Manic Expression

Top 11 Nostalgia Critic Videos

HEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOO I’m Dark Jak. I’m ….. Um dark so you don’t have to be. Great, I’m doing a tribute to one of my favorite comedians and I can’t even start it out with a good joke. Anyways, by now I’m sure everyone knows that Doug Walker has announced that he is retiring the character of the Nostalgia Critic. Regardless of how you feel about this, there is no denying that the character has given us all hours upon hours of entertainment over these last couple years. So as my own little tribute, I present my personal pick for the Top 11 Nostalgia Critic videos. Why top 11? Because if you really just asked that question I have to wonder why you clicked on this blog.

11. Batman and Robin

I hate this movie. Oh and I do mean hate. For the longest time, it was my single most despised movie (Jonah Hex took that place for those wondering.) so when I first discovered the Nostalgia Critic, this was one of the first videos of his that I watched. If I wasn’t a fan before, this video made sure I became one. With the movie being downright awful, it made way from some great martial, including one joke that follow the character for years to come.

10. Moulin Rouge!

Crossovers. Whenever they happen you can expect something a little different. That being said, I don’t think anyone saw this coming. With a great comedic timing from everyone involved, a hilarious script and surprisingly catchy songs this video seemed to have it all.

9. Top 11 Villain Songs

I like list, obviously. Now during his time the NC did a number of great lists, but this one I think is the best one he did. Here he explains all of his choices extremely well, but also has a number of hilarious jokes. My personal favorite being the “how do I get down from here” joke from the Be Prepared song.

8. Battlefield Earth

Oh, my gosh. That opening. Oh don’t get me wrong, the whole review is brilliant and was the perfect way to celebrate the 100th video. But that opening is one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my entire life. The stab at clip shows was really well done, and the guest appearance from Spoony was funny as hell.

7. Casper

Oddly enough, I sort of view this one as a crossover. Sure it was just Doug and Rob writing the script and Casper is nothing more than Doug doing a higher voice. The idea of having one of the film’s characters sit in on the review is one that hasn’t been explored that much in video reviews, but here it just works extremely well. I have to admit, I’m even a fan of the “Timing gag” that everyone else seems to hate. Also the ending … brilliant.

6. The NeverEnding Story III: Return to Fantasia

This is a terrible movie. How bad you may ask? Well Doug has even said that other critics should review this movie because he barely scratched the surface of what was wrong about it. That being said, Doug certainly started Sequel Month out with a bang! This is one of those rare reviews were literally every single joke works, but if I had pick my favorite, it would be the NC reaction to the RockBiter starts singing “Born to be Wild.” The gag that follows that is priceless.

5. The Star Wars Holiday Special

Sometime combinations are good. Joss Whedon and Avengers is amazing. Peanut butter and chocolate is delicious. Star Wars and Christmas …… Ummm, two out three isn’t bad. And bad is the only way that someone can ever describe this special. That being said, if anyone can make this thing watchable, it would be the Nostalgia Critic. And that he does. I think part of what makes this one so great is that it had a good build up with hints drop to it in the previous reviews. And of course the single funniest ending to a video that Doug has ever done. Ok everyone sing it with me everyone. Santa Christ, Santa Christ ……

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7nP3mUxOjI

4. Superman IV

When I first discovered the site, I mostly stuck solely to watching the NC’s videos. Not quite sure why, but I think the sheer amount of videos at the time were a bit overwhelming at the time and I didn’t want to take the time to catch up with every review. Oh sure, I would watch someone else video every now and then, but it wasn’t very often. But then while catching up on the Critics backlog I came across this little video. My reaction was something along the following. “Who the heck is this guy? Isn’t he on the Alone in the Dark video? Wait, he’s a comic book nerd like me? And he’s funny as hell, I have to see what else he has done.” And the rest, as they would say, is history. Linkara and Doug have a great chemistry with each other, and the jokes here are still quoted to this day.

3. Conan the Barbarian/Conan the Destroyer

Yeah, I know that this is technically two separate videos, but it’s billed as one review broken into two parts so that’s what I am counting it as. I know this list isn’t as detailed as I normally like mine to be, but to be honest I’m having a hard time explaining why I like the videos I picked aside from the fact that I find them gut bustlingly funny. And that is certainly true for this video. Like with the NeverEnding Story 3, this is one of those videos where I think every single joke works perfectly, and I often think of them whenever I rewatch the movie.

2. Alone in The Dark

I first discovered the Nostalgia Critic by someone posting his videos on YouTube. And while I certainly saw that he had his own website, I just didn’t see the need to go there as I thought it would just be more of his videos that were already on YouTube. But then I saw this video, and I learned that the site was home not only of Doug, but a number of really talented people, who all made great videos. But even if I had already know that, this would still be one of my favorite videos because of how well the script is written and how funny the trio are in it. This one has some of my favorite NC jokes and is what I consider the best crossover video done to date.

1. Top 11 Underrated Nostalgic Classics

But wait you say, didn’t you already say that the Top 11 Villain Songs is the best list that the Critic had ever done? Well yes, but this is my list of my personal favorite Nostalgia Critic videos, and out of all his videos, this is the one that I have to most personal attachment to. Why you may ask? Because this was the first video by him that I ever watched. Not only was it the first video of his I ever say, but I went into it completely blind, clicking on the YouTube thumbnail out of boredom more than anything else. At first I just thought he was someone who was making a video on a list with a few jokes thrown in (yeah I didn’t even know he was a comedian when I clicked on the video, like I said completely blind). But to this day, I still remember the very moment that I knew I had to see what else this guy had done. It was 10 minutes and 49 seconds into the video. The pick was Return to Oz; Doug is setting the movie as the sequel to the charming happy film we all know and love, and then shows a whole bunch of scary clips from the movie. But that’s not what made me want to see more. It was Doug’s reaction to those clips, where he goes “Holy shit.” Sure it won’t be remembered as his greatest joke of all time, but it made me laugh so hard that I had to pause the video just so that I wouldn’t miss anything else. From there, I went from someone who watched his videos on YouTube, to regularly going onto the site to see if he had posted a new video, to actually looking forward to Tuesday nights because I knew that it meant Doug would be making a new video with a ton of laughs just waiting for me to click on.

And there you have it, my personal favorite Nostalgia Critic videos. I hope you enjoyed it and on the off chance that Doug or Rob does see this, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for all of the great videos over these past couple years. You’ve made me laugh, given me a website featuring some of the funniest people out there, and if I am being completely honest, your videos helped me get through a pretty low spot in my life by giving me something to make me smile when I felt like my life was turning upside down. So thank you and I hope you have the best of luck with your future projects, which I am really looking forward to.

Honorable Mentions:

Top 11 Drug PSAs, Captain Planet, Top 12 Greatest Christmas Specials, FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Titanic: The Animated Movie, Moonwalker, Suburban Commando, The Return of the Christmas Specials, Old Vs. New - Batman Vs. The Dark Knight, Quest for Camelot, The Care Bears Movie, Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw, All of the Nostalgic Commercials!, The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy To The Rescue, The OTHER Animated Titanic, Raiders of the Story Arc – DuckTales, Top 11 Batman The Animated Series Episodes, Digimon: The Movie, The Top 11 F*** YEAH Movie Themes, Scooby Doo, Critic and Nerd: TMNT Making of Coming Out of Their Shells, Lost in Space, The Room, and Ponyo.