Recap / The Nostalgia Critic S 8 E 24

Release: November 24, 2015

Focus: Dragon's Lair and Dragons Lair II: Time Warp

Guest Starring: Don Bluth

Picking up from the last review, Critic is forced to play Dragon's Lair by Don Bluth as punishment for making fun of his movies in the past. Critic also provides his thoughts on the games, and Bluth discusses the making of them.

Tropes:

• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: The Critic says "Eyes on the prize," as he keeps an eye on Daphne while battling Singe at the same time, but when the dragon really starts to attack, the Critic exclaims, "Eyes off the prize!", so he can concentrate.
• Blunt "Yes": The Critic asks Bluth if he realizes that his last video game review, that of Bart's Nightmare, was a flop, and Bluth's reply is a simple "Yep."
• Call-Back:
  • Early in the review, Critic references the last time he played a video game and how it blew up in his face, referring to the events and reception of the infamous Lets Play Barts Nightmare episode. See also: Blunt "Yes" above.
  • Randy Savage and Segata Sanshiro's cameo appearances also call back to the previous Conquest of the Commercials review.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Don Bluth forces Critic to play Dragon's Lair under the threat of giving more death glares as "punishment" for Critic making fun of his movies in the past.
• Death Glare: Don Bluth threatens to give this to Critic again if he doesn't play the game. He even calls it a death glare. The ending has Randy Savage say to shill the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign, or Bluth will give the audience the "death stare".
• Deadpan Snarker: Don Bluth pulls no punches in mocking the Critic while he's playing Dragon's Lair.
  (as Critic panics during the fight against the Lizard King and gets Dirk knocked out and dragged away)
  Don Bluth: (chuckles) Wow, you're really bad at this.
  Critic: YA THINK!?
  Don: I can usually win this in ten minutes.
  Critic: That's because you made it! Schmuck...
• Distracted by the Sexy: During the final battle, Critic tries to keep his "eyes on the prize" (Daphne) while fighting off Singe at the same time.
• Even Better Sequel:invoked Critic believes that Dragons Lair II: Time Warp is a better put together game than the first one, mainly because the command prompts are more clear and common.
• Guide Dang It!: Critic claims this is a flaw with the game, simply because it's not clear what you're supposed to do at some points (i.e. having to run away from the skulls as opposed to slashing them with your sword, which just gets you killed) and that the arcade games randomization of the levels makes it harder to memorize what you're supposed to do. He also criticizes Dragon's Lair II for using this for the items you have to collect, because you have to play through the entire game again to get them all before you reach the real ending. He particularly singles out the Beethoven sequence, because the butterfly you have to catch signals for you to grab it at the exact same moment the cat is breathing fire at you! It leads to the Critic giving an Atomic F-Bomb (see below).
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: The whole Randy Savage and Segata Sanshiro scene.
• Kaizo Trap: Critic almost wins Dragon's Lair II, but he loses the game and his last life on it when he gets blindsided by the very last command prompt in the game. Don Bluth rubs it in his face by putting it at the top of his Top 11 Nostalgia Critic Death Scenes.
• Make Me Wanna Shout: Randy Savage and Segata Sanshiro get into a literal shouting match with each other near the end, and it unwittingly blows up Africa.
• The Many Deaths of You: One of the main draws of the original games and of this retrospective.
  Critic: One of my favorite things is hearing Dirk's wide variety of cowardly screams.
  Don: They're heard more often when you play!
  Critic: Shut up!
• Mind Screw: Critic likes Dragon's Lair II, but even he admits the game makes absolutely no sense at all.
• Nintendo Hard: While Critic is a big Don Bluth fan and likes the innovative elements of the game, his big beef with it is that it's just way too hard.
• Poke the Poodle: Critic's "punishment" is just having to play Dragon's Lair under the threat of Don Bluth giving him more death glares. The Critic even admits that it doesn't sound that bad, until he gets one and decides to get playing.
• Precision F-Strike: The Critic's incredulity towards, in the second game, having to pick up a butterfly whose Notice This glow is completely overwhelmed by a glowing fire in the near-background, causes him to declare that all of the first game's cruelty is condensed into a single "fuck you" moment. In response, he exclaims, "Well, guess what, 'fuck you' moment? FUCK YOU!!!"
• Product Placement: At the end of the review, the Critic shills the up and coming Indiegogo campaign for the Dragon's Lair movie project, complete with Randy Savage and Segata Sanshiro appearing to promote it!
• Red Herring: Critic flips out at the part where Dirk has to choose between "two glowy things" (the command prompts) in a split second, and how picking the wrong one (the chain instead of the hole in the wall nearby) gets Dirk swept away in a flood.
• Self-Imposed Challenge: Critic deliberately plays the game without the option to turn on button commands that comes with the home console ports, just so he can play the game exactly as it was in the arcade.
• Serious Business: At the end, Randy Savage and Segata Sanshiro endorse the making of the Dragon's Lair movie, so much so that they engage in a fight that has nothing to do with what they are promoting. They both end up telling the viewers to help fund the making of the film or face Bluth's death glare.
• Shout-Out: When Critic has Dirk fall for the "Drink Me" trap, he gets exasperated and asks if Glados is running the place.