Airdate: Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Sender: Shana Ma, Los Angeles CA
"Shanama" inquires if Strong Bad celebrates Thanksgiving, and about how Strong Badia was colonized. This inspires Strong Bad to tell the tale of his great nation's founding; "A tale as old as, say, the wireless Web... (Beat) or... energy drinks, maybe."
In an old-timey history-book-style flashback, Strong Bad's story began in an age of strife, when he was being persecuted for his beliefs (such as that it's okay to put ketchup on scrambled eggs). On finding an ad for a "LOT FOR SALE" in the local paper, Strong Bad traveled to this "neu wirlde" with three stout sub sandwiches (The Ham 'n' Swiss, The Dijon Chicken and the Veggie Delux) and his best The Cheat. There he met "a strange man who had strange ways and strange odors" (Bubs) who lead him to the vacant lot that would eventually become Strong Badia.
After a brief struggle with "the indigenous people" (read: The Cheat accidentally knocking the Tire over onto himself), Strong Bad sealed the deal with Bubs. Bubs gave Strong Bad and The Cheat a quick lesson in "how to put fish in the ground with corn, for some reason", then the three all celebrated with a feast of leftovers from Hardees.
Tropes:
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Strong Bad laments that he was "persecuted for [his] beliefs" due to putting ketchup on eggs, which Strong Sad seems to find disgusting.
- Funny Background Event: While Strong Bad is reading the newspaper, the article on the opposite page reads "Homestar declares eggs not a fruit."
- Noodle Implements: After Strong Bad bought the vacant lot that would become Strong Badia from Bubs, Bubs "probably showed [him] how to put fish in the ground with corn, for some reason."Bubs: This'll grow ya some nice fish-corn bushes!
- Shout-Out:
- Strong Bad tries singing the sender's name to the tune of "O Canada" and "Panama".
- Strong Bad's talk about being "Free to ketchup his eggs without being hassled by The Man" is a nod to Peter Fonda's monologue in The Wild Angels, where he says "We wanna be free to ride our machines without being hassled by The Man!".
- Thanksgiving Episode: Parodied. Strong Bad explains his own take on the tale of Thanksgiving, which involves a telling of the founding of Strong Badia based on the story of the Plymouth colony.
- That's All, Folks!: Strong Bad caps off the email with "So until next week: Leave Me Alone!"
- Whole-Plot Reference: This e-mail is a parody of popular accounts of the story of the first Thanksgiving in North America, with Strong Bad and The Cheat as the Plymouth colonists and Bubs as Squanto.
