(He got better) [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Zeitgeist

2009-06-30, 04:36 AM

When Roy said that he saw Belkar kill the Oracle, then said ([the Oracle] got better.) did anybody else think of this Monty Python excerpt:

"She turned me into a newt."
"A newt?"
"I got better."

I'm not sure if the Giant intended it, but that was the first thing that came to my mind.

kabbes

2009-06-30, 04:54 AM

Morquard

2009-06-30, 06:12 AM

Might also have been a reference to Babylon 5.
When Sheridan returns from Z'ha'dum at the beginning of Season 4 he gets greeted with "We thought you are dead".
His answer was "I was. But I'm better now"

Giant is by his own admission a B5 fan (see FAQ, the whole "Giant in the playground" is from B5 for example).

spargel

2009-06-30, 06:14 AM

It's also on Tvtropes.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IGotBetter?from=Main.HeGotBetter

Mystic Muse

2009-06-30, 06:38 AM

yeah. "I got better" is a well known trope. although I looked on there for a show I watched one time and couldn't find it.:smallfrown: (forget what the show was and wanted to find it again.)

Surfing HalfOrc

2009-06-30, 07:40 AM

I don't remember when I first heard it, but I've heard this line/joke since I was a kid:

Villain: I heard you were dead.
Hero: I WAS dead. I got better!

It's a very old gag.

Jagos

2009-06-30, 07:42 AM

Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

"I'm not Dead Yet!"

"No, You're Dead!"

"I'm getting Better!"

Not to be confused with an African Swallow and European Swallow or a Holy Hand Grenade.

Mitth'raw'nuruo

2009-06-30, 07:46 AM

could be from both. Depends what he was thinking @ the time.

But remember. MitD is really a vorlon

TheSummoner

2009-06-30, 08:05 AM

Hell, its not even the first time OOTS did "I got better..."

Sabine said it after Miko snapped her neck in the Azure City prisons.

Elaro

2009-06-30, 08:12 AM

Nah, this was too much of an informative comment to be a joke. Or a reference. Roy is simply telling Haley that the Oracle is no longer dead. If it was a joke/reference (a jokerence?), it had a terrible setup.

Meg

2009-06-30, 08:12 AM

I don't remember when I first heard it, but I've heard this line/joke since I was a kid:

Villain: I heard you were dead.
Hero: I WAS dead. I got better!

It's a very old gag.

Oh man! If you heard it when you were a kid, it must be ancient!

ba-DUM-ch!

Morquard

2009-06-30, 08:41 AM

But remember. MitD is really a vorlon
Oh come on, MitD talks waaaaayyy too much to be a vorlon.
But well, maybe thats why everyone is surprised it can talk at all :D

Scarlet Knight

2009-06-30, 09:15 AM

Oh man! If you heard it when you were a kid, it must be ancient!

ba-DUM-ch!

I'm not saying he's old, ...but he did hear it originally from Lazarus....:smallwink:

Warren Dew

2009-06-30, 09:16 AM

Roy is simply telling Haley that the Oracle is no longer dead.

Of course, Haley doesn't even know the Oracle is dead in the first place, yet, right? So how come no reaction to those comments?

kabbes

2009-06-30, 09:33 AM

Some people apparently need a footnote annotation spelling out exactly what a reference is before they understand that it is a reference.

ChowGuy

2009-06-30, 09:55 AM

Of course, Haley doesn't even know the Oracle is dead in the first place, yet, right? So how come no reaction to those comments?
She knows that the Mark was activated though she may not recall how since (as she points out) it had to be removed. She also knows or should have inferred that it happened while visiting the Oracle, as it was immediately on leaving the Valley that Belkar's sickness first became known to her. Roy's "I was there..." merely confirms the time frame and fills in some details. Add the fact that she and Celia could not recall any questions being answered plus Belkar's previous announced desire to do exactly what he did, and it should have come as little surprise in any case. Well except for the "he got better" perhaps.

Surfing HalfOrc

2009-06-30, 04:06 PM

Oh man! If you heard it when you were a kid, it must be ancient!

ba-DUM-ch!

It is, I am...

Little whippersnappers!Get off my lawn!

Pulsecode

2009-06-30, 05:06 PM

FlawedParadigm

2009-06-30, 05:45 PM

Personally, I'm of a mind that any comedic work could always use more Monty Python. I've actually been waiting for someone to be invincible or just get a flesh wound, myself.

Or maybe for someone to look on the bright side of death. Hmm. Maybe we missed our chance on that one.

Granted, it probably won't happen in any large amount again. I know the first time Rich did a full-tribute comic (glaive-glaive-glaive-glaive-guisarme-glaive), it was lauded copiously, and the second time (Nowhere/Somewhere/Someplace Else), there was rioting on the boards. That may have scared him off from some other worthy chances to make a good reference.

Cracklord

2009-06-30, 05:49 PM

He's not dead. He's only mostly dead. There's a big difference between the two. Mostly dead... you can do something about. All-dead, well there's only one thing you can do with all dead."
Go through his draws and look for loose change.

Tenebrais

2009-06-30, 09:09 PM

Personally, I'm of a mind that any comedic work could always use more Monty Python. I've actually been waiting for someone to be invincible or just get a flesh wound, myself.

Or maybe for someone to look on the bright side of death. Hmm. Maybe we missed our chance on that one.

Really, if he ever does reference Monty Python more explicitly, it should be an original reference with an original twist. Monty Python stops being funny when you parrot it to death.

Nimrod's Son

2009-06-30, 09:18 PM

Really, if he ever does reference Monty Python more explicitly
More explicitly than the strip entitled "It's Not a Gaming Session Until Someone Quotes Monty Python"? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0136.html)

Tenebrais

2009-06-30, 09:19 PM

More explicitly than this? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0136.html)

I meant in the future, and more explicitly than "he got better". That particular comic is more or less what I had in mind, really.

Dalenthas

2009-06-30, 09:22 PM

Monty Python stops being funny when you parrot it to death.

Ba-dum CHA!

theinsulabot

2009-06-30, 09:32 PM

Really, if he ever does reference Monty Python more explicitly, it should be an original reference with an original twist. Monty Python stops being funny when you parrot it to death.

what little humor monty python had to begin with has was destroyed years ago. its dead.

Porthos

2009-06-30, 10:24 PM

what little humor monty python had to begin with has was destroyed years ago. its dead.

No it's not. It's just pinin-

*WHACK*

Errr. Sorry. :smallredface:

Optimystik

2009-06-30, 10:52 PM

what little humor monty python had to begin with has was destroyed years ago. its dead.

Briiiiiing out your dead!

ArcadiaGM

2009-06-30, 11:00 PM

I for one thought that the merging of the classic Dragon magazine "Useless Tables" with the Cheese Shoppe sketch was brilliant.

I'm looking forward to a roll on the zombie reaction chart now.

Spiky

2009-07-01, 12:42 AM

Monty Python stops being funny when you parrot it to death.

No, it doesn't. You're just dead and aren't aware of the funny lasting on and on.

Hurkyl

2009-07-01, 01:47 AM

Monty Python stops being funny when you parrot it to death.
Bah. I assert that Monty Python interests more than just historians!

Cracklord

2009-07-01, 02:02 AM

This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It has passed on. It has met it's maker. It is no longer with us. This, is an Ex-Parrot.

Avilan the Grey

2009-07-01, 02:13 AM

Of course, Haley doesn't even know the Oracle is dead in the first place, yet, right? So how come no reaction to those comments?

...Because apart from the fact that Roy in the first sentence tells her that Belkar whacked the Oracle, and then telling her he (the Oracle) got better, this is the sort of things that Haley is used to. People dying, getting better afterwords, etc. And the fact that Belkar whacking the Oracle is not exactly a surprise.

Porthos

2009-07-01, 02:20 AM

...Because apart from the fact that Roy in the first sentence tells her that Belkar whacked the Oracle, and then telling her he (the Oracle) got better, this is the sort of things that Haley is used to. People dying, getting better afterwords, etc. And the fact that Belkar whacking the Oracle is not exactly a surprise.

Let's not forget that Haley had already deduced that Belkar had killed someone while they were visiting The Oracle (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0602.html).

She just didn't know who it was. Until now, that is.

Scarlet Knight

2009-07-01, 08:54 AM

Bah. I assert that Monty Python interests more than just historians!

Monty Python is the leading cause of violent death in historians...

Tenebrais

2009-07-01, 11:24 AM

No, it doesn't. You're just dead and aren't aware of the funny lasting on and on.

How many times can you laugh at the same joke? Inventive references are funny, sure. But there's a very good reason I find the funniest Python sketches to be the ones that never got popular.

Scarlet Knight

2009-07-01, 11:31 AM

How many times can you laugh at the same joke?

A lot! The "Running Gag" is one of the most popular type of jokes and often makes a mediocre one into a great gag.

Optimystik

2009-07-01, 11:35 AM

How many times can you laugh at the same joke? Inventive references are funny, sure. But there's a very good reason I find the funniest Python sketches to be the ones that never got popular.

While you're off in your corner declaring the references to be unfunny, the rest of us will still be laughing, thanks. :smallwink: