The Nostalgia Critic Thread Lives Again!

[LittleJerry92]

All this news is just leaving a giant sour taste in my mouth. Watching his videos just won't feel the same anymore.

 

[D'Snowth]

I mean, if there's money involved, I'd assume some deal is in place.

But that's not volunteer work, though. I mean it would be nice if money was involved in volunteer work, but there isn't, and if there was, that'd kind of defeat the purpose of volunteer work in the first place.

Ouch. that statement just reeks of spite.

1. There was no apology
2. 'proof' can be altered or fabricated or taken entirely out of context
3. Accusing everyone involved of lying is not how you handle bad PR

everything about this is just 100% unprofessional and the overly defensive attitude about it just makes it sound more suspicious

That was kind of my thinking as I was reading this thing . . . in fact, the way I was reading it like, "Everybody else is just saying a bunch of lies because they're disgruntled, we've done nothing wrong and we can prove they're lying" felt like I was reading something Trump may have written for him.

Watching his videos just won't feel the same anymore.

Again, I can still separate the art from the artist: this doesn't change how I enjoy classic NC reviews and what have you, because NC is just a character Doug portrayed (albeit more of an alter-ego than a full-fledged character). I may think less of Doug himself, but I'll still enjoy older NC.

 

[D'Snowth]

I do notice in CA's responding statement that they're complaining that it was a combination of the demise of blip.tv and the relaunch of their official YouTube channel that caused the drop in traffic on the proper CA website.

I'll be honest, I always waited for NC episodes to be reuploaded by fans on YouTube; I rarely, if ever, used the actual TGWTG or CA websites: especially way back when on my old computer - I don't know what it was about those sites (or blip.tv) but they always crashed my old computer, so I basically always just had to wait for fans to reupload NC episodes on YouTube to enjoy them - I remember one such YouTuber, LeisureSuitFan, or something like that, was a particular saving grace in that respect - even if they had to upload the reviews in multiple parts due to the 10/15 minute time limit. I've gotten so acclimated to that, that I just basically continued to watch NC that way - and even when CA's official YouTube channel was relaunched, and they began reuploading older reviews (some of which are still missing from their channel), I would still watch them that way.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Again, I can still separate the art from the artist: this doesn't change how I enjoy classic NC reviews and what have you, because NC is just a character Doug portrayed (albeit more of an alter-ego than a full-fledged character). I may think less of Doug himself, but I'll still enjoy older NC.

I think that's a good way to look at it. People can and will disappoint you, but that doesn't have to negate their entire lives and what they've meant to you.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I think that's a good way to look at it. People can and will disappoint you, but that doesn't have to negate their entire lives and what they've meant to you.

I get what you mean. It also just feels upsetting when it's someone you got to meet in person.

 

[D'Snowth]

Like I said, yes, much of how I approach my own production work comes from "tips" I've learned from watching how Doug would make NC episodes . . . again, I'm presently using Adobe Premiere and a Sony AVCHD handycam because it's what he used - both tools have vastly improved my YouTube work considerably since 2015. Would I use a different video editing program? I've looked into - I even tried familiarizing myself with Sony Vegas for a potential job offer that fell through, but in spite of some minor flaws (biggest of which right now is no more support for Dolby digital audio on non-Windows 10 operating systems), I'm very happy with Adobe Premiere. Would I use a different camera? That, I might . . . again, mine is a lower-quality, entry-level model compared to what he used, but I was lucky enough to get that while it was on sale for just over $100 . . . better, higher-quality models are out of my price range. My camera's picture quality isn't perfect (you really have to make sure what you're filming is well lit, otherwise the footage will be extremely grainy and noisy), but it's much, much, much better than it was when I was using a GE digital camera that only shot SD digital video, or even when I was usingmy old JVC camcorder that shot on videotape.

Bit I digress. Yes, I'm disappointed by the revelations that Doug is an unprofessional, ego-centric, who apparently knows far less about production work than as he presented himself . . . but that's Doug; Nostalgia Critic has brought me all kinds of laughter and joyment that no one else on the internet ever has, so I have a special place for the older/classic NC episodes. I probably won't go out of my way to continue watching new reviews that may return to the original format, though.

 

[D'Snowth]

One other thing I will point out is that it's amusingly ironic (and/or ironically amusing) that much of how I approach production work today is because of Doug, because when I first started out on YouTube, it was very much like how James Rolfe worked, but that was purely coincidental: I didn't know who James was at the time, nor had I heard of Cinemassacre, but coincidently, I had a lot of the same limitations he did in terms of having no way of editing, and basically have to record things in a blunt and simple manner and keep mistakes to a minimum while taping.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I'm just tired of the outrage culture and how every fandom seems H*** bent on destroying or avenging something. We don't enjoy anything anymore, it's like society has been poisoned.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I think that's a good way to look at it. People can and will disappoint you, but that doesn't have to negate their entire lives and what they've meant to you.

Yeah, and it's not like they're the worst people in the world, they're just kind of selfish and incompetent. You know who else is selfish and incompetent? The Nostalgia Critic! So maybe we don't have to separate the character from the artist after all, lol. I have no idea where I was going with this point .

I'm just tired of the outrage culture and how every fandom seems H*** bent on destroying or avenging something. We don't enjoy anything anymore, it's like society has been poisoned.

Well, I think finding out what's been going on in Hollywood, especially, has soured people a lot. We want to purge our media of anything morally wrong so that we don't feel guilty for putting more money into them. I'm not sure how practical it always is, but I think some things are harder to enjoy than others. Separating the art from the artist is not always so easy, especially in extreme cases. If you find out that a director, for instance gets arrested for literally eating baby elephants, and all of his movies feature characters who eat elephants for breakfast, you might not enjoy their movies so much after finding that out, no matter how good the film technically is. It's not just boycotting because of moral outrage, it's also the simple fact that I would be too creeped out to watch anything, with certain people in them, and sometimes their creepiness seeps through into their art.

 

[D'Snowth]

One other thing I'm curious about based on CA's counter-attack: they say they currently have four people in control of and running the company (including both Michaud and Rob), and they'll soon have a fifth person in such a position . . . are they really that big a company that they need that many people in charge?

Yeah, and it's not like they're the worst people in the world, they're just kind of selfish and incompetent. You know who else is selfish and incompetent? The Nostalgia Critic! So maybe we don't have to separate the character from the artist after all, lol. I have no idea where I was going with this point .

Well, @LittleJerry92 aside, from what I've heard from other people who have met Doug at cons have all had rather similar stories: that he was basically an @$$hole to people. My only thinking was that, as you said, Nostalgia Critic is like that as well, so perhaps he was sort of "staying in-character," as it were. I don't know, I've never met the guy, and I don't know what he's like in real life, so I couldn't say for certain one way or another. I do know one guy apparently hates Doug so much that when he was at a con, he intentionally waited in line to just walk right past Doug and shake hands, greet, and get a picture with Barney instead, to which he said Doug just stood there with a flasberghasted and dumbfounded look on his face.

And even now, I can't really say too much, other than just comment on what others have been saying, and again, one thing I can comment on is that Doug has joked before about his unprofessionalism, but I wasn't aware that he wasn't kidding, and that his unprofessionalism was to the point of total incompetence that he didn't he didn't know some of the basics of production work . . . and to hear that he thought of himself as the next Spielberg . . . yeah, even I think not.