The Nostalgia Critic is a comedic online movie review series created by and starring Doug Walker, co-founder of the That Guy With The Glasses website.
The show itself was built around the idea that nostalgic things may be remembered fondly, but that if examined, the reality might not hold up. On the original run of videos, the critic would review "nostalgic" things from the 80's and early 90's, with the occasional rule breaker (such as Tommy Wiseau's The Room). However, in the new run he has dispensed with the cut off date and has freed himself to review more recent things.
It should be clear that the Nostalgia Critic is a character, completely separate from Doug Walker. According to Walker, the Critic's personality is basically a super exaggerated version of himself (though people who have met Walker and other reviewers on TGWTG say that is inaccurate; he is too nice). Walker himself does occasional Vlogs as himself, and has appeared as himself in a few of the Nostalgia Critic episodes. The Critic character is a highly cynical, disillusioned idealist man-child. He is sarcastic and easily angered, but quick to acknowledge when a film does something right. While the majority of each review is caustic with over the top criticism, the last part of the reviews usually wrap up with a more level-headed critique recognizing the films strengths and calmly saying where and why it failed.
Episodes tend to follow a format: the critic talks about a movie with his jokes/commentary interposed between clips of the movie. The series has its running gags and reoccurring characters that last a while before Walker retires them (as he dislikes getting too "comfortable" with his gags). The reviews cover the entire movie from beginning to end; he doesn't just focus on one point and instead summarizes the whole movie while making his commentary, thus allowing people who haven't seen it to understand what's going on. Older episodes in particular were highly formulaic, which Walker himself realized was a problem. Newer episodes have skits and episode-long plots to frame the review, shaking things up a bit and keeping things interesting.
The videos were originally hosted on youtube, but were constantly taken down because of accusations of copyright infringement (despite the videos being legal under fair use laws). They are now hosted on Blip.
Back in 2012, the Nostalgia Critic was officially retired, with the Scooby Doo movie review and the anniversary production of To Boldly Flee being the official in-story sendoffs, as Walker thought the character had run its course and wanted to end the show on a high note. However, a few months later the series was brought back in the Review Must Go On video, this time with no content-age restriction and with a cast of actors aside from just Doug and his brother, as well as better production values and a new location. (Walker explained that he thought he was done with the show, but it was actually a case of burnout, and the rest restored him. Now the actual Nostalgia Critic show is bi-monthly instead of weekly so he can pace himself, with simple video editorials on off weeks taking the show's place.
The character of the nostalgia critic has appeared in many crossovers with other reviewers (both ones under the That Guy With The Glasses umbrella and independent reviewers), and the That Guy With The Glasses team has made (as of this time) three anniversary productions wherein the reviewers (as their characters) get sucked into one of the Critic's crazy schemes. They are, Kickassia (in which the Critic and company try to take over Molossia, filmed on location), Suburban Knights (wherein the crew goes on a treasure hunt and inadvertently discovers a real magical artifact sought after by a technology-hating wizard), and To Boldly Flee, a sci-fi spoof wherein the reviewers discover the Plot Hole, a universe destroying wormhole. The Critic, haunted by the spirit of Ma-Ti, has to get around his house arrest to stop it by turning his house into a spaceship, gathering his allies, and fighting off Terl from Battlefield Earth and General Zod who seek to destroy them all in revenge for bad reviews past.
Some of the reoccurring characters include:
* His real-life brother Rob as himself, only as a dinosaur sometimes.
* Santachrist, also played by his brother Rob. Santachrist is Santa Claus and Jesus in one. He is the ultimate jolly good guy, and occasionally moonlights as the resident Gandalf-like character. He has a really cool theme song.
* Satan, played by post-revival cast member Malcolm Ray. He is suave, sophisticated, and evil. He is also responsible for the creation and containment of truly terrible movies that are supposed to only be used on the tortured residents of Hell. (Son of the Mask got into the human world because his ex wife tossed it in the trash, and Shyamalan keeps escaping from Hell).
* Shyamalan, played by Malcolm, who is M. Night Shyamalan in a mask and black robe with the power to ignore logic and manipulate reality (he cares nothing for the source material or continuity, so he can do what he wants!). First appeared in the Last Airbender review.
* Evillina, Satan's cheerful, innocent-seeming but slightly sadistic daughter. Played by Rachel Tiez. Likes My Little Pony.
* Rita Repulsa (Rachel Tiez) from Power Rangers. A highly ineffective villain with bad dubwork.
* Roger, a slightly psychotic angel that first appeared in the 2010 Christmas special, "You're A Rotten Dirty Bastard."
* Ma-Ti from Captain Planet. We think. he could just be an Indian guy who hates Ted Turner and has an unrelated magic ring.
* Doctor Smith from Lost in Space. Not the original series, the terrible movie. He has a giant legion of spiiiideeeers.
* Terl from Battlefield Earth (played by Noah Antwiler of The Spoony Expirement. He inadvertantly blew up his own planet during the BAttlefield Earth review and now holds a grudge against the Critic.
* General Zod.
Website is here, his video list is here.