Ben There, Dan That!

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Ben and Dan's hand-drawn travels through the universe.

Ben There, Dan That! is a point-and-click adventure that follows two intrepid explorers, the titular Ben and Dan, as they travel through various dimensions in a quest to return to their flat to watch Magnum, P.I.. A combination of brain-teasing puzzles and some far-out thinking sees the dynamic duo quip, steal and murder their way through alternate reality versions of London. Humorous and surreal, the story begins with Dan dead, a firework and one of his orifices... after which they are kidnapped by aliens, and Hilarity Ensues.

It all makes sense when you play it…

Sort of.

There is a sequel called Time, Gentlemen, Please!. It expands upon the gaming hilarity and also becomes much more offensive in its own ways. After ruining the utopia they helped create at the end of the first game, Dan and Ben travel back in time to ensure that coat hangers are never invented.

Seriously. There's other stuff, some Nazis, and loads of references to other games and genres. It also has a pretty sweet boss fight at the end.

Both games are available on Steam for under five dollars. Ben There, Dan That! is freeware. Time, Gentlemen Please! is not freeware, but is pretty cheap to buy. Whereas in GOG.com, for just five dollars, both games are bundle together.

Tropes used in Ben There, Dan That! include:

Ben: "I don't need to dispose of this corpse. He's from another dimension and therefore doesn't exist."

Dan: Won't it burn or melt or anything?
Ben: No.
Dan: Thank heavens for heat resistant wood, now.

Ben: "It's not 'stealing.' It's 'adding to my inventory.'"

Dan: "It's a bubbling, boiling river of orange-hot lava."
Ben: "You sure? Looks like tomato soup to me."
Dan: "Can it, you. It's lava, alright?"

Ben: (on looking at its door) "It's the inevitable slippy slidey ice dimension."

  • Take That: The "authentic British pub" in the Eagle Land alternate universe is basically a gigantic Take That at everything that is American drinking sensibilities. The barman will only serve the watery, soulless American "beer" unless you can provide multiple forms of ID, chastises the drunken louts watching (American) football for being too rowdy (and the poor fellows can barely even muster any kind of rowdiness for nancy American football, with all its padding and not being rugby), and threatens to storm out should anyone manage to get drunk enough to pass out (which he makes good on).

Time Gentlemen, Please! provides examples of: