Airdate: Monday, July 31, 2006
Sender: Tom B, Sunnyvale CA
Tom from "Sunnyvale, Cactus Area" wants to know how hot it is in Strong Badia, but before anymore can be said, Strong Bad feels the need to give the viewers a reminder:
Getting back to Tom's email, he asks what Strong Bad and friends do to keep cool in the summer. Strong Bad apparently determines the weather by balancing a spoon of hoisin sauce on Strong Sad's "disturbing soft-serve flip"... and then just asking him.
Strong Sad: Current temperature: ninety-seven, ninety-eight degrees... humidity, twenty-five percent... barometric pressure's 30.05 inches mercury... I'm gonna eat this spoonful of hoisin sauce...
According to Strong Bad's handy chart, temperatures in the high nineties means it's "Cool Time, Pool Time!" ("In the pool that we've always had... that we use all the time... and the school has always had an elevator!") The news that it's "cool time, pool time" spreads fast among the citizens of Free Country USA, and soon everyone is maxing and relaxing at the pool.
Lifeguard Strong Bad makes sure to lay down the pool rules "just so I never have to use this weird foamy thing":
(Cut to the Poopsmith, wearing a Nebulon floatie and testing the water with his foot)
Strong Bad: Poopsmith, don't even try it. Also, no rough-horsing, no house-rousing, no butt-patting.
Coach Z: Aw, nuts!
Strong Bad's life-guarding is somewhat questionable: his idea of putting pool chemicals is using "whatever was under the sink" (which leaves Marzipan's hair green and smoldering), he orders everyone out of the pool during a lightning storm except the characters he doesn't like (Homestar, Coach Z, and the King of Town, who are all holding various metal objects), and he makes the mistake of forgetting to keep Strong Mad off the high dive. The ensuing "Mannon Ball" sends all the water (and all the swimmers) flying out of the pool, with Strong Bad getting knocked all the way back to the computer room, but not without water splashing on him.
Homestar: Uh, Strong Bad, I think that total wave ruined your 'ool.
Strong Bad: Ah... I... breaky... spiney...
(The Paper comes down.)
Tropes:
- The Bait: The pool's lightning procedure involves everyone vacating the pool except Homestar, Coach Z and the King of Town, all holding metallic objects meant to attract the lightning.
- Beach Episode: A variant, the gang visits the public pool to keep cool.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Strong Bad asks if anyone wants to get together a game of Sharks and Minnows, Einstein and Kreskin, or Pregnant and Seventeen.
- Brick Joke: Strong Bad refers to Strong Sad's head as a "soft serve flip" in the email and in the Easter egg The King of Town prepares to head it by covering Strong Sad in whipped cream and cherries while he rambles.
- Continuity Nod:
- Strong Bad consults Monkey D's Summer Tips on how to beat the heat.
- The Poopsmith wears a Nebulon floatie.
- Strong Bad falls through the roof of the computer room again, just like in "pom pom". He even says he should probably stop patching the hole at this rate.
- Homestar's swimsuit is the same one he wears at one point in the Theme Song Video
.
- Delayed Reaction: There's a beat right between when Strong Mad's "Mannon Ball" hits the water and when it empties the pool of its contents.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Strong Bad addresses Strong Sad as "Trundle Bed".
- Geographic Flexibility: This is the first time the pool's appeared or even been mentioned since "Theme Song Video" way back in spring of 2000. Lampshaded when Strong Bad insists that they've always had this pool and they use it all the time.
- I Am Not Shazam: Addressed In-Universe. Strong Bad feels the need to point out that "Strong Badia" only refers to the vacant lot that Strong Bad calls his own kingdom, not the general setting where the characters all live; the actual name of the setting is Free Country, USA (though this name isn't often brought up, not even in this e-mail).
- It Runs on Nonsensoleum: Apparently, balancing a spoonful of hoisin sauce on Strong Sad's head gives him the power to predict the weather.
- Long List: Strong Bad's pool safety advice includes "After you eat, wait three full days, get a complete physical, have an ear candling, and press UP, A, and START before re-entering the pool."
- Real Life Writes the Plot: This email debuted during an actual heat wave in the United States, Canada, and much of Europe. Sunnyvale itself, where the email sender resides, had just suffered a two-week period of unusually hot weather, responsible for 83 heat-related deaths in California.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Strong Bad has a whole list of rhyming activity suggestions, including not only "Cool time, pool time," but "Nose time, hose time" and "Tinkler time, sprinkler time".
- Tan Lines: Strong Bad has a farmer's tan while acting as a lifeguard, despite not normally wearing a shirt.
- Toilet Humor: Strong Bad has his own take on a classic humorous pool safety sign:Strong Bad: Welcome to our 'ool. Notice there is no "take a crap in it" in it. Please keep it that way.
(He sees the Poopsmith testing the water)
Strong Bad: Poopsmith, don't even try it.
(The Poopsmith hangs his head)
Strong Sad: Wind sou'-sou'west at 10 miles per hour. Sunset at 8:45 PM. (The King of Town sneaks up behind him) Baseball games at two, eleven, and three. (The King of Town places a cherry on Strong Sad's head and breaks out a can of "Lard Wipt".)
