| Sgt Frog Abridged: Episode 3 | |
|---|---|
Season 1, Episode 3
| |
| Air date | Original version aired 07/23/2010 Remade 07/30/2011 |
| Length | 3:47 |
| Written by | Mugiwara Yoshi ThornBrain (Script can be read here) |
| Link | YouTube |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Episode 2 |
Next Episode 4 |
Episode 3 is Giroro's introduction episode, though the ending also serves as an introduction for Kululu.
Episode Summary
More of Keroro's platoon is revealed, and plans for a takeover are laid immediately. They don't work out.
Cast (In Order of Appearance)
- Narrator: ThornBrain
- Keroro: Mugiwara Yoshi
- Tamama: ThornBrain
- Giroro: ThornBrain
- Fuyuki: ThornBrain
- Natsumi: LillyLivers
- Kululu: InfamousGentleman
Other voices
Sgt Frog Episodes Used
- Episode 3B
- Episode 4A
- Episode 8
Music Used
- "Sleepwalk" - Keroro Gunsou OST - general background music throughout episode
- "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" - Sparks, Propaganda - Singing TV, pitch-shifted down one step
- "Spacewalk" - Keroro Gunsou OST - general background music throughout episode
- "Pirate's Fortress" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST - Giroro talking about the people he has spied on; detailing the phases of his plan
- "Eleki Gunsou" - Keroro Gunsou OST - Natsumi's scene
Development Notes
Thorn convinced Yoshi that a redub of Episode 3 was necessary, due to the remakes of Episode 1 and Episode 2 resulting in a few plotholes; plus, the original video was made before the team's writing and voice-acting truly hit its stride. While they originally intended to simply redub the video with better voice-acting while improving a few jokes and fixing plotholes, enough changes were made to the script that they decided to just call the video a remake.
The video was completed on July 14, well before the Episode 2 remake, but uploaded afterward on July 30 as the third and final video in the string of surprise remakes.
Post-Credits
- Part 1: The Narrator gives a preview of Episode 4, in which Dororo says he's not in the team but, following a passage-of-time clip, changes his mind.
- Part 2: Kululu is heard listing off various things that he supposedly did in the previous three episodes.
Joke References and Explanations
SPOILER WARNING
The following has numerous spoilers for the episode. It is recommended that you watch the episode before reading any further.
- Thorn hid the covers of five of her favorite Krautrock albums in the background, both making up for the original video's lack of connection between the album covers and basing the new connection around Ege Bamyasi from the original:
- Can's Ege Bamyasi is once again seen on the shelf in Keroro's room.
- NEU!'s NEU! 75 is behind Giroro when he talks about spying on the humans.
- Faust's eponymous debut is on the air vent when Keroro details the soda invasion plan.
- Kraftwerk's Autobahn later replaces NEU! 75 before Giroro is thrown out a window.
- Can's Tago Mago is above Keroro and Tamama when Giroro assumes control of the plans.
- The video that plays on Keroro's TV is a YouTube video called "my sweet guinea pigs" by Fabienne2212.
- Though it is technically Giroro who blows up the TV, Tamama mocks Disney Channel's programming after it explodes.
- Pichu from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Abridged is operating the lights for the Singing TV's performance, referencing Pichu's revealed ambition to operate lights on Broadway.
- Keroro's line, "Eh, the book was better", after the TV sings is a shot at people who comment that movie, television, or other adaptations of books aren't as good as the original book.
- Giroro references how the Sgt Frog anime calls humans "Pekoponians", and then compares that to "Pik Pik Carrots", a reference to the Pikmin game series. It is also an example of the writers playing with and mocking the original Sgt Frog series and its tropes.
- Giroro developed an attraction to Natsumi from watching her shower instead of her ruthlessly defeating him, which Giroro seems to admit when he says that he just watched her shower every day, then completely acknowledged after Natsumi knocks him out the window near the end of the episode.
- Giroro actually going along with Keroro's plan, (somewhat optimistically, it should be noted), hints at an incompetence in the platoon that affects even the best of its soldiers. Though it should also be noted that Giroro and Keroro grew up together.
- Keroro saying "nah-nah-nah nah nah-nah-nah" is spoken in the rhythm of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo.
- The wah-wah jingle played between each "attempt" is a clip of the PeeWee's Playhouse theme cut into sections.
- In "Attempt #3" Giroro literally flies out the window for no reason.
- Keroro mentions Dr. Pepper, which is ThornBrain's favorite soda.
- Fuyuki's attention span was dropped to barely one second.
- The episode pokes fun at the original show's joke of Giroro tying up Keroro and Fuyuki under the guise of it being "a magic trick".
- Fuyuki's sudden expression and disposition change both references his cameo in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Abridged and confirms that his over-the-top demeanor in that video is a real part of his personality. This trait was never seen after Episode 3 due to Fuyuki's decreased presence in the series overall, as well as the writers coming to dislike obnoxious wackiness with Fuyuki, preferring instead to emphasize his odd non-sequitur humor.
- Giroro describing Natsumi as a "pink-haired backscratcher" is a projection of him seeing her rear while she was showering.
- Natsumi's claim that "You can diffuse anything when you force a meme" when she shows the leek is the writers pointing out that Funimation seemed to force the obvious Leekspin reference in the episode dub. Thorn sometimes feels that Funimation forced a lot of their references.
- Keroro's line "...It's over six" is a reference to Over 9000, and Keroro not saying it directly is the writers' refusal to do so, due to the joke being unfunny and overused. His forced "laugh" further drives this home.
- The laugh itself is a callback to SFA2, wherein Fuyuki made the same half-hearted laugh.
- Keroro's line "...It's over six" is a reference to Over 9000, and Keroro not saying it directly is the writers' refusal to do so, due to the joke being unfunny and overused. His forced "laugh" further drives this home.
- When Natsumi knocks Giroro out the window, Giroro references that not only has this happened constantly, the window glass seems to come back each time.
- Keroro asking Giroro when he's going to buy him a new toothbrush is a call-back to Episode 2, when Keroro's toothbrush suddenly exploded in the Post-Credits.
- Kululu's line about checking lotion stocks builds on his later remark from Episode 9, "I'm ordering lotion online".
- In the Post-Credits, Kululu is listing off various things that happened in the previous three episodes. This adds a sinister twist to otherwise oddball jokes such as Todd's hot air balloon, foreshadows the events of Episode 10 seven episodes in advance, and develops the idea of Kululu coming from the future to mess with the timeline and potentially kill Keroro. Because Future Kululu's plot was not planned until the writing of Episode 10, this was added to the remake to serve as the earliest indicator of this twist.
- He specifically foreshadows his admission that he hides present-day Kululu in a box sometime after the events of Episode 5. It should be noted that Future Kululu first arrives in the current chronology at the end of SFA5, but he jumps back and forth in the timeline to set up his work, hence him being active at a point before he arrives.
- Solid Snake makes his second appearance in the Post-Credits, both referencing a brand of cardboard box in Metal Gear Solid 2 called "The Orange", and the Let's Play of MGS2 by Chip & Ironicus.
Reception
The episode received 47 "likes", 2 "dislikes" and 29 "favorites" in its first week. Most viewers enjoyed the episode and thought it was better than the original, though like with SFA1 and SFA2 a small minority thought the opposite. As of September 5, 2011 the episode had 62 "likes" but 16 "dislikes", the highest number of "dislikes" for any Midnight Frogs video including SFA1R at that point - as of August 14, 2016, it has 884 likes and 71 dislikes.
Additional Trivia
- The original Episode 3 was retconned suddenly on July 30, with the team giving no indication that they intended to do so. This is because the team were originally just going to redub Episode 3, though enough changes were made to the script that they decided to call the new version a full remake. The remake is considerably closer to its original episode than the Episode 1 and Episode 2 remakes (roughly 90% identical), but like those two episodes the July 2011 version completely replaces the original in the series' timeline and continuity.
- The primary reason the team remade the episode was to remove a few anachronisms from it that happened as a result of Episode 1 and Episode 2 being retconned. Changes include:
- Minor joke and line alterations.
- Improved voice-acting.
- The complete retconning of GhostTC's stint as Kululu and Yoshi's stint as Tamama.
- Changing the second Post-Credits scene to foreshadow Episode 10 as opposed to reference the now non-canon Episode 1R.
- Removing the mention of needing a new intro song, since they had quit searching for one as early as Episode 4 and dropped using a title card by Episode 7.
- The primary reason the team remade the episode was to remove a few anachronisms from it that happened as a result of Episode 1 and Episode 2 being retconned. Changes include: