GAINFULLY EMPLOYED | Space Quest IV pt. 4

"Would you like to apply for a jooooob?" Why, yes, mr. horribly disfigured pig monster, I would! And at Monolith Burger, too? What amazing career opportunities this offers! And all for the purpose of ... well, what indeed is the purpose?
Closing theme: "Space Quest III Main Theme" by James Mulvale
(Originally composed by Bob Siebenberg)
Available here: / space-quest-3-intro
Support the show: / spacequesthistorian
Weekly live streams: / spacequesthistorian
Blogs, reviews, etc.: SpaceQuestHisto...

[@Mr_Top_Hat_Jones]

14:32 I’ve always loved that they added that little bit of the Leisure Suit Larry theme music in the software store.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Quest for Glory, too!

[@evilbobandrews]

If you look at the Buckmaster 2000 machine when it changes screens, you can see the burned-in image of the first screen. I put that in and Scott Murphy liked it.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yup, that's Bob Andrews. He's even in the game itself. If you enter the Big & Tall store after you've bought pants for Roger, there's a chance you might see Bob in there trying on gigantic polka-dotted underpants. Not even kidding.

[@camwyn256]

​@spacequesthistorian oh! I've seen that! Back in the days before the internet, the only way to figure out how to go forward when you're lost, go to every available screen and click everything on everything. Ended up in the Big & Tall shop many times

[@verwulf]

Actually, the ketchup and government comment in the burger joint is a historical reference. Around that time, congress proposed that ketchup in school lunches constituted a vegetable, so if the votes had approved it, school lunches could give kids ketchup instead of veggies. It got made fun of so badly in the press that it failed to get the votes needed.

[@donwald3436]

I came here to comment this!

[@scbbc8186]

I know this is an old video but since no one seems to have mentioned it. Centauri Moon No 5 is a reference to the perfume Chanel No 5.

[@kevinwallace5050]

I've said it before in different terms, but I think my favorite part of these is watching you lose your mind during arcade sequences.

[@spacequesthistorian]

SQ5 is going to be a real treat, then. :D

[@kevinwallace5050]

Stunt Flyer was an actual game Sierra made. IIRC it was Ken Williams who programmed it, and he cleverly made it crash the game (or your computer?) when you crashed your plane.

[@kevinwallace5050]

Hard to find the source for that bit; I found an entry on TV Tropes & some forum notes :P

[@spacequesthistorian]

Didn't know that! That's cool -- and a little bit silly. ;)

[@micahbush5397]

I found a video of the gameplay: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6K7h4WYeMaLo7ssi=Gn1VgwgU1AhfFFMs

[@micahbush5397]

I was at least able to find some video of the game: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6K7h4WYeMaLo7ssi=YEVMrmbSPSXGBpPH

[@queenychu1871]

He went from flipping burgers to dancing in a designer dress. He really knows how to go from the bottom to the top

[@spacequesthistorian]

He is truly the hero we need!

[@ozfoxaroo]

I've often suspected that the software store clerk's comment about "a good data base" might be a reference to Cornerstone which bankrupted Infocom.

[@redshirtveteran5688]

Anyone else notice how the ATM puzzle is a variant of what we did in SQ3? Namely, "trick a camera into giving us access".

[@spacequesthistorian]

It's a pretty common adventure trope. There's a particularly silly variant in Tex Murphy: Tesla Effect involving a cardboard cutout on a stick.

[@redshirtveteran5688]

@@spacequesthistorian Fair enough, it just feels really noticable because it was just in the previous game?

[@lancebaylis3169]

My favourite part of the dance in the dress store scene is Maebot twitching her little hand along with it. Makes me crack up every time.

[@Autumnal_willow]

Good on you for calling out ace Ventura when everyone else still talks about how much they love it ❤️

[@nerdfreed9345]

(Lands with a thunderous crash. Standing tall with hands on waist.) "worry not. I AM HERE! Ready for the space exploration backwards through time to a game that travels to the future! (Nods) Greetings Captain Troels, I am ready for today's adventure!

[@spacequesthistorian]

Whoop! You scared me there. Good to see you!

[@FallenGemini]

While the joke is outdated in today's world, when I was a kid, I thought the "sicko" comment was the robot's mis-assumption that Roger was some sort of pervert more than anything else. But yeah, the joke wouldn't fly today because of how different the world is. Also, the transgendered joke in Larry 6 was reused in the Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude game.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yeah, the robot is definitely pegging Roger as a pervert - the outdated notion there being that transvestites or MTF transgender persons are by definition perverts. It was the norm of the 90s. I mean, look at Ace Ventura. The whole movie hinges on one big transphobic payoff at the end. I didn't think Magna Cum Laude could get any worse. I only played it for 20 minutes before I got bored of the stupid minigame so I never got that far.

[@jelmerterburg3588]

@@spacequesthistorian I personally consider that "sicko" remark to be the only really problematic aspect of this puzzle. The idea that putting on a dress and a wig would be enough to fool a futuristic ATM machine into making a positive ID as someone else is laughably absurd, but not offensive in itself. I think that the current issues with transphobia in supposedly civilized countries make the joke look much worse than it actually was (apart from "sicko"). And I truly hope that the Guys were merely being insensitive when they put this joke in, rather than having transphobic views. What I do find interesting is that while Roger walks around like something of a caricature when in drag, other characters actually treat him as a woman with no questions asked. The Monolith manager may be a sexist pig, but he calls Roger "doll" and "female", and the sales bot at Big & Tall addresses him as "miss". In that sense, the game plays the joke surprisingly straight (no pun intended). (And yes, I've played the game extensively enough that I had actually tried all of those scenarios myself. :P)

[@IvoryTowerCollections]

On the Monolth burger section, I used to just use the keyboard controls during that part because I found you could easily switch to the condiment and when you moved the cursor up, it would automatically go to the burger to place the condiment on. So it actually made the speed up portion much easier this way.

[@jelmerterburg3588]

Setting the speed to lowest and using the keyboard is _the_ way to do this, for sure 😅

[@TheInkPitOx]

All I ever got was "Hello, I'm the ketchup." I think my computer messed up some of the dialogue.

[@laurelbeedle204]

I believe the joke "formerly title 'Hero's Flyers'" has to do with the Sierra Game "Quest for Glory" that was once titled Hero's Quest.

[@OttoJuJu]

The guy on the "It Came for Dessert" box looks like the same guy from the employment office in Jones in the Fast Lane. :)

[@spacequesthistorian]

He does! It probably is the same person -- the people in Jones were also just digitized Sierra employees. I wonder who he is.

[@jaecynthiakendrick]

@@spacequesthistorian That's George Esparza in both games. He also was one of the people you pull over in Police Quest 3.

[@GuyFromAndromeda]

Thanks for another great episode. :) I wish I could add images to comments here so you could see how dreadful the Monolith manager looks in the 16 color version. :P

[@MagusMarquillin]

There was a 16 colour screen shot of that on the original game box - and I'm sure he has a copy of that.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I never owned the original SQ4 box, but I have seen it. The Space Quest Collection box I have also has the EGA Monolith Burger dude on it. Really creepy. But not as creepy as Smurf Roger in the intro (when he's talking to the aliens at the Magmetheus space bar).

[@MiseTheSpinebuster]

I know it directly references Maxis games and only those, but with the current glut of the Simulator games of all kinds, that SimSim-gag has just gotten better with time.

[@Sephex]

It's hard to imagine you shouting out of anger (though I will completely understand if you do at the next sequence)! Also, I never knew about the dancing part. Good way to end an episode!

[@spacequesthistorian]

You didn't watch my Christmas Carmageddon video from a couple of years back, then? :P

[@Sephex]

Space Quest Historian I'm catching up, but not THAT far into your backlog! ;)

[@spacequesthistorian]

I wouldn't go that far back either, if I were you. It gets a bit drunk-ey and cringey.

[@Sephex]

Space Quest Historian I wouldn't judge that harshly. That sounds like me too the further you go back in time!

[@benoitlaporte1700]

It's funny that the 2 guys from andromeda would imagine a far future where malls are still a thing 😅

[@spacequesthistorian]

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that malls will always be a thing, but mainly for clothing stores. We have a mall in my town and it's, like, 90% clothing stores, plus a book store, a pharmacy, and a grocery store.

[@amead78]

I know this comment is very late but the burger condiments talking reminds me of the Wendy’s training videos from back in the day. There was one about how to use the grill and fry the patties and there’s a scene where the patties sing.

[@mortymer001]

Let's boogie, girls!

[@spacequesthistorian]

Dance like no one's watching (except creepy animatronic mannequins)!

[@FatalFoxtrot252]

Lat's beggie, gorls!

[@Roxor128]

Your mentioned that a fair chunk of what's normally done is only for that optional puzzle involving the PocketPal and got me wondering: what is the most minimal way to play SQ4 without just memorising everything (ie. you actually solve puzzles needed to get codes)? Checking my copy, it seems you start with 59 Buckazoids. Not enough for the dress, but more than enough for the boots and the hint book. I think, therefore, the minimal playthrough would be to go straight into the sewers and get the jar of acid, hitch a ride to the supercomputer, take the time pod to Estros, get caught by the wildlife, get the Sequel Policeman's note, go through the business with the ladies, buy yourself new boots and the hint book, get a job at Monolith and get fired immediately with no pay, grab the cigar butt, dodge the Sequel Police, take the time pod to SQ1, get the matches, go back to the supercomputer, dissolve the lock, use the smoke to show the lasers and fiddle around with them until you can get in, then dodge the droids and finish off the endgame. I'm not sure what the requirements for getting the Sequel Police to show up are, but if Monolith isn't required and you have a good eye for the lasers, you might be able to skip the smoke-related parts, in which case you wouldn't need the note, the trip to SQ1, and possibly not even the boots.

[@spacequesthistorian]

OneShortEye did a really great video explaining the bare minimums for getting through SQ4. You might even recognize a cameo appearance of some unsightly other KZbinr in there. 😏 kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6PNg6Ocf8SZpc0 You're pretty much right, though. The dress is optional, and actually so is getting a job at Monolith, the trip to SQ1, the SQ4 Hint Book, and the Sequel Policeman's note, too! There is a trick to getting past the laser beams in the tunnel right before the Super Computer, so you don't need to go through the whole business with getting the cigar off the Monolith manager and the matches from the bar in SQ1. And since you don't need to go to SQ1, you don't need the note from the Sequel Policeman or the SQ4 Hint Book in the software store.

[@Roxor128]

@@spacequesthistorian I've actually seen that video. I think I got introduced to your Space Quest content via recommendations on it. It's pretty impressive what can be managed if your goal is the absolute fastest time, but it's version-specific. That speedrun only works in the floppy version, not the CD version, due to the latter's timing issues making the lasers a bit unpredictable. The hint book might not be required for the "fastest time" run, but it is required for a "no memorisation" run (which is what I was thinking about). Even if he can skip SQ1 (which he could plausibly try to do after finding the hint book defective), there's no other way for Roger to get the code for the supercomputer control room.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@Roxor128 That's true. The Super Computer code is the same each time and has that overflow skip in it mentioned in OSE's video, so I guess you could fudge your way past that without the hint book. But if you're going for a completely "honest" run, you would need the hint book, and you'd have no choice but to go through the whole SQ1 bit anyway because of the lasers, as you say. HOWEVER, the CD version lets you trigger the Sequel Policemen by just walking around the back of the arcade as long as you've bought pants at the Big & Tall store, so you could still skip the whole dress-and-ATM sequence if you have buckazoids enough for the pants and hint book.

[@mjc0961]

Oh yeah, I remember the skate-o-rama from Danny and Ross. Dis gun b gud 🙂

[@spacequesthistorian]

Luckily, the NewRisingSun patch should have fixed the timer bugs, so it should at least be doable. :P

[@bredmond812]

The galleria was such a great place to be.

[@wingedcatgirl]

The more we think about it, the more it seems like the robot could only be calling Roger "sicko" because she thinks he's into being degraded. ... or maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but read like that it's actually kinda funny, so I'm running with it.

[@volcryndarkstar]

I love these videos. Do you think you'll ever play the King's Quest series? I know I can find other let's plays on KZbin but no one else does it quite like you.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Haha, thank you, that's very nice of you to say. :) I have never finished a King's Quest game in my life, and I really don't have any desire to do so. But never say never, as they say. I hear people enjoy watching other people lose their shit over games on KZbin. :P

[@volcryndarkstar]

Space Quest Historian Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. Loving the Space Quest play-throughs so far.

[@jamesleatherwood5125]

26:41 sounds like a good idea. Bes also the smoking watching this thing eff itself! Roflmaos!

[@camwyn256]

All the bargain games raise in price after you get a job and again after clearing out the ATM. They will always cost more buckazoids than you have

[@camwyn256]

At least it did in the floppy disk version. Really enjoying watching this playthrough. I've never played the CD version before, so never heard the voices

[@tommurphy5425]

I mentioned my Tandy 386 PC that I played this on. GOD was I in awe of those who had a 486 which further became the PC equivalent of a calculator watch. I had to play the burger sequence in the SLOWEST MODE POSSIBLE because it literally made my curser crawl from item to item to burger and I had no hope to create even the first 3 burgers successfully. This is not to mention at ALL the Skate-O-Rama sequence...I played this game and beat it more than any other Sierra game in my life and EVERY TIME did I have to drop that speed to lowest possible and pray. MAN what we accepted as normal back then, lol. It was just a fact of life. Hell YEAH I gotta buy that 9.99 hint book or dial that 1.99 per minute hint line to figure out what to do next. It blows my mind what we accepted as 'well...what else can you do?' where now it's like 'google it, done'.

[@spacequesthistorian]

It is strange to think back to a time when you couldn't just go online to see if anyone else was having the same problems as you. I used to use a TSR called "MoSlo" to turn my 486's clock speed down when I wanted to play SQ4.

[@nikkiphoenix80]

The photo of the guy wearing the chicken nose on the Cluck Egger's box is actually supposed to be Chuck Yeager. It is the actual box art (spoof) of EA's Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer. I had it when I was a kid in high school.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yup! And the actual guy on the cover portraying Cluck is... uh, some guy from the Sierra offices. I forget who. Based on an authentic flight model of a chicken!

[@jankjason]

I never knew that pocket pal puzzle was optional.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Entirely optional *and* the most convoluted puzzle in the game to boot!

[@FatalFoxtrot252]

Hey I hope this doesn't weird you out or bother you because I'm a guy but I really like your voice and I could listen to you talk about a video game I'll never play all day.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Hey there! Nope, not weirded out by that at all. Well, maybe a bit, but not because you're a guy -- just because I've never found my voice to be particularly pleasant at all, so I'm just surprised whenever someone says that. :)

[@jankjason]

+Space Quest Historian Well your voice is definitely better than mine.

[@FatalFoxtrot252]

Remember, everyones own voice sounds different to them then to everyone else. Something about vibrations in your skull, or something.

[@merlinyesreally]

"69, dudes!" ...woah! Nice reference, man. :D

[@spacequesthistorian]

I watched that movie soooo many times as a kid.

[@mrcampbell7674]

I wonder if the the burger patty has any smell/taste interaction

[@spacequesthistorian]

He does! In the CD-ROM version.

[@latestagelarper]

3:18 is the store clerk in the software store the same alien at the burger place in the foreground in sq3?

[@hotlavatube]

One trick with the Monolith Burger arcade game is to use the keyboard. They keyboard will snap to the ingredients and burger.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yup. Also, every time the conveyer speeds up, you can just go into the game settings and turn the speed slider down.

[@Rhythmicons]

I'm curious to know if the burger line would max out at some point. On the original floppy version, even with the speed lowered to the max, it would eventually become too fast to work with. I dl this from GOG the other day for my son and we did over 100 burgers because around 50 or so it no longer speeds up.

[@smof1]

okay I remember you needed the cigar for the laser thing later one but what did you need all the money for. was the plug you have to get later that expensive? I dont remember

[@micahbush5397]

Considering that Roger hasn't bathed in a couple of sequels and didn’t shave his legs (or armpits) before putting on the dress, I think calling him "sicko" is entirely appropriate.

[@DarkSoul4242]

The disk version also allowed you to skip the arcade sequence.

[@JDHJANUS]

I must be an idiot. My family and I were never able to beat LOOM when I was a kid. Then again, I haven't played that game in probably 25 years, so it may be a bit easier this time. It is on my list to play in the future, though! :) As far as the guy with the beak mask on Cluck Egger, that is John Williams (under his alias Johnny Magpie). He was Ken's younger brother and Sierra's distribution manager for many years. If you look at the last page of Interaction magazines, you'll find his Rumor Mill where he wrote about planned upcoming games from Sierra. Stunt Flyer is not a parody. It was an actual game developed by Patrick Aubry, a 3rd party developer who worked for the company Nice Ideas. Sierra published the game in 1985. It was somewhat buggy and didn't sell very well. I do love Jeff Bender as the voice of Roger in this game. I wish we knew more about him and what he's doing. To my knowledge, he wasn't a Sierra employee. Do you know anything about him? I look forward to more, as always!

[@tommurphy5425]

I first thought Jeff was the voice of LSL in maybe 4 or 5 but I can't find any evidence supporting that at all.

[@tommurphy5425]

My apologies...LSL 5 or 6.

[@JDHJANUS]

tom murphy To my knowledge, Jan Rabson voiced Larry in all of his spoken appearances, with the exception of Box Office Bust.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I'm so glad I can reciprocate with some knowledge of my own -- I had no idea it was John under that getup! I had another comment (Kevin Wallace, actually) tell me Stunt Flyer was a real game, and that it was buggy as hell, but he said Ken Williams programmed it. (Incidentally, Stunt Flyer shows up again at the end of SQ4.) Anyway, as for Jeff Bender: He was a "struggling actor" (quoth Scott Murphy) at the time. He was related to Mark Seibert -- I think cousin, maybe? -- and that's basically how he got the part.

[@JDHJANUS]

Space Quest Historian Ken definitely did not program Stunt Flyer. He didn't program after mid 1982, as he was too busy running the company. Thanks for the heads up about Jeff Bender!!!

[@Rhythmicons]

It's all about 100% completion, points, etc.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I beg to differ. 😁

[@DarkSoul4242]

You might also like to know that it's possible to play the game with the arrow keys, making it possible to go even faster :)

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yes! The cursor will "snap" to the condiments or the moving burger. With some dexterity, you can just finger-dance your way to victory. I didn't do that because, well ... I'm not that dexterious. :)

[@matthiasjagdm3949]

14:08 centurion moon no.5= channel no. 5

[@commanderjnm2008]

Am I the only one who can imagine Kramer from Seinfeld working at Monolith Burger in the Galleria, and then also having score competition matches in Astro Chicken between him and Newman? xD And then George Constanza finding a way to get laid with the Latex Babes. xD

[@albertadoommaker50]

I wish someone would create a Space Quest X fan game.

[@dragonprinceHP]

Is it just me or does Roger start with no buckazoids each game? It seemed like at the end of 3, he had a fair amount but in 4 in this episode you said earlier on that he had like 38 and I'm like "Where did it all go??" lol

[@ceruleanserpent387]

Roger crossdressing was fun, the sassy robot is great

[@ceruleanserpent387]

PS Roger does look smashing in a dress, probably better than he normally does!

[@spacequesthistorian]

The sassy robot is great except for that one line.

[@CountryRoadist]

0:00 - 0:02 haha what was that?!

[@spacequesthistorian]

Me groovin'. :)

[@jelmerterburg3588]

For someone who feels compelled to call out _#SecondLanguage_ every once in a while, you have a remarkably American-passing accent! (It sounds more like your brain is simply going too fast for your mouth to keep up, happens to all of us :P)

[@spacequesthistorian]

Americans think I'm Canadian, and vice versa. 😅 And yes, my mouth does have trouble keeping up with all the garbage spewing out of my brain. It makes it very hard to stay focused, actually. I rarely ever say "I'll get back to that in a minute" because I always end up going off on a tangent and completely forgetting where I started.

[@jelmerterburg3588]

@@spacequesthistorian Canadians thought I was Canadian; I thought they were having some sort of hearing problem 😜. And now I wonder what Americans think 🤔 But yeah, I feel you... I trip over my tongue (and my tangents) as often as over my own toes. "Where was I?" would be an appropriate inscription on my gravestone! 😂

[@jennifermercer3481]

Does Roger Wilco ever use a floor buffer on an area of a floor with a triangle symbol?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yes, in Space Quest V.

[@jennifermercer3481]

@@spacequesthistorian omg thank you so much

[@MeowingKittens]

We had both the kq2 hintbook. I actually still own it, but the ink used that has to be revealed is long faded into nothingness after 30 years. Now it just looks like someone has a field day with a highlighter. Bit of a disappointment that the fake hints which were in there are now lost.

[@TheInkPitOx]

They should release a New Rising Sun edition to Steam Also, Loom is boring and I never got very far I love the software clerk. He's adorable

[@spacequesthistorian]

They should, but Activision doesn't give a shit about Space Quest anymore. It's not worth their time to do anything other than the bare minimum to get the games running and sell them so they can hold on to the rights.

[@TheInkPitOx]

@@spacequesthistorian Yeah

[@vidyastuff3509]

A guy wearing a dress is not transgender. if anything its a joke about cross dressing. So not only are you on your high horse, you're on the wrong high horse.

[@spacequesthistorian]

It's still an unfortunate thing to joke about and I'm pretty comfortable on this horse. Why don't you get on whatever horse you rode in on and fuck off.

[@racer927]

Putting my two cents in, when I first saw Roger in drag, I thought it was weird but thought nothing of it, thought it was more funny than anything and that viewpoint was not "indoctrinated" from a third-party or anything. On another silly note: is it me or does Roger look like a punk rocker with that hair in the death screen?

[@michellemarty7510]

Take a shot every time this guy shits on Roberta Williams.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I also shit on the Two Guys's design choices. What's your point?

[@raverfox420]

ive never seen ace ventura as transphobic as the character in question was more of a cross-dresser to fool everybody under the assumed identity of the missing hiker. Its never stated anywhere in the movie that its anything but a man cross-dressing to steal an identity. If anything its more harsh on gays at the end when everybody copies Ace in being disgusted they made out with what turned out to be a man. i dunno, just one gay mans take on one of his fave movies (for the record ive discussed this with trans friends of mine and they agree, Just some food for thought especially when you consider that movie was early 1990s) other wise im LOVING this series even though ima half a decade late :P

[@while.coyote]

here's your comment, sicko

[@EmeraldLavigne]

Trans rights

[@kapteinkonyn3450]

Loved the vid, but the trans virtue signaling was a bit excessive.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Trans rights are important.

[@prussbw]

I don't think anyone else in the comments pointed this out, but the Super Computer code (69-65-84-76-69) translates to "EATLE" in decimal ASCII - one character off from a mildly rude joke. Not sure if that's a mistake, or just tweaked for plausible deniability. But hey, another Easter egg for the collection!