NPMD was my first musical from starkid and I definitely still enjoyed it, the summoning felt normal as a defeat the villain and pay a price storyline but I liked the twist where we think steph is going to kill pete but grace ends up saving the day. Funnily enough it was a bigger price than we expected when we see the ending.
On the BBQ Monologues, I want to quote something Mariah said "Just for once is completely tied to the show and Ruth and what it’s like to yearn for a life outside of the one you’ve been dealt ESPECIALLY if you’re a person living in hatchetfield. Remember! It’s a song FROM A SHOW EXISTING IN THIS UNIVERSE! it masks itself as being a weird out of place interlude when really it’s the theme of the whole town! Just for once what I WANT! Does anyone ever get exactly what they want besides the lords in black?It’s a town that’s stuck in this traumatic void that masks itself as suburbia." Unlike the other 'show within a show' songs this one wasn't an inside joke from the Langs and so was created for Hatchetfield specifically. There is a recurring theme of people wanting to leave Hatchetfield but for whatever reason are unable to. No one gets a happy ending here, and I think it's cool how the song works as a popular in-universe song, a thematic song and a character song for Ruth (and it's funny). Anyway I just think it's neat :)
For me NPMD was my first StarKid Musical (I saw it because of Angela, she’s awesome) and I definitely loved it. It was at times confusing when people clapped for seemingly no reason (which I now know was because of references to other shows). The next musicals I watched were TGWDLM and Black Friday which then made Wiggly, Emma, Paul and the entire Hot Chocolate Boy Scene make way more sense to me of course.
Love to see people getting into Starkid because of Angela that's so fun. I've seen a couple of comments of people saying NPMD was their first show now which was surprising to me, but I'm glad it wasn't too confusing plot wise or anything.
I agree with your overall sentiment about just for once/the BBQ monologues but I'd keep the whole thing in there just for the gut punch of "I used to dance...I used to dance"
The most obvious horror movie inspiration to me was “I Know What You Did Last Summer”: The accidental homicide and coverup, the messages written by the vengeful ghost killer that only the main gang can understand. That mixed with Revenge of the Nerds, all in a 2000s teen comedy pastiche.
Yeah, "Best of You" took me off guard at first, but I love it in context and it's grown on me a lot. It's supposed to feel like the cheesy "and they all lived happily ever after" type song you'd hear in a standard teen musical, only to immediately be undercut by the actual last song of the show, so good!
Three months late, but I actually saw the youtube version of NPMD as the first thing ever from Starkid. I also went in pretty blind, I saw an animatic of the who will pray for you bit and it peaked my interest enough to look up what it came from. I'm a decently big fan of horror, especially supernatural stuff so the plot pretty much fell right in place for me. I actually REALLY liked the lords in black, and I could tell by the audience reaction that these were returning characters of some variety but that didn't diminish the scene at all. For me it might of even enhanced it, because it made me very interested in what else this group might have produced. Weird unknowable outer gods type stuff is peak horror for me, so it fit right in.
I've seen a couple of comments from people who weren't previous Starkid fans but were horror fans which is fun to see as someone who's the opposite. I feel like I have a harder time judging the horror elements since it's out of my wheelhouse so it's great to see opinions from people in the know.
I was not 100% on "Just for once" the first time I heard it, but then I started hearing it by itself and I really liked it. I especially really enjoy the lyrics "should I flip the burguers now? Should I double check it's well-done on the outside not within?" Which I interpreted as like "should I follow my dreams and make sure it's not just in my head?" And the following lines of "should I let the coals run out, should I let the years cook my body down in front of him?" Which reads "or should I just give up and let the years go by". The interpretations of the lyrics are pretty obvious, but I just really enjoyed and related to it, Lauren does a great performance. I definitely feel like the song should've been a bit shorter, but the highs of it are really high for me.
I really liked it too and its a song that grew on me. I also find it interesting that instead of an original song from the heart, Ruth chooses to sing a song from her class's musical that she related to. I also wonder due to the line delivery of "I use to dance", if Ruth actually use to dance as a kid and loved it, but maybe something happened to make her stop?
Funnily enough, I watched NPMD before any other Starkid show! Even so, I really enjoyed the musical, even without getting some references. I have (obviously) seen TGWDLM and Black Friday now and it definitely adds to the viewing experience! But as a stand alone show, NPMD would also do an incredible job!
P.E.I.P - paranormal (NPMD), extraterrestrial (TGWDLM), Interdimensional (BF) phenomena. Also, the supposed link between the weird disconnected scenes and a future musical (the high school in BF links to NPMD being set in a high school. Old friends reconnecting and impact of death shown in BF.) So, it's likely BBQ monologues is connected to a future musical.
Interesting thought. I wonder how long it'll take to see since where it goes since their next show is not Hatchetfield. But yeah they have lots of these easter eggs and connecting threads there's always more we could find out.
I don’t think this is intentional, however it could’ve been. But I found it funny how in TGWDLM, specifically the song Let It Out, it feel very referential to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And in NPMD, very similarly to the musical Jekyll and Hyde, the first act ends with the first murder by the main villain, and the second act begins with a town wide song recounting the murder and spreading the news about it. Personally one of my favorite songs in Jekyll and Hyde is Murder Murder and I think Hatchet Town really embodied the same vibe. I’ll have to go back to Boack Friday and see if I can try to make a Jekyll and Hyde connection for that show too lol
Interesting connection. Definitely could be intentional since it's one of very few horror related musicals that even exist. I only know a couple of the songs and I read the book way back in high school but I can see it.
I'd argue, that criticism of BBQ monogues being out of place from the rest of the show expands on the "Just for once" itself, cause it felt more like a sudden meta moment of "Our character is gonna die soon, so we should throw some character development on them, so that you'll feel more sorry for her", even though (and this is a hot take, but hear me out) - by the time we got to that point of the show, Ruth was a more established character, then Richie was, which is why I'd argue we didn't needed an extra layer of her character of "I want to overcome my social anxiety and be a center of everyone's attention on stage". It's like finding out after the character died, that they were gay, or something And I would agree on Richie, that he did found his place in the world, right before he died, but not with Ruth. I'd argue she was already, kind of found her place, or at least was comfortable during "Go Go Nighthawks". Wouldn't it more narratively satisfying, if right before she died, Ruth found someone, who was kind of ready to start relationship with her, but he/she only gave a phone number and asked "see ya tomorrow" and when Ruth was extremely happy with herself... This is when Max Jaggerman shows up. Would be as meta as "I am so happy to be alive", but still
Oh I love that idea! I think that might even have made me like her character better. Part of the social commentary stuff is I'm not a huge fan of how they portrayed her sexuality there were some fun moments but a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way, I think this setup would have been sad but also satisfying in a twisted way more like Richie's death.
@aLTDI have more of an issue, that they had to yell out loud, what her sexuality was (imagine the same with Homosexual, or Lesbian being the case), instead of relying on visual/storytelling language to say it (in fact, looking at the visual/storytelling way how they portrayed her - she feels more like a Pan retrospectively (as in - I don't care who will love me, as long as you'll love me! (I do not sound Panphobic, do I?))) Not to mention with Grace, being the one to yell it, which is - here why I see it as a problem: 1) Ruth was established, in case of characteristics. as a Horny Gremlin (I do not use Gremlins as an offence. Love Gremlins, if something - they are neat) and what are the characteristics that we know about Grace? Well - she is Christian and, specifically to this story - she is Pro Anti Horny. Many of her actions are done, because of that. She wanted to cancel Dance, because she is Anti horny. She wanted to punish Max, because she is Anti horny and he "Tempted her", and even after sinning with Max in the end, she is still going to kill Horny dudes, because (and I do not know, if I mentioned it yet, probably forgot) she is ANTI HORNY. But why I also mentioned the fact, that she is Christian? Well, in christianity one of the classical seven sins, in case of "why you'll join hell", is Lust (which is basically old time Horny). And with that Plate being delivered, by the writters themselves - why wouldn't she go, with the most obvious to her character "She is Horny and dead, where else would she be?" 2) If we are making Grace LGBTQ+phobic (because we needed more character to her at that moment in script, ok?) how about then going all the way with it till the end? How about, when she is ready to kill Jason (Yes, I remembered his name), he yells "Please, do not kill me! I didn't even wanted to go with you, I just wanted to make my boyfriend jelous" and she is like "Your what?!" J: (in laughing disbelief) You aren't one of those, right? Grace (deadpun but aggressively): Run. Would that be bloated and ruin passing of the last song? Absolutely it could, but I, kind of, argue, that if you establish something about a character - I think it should come out later in the plot.
@@AlinaAniretake That's a good point. I think I loved how punchy Grace's line was so much that I didn't really think about "Wait, would she even be willing to acknowledge bisexuals, with how fundamentalist she acts?" And if she really feels that way about being queer, why would Bill be so ready to defend her to Alice? I guess I just filed it away under "Meh, alternate timelines"
@niretake mmmmyeah noooo not so much pan as just a combination of bi and a desperate touch starved teen nerd. not rly a good look to conflate pansexuality with simply not having any standards :/
7:22 Ok I get what you mean but this was a bad example, in this clip Jeff isn’t using his falsetto he’s mixing in his high range, though he is on the edge of flipping into falsetto
Ah ok I don't know much about vocals the point was more that he's singing the high notes in the ensemble in a similar way to Kim and I know she's not using a falsetto.
honestly i just want to say that Nerdy Prudes Must Die is undoubtedly my favourite Starkid show, yes even above Twisted. from ✨the vibes✨ to "Max and Grace narcissist duo" to the plot everything made me feel so happy ive been trying to get more people to watch this show (including my Music Theory teacher for the opening song alone) and ive been unsuccessful but i am very excited anyways also, i hope for the next musical they lean more into their nerd culture, since they are technically nerds, and i genuinely hope Corey and Bryce get more prominent roles from now on (i also hope Will comes back because goddamn!)
We'll definitely be seeing more of Bryce soon that's for sure! Best of luck getting people to watch. I've managed to rope a few people in over the years haha.
10:03 I actually agree with this a lot but my friend brought up the fact that her mom wears a skirt even though her mom doesn't really uphold the values it's also to provide more coverage for her leggings and a skirt so not only is she also has the modesty of a skirt
always always love hearing your thoughts!!! and I'd be super interested to hear you go more in-depth about your thoughts on the social commentary. this was a super interesting show to watch with my partner, who really dislikes horror, but loves musicals and was willing to watch it with me to learn more about my interests. we skimmed through TGWDLM just so he would have a baseline understanding of the universe, but other than that, NPMD was his first starkid exposure at all, and he absolutely loved it!!!
Interesting! I've honestly learned a lot about horror from watching hatchetfield stuff since I'm usually to scared to watch it but I do obviously love musicals so I guess I'm on the same page as your partner there.
@@SilvanaLTD he found the invasion of the bodysnachers parallels way too creepy in TGWDLM but liked the fact that you could imagine a (possibly) happy ending for NPMD!
I just discovered your channel via the Dirty Dancing remake review, and when I saw you have reviews StarKid too, I gasped in glee! Immediately subscribed.
I watched nerdy prudes must die first and it stands alone pretty well and it was pretty fun to learn about the lords in black after meeting them and connect all the references when I watched the other two
7:11 THANK YOU someone else agrees with my opinion on Jeffs falsetto. Yes, its cool that hes able to do it, but in my opinion, it tends to ruin the overall experience of s a lot of the songs. Like, all of the Black Friday songs that have it. I love Jeff, hes INCREDIBLY talented, it just feels like a lot of the time, if not ALL the time, he writes it in just to get a moment of “WOAH 😮🫵” from people. His chest voice is so honestly soothing and wonderful to listen to, and i wish he would use that as much as he does his falsetto. Its gotten to the point where i cringe when hes about to sing, or just skip it all together 😕 I just hope he retires the falsetto for a bit and brings back his strong and beautiful chest voice like he used back in HMB@M and Twisted.
the criticism you give that sticks out to me is how you call some songs _too_ slow bc that's the one thing I don't rly agree with, but my sense of how fast or slow a song is can honestly vary based on where my own head is at so ehhhh still, I rly wouldn't call "Cool as I Think I Am" a slow song
Yeah I guess it's all relative. Cool as I Think I Am is definitely not as slow as something like Jemilla's Lament, but compared to High School is Killing Me it's definitely not as energetic and I think just too slow for this particular part of the show.
I saw Nerdy Prudes Must Die as my first Hatchetfield Starkids production. I'd only seen Twisted and The Trail to Oregon prior. The show works perfectly fine as a standalone. Never felt lost or confused. You really don't need any homework before watching this. I imagine if you don't have any background in Hatchetfield productions OR more general horror you might feel a bit more adrift.
I agree with you on the choreography, but one exception. In the digital ticket you can see the choreo for The Summoning. It's SO smart and fun. Every Lord has a signature move, but then their move goes to the next Lord, then the next etc. If you follow the pattern the moves switch off, it's a pentagram. And the lyric 'we dance around the pentagram' really ties it all together. You can also see that Corey messed up a move in the choreo there, but the fact that you can see the entire idea behind the choreo was BRILLIANT. I'm SO sad that the proshot didn't focus on this aspect of the choreo, it just looks like the Lords are doing unrelated little static moves. But it's a pentagram!! ARrgh I wish they'd shown it!! Digital ticket version can be found on youtube as well though, go check it out!
Yeah I saw the digital ticket when it was first released I think I just forgot about this part. I definitely agree it was the song that suffered most although it's still great to watch, they cut out a lot.
oh hey, NPMD was my first starkid musical and I enjoyed it quite a bit. the escalation made sense and the basic lore of the lords in black given in the summoning made sense and easy to follow as it served the story well.
Nerdy Prudes was my intro to the series, some parts were a little confusing, but loved it and it sparked my hyperfixation with Hatchetfield. The only problem area (for me) at first was Paul and Emma's scene confused me.
Fun Fact about me, this was actually my first starkid show lol! I still haven't seen nightmare time or workin' boys yet, but I did see TGWDLM then Black Friday after this, and I think I can confidently say that you don't need to know the hatchedfeild series to love this musical. You definitely get the feeling that there are refrences you're not getting, but there are many things I didn't know were refrences like the mention of the smoke club in the title song!
Nerdy Prudes Must Die was the first Starkid production I ever saw, and it got me to check out the rest of the Hatchetfield stuff and a few other of their shows. I think there was plenty of information and context clues that I was more than able to follow the story. Sure, I didn't know who Paul and Emma were, but when everyone cheered, it wasn't hard to understand that they were beloved characters from other stories. Sure, I misinterpreted Tinky's comment about having the whole Spankofski set to mean Pete's whole family winds up trapped, but that still made Time Bastard surprising. Maybe it comes from growing up watching reruns of long-running shows broadcast out of order.
Nerdy Prudes Must Die was not only my first Hatchetfield show, but also my first ever musical i watched to the end (including movies, ive not seen musical movies in full before either) (ok i guess ive seen twisted years before but i didnt remember much when i saw NPMD) It was not only a fantastic experience, but also really touching. Grace's stiry and the romance between Steph and Pete really worked for me. I paused multiple times theoughout the show to Think About The Implications (haha) of Grace's stuff specifically (while i wasnt raised super religious i do have some bad memories revolving religion and despite Grace having very much a drastically different approach to it than me I empathised with her a lot and was upset that she ended up as the cause of a bad ending in the end) I was in general just also immediatelly intrigued with the world setup here, not one person seemed like a perfect hero and everyone was a bit of an a-hole, which helped sel the tight knit small town community vibe, same for how fleshed out the characters seemed to be Also seeing Emma and Paul reminded me that a friend was bugging me before to watch TGWDM and i just completelly forgot, watching this one first :sob: I was also intrigued by The Lords In Black, i understand why your assumption was that someone who hasnt seen Wiggly would be confused, but personally I just took it as it went. Flamboyant eldrich gods taking guman form and asking for a sacrifice for the heck of it? Why not! The audience reaction also had that effect on me, it implied the fans knew who these guys were so I had something to look foward to in other shows! So after NPMD I proceeded to watch it all in order, I was very suprised there was no word of lords in black in the first show and even more confused that Wiggly was seemingly the head honcho in BF with no word of his brothers, it was just still interesting So while obviouslly starting with Guy makes more sense, im still rating my experience of starting with Prudes a solid 10/10 EDIT: this is a wonderful video by the way! some of the stuff you said didnt land for you was interesting to listen to concidering i didnt have problems with those things but it also made sense too, i havwnt seen many other peoples opinions before, but this was great im definatelly seeking out your other stuff now
Wow what an intro to musicals! I can't remember what the first musical I saw was I'v been watching them forever. I'm glad you finally got hooked! Yeah I think all the Hatchetfield shows do a good job at having complex characters. A lot of people with good intentions going down a dark path which is always interesting. And they've really built up the universe since TGWDLM. I'm not sure how much of it was thought of at the beginning, but I know it was meant to be a series early on. Thanks so much for watching :)
Great review! My thoughts on a couple of the points; I agree with you about the BBQ monologues, the first time I watched NPMD I enjoyed the scene but was a bit bemused at what I was watching. The second time I watched it, however, I got it, and Ruthie and her backstory solidified in my mind. I think they were trying to give us a window into her character, but she needed more of a set up for the monologues to make sense as a reflection of her life being boring and samey. The song was perfect for that, but broke the flow because it vibes totally different to the rest of the musical. The lyrics in her song were the best of any of them, imo, just incongruent with the theme. I do have to disagree with you about the camera work, though, I think some scenes really suffered for the closeups that they chose- namely the summoning. I only learnt in the comments that the LiBs trade movements to dance out the shape of a pentagram after the show, and I wanted to watch all of their reactions. I learnt that Pete kept looking over at Tinky in fear throughout the number, and these were some really nice touches that got lost in the YT version, I wish they'd done some more wide shots. I imagine there's other bits I missed without a digital ticket.
After watching it even more I agree about the summoning. It's definitely the number that suffered the most, although I still think they improved from previous shows. Especially going back and watching Twisted, there is soooo much that gets cut off.
I think you might have missunderstood the purpose of certain lines in "cool as I think I am" " What if my beliefs were taller" makes quite a lot of sense. It's basically projecting a common physical insecurity onto a common mental insecurity. A bit weird, sure, but it does make sense in context.
It seems like the overall fandom *loved* the BBQ Monologue scene and song. And while I love Lauren's voice and she performed it really well, it took me out of the show. I think trimming the song would have gone a long way for me. But honestly I think this has passed Black Friday as my favorite. And I loved Best of You- definitely gave me Blink-182 vibes and felt very much like something that would actually play at homecoming. 😊
The blending of the higher notes might also be that they are mixing their audio in a different (better) way. I also have an inside scoop on what the next show's gonna be about , I'm not gonna tell ya but you should definitely keep an eye on the horizon ;)
I don't think it's 100% down to mixing because I still have frustrations with Jeff's vocals when it's just him such as in Monsters and Men but their audio has definitely gotten better. Super excited about the next show I'll definitely be on the lookout!
I just recently started really getting into Starkid's Hatchetfield series with this musical. The only part I was confused about was the audience's reaction to the LiB appearing. From my perspective, I think this musical did a good job of introducing new ppl to the LiB lore within the context of the story. They established the summonings/rituals early with the Waylon place, and they had the supernatural elements reinforced by Max's return. The only critique I'd have is the introduction of the Black book, but mostly bc of how the mayor conveniently appeared at the most convenient moment, along with convenient exposition dumping. Fortunately, I think the arrest scene allowed us time to let the new information settle.
I had watched NPMD as my third starkid show and my second hatchetfield show (I had seen AVPM and TGWDLM) and, while I was a little confused with the references in hatchet town and the summoning, I just took it as something that was referencing a different show. It didn’t really take me out of the experience and the fact that they didn’t have the hatchet town references in the live shows makes that all the better because then the audience who doesn’t know doesn’t feel excluded.
to the comment about picturing Grace wearing a long skirt instead of jeans...I think you're thinking of the religious group called Apostolic Pentecostals- where the women wear long skirts all the time and most don't even cut their hair. Grace is just Christian. Christians are allowed to wear jeans lol. they worship the same God but its different views. just wanted to clarify.
No, I am not thinking of any specific denomination. Many strict religious groups, especially ones that emphasize purity and gender roles, do not allow women to wear pants. This isn't even specific to Christianity, and more of them don't technically forbid it but strongly discourage it.
@@SilvanaLTD okay. I'm Christian and I was confused by that comment, thats the only group I can think of ( at least where I live ) that wear long skirts for religious reasons and worship the same God.
@@HelloXrancidkitteh Thank you I'm glad you liked it! I'll preface this by saying that I don't believe Grace is part of any mainstream church both because of her beliefs and the way Hatchetfield works, I'd say she's probably part of a very high control group/cult, or at least her family practices in that way. I don't know of any super mainstream Christian denominations that outright forbid women from wearing pants, but there are plenty of more fringe sects that work like this. On the really extreme end you have groups like the FLDS (although it's arguable if they're considered Christian) and the Amish that have very strict requirements for dress. Also groups like the IFB, IBLP, some more conservative Mennonites, etc. at the very least discourage women from wearing pants if not outright forbidding it. These are just off the top of my head not to mention other entire religions that have similar practices in their more conservative branches.
After seeing Black Friday, I felt that it was too serious, but after seeing NPMD, I felt like it wasn't serious enough. I guess TGWDLM hit the perfect spot between horror and comedy for me, and I really liked some of the darker elements in Black Friday, like Wilbur Cross, or the tackling of issues like capitalism, so initially, I was kinda disappointed after watching NPMD. I love when they explore grittier topics through a comedic lens. That being said, I loved the plot and how the story was told. Among the characters, I loved Grace, Max and Richie the most, but actually feel Pete and Steph were a bit underdeveloped. He was the stereotypical nerd who wants to be cool and wants to get the girl, nothing really out of the box. Idk, might be just me, but I felt like I wanted to connect to his character more. Steph, I feel like, fared better, but I would have loved a solo song for her too. As much as I enjoy nitpicking though, I enjoyed the overall show more than Black Friday, and the production quality, sound quality, camera work were all top-notch, though the set design could have been better. It's just growing pains I think, because they are not used to such large stages. Eagerly awaiting their next musical, and I hope it's not a parody, but an original. I think they have grown past parodies.
I do think abstinence camp does have some more characterization for Pete and Steph that can add to the viewing, although they still have a more complete storyline in the show than Lex and Ethan did in Black Friday imo. Definitely agree on tackling the heavier issues in Black Friday, I think it was one of the strengths of the show and I felt like they almost went for it in this one but didn't follow through so that was somewhat disappointing. And yeah it can be hard to tell on camera, but this theater seemed huge to me so that makes sense space wise I feel like the only show with a similar stage was maybe Firebringer.
I feel a similar way! Though honestly I liked Black Friday better. I can’t say I don’t like NPMD, I liked it, it’s got some tunes, but out of all of them it just didn’t fully hit for me, especially because I’m not a big fan of the kind of “Lol cringe teenagers” comedy it riles on throughout. I just found myself cringing a little too much for comfort, took away from the overall enjoyment for me. I don’t want to get TOO into it but as someone who was a bit different in school and has autism, it’s nice to see them try and respect and flesh out these nerdy characters, but their weird behavior and mannerisms were still often the butt of a lot of the jokes which just doesn’t sit right with me (PERSONALLY). In my opinion TGWDLM was peak, felt really solid, though the songs weren’t necessarily impressive they were incredibly fun and SO iconic, Black Friday had my favorite songs out of all of them but it just felt a little all over the place in terms of plot, unfocused at time, too much going on, and NPMD was just an alright addition to the series. Not a bad watch but not something I see myself rewatching any time soon, more just listening to some of the songs on occasion. At least in my brain it just didn’t feel as connected to the lore and story of Hatchetfield, it felt more like a side story you’d see in Nightmare Time compared to the other two, and also I didn’t feel like there were enough kills considering the premise. I would’ve hoped for it to lean into more high school slasher vibes but it just felt too small in scale with only two solid kills. None of the actual haunting and killing started until Act 2 and it just felt like not enough time was focused on it. Sure they were telling us how big of a threat Jaegerman was with songs like Hatchet Town and the main gang cowering in fear over the idea of him, but I don’t feel like we had enough time to truly sit in his evil, bloody vengeance as much as I would have liked, Nerdy Prudes Must Die is one of my favorite scenes because of how involved Jaegerman as a villain felt. The show just kept being interrupted by lore about The Lords In Black among other things which while I LOVE TLIB, they only actually showed up for a song and their presence feels like more like fan service when they’re just reduced to side characters. I GET IT, they create the solution and ultimatum to the characters problems, they have importance to the plot, but personally I would have liked to see them a bit more. I mean, they were the main causes of the last two musicals, so it just felt kind of off how much they lacked involvement here, maybe one of the main reasons this one felt so disconnected from the others. The conflict was more driven by high school drama than it was big eldritch threats. But I also understand that this is just my silly little brain and I’m probably just not looking at things correctly and being nitpickey!
I think they become more comedic in NPMD because some group of the fandom says that they miss "old" phase Starkid. You know the good stuffs; comical and absurd. But, I think I'm agree with you that they lose depth toward the topic they brought. Starkid always able to bring a topic, but manage to discuss it *through* comical lense. They are serious and unserious at the same time.
@@wispisangthe cringe teenager joke was there not for look down upon a teenager. If you heard the next songs in the musical, they very much humanize them. We need to remember Starkid origin was literally from a collage student and "geek" stuffs back at the 2009 forward. It more like a, "yes it's cringe, but just it's just what way we are as a teenager." For the autism part or something, I'm sorry if you feel that way. Though, I agree. The killing rampage is lacking from what the premise promised. At least the whole pace is set tidily, I think that's probably why I didn't notice how few Max's slaughter had been.
@@valhatan3907 No no I totally get that the jokes are obviously not mean-spirited in the slightest! Just for me personally it just didn’t hit quite right and I also just don’t find those jokes very funny to begin with. Though liking those jokes is valid👍
I had decided to check out StarKid because I'm subscribed to Smosh, and I kept hearing references to Angela being in StarKid. So NPMD was the first musical I watched, and I would never have guessed it was the 3rd in a series, didn't know that until I read comments and looked further into their channel. The only thing that stood out as confusing to me had nothing to do with the musical itself, it was when the crowd went crazy over Pete demanding his hot chocolate lol
i think you're the second person to comment on coming to starkid from smosh which is so fun to me as a longtime fan of both groups. I can definitely see how the hot chocolate thing would not make any sense to a new fan, but I am glad like I said that I think they put those kind of easter eggs in more appropriate places because they do tend to get a huge audience reaction.
23:25 I will share my experience as someone who didn't watch Hatchedfield Trilogy. For addition, I have watched TGWDLM but didn't aware of Lords in Black connection and Nightmare Time shenanigans. Heck, I didn't even know it was part of trilogy. Many years later I didn't catch on Starkid anymore, untill a week ago. I watched NPMD and Lords in Black to me was ... DAMN. It hooked me. I maybe bias, since I always like the devils or sins personafication in media (Homonculus from FMA:B, Nanatsu no Taizai, Servamp, etc..) Lords in Black was confused me at first because the audience reaction is too histerical for this trope. "Wow, these people like the same trope as me? Wait, or does this have elaborate lore that I'm missing?" I really didn't expect that turn to show the Devils in this show. From teenage slasher to fantasy-supernatural. Tho, it never really baffling to me, since I, y'know already had bias. It's only makes me curious even more.
That's an interesting perspective. I'm glad it hooked you as somewhat of an outsider. I'm not too big on horror and things like that but I'm obviously a long time Starkid fan so we're basically coming at it from opposite angles!
Npmd was my first Starkid and I loved it. The only thing I disliked was the gods in blacks costume bc I was very confused on why they didn't look very powerful (except Pokey his costume was always amazing). After doing research and seeing that they are very out of touch and are trying to hold together a human form. I grew to like them. I think it is cool they are trying to dress as high-school stereotypes to lure the teens into relaxing enough to make the deal with them aswell as showing off their own personalities. I also thought it was cool they have parts of their dolls fur present in their costumes
I actually feel the opposite about the social commentary! I liked that grace's arc portrayed purity culture in a less preachy and more character-driven way. the social commentary in black friday felt jarring and way too obvious for my taste; for instance, by the time "made in america" came around, it was already incredibly clear to me as a viewer that the commentary was supposed to be about american consumerism, so the song felt unnecessary. I understand this might be a matter of taste, though.
I get that. I feel like Abstinence Camp was stronger with regards to purity culture but it's also hard to compare them since they're such different mediums. I think finding the balance between not being too preachy and being so subtle is goes over the audience's head is tricky Black Friday was definitely on the not very subtle side.
I think he sounded very strained during a lot of the songs but the opening number was particularly egregious. I honestly had a hard time understanding him it wasn't pleasant to listen to which sucks because he does have a great voice, but it sounds like he's pushing way too much.
@@SilvanaLTD i agree. My sister and I were lost the opening number because we didn’t realize there were subtitles and we were just like…what is he even saying 😭
Great video!!! I always love hearing other people’s opinions on these shows. Also where did they say they weren’t doing another Hatchetfield musical? I don’t remember seeing anything about that?
In the talkback after the youtube premier they said that their next musical won't be a hatchetfield show. Doesn't necessarily mean there won't be another one and definitely doesn't mean hatchetfield is done (they also shared plot summaries for nightmare time 3) just that the next stage musical will be something different.
Oh yeah, totally agree on Jeff’s falsetto. When listening to TGWDLM again, every time it happened it was always just so unnecessary, and distracted from the rest of the song. It kinda just felt like he wanted to show off that he can hit that high note, even when it REALLY should not have been there. Otherwise, he’s a good singer, he just needs to learn to control the falsetto additions for himself.
Yeah I think he just needs someone to rein him in a bit. It doesn't happen in Twisted or HMB at all and those are written and directed by someone else. He has a fantastic voice and his lower range is also really strong it always frustrates me when he's not using it to it's fullest extent.
NPMD is not my first Starkid rodeo, but it’s my first in this triology. That in mind, the Lords of Black felt like it came out of nowhere and I was like “is this a reference or something? I don’t get where this is coming from at all,” and now, knowing they’re from other shows, it makes sense. I felt like the first act was so tight and engaging and then around the BBQ Monologues we came to a stand still for very little payoff. I enjoyed the show quite a bit, one of their stronger originals, but it did need the context of the other Hatchetfield shows imo. I didn’t even know this was a sequel-I came to it from hearing the audio snippet from Richie’s death. I wish that I’d known it was a sequel-I would have gone in order.
It's a pretty unique problem for Starkid shows since musicals don't tend to have sequels (besides animated movies) especially since they're not direct sequels with all the same characters, I could see it being tricky to navigate if you just come across the shows on youtube.
Ruth was by far my least favorite, as well as her solo. Like you said, too long and out of place. I always skip the barbeque monologues because it had nothing to do with the plot and I wouldn't mind if they rewrote it for future shows.
NPMD was my first musical from starkid and I definitely still enjoyed it, the summoning felt normal as a defeat the villain and pay a price storyline but I liked the twist where we think steph is going to kill pete but grace ends up saving the day. Funnily enough it was a bigger price than we expected when we see the ending.
On the BBQ Monologues, I want to quote something Mariah said
"Just for once is completely tied to the show and Ruth and what it’s like to yearn for a life outside of the one you’ve been dealt ESPECIALLY if you’re a person living in hatchetfield. Remember! It’s a song FROM A SHOW EXISTING IN THIS UNIVERSE! it masks itself as being a weird out of place interlude when really it’s the theme of the whole town! Just for once what I WANT! Does anyone ever get exactly what they want besides the lords in black?It’s a town that’s stuck in this traumatic void that masks itself as suburbia."
Unlike the other 'show within a show' songs this one wasn't an inside joke from the Langs and so was created for Hatchetfield specifically. There is a recurring theme of people wanting to leave Hatchetfield but for whatever reason are unable to. No one gets a happy ending here, and I think it's cool how the song works as a popular in-universe song, a thematic song and a character song for Ruth (and it's funny).
Anyway I just think it's neat :)
For me NPMD was my first StarKid Musical (I saw it because of Angela, she’s awesome) and I definitely loved it. It was at times confusing when people clapped for seemingly no reason (which I now know was because of references to other shows). The next musicals I watched were TGWDLM and Black Friday which then made Wiggly, Emma, Paul and the entire Hot Chocolate Boy Scene make way more sense to me of course.
Love to see people getting into Starkid because of Angela that's so fun. I've seen a couple of comments of people saying NPMD was their first show now which was surprising to me, but I'm glad it wasn't too confusing plot wise or anything.
I agree with your overall sentiment about just for once/the BBQ monologues but I'd keep the whole thing in there just for the gut punch of "I used to dance...I used to dance"
The most obvious horror movie inspiration to me was “I Know What You Did Last Summer”: The accidental homicide and coverup, the messages written by the vengeful ghost killer that only the main gang can understand.
That mixed with Revenge of the Nerds, all in a 2000s teen comedy pastiche.
Yeah, "Best of You" took me off guard at first, but I love it in context and it's grown on me a lot. It's supposed to feel like the cheesy "and they all lived happily ever after" type song you'd hear in a standard teen musical, only to immediately be undercut by the actual last song of the show, so good!
Three months late, but I actually saw the youtube version of NPMD as the first thing ever from Starkid. I also went in pretty blind, I saw an animatic of the who will pray for you bit and it peaked my interest enough to look up what it came from. I'm a decently big fan of horror, especially supernatural stuff so the plot pretty much fell right in place for me. I actually REALLY liked the lords in black, and I could tell by the audience reaction that these were returning characters of some variety but that didn't diminish the scene at all. For me it might of even enhanced it, because it made me very interested in what else this group might have produced. Weird unknowable outer gods type stuff is peak horror for me, so it fit right in.
AAA SAME I LOVE GHOSTS
I've seen a couple of comments from people who weren't previous Starkid fans but were horror fans which is fun to see as someone who's the opposite. I feel like I have a harder time judging the horror elements since it's out of my wheelhouse so it's great to see opinions from people in the know.
The way this is also exactly how I found NPMD 😂
I was not 100% on "Just for once" the first time I heard it, but then I started hearing it by itself and I really liked it.
I especially really enjoy the lyrics "should I flip the burguers now? Should I double check it's well-done on the outside not within?" Which I interpreted as like "should I follow my dreams and make sure it's not just in my head?" And the following lines of "should I let the coals run out, should I let the years cook my body down in front of him?" Which reads "or should I just give up and let the years go by".
The interpretations of the lyrics are pretty obvious, but I just really enjoyed and related to it, Lauren does a great performance. I definitely feel like the song should've been a bit shorter, but the highs of it are really high for me.
I really liked it too and its a song that grew on me. I also find it interesting that instead of an original song from the heart, Ruth chooses to sing a song from her class's musical that she related to. I also wonder due to the line delivery of "I use to dance", if Ruth actually use to dance as a kid and loved it, but maybe something happened to make her stop?
Funnily enough, I watched NPMD before any other Starkid show! Even so, I really enjoyed the musical, even without getting some references. I have (obviously) seen TGWDLM and Black Friday now and it definitely adds to the viewing experience! But as a stand alone show, NPMD would also do an incredible job!
P.E.I.P - paranormal (NPMD), extraterrestrial (TGWDLM), Interdimensional (BF) phenomena. Also, the supposed link between the weird disconnected scenes and a future musical (the high school in BF links to NPMD being set in a high school. Old friends reconnecting and impact of death shown in BF.) So, it's likely BBQ monologues is connected to a future musical.
Interesting thought. I wonder how long it'll take to see since where it goes since their next show is not Hatchetfield. But yeah they have lots of these easter eggs and connecting threads there's always more we could find out.
I don’t think this is intentional, however it could’ve been. But I found it funny how in TGWDLM, specifically the song Let It Out, it feel very referential to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And in NPMD, very similarly to the musical Jekyll and Hyde, the first act ends with the first murder by the main villain, and the second act begins with a town wide song recounting the murder and spreading the news about it. Personally one of my favorite songs in Jekyll and Hyde is Murder Murder and I think Hatchet Town really embodied the same vibe. I’ll have to go back to Boack Friday and see if I can try to make a Jekyll and Hyde connection for that show too lol
Interesting connection. Definitely could be intentional since it's one of very few horror related musicals that even exist. I only know a couple of the songs and I read the book way back in high school but I can see it.
bryce is the lead of starkids new musical cinderellas castle and im so happy i cant wait to see it
yes!! i'm so excited!!
I'd argue, that criticism of BBQ monogues being out of place from the rest of the show expands on the "Just for once" itself, cause it felt more like a sudden meta moment of "Our character is gonna die soon, so we should throw some character development on them, so that you'll feel more sorry for her", even though (and this is a hot take, but hear me out) - by the time we got to that point of the show, Ruth was a more established character, then Richie was, which is why I'd argue we didn't needed an extra layer of her character of "I want to overcome my social anxiety and be a center of everyone's attention on stage". It's like finding out after the character died, that they were gay, or something
And I would agree on Richie, that he did found his place in the world, right before he died, but not with Ruth. I'd argue she was already, kind of found her place, or at least was comfortable during "Go Go Nighthawks".
Wouldn't it more narratively satisfying, if right before she died, Ruth found someone, who was kind of ready to start relationship with her, but he/she only gave a phone number and asked "see ya tomorrow" and when Ruth was extremely happy with herself... This is when Max Jaggerman shows up.
Would be as meta as "I am so happy to be alive", but still
Oh I love that idea! I think that might even have made me like her character better. Part of the social commentary stuff is I'm not a huge fan of how they portrayed her sexuality there were some fun moments but a lot of it rubbed me the wrong way, I think this setup would have been sad but also satisfying in a twisted way more like Richie's death.
@aLTDI have more of an issue, that they had to yell out loud, what her sexuality was (imagine the same with Homosexual, or Lesbian being the case), instead of relying on visual/storytelling language to say it (in fact, looking at the visual/storytelling way how they portrayed her - she feels more like a Pan retrospectively (as in - I don't care who will love me, as long as you'll love me! (I do not sound Panphobic, do I?)))
Not to mention with Grace, being the one to yell it, which is - here why I see it as a problem:
1) Ruth was established, in case of characteristics. as a Horny Gremlin (I do not use Gremlins as an offence. Love Gremlins, if something - they are neat) and what are the characteristics that we know about Grace? Well - she is Christian and, specifically to this story - she is Pro Anti Horny. Many of her actions are done, because of that. She wanted to cancel Dance, because she is Anti horny. She wanted to punish Max, because she is Anti horny and he "Tempted her", and even after sinning with Max in the end, she is still going to kill Horny dudes, because (and I do not know, if I mentioned it yet, probably forgot) she is ANTI HORNY. But why I also mentioned the fact, that she is Christian? Well, in christianity one of the classical seven sins, in case of "why you'll join hell", is Lust (which is basically old time Horny).
And with that Plate being delivered, by the writters themselves - why wouldn't she go, with the most obvious to her character "She is Horny and dead, where else would she be?"
2) If we are making Grace LGBTQ+phobic (because we needed more character to her at that moment in script, ok?) how about then going all the way with it till the end? How about, when she is ready to kill Jason (Yes, I remembered his name), he yells "Please, do not kill me! I didn't even wanted to go with you, I just wanted to make my boyfriend jelous" and she is like "Your what?!"
J: (in laughing disbelief) You aren't one of those, right?
Grace (deadpun but aggressively): Run.
Would that be bloated and ruin passing of the last song? Absolutely it could, but I, kind of, argue, that if you establish something about a character - I think it should come out later in the plot.
Barbecue Monologues out of place? Or perhaps... fucking transcendent?
@@AlinaAniretake That's a good point. I think I loved how punchy Grace's line was so much that I didn't really think about "Wait, would she even be willing to acknowledge bisexuals, with how fundamentalist she acts?" And if she really feels that way about being queer, why would Bill be so ready to defend her to Alice?
I guess I just filed it away under "Meh, alternate timelines"
@niretake mmmmyeah noooo not so much pan as just a combination of bi and a desperate touch starved teen nerd.
not rly a good look to conflate pansexuality with simply not having any standards :/
7:22
Ok I get what you mean but this was a bad example, in this clip Jeff isn’t using his falsetto he’s mixing in his high range, though he is on the edge of flipping into falsetto
Ah ok I don't know much about vocals the point was more that he's singing the high notes in the ensemble in a similar way to Kim and I know she's not using a falsetto.
Yeah it’s his belt range
honestly i just want to say that Nerdy Prudes Must Die is undoubtedly my favourite Starkid show, yes even above Twisted.
from ✨the vibes✨ to "Max and Grace narcissist duo" to the plot everything made me feel so happy
ive been trying to get more people to watch this show (including my Music Theory teacher for the opening song alone) and ive been unsuccessful but i am very excited anyways
also, i hope for the next musical they lean more into their nerd culture, since they are technically nerds, and i genuinely hope Corey and Bryce get more prominent roles from now on (i also hope Will comes back because goddamn!)
We'll definitely be seeing more of Bryce soon that's for sure! Best of luck getting people to watch. I've managed to rope a few people in over the years haha.
10:03 I actually agree with this a lot but my friend brought up the fact that her mom wears a skirt even though her mom doesn't really uphold the values it's also to provide more coverage for her leggings and a skirt so not only is she also has the modesty of a skirt
It was my first introduction and I immediately fell in love with this universe
always always love hearing your thoughts!!! and I'd be super interested to hear you go more in-depth about your thoughts on the social commentary. this was a super interesting show to watch with my partner, who really dislikes horror, but loves musicals and was willing to watch it with me to learn more about my interests. we skimmed through TGWDLM just so he would have a baseline understanding of the universe, but other than that, NPMD was his first starkid exposure at all, and he absolutely loved it!!!
Interesting! I've honestly learned a lot about horror from watching hatchetfield stuff since I'm usually to scared to watch it but I do obviously love musicals so I guess I'm on the same page as your partner there.
@@SilvanaLTD he found the invasion of the bodysnachers parallels way too creepy in TGWDLM but liked the fact that you could imagine a (possibly) happy ending for NPMD!
I just discovered your channel via the Dirty Dancing remake review, and when I saw you have reviews StarKid too, I gasped in glee! Immediately subscribed.
Welcome! It's a rarity people find my stuff not through starkid haha.
I watched nerdy prudes must die first and it stands alone pretty well and it was pretty fun to learn about the lords in black after meeting them and connect all the references when I watched the other two
I'm stand on the floor that say "BBQ Monologue meant to be out of place" 😂
7:11 THANK YOU someone else agrees with my opinion on Jeffs falsetto. Yes, its cool that hes able to do it, but in my opinion, it tends to ruin the overall experience of s a lot of the songs. Like, all of the Black Friday songs that have it. I love Jeff, hes INCREDIBLY talented, it just feels like a lot of the time, if not ALL the time, he writes it in just to get a moment of “WOAH 😮🫵” from people. His chest voice is so honestly soothing and wonderful to listen to, and i wish he would use that as much as he does his falsetto. Its gotten to the point where i cringe when hes about to sing, or just skip it all together 😕 I just hope he retires the falsetto for a bit and brings back his strong and beautiful chest voice like he used back in HMB@M and Twisted.
the criticism you give that sticks out to me is how you call some songs _too_ slow bc that's the one thing I don't rly agree with, but my sense of how fast or slow a song is can honestly vary based on where my own head is at so ehhhh
still, I rly wouldn't call "Cool as I Think I Am" a slow song
Yeah I guess it's all relative. Cool as I Think I Am is definitely not as slow as something like Jemilla's Lament, but compared to High School is Killing Me it's definitely not as energetic and I think just too slow for this particular part of the show.
I saw Nerdy Prudes Must Die as my first Hatchetfield Starkids production. I'd only seen Twisted and The Trail to Oregon prior. The show works perfectly fine as a standalone. Never felt lost or confused. You really don't need any homework before watching this. I imagine if you don't have any background in Hatchetfield productions OR more general horror you might feel a bit more adrift.
I agree with you on the choreography, but one exception. In the digital ticket you can see the choreo for The Summoning. It's SO smart and fun. Every Lord has a signature move, but then their move goes to the next Lord, then the next etc. If you follow the pattern the moves switch off, it's a pentagram. And the lyric 'we dance around the pentagram' really ties it all together. You can also see that Corey messed up a move in the choreo there, but the fact that you can see the entire idea behind the choreo was BRILLIANT. I'm SO sad that the proshot didn't focus on this aspect of the choreo, it just looks like the Lords are doing unrelated little static moves. But it's a pentagram!! ARrgh I wish they'd shown it!! Digital ticket version can be found on youtube as well though, go check it out!
Yeah I saw the digital ticket when it was first released I think I just forgot about this part. I definitely agree it was the song that suffered most although it's still great to watch, they cut out a lot.
oh hey, NPMD was my first starkid musical and I enjoyed it quite a bit. the escalation made sense and the basic lore of the lords in black given in the summoning made sense and easy to follow as it served the story well.
Nerdy Prudes was my intro to the series, some parts were a little confusing, but loved it and it sparked my hyperfixation with Hatchetfield. The only problem area (for me) at first was Paul and Emma's scene confused
me.
Yeah that makes sense. If you haven't seen the other shows they're just random people.
Fun Fact about me, this was actually my first starkid show lol! I still haven't seen nightmare time or workin' boys yet, but I did see TGWDLM then Black Friday after this, and I think I can confidently say that you don't need to know the hatchedfeild series to love this musical. You definitely get the feeling that there are refrences you're not getting, but there are many things I didn't know were refrences like the mention of the smoke club in the title song!
NPMD was my first starkid show. It was so good I’ve by now watched almost all of them.
Nerdy Prudes Must Die was the first Starkid production I ever saw, and it got me to check out the rest of the Hatchetfield stuff and a few other of their shows. I think there was plenty of information and context clues that I was more than able to follow the story. Sure, I didn't know who Paul and Emma were, but when everyone cheered, it wasn't hard to understand that they were beloved characters from other stories. Sure, I misinterpreted Tinky's comment about having the whole Spankofski set to mean Pete's whole family winds up trapped, but that still made Time Bastard surprising. Maybe it comes from growing up watching reruns of long-running shows broadcast out of order.
Nerdy Prudes Must Die was not only my first Hatchetfield show, but also my first ever musical i watched to the end (including movies, ive not seen musical movies in full before either) (ok i guess ive seen twisted years before but i didnt remember much when i saw NPMD)
It was not only a fantastic experience, but also really touching. Grace's stiry and the romance between Steph and Pete really worked for me. I paused multiple times theoughout the show to Think About The Implications (haha) of Grace's stuff specifically (while i wasnt raised super religious i do have some bad memories revolving religion and despite Grace having very much a drastically different approach to it than me I empathised with her a lot and was upset that she ended up as the cause of a bad ending in the end)
I was in general just also immediatelly intrigued with the world setup here, not one person seemed like a perfect hero and everyone was a bit of an a-hole, which helped sel the tight knit small town community vibe, same for how fleshed out the characters seemed to be
Also seeing Emma and Paul reminded me that a friend was bugging me before to watch TGWDM and i just completelly forgot, watching this one first :sob:
I was also intrigued by The Lords In Black, i understand why your assumption was that someone who hasnt seen Wiggly would be confused, but personally I just took it as it went. Flamboyant eldrich gods taking guman form and asking for a sacrifice for the heck of it? Why not! The audience reaction also had that effect on me, it implied the fans knew who these guys were so I had something to look foward to in other shows!
So after NPMD I proceeded to watch it all in order, I was very suprised there was no word of lords in black in the first show and even more confused that Wiggly was seemingly the head honcho in BF with no word of his brothers, it was just still interesting
So while obviouslly starting with Guy makes more sense, im still rating my experience of starting with Prudes a solid 10/10
EDIT: this is a wonderful video by the way! some of the stuff you said didnt land for you was interesting to listen to concidering i didnt have problems with those things but it also made sense too, i havwnt seen many other peoples opinions before, but this was great
im definatelly seeking out your other stuff now
Wow what an intro to musicals! I can't remember what the first musical I saw was I'v been watching them forever. I'm glad you finally got hooked! Yeah I think all the Hatchetfield shows do a good job at having complex characters. A lot of people with good intentions going down a dark path which is always interesting. And they've really built up the universe since TGWDLM. I'm not sure how much of it was thought of at the beginning, but I know it was meant to be a series early on. Thanks so much for watching :)
Great review! My thoughts on a couple of the points; I agree with you about the BBQ monologues, the first time I watched NPMD I enjoyed the scene but was a bit bemused at what I was watching. The second time I watched it, however, I got it, and Ruthie and her backstory solidified in my mind. I think they were trying to give us a window into her character, but she needed more of a set up for the monologues to make sense as a reflection of her life being boring and samey. The song was perfect for that, but broke the flow because it vibes totally different to the rest of the musical. The lyrics in her song were the best of any of them, imo, just incongruent with the theme.
I do have to disagree with you about the camera work, though, I think some scenes really suffered for the closeups that they chose- namely the summoning. I only learnt in the comments that the LiBs trade movements to dance out the shape of a pentagram after the show, and I wanted to watch all of their reactions. I learnt that Pete kept looking over at Tinky in fear throughout the number, and these were some really nice touches that got lost in the YT version, I wish they'd done some more wide shots. I imagine there's other bits I missed without a digital ticket.
After watching it even more I agree about the summoning. It's definitely the number that suffered the most, although I still think they improved from previous shows. Especially going back and watching Twisted, there is soooo much that gets cut off.
I think you might have missunderstood the purpose of certain lines in "cool as I think I am"
" What if my beliefs were taller" makes quite a lot of sense. It's basically projecting a common physical insecurity onto a common mental insecurity. A bit weird, sure, but it does make sense in context.
Hatchet Town reminds me a lot of ‘Coalhouse Demands’ from “Ragtime” just in terms of narrative placement and even the tone
It seems like the overall fandom *loved* the BBQ Monologue scene and song. And while I love Lauren's voice and she performed it really well, it took me out of the show. I think trimming the song would have gone a long way for me. But honestly I think this has passed Black Friday as my favorite.
And I loved Best of You- definitely gave me Blink-182 vibes and felt very much like something that would actually play at homecoming. 😊
The blending of the higher notes might also be that they are mixing their audio in a different (better) way.
I also have an inside scoop on what the next show's gonna be about , I'm not gonna tell ya but you should definitely keep an eye on the horizon ;)
I don't think it's 100% down to mixing because I still have frustrations with Jeff's vocals when it's just him such as in Monsters and Men but their audio has definitely gotten better. Super excited about the next show I'll definitely be on the lookout!
I just recently started really getting into Starkid's Hatchetfield series with this musical. The only part I was confused about was the audience's reaction to the LiB appearing.
From my perspective, I think this musical did a good job of introducing new ppl to the LiB lore within the context of the story.
They established the summonings/rituals early with the Waylon place, and they had the supernatural elements reinforced by Max's return. The only critique I'd have is the introduction of the Black book, but mostly bc of how the mayor conveniently appeared at the most convenient moment, along with convenient exposition dumping. Fortunately, I think the arrest scene allowed us time to let the new information settle.
I had watched NPMD as my third starkid show and my second hatchetfield show (I had seen AVPM and TGWDLM) and, while I was a little confused with the references in hatchet town and the summoning, I just took it as something that was referencing a different show. It didn’t really take me out of the experience and the fact that they didn’t have the hatchet town references in the live shows makes that all the better because then the audience who doesn’t know doesn’t feel excluded.
Honestly watching NPMD made me think of Heathers in some ways too 😅
to the comment about picturing Grace wearing a long skirt instead of jeans...I think you're thinking of the religious group called Apostolic Pentecostals- where the women wear long skirts all the time and most don't even cut their hair. Grace is just Christian. Christians are allowed to wear jeans lol. they worship the same God but its different views. just wanted to clarify.
No, I am not thinking of any specific denomination. Many strict religious groups, especially ones that emphasize purity and gender roles, do not allow women to wear pants. This isn't even specific to Christianity, and more of them don't technically forbid it but strongly discourage it.
@@SilvanaLTD okay. I'm Christian and I was confused by that comment, thats the only group I can think of ( at least where I live ) that wear long skirts for religious reasons and worship the same God.
@@SilvanaLTD oh, also forgot to mention, loved your video! it was really well done. that was the only thing that confused me
@@HelloXrancidkitteh Thank you I'm glad you liked it! I'll preface this by saying that I don't believe Grace is part of any mainstream church both because of her beliefs and the way Hatchetfield works, I'd say she's probably part of a very high control group/cult, or at least her family practices in that way. I don't know of any super mainstream Christian denominations that outright forbid women from wearing pants, but there are plenty of more fringe sects that work like this. On the really extreme end you have groups like the FLDS (although it's arguable if they're considered Christian) and the Amish that have very strict requirements for dress. Also groups like the IFB, IBLP, some more conservative Mennonites, etc. at the very least discourage women from wearing pants if not outright forbidding it. These are just off the top of my head not to mention other entire religions that have similar practices in their more conservative branches.
After seeing Black Friday, I felt that it was too serious, but after seeing NPMD, I felt like it wasn't serious enough. I guess TGWDLM hit the perfect spot between horror and comedy for me, and I really liked some of the darker elements in Black Friday, like Wilbur Cross, or the tackling of issues like capitalism, so initially, I was kinda disappointed after watching NPMD. I love when they explore grittier topics through a comedic lens.
That being said, I loved the plot and how the story was told. Among the characters, I loved Grace, Max and Richie the most, but actually feel Pete and Steph were a bit underdeveloped. He was the stereotypical nerd who wants to be cool and wants to get the girl, nothing really out of the box. Idk, might be just me, but I felt like I wanted to connect to his character more. Steph, I feel like, fared better, but I would have loved a solo song for her too.
As much as I enjoy nitpicking though, I enjoyed the overall show more than Black Friday, and the production quality, sound quality, camera work were all top-notch, though the set design could have been better. It's just growing pains I think, because they are not used to such large stages. Eagerly awaiting their next musical, and I hope it's not a parody, but an original. I think they have grown past parodies.
I do think abstinence camp does have some more characterization for Pete and Steph that can add to the viewing, although they still have a more complete storyline in the show than Lex and Ethan did in Black Friday imo. Definitely agree on tackling the heavier issues in Black Friday, I think it was one of the strengths of the show and I felt like they almost went for it in this one but didn't follow through so that was somewhat disappointing. And yeah it can be hard to tell on camera, but this theater seemed huge to me so that makes sense space wise I feel like the only show with a similar stage was maybe Firebringer.
I feel a similar way! Though honestly I liked Black Friday better. I can’t say I don’t like NPMD, I liked it, it’s got some tunes, but out of all of them it just didn’t fully hit for me, especially because I’m not a big fan of the kind of “Lol cringe teenagers” comedy it riles on throughout. I just found myself cringing a little too much for comfort, took away from the overall enjoyment for me. I don’t want to get TOO into it but as someone who was a bit different in school and has autism, it’s nice to see them try and respect and flesh out these nerdy characters, but their weird behavior and mannerisms were still often the butt of a lot of the jokes which just doesn’t sit right with me (PERSONALLY). In my opinion TGWDLM was peak, felt really solid, though the songs weren’t necessarily impressive they were incredibly fun and SO iconic, Black Friday had my favorite songs out of all of them but it just felt a little all over the place in terms of plot, unfocused at time, too much going on, and NPMD was just an alright addition to the series. Not a bad watch but not something I see myself rewatching any time soon, more just listening to some of the songs on occasion.
At least in my brain it just didn’t feel as connected to the lore and story of Hatchetfield, it felt more like a side story you’d see in Nightmare Time compared to the other two, and also I didn’t feel like there were enough kills considering the premise. I would’ve hoped for it to lean into more high school slasher vibes but it just felt too small in scale with only two solid kills. None of the actual haunting and killing started until Act 2 and it just felt like not enough time was focused on it. Sure they were telling us how big of a threat Jaegerman was with songs like Hatchet Town and the main gang cowering in fear over the idea of him, but I don’t feel like we had enough time to truly sit in his evil, bloody vengeance as much as I would have liked, Nerdy Prudes Must Die is one of my favorite scenes because of how involved Jaegerman as a villain felt. The show just kept being interrupted by lore about The Lords In Black among other things which while I LOVE TLIB, they only actually showed up for a song and their presence feels like more like fan service when they’re just reduced to side characters. I GET IT, they create the solution and ultimatum to the characters problems, they have importance to the plot, but personally I would have liked to see them a bit more. I mean, they were the main causes of the last two musicals, so it just felt kind of off how much they lacked involvement here, maybe one of the main reasons this one felt so disconnected from the others. The conflict was more driven by high school drama than it was big eldritch threats. But I also understand that this is just my silly little brain and I’m probably just not looking at things correctly and being nitpickey!
I think they become more comedic in NPMD because some group of the fandom says that they miss "old" phase Starkid. You know the good stuffs; comical and absurd. But, I think I'm agree with you that they lose depth toward the topic they brought.
Starkid always able to bring a topic, but manage to discuss it *through* comical lense. They are serious and unserious at the same time.
@@wispisangthe cringe teenager joke was there not for look down upon a teenager. If you heard the next songs in the musical, they very much humanize them.
We need to remember Starkid origin was literally from a collage student and "geek" stuffs back at the 2009 forward.
It more like a, "yes it's cringe, but just it's just what way we are as a teenager."
For the autism part or something, I'm sorry if you feel that way.
Though, I agree. The killing rampage is lacking from what the premise promised. At least the whole pace is set tidily, I think that's probably why I didn't notice how few Max's slaughter had been.
@@valhatan3907 No no I totally get that the jokes are obviously not mean-spirited in the slightest! Just for me personally it just didn’t hit quite right and I also just don’t find those jokes very funny to begin with. Though liking those jokes is valid👍
I had decided to check out StarKid because I'm subscribed to Smosh, and I kept hearing references to Angela being in StarKid. So NPMD was the first musical I watched, and I would never have guessed it was the 3rd in a series, didn't know that until I read comments and looked further into their channel. The only thing that stood out as confusing to me had nothing to do with the musical itself, it was when the crowd went crazy over Pete demanding his hot chocolate lol
i think you're the second person to comment on coming to starkid from smosh which is so fun to me as a longtime fan of both groups. I can definitely see how the hot chocolate thing would not make any sense to a new fan, but I am glad like I said that I think they put those kind of easter eggs in more appropriate places because they do tend to get a huge audience reaction.
23:25 I will share my experience as someone who didn't watch Hatchedfield Trilogy.
For addition, I have watched TGWDLM but didn't aware of Lords in Black connection and Nightmare Time shenanigans. Heck, I didn't even know it was part of trilogy.
Many years later I didn't catch on Starkid anymore, untill a week ago. I watched NPMD and Lords in Black to me was ...
DAMN.
It hooked me.
I maybe bias, since I always like the devils or sins personafication in media (Homonculus from FMA:B, Nanatsu no Taizai, Servamp, etc..)
Lords in Black was confused me at first because the audience reaction is too histerical for this trope. "Wow, these people like the same trope as me? Wait, or does this have elaborate lore that I'm missing?"
I really didn't expect that turn to show the Devils in this show. From teenage slasher to fantasy-supernatural.
Tho, it never really baffling to me, since I, y'know already had bias. It's only makes me curious even more.
That's an interesting perspective. I'm glad it hooked you as somewhat of an outsider. I'm not too big on horror and things like that but I'm obviously a long time Starkid fan so we're basically coming at it from opposite angles!
Npmd was my first Starkid and I loved it. The only thing I disliked was the gods in blacks costume bc I was very confused on why they didn't look very powerful (except Pokey his costume was always amazing). After doing research and seeing that they are very out of touch and are trying to hold together a human form. I grew to like them. I think it is cool they are trying to dress as high-school stereotypes to lure the teens into relaxing enough to make the deal with them aswell as showing off their own personalities. I also thought it was cool they have parts of their dolls fur present in their costumes
And right on time, too! 😂
Better late than never?
I wanna see a musical thats set in clivesdale
oooo never thought of that that's a fun idea
I actually feel the opposite about the social commentary! I liked that grace's arc portrayed purity culture in a less preachy and more character-driven way. the social commentary in black friday felt jarring and way too obvious for my taste; for instance, by the time "made in america" came around, it was already incredibly clear to me as a viewer that the commentary was supposed to be about american consumerism, so the song felt unnecessary. I understand this might be a matter of taste, though.
I get that. I feel like Abstinence Camp was stronger with regards to purity culture but it's also hard to compare them since they're such different mediums. I think finding the balance between not being too preachy and being so subtle is goes over the audience's head is tricky Black Friday was definitely on the not very subtle side.
about Jeff’s falsetto…i’m SO curious about what you think about his falsetto in Cinderellas Castle bc i found it incredibly annoying 😭
I think he sounded very strained during a lot of the songs but the opening number was particularly egregious. I honestly had a hard time understanding him it wasn't pleasant to listen to which sucks because he does have a great voice, but it sounds like he's pushing way too much.
@@SilvanaLTD i agree. My sister and I were lost the opening number because we didn’t realize there were subtitles and we were just like…what is he even saying 😭
Great video!!! I always love hearing other people’s opinions on these shows. Also where did they say they weren’t doing another Hatchetfield musical? I don’t remember seeing anything about that?
In the talkback after the youtube premier they said that their next musical won't be a hatchetfield show. Doesn't necessarily mean there won't be another one and definitely doesn't mean hatchetfield is done (they also shared plot summaries for nightmare time 3) just that the next stage musical will be something different.
Yeah, they have another extended universe concept they are gonna be delving into
Yay😊
Oh yeah, totally agree on Jeff’s falsetto. When listening to TGWDLM again, every time it happened it was always just so unnecessary, and distracted from the rest of the song. It kinda just felt like he wanted to show off that he can hit that high note, even when it REALLY should not have been there. Otherwise, he’s a good singer, he just needs to learn to control the falsetto additions for himself.
Yeah I think he just needs someone to rein him in a bit. It doesn't happen in Twisted or HMB at all and those are written and directed by someone else. He has a fantastic voice and his lower range is also really strong it always frustrates me when he's not using it to it's fullest extent.
KIM AND CURT ARE MARRIED??? WJAT?? SINCE WHEN 😭😭😭
I'm not sure exactly but at least as long as they've been involved in Starkid
NPMD is not my first Starkid rodeo, but it’s my first in this triology. That in mind, the Lords of Black felt like it came out of nowhere and I was like “is this a reference or something? I don’t get where this is coming from at all,” and now, knowing they’re from other shows, it makes sense. I felt like the first act was so tight and engaging and then around the BBQ Monologues we came to a stand still for very little payoff. I enjoyed the show quite a bit, one of their stronger originals, but it did need the context of the other Hatchetfield shows imo. I didn’t even know this was a sequel-I came to it from hearing the audio snippet from Richie’s death. I wish that I’d known it was a sequel-I would have gone in order.
It's a pretty unique problem for Starkid shows since musicals don't tend to have sequels (besides animated movies) especially since they're not direct sequels with all the same characters, I could see it being tricky to navigate if you just come across the shows on youtube.
Ruth was by far my least favorite, as well as her solo.
Like you said, too long and out of place.
I always skip the barbeque monologues because it had nothing to do with the plot and I wouldn't mind if they rewrote it for future shows.