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1* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Why do the answers Spoony's subconscious gives to questions radically different than views he's given earlier on his reviews? Is it [[spoiler:because it's actually Ma-Ti's subconscious giving the answers]]; or [[spoiler:are they really Spoony's actual opinions on ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' and the last four ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games, as the lights flicker before Ma-Ti makes his presence known]]?
2* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail:
3** Doug was apparently terrified that nobody would like "Distraction", so put in loads of sound effects over his and Lindsay's voices to sate the people who were "obviously" were going to say they were terrible singers. Not only did everyone love it, but ''VideoGame/RockBand'' wanted the song in their next edition.
4** In the documentary, Rob pleaded his hope for that the audience would care for the characters “just a tiny bit”. The SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments and {{Tear Jerker}}s did win over the fanbase at the time, especially near the ending.
5* {{Applicability}}: The whole point was Critic could get out of his funk and become something better. As Brian praised on the commentary, so many fans took that as hope for their own lives.
6* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
7** The film makes heavy use of The Planets by Music/GustavHolst, particularly the best known pieces, Mars and Jupiter. They are as awesome as ever. The melodic line from Jupiter even manages to make [[spoiler:Reality, otherwise known as our normal, everyday world,]] epic.
8** Musicloops gets more free advertising from the second teaser alone with the song "Fatal Fight".
9** ''Part 2'''s AvengersAssemble scene has some truly goosebumps-inspiring music.
10** The ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'' parody where the pink ball things flew around the world had a gorgeously trippy feeling courtesy of Doug's voice echoing "I believe in science" over a very cool beat, in homage to "I Believe It's Magic" from the ''Ghostbusters'' soundtrack.
11** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Alx-j5dxTI The music played during Kyle's training of Luke.]]
12** [[http://tgwtg.bandcamp.com/track/distraction Distraction.]] Lindsey and Doug have some pipes. (Kyle, too, even thought he only gets to sing a few notes).
13** ''Part 8'' makes excellent use of, appropriately enough, The Planets Suite, particularly Mars and Jupiter.
14** "Crushin' Boots" by Sad Panda, which plays during [[spoiler:the reviewers' "low budget independent film Coke party"]] and the end credits.
15** The bombastic song that plays as [[spoiler: the Plot Hole swallows the universe]].
16** The music that plays when we [[spoiler: zoom out into space and into the Plot Hole as we hear Critic saying "I am The Nostalgia Critic"]].
17*** That would be the ending of the aforementioned Jupiter, the most well-known movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets.
18** The unholy TearJerker of the Critic/Ma-Ti PlayingTheHeartStrings {{leitmotif}}.
19** The use of ''Film/TheGraduate'' “quarter life crisis” music in the first trailer to highlight Critic's depression. So fitting that it's used in the reboot for whenever he's miserable.
20* BrokenBase:
21** Even among the producers, there are some who really enjoyed the darker tone and character issues actually getting taken seriously, while there are others who would have preferred a lighter story.
22** JO as [[Anime/CowboyBebop Radical Edward]] is either incredibly adorable, or incredibly annoying. Notably, JO himself stated in his ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' review that it's hard to make Ed's weirdness as lovable as Creator/MelissaFahn did in the anime's dub.
23** The subplots and characters involving SUCKA and the MPAAA are either [[TakeThat biting commentary on SOPA proponents]] or [[TheWaronStraw ham-handed, preachy, annoying, or even tired.]]
24** Following "The Review Must Go On," the whole movie is now in this category, as fans see it as an essential part of Critic's story arc, while detractors feel he negated his GrandFinale. It 'helps' the latter side that Doug seems to agree with them, as the comeback special was based on his anger that he had to revert Critic's happy ending.
25* CompleteMonster: Mechakara, just like [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall in his source series.]] He passes himself off as Linkara and infiltrates the USS Exit Strategy, intending to kill the crew with the help of the [[UnwillingRoboticisation forcibly assimilated]] Todd and Nostalgia Chick. Only working with others when his goals coincide with theirs and perfectly willing to kill them when they don't, Mechakara is fueled only by his hatred for Linkara and all organic life forms.
26%%Do NOT add CompleteMonster entries without going to the cleanup thread first.
27* CondemnedByHistory: Released at the height of Website/ChannelAwesome's fame in 2012, ''To Boldly Flee'' was initially seen as funny, emotional, and overall genuinely impressive for a scrappy team of Internet personalities. Even among those who disliked Creator/DougWalker's decision to kill off WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic to focus on his passion project ''WebVideo/DemoReel'', it was generally considered a good swan song for him. However, changing tastes in internet media, increasing disdain from [[CreatorBacklash the special's own contributors]], and the Critic's hasty revival after ''Demo Reel'' failed would prompt reappraisals for the worse. The humor was seen as clumsy and immature at best and flat-out offensive at worst (with [[ShallowParody surface-level, if not inaccurate parodies]] and frequent {{shout out}}s as crutches), the drama felt [[DeathIsCheap cheapened by the Critic's revival]], the plot was considered unfocused and meandering, the commentary on the then-recent SOPA/PIPA bills was deemed [[{{Anvilicious}} preachy]] and [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece badly dated]], and the Critic's death was seen as a mistake. After the Not So Awesome document revealed the ugly circumstances of its ''deeply'' TroubledProduction in 2018 (and caused the site and its community to collapse in disgrace as a result), ''To Boldly Flee'' became universally seen as a troubled, overly long, self-indulgent point of no return for the site, which ''nobody'' looks back on fondly.
28* ContinuityLockOut: As well as being a direct sequel to ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', it also involves character dynamics and {{call back}}s from shows that you'd have needed to watch regularly to get the full dramatic and comedic effect. Turrell is an extreme example, appearing previously as a throwaway gag in the ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' review and returning several years later as the villain.
29* CrossesTheLineTwice: [[spoiler:Phelous]] getting stabbed by one of Turrell and Zod's goons. Over. And over. [[OverlyLongGag And over.]] [[spoiler:And then he turns up in the ship right as rain, only to be killed and replaced two times over... somehow.]]
30* DracoInLeatherPants: In-movie, Turrell may have been pathetic but he was still a threat and wanted Critic to suffer horribly before dying at his hand. In askblogs a few years on, he's mostly a cuddly woobie with a collection of animal eared headbands.
31* FanNickname: "To Boldly Feel" or "To Boldly Cry", due to how intense it could get.
32* FoeYayShipping:
33** Terl/Critic and Executor/Snob. IHaveYouNowMyPretty is a common theme.
34** Chick/Zod is also popular, as they got ''[[NoSenseOfPersonalSpace very]]'' close in their duet, and it would have a different dynamic than what she had with her SpearCounterpart. (As Zod thinks she's Ursa, someone now dead that he had sexual history with, and he obviously looks like Critic, someone now dead that she had WordOfGod sexual history with.)
35* HarsherInHindsight: The special was a send-off to the Nostalgia Critic (both the character and the show), and had an over-arcing theme of being "the end of an era". With Doug going back to the Critic less than a year later and the eventual collapse of Channel Awesome's talent roster due to controversies over mismanagement, ''To Boldly Flee'' can be extremely painful to watch.
36** The teaser trailer for the special dropped ''the very next week'' after [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]]'s departure from Channel Awesome, which makes the title take on a new meaning. As if that weren't enough, the second trailer included a scene of Spoony being carried away by shadowy men in black suits.
37*** Every joke about Spoony possibly being dead and/or insane is now this, after Noah's mental and physical health problems became widely known as the cause of his CreatorBreakdown.
38*** Obscurus Lupa is the one to question why the reviewers should trust the Critic when he says they have to save Spoony, which is very uncomfortable RealitySubtext considering Creator/AllisonPregler's very public falling out with Creator/NoahAntwiler in real life (although worth noting that the two [[http://www.twitlonger.com/show/i6dop4 did settle their feud eventually]]).
39*** A shot in the finale shows Spoony sitting next to JO as he talks to his boyfriend Nash on the phone. [[http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a29/Edgeomatic/SpoonyTweet.jpg Ouch]].
40** Every moment of camaraderie and friendship between the various critics can be difficult to watch, as in the years since they've all abandoned CA and gone public with their poor treatment by the site's higher ups including the Walker brothers, and among themselves there have been many falling outs and burned bridges.
41*** Many of the critics admitted they were uncomfortable with the material written for them, such as the Lupa and Cyborg Chick catfight and the jokes about 8-Bit Mickey's height, but Doug convinced them to do it.
42*** The special sees Rob Walker portraying a CorruptCorporateExecutive who treats his employees like dirt and wants to destroy the critics, and Cinema Snob betrays them and joins with him after becoming disillusioned with their cause. In real life, it is now known that the financial side of Channel Awesome was sketchy,[[note]]Content creators often weren't allowed to advertise third-party monetization platforms like Patreon, didn't get paid for crossovers with the Critic, and had restrictions on what kind of sponsorships and ads they could accept. Additionally, the fundraising for ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' almost got the company investigated for fraud by Indiegogo when it took more than a year and a half for the show to actually materialize after raising nearly $100,000, and rumor goes that most of the money was used to cover other debts of the company.[[/note]] Rob Walker and Mike Michaud treated the Channel Awesome personalities like dirt, and when everyone else abandoned the site, Brad Jones sided with the Walkers and Michaud and denounced the others.
43*** The scene of Doug talking to the Critic has him claim that if the Critic departs to the "real world", the fictional world he left behind will collapse, as he is the cornerstone of its existence and the story will fall apart without him because it has no reason to exist otherwise. Favoritism toward Doug's shows and characters would be among the many complaints lodged against Channel Awesome's management in the years to come, and over time almost all of the other personalities on the site would leave. Now only the Critic remains, alone but for Brad Jones and Guru Larry.
44** Doug's commentary, where he spends a lot of it analyzing why the movie is such a perfect end for the Critic, is pretty awkward to listen to after “The Review Must Go On” resurrected the character via CosmicRetcon and rebooted the show.
45*** The Doug/Critic scene, the one scene that even the cast kept on raving over as the best in the movie, is pretty hard to watch after "The Review Must Go On". YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre speeches don't really have the same heartwarming effect when knowing the recipient will use it as an excuse to be cruel.
46*** "The Review Must Go On" proved Ma-Ti right about Critic all along. He destroys ''WebVideo/DemoReel'', both in-universe and "out", doesn't care, and is never called out for it. And why this derailment? Because WordOfGod admitted Donnie = Critic was an attack on the fans demanding the character back.
47*** During the Linkara-helmed cast commentary, Brian discussed how many people found hope and related to Critic's depression arc in the film. The Review Must Go On retcons said arc into “you only did it for the sake of the plot and didn't actually feel any of it”, an AssPull that even Donnie lampshades as bullshit.
48** WebVideo/JesuOtaku referring to Nash as "hun" is sweet until you remember that they broke up a year after To Boldly Flee was released.
49** Zod finds Turrell's first name hilarious. [[spoiler:The Chick also found it unusual, and got caught by Mechakara for it.]]
50** The first trailer's anticipation of ScheduleSlip becomes this with the "catastrophic technical difficulties" that plagued the producers computers after ''Part 1'' was posted.
51** Snob finds himself fed chocolate by a sexy woman played by his real life wife Jillian; they had separated (but remain friends) by the time the special was uploaded.
52** Spoony's perception of Critic as nothing but a compilation of screeches and in-jokes becomes more depressing than funny when ''Part 7'' tells us that Critic more or less thinks the same thing and hates himself for it.
53** Snob threatening Kinley that they'll capture Critic and turn him into the next Creator/TommyWiseau. A promise that's scarier than it sounds, but at the time Critic was suicidally depressed but also a hero, and it spurred Kinley on to fight. Fast forward to reboot, and there's a big portion of the BrokenBase who find the "new" Critic just as fascinatingly bad as any Wiseau character, and Doug's commentary of ''Film/TheRoom2003'' has him relate to the guy a lot. Revelations from his collaborators as part of the #[=ChangeTheChannel=] campaign have shown that during the film's production Creator/DougWalker displayed a lack of both basic filmmaking knowledge and general awareness about how miserable his team was that comes across as distinctly Wiseau-ian.
54** In 'Part 8', everyone joyfully gathers around and hugging Spoony, happy to see that he has returned to them alive and well is borderline TearJerker territory since he left the site shortly before the first ''To Boldly Flee'' trailer was released.
55** Practically all the commentaries, from Spoony's to Linkara's team to Rob's, make fun of Doug (while still giving him credit for some really good acting) for making some seriously air-headed mistakes with timing and green-screen and just basic social skills. They're ribbing him good-naturedly and it's really amusing. But then you get to Doug's where he says he was {{self harm}}ing (in the intentionally not eating or sleeping way) to keep from snapping at anyone and hating himself because he thought he gave his team too much stress, so the other commentaries become very awkward.
56** During their commentary for the film, Lupa sarcastically asks WebVideo/{{Phelous}} (who did the effects for the film) if he "half-assed" the part where Spoony's eyes glow white and he releases the red orbs into the world. At the time everyone thought she was just making a joke, but three years later when Phelous left Website/ChannelAwesome he revealed that several of the higher-ups in management thought that he was purposefully not trying with that particular scene, and (rather than asking him to fix it) sent Welshy to spy on him to make sure he was doing a good job; WebVideo/{{Welshy}} naturally told Phelous what they had asked him to do, [[http://phelous.tumblr.com/post/108013883721/goodbye-farewell-and-amen-ca which Phelous admitted was the beginning of his disillusionment with the site.]]
57** While the SUCKA Bill was meant to be a TakeThat to the SOPA Bill, it also had the unintentional prediction of companies constantly abusing DMCA take downs on several critics (some of them being part of Channel Awesome), with the closest being how [=ShoPro=] [[LoopholeAbuse exploited small courts to take down]] WebVideo/ThatDudeInTheSuede's videos and mortally wound the channel with copyright take downs.
58** The controversial scene where Mecha-kara assimilates the Nostalgia Chick getting played as a rape joke, was already bad with the knowledge that neither Creator/LindsayEllis or Creator/LewisLovhaug were comfortable doing the scene, but it got even worse in 2021, when Lindsey admitted she had been raped during her college years. This means Doug unknowingly wrote a scene where Lindsey would have to relive one of the most traumatic experiences of her life.
59* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: A consistent praise is that everyone brought their A game and gave some really good performances. Even Creator/LindsayEllis got love for her acting in ''Part 3'', and she's usually the first person to admit that she falls into DullSurprise normally.
60* HilariousInHindsight:
61** The final trailer shows a brief clip of an alien ship fighting [[WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal a car in space]]. Given that the NC ''Heavy Metal'' review was released over a month after filming ended, this probably isn't deliberate, but who knows?
62** Toward the end of the series being uploaded, a flash was spotted on Jupiter, possibly from a meteor.
63** The reveal that [[spoiler:Creator/JamesRolfe]] was in the Gort costume is mocked for being very likely for the fans to have figured out during the eight days the special was supposed to run. They ended up getting ''twenty-two'' days to figure it out.
64** Prick worries about the discontinuation of the live action ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' squeakquels. Post-revival, Nostalgia Critic reviewed the first three movies. Oh, and WebVideo/ThatSciFiGuy, who was a minor character of the cast, actually appeared for a few seconds, as a background crowd actor, in the latest movie of the franchise, ''[[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip]]''.
65* HoYay:
66** WebVideo/TheLastAngryGeek decides the best way to make his presence known to Critic is to get into bed with him while he's still sleeping. Deconstructed in a cast commentary-talked about deleted scene where it just made Critic scared that he'd been raped again and Geek had to waste time by coaxing him out from behind his side of the bed.
67** In ''Part 1'', the fact that Spoony's hand was on Critic's face a lot longer than Ma-Ti's previous action was lampshaded by WebVideo/DiamandaHagan's absentee commentary.
68** Snob greets Spoony with a happy "Hey, sexy".
69** Luke telling Brad & Prick to "[[ItMakesSenseInContext Ask Sage about his weiner]]."
70** Luke and Brad in general, really.[[note]]Albeit less so after Luke's actress came out as female (she now goes by Kinley Mochrie).[[/note]]
71** Paw gets Kirk/Spock flirty with Critic when he puts on his ears, and whines when Critic tells him he's undateable.
72** Luke and Film Brain's BelligerentSexualTension has evolved to VitriolicBestBuds.
73** Didn't Turrell look kind of...smitten when he first laid eyes on General Zod? Also, they get into a bickering fight like a married couple, and leads to Zod pinning Turrell down in a compromising position.
74*** Even more fitting in that the last Merry Zodmas episode had a long joke about Zod being suspiciously gay.
75** Critic tells [[WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown Film Brain]] not to go "[[Film/BrokebackMountain Brokeback]]" on him after a heartfelt scene.
76*** Even Chester ships Critic/Film Brain. "[[ItMakesSenseInContext I bet you have flavor.]]"
77** Critic's knowing smirk when he sees Spoony's naked body doesn't ''totally'' mesh with the traumatized rape victim we saw when they were naked together.
78** The Executor/Christopher Clod touches Snob more than is necessary during their scenes together.
79** When they're all unconscious from lack of oxygen in ''Part 6'', it's cruelly amusing that Critic is the one with his head in Spoony's lap.
80** After Sage saves Film Brain from Ma-Ti in ''Part 8'', the two just ''hang'' onto each other for ages.
81* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: The Nostalgia Critic really does "die" and merge with the worm hole, with Doug intending to end his series. As of ''The Review Must Go On'', however, Critic and his series are revived.
82%% * MemeticMutation:
83%% ** Ask Sage about his wiener.
84%% ** Superego Spoony is shaping up to be this
85%% ** Mickey calling Lupa a “cold heartless vacuum”. While the movie treated her as the only sane woman, both in the DysfunctionJunction and the PsychoticLoveTriangle, Allison was always confused as to why Rob and Doug's writing randomly insulted her for turning down a stalker.
86* {{Moe}}:
87** WebVideo/JesuOtaku, [[spoiler:PlayingAgainstType as [[Anime/CowboyBebop Ed]]]].
88** Kinley, with her curly mop of hair, big anime eyes and amazingly sweet speeches on how the site is a dysfunctional family.
89* MoralEventHorizon: The Executor having a disgusting amount of fun electro-torturing Kinley. He deserved his gory death at that point.
90* NightmareRetardant: Christopher Clod is actually pretty unsettling, and he has a rather creepy scene with WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob in a theater. [[spoiler:When he becomes the full-on Executor, despite creepy make-up, his character gets A LOT sillier as it starts parodying [[Franchise/StarWars Emperor Palpatine's]] [[LargeHam hamminess.]]]]
91* OneTruePairing: While the movie had the most ShipTease out of all three, Luke/Snob and Zod/Turrell [[{{pun}} came out]] as the clear winners. Nicely enough, Doug's commentary confirmed both as intentional HomoeroticSubtext, with the added bonus of amping up the former's gay so much that Rob (who had written the “critics are a family” conversation as ''not'' them sleeping next to each other) got irritated.
92* OvershadowedByControversy: The film has since been overshadowed by its TroubledProduction, which was even worse than ''Suburban Knights''. Several of the people who worked on it (most notably Creator/AllisonPregler) described it as a "point of no return" for their problems with Website/ChannelAwesome's management. Though the special itself still has its fans, even among the site's former contributors, hardly anyone will defend the special's production.
93** Doug and Rob Walker would argue constantly throughout the writing and shooting, dragging things out considerably. Several of the producers starring in the film found the script to be overlong, and no one was told about Doug's decision to retire The Critic until shooting began.
94** The "[[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Mechakara]] assimilates WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick" scene cuts away to WebVideo/FilmBrain walking past the door, who then hears The Chick making sexual-sounding moans, along with crashing sounds. This, along with him thinking they were having sex, makes it sound like [[BlackComedyRape she's being raped]]. It later got worse when a script was leaked that had The Chick and Mechakara saying sexual innuendos. Lindsay Ellis herself came forward saying that she had no say in her character becoming a [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Seven of Nine parody]] at all and her name in this state, 7 of 11, was originally [[LOL69 60 of 9]], and both Rob and Doug's commentary went into detail on how Doug didn't get how it might look like a rape scene. It also revealed that Doug added in the crashing sounds to "make it sound more consensual," and when that didn't work, he handed it off to Rob in a panic.
95* SignatureScene: Critic getting consumed by the PlotHole and his eyes glowing white. Oddly enough, the reboot's first opening theme had it as its longest clip.
96* TookTheBadFilmSeriously:
97** Doug Walker manages to really sell the Nostalgia Critic's self-loathing and depression without making it too over-the-top like he usually does. It's clear that despite the shortcuts he took when it came to actually writing and producing the special, Doug put his full effort in trying to give an emotional performance in what was intended to be a farewell to his signature character.
98** Lewis Lovhaug was adamant that Mechakara remain a serious threat while the film was shooting, and it shows. Lewis maintains the character's usual intensity during his performance as Mechakara, [[TheComicallySerious despite the goofy shenanigans that's going on around him]]. As a result, he ends up being the only villain who come away with any dignity by the end of the film.
99* ToughActToFollow: Doug himself said in following cons that anything that came after this movie wouldn't be as good, because the workload induced just too much exhaustion and he put everything he had into it.
100* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The subplot of the government trying to censor the internet was an obvious TakeThat towards the then-recent SOPA controversy, which didn't end up passing and has since been pretty much forgotten.
101* TheUntwist:
102** The death of [[spoiler:Last Angry Geek, given the character he's taking the place of,]] can come off as this.
103** In-universe, the Critic thinks the audience has already figured out [[spoiler:James Rolfe's cameo]]. [[HilariousInHindsight Hilariously, he actually was one of the people listed under the WMG entry on the matter]].
104*** Its possible to watch this movie and not know who [[spoiler:Creator/JamesRolfe]] is (or know, but simply not recognize him). They both seem to realize this, since at no point is this person named, so it could still be intentionally funny as TheUnreveal.
105* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Much of the movie portrays corporate oligarchies as evil. Guess what's become a major issue in politics today? The movie was written during the height of the SOPA/PIPA controversy, when Channel Awesome actually sent several of their producers to Washington to talk to Congressional aides about their concerns.
106* WinBackTheCrowd: A lot of people who had left due to either fandom drama or thinking quality had gone down, came back because of the impressively angsty trailers. They stayed with the movie and participated in the feelsy respect for Doug ending Critic in such a good way.

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