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Doctor Strange is the 188th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell and Andy Signore. It parodies the 2016 Marvel superhero film Doctor Strange. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It was published on February 28, 2017, to coincide with the film's release on home video and Blu-ray. It is 5 minutes 29 seconds long. It has been viewed over 7.3 million times.

Watch Honest Trailers - Doctor Strange on YouTube

"You ever watch Iron Man on weed?" ~ Honest Trailers - Doctor Strange

Script[]

After Ant-Man asked the question "You ever watch Iron Man, but small?", Marvel's latest solo movie invites you to ask another: "You ever watch Iron Man on weeeeeed?".

Doctor Strange

Experience the grand illusion that you haven't seen this movie before, as you sit through the heroic origins of a cocky but capable, super-rich, wisecracking workaholic with a weird goatee, in love with a redheaded subordinate, learning to be less selfish, played by a famous Sherlock Holmes actor (shows clips comparing Doctor Strange with the Iron Man movies). It's like Iron Man, but...actually, that's it. It's pretty much just like Iron Man.

Magic has come to the Marvel Universe, and not that "it's just science" BS that Thor went on about.

Thor: Your ancestors called it 'magic', and you call it 'science'.

We're talking acid trip, '70s blacklight poster magic that bends space and time in new plot-breaking ways and uses mind-blowing effects to distract you from the fact that the action is still ninety percent punching. (shows clips of Doctor Strange punching various people) Umm, shouldn't that hurt his hands?

You cringed when he tried to do a Southern accent (Charles Aiken in August: Osage County: The power didn’t go out, I...I...forgot to set the clock. Um, I'm sorry, Mom.), you weren't sure if he was serious when he attempted a Boston one (William Bugler in Black Mass: You know what, John? Good to see you doing so well.). Now, Benedict Cumberbatch will sound like an English man pretending to be a German man pretending to be an American, in a feature-length tribute to Hans Gruber's accent in Die Hard when he gets caught by Bruce Willis...? (Hans Gruber: Please God. no! You're one of them, aren't you? Stephen Strange: You care so much! Didn't you?!) Benny, bubbie, your natural voice is perfect. Use it!

Joining the titular Strange on his journey from Act I protagonist to Act III protagonist are side characters and villains who are up to the usual Marvel standard: Chiwetel Ejiofor, who's just kinda there to explain things.

Karl Mordo: Temporal manipulations can create branches in time...This is a relic...The Sanctums protect the world, and we sorcerers protect the Sanctums.

Mads Mikkelsen, playing a bad guy with weird eyes for the third time in his career (shows clips of Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius in Doctor Strange, Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, and One-Eye in Valhalla Rising), whose entire plan revolves around successfully ripping some pages out of a book to summon a malevolent demon (Dormammu) who he hopes won't enslave the human race.

Tony Stark: Not a great plan.

Tilda Swinton, a being of immense power bravely guarding the Marvel Cinematic Universe from Asian actors (shows Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One in the film compared to the Asian male Ancient One from the Doctor Strange comic); and this cloak (Cloak of Levitation) with more personality than any of the human beings (shows clips of the Cloak of Levitation flying and flopping around on its own). Man, I wanna see that cloak cross over with the rug in Aladdin so bad.

Enjoy a visual masterpiece that has to be seen in 3D on a giant screen to be fully appreciated, because when you watch it on a laptop, you realize just how much of it is medical mumbo jumbo...

Stephen Strange: We need to get him prepped for a suboccipial craniotomy...Look, I'm using tran-sectioned spinal cords to stimulate neurogenesis in the central nervous system...Pass the stent on the brachial artery under the radial artery...A complete C7-C8 spinal cord injury.

...with a heaping side order of magic mumbo jumbo.

Karl Mordo: The Dark Dimension makes them more powerful in the Mirror Dimension.

Doctor Strange: I saw the rituals in the Book of Cagliostro.

Ancient One: I pushed your astral form out of your physical form.

Karl Mordo: The Wand of Watoomb, the Vaulting Boots of Valtorr.

Doctor Strange: The pages that Kaecilius stole.

Wong: A ritual to contact Dormammu and draw power from the Dark Dimension.

Wingardium Levio-suck me sideways, this is unnecessary. Just shoot laser beams outta your wand and be done with it (shows Harry Potter and Voldemort firing red and green beams at each other from their respective wands).

So enjoy a film that, despite its faults, doesn't fall into the third act trap of battling a CGI army and a sky beam, saves money by replaying the same scene thirteen times in a row (shows multiple scenes of Doctor Strange saying "Dormammu, I've come to bargain."), and sends a powerful message to the children: modern medicine can't be trusted; and don't text and drive, because you might end up turning into a wizard.

Starring Benedict Wong (as Wong), Benedict White (Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange), Bored-o (Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo), Morpheus (Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One), U Mads Bro? (Mads Mikkelsen as Kaecilius), Night Nurse (Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer), Circle Hands (shows clips of characters making circular motions with their hands), Hands on Hands on Hands on Hands on Hands on Hands, and Ricky Bobby Hands (shows clips of characters from the film holding their hands out in front of their faces, along with Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights similarly holding his hands out).

Honest Trailers - Doctor StrangeOpen Invideo 4-35 screenshot

Honest title for Doctor Strange - Stranger Things. Title design by Robert Holtby.

Stranger Things

So Cumberbatch did the motion capture for Dormammu himself? Man, he really likes to goof around in leotards, huh (shows Benedict Cumberbatch crawling on all fours in a motion-capture suit)?

Trivia[]

  • An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.

Reception[]

Honest Trailers - Doctor Strange has a 97.9% approval rating from YouTube viewers. SlashFilm wrote "This certainly isn’t the most brutal Honest Trailers takedown we’ve ever seen, but it nails exactly what I found disappointing about this movie: the sense that we’ve seen it all before." ScreenRant remarked that the comparisons to Iron Man were "difficult to not notice" after Screen Junkies pointed them out. CinemaBlend commented "Is it just me, or has Doctor Strange just been slightly ruined for everyone else, too? That's not Honest Trailers' fault, it's just that the startling similarities between Doctor Strange and Iron Man are so copious and blatant that I suddenly feel cheated and sullen by the film." CinemaBlend also agreed with the Honest Trailer's observations about the film's uninspiring style of action and its bland supporting characters. SlashFilm also highlighted the Honest Trailer's pokes at the film's whitewashing, Cumberbatch's poor accent, and the underused high-caliber supporting actors.

Techno Buffalo said the Honest Trailer was "hilarious" and appreciated the Honest Trailer's humorous backhand compliments like how the film "doesn't fall the bait of using a CGI-army or sky beam as its climax. It also saved money by using the scene where Doctor Strange talks to the Dormammu thirteen separate times. And probably most importantly, it sends the powerful message that modern medicine can’t be trusted and to never text and drive, because you might turn into a wizard who can travel through different dimensions."

 Production credits[]

DoctorStrange

Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - Doctor Strange

Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey

Title design by Robert Holtby 

Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner

Executive Producer - Andy Signore

Producers - Dan Murrell, Spencer Gilbert, Michael Bolton, Christina Kline

Written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell & Andy Signore

Edited by Kevin Williamsen and TJ Nordaker  

External links[]


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