. The remark, while possibly tasteless, was made to a friend and co-worker who was unfazed by it. Sometime later Allison "Obscurus Lupa" Pregler brought this remark to light.
The picture above is another set of Twitter comments that shows Lupa's take on things. After this Spoony was suspended from ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com for four weeks. At some point Noah, who has been dealing with depression recently, began to make comments on Twitter that were not exactly helpful. It wasn't long until he was officially no longer part of TGWTG. I am trying to be vague about what happened because no one know for sure what went down. Channel Awesome personnel have stated that the original Tweet had nothing to do with Spoony's release. Lupa and Jason "Lordkat" Pullara (who made some very distasteful remarks about Noah) have stated that Noah's behavior was responsible for his departure. So to recap, Spoony made a possibly offensive statement that was mostly ignored until it was exposed by Allison. Spoony was suspended an then released. In the aftermath, which included Spoony's very angry and somewhat erratic Twitter behavior, Alison and Jason both said that Spoony had acted badly in the past.
I don't know what exactly happened but I don't feel that the remark was so bad as to warrant Spoony's firing, if indeed he was fired. That's the other thing the word 'fired' was never said. There has been a lot of comments about the joke. It is generally accepted that the comment was pertaining to rape. My take on it is this, "I don't give a Fuck.". If the person the comment was made to didn't have a problem with it, then that's it. Story over. Look I know that Rape isn't funny, except it is. Not when a man rapes a woman but when it's with fictional characters or is happening in prison. You don't agree? Ever hear the phrase "Don't drop the soap!"? That's a rape joke.
I want to clarify something. I am not a misogynist. I was raised by women. Strong, Puerto Rican women, who were all flawed. I have respect for women, but I also know that women on a whole are no better or worse than men. I believe all people are equal. That is to say, that when I get off of a bus I hold the door for everyone who is behind me. Man, woman, young, old, white, black, gay, straight, I don't care. All of this is made even more silly because it circles around a throwaway comment on Twitter. It's the fucking Internet, I have seen things that are so much fucking worse. Look what I am trying to say is that I hope the people at ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com aren't that sensitive.
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| Brad Jones is still buds with Spoony further proving his Greatness. |
There is another reason why this situation doesn't sit right with me. A while back Spoony and a few members of TGWTG created a few shorts called Spooning with Spoony. These videos revolved around Spoony interviewing people while in bed. What makes this relevant is that these interviews took place after the people had woken up for a night of non-consensual sex. That's right Spoony starred in a show about raping people both male and female. No one had a problem with this. Take that for what it's worth.
It is true that Spoony had a few rather odd Twitter outbursts but that can be attributed to his sense of humor, emotional state, and the backlash from his remark. Some have said he went a little crazy. This is due to Noah's recent statement that he has been diagnosed with depression. I don't believe that. You don't go a little crazy.
At the end of the day Spoony is fucking funny. He is my second favorite Internet Entertainer after Brad Jones and I will continue to watch what he produces. Noah will have to go full Mel Gibson before I drop him. As for Obscurus Lupa I enjoy her work and have no ill will towards her. I am taking her on her word when she said she brought that remark to light because it offended her. I don't agree with that, but I respect it. The only person who, I feel, came out of this badly is Lordkat.
All of that aside let me end by saying this, I have had my own issues with mental health. I spent 2 weeks in the Mount Sinai mental ward almost eleven years ago. I know what being unwell feels like. I hope Spoony works through his issues, and if the finale to his Ultima 9 review is any indication, he may be doing just that. Keep doing what you're doing Spoony.
The Spoony Experiment
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