Day of the Tentacle: Difference between revisions

'''Dr. Fred''': Of course! That's why I'll have to do it... '''''yesterday!''''' To the '''''time machine!''''' }}

When we last left the wacky Edison family, a bunch of teenagers had freed them from the influence of an evil meteor. But unfortunately for Bernard, one of the heroes of the last game, the mansion has not forgotten about him. Five years after the first adventure, he receives a letter from the friendly Green Tentacle begging for help. Bernard and his wacky roommates Laverne and Hoagie race to the rescue. They swiftly find and free the captive Green and his evil but slow-witted brother Purple. However, thanks to Doctor Fred's careless dumping of toxic waste into the river, Purple Tentacle has drunk some of the waste and gained arms, super intelligence, and become even ''more'' evil and aggressive than he already was. And now he's free to [[Bold Inflation|TAKE ON THE WORLD]]!! [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Nice job freeing the megalomaniac, Bernard.]]

The immaculate voice acting, brilliant one-liners, clever puzzles, and memorable characters all conspired to make this one of the most popular of the [[LucasArts]] adventure games of all time, and probably better known than its predecessor.

* [[Biological Mashup]]: Seemingly played straight at the end of the game {{spoiler|when Laverne, Hoagie, and Bernard use the same Chron-O-John, they get fused into a three-headed monstrosity with Hoagie's arms and Laverne's legs, a la ''[[The Fly]]''.}} However, in the final scenes, {{spoiler|Doctor Fred uses an X-ray to show that they were just stuck in the same ''clothes'' together and they just thought they had become the same person.}} Seemingly [[Fridge Logic]], [[Fridge Brilliance|until you remember that]] they're ''not'' the brightest people in the universe. And anyway, it's [[Rule of Funny|a good laugh.]]

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Laverne revives the frozen hamster in a microwave oven, then turns to the camera and tells the player that this only works in the future, and kids who try it in the present are taken away and put up for adoption. Bernard also [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this after "ruining" Weird Ed's stamps, commenting that he sometimes does things without knowing why, as if his body is "being controlled by some demented, sadistic puppet-master".

* [[Brick Joke]]: Laverne needs a tentacle costume to pass in the future, so Hoagie swaps the plans for the American flag with a picture of a tentacle. In the future, the Stars and Stripes changes to a tentacle outfit. In the end, {{spoiler|the characters comment on everything being back to normal... and then a tentacle-shaped flag is run up a flagpole.}}

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Laverne. Alarmingly, she's a medical student, but she dreams of becoming a pathologist -- as in, someone in the basement who cuts up bodies to figure out how they died, and if [[Police Procedural|cop shows]] haven't lied to us, they're always weird.

** Also, only the diskette version required the copy protection; the game was produced at a time when CDs were a fairly new technology and the layman's ability to copy them was limited, if it existed at all, so the CD version didn't bother.

** An optional conversation allows Hoagie to suggest getting to work on the national debt. Jefferson scoffs that America is too prosperous to ever go into debt. ([[Did Not Do the Research|Even though America was in debt even back then.]])

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The ten Purple Tentacles blocking the Sludge-O-Matic in the finale are arranged in a manner you need to recognize to work out the solution. {{spoiler|The solution is a bowling ball.}}

* [[Dual World Gameplay]]: The three characters are in three different time periods and they have to work together to solve the problem.

* [[Everything's Better with Cows]]: In the introduction, the protagonists run into a barn with their car and get a cow inside their vehicle. They crash again and the cow turns to the camera and raises its hoof in a "blow this" gesture. There is also Purple Tentacle's first appearance in the newspapers about turning upside down cows.

** Although he's mostly ignorant about history -- he obviously has a practical mind, and a lot of the puzzles call for him to be clever.

** The worst is {{spoiler|closing the door of a room you've just entered to get a set of keys. It's extremely rare for a game to require the player to shut a door after opening it.}}

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: {{spoiler|The future Purple Tentacle is hit by his own shrink ray and squished by the heroes.}}

* [[Instant Sedation]]: Of a sort -- Dr. Fred is so sleep-deprived and dependent on caffeine that giving him ''decaf'' is enough to knock him out.

* [[In the Past Everyone Will Be Famous]]: Hoagie manages to run into George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, and Betsy Ross, without even leaving the Edison manor.

'''Nurse Edna''': He stopped sleeping. }}

* [[Mythology Gag]]: Laverne {{spoiler|has to put a frozen hamster in the microwave}}, an optional event in [[Maniac Mansion]] -- [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|minus the frozen part]] - that could [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment|get you killed]]. She even [[Lampshade Hanging|points out]] how screwed up this is if you do it in [[Real Life]]. Basically, the hamster survives because [[Technology Marches On]] in the 22nd century, and of course the [[Rule of Cool]].

'''Bernard''': Oops. }}

{{quote|'''Laverne''': [[Lampshade Hanging|This is all your fault, Bernard.]]}}

* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Laverne disguises herself {{spoiler|as a tentacle by using a tentacle-shaped flag}} that ''leaves her head, her arms, and her feet completely visible''. Inexplicably, the tentacles think she's hot stuff.

** Not to mention that to avoid tripping over her disguise she lifts the bottom half whenever she runs, clearly exposing her legs.

* [[Player Nudge]]: The characters will occasionally do this. Perhaps the most obvious is Laverne, who, when she's captured and sent back to the Kennel, will say "If only there was some kind of disguise".

* [[Reflecting Laser]]: {{spoiler|The shrinking ray bouncing back off of Dr. Fred's otolaryngologists mirror.}}

* [[The Slow Path]]: The hamster, the sweater, and the bottle of wine.

* [[Snipe Hunt]]: Subverted -- the player actually has to locate a left-handed hammer.

** Of course he isn't bothered. [[Timey-Wimey Ball|It was never there to begin with.]]

'''Dr. Fred:''' [[Oh Crap|Uh-oh]]... }}

* [[Who Would Be Stupid Enough...?]]: Dr. Fred tells Laverne and Hoagie that he tied up Purple Tentacle in the basement. Lucky no-one's stupid enough to let him go..... (See [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]].)

* [[With Friends Like These...]]: Bernard considers Cousin Ted as his friend, despite Ted being an inanimate mummy. If the player tries to make Bernard harm Ted, he'll refuse by saying this is not the way to treat friends. Yet, {{spoiler|this doesn't prevent him from painting him red, throwing him brutally inside an attic with a rope, and using him like a dummy to pose as Dr. Fred}}.

'''Dr. Fred''': Of ''course'' not! [''trio look relieved''] This is the first time I've ever tried it on ''people''! [''trio panic''] }}

'''Laverne''': [[Oh Crap|...yikes...]] }}