Year Four refers to Channel Awesome's four year anniversary special event. Like Year One, Year Two and Year Three, there is an epic video followed by a series of collaborations. All of which the contributors celebrate the website's fantastic fourth year!
Premise
On June 26th, 2012, a teaser trailer for the fourth year event was released. The trailer announced the name of the event, To Boldly Flee, and showed various shots of all of the reviewers. A narration by the Nostalgia Critic set a serious, dramatic tone over various creepy images (some space related), and text implies that it could be his last journey. No specific release date was given except for "Summer ...ish."
On July 25th, 2012, a second teaser trailer was released. The trailer gave more indications about the plot, such as the Critic being placed under house arrest by government-like agents and presumably hearing Ma-Ti's voice calling to him. It also showed the cast in various costumes like in Suburban Knights, only as sci-fi characters rather than fantasy. Still no specific date was given, but it was upgraded to "August."
On August 15th, 2012 the final trailer was released showing Terl and Zod working for an unknown hooded figure and Ma-Ti supposedly blaming the critic for his death. The release date was upgraded to start at August 23rd as was 8 parts long. The original plan was to release a part each day but to not overflood TGWTG with the material and to give more time to finish editting each section, now a part will be updated every three days. The special concluded on September 13th, 2012.
Summary
One year after the death of Ma-Ti, the Critic starts receiving signs that he may not be dead after all. Spoony, having been mysteriously embued with Ma-Ti's character, is put under testing by Dr. Block and Dr. Tease. Meanwhile, Mechakara returns with Malachite's Hand and subdues Linkara, and Terl, still angry at the Critic for his planet's destruction, manages to get the courts to put the Critic under house arrest.
Having channeled Ma-Ti and his location, Spoony continues downloading information while unconscious. Government representative Prick captures Spoony to send him to Terl. The Critic decides it's time to act and teleports all of the reviewers to him and asks for their help. After learning of a plot hole in space from Insano, Critic's house is converted into a spaceship. 8-Bit Mickey thwarts Prick from gaining entrance to the house and they fly into orbit. Terl's master, the Executor, sends General Zod to ensure the Critic is stopped.
CR and JesuOtaku have a similar daydream and set out to build a machine. Terl tells Zod he's hidden a mole among them. JO is zapped by the machine she and CR are building and turns into Edward from Cowboy Bebop. Meanwhile, as the critics sleep, Todd professes his love to Lupa and is promptly shut down. In the morning, the Chick finds out from JO that Linkara has been using up their Internet bandwidth and confronts him, only to discover he's the mole. He turns her into Seven of Eleven. Phelous, Sage and SadPanda are later sent down to Europa and rescue Spoony, just as Terl and Zod reach the ship.
Terl and Zod trick the Critic into disabling his weapons before attacking the ship, causing massive damage. When a discussion of surrender goes sour with the death of Phelous, the Critic commands his team to fix the ship while he takes out a few minions, having Spoony, Sage and Panda beamed up in the process. The Critic is beamed around and forced to hold out against the minions, getting a little help from the mysterious robot man. CR manages to get him on the ship so they can attack Terl and Zod, but Terl beams Cinema Snob onboard their ship and they escape.
Luke is upset about the loss of Cinema Snob, who turns out to have been sent to The Executor. He tries to persuade Snob into thinking he's better suited as a film director than a critic, tempting him to join his side. In the meantime, Lupa gets Todd to investigate Mechakara and Nostalgia Chick, but he is quickly assimilated. CR and JO hook Spoony up to the machine they built, which amplifies dreams. Film Brain is reluctantly sent in to check Spoony's subconscious, where he and the others discover that Ma-Ti has basically merged with the plot hole. As Ma-Ti persists that the Critic belongs with the hole, Mechakara, NChick and Todd mess with the ship's controls.
The Snob and Clod are confronted by Last Angry Geek, who wants to kill Clod for all the trouble he's caused. Snob intervenes at the last second, allowing for Clod to zap LAG dead. Snob laments over what he's done before joining Clod to rule the galaxy as a producer. Meanwhile, Film Brain continues to talk with Ma-Ti, not getting any solid answers other than Clod's plans to destroy everyone. Mechakara orders Nostalgia Chick and Todd to kill the producers, but Lupa and JewWario intervene. With the promise of a date from Lupa, Todd snaps NChick out of it by showing his face. Mechakara realizes he's been duped by Terl and flees in the USS's escape pod. Snob becomes Clod's (aka The Executor) apprentice, now branded Darth Snob.
Last Angry Geek appears to Luke as a ghost and tells him to learn about the Plot from Oancitizen in order to defeat Darth Snob. Luke does so and goes to confront the Executor and Snob after the other critics plan a sneak attack on Terl and Zod's ship. As the attack begins, the Critic, having told only Film Brain where he's going, departs in a car ship to go into the hole. He is briefly attacked by Terl but is saved by the Gort robot and heads in. Meanwhile, Phelous takes over as captain as the Nostalgia Chick and Oan distract Zod with a musical number, posing as Ursa and Non. Joe and Marzgurl disable the ship, forcing their armada to attack each other when they try attacking the critics, and the ships have a shoot-out. During all of this, Film Brain discovers from Spoony that Ma-Ti may not be who he says he is.
As the critics battle Terl and Zod and the Executor tries to tempt Luke to the dark side, Film Brain uses the Dream Amplifier to go back inside Spoony's head. He confronts Ma-Ti, who says the Critic will destroy them all. The Critic wakes up in...his living room, only to find a script for To Boldly Flee on his computer. Doug Walker/The Writer walks in and the two stare each other down. Meanwhile, the Executor attempts to fire the Death Bomb's laser at the critics, only to find out Luke disabled it. Luke and Snob start fighting with lightsabers. The critics, finding themselves losing their battle, have JO create a blue shell capable of destroying Terl and Zod's defenses. She reverts back to her old self, though, so the shell is created by Paw and CR and launched. Luke nearly defeats Snob, but refuses to kill him, enraging the Executor who electrocutes him repeatedly. Snob chooses his friend and incapacitates the Executor, then leaves with Luke. During this, Mechakara returns to exact revenge on Terl and Zod, but the three are hit by the blue shell, forcing the house into the Death Bomb and killing the Executor. The three survive, but SadPanda finds the thermal detonator button and presses it, causing the bomb in Mechakara's stomach to blow them and the Death Bomb up. The Critic through this is told he can either live in reality or return to his story, where he has purpose. To Ma-Ti's chagrin, he ultimately chooses to save his friends and talks to Ma-Ti, apologizing for being awful to him. Ma-Ti realizes he's sincere and crosses over, leaving the plot hole empty and unstable. With some help from James/The Nerd, the Critic convinces the universe to complain about plot holes, thus making the hole bigger. It swallows the earth and the plot hole becomes their new universe. To achieve this, the Critic merges with the hole to make it stable. Santa Christ appears with Spoony, who rejoins his friends, and they all go to party at AskThatGuy's house. As Film Brain looks on, the ghosts of the Critic and Last Angry Geek appear, before we zoom out on the hole itself, which announces "I am...the Nostalgia Critic."
Cast
The Cast | Dressed as (briefly) |
---|---|
ThatGuyWithTheGlasses as Nostalgia Critic |
Judge Dredd, General Zod, and Doug Walker/The Writer (Chester A. Bum and AskThatGuy) |
Lindsay Ellis as The Nostalgia Chick | Seven of Nine/Eleven and Ursa |
Spoony | Himself, Dr. Insano and Terl |
Linkara | Himself, Jean-Luc Picard, and Mechakara |
AngryJoe | Solid Snake |
Phelous | Red Shirt from Star Trek |
Brad Jones as The Cinema Snob | Anakin Skywalker (Bradakin)/Darth Vader |
Film Brain | Neo |
Bennett The Sage | Tetsuo |
Paw | Spock |
8 Bit Mickey | MIB Agent |
JewWario | Sulu |
MarzGurl | The Major |
Obscurus Lupa | Ripley |
Luke Mochrie | Luke Skywalker |
ToddInTheShadows | RoboCop |
Oancitizen | Yoda and Non |
CR | Geordi LaForge |
JesuOtaku | Radical Edward |
SadPanda | The 11th Doctor |
Elisa Hansen | Dr. Tease |
Nella | Dr. Block |
The Last Angry Geek | Obi-Wan |
The Other Guy | The Executor/Christopher Clod, and the voice of Ma-Ti (Santa Christ) |
The Nerd | Himself, Gort |
Other Appearances
Name |
---|
That Sci-Fi Guy |
Welshy |
Diamanda Hagan |
Rap Critic |
Handsome Tom |
Suede |
Nash |
Dena |
The Blockbuster Buster |
MikeJ |
Y Ruler of Time |
Smarty |
Victoria Turner |
MegaGWolf |
ChaosD1 |
Videos
Episode Number | Name | Description | Date Released |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Tutorial: How to Make a Crossover | Cowabunga overload! Sad Panda teaches everyone how to do a proper video crossover. | April 8th, 2012 |
2 | A Fake Frog in Chicago | SadPanda tries to make the obligatory French Vlog in Chicago. | April 11th, 2012 |
3 | Update on Doug's Videos | What it means for you AND your family! | April 12th, 2012 |
4 | Forget About It: Top 10 TGWTG Reviewers | SadPanda gives his super serious top 10 and this video is, of course, not to be taken seriously. Unless you're Ed Glaser. | April 15th, 2012 |
5 | Brad & CR: Brad Tries Airheads | Brad and CR! try movie-themed flavors of one of their favorite candies. | April 16th, 2012 |
6 | 4th Year Needs 3D Animators! | We need two people to do 3D modeling effects for our 4th Year Anniversary! | April 18th, 2012 |
7 | Rejected Spooning with Spoony | We tried to make another one, but it didn't go as smoothly as we thought... | April 21st, 2012 |
8 | Brows Held High: Tromeo and Juliet | The crossover everyone's been waiting for! A sheltered, hairy, condescending man who talks about porn for a living meets a A sheltered, hairy, condescending man who talks about "erotica" for a living! | April 28th, 2012 |
9 | NChick: Live Action Fanfic - Lay Your Head Down Darling | In which Luke Mochrie and Film Brain reenact a fanfic where Luke is smarmy yet comforting and Film Brain cries in his lap. So basically any given Tuesday in the Commonwealth. | May 3rd, 2012 |
10 | Music Movies - Fantasia 2000 | There was a much maligned sequel to Fantasia?! Good thing the dartboard thought ahead and brought in even more friends to help out with THIS one. Starring Elisa, Nella & JewWario. | May 4th, 2012 |
11 | NChick: Freddy Got Fingered | Lindsay enlists the help of pretentious arthouse film dork Oancitizen to decode the obtuse, artistic genius that is Tom Green's opus: Freddy Got Fingered. | May 5th, 2012 |
12 | BMB Presents: Metal Man AKA Iron Hero | Film Brain and Obscurus Lupa assemble again, taking on one hero The Avengers didn't call upon. | May 10th, 2012 |
13 | Brows Beatdown: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | Film Brain and Kyle join forces to smite this atrocious adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novel. | June 7th, 2012 |
14 | Bad Movie Beatdown: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel | Todd and Film Brain re-team, but will their eardrums be able to handle it? | June 14th, 2012 |
15 | To Boldly Flee 4th Year Teaser Trailer | Sorry no new NC this week, however, here's a sneak peak at the latest anniversary. What will it mean for the Nostalgia Critic? | June 26th, 2012 |
16 | To Boldly Flee Teaser Trailer 2 | This August, the 4th Year of TGWTG.com celebrates...IN SPACE! | July 25th, 2012 |
17 | To Boldly Flee - Final Trailer | August 23, the final adventure begins. | August 15th, 2012 |
18 | JO Anime Review: High School Of The Dead (With Sage) | At long last, Sage and JO's battle comes to a messy messy "messy" end with High School of the Dead at the Channel Awesome Hotel! | August 23rd, 2012 |
19 | To Boldly Flee Part 1 | The final adventure begins! | August 23rd, 2012 |
20 | To Boldly Flee Part 2 | The Final Adventure Continues! | August 26th, 2012 |
21 | To Boldly Flee Part 3 | The adventure continues...to...continue! | August 29th, 2012 |
22 | To Boldly Flee Part 4 | I AM THE LAW! | September 1st, 2012 |
23 | To Boldly Flee Part 5 | Resistance is comical. | September 4th, 2012 |
24 | To Boldly Flee Part 6 | Come to the Dark Side...it's totally boss! | September 7th, 2012 |
25 | To Boldly Flee Part 7 | The end is near... | September 10th, 2012 |
26 | To Boldly Flee Part 8 | The end has come... | September 13th, 2012 |
27 | CA Dance Extravaganza 4! | It's that time of year again! Everyone lays down their lightsabers and instead lays down the boogie! | September 13th, 2012 |
28 | To Boldly Flee Cast Commentary | Join Linkara, the Last Angry Geek, JewWario, Oancitizen, and Holly Brown as they discuss what it was like making To Boldly Flee! | September 29th, 2012 |
Links
- Tutorial - How to Make a Crossover
- A Fake Frog in Chicago
- Update on Doug's Videos
- Forget About It - Top 10 TGWTG Reviewers
- Brad & CR: Brad Tries Airheads
- 4th Year Needs 3D Animators!
- Rejected Spooning with Spoony Ideas
- Brows Held High: Tromeo and Juliet
- NChick: Live Action Fanfic - Lay Your Head Down Darling
- Music Movies - Fantasia 2000
- NChick: Freddy Got Fingered
- BMB Presents: Metal Man AKA Iron Hero
- Brows Beatdown: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- BMB: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
- To Boldly Flee 4th Year Teaser Trailer
- To Boldly Flee Teaser Trailer 2
- To Boldly Flee - Final Trailer
- To Boldly Flee Part 1
- To Boldly Flee Part 2
- To Boldly Flee Part 3
- To Boldly Flee Part 4
- To Boldly Flee Part 5
- To Boldly Flee Part 6
- To Boldly Flee Part 7
- To Boldly Flee Part 8
- CA Dance Extravaganza 4!
- To Boldly Flee Cast Commentary
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