The Spoony Experiment
Encyclopedia
The Spoony Experiment 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 Vlog
s 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 robot made by Antwiler.
, 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".
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. 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.
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.
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.
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. Antwiler also attended PAX East and E3 in 2011.
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. 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. Doctor Insano was the subject of a major subplot in the website's two-year anniversary special, the action/war movie spoof Kickassia.
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
. In 2009, Noah Antwiler won the award for "Funniest Person to Follow" in the Open Web Awards. In 2010, Antwiler was one of the finalists for the "Must-Follow Personality" category of the renamed Mashable Awards but did not win.
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 Vlog
Vlog
Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Web television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take...
s 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 robot made by Antwiler.
History
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 IVFinal Fantasy IV
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan and has since then been rereleased for many other platforms with varying modifications. An enhanced remake with 3D graphics...
, 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".
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
Knights of the Dinner Table
Knights of the Dinner Table is a comic book/strip created by Jolly R. Blackburn and published by Kenzer & Company. It primarily focuses on a group of role playing gamers and their actions at the gaming table, which often result in unfortunate, but humorous consequences in the game...
magazine. 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.
The initial iteration of The Spoony Experiment was dropped due to a "generally 'meh
Meh
"Meh" is an interjection, often used as an expression of indifference or boredom. However, it can also be used to indicate agreement or disagreement. It can also be as a verb, and an adjective, meaning mediocre or boring.-Popularization:The word gained popularity as a result of its use on The...
' 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
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
-style series. Like Mystery Science Theater, three robots were planned: Burton, Sorbo
Kevin Sorbo
Kevin David Sorbo is an American actor best known for the roles of Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda and Kull in Kull the Conqueror.-Early life:...
and Morgan
Morgan Webb
Morgan Ailis Webb is a co-host and senior segment producer of the G4 show X-Play, and host of the show G4 Underground...
. However, only Burton was completed before the project was abandoned.
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.
In terms of games journalism, Antwiler attended both the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and the Penny Arcade Expo
Penny Arcade Expo
The Penny Arcade Expo is a semi-annual gamer festival held in Seattle and Boston. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop...
(PAX) in 2010 on press passes and subsequently broadcast episodes with game previews and interviews with creators. Antwiler also attended PAX East and E3 in 2011.
Style
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-MovieB-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
actor Reb Brown
Reb Brown
Reb Brown is an American actor.Known as superhero Captain America in the TV pilot/movies, he's also known for the 1983 cult classic, Yor, the Hunter from the Future, as well as the scifi film, Space Mutiny, and for the collaborations with director Bruno Mattei in films Strike Commando and Robowar ...
. His game reviews include a series about Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII
is a role-playing video game released for the PlayStation in 1999 and for Windows-based personal computers in 2000. It was developed and published by Square as the Final Fantasy series' eighth title, removing magic point-based spell-casting and the first title to consistently use realistically...
in which Antwiler voices his various frustrations about it. The "FMV Hell" series reviews older games featuring Full Motion Video
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
, often for personal computers and the Sega CD, such as Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh
Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh
Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, also known as Phantasmagoria 2 and released as Phantasmagoria II: Fatal Obsessions in some European countries, is a full motion video based game released in 1996 by Sierra Entertainment...
, Microcosm
Microcosm (video game)
Microcosm is a shoot 'em up computer game developed and published by Psygnosis in . It was released for the Sega Mega-CD and Amiga CD32 game consoles, as well as MS-DOS. Microcosm featured realistic FMV animation, with the graphics being rendered on Silicon Graphics workstations...
, and Ripper.
Antwiler also collaborates with That Guy With The Glasses
That Guy with the Glasses
That Guy with the Glasses is a website that mostly showcases satirical reviews of movies and video games. It primarily stars Chicago native Douglas Darien "Doug" Walker as "That Guy with the Glasses". The founder and administrator of the site is Michael Michaud, CEO of the parent company Channel...
; frequently with Linkara (Lewis Lovhaug), who hosts another series on the site called "Atop the Fourth Wall", a majority of these collaborations are cameos. Antwiler plays other characters within his reviews; most notably Doctor Insano, a bumbling and stereotypical mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
who concocts various plans to take over the world. Doctor Insano was the subject of a major subplot in the website's two-year anniversary special, the action/war movie spoof Kickassia.
Awards and acclaim
Video game journalist and internet personality Ben "Yahtzee" CroshawBen Croshaw
Benjamin Richard "Yahtzee" Croshaw is an English comedic writer, video game journalist and author of adventure games created using Adventure Game Studio software. He writes articles for Australia's Hyper magazine, a major games publication...
mentioned "Noah Antwiler of Spoony Experiment" as his favourite Internet reviewer, with particular mention of his review of The Thing
The Thing (video game)
The Thing is a third person survival horror game. The game was presented as a sequel to John Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing. It was developed by Computer Artworks and published by VU Games. It was released in North America for the PS2 on August 19, 2002, on the PC on August 20, 2002 and on the...
, in a 2008 interview with Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
. In 2009, Noah Antwiler won the award for "Funniest Person to Follow" in the Open Web Awards. In 2010, Antwiler was one of the finalists for the "Must-Follow Personality" category of the renamed Mashable Awards but did not win.