Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 06:50:54 am

ballp.it is the community forum for The F Plus.

You're only seeing part of the forum conversation. To see more, register for an account. This will give you read-only access to nearly all the forums.

Topic: REALLY early F-Plus  (Read 3672 times)

Ambious

  • Moist
  • Paid
  • 184
  • -143
REALLY early F-Plus
So I know we've been warned a lot not to listen to the REALLY early episodes, but having been stuck at home for this long and having already listened to the entire upper 3/4ths of the catalog like three times, I've decided to actually give some of that stuff a go, and OH BOY .
I mean the audio quality is terrible, sure, and there are WAAAY too many hosts in one episodes that are just topic jumping without a unifying thread, but the content - oh my god the content is AMAZING.
My favorites so far are 31: The Anti Social Network from when people still used Facebook and especially 30: No Sense of Decency.
12: The Christmas Offensive is also great.
If like me you've managed to somehow miss these gems for this long, give it a listen. It's rough around the edges but worth it!
Puppy Time

Emperor Jack Chick

  • he/him
  • Ridiculist
  • Metal tyrant from hell
  • 3,193
  • 666
REALLY early F-Plus #1
the big thing the old eps have that the new ones don't is JimL2.
Boots Raingear SHAMBA~1.SBB

Neal

  • Guest
REALLY early F-Plus #2
Yeah, every time I see someone type "tht" I still think of the Facebook episode. I also recommend the very first Yahoo Answers ep and the dollforum ep (Daphne Catherine!)
Ambious

Ambious

  • Moist
  • Paid
  • 184
  • -143
REALLY early F-Plus #3
Wow, at the end of 19: So Far I Have Not Found The Science they just straight-up read a new (and probably one of the first) fans' twitter page.
That was... an experiment that I'm glad they did early on so that they would realize how bad of an idea it was.

beelzeboob

  • Risen from the tits of hell.
  • Paid
  • call that the boobonic plague
  • 979
  • 354
REALLY early F-Plus #4
The thing that turns me off from the earliest episodes isn't the audio quality or disorganization. I think, initially, the ridiculists were quite frankly MEANER. Right now the content feels friendly despite the fact the entire show is about mocking people. Lemon's intro in Episode 232 sums up the show's present attitude towards its subject matter. I really respect the way things are handled right now. Nothing is taken further than what people already present to the world, and unless someone is a truly awful human being there's really no ill will in the mockery. Shit's WEIRD for sure, but these are human beings living their weird lives and everyone kind of hopes they're gonna live good or better lives than they are now.

The oldest episodes are closer to feeling like POE's attitude towards its subjects of fascination. There's a level of cruelty in some of the way things are approached that doesn't sit as well with me now. It's not a huge, glaring difference in presentation. It's more the effect of the edgier jokes, the specific judgements cast at the subjects of episodes, and sometimes even just a particular subject being entertained at all. Sometimes it wasn't even really funny, it was just there to get mad and disgusted at. That's a very different vibe to the show now, even during their grossest recent episodes.

I don't really know how to explain it except that new episodes leave me feeling like I've watched a group of friends hang out and have fun, while some of the oldest eps leave me feeling like people were hanging out to talk shit about people they hate. It's a weird distinction for a show with this premise, but I hope that makes sense.

Meeting the ridiculists in real life and getting to talk to them, they seem self aware that they've grown IMMENSELY over the course of a decade (and like, that's healthy and normal to do over a ten year time span so good job guys!). There's far less transphobia in the show these days than there was initially (even if that wasn't necessarily their INTENT in making those jokes at the time). It's been a hot minute since I've heard a joke with Autism or Tourettes as the punch line. Things are kinder now on top of being more organized, less chaotic, and better produced. While there's definitely a lot of positives to be found in older eps, I think they're not recommended for a reason. They really don't represent what the show is now and who the readers are now, as people.
Ambious Emperor Jack Chick chai tea latte Penultimatum sambair adrenochrome dome Puppy Time Salubrious Rex auaurorau Yavuz Dawnswalker Secret Gaygent 69

moooo566 (taylor's version)

  • Paid
  • 2,522
  • 90
REALLY early F-Plus #5
I could go on for so long (points to schlong) about all the good early ones but my favourite (points to schlong) part has to be the PUA magic (points to schlong) is absolutely amazing (points to schlong), the sweet juicy mango (points to schlong) routine is the thing that immediately came to mind when I saw this thread.

Also I know why they disappeared but there's so many amazing jokes hidden in the old intros. They're worth your time even if the quality of other parts isn't quite up to the current standard.
Ambious chai tea latte Puppy Time Salubrious Rex

Ambious

  • Moist
  • Paid
  • 184
  • -143
REALLY early F-Plus #6
The thing that turns me off from the earliest episodes isn't the audio quality or disorganization. I think, initially, the ridiculists were quite frankly MEANER. Right now the content feels friendly despite the fact the entire show is about mocking people. Lemon's intro in Episode 232 sums up the show's present attitude towards its subject matter. I really respect the way things are handled right now. Nothing is taken further than what people already present to the world, and unless someone is a truly awful human being there's really no ill will in the mockery. Shit's WEIRD for sure, but these are human beings living their weird lives and everyone kind of hopes they're gonna live good or better lives than they are now.

The oldest episodes are closer to feeling like POE's attitude towards its subjects of fascination. There's a level of cruelty in some of the way things are approached that doesn't sit as well with me now. It's not a huge, glaring difference in presentation. It's more the effect of the edgier jokes, the specific judgements cast at the subjects of episodes, and sometimes even just a particular subject being entertained at all. Sometimes it wasn't even really funny, it was just there to get mad and disgusted at. That's a very different vibe to the show now, even during their grossest recent episodes.

I don't really know how to explain it except that new episodes leave me feeling like I've watched a group of friends hang out and have fun, while some of the oldest eps leave me feeling like people were hanging out to talk shit about people they hate. It's a weird distinction for a show with this premise, but I hope that makes sense.

Meeting the ridiculists in real life and getting to talk to them, they seem self aware that they've grown IMMENSELY over the course of a decade (and like, that's healthy and normal to do over a ten year time span so good job guys!). There's far less transphobia in the show these days than there was initially (even if that wasn't necessarily their INTENT in making those jokes at the time). It's been a hot minute since I've heard a joke with Autism or Tourettes as the punch line. Things are kinder now on top of being more organized, less chaotic, and better produced. While there's definitely a lot of positives to be found in older eps, I think they're not recommended for a reason. They really don't represent what the show is now and who the readers are now, as people.
beelzeboob, May 17, 2020, 03:59:15 pm

That's definitely true, there are some jokes in the old ones that make you kinda grind your teeth, but it's like when Bill and Ted drop the bad F slur, and you know that both the writers and the actors regret that and feel really bad about it now (because they've said as much) - same with the ridiculists. As you've said, they've grown, and they seem to recognize what the podcast (and them as hosts) was and what it has become, and that kinda makes the bad stuff go down a little easier, although I totally get if someone just can't listen to it because of that stuff. That's completely valid and I definitely love the way the podcast has evolved in all those fields.

sambair

  • Paid
  • 472
  • 16
REALLY early F-Plus #7
This is one of the few shows where I'd highly recommend at least checking out all of the old episodes, and skipping them if you're bored or find something about them distasteful. It's worth it for episodes like the one about fucking stuffed animals, or the first Yahoo! Answers episode.

Puppy Time

  • Rainbow Brownshirt
  • Paid
  • AND THEN THEY'LL HAVE A DONKEY HEAD!
  • 948
  • 33
REALLY early F-Plus #8
the big thing the old eps have that the new ones don't is JimL2.
jack chick, May 17, 2020, 01:58:39 pm

And Acierocolotl
SHAMBA~1.SBB chai tea latte

Neal

  • Guest
REALLY early F-Plus #9
the big thing the old eps have that the new ones don't is JimL2.
jack chick, May 17, 2020, 01:58:39 pm

And Acierocolotl
Puppy Time, May 18, 2020, 09:33:21 pm

I quietly hold out hope that Ophelia Flame makes another appearance on the show. HUGE BANANA FOREST!
SHAMBA~1.SBB