Sam and Max Freelance Police - Was That Real?

Was That Real: Sam and Max: Freelance Police
Released	June 16, 2015
Running Time	9:20
Previous Review	Jupiter Ascending
Next Review	Jurassic World
Link	http://channelawesome.com/nostalgia-critic-wtr-sam-and-max-freelance-police/

Nostalgia Critic: Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to. And welcome to another edition of WTR, a.k.a. Was That Real?

(cuts to the title card of WTR)

(Cuts to clips from shows like  "Small Wonder", "The Cowboys of Moo Mesa", "Count Duckula", "Dumb and Dumber, "Dog City", "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "Star Wars: Ewoks")

NC (vo): This is where we look at TV shows that may be forgotten by some but remembered by others for just how strange they were.

NC: With that said, let's talk about a couple of characters called Sam and Max.

NC (vo): Though technically getting their start as a comic, Sam and Max became big names at the height of LucasArts Game's success in 1993 with Sam and Max Hit the Road. It was funny, quirky, and many would argue ahead of it's time. But despite it's friendly looks, Sam and Max was mostly meant for adults. So it was kind of hard to figure out where exactly to place them for future projects or even how. It was hard for adult audiences back then to get into a fluffy rabbit and a cute dog, but it was also hard for kids to get into those cuddly characters swearing up a storm. Well, ok, the parents, the kids were probably fine with that.

NC: And the crowning achievement of that... uhhhh... came out on Fox Kids with Sam and Max: Freelance Police.

NC (vo): Kinda like Small Wonder, this was a very bizarre show to get a handle on. Not to say that the game didn't have it's weird moments but it still had a mostly flowing narrative with our heroes trying to solve the problem. With Freelance Police, it always started out with an idea for a flowing narrative but then derailed into something more similar to say, Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time.

NC: Does anyone remember that? Does anyone remem- you should remember that!

NC (vo): Most of the episodes start off with the mission from either their faceless commissioner on the phone...

Sam: Yes! Uh-huh! Tenfold! Affirmative! Roger! Gotcha! Check! Ha ha!

NC (vo): Or their maker of gadgets simply known as "The Geek".

Geek: Secretary General, I'm looking into that ozone thing right away.

Max: Over and out! (smashes controls with a hammer)

NC (vo): Granted the problems were usually resolved by the end but it wasn't the focus. The focus was to partake in a lot of fast paste surrealism and honestly it's so fast and so surreal that it's hard to even know if you're supposed to laugh at it half the time.

Sam: You have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Max: And that big cranky alien cranium heading straight for us.

Galactose: I am Galactose, the Intolerant!

NC: So does that make it a bad show or a good show? I really don't know.

NC (vo): It's so strange and hard to get a grasp on that even years later you can't tell whether it was behind it's time or ahead of it's time. Just listen to how they talk.

Girl: Surely there's more to your occupation than just pummeling vaporous anomalies insensible.

Sam (puppet): No, that's pretty much it.

Girl: I'm not sure the school board would approve this field trip...

Sam: Based on my limited knowledge of school board officials being dull, colorless mama's boys, I'd have to agree.

NC (vo) That kind of dialogue goes on throughout the entire series. That vocabulary is way too advanced for a lazy kid show. There's clearly intelligent people behind this. But then some jokes will be built up so much and seemingly go nowhere that's especially funny.

Max: Who was it, the commissioner?

Sam: Not exactly. It was someone not unlike the commissioner with all the intolerant intones of the commissioner who sounded remarkably like the geek and therefore it could very well have been the geek.

Max: You have a long black hair growing right out of your nose.

NC: How am I supposed to react to that?

NC (vo): Are we supposed to laugh because it's so funny or laugh because it's so not funny? Is that the whole idea of the show, that some jokes work but others are just kind of trolling us? The speed of the dialogue goes by so fast that it's legitimately hard to tell. And don't get me wrong, some jokes are definitely trying to get away with more than most kids shows do.

Max: The prison showers? Gee, if these walls could talk!

Sam: I think it's best if they keep their mouths shut...

NC (vo): But what exactly does that prove? We know it has smart writers, so why is it so tough to figure out if it's good or bad? Part of it is that the world it creates is odd, but not a total decent into surrealism either. For example, the Geek is a teenage girl living on her own. But they don't ignore that, they bring up that it's a weird thing that she doesn't have any parents around.

Note: The transcript is not complete yet. Please fill in as many gaps as possible.