1. History

2. Episode format

3. Main cast

4. Reception

5. See also

6. References

7. External links

Nostalgia Critic is an American review comedy web series created/directed by and starring web comedian Doug Walker (born in Italy on November 17, 1981). The series initially launched on YouTube in July 3, 2007 before moving to Walker's own site That Guy with the Glasses, then to Channel Awesome. The show follows Walker as the title character, a bitter and sarcastic critic who mostly reviews films and television shows from his childhood and recent past, usually with comically exaggerated rage. The show often alternates the Critic's angry rants and juvenile humor with legitimate analysis of the episode's subject.

Walker briefly retired the series in August 14, 2012 to work on other projects, even writing the character out of existence in the Channel Awesome film To Boldly Flee. However, on January 22, 2013, Walker announced the show's imminent return in a narrative video called "The Review Must Go On".^[3] The show subsequently returned with a more narrative and sketch-driven sixth season, beginning on February 5, 2013, with a review of The Odd Life of Timothy Green.

History

The series was initially launched on YouTube in July 3, 2007 with a review of Transformers but episodes were frequently removed by the website following complaints of copyright infringement. In April 2008, the videos were removed from YouTube but an arrangement between the company and content host Blip in 2009 resulted in them being featured on YouTube once more.^[4][5]

The announcement of a spin-off, called The Nostalgia Chick, was created in "The Search for the Nostalgia Chick" (August 10, 2008). The concept was for a female host to review female-targeted "nostalgic" films and television.^[6] The contest ended in a three-way tie between Lindsay Ellis (who reviewed Disney's Pocahontas), Krissy Diggs (who reviewed Sailor Moon), and Kaylyn Saucedo (who reviewed The Last Unicorn). The competition was won by Ellis, then using the name "The Dudette", as announced on the site, "Nostalgia Chick Winner!" (September 15, 2008).^[6] Diggs and Saucedo would still join That Guy with the Glasses as That Chick with the Goggles and Marzgurl respectively.

On September 14, 2012, Walker announced the retirement of Nostalgia Critic and that it would no longer be a weekly production, as he and his brother felt that they had gone as far as they could with the series. On January 22, 2013, Walker released a sketch short film titled "The Review Must Go On", that also announced the return of the Nostalgia Critic. On December 30, 2015, Nostalgia Critic aired its 300th episode, a review of The Force Awakens. On October 10, 2018, Nostalgia Critic aired its 400th episode, a countdown of the top 11 Stephen King movies.

Episode format

The series focuses on the Nostalgia Critic. GigaOM describes it as "high energy and shamelessly nerdy".^[7] Reuters described him as having "offbeat personalities".^[8]

The shows mostly focus on the Critic watching a film as he makes fun of the movie's problems with recurring memes, comedic sketches and pop culture gags, such as making fun of famous actors who starred in lesser-known roles before their rise to fame. The show also features other segments, such as the "Top 11" lists countdowns for his favorite films, villains, or moments in television shows and "Old vs. New" which compares a reboot of a popular film or series to the original. Since the revival of the series in 2013, Walker occasionally produces an editorial which discusses relevant film topics; while still featuring the Critic persona, these videos are much less comedic and contain no sketches or other actors. Beginning with Jurassic World in June 23, 2015, the series also occasionally features "clipless reviews" of films that are still currently in theaters to avoid copyright infringement instead of stills and clips. These reviews instead feature scenes from the movies re-enacted comedically by Walker, his family and other Channel Awesome contributors.

Walker describes his philosophy thus: "[We need a critic of nostalgia] because everybody already does it. When we look at movies and shows from our youth, they're rarely as good as we remember them, and oftentimes it's quite humorous to compare what you liked then to what you like now. That's basically what the Nostalgia Critic is about, looking back at just how much nostalgia cloaked our vision in heavenly bliss and how bizarre the reality is."^[9] This is mostly reflected in the series, but sometimes he reviews whatever is popular at the moment.

Main cast

• Doug Walker: Nostalgia Critic, the aggressive and short-tempered film critic. He is characterized by his angry rants and hatred of bad movies. All of the reviews star him as the main character, and feature him providing commentary and criticism while talking directly to the audience.
• Rob Walker: Rob is the Critic's real-life older brother who appears in most of the Critic's videos as "The Other Guy" as well as different minor and major characters, notably Santa Christ.
• Malcolm Ray: Malcolm is one of the Critic's friends who appears on the show and works with him on his videos. Malcolm often plays many secondary characters, most notably as the Devil in some of the sketches.
• Rachel Tietz: She is a friend of the Critic's who worked with him and Malcolm on the show. She played multiple characters, including Evilina (the daughter of the Devil and Kim Kardashian) and Rita Repulsa (though her voice was dubbed by Doug Walker in that role). She later left the show after season six to pursue her career in Los Angeles but has made some cameos in later episodes, most recently in the review of The Nutcracker: The Untold Story.
• Tamara Chambers: After Rachel Tietz left the show to pursue a career in Los Angeles, Tamara stepped in to take her place. She now has her own short series called Tamara's Never Seen, where she opens talking about an iconic movie that she is about to watch for the first time, followed by her immediate impressions. She also plays a recurring character called Hyper Fangirl. She also has a second short series called Tamara Just Saw, where she opens talking about a brand new movie that she has just seen.
• Jim Jarosz: Jim is a friend of the Critic's who often works with Tamara and Malcolm, though he is not present in every episode as Tamara and Malcolm are. He is mainly responsible for most of the props and set pieces in the show, most notably for the review of Fury Road.

(Note: All of the cast members often play fictionalized versions of their real counterparts.)

Reception

The series is unofficially translated into many languages. On YouTube, one can find versions with Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish subtitles, as well as a version with Russian dubbing. However, of all of them, only Poland, where Nostalgia Critic is a cult series, has its own unofficial website devoted to Channel Awesome's reviewers and its YouTube channel.^[20]

See also

• Channel Awesome
• Angry Video Game Nerd
• The Cinema Snob
• CinemaSins
• How It Should Have Ended
• Screen Junkies

References

External links

• {{Official website|http://channelawesome.com/category/videos/channelawesome/dougwalker/nostalgia-critic/}}
• {{IMDb title|1635327|Nostalgia Critic}}

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