Hey, FireGold fanatics! PAPAYA here, back to give you all the semi-long awaited write-ups for the latest episodes. Let's dive into 'em!
So, that new direction I was teasing in the last post was the idea of having Gold narrate his own adventures from here on out! I had been contemplating this to make our series stand out a bit more by creating the sense that you know you're listening to FireGold once you hear the opening narration. It was nothing personal towards Arch Canine, who was on board with the idea. Gold's narration tune in the background is an 8-bit version of Metallica's song called "My Friend of Misery." After Gold's opening narration, we find that Gold has approached the Sudowoodo and caused it to go haywire upon using his Squirtbottle. The part with Metapod doing a Super Saiyan-ish Harden move was something Draftmaster came up with while we were initially reading the script out. It happened to work out well for Gold's little narrating transition. It looks like this Metapod needs to train its Hardening skills a bit more before it reaches the annoying status of Bugsy's Metapod. After a long, tough battle, our hero finally succeeds in capturing the tree creature object. From there, Gold finally reaches Ecruteak City and meets Bill in the Pokemon Center, just like in the games. I was watching one of the Back to the Future films while I was writing out the script and thought that due to Bill informing you of a Time Capsule machine where you could trade Pokemon with the first generation games, I figured that it would be neat to give him a Doctor Emmett Brown type of personality. Draftmaster had quite the fun time doing his Doc impression while recording. After we make another reference to BTTF with Gold pulling off a classic Marty McFly gag, he once again mispronounces the city's name and Violet the Random B**ch pops up again. This time, Gold puts his latest addition to his party to good use and makes quick work of Violet, referencing the redundant but nostalgic Team Rocket bit as she flies away. From here, it was tough to decide which task from the games in Ecruteak we wanted to cover first. Eventually, we settled on the Dance Theater first and left off the battle with Silver and Morty for future episodes. Teddy completely came up with that accent for the HM03 Guy while we were rehearsing the episode. It was pretty hard to stay in character while he did the voice, haha. From here, Gold begins taking down the Komino Girls one by one. I wanted to have Gold come off as a completely oblivious idiot while still defeating the Girls with seemingly no effort so I came up with his ridiculous line of thinking as he saw each of the Eevee evolutions in battle. This influenced the title for the episode, since the battles were in a Dance Theater and Gold was completely stupid through it all. It's also a parody of Dream Theater's song called "The Dance of Eternity" (which is one of the most AMAZING songs EVAR). After Gold defeats the Girls, he receives HM03 from the Male in the Hat but not without some more tomfoolery from our hero. I figured that since Gold successfully distracted Nurse Joy before to manually heal his Pokemon, he would want to do it again. This is where I included the gag of him falsely accusing someone of trading a Gen 2 Pokemon to the Gen 1 games. After the episode ends in an obligatory cliffhanger, we all knew that we needed to have some type of skit acknowledging the change in narrators. Therefore, Teddy came up with that entire skit involving the Former Narrator, DM, a few guards, and myself. The background music used here was an 8-bit version of Megadeth's song called "Dawn Patrol." It worked out so well and it's one of my favorite moments in the series thus far.
Now, onto Episode 10+2. After Gold's opening narration, we quickly find that Gold had come across Silver once again. Continuing the obliviousness of Gold from the previous episode, we played around with the gag that he doesn't know what Silver was referring to when he mentioned a legendary Pokemon. They quickly engage in a battle, showcasing Silver as even more of a loser than before. This would influence the title for the episode, parodying the "2B a Master" song from the Pokemon CD Soundtrack from way back. I decided to continue Gold's signature mispronouncing with Silver's Pokemon, causing even more tomfoolery in the battle. This battle turned out to be a more comical one between the rivals than the previous two, leading to Gold falling into one of the holes in the Burned Tower. I know you don't come across the legendary dogs in Gold Version until you get the Rock Smash move, but I felt it would be a good way to have Gold end up in the Pokemon Center again to continue the gag with the Framed Trainer. We find that an officer arrests the poor Trainer and that Nurse Joy may have done some inappropriate things while Gold was unconscious. Before we covered the gym, I figured it would be a good idea to acknowledge the Oldster blocking your way if you tried to go to the Tin Tower before you won the fourth badge because I remember being annoyed with that man back in the day for doing so. Also, it worked because he informs you of the badge and gym, which would help Gold out tremendously. I also noticed that there were sprites that resembled Carl's sprite in New Bark long before Ecruteak City and since I had yet to bring them up, I figured now would be a good time. From there, Gold enters the gym and after no help whatsoever from the Tipster Nerd, he engages in battles after suffering the annoyance of the Invisible Floor. It was here that I was even more glad to have come up with Gold narrating his own adventures because it turned out to be a great way to skip some of the longer, unnecessary parts from the game, such as the 5 Gastlys and the last two battles before Morty. After another obligatory cliffhanger, we continued the side story involving the Former Narrator. This time, Arch Canine and DM came up with the little skit and we recorded it about a nanosecond later. These episodes were a blast to record, especially after not recording for months.
Soon after we gathered all the lines for the episodes, DM and Arch Canine collaborated on the third installment of Silver's Monologue Adventures. Aside from a few notes guiding the three of us, what you heard in the final cut was off the top of DM and Arch Canine's heads. I simply filled in for Haunter, Bayleef, and Gengar wherever necessary. It was during this recording that Arch Canine suggested that the Narrator fill his role exclusively for Silver's adventures and he brilliantly came up with the explanation of the situation on the spot for the opening narration. It was so hilarious in between line recording for this due to AC's amazing improvisation skills.
Now, onto the ridiculously amazing Carl song parody. I came up with an idea with DM and AC about Carl parodying "America F*ck Yeah" with a Johtonian twist. When the final editing was done, I remember laughing so hard. It actually turned out quite well and it was really fun writing the song and recording it with the others. It's only on the YouTube channel right now, but if any of you want me to upload it on PodOmatic and iTunes, be sure to let me know below!
Finally, we'd like to thank Mongo for the idea that he pitched to us for the anniversary special! We will most likely be taking that approach for the special. We will also probably do something else to complement that, similarly to last year's Q&A and ReEpisode 1 one-two punch. We hope to meet again before a few days before June 24 to record our anniversary specials. I'll be sure to update you all as much as possible as we approach the anniversary!
And, yeah! That's about it! Until next time, blog you all later!
-PAPAYA
