"I am Arthur Knowledge, destined to be grand master of the Paladins of Hope. Along with my mentor Ivan Golarian, we review geek classics in a strange attempt to stem the tide against the Geekron Empire and Archon Nekros. Is this confusing? Sounding like a bad fanfic? Yeah, it probably is. But still, tune in for the fun ride in The Quest For Geekdom."
— Arthur Opening narration
Meet Arthur Knowledge, the Geek Apprentice. He hosts a review show exhibiting old, good geek classics that every geek should watch. However, Arthur himself is just beginning his geekdom, having never seen any of these films before. He breaks down their pros and cons, what makes them work and age so well, and why they have become such classics.
...at least, that was the plan. It soon becomes evident that an epic prophecy is unfolding behind the scenes of the show, with Arthur dead in the center. Devious forces work against him to destroy the geekverse (now the Reviewaverse due to Geekvision's eventual cameo and crossover connections with Channel Awesome reviewers) with the power of Hate, and only Arthur, destined to become the Geekvere's saviour, can stop them.
A few episodes in the series was re-tooled to be less plot heavy and have shorter episodes, due to the growing pressure on Arthur and Ivan in their personal lives. Though there is still an overarching story, it takes aback seat to the reviews themselves and the comedy.
He also had a short series on EDM called Beatdrop, as well as miniseries' on Horror Films and the Franchise/DCAU. These and the main Quest for Geekdom videos can be found here
, and here, and here!
Tropes exhibited here include:
- All-Star Cast: In-Universe. Describes Mars Attacks! this way, and provides the page quote.
- Arc Welding: Elements of The Reviewaverse Saga show up in the show (with Apollo's blessing).
- The Bad Guy Wins: At the end of the Die Hard review, Arthur decides to let Nekros succeed with his hostage takeover of a random office building - after all, it is Christmas. And Arthur claims to know what he's doing...
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Count Jackula saves Arthur after his first encounter with Razor.
- Big Good: Alexander Knowledge, Arthur's long-lost father and former paladin grandmaster.
- Bizarro Universe: During the Back to the Future reviews, a time travel mishap and paradox blast has caused all the Geekvision producers to have their personalities swapped.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The Eric Rosethorn Academy of Eloquent Supervillainny teaches class, ambition, and unbridled malice.
- The Cameo: Many have cameos here, including Ozzie Arcance, Cin Wicked, Count Jackula, Blockbuster Chick, Renegado, Spazzmaster, Il Niege, The Obscure, Sursum Ursa, The Philosofan and Media Hunter.
- Catchphrase: "Thank you for joining me in my quest for geekdom."
- Chekhov's Gun: "Remember that! It get's kind of important."Egon: Don't cross the streams.Arthur and Sensei: *coughplotpointcough*
- Chekhov's Gunman: Eric Rosethorn, who makes a brief appearance in the Film/Labyrinth review and later goes on to become the Big Bad.
- Christmas Episode: He tries to review Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, The Grinch, and Jack Frost 1997, but they are all shot down by other reviewers after being reviewed before. So he picks Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The combined hopes of Arthur and several other reviewers enable him to purify the Ring of Ner'Dra'Jay and unlock his true Geek powers.
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Cliché Storm: The basis of the Geekverse (now the Reviewaverse) - everybody's powers are derived from clichés and tropes of geek classics. - Cliffhanger: The end of The Matrix review, which segues into a review of the Back to the Future trilogy.
- Compensating for Something: His theory as to why the Cobra Kais are such douchebags.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: To keep Spazz from interfering and helping Arthur during season 1, Rosethorn forced him to watch the creation of Jar Jar Binks on a loop.
- Cool Sword: Hope's Light, which enables Arthur to defeat Hate and perform cheesy battle scenes.
- Crossover: Did one in a review of Mars Attacks! with Detroit Mechworks, and the original Godzilla with Mikey Insanity.
- Cuteness Proximity: Sensei upon seeing the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
- The Dark Side: The Hate side of Ner'Dra'Jay.
- Distracted by the Sexy: David Bowie! *Angelic chorus*
- Duck Season, Rabbit Season: Arthur pulls one on Cin when the latter interjects into his Animated Hunks review.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: The Geek Sensei. Justified, since she's working for Rosethorn.
- Electric Torture: Sensei does this to Arthur when he screws up famous geek logos. And for fun.
- The Empire: The Geekron Empire, which had originally overthrown the Paladins of Hope.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Sensei might have an actual name, but we never hear anybody call her by it.
- Fakin' MacGuffin: The first Hope's Light Arthur received was a decoy. Alexander Knowledge placed several across the Geekverse (now the Reviewaverse), including Azeroth and Planet Drakula.
- Fantastic Racism: Arthur makes nasty remarks about the "damn lycanthropes" during his Ghostbusters review. He's subsequently assigned to take "lycanthropy tolerance courses".
- Fight Scene Failure: Deliberately invoked at the end of the Karate Kid review between Arthur and Sensei.
- Formulabreaking Episode: His review of Halloween (1978) featured no jokes, only a review of the film and horror elements in the form of Razor.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: Villains an those associated with the side of Hate tend to have an affinity for red and black. Those associated with Hope usually wear Blue.
- Improbable Weapon User: Penelope's dolls that shoot Frickin' Laser Beams.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Nekros. Arthur notes he's a bit of an idiot with a few screws loose. Nekros' ineptitude is practically a plot point.
- Informed Ability: According to Ivan, Archon Nekros is one of the most dangerous enemies of the Geekverse (again, now the Reviewaverse) out there. But Nekros himself has so far done very little conquering and a lot of whining and failing.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": In real life, Arthur is a huge fan of Apollo Z. Hack and was inspired to take a more plot-heavy approach to his show because of him. Apollo himself is a fan of the show, and has given Arthur encouragement when he was in a rut.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Lord Nekros is Arthur Knowledge's brother Caesar Knowledge.
- Noodle Implements: Cin Wicked calls off the "tactical gays" after Arthur puts both Goliath and Puck on his Top 12 Animated Hunks list. One has to wonder what exactly a tactical gay entails.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Ivan checks up on Arthur a lot. Justified, though, since he is the last hope for the Geekverse (aka the Reviewaverse).
- Nostalgia Goggles: Arthur views Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie threw them, since it's deliciously cheesy, has a decent soundtrack, and is filled with Accidental Innuendo. Ivan's ooze, anyone?
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Narrator thinks Arthur being calm and non-snarky is creepy.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Rosethorn's disguise as Rex only consists of a changed wardrobe and different hair color. Even his cruel and snarky attitude remains.
- The Power of Hate: The hate side of Ner'Dra'Jay is powerful enough to completely override all of the Geekverse (aka the Reviewaverse) until it is completely consumed by rage.
- Power Perversion Potential: Arthur seems very interested in getting some of Kahn's mind-controlling bugs.
- Put on a Bus:
- The Sensei disappears, and is later revealed to have joined a cult of fanfic writers.
- Ivan leaves just before the Film/Beetlejuice review due to the actor having to take some time off in real life.
- Rage Against the Author: At the beginning of the Retool, Arthur and Ivan begin to refuse and torment the narrator, who keeps trying to enforce the heavy story arch already plotted out near the beginning of the show.
- Retcon: The end result of [[the Back to the Future review, in order to keep Nekros from taking over the timeline in the first place]].
- Retool: Beginning with Hocus Pocus, the series becomes much more light-hearted and less plot-heavy due to the actor's offline lives taking priority.
- Running Gag:
- Arthur complaining about how lame Nekros is compared to the villains of the things he reviews.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Razor was being kept in a force field of use Ner'Dra'Jay, but now it has escaped. And it's coming after Arthur...
- Serious Business: The reviews themselves, mainly the The Lord of the Rings reviews in the season 1 finale, which enables Arthur to enter the Monument of Hope.
- Shared Universe: Because of the crossovers and cameos, Arthur is part of the Reviewaverse.
- Shout-Out:
- The haggling gag from the Mars Attacks! Review is straight from Monty Python's Life of Brian.
- Byron will live!
- The scroll written in Ancient Geek contains a TARDIS, a Green Lantern symbol, the Triforce, the Rebel Alliance logo, a lambda, and Batman's logo.
- At the end of the review for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie Ivan agrees to take a vacation with Arthur, stating that his fortress gave him too much solitude.
- Shower Scene: Jackula in the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
- So Bad, It's Good: Their opinion of Batman & Robin.
- Super Wrist-Gadget: Matrix, though technically not worn on the wrist. It can work as a communicator, a scanning device, play different movies and relate them to the problem at hand, and...make people fabulous.
- Take That!: "Twilight! Aaaah!"
- "Vampires do not work that way! Goodnight!"
- Tempting Fate:
- Whenever Arthur mentions something cool happening to a character in The Transformers: The Movie, they die. Much to his chagrin.
- The Die Hard review begins with Arthur complaining about it being too boring.
- Theme Naming: Major characters are always named after famous rulers. The knowledge family consists of Alexander Knowledge and his sons, Arthur and Caesar. There's also Ivan Golarian.
- There Can Only Be One: The Knowledge clan determines grand masters by having the children fight each other for supremacy.
- This Cannot Be!: When he sees the main cast of Star Trek die in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- This Is Your Premise on Drugs: Describes Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure as a Doctor Who fanfic written while high on sugar and Van Halen.
- Token Minority: Points out that Winston essentially fills this role in the first Ghostbusters movie, and he's not fleshed out until the sequel.
- Too Dumb to Live: His reaction to Eckhart mouthing off to Jack in Batman (1989). Also towards the crowds who go to Joker's rally in the same movie.
- Totally Radical: Arthur and Ivan shift into this when reviewing Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. Then Arthur goes to far and calls the film "most excellent".
- Transformation Sequence: Revealing his geek colors (the Autobot logo) results in a brief and anticlimactic one.
- Traveling at the Speed of Plot: Arthur and Ivan take all the time they need to review
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Sensei apparently has a demon that cries "Azmodeus!" living in her dishwasher. She didn't realise it was strange until watching Ghostbusters (1984).
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: After Nekros calls off his and Arthur's battle, and Arthur starts freaking out.
- We Will Meet Again: Nekros pulls this at the end of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie review. Arthur fully expects it, and will deal with it when it's a problem.
- Whole-Plot Reference:
- In the review of The Emperor's New Groove, with Arthur as Kuzco and Nekros as Yzma.
- In the review of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie with Arthur as the Rangers and Nekros as Rita/Ivan Ooze.
- The review of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure has Arthur fill the role of the titular duo, Horror Guru as Rufus (or in this case, Rufio), and the history report replaced by the review itself.
- World of Weirdness: The Reviewaverse (referred to as the Geekverse before Geekvision did lots of interconnecting cameos and crossovers with Channel Awesome reviewers). And this entire webseries shows off the weirdness of this universe whenever it can.
