What’s that smell?!

Pegnose Pete is a villain and major character in Escape from Monkey Island. A career criminal, at the time the game is set Pegnose is wanted in connection with approximately three hundred Lucre Island thefts, and has never been caught. His home is a tiny shack in the heart of the Mysts o’ Tyme Marshe. Until Guybrush Threepwood arrives on Lucre Island, Pegnose was the only person capable of navigating around the Marshe. His one weakness was a crippling fear of ducks, rumoured to be due to a duck nibbling off his nose. When Guybrush asks Pegnose whether a duck really did nibble off his nose, Pegnose refuses to answer.

In a recent poll on the Telltale Games Forums, Pegnose scored only one vote out of 86 for “Who is your best villain (except LeChuck)?”. Not very popular, eh?

Most people favor Pat Pinney as Stan which is evident by 71% of the votes going to him. This week we’re looking at the fans. We’re interested to see which age groups read this blog so we ask; How old are you?

After this amazing guitar painted by forum member May, there’s now another one. New member Nogert makes a grand entry showing off his own hand-painted Monkey Island themed guitar. And not only that, but he shows he has musical talents as well, in a video with him playing a cool rendition of the Monkey Island theme.

Go to the forums for more awesome stuff like this, and if you have something amazing to share with us (like your own version of the Sistine Chapel with Monkey Island characters or Mêlée Island recreated with matchsticks), the World of Monkey Island forums are the place to do so!

Welcome to this week’s Horizons column. We’ll take a closer look at the ride that is responsible for many of our joys. The Pirates of the Caribbean ride from Disneyland was an inspiration for Monkey Island, but obviously also the foundation for the PotC movies. So what is this ride? Well, there are three different versions of it. The ones in Disneyland California and Tokyo Disneyland are the same, but the one at Magic Kingdom has several changes to the way the ride functions and what the guests experience. The ride in Disneyland Paris stand out as being the only version that hasn’t been changed to include characters and scenes from the movies.

The original version of the ride opened in March 1967 in Disneyland California and it was the last attraction which Walt Disney himself participated in designing. He died three months before it opened.

All the rides are identical in the way they work – The guests board a boat and sail amongst different scenes with puppets and animatronics. The differences are what scenes they see, what characters appear and what they do. The ride is very gentle, so don’t hop on it if you’re looking for a roller coaster. There are a few drops in the Paris version as the boat goes down some waterfalls, but it isn’t anything wild.

I have tried the one at Disneyland Paris myself and found it quite entertaining. Have you tried any of them and what did you think?

If you wish to know more about the ride you should check out this article on Wikipedia which features detailed descriptions of the different versions of the ride, development, adaptations, and more.

If you want visual entertainment then YouTube is your friend. Here are videos of the rides from start to finish. It’s like being there yourself! Almost. Unfortunately, as this ride takes place indoors the videos are somewhat dark, but still watchable. See if you can spot Walt (the dog with the keys). Enjoy

Disneyland Paris
Magic Kingdom
Disneyland California (Before it was changed to accompany the movies.) – Great audio!
Tokyo Disneyland

Ummm, enjoy, I guess?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wcpRNXAVyU

Here is the link! Go go go!

UPDATE: LeChuck lost, with a difference of +8000 votes against him. Well, better luck next time!

Oh, Grog Machine! You turn up in the strangest places and you unknowingly help me. Our fates are intertwined and I’ve appreciated your companionship from the moment I laid eyes on you at Stan’s Previously-Owned Vessels. You were wrecked by LeChuck’s ghostly body and I later discovered your broken remains in a storage room underneath the amusement park. Yes, I said it, for I believe, my dear friend, that you hold the key to The Secret and by studying your whereabouts we can learn not only what we have sought for so many years, but also the true way of appreciating a fine piece of machinery.

Greedy corporations wanted dirty money for your appearance, but we gave you a make-over and you look better than ever. Your true value can never be measured in mere currency. Oh, dear Grog Machine. You are a mystery to me.

51% thinks the Voodoo Lady had the best residence when she lived in the swamp on Scabb Island. The voice of Stan is a wildly debated topic as he never sounds exactly as you imagined him. In MI3, and the special editions of MI1 and MI2, he was voiced by Pat Pinney. In MI4 Pat Fraley supplied the voice and in “The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood“, he was voiced by Gavin Hammon. I couldn’t find a clip of the different voices, so I hope you can remember them

With the recent special editions of the first two Monkey Island games, the Internet is rife with speculation. For instance, people are currently hoping for a special edition of Grim Fandango, and rightly so. Our own haydenwce27 is also wondering about special editions of The Curse of Monkey Island and Escape from Monkey Island, and you can wonder with him on the forums. Or if you prefer an entirely new Monkey Island game, you can shine your light on returning characters. Let’s hope LucasArts takes notice!

What’s this? You’ve got highbrow culture in my video game fan blog! Yes, I know, and yes, it’s on purpose. This is the first in a hopefully unending series of columns called Horizons, in which we explore other media that could be of interest to Monkey Island fans, for all sorts of reasons. For the first one, we’ll look at some recommended reading: the story of Don Quixote de la Mancha (and let’s not forget Sancho Panza).

You’ll probably have heard of the name Don Quixote as that guy who fights windmills. But Don Quixote, a novel published way back at the beginning of the 17th century and written by Miguel de Cervantes, is much more than just that. It’s considered a masterpiece of Spanish literature (and it’s actually regarded as one of the best works of fiction ever written), and rightly so.

But you may wonder what a Monkey Island fan would want to read it for? Well, for one, it’s just incredibly funny. Apart from that hilarious episode where Don Quixote, who has a delusion of being a knight-errant due to reading too much books of chivalry, mistakes windmills for giants, there are many more laugh-out-loud moments to be found in the book. One of those is where Don Quixote talks about his magic balsam that can miraculously join together a knight that’s been cut in half:

There are also pirate stories to be had, like in these two chapters:

Overall, the story of Don Quixote is truly delightful, and is highly recommended. If you enjoy Guybrush’s adventures and misadventures, I can almost guarantee that you’ll have a great time reading Don Quixote as well.