Pop Quiz (Crossover)

Captain Cripton here. For a few years in the 1980s, and again at times in 1994, 2008, and 2011, we had a musical quiz that many people I know consider way superior to the current satirical one airing nonstop since 1996 (that being “Never Mind the Buzzcocks”), and the one I speak of is appropriately titled “Pop Quiz.” I don’t know how well I’d do, and I know Leo the Patriotic Lion would be absolute rubbish at it given the music he stands for and writes. (If the show was devoted to art music—the real term for what everybody says is “classical music”—he’d be absolutely brilliant at it, I guarantee you that.)

Leo tells me he might know a few hits by the Beatles, because around the time the world first learned of his huge voice and what it was capable of doing, as well as traumatizing literally the whole world, the Beatles were at the height of their popularity, although if you were to ask one of them, they’d tell you that by the time his bellowing was in full swing, they had quit touring and devoted themselves to studio recordings. Yet when it comes to role models, people today pick him over them every time. Even the two still alive acknowledge his impact on the world, and how in spite of his troubles, he did leave a positive mark and taught us all how we should never let morals and cultures die. Thus, the terrorists are the ones twisting it all up and lying to everybody, and convincing us that he wants what he doesn’t actually want to do in real life, and that is to bring the world together as one culture, under him, with obedience expected from all. In truth, Leo would rather let world cultures continue as they are, and leave America by itself as one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. I think we have that cleared up by now.

Back to “Pop Quiz.” Now that WBC is doing a revival of it with Cripto in his rock identity as Nathan Knight (Furry Fury frontman) at the helm, although it’s the one and only game show he’s doing for the sake of him continuing to be a rock singer himself, as well as a superhero and (if needed) part-time cowboy, we can look at this in more details. The original show always aired on BBC1 during its entire run. WBC and its branch we have here, WBC-UK, are working simultaneously with the BBC to produce this, so that our people can watch it, and given just how huge Furry Fury is here in Britain (recall their 2012 UK/Ireland tour got six times more people than the total of people watching the Olympics in person, and Furry Fury attended mostly the swimming events and a bit of the gymnastics events as well). It had also led the two men that hosted it, Mike Read and Chris Tarrant (the latter of whom just recently retired now that “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” has ended, and he did that from start to finish), to travel to Wildcat City and meet the band in person, since they both wanted to see how it was to be done. (Mike also wanted to meet Leo for a special interview as part of his career, as well as personal curiosity on how the gunshot to the head affected the way Leo lives, and why Leo will never again have privacy even though he doesn’t mind it since he feels he deserves to be such a case.)

The rounds may vary but the premise of Nathan’s “Pop Quiz” is still the same: two teams of superstars of the music world being asked tough questions, and most of the time, actually knowing the answers. While our version in the UK just had that and it was just played for bragging rights (although people at home loved it since they could brag they were smarter than the celebrities—and I’ve known many civilians who always think that, but prove otherwise when they get on a quiz show), Nathan’s version awards cash and prizes to various members of the studio audience. Also, like Mike’s version, a board game, travel card game, and computer games based on the show are being made for use.

Nathan mentioned the special episode where the original host (Mike) sat beside him while the rest of Furry Fury, plus Leo as a willing sixth extra, played the game, and Leo surprised himself with the answers he knew. (Chris Tarrant attended this as a V.I.P. audience member, and later got to meet Leo himself after the show. The audience member backing the team Leo wasn’t on won a digital TV and a year’s subscription free to DISH Satellite TV.)

The first show of Nathan’s, though, naturally had all the following involved:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic JAM)—team captain
• Razor/Jake Clawson (SWAT Kats Band)
• David Ortiz (the Hijackers)
• Rich Warfield (the Bengal 9)—team captain
• David Satterfield (David Satterfield and His Wolfpack)
• Stoker Van Rotten (Martian Freedom Fighters)

Humans as well as furries, however, get to compete on the show, and some of them (like Leo) often surprise themselves at what they know and what they don’t know.

Audience members are chosen at random prior to the show, and the team captains announce who they are. The winner receives $3,000 cash plus a special prize, while the loser receives $1,500 and a secondary prize. If the scores are drawn (tied) in the end, the audience members both receive half of the share ($2,250) and the “numero uno” prizes. At the request of both Mike and the BBC, the set in which Nathan presents his “Pop Quiz,” with the help of his superpowers to ensure it, looks exactly like the original 80s set, down to the last detail, complete with retro scoreboards and team displays. It even uses a modified version of the original intro.

The rounds vary, but they usually include the following, as they did on Mike’s show:

• Intros—Nathan plays an intro and the stars have to guess the song title and the artists, scoring one point for each one. This round always comes first, and is an individual round.
• Lyrics—the most popular round of the show. Nathan reads lyrics to songs without the music (and sometimes intentionally badly for comedy effect), and the stars score one point for identifying the song and the artist or group. This is an individual round.
• Relevant Questions—Nathan shows films and footage of stars and asks questions for a varying amount of points related to the stars. This is an individual round.
• Compilation—In this team round, Nathan presents a film edited together to contain 10 songs all with a connecting theme (water, night, love, etc.), and the teams have to identify just the artists singing each song. The teams get one point per artist correctly guessed, and when giving the answers, Nathan gives the song titles. Both teams play at once.
• Three of a Kind—Teams play one at a time, and have to guess the three songs, the three artists, and a connection of sorts linking all six (usually the year in which they were all the same hits). A maximum of five points is on offer.
• Quick-fire Questions—This round always comes last. Nathan asks questions on the buzzer and the teams score two points for correct answers, or one point if someone answer wrong and Nathan has to throw it over to the other side. The team with the highest score at the end of this round is the show’s winners, and if the scores are tied, it just ends in a tie. To add to the comic nature of the show, Nathan might sometimes give hints to the stars.

Cheating is never allowed, and Nathan will deduct points if he suspects any of that, but it’s never a problem since the world knows Nathan is a friend of Leo the Patriotic Lion. (People still use him as a threat even though he wishes that would stop, because it sometimes is necessary since it is the only way out of a situation.) Also, the show is meant to be taken lightheartedly, and folks who suffer from autism such as Nathan don’t always lighten up. If you were to ask Nathan, though, he’d tell you that he feels he’s learned to do so from Zanta’s world, and that Chuong’s friends have also helped him to do that.

The first season of Nathan’s “Pop Quiz” is a success story and there will definitely be another one coming, so stay tuned. You can watch it Wednesday nights at 8/7c on WBC, and we Brits get it Thursday nights at 7:30 on BBC1, and a repeat Friday nights at 7:30 on WBC-UK. Since the BBC has no commercials (as it is public television funded by our license fees and taxes, so be thankful you Americans don’t have to pay a license fee), we see it as we originally filmed it. Everywhere else, there are commercials, but it is filmed as if there weren’t any in BBC tradition, so Nathan never announces a break. The viewers only see a graphic with the show’s logo.

This is your news update from me.

THE END

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Pop Quiz © BBC
Never Mind the Buzzcocks © BBC
Sonic the Hedgehog © SEGA
Biker Mice From Mars © Rick Ungar, Tom Tataranowicz, Tom Tataranowicz Animation, Brentwood Television Funnies, and all others who own the rights
SWAT Kats © Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros.

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Eterna and characters (C)  Zanta Keplicus
Chuong and UN1024s (C)  Chuong
All those ideas used with their premission