The Devil's Jesters is a 2018 script written by Doug and Rob Walker intended to be the 10th anniversary special of Channel Awesome. This would have been the first anniversary special for the site since the 5th anniversary special The Uncanny Valley and it would have returned to the Massive Multiplayer Crossover format not seen since 2012's To Boldly Flee.
A group of four monsters, who are the titular Devil's Jesters, are upset they can no longer scare audiences like they used to decades before, scapegoating their woes on critics who have made fun of the tropes associated with them. When one of them alerts the others about a gathering of reviewers from the site, who are in the Chicago area to film the Channel Awesome 10th anniversary movie The Deadly Dead, the monsters decide to wreck havoc on The Nostalgia Critic and friends. With everyone unsure about what's real and who to trust, they must work together to stop the retro threat before they kill them all.
Originally meant for release sometime in the summer of 2018, the special never started production because of the events of the #ChangeTheChannel movement. It was cancelled a few days after Channel Awesome issued their first statement on the matter, when it was clear that content creators, including ones involved with the special, were leaving in droves.
Though the script has never been leaked nor released to the public, Tony Goldmark, an intended cast member who contributed to the site at the time with his show Some Jerk with a Camera, discussed the entire plot of the special on an episode of the podcast How Did This NOT Get Made?, which can be listened to here.
note It should be noted that, because of privacy concerns, the only cast members he specifically mentions in his summary are himself and Doug Walker.
Although, Eric "ERod" Rodriguez, AKA The Blockbuster Buster, did reveal in his "I Quit Channel Awesome" video that he was one of the members cast in the film. Although what role is not specified as the project was cancelled before he ever arrived on set and was not even properly informed of the cancellation until Linkara told him.
The Script contains examples of:
- Brick Joke: In the first scene with the reviewers, The Critic says that, for the movie they're filming, they should include a moment when, just when it seems that the good guys win and all the creatures are defeated, the garden gnome priest attacks. When questioned about this, the Critic simply responds "No one suspects the garden gnome, nor the priest." The special ends with the Critic getting suddenly attacked by the garden gnome priest, then cutting to black.
- Embarrassing Nickname: One reviewer says to Tony at a point "Is this why they call you Some Jerk With a Camera?", which Tony responds to with "Hey, if my mother knew that nickname was gonna stick..."
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Skull has a set of these, which he uses to stare at the Critic menacingly down a hallway.
- In-Universe Camera: Tony serves this function in the plot as the fake film's cameraman.
- Monster Clown: The archetype of Sickle, who has white makeup and a blood-stained yellow jumper suit.
- Parallel Porn Titles: A sub-plot involves a distracted sub-group of reviewers trying to produce the porn parody of the film they're shooting, with a Running Gag being them coming up with various kinds of these titles.
- Police Are Useless: The police ignore the Critic's call about his encounter with Sickle because, the last time the Critic called the police, he thought it was a break-in when it was actually just a squirrel entering his house. This happens again when the reviewers see a creepy face in the studio, as people from the studio have also misreported squirrel infestations.
- Show Within a Show: The Deadly Dead, the horror film the Channel Awesome crew is filming as an anniversary special. It is also a horror film about shooting a horror film while the cast and crew have no idea an actual horror plot is going on.
- Slasher Smile: Skull has one as his default expression. When the Critic witnesses this in a dark hallway with his Glowing Eyes of Doom, he calls it "the Cheshire Cat's rape face".
- Speaks in Shout-Outs: An interesting variation is the driving force of the second act. Because the monsters are listening to the reviewers trapped in the studio, they must devise a secret language so they can enact their plan. They then speak in movie quotes, but leaving in pauses and removing fragments of their speech. The parts they don't say are what they intend to say, communicated to the audience through subtitles. If the line is before the fragment they're saying, they hold up one finger, and if it's after the fragment they're saying, they hold up two.note
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: The monster antagonists detest how these girls, which they view as humorless, have replaced them and their fun antics in horror films. The Channel Awesome crew would later use one of these girls in retaliation to fight the monsters.
