Airdate: Thursday, October 31, 2002
Senders: Josh, John & Doug, Nashville, TN
Strong Bad's self-proclaimed "favorite cowboys" ask if there are any ghosts in Strong Badia. He decides that his micronation is long overdue for a ghost check, and calls in the Cheat to assist.
The Cheat: (quizzical the Cheat noises)
Strong Bad: Erm, well...meet me in the closet and, uh...we'll put on some costumes.
That night, in Strong Badia, Strong Bad and The Cheat do a quick sweep. Both the Tire and Sign are all clear, and what seems to be "the ghost of General Tso" is really just a moldy old box of Chinese food The Cheat left lying around. But just as Strong Bad is about to declare his country "ghost free, proud to be", who should show up but the vengeful specter of the Tandy 400!
The Tandy begins to menace Strong Bad and The Cheat with a "bad graphics ghost", prompting Strong Bad to try and diffuse the situation:
(Cut back to the computer room. The Paper comes down. The Bad Graphic Ghost appears on the Compy's screen as spooky noises begin emanating)
Tropes:
- Blatant Lies: The email opens with Strong Bad saying "Boy, is it ever Monday!" The cartoon was released on a Thursday to coincide with Halloween of that year.
- Call-Back: Strong Bad apologizes to the Tandy's ghost for throwing it away.
- Easter Egg: If you mouse over the pixels in the Bad Graphics Ghost fast enough that all of them have disappeared, a message will appear reading "You killed the Bad Graphics Ghost. Now Strong Sad will sing you a scary song." This is followed by cutting to Strong Sad standing in front of a field of stars, where he sings the children's song "The Ghost of John", then observes that the starry background makes him feel like "the master of time and space."
- Halloween Episode: The e-mail aired on Halloween, and revolves around a ghost-hunt.
- Improvised Weapon: In an effort to distract the Tandy's ghost, Strong Bad tells The Cheat to "Throw that Chinese food at him!"
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: As the Tandy's ghost menaces him, Strong Bad claims that he has to go take The Cheat to soccer practice.
- It Came from the Fridge: Strong Bad briefly mistakes a take-out box of grody Chinese food for "The Ghost of General Tso".
- Real After All: Right after Strong Bad claims "Strong Badia is ghost-free, proud to be," the ghost of the Tandy shows up.
- Sarcasm Mode: Strong Bad's response to reading the e-mail's signature is "Took all three of ya to come up with that one, huh? You're some bright young men!"
- Shout-Out:
- The scene transition to Strong Badia at night is done in the style of the Adam West Batman TV show.
- Strong Bad and the Cheat have Ghostbusters II t-shirts as part of their ghost-hunting outfits.
- This is the first sbemail in which the floppy disk container
on Strong Bad's desk has a labelled floppy disk in it, this time having one labelled "Tongue of the Fatman". - Strong Bad orders The Cheat to meet him in "the Strong Bad Cave".
Long white bones with the skin all go-o-o-one?
Whoo! Whoooo! Whooo!
Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin oooooon?
(no longer singing) Woah, check it out. It's like I'm the master of time and space in here.
