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''Homestar Runner'' is a Flash-animated Internet cartoon series. It mixes surreal humor with references to retro pop culture, video games, classic television, and popular music. The cartoons were originally centered on the title character, Homestar Runner. However, a series entitled ''Strong Bad Email'' or ''sbemail'', in which another main character, Strong Bad, answers emails from viewers, became the most popular and prominent feature of the site. While Homestar and Strong Bad are the main characters, the site has grown to encompass dozens of other characters over the years. The site is one of the most-visited sites with collections of Flash cartoons on the Internet and is notable for its refusal to sell advertising space (the creators pay for everything through merchandise sales, which includes a line of T-shirts). The owners of the website have turned down offers to make a television series. The site's popularity spread via word of mouth. After a four-year hiatus beginning in 2010, Homestar Runner returned with a new Holiday Toon on April 1, 2014, for April Fools' Day. Afterwards, co-creator Matt Chapman had announced that The Chapman Brothers plan to give the site semi-regular updates starting in the fall, due to the positive reception given to the April Fools' Day cartoon,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Timeline of Homestar Runner )〕 and a new cartoon was added to the site on October 3, 2014.〔http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/9/5884841/homestar-runner-creator-says-hes-bringing-his-internet-cartoon-back〕 ==History== ''Homestar Runner'' was created in Atlanta in 1996 by University of Georgia student Mike Chapman and his friend Craig Zobel, who were working summer jobs surrounding the 1996 Summer Olympics.〔 Intending to parody this, they wrote the original story ''The Homestar Runner Enters the Strongest Man in the World Contest''. This story featured Homestar Runner, Pom Pom, Strong Bad, The Cheat, and a few characters that are rarely seen in later cartoons: The Robot, Mr. Bland, Señor, and the Grape Fairie. This hand-drawn book was the only incarnation of the characters for several years. They later used ''Mario Paint'', a Super Nintendo video game, to create the first cartoon of the series. By 1999, Mike and his younger brother Matt Chapman, who call themselves The Brothers Chaps, were learning Flash and looking for something on which to practice. Digging out the old children's book provided a solution. The site domain was registered on December 6, 1999, and around the start of the year 2000, homestarrunner.com was live. Matt provided the voices of the male characters, while Mike's girlfriend (now wife) Missy Palmer provided Marzipan's voice.〔〔 Regarding the origin of the name "Homestar Runner", Matt had this to say, from an interview with Kevin Scott:〔 The friend mentioned is James Huggins (band member of Of Montreal), who was a childhood friend of the Chapman brothers while growing up in Atlanta (Dunwoody). From May 2000 to February 2001, the website and cartoons started out with different art styles. In February 2001, it gained a new look, which has been used ever since. The site grew slowly at first, but by mid-2001 it began to take off with the first Strong Bad Email. The number of visitors to the site grew, and by January 2003 the site had outgrown its original web host, Yahoo!. Merchandise sales paid for all of the costs of running the website as well as living costs of the creators, whose retired parents managed many of the business aspects. On January 30, 2006, Podstar Runner was launched, allowing people to download select Strong Bad Emails and other toon episodes to a video-enabled portable media player (such as an iPod). Once made available through iTunes' podcast directory, it very quickly took the #1 slot on Apple's "Most Popular" podcast list. Podstar Runner was taken down on September 21, 2007 for reasons unknown. A new version was introduced on Thursday, January 10, 2008, but it is no longer available at the iTunes Store or Zune Marketplace. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Homestar Runner」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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