Reviews for Sketched - Therapy

[The-Angry-Haruist]

Beating a dead horse

Alright, alright, I'll admit this is an accurate portrayal of therapy, what with nosy recieptionists, idiot claiming to be a professional, and said idiot's certainty that your inner strife is because you want to take it in the ass.

But that can't save this movie from the fact that it's bland and criminally unfunny. Maybe it's because gay jokes lost their punch eons ago, but I found myself staring at the screen, shaking my head at the feeble, miserable attempts to intice laughter in me.

For what it's worth, the animation may not be mindblowing, but is well done and stylized a bit. That does justify some merit.

If you really get off on gay jokes, then hooray for you, this will be like an early birthday present, complete with terrorists. For people like me, who see gay jokes as one of the most overused themes on newgrounds, stay away.

sirjeffofshort responds:

Seems a little harsh, but it's your opinion so I can't really blame you for the way you feel.

I will however defend the piece against your reviews accusation that it is merely a gay joke. Amongst the many jokes in this short none of them were aimed at making fun of or exploiting the gay lifestyle. In fact every "gay joke" as you would call it was more an extreme representation of how therapists often times will try and assign a textbook definition to your turmoils before actually even taking the time to know you. In fact your review contains a more graphic and shocking depiction of the gay lifestyle than any single line in our entire short, and that's just the first paragraph. As for the terrorist, it was meant to show that the character clearly has issues he needs to deal with that the therapist is too blind to see. Like it or not the fear of terrorism is one that plagues many modern Americans, and again it isn't like we made an attempt to make jokes at anyone's expense, we weren't making 'stupid terrorist' jokes or any type of racial commentary. We tried to show a representation of an actual fear that plagues many people around the world. So again, I will defend that your dumbing down of these concepts to make a point in your review may not be entirely accurate. I can see as newgrounds (and the internet in general) is a bit of a breeding ground for mindless humor that it is very easy to scan this cartoon for similar jokes and label it as such, so I can't blame you for coming out of it as you have, I just think your labeling and generalization of its themes may have been a bit hasty.

That said, I can't help that you ultimately found our short not to your liking, and I would never try and blast you for your opinion (although, I do believe it would have had more of an effect if you made an attempt to phrase yourself like a constructive person rather than an irate critic). In fact I would say much the opposite, I really respect people who state their opinions honestly and constructively. I know I can take from your review, as negative as it was, that this was not your kind of humor and knowing that I would honestly like to see something that you would write or find funny. I don't mean that as the general response to negative reviews (you know the one "I don't see you doing any better") but I honestly like to study all aspects of comedy and keep myself well versed, so I would like to see something you DO find funny.

As my last point, please realize that not all of our sketches are the same, hence the reason we like to do sketch comedy, we can keep it fresh every short, so I would sincerely encourage you to check out some of our other or future work if you have time, perhaps you will find something there you like better.

[Albiero]

Hehe...

I am actually more or less a phycologists and I just wanted to clarify that a "therapist" can either an actual professional(very,very,very rare) or a hippie who will force his ideas into your head and rape your ears with stupidity, but a phycologist is a guy who will listen to your crappy/sob story of a life and suggest things to you as to better your life. Also a phyciatrists is a guy who just crams you full of pills. By the way this was pretty funny in a MAD tv kinda way.

sirjeffofshort responds:

Dude was a total hippie. Haha, thanks for the clarification. I wasn't trying to make any profound statement about the practice in general as I studied some psychology in college and I know it has its merits.

Rest assured that unlike MADtv, we will not be bringing characters back constantly to try and harp on old and repetitive jokes, so be sure to check back if you get a chance.

[Loath-some]

Nice story

I like the story and the way you made the voice acting. I'm not much for this kind of jokes though but I'm not judging on that. What I am however judging at is the story telling and the animation aswell as the quality of your drawing.

The drawings are decent, it works. But the animation was kind of sloppy, mostly because there's barley any face expression while they are speaking. They don't feel much alive.

But in overall, it's a fine thought out animation.

sirjeffofshort responds:

Thanks for your review. It was actually better thought out and more helpful than most. Doing a monthly series does take a bit of a toll and therefore certain things tend so slip, specifically facial animations. Hopefully as I get better I will be able to animate faster and the characters faces will become more expressive. Thanks for the suggestions.

[catalin66]

hmm...

I think that you are terrorized by your sexuality. The animation was decent. The dialog gave me a headache. The joke ... "Haha, you're gay" is weak. You do not like your current psychiatrist, do you? You pay him ... why don't you go to another "doctor"?

sirjeffofshort responds:

I'm actually not in therapy at the moment and haven't been since my younger teen years. In all honesty we weren't trying to make any kind of profound statement about anyone we know or therapists in general, we just wanted to make a goofy scene. Really I have addressed most of what you stated in previous posts, so forgive me for the copy/paste but...

"I will however defend the piece against your reviews accusation that it is merely a gay joke. Amongst the many jokes in this short none of them were aimed at making fun of or exploiting the gay lifestyle. In fact every "gay joke" as you would call it was more an extreme representation of how therapists often times will try and assign a textbook definition to your turmoils before actually even taking the time to know you. In fact throughout the entire short we hardly address the issue of what homosexuality is and not once do we poke fun of it as a lifestyle choice. So again, I will defend that your dumbing down of these concepts to make a point in your review may not be entirely accurate. I can see as newgrounds (and the internet in general) is a bit of a breeding ground for mindless humor that it is very easy to scan this cartoon for similar jokes and label it as such, so I can't blame you for coming out of it as you have, I just think your labeling and generalization of its themes may have been a bit hasty."

As I mentioned to the previous reviewer, I understand in general how you could come into reviewing a short that addresses such themes with such a negative attitude, but your generally negative and accusatory nature does nothing to make me want to take your opinion seriously, however I will do my best. I can take from your review that this short obviously did not hit your comedic palate, which is both fine and understandable, again forgive the copy/paste but "I would honestly like to see something that you would write or find funny. I don't mean that as the general response to negative reviews (you know the one "I don't see you doing any better") but I honestly like to study all aspects of comedy and keep myself well versed, so I would like to see something you DO find funny."

In the end, even though I do my best to pull something constructive out of your review, many people will not always award you that so should you wish to be taken seriously in the future it is often best to phrase yourself in a constructive manor rather than go forward with what (at least to someone who spent a lot of time on a project) would seem like a random collection of insults. Unless of course it is your intention to garner attention through negative means, which admittedly is the intent of many internet goers, if so I'm sorry and I hope you grow out of it.

Please understand I am not trying to belittle you or your opinion, just trying to help you construct it like a more helpful community member in the hopes that you will be taken more seriously in the future.

[BrainToast]

What Is THIS!

I need an explanation of how this game got such a rating when it's just a loading screen then a lady sitting with her hand on her desk. That doesn't make sense. Why is weighed at 2MB. Looks like this was only 50KB.