'Ripper? I hardly know her!'

There was a time when, in video games, actual videos were not as common as they are today. Cutscences (if available) often consisted of clumsily programmed movements scripted in-game; later on ugly CGI became popular.

 

Games I grew up with: In-game cutscene in Sonic 3...

...and a CGI cutscene in Tomb Raider. It was pretty at the time.

Of course, the ugly CGI graphics became the beautiful and sometimes even photorealistic visuals we have in modern video games. But before that, in the early to mid-nineties to be vaguely exact, FMV (Full Motion Video) was all the rage. (More after the jump.)


Suddenly, with the rising popularity of CD and its increased space, developers found themselves able to put much more into their games than ever before - at least, without having to swap floppy discs every few steps during the game (as was the case in many adventures). So with all that luxury of disc space, what did they do?
Well, cram it full of half-assed videos and CGI, of course. Often they combined the two, producing such visual orgasms as The Ripper (DOS).

 

Yea, lookin good there, buddies

Btw: Images so far belong to MobyGames.com. 

Now don't get me wrong, it was a huge feat at the time to make a whole game consisting entirely of actors working in front of a bluescreen and digitized backdrops and key objects. The game delivered an incredible cast consisting of Karen Allen and John Rhys-Davis of Indiana Jones-fame, Burgess Meredith who, sadly quite literally, sealed his own coffin with this game, and Christopher fucking Walken, amongst others. Alas, they all sucked anyway. 

The Spoony One just finish his absolutely hilarious playthrough video blog on the game. If you have a few hours of time to spare and want to see some of the funniest Walken-impressions ever recorded (I know you want to), check it out!

One thing I took away of the game in particular was the theme song: Don't Fear The Reaper by rock legends Blue Öyster Cult. The main riff is pretty cool, as is the solo work. All in all a very enjoyable and melodic rock song. But hear for yourself:

The song actually plays a key roll during the last section of the game; its lyrics are the solution to one of the last puzzles. Heh. Quite a stretch to hear 'Reaper' as 'Ripper', but whatever.

Now to where things get real interesting: Most of you might now the famous Saturday Night Live skit from 2000 starring Christopher Walken as producer Bruce Dickinson (not the one from Iron Maiden tho). It's the 70's; he's in his studio with a band that he thinks 'has got what it takes' to make it in business, and that their song has got potential, but they need just one more thing:

This sketch has become a synonym for Walken; people even asked him to put these words on their answering machines. It has so far been referenced in tons of video games, movies, songs and other sketches, always culminating in referencing Walken's fever that knows only one cure - more cowbell. Hell, even Will Ferrell, who stars as (fictitious) cowbell-player Gene Frenkle, does a great job, and I don't really like him that much.

You might already know what I'm aiming for.
The band in Dickinson's studio is none other than Blue Öyster Cult, recording their hit Don't Fear The Reaper. Let's recap: Walken is doing a comedy skit that gained an incredibly huge cult, consisting of a song that was the title to a video game Walken starred in which, by now, has a huge fan base as well (albeit partly due to the wrong reasons) - that's a great example of things coming full circle. And I love it when things come full circle.

Click here to finally watch the skit.

Other related stuff:
- Walken doing an intense rendition of Lady GaGa's Poker Face
- This Watch. - Walken in his memorable scene in Pulp Fiction
- Pork City! Buon giorno, salami! - Absolutely hilarious. A must-watch. Also, nowhere else do you get to witness Walken's great voice talent paired with an unbelievably ugly sweater?