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"I don't get it ... Ooooh, NOW I get it!"


Troels Pleimert

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It's no secret that I played Space Quest obsessively as a kid -- and a kid with a very tenuous grasp of obvious humor at that. So it's time to air out some embarrassing laundry and hope some of you will do the same. ;)

 

Any jokes in Space Quest that you didn't "get" until much, much later in life?

 

For instance, it took me the longest time to get the joke in "Ulence Flats" ("flatulence"). Yeah, I know. NOW it's pretty obvious. But when I was a kid, I just thought it was a cool sounding name.

 

Anyone else had moments of replaying the games as an adult and going, "Wow, how did I miss that?" :)

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Tons!

 

There's a few that I still don't get.

 

Here's the ones that I eventually did figure out:

1. "It was the chair, really."

2. Phleebhut being a homophone of "flea butt".

3. "As usual, you've been a real pantload."

4. Completely missed that the colonist on Space Quest 5 was a reference to Patrick Stewart.

5. "What's your momma call you?" "A mistake."

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What Johnathon said. Figure that any joke that's a sexual or scatological innuendo, or involved four letter words or pop culture flew over my head right up until I was around 16 or 17 and merely reading about Space Quest instead of playing it. I suppose all the dirty humour was part of the reason my mom hated Space Quest, and why my dad never actually explained half the jokes he chuckled at when he played/watched us play.

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Honestly, I find SQ overall to be good clean fun (there are areas where I feel SQ4 and SQ6 overdo the crudity/impurity, but fortunately those parts are few and far between, in respect to the bulk of the adventure).

 

Which reminds me: "Scrump off, you little *****monger!!!" (yeah, that'd be the first one I'd have removed, if it were up to me, I didn't understand it for years, and finally the curiosity drove me nuts to the point where I googled it. Once again, wish I hadn't) :blush:

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Try clicking on the prostitute-looking woman (in the red) who is randomly found outside the hotel (with the mouth icon, if I recall correctly), in Space Quest 6 (or... don't!)

 

In other news... I guess I should confess that it wasn't until reading topic that I realized Ulence Flats was an inuendo. Haha! I'm almost 27 years old. Thanks for saving me from my air-headed (or... isn't it lack thereof?) innocence, Troels! :P

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You're welcome, Johnathon! ;) Wait, "good clean fun ..." Were you one of those guys complaining about the language in my videos? ;)

 

Ok, serious now. Oddly, I remember Kiz Urazgubi being one of those I got really quickly, but, again, Ulence Flats -- the more obvious of the two, I think -- eluded me for DECADES.

 

For (somewhat) obvious reasons, I never knew Kerona was a beer until Scott told me back in the FAQ days.

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You're welcome, Johnathon! ;) Wait, "good clean fun ..." Were you one of those guys complaining about the language in my videos? ;)

Nah, that wouldn't be me. Of course, only because you bring it up, I myself wouldn't be dropping so many F-Bombs; but I understand you have a primarily mature/adult audience. Sometimes the more dramatic the expletive used, if it fits with the ongoing conflict, the funnier and more infectious it comes across. I can't lie and say I'm not a fan of the Die Hard series, and you're a good few years older than me, so I won't scold you about it. ;)

 

For (somewhat) obvious reasons, I never knew Kerona was a beer until Scott told me back in the FAQ days.

I understood that one well before I could even drink beer. Where my locale had been, Corona was sold quite much in the stores, and the hispanic aliens singing about it from the RW Comic Issue #1 made it even more obvious to me. I don't suppose they sold Corona where you grew up.

 

I never understood the screw in Stellar's stomach as a double entendre until now. So thanks right back, Johnathon! :D

 

Can't you just feel the love in here now, people!

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Recently playing SQ4 I found all kinds of things; most notably on Estros where almost every click event is a sexual innuendo. I have even more respect for Mark and Scott than I ever did ;)

 

And I love the "Scrump off," line! Just a classic case of someone being nasty to Roger. Especially the delivery from Gary.

 

I didn't realise that was a noun, I figured it was a madeup word. Well, I shan't be Googling it, due to Johno's response.

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And I love the "Scrump off," line! Just a classic case of someone being nasty to Roger. Especially the delivery from Gary.

 

I didn't realise that was a noun, I figured it was a madeup word. Well, I shan't be Googling it, due to Johno's response.

 

Oh, but Ali, that is not at all to what I was referring: it was what came after, which I have "starred out" in my post above, which I found to be overboard and bothersome. An occasional 'cute' adult reference here and there, or a bit of earthy profanity sprinkled about, for the sake of seasoning, does not bother me so much. It is just, that term that I "starred out," which I will not repeat nor explain here, is so disgusting and offensive to me, that I find it worse, image-wise, than the idea of Forcing Unidentified Carnal Knowledge. When I looked up that word, and discovered what it meant, I wondered, in shock, of how anyone could have found that to be worth putting into a game. Sure, it may be something a tramp would really say, and I was clicking the Mouth icon on the tramp; but still, I must ask, how far must a designer go to get the point across? It is situations like these where I feel the "Alfred Hitchcock" approach would fare much better off.

 

For example, to illustrate, I find the below...

 

"You have reached the plateau phase!" :D

 

Quite amusing, cute, and much more acceptable. It is comedic for adults, and goes over a child's head; while...

 

Well, the reference which we're discussing, with respect to the lady outside the Dewbeam Inn: I don't find it healthy psychologically for any adult to know what it means. Some things we just stay away from, because they're too much. At least for myself, I'll admit, that was.

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  • 1 month later...

Ah, innuendo. I love it, although admittedly SQ was pretty squeaky clean compared to a lot of other games (except for the occasional exceptions, such as much of Estros as pointed out above).

 

Although admittedly, what *was* there never really slipped past me. I was always a fairly good reader, and I shamelessly admit that by the time I could really comprehend SQ's brand of humor I was already a pervert-in-training, as I was discovering Leisure Suit Larry at the same time. Having been exposed to *that* series, parsing off-color comedy and sexual innuendo was already second nature to me. B)

 

Much of what I *did* miss in SQ at first was some of the more obscure sci-fi references that, as a kid, I hadn't yet been exposed to. For example, I didn't realize at first that Vohaul's ape men in SQ2 were a riff on Planet of the Apes.

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Clearly I missed out on a few things as a kid...Seems a lot of the (male) participants in the Sierra adventure game community got their sex ed through Leisure Suit Larry! I jest, I jest, but I'm still catching little bits of innuendo in Space Quest...I guess I just take things way too literally. Aw well, that's part of the fun of replaying the games now; just reading others' takes on the various references/puzzles/plot twists has turned up a few tidbits that I'd overlooked or forgotten.

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