Web Video / The Happy Spaceman

TheHappySpaceman, a.k.a. Hunter Bruton, is an internet reviewer specializing in movie musicals. He also has a series called Was It Really That Bad?, where he examines critically and/or commercially unsuccessful albums and gives his opinion on whether their bad reputation was merited. His videos are currently posted to YouTube as well as Vimeo and Manic Expression.

In addition to reviewing music, he is also the main member of the band DAЯK MATTEЯ. In 2022, he became the bassist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist for absurdist Punk Rock band The Falsies.

---

TheHappySpaceman has reviewed the following:

Standard Reviews

• Metropolis vs. Metropolis (2001)
• Interstella 5555
• Rock of Ages
• Monster Mash
• My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
• Eat Me: A Zombie Musical
• The Wall: Live In Berlin
• One Direction: This Is Us
• High School Musical
• Daft Punk's Electroma
• Frozen (2013) (with QuilSniv)
• Labyrinth
• Annie (2014)
• High School Musical 2
• The Nutty Squirrels Present
• My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
• Phantom of the Paradise (two parts)
• Sunday School Musical
• High School Musical 3: Senior Year
• Zombieworld
• The OTHER Monster Mash
• Z-O-M-B-I-E-S
• Rock: It's Your Decision

Was It Really That Bad?

• Hot Space by Queen
• Van Halen III by Van Halen
• Caress of Steel by Rush
• Standing in the Spotlight by Dee Dee Ramone
• Music from "The Elder" by KISS

All Star Albums

• Slave to the Grind by Skid Row

Lists

• Top 10 Surprising One Hit Wonders
• Top 6 TheHappySpaceman Moments Of 2015
• Top 10 Follow-Up Albums
• Top 10 Silliest Muse Lyrics
• Top 6 TheHappySpaceman Moments Of 2016
• Top 6 Most Hated Christmas Songs
• Top 10 Worst Censored Lyrics
• Top 6 Favorite Christmas Songs
• Top 10 TheHappySpaceman Mistakes (a.k.a. TheHappySpaceman Messed Up?!)
• Another Top 10 Worst Censored Lyrics
• Top 10 Scariest Childhood Moments (two parts)
• Top 6 TheHappySpaceman Moments Of 2019-2020
• 10 Album Covers That Were Changed After Release

---

This show provides examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • Spaceman has occasionally pointed out when whatever he reviews contains something amusing, such as Gabriella's speech in High School Musical 3: Senior Year failing to convince the other characters or one of the members of One Direction trolling their audience.
  • He's said this trope word for word on a couple occasions, such as Jesus screaming in Zombieworld or in his Another Top 10 Worst Censored Lyrics video, when Electric Six changed the lyrics in their song Gay Bar to "Let's do an edit! Do a radio edit!"
• All Just a Dream: Spaceman's review of Monster Mash (2000) ends this way.
• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: In-Universe, Spaceman himself has one in his review of Rock: It's Your Decision:
  Spaceman: It was less like a pro-Jesus film and more like a psychological thriller about a normal kid whose religious fanatic parents ruin his life by brainwashing him into a selfish, irrational, judgmental bigot with no personality or independence, all because they don't like the music he listens to. You could turn the script into a cautionary tale about the dangers of joining a cult and nothing would have to be changed.
• Angrish: In his video Another Top 10 Worst Censored Lyrics, Spaceman hears Kidz Bop imply that infidelity is more child-friendly than homosexuality and can only muster this as a response before giving up and Flipping the Bird.
• Anvilicious: In-Universe, he accuses High School Musical of being this, citing both the trope name and TV Tropes itself.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When talking to his past self in the Monster Mash (1995) review:
  Past!Spaceman: What's the future like, anyway?
  Spaceman: We have a fascist president, our nation is being ravaged by a viral pandemic, and High School Musical made a comeback.
  Past!Spaceman: You're kidding.
  Spaceman: Pfft, I wish.
• Author Appeal:
  • As his name indicates, he is a fan of all things space-related.
  • He is a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Four tracks into his Dee Dee Ramone review, Spaceman says he's almost looking forward to hearing Dee Dee rapping again. He only gets a couple lines into the song Commotion In The Ocean before yelling "I take it back. I take it back!!"
• Big "WHAT?!":
  • Upon finding out that Annie can't read, Spaceman has a minor mental breakdown. After spending some time completely silent, he resumes his review by sitting down and delivering one of these in slow motion.
  • He lets out one of these in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls when Pinkie Pie guesses Twilight's entire backstory and says it was "just a hunch."
  • Becomes a Running Gag in Eat Me: A Zombie Musical.
• Bowdlerise: A music example of this is the topic of his two Worst Censored Lyrics videos.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: When Brother Owen in Rock: It's Your Decision says that rock music is one of the most difficult things a Christian young person must deal with, Spaceman replies with a Long List that includes "Making Friends," "Tight Undergarments" and "The Heat Death of the Universe."
• Brick Joke: Early on in Spaceman's first Worst Censored Lyrics video, he talks about "Lola" by The Kinks and how they had to censor the lyric "It takes just like Coca-Cola" to "It tastes just like cherry cola." Later in the video, when he makes fun of the Kidz Bop cover of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga:
  Spaceman: A lot of gay people probably grew up with nothing but straight characters, couples, and songs in the media, but they still didn't turn out straight. Similarly, your kids hearing about homosexuality on the radio or seeing gay characters in their favorite cartoons isn't going to magically turn them gay, and even it did, who the hell cares? Calm down and drink a Coca-Cola! ...sorry, I mean a cherry cola.
• Call-Back:
  • When discussing Fantasia 2000 in The Top 10 Scariest Childhood Moments and the Scare Chord in the song (and the Jump Scare appropriately added to the movie), he includes a Call-Back to his review of Slave to the Grind, comparing the sudden nature of the switch-up to the opening of "Monkey Business."
  • In Spaceman's review of Rock: It's Your Decision, during the scene when Jeff is listening to the radio after being told not to listen to rock music, he edits the clip so Jeff is listening to "Funky Man," from Dee Dee Ramone's rap career.
• The Cameo:
  • Many appear in Spaceman's Phantom of the Paradise review, including Magnetrex, BlackScarabFilmZ, The Second Opinion, and QuilSniv. The Second Opinion had previously made a cameo appearance in Spaceman's review of My Little Pony: The Movie (1986).
  • Spaceman himself appeared in the third episode of Crash Thompson's Green Day trilogy and The Cartoon Physicist's one-year anniversary and two-year anniversary videos.
  • He appeared in BlackScarabFilmZ's review of Masters of War, thinking it was a review of the similarly named song by Bob Dylan.
  • The Falsies' bassist Morgan Moran appears at the beginning of Spaceman's review of Eat Me: The Musical. (She was also Spaceman's bassist in Dark Matter for a few years.)
• Catchphrase: From 2014-2015, he opened and closed his videos with one:
  "Hey everybody, this is TheHappySpaceman with another review."
  "This is TheHappySpaceman signing off."
  • He officially retired both of these in his review of One Direction: This Is Us, although he has continued to use the latter occasionally since then.
• Cute Kitten: Spaceman occasionally features his cat Dina in his videos, such as his review of Phantom of the Paradise and his Top 6 Favorite Christmas Songs video.
• Crossover: Teamed up with fellow reviewer QuilSniv to review Frozen (2013) and Magnetrex to review Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
• Damned by Faint Praise: In-Universe, when Spaceman realizes that Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (2018) is so bad that he has to give credit to the High School Musical series:
  "I mean, say what you want about High School Musical... oh my god, I'm about to praise High School Musical..."

• Developer's Foresight: According to Word of God, in his review of Monster Mash (1995), when present-day Spaceman called himself in 2014, he had actually filmed the past segments a few years prior when he had shorter hair, intending to use them in the future.
• Does Not Like Shoes: Downplayed; in the first part of his Top 10 Scariest Childhood Moments video, he admits that he does not usually film with shoes on because he uses his toe to scroll the scripts on his computer.
• Double Take: This is Spaceman's response to finding out that A World Without Heroes was co-written by Lou Reed.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In Spaceman's review of Monster Mash (1995), Spaceman gets one of these in when one of the characters makes a tasteless joke about Robin Williams. Complete with censored Precision F-Strike.
  • In his re-review of Rock of Ages, he calls himself out on a tasteless joke about Rick Allen.
• Everything Makes a Mushroom: From high notes to loud metal, nuclear explosions have become a Running Gag in Spaceman's reviews to signify pure, unfiltered awesome musical moments.
• Flat "What":
  • In his video on Music from "The Elder", Spaceman responds to the line "Only you are the Manchild" with one of these.
  • His reaction upon discovering that there is another "Monster Mash" movie, after having already reviewed one years prior.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: His review of the horror anthology film Zombieworld, as opposed to the musicals he normally reviews. This was mainly because of him having made a song with the same name.
• Fun with Subtitles: When Spaceman watches Soviet propaganda film Shadows on the Sidewalk, he cannot understand the dialogue spoken, so he adds his own captions to what the characters are saying.
  Woman: One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock. We're gonna rock around the clock tonight.
  Narrator: But in Soviet Russia, clock rocks around YOU!
  • In Eat Me: The Musical, Peter and Morgan smoke kudzu and their dialogue runs backwards, but the subtitles don't actually match what they're saying. Spaceman mocks this with his own backwards, subtitled gag:
  Backwards!Spaceman: Ugh! This movie is so weird.
  Subtitles: This movie is better than Citizen Kane!
• Gag Dub: Spaceman dubbed dialogue throughout his review of the wordless film Daft Punk's Electroma, voicing Thomas, Guy-Manuel, and several of the other characters.
  "Thomas": Now that I think of it, these Beavis and Butt-Head masks really weren't a good idea.
  "Guy-Manuel": Ya think?
• Gilligan Cut: In his review of Music from "The Elder", Spaceman questioned whether anyone was still interested in Progressive Rock in the early Eighties right before cutting to Tom Sawyer by Rush.
  • In the intro for his video 10 Album Covers That Were Changed After Release, Spaceman discusses album art and the impact it can have on the music itself. He questions if that's something someone can just change before cutting to the video's title card, which is accompanied by Changes by David Bowie.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In-Universe, Spaceman is visibly uncomfortable in his April Fools' Day re-review of Rock of Ages, when his 2014 self references a Nostalgia Critic clip.
  Spaceman: Trust me, Spaceman, you DON'T want to be associated with the Channel Awesome crowd.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: These days, Spaceman is rarely seen without his leather jacket.
• Help Yourself in the Future: In-Universe, Spaceman tries to do this with his 2014 self at the end of his review of Monster Mash (1995) by calling him and attempting to warn him of what's to come. It doesn't work.
• I Hate Past Me: Spaceman namedrops this trope in two videos: his April Fools' Day re-review of Rock of Ages, where he criticizes his 2014 self for a tasteless joke about Rick Allen; and his review of Monster Mash (1995), after having a conversation with his 2014 self trying to warn him of what was to come in the world and his life.
• Jaw Drop: Spaceman's reaction to this line in "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," from his Top 6 Worst Christmas Songs:
  Elmo Shropshire: It's not Christmas without Grandma
  All the family's dressed in black
  And we just can't help but wonder:
  Should we open up her gifts or send them back?
  Spaceman: in Stunned Silence at first THAT'S the first thing on your mind?!
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Spaceman gets this at the end of his Van Halen III review, courtesy of a neuralizer-wielding Eddie Van Halen.
• Narm: In-Universe, Spaceman tries not to laugh when Gene Simmons sheds a tear at the end of the music video for A World Without Heroes.
  • The same thing happens when Spaceman first hears Dee Dee Ramone's rapping, with Spaceman breaking into laughter while the words Actual Reaction appear onscreen.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: In his video on the Top 10 Album Covers That Were Changed After Release, Spaceman brings up the prospect of talking about the album cover for Virgin Killer by Scorpions. This is his response.
• "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: He clarifies no less than four times that Z-O-M-B-I-E-S literally compares racial minorities to zombies.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • In his parody of The Trial at the end of his The Wall: Live In Berlin review, Spaceman delivers the line "You little twat, you're in it now!"
  • There's a censored variant during his The Reason You Suck speech at the end of his Z-O-M-B-I-E-S review: "Movie... f*** you."
  • Spaceman gets his first uncensored F-bomb during his first Worst Censored Lyrics video, when talking about the Kidz Bop version of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga:
  Spaceman: The original song probably spoke to a lot of gay or trans kids growing up, feeling like they didn't fit in, like they were freaks, unnatural, but heard this song tell them, "Hey, you're awesome no matter who you are and who you love, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." But by removing these lines, it completely undermines the original song's message of acceptance! And for anyone who's about to say, "Well, kids shouldn't hear about homosexuality because then it'll turn them gay," do you realize how you fucking sound?
• Pun: In Eat Me: A Zombie Musical, when Spaceman discovers that the first song is titled "Asian Panties," he asks, "Because why beat around the bush?" Cue Pinkie Pie playing a rimshot.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: At the end of the Z-O-M-B-I-E-S review, Spaceman takes the movie to task for its message that minorities shouldn't fight back against oppression.
• Running Gag: A few:
  • Things bouncing off the Death Star and exploding it.
  • QuilSniv shouting "KIDS' MOVIE!" (from the Frozen (2013) review) when a children's film contains inappropriate material.
  • Prince Zuko saying "That's rough, buddy."
  • The members of Daft Punk (voiced by Spaceman through a vocoder) frequently add some angry commentary when they are referenced. This gag started in Spaceman's review of Interstella 5555 and continued in his reviews of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, Daft Punk's Electroma, and Phantom of the Paradise.
• Running Gagged: Daft Punk have not appeared in Spaceman's reviews after threatening him in the Phantom of the Paradise review.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In his Z-O-M-B-I-E-S review, Spaceman nearly bails on the film only minutes in when he sees Zed's zombie makeup.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • His video Top 10 TheHappySpaceman Mistakes has plenty of this, naturally.
  • His April Fools' Day re-review of Rock of Ages contains plenty of self-criticism, ranging from joking self mockery to I Hate Past Me.
  • In his review of Z-O-M-B-I-E-S, Spaceman responds to Addison telling Zed, "You're not hideous at all," with "Hey, that's the nicest thing any girl ever said about ME in high school. Ay-yo! Ba-dum-tsss!"
• Shameless Self-Promoter: In his review of Eat Me: The Musical, Spaceman comments that one of the actresses ^note Morgan Moran, then-bassist of the Falsies and also a member of Dark Matter needs to survive the movie so that she can appear in his music video. The video cuts to him giving the thumbs-up while the words "Shameless Self Promotion" appear on the screen.
• Share the Male Pain: While debunking the conspiracy theory that Lynyrd Skynyrd's Street Survivors album cover proves that Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines faked their deaths, he denounces that the theory that the flames only touch Ronnie and Steve, stating that the flames touch all the members. Then he highlights one member ^note Specifically drummer Artimus Pyle, where the flames are positioned in an unfortunate area:
  "I mean, look at this guy! His dick is on fire!" Beat "Ouch."
• Shout-Out:
  • In his review of Sunday School Musical, Spaceman displays his accordion skills by playing the Kamikaze Watermelon theme.
  • Since 2018, Spaceman has occasionally taken to saying "Oh, Bob Saget!!" as a reference to The Tourettes Guy.
  • When Daft Punk threaten Spaceman with guns in the Phantom of the Paradise review, they quote Pulp Fiction.
  • In his review of Music from "The Elder":
  Gene Simmons: Only you have the answers / But the questions you have to find
  Spaceman: Oh, I know this one! Forty-two!
  • In his Music from "The Elder" review, he shouts out TheOdd1sOut by mentioning his 5-hour Energy theory.
  • Also from Music from "The Elder", his response to the lyric "But now before you lies the quest at hand / And from this boy, you may become a man."
  Spaceman: What quest? How will he become a man? What, in just seven days, you'll make him a man? Tell me, Gene!
  • In his review of Zombieworld, he remarks that one of the zombies looks like the titular character of the webcomic Erma.
  • During his review of Monster Mash (1995):
  "Can this movie stop being horny FOR FIVE MINUTES?!"
• So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe, Spaceman has this reaction to Dee Dee Ramone's rap album, calling it the audio equivalent of Plan 9 from Outer Space.
• Spit Take: Spaceman chokes on water near the beginning of his Eat Me: The Musical review when a little girl suddenly says "Your mother sucks cocks in hell!"
• Stealth Pun:
  • Whenever Spaceman talks about copycat media, such as The Nutty Squirrels Present or the works of The Asylum, he uses "Copy of A" by Nine Inch Nails as background music.
  • He often chooses relevant Stealth Pun music during the end credits. In his review of Music from "The Elder" by Kiss, he ends the review with "Kiss on My List."
• Stuff Blowing Up: In addition to the Running Gag mentioned above and Your Head Asplode below, there's the sketch in his review of Dee Dee Ramone's Rap Album where he imagines the reaction of a Warner Music Group executive:
  Executive: Welp, this was a mistake! Presses the button on a Handy Remote Control, causing the Warner Records building to explode
• Stunned Silence: Spaceman is left in slack-jawed shock after BlackScarabFilmZ shows him Doctor in Distress and responds by flipping him off.
  • This was also Spaceman's initial reaction to Pinkie Pie guessing Twilight Sparkle's entire backstory. Before going into Angrish and dropping a Big "WHAT?!"
• Suddenly Shouting:
  • Twice in Music from "The Elder":
  "Guess that's what happens when you make an album that's the soundtrack to a movie that was never made, but the tracks are out of order, and the only way you'd know that is if you read it on Wikipedia which DIDN'T EXIST WHEN THIS ALBUM WAS RELEASED!!!"
  "Or maybe this, too, was a metaphor. A metaphor for how we believe we're destined for greatness and we spend our lives working and training until we're ready, but the moment never comes, and we find ourselves with NO job, NO forseeable future, REVIEWING KISS ALBUMS FOR A LIVING!!!!"
  • In Z-O-M-B-I-E-S:
  "Now, I don't talk about this a lot, but I am one-quarter Armenian. My ancestors fled Armenia during the Genocide, and some were killed during the death marches of 1915-16, but I recognize that in America, I have the privilege of appearing as any white male, and as such, I probably don't have the perspective to make a full analysis on such a complex issue. That said, though, I'd just like to point out that THIS IS A LICENSED DISNEY MOVIE THAT COMPARES MINORITIES TO ZOMBIES, ARE YOU CRAZY?!?"
  • When Spaceman discovers that Shirley and Squirrely, a copycat group of Alvin and the Chipmunks, later added a third member named Melvin:
  "Melvin."
  Moves closer to the camera
  "Melvin."
  Moves even closer
  "REALLY?!"
  • In his video about the Six Most Hated Christmas Songs, when talking about "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," he rambles for a minute speculating the true underlying meaning of the song, until...
  Spaceman: Actually, this brings up some other questions... Like why is Santa flying so low that he'd hit someone with his sleigh? Why didn't he see Grandma? It mentions his footprints being on her body...
  Elmo Shropshire: And incriminating Claus marks on her back
  Spaceman: ...so, was this intentional? Did he run Grandma over, then get out of the sleigh and stomp on her body just to make sure she was dead? But the most baffling question of all is, HOW IN THE EVER-LOVING F**K DID THIS SONG MAKE IT PAST THE CUTTING BOARD?!?
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: In-Universe, the subject of his video ''Top 10 Follow-Up Albums''
• Take That!: Gets one against the YouTube animation Analysis Channel community in Music from "The Elder":
  Gene Simmons: Only you / Are the manchild
  Spaceman: ...what?
  Simmons: You are the light, and you are the way
  Spaceman: Did... did manchild mean something different back in The '80s? I don't know, "manchild" usually makes me think about those grown adults who make two-hour video essays about how cartoons were better in the good old days.
  Presents a montage of such videos accompanied with a fart sound effect, including lengthy videos from MisAnthroPony, Lily Orchard, MangaKamen, and Uniquenameosaurus
  • In his review of Music from "The Elder", upon discovering that Lou Reed had co-written a few tracks:
  "...Well, this only makes the third worst album he's worked on." Shows pictures of Metal Machine Music and Lulu
  • In Monster Mash (1995), after comparing the film's plot to that of The Rocky Horror Picture Show:
  Spaceman: My god! This is shameful! It's a disgrace! It's the same friggin' movie, only this one is rated PG! If I wanted a PG version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I'd just...
  Shows the poster for The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again
  Spaceman: ...okay, that's too insulting. This is still better than that crap.
• Training Montage: Spaceman partakes in one of these during his review of Labyrinth, doing push-ups, lifting his two Stratocasters, and hitting a punching bag.
• Waxing Lyrical:
  • In Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (2018):
  Bree: Addy? Are you okay, Addy?
  Addison: My heart is racing and my palms are sweaty.
  Spaceman: Mmm, are your knees weak and arms heavy? Is there vomit on your sweater already? Mom's spaghetti? Launches into "Lose Yourself" by Eminem
  • In Rock: It's Your Decision, Spaceman joins the characters in prayer:
  Spaceman: When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Amen.
  • Also in Rock: It's Your Decision, when the characters go to a party:
  Spaceman: Man, this party's kicking! They're gonna get some leg tonight for sure! Tell us how you do!
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: At the end of his review of High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Spaceman questions why the movie does not end with one before adding one himself.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Spaceman has this reaction to hearing Dee Dee Ramone's rapping style on "Funky Man":
  "Oh my god, I... I cannot believe this. I truly cannot believe what I am seeing right now. Is... is this a joke? Was this serious? Am I dreaming? Am I tripping out? Am I dead?" checks pulse "No, no, I'm alive."
• Your Head Asplode: Used as a gag in a few videos, like when he suggests that Matt Bellamy might have invented the Rick Roll.

---