it’s really upsetting how back then anyone who created something unusual was immediately pinned as a creep. if he had been an upcoming creator in the present day, he could have been much more successful and gathered a cult following
Honestly… now I just feel kinda bad… I mean I’m into robotics and also pretty ambitious, but for a guy to put so much time and love into a project thinking that it would be revolutionary… only for it to be something that gave people nightmares, and for people to call him a freak. That would sting… that would sting really badly…
It makes me wonder if he had people around him to give him genuine feedback. He was over promising and for $20K it would have had to serve a legitimate purpose. I'm not sure who he envisioned as the target market. It's impressive that he was able to do all that independently and I don't think he deserves derision but he was getting way ahead of himself. And Tara is objectively creepy. It's probably worth something to a collector now.
@jeffoff7795 oh yeah, I’m not sure who the target audience was either, but now says I definitely see her as a collector’s item, or maybe something you would see on a robot/animatronic restoration channel nowadays, kinda like Norman from the “Evil” music video.
Seeing the shots of Tara's head with the camera eye, that got me thinking, maybe that was the point of the yard shot, showing the capabilities of her camera eye
I got here because I thought this was the background of the SONG "I Feel Fantastic" by Jonathan Coulton - the goofy, upbeat song about the ridiculousness of 'I want it now' trends in culture. 🤣 I learned a new thing today.
There was a comment on the I Feel Fantastic upload that said something like, "I love Taylor Swift's new album," and that was what dissolved away the creepiness for me. Eventually, someone figured out where the video came from and explained it in the comments. The video became charming, in a way, once we knew the truth.
For me it's mostly the fact that the windows have no curtains, which is odd. It also appears to be night time in the video and from the small segment of outdoor footage it appears to be in the middle of nowhere, so it gives you this uneasy feeling in the back of your mind as you watch it that someone could easily be peering through those windows, but you're unable to see because the reflection of the bright light inside is obscuring the windows. And if that were to be the case, you'd be completely isolated,
I wish youtube was still quirky and weird but the algorithm and stupid rules have ruined youtube these days. Now in my feed its mostly tiktok repeats and crap videos. I miss weird and freaky content
he worked at IBM. you basically had to have the capacity for those things to work there. back then, you actually had to do work to be employed. not like today where you are just born well off and fail upwards and take up whatever professional space you decide to insert yourself into without merit.
As a kid who had unlimited internet access I would always end up on the weird side of the internet and stumble across weird videos stuff but by far the uncanny valley has stuck with the most it, the entire concept panics my brain yet it’s still one my favorite rabbit holes. Glad you covered this I never knew there was this much lore to I feel fantastic.
I was tooling around the dark web by this time so this was pretty tame to be honest. Not to mention, I'm a product of the late 80's early 90's internet where censorship wasn't a thing yet. Now that was a different time for weird.
The thing I don't understand is that it's supposedly 5 feet tall. Why is she towering above the windows and her head almost reaches the ceiling? Is the room only 6 feet tall? Is it some kind of forced perspective? Is she really only 5 feet? Another interesting mystery.
you can see at about 10:22 he said she was now over five feet, he probably made her taller during one of the multiple changes he made to the robot before the video was recorded edit: if you look it up apparently she was 5'10 by the time the videos were produced so yeah, he made her frame larger
"Number 15: Obey the Walrus" just that random bit activated all the right fear receptors to set the mood. Editor was constrained by the style of the channel but constraints lead to innovation. Little gold nugget of editing.
When considering the whole story, I find it quite sad. You have a guy who is/was clearly very intelligent and gifted with electronics and robotics. But wasn't as talented with marketing or understanding what level of "humaness" other people would find appealing in his robots. But he also understood this to a degree when he said that he'd need help to sell it: "I can't do this alone". It makes you wonder whether he ever received feedback from trusted friends that it was a bit creepy, and then chose to ignore this. Or whether he received this feedback but was unable to action it in his remaining time or just technically. Regardless, there's a level of intelligence with this guy that seemed to go unrecognized, which I find quite sad. Great video and investigation!
as someone who has always worked at and been passionate about creating new stuff since I was a child, this story makes my heart ache. John was so passionate about this, I can just imagine all the hours of work he put into the project, only for it to be remembered as the creepy robot in an old TH-cam video. Amazing job on the research.
I mean to be completely honest what he made pales in comparison to animatronics you could find at that time at amusement parks, he clearly was delusional to 'tara' was enough to start a business.
@@EdgeO419 yeah, but I'm thinking more about his effort and passion. sure, some people see it as a piece of crap, and I wasn't old enough at that time to understand how advanced or rudimentary Tara was, but I'm thinking more about the emotional side of it, you know?
@@sk_lxr2920 sure as a creator too i get being overly passionate about a product you make too but he should have had more realistic expectations, 2grand for this is crazy.
The thing is, if it had a more pleasing exterior, I don't think people would have maligned it as much. That's not me complaining about how it looks but pointing out how attached people are to aesthetics. If it'd looked like some anime girl, people would have loved it.
Johnathan Coulton, the guy with a song called "I Feel Fantastic", is the author of the songs sang by GLaDOS in the Portal games. GLaDOS even says those exact words in "Still Alive": _"I feel fantastic and I'm still alive"_
Thank you! I clicked on this 'cause I thought it was about the Jonathan Coulton song. I didn't realize he was related to the Portal credits music, but it sure fits his style of humour.
Sure, Tara creeped out a lot of people due to her falling under the uncanny valley, but his creations were impressive at the time. May he rest in peace. 🕊
At one point John Bergeron mentioned he had attempted to add small video cameras to each of the robot's eyes so the operator could see what she is looking at. Maybe the random image of the ground was a shot taken through her eye-cam.
If it was John Jr, then maybe the death of his father took a toll on him and he no longer had the energy to work on the project. It's also possible that his dad had been helping him in the early days and maybe he needed his dad's help when it came to the more ambitious plans, but without his dad, he wasn't going to be able to make Tara match up with what he had envisioned. Also, if they had been working on the project together, then it would have been all the harder to return to the project after his dad had died because the whole situation would have just been a reminder that his father wasn't there anymore. If it was John Sr's project, then maybe his son originally planned to continue his father's legacy, but got stuck or lost interest or became distracted by something in his own life, maybe he had his own passion project that he wanted to get on with and thus his father's work was left unfinished.
John wanted and somewhat expected Tara to take off like crazy. He got his wish when it became a viral video but he seemingly was dead by this time. All it would have taken was one comment by whoever ran or inherited the project at that time clearing up that he wasn’t a killer (which always seemed unlikely) or sex-bot creator. If the project was handed down, the virality of the video could have been huge in gathering investors and potential customers. Would have been cool if his son had taken over the brand and capitalized on the success of the viral video, built a team, and created the Apple of pasty-white singing androids.
Didn’t expect to see you guys mention “Transfiguration” of all things. Definitely one of the more fascinating pieces of esoteric art I’ve seen in years.
considering that there was a video of John being interviewed over a call that came out some time ago, John Sr. definitely wasn’t the creator. it’s a shame that this man likely lost his father though. I wouldn’t be surprised if the grief on top of his project getting very little recognition was what made him quit.
Out of all the creepy and disturbing videos on the internet, this is the only one that I couldn’t finish watching back then when I saw it in middle school and still keep thinking about it so many years later
It's interesting to see that Tara had more lore way before the TH-cam days. I remember when someone on TH-cam called John years ago just to ask him a few questions, but I'm guessing that he wants to move on after the whole controversy and theories spreading around.
It was a female youtuber wasn't it maybe reighbot or cayle elise maybe? I remever that video so well. Nice to meet a fellow viewer from years ago so hello 👋
@@emmareilly5141 It wasn't Cayleigh and it wasn't Reignbot either. I can't remember the name, but I do remember her mentioning she was a student at UBC.
it's almost unbelievable that we have a father and son with the same name in this mystery, with both having about the same likelihood of being the creator. i really hope that the case wasn't john jr witnessing the people's reaction to tara and giving up on her because of it, the thought of that genuinely hurts me. i find it really sad that such a passion project that someone spent decades developing was twisted in such a way.
I'm just glad Tara is doing fine. Idk why she ended with Charlie's uncle, but good to know Charlie is taking good care of her. Still being fantastic and doing every once in a while a little spook.
I’m an independent musician so I may have some insights into the whole copyright takedown situation. It seems like someone tried to capitalize on the song by uploading it to a distributor, which then automatically delivers it to platforms. The distributors have no way of knowing if a work is original or not so if it isn’t already linked to a creator on the back end, the platform systems will automatically detect any instances of the work and take it down. There seems to be some kinda arbitration process that can end up in courts if messy enough. That process probably happened after initial takedown, and considering the og yt uploader probably wasn’t the owner of the song, that leads me to believe it was reinstated by default cus the actual owner wasn’t known or hadn’t legally claimed the work in any way and that the investigation into the matter after the takedown revealed that the person who uploaded to the distributor wasn’t the owner, so their fraudulent upload that had autogenerated all of the streaming profiles was taken down everywhere, and the og video reinstated, leaving only the songless profiles as artifacts of the chain of events. My best guess
I live next to Vermont this whole time I lived good not knowing Tara the robot wasn't near me.... This whole time it's been a few miles from me. Especially closer when he was still alive.
It’s so funny how the widely accepted reaction to these androids and videos is to be creeped out or scared of them, I’ve always found them comforting and a really cool impressive piece of robotics history, especially considering how it was a one-man project
I love this. Thank you for covering it! I've been so curious about this but the info has always been so superficial. You went deep to a place I've never seen with this one. Seriously good journalism on display here
The whole serial killer thing always cracked me up. More than likely, some guy who's on the cutting edge of tech but who doesn't know how to get angel investors puts feelers out there, gets ripped off by Sony, dies young. Tale as old as time.
I remember watching I Feel Fantastic on TH-cam many years ago. Thanks for the interesting video. I just placed an order for the DVD; it will be interesting to see if it actually shows up.
@@zaccarycrumpton8163 not yet, unfortunately. Still waiting. Another commenter on this vid I believe, mentioned they also ordered it and it took quite a long time before it eventually showed up. I'm still hopeful it might arrive eventually.
Sometimes I find myself singing the I feel fantastic song out loud. Other times, it plays on a loop in my mind. Even if I'm not necessarily feeling fantastic.
Honestly it's sad all that work just went into people thinking it was creepy. All of that work is extremely impressive, that coming from someone who knows a lot about programming and robotics.
Definitely one of the more fascinating internet rabbit holes. Great video regardless, I remember using the original video as a means to mess with friends in college back in 2011-12.
I love this story so much, and the android itself. I love weird stuff, that the creator didn't click on that it's so creepy because they're just so close to it
This is the best video covering Tara yet, but people always overlook part of one of the videos where the man's hand puts a needle through Tara's mouth corners. You don't need the over the top creepypasta stuff, in order to still be creepy. There is a known kink among certain men of wanting a subservient robot woman. If flesh lights were a thing back then, you know John would have mentioned a slot on Tara to place one. lol
This and Obey The Walrus were the only ‘weird side of youtube’ videos that scared me so bad I’d literally flinch just seeing the screenshots until i was like 15. Funnily enough they’re probably the least scary within context
John had a great demonstration of the technology, and in that sense, it doesn't really matter how it looks, only how it works. The problem is, he seemed to think it looked lifelike, and that is definitely the furthest thing from the truth, so his perception comes off as being a bit strange, but then again, maybe he was just excited and proud about his project. Besides that, however, he was correct and successful in his demonstration of the technology, the appearance of which could always get more "real-life" coverings in the future, which is why it didn't have to be lifelike.
This deep dive was really fascinating, and a bit sad. Thank you for your hard work and diligence. I never would have known where to start on this investigation
I honestly feel bad for John. His creation was really innovative, albeit a bit creepy, but I agree that it had a lot of potential. I wonder if maybe he’d been able to make more connections to the entertainment or theme park industries, he would have had more success. I hope he wasn’t disheartened by the internet’s reception of Tara.
It's sort of beautiful and sweet to know how much Tara was beloved by her creator. Maybe she didn't change the world in the way that he imagined she would, but his dedication really leaves me feeling like creation is a special thing.
I Feel Fantastic was definitely one of the more unnerving videos I watched as a teenager. It wasn't outright frightening, but it was unsettling in a confusing sort of way. Like the idea of being trapped in the room with the android would make me feel uneasy. I had always assumed it was some sort of art project or maybe a demo of some kind.
This robotics engineer was way ahead of his time. He reminds me of Skynet and Terminator. Imagine if he ChatGPT AI models, advanced voice AI models, and newly discovered robotic joints and technology. This guy (and let's face it the create is a man that specializes in robotics) is a really smart engineer and software developer.
I saw it in the episode and said holy shit then I just went down my mental rabbit hole from all those years ago and just over a week later I’m listening to the story from a different person
I have an appreciation for Tara, ironically her creepiness gave her some sort of edge and my younger imagination likened her to a more realistic and cooler Hatsune Miku. I watched uploads of her music videos and even tried to convince myself that the music itself was good, lol, even though it's extremely amateurish. Although, to be honest, her best song is already I Feel Fantastic; the other ones, Electricity and Brutal, just go nowhere. Thank you for such a complete video, now I can relive those odd days where I considered myself a fan of hers.
I wish this youtuber had reached out to the potential family members for comment and waited a while to see if they were willing to speak before uploading this video. If they did end up deciding to talk it would have been a valuable addition to the video. But it's so good!! Good job!
Shes a famous OG Creepy Pasta!!! It's really awesome to know Tara's origins thank you so much for your time in this and for sharing!! She's still creepy to me though!! Where is she now? And why the woods shot in her video??
Sometimes I like to sing the "I feel fantastic" song just to amuse myself. I still remember the first time I watched the original video but I had no clue about the whole history behind the doll. Thank you for uploading this video and for all the investigation behind it.
Awww, usenet. The good ol' days, lol Edit: This was way more interesting and educational than I expected. Great job. When I heard he stopped posting, honestly, my first thought was that he died. Early internet would have had a lot more older folks, as before AOL and other programs that made it easier to get online, access was pretty much limited to universities, military/government, and professionals that had things like dedicated T1 lines through their jobs. My bet is on John Senior. I wonder if John Jr. is still out there.
The first time I saw the video when I was like 9-10 it put a deep instinctual fear inside my heart. I’m now an adult and that feeling hasn’t changed. I genuinely have to look away each time it comes across my feed. I hate it, and it makes me feel not fantastic
Terrific work, the most researched and detailed dive into this particular video that I've ever seen....the only thing that you forgot to include that may have been very interesting is a 2015 video titled "Phone call to the creator of Tara the Android", where whoever made it actually got to talk to John Bergeron....granted, they didn't get much out of him and we have no evidence to support the authenticity of the video, but still, it's an interesting piece of "I feel fantastic" history.
I’ve seen many explanation videos about Tara and Bergeron Jr’s accounts but almost none of them have mentioned another of possibly Bergeron Jr’s other TH-cam account from late 2009 that is still available. It is name halloweenandroid and most of the videos is about how unique Tara is, along with the most random editing and strange clips and pictures of her. It’s pretty new to see if you watch it for the first time, since she’s in a different room of the house. But since it’s last video was only a month after the channel was created, I remember in early 2019 looking at that channel, finding out in bio that he had a link to either his Google email or a phone number of his, and I swear it had a phone number icon on it. It makes me wonder if that was the same phone number this one TH-camr contacted to Bergeron Jr in a 2015 video, in which she was writing a documentary about Tara, but John refused to answer any questions, saying that he was busy and hung up on her immediately. I honestly wish I had a better phone at the time and should’ve screenshot that link because it was only there for a while before it was permanently gone. Plus I was 11 or 12 year old when this happen and I was afraid to even click on it. But anyways, I’m glad there’s new update videos about Tara like this one that tells everything in order about the truth, and this really better than the misinformation they are explaining on TikTok. I hope many people soon finds out about these videos and not be too gullible to the whole “serial killer” rumor which is still happening today. You did well job on this!
Doubtful. In the event of a suicide, at least one person would have expected his death, and it is usually mentioned that they "lost their battle with depression" or "passed away by their own hand". By contrast, "passed away unexpectedly" is typically used if the exact cause of death cannot be determined. No illness. No injury. Just didn't wake up one morning and we don't know why.
This is a really well made video that explains so much of the story behind Tara, and why it's a bit of a sad one. At 12:05 John says he will send out video tapes of Tara talking and moving to the first serious inquiries. This got me thinking that maybe those tapes are the source of the videos that the channel halloweenandroid uploading, such as "piercing the android". I always wondered where those videos came from.
I know this guy called Charlie his Uncle who has one of these in like the corner of his room? his Nephew is looking after her while he is in hospital after being in a car accident, small world
I like to think it was the father, and after his fathers passing his son came across the video from his father and posted it a few months after his father died as a way of showing the world that despite all the big businessmen around at the time, his father truly was a smart brilliant man taking steps toward the future
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I was really caught off guard when Smiling friends dropped a I Feel Fantastic reference on us out of nowhere
fr
shit scared me
Same here! I was so shocked! Those creators really are internet OG’s
And then Doug walker
@@gbzopple1642 I was less caught of guard by him than I was by this. They referenced the Russian homunculus experiment in the newest episode as well
@@avokthebat6344 I knew they were gonna smash the homunculus with the book, but it was The God Delusion by Dawkins!
John: "This will be a popular design"
Internet: "Best I can do is serial killer"
"for sale or lease" (no thanks)
@@EdgeO419 She made a new video a couple of days ago on Webdelic.
it’s really upsetting how back then anyone who created something unusual was immediately pinned as a creep. if he had been an upcoming creator in the present day, he could have been much more successful and gathered a cult following
@@quandaredevil Tara kind of has a cult following. Maybe for the wrong reasons but she's famous.
I'd marry the robot and make her have my offspring
Tara was just a robot made by a man who wanted to be seen as a genius but instead seen as a freak and assumed as a serial killer, thats actually sad.
He sounds genius, and now this resurfaces his legacy (?) In sorts.
That's sad indeed but be honest, the robot is kind of uncanny
@@moogleking Most robots are. His robot isn't that special at this point
Well maybe he shouldn’t of uploaded it without any context and instead he should have put a nice description explaining what’s up
good. guy is a freak to have not realized how creepy it is, he deserves that reputation.
Honestly… now I just feel kinda bad… I mean I’m into robotics and also pretty ambitious, but for a guy to put so much time and love into a project thinking that it would be revolutionary… only for it to be something that gave people nightmares, and for people to call him a freak.
That would sting… that would sting really badly…
I think the crazy accompanying background keyboard doesn't help one bit.
It makes me wonder if he had people around him to give him genuine feedback. He was over promising and for $20K it would have had to serve a legitimate purpose. I'm not sure who he envisioned as the target market. It's impressive that he was able to do all that independently and I don't think he deserves derision but he was getting way ahead of himself. And Tara is objectively creepy. It's probably worth something to a collector now.
What if tara gave me other kinds of dreams tho
@@WubberEraser hear me out-
@jeffoff7795 oh yeah, I’m not sure who the target audience was either, but now says I definitely see her as a collector’s item, or maybe something you would see on a robot/animatronic restoration channel nowadays, kinda like Norman from the “Evil” music video.
Seeing the shots of Tara's head with the camera eye, that got me thinking, maybe that was the point of the yard shot, showing the capabilities of her camera eye
Best explanation ive ever seen of those yard shots its definitely possible!
And it all ended up with Charlie’s uncle, but Charlie is taking care of it while he’s in the hospital, what a good nephew.
Charlie is the number one nephew 🙏🙏🙏
Smiling friends!
He loves his cars, man, he loves his cars
A little too much if you ask me.
Charlie’s uncle is a man I can’t wait to eventually meet
"You've stumbled down the creepy video rabbit hole here on TH-cam".
I live down here. Get off my lawn.
Dark web TH-cam is at the bottom of that hole.
I got here because I thought this was the background of the SONG "I Feel Fantastic" by Jonathan Coulton - the goofy, upbeat song about the ridiculousness of 'I want it now' trends in culture. 🤣
I learned a new thing today.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@CezarIsEpic Stay far away from that one!
@@wiseguy9202 Is there a Dark Web U-Tube, really? I need it for my life!
There was a comment on the I Feel Fantastic upload that said something like, "I love Taylor Swift's new album," and that was what dissolved away the creepiness for me. Eventually, someone figured out where the video came from and explained it in the comments. The video became charming, in a way, once we knew the truth.
Oh my god same
I found the origins as a kid. Located his mostly defunct website and everything. I saw I Feel Fantastic and _had_ to know more.
I know which one you're talking about, i laughed pretty hard. Now its all i think about when i see the video lol
You know what I find the most unsettling..it’s not the robot. It’s the “house “
Underrated comment
Is it a room? A veranda?
@@rinoz47 to be honest it looks like a room within a room that some serial killer has constructed to live out his weirdness
YES
For me it's mostly the fact that the windows have no curtains, which is odd. It also appears to be night time in the video and from the small segment of outdoor footage it appears to be in the middle of nowhere, so it gives you this uneasy feeling in the back of your mind as you watch it that someone could easily be peering through those windows, but you're unable to see because the reflection of the bright light inside is obscuring the windows. And if that were to be the case, you'd be completely isolated,
Gotta tell my uncle to take this out of my apartment, she keeps scaring my guests
fr to a man in the hospital man not cool
Lmfaooooooo
Charlie?
"Now this is were things get weird." No no, this was weird from the beginning.
Yeah, he called the prototype lifelike
I wish youtube was still quirky and weird but the algorithm and stupid rules have ruined youtube these days. Now in my feed its mostly tiktok repeats and crap videos. I miss weird and freaky content
Shut up, and let him cook.
No no, this is fantastic…
@@davidtharp2125 lol he isn't dead. He is still making Tara videos on Webdelic YT channel.
As rudimentary as the end result was, I have to say this is impressive work for literally one guy.
Yeah I feel like it seems a lot worse because of how much the guy hyped it though
Making a whole robot is seriously impressive, especially back then.
@@CommanderWiggins I meant aesthetically. It is not a very charming looking creature
he worked at IBM. you basically had to have the capacity for those things to work there. back then, you actually had to do work to be employed. not like today where you are just born well off and fail upwards and take up whatever professional space you decide to insert yourself into without merit.
@@saturationstation1446Go cry about it
As a kid who had unlimited internet access I would always end up on the weird side of the internet and stumble across weird videos stuff but by far the uncanny valley has stuck with the most it, the entire concept panics my brain yet it’s still one my favorite rabbit holes. Glad you covered this I never knew there was this much lore to I feel fantastic.
I was tooling around the dark web by this time so this was pretty tame to be honest. Not to mention, I'm a product of the late 80's early 90's internet where censorship wasn't a thing yet. Now that was a different time for weird.
Same
The thing I don't understand is that it's supposedly 5 feet tall. Why is she towering above the windows and her head almost reaches the ceiling? Is the room only 6 feet tall? Is it some kind of forced perspective? Is she really only 5 feet? Another interesting mystery.
wondering the same thing!!! i always assumed it was well over 6 feet tall that thing is TOWERING. the ceiling must be reallllly low
Platform?
And what was that zoom in into a random pile of dirt
you can see at about 10:22 he said she was now over five feet, he probably made her taller during one of the multiple changes he made to the robot before the video was recorded
edit: if you look it up apparently she was 5'10 by the time the videos were produced so yeah, he made her frame larger
It's way easier to make robotics when you make stuff big rather than small for no reason, simple as that
"Number 15: Obey the Walrus" just that random bit activated all the right fear receptors to set the mood. Editor was constrained by the style of the channel but constraints lead to innovation. Little gold nugget of editing.
Chills is/was great
When considering the whole story, I find it quite sad. You have a guy who is/was clearly very intelligent and gifted with electronics and robotics. But wasn't as talented with marketing or understanding what level of "humaness" other people would find appealing in his robots. But he also understood this to a degree when he said that he'd need help to sell it: "I can't do this alone".
It makes you wonder whether he ever received feedback from trusted friends that it was a bit creepy, and then chose to ignore this. Or whether he received this feedback but was unable to action it in his remaining time or just technically.
Regardless, there's a level of intelligence with this guy that seemed to go unrecognized, which I find quite sad.
Great video and investigation!
Yeah, this guy gets people weirded out and gets told he must have killed people. Meanwhile Hatsune Miku has a fanbase somehow.
he's just an average autistic guy
@@orvilleredenpiller338 Miku isn't really comparable to Tara.
i thought so too! he seems really smart, i feel for him. who knows if he could've made it big if the design was less uncanny
The real horror is that even with so much work, effort and persistence, your dream may never go anywhere.
Yeesh shot through the heart
If Tara is incapable of hurting anyone then I'd like John to explain how she broke my heart.
Were you trying to date her?
@@SandJosiephI think we all were at some point. She was perfect.
@@youngopwhat da fuck i wasn’t.
@@youngop She was fantastic.
@@poofoffcker but she was fantastic
"I FEEL FANTASTIC" still haunts my brain every once in a while
like why is the melody THAT creepy
@@tonybelfast1389the lyrics don’t make it seem any more natural 😂 “I feel fantastic, hey hey hey”
I whistle it sometimes 😭
Same! saw it years ago and it still creeps me out sometimes.
“Charlie throw this away”
It's funny how little comments on a video blew up into urban legend and obfuscated the entire project. Great in depth research!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed this video 💛
as someone who has always worked at and been passionate about creating new stuff since I was a child, this story makes my heart ache. John was so passionate about this, I can just imagine all the hours of work he put into the project, only for it to be remembered as the creepy robot in an old TH-cam video. Amazing job on the research.
I mean to be completely honest what he made pales in comparison to animatronics you could find at that time at amusement parks, he clearly was delusional to 'tara' was enough to start a business.
@@EdgeO419 yeah, but I'm thinking more about his effort and passion. sure, some people see it as a piece of crap, and I wasn't old enough at that time to understand how advanced or rudimentary Tara was, but I'm thinking more about the emotional side of it, you know?
@@sk_lxr2920 sure as a creator too i get being overly passionate about a product you make too but he should have had more realistic expectations, 2grand for this is crazy.
The thing is, if it had a more pleasing exterior, I don't think people would have maligned it as much. That's not me complaining about how it looks but pointing out how attached people are to aesthetics. If it'd looked like some anime girl, people would have loved it.
@@sk_lxr2920 meh I just don’t feel emotional about someone trying & missing the mark. That’s on him 🤷🏻♀️
Johnathan Coulton, the guy with a song called "I Feel Fantastic", is the author of the songs sang by GLaDOS in the Portal games. GLaDOS even says those exact words in "Still Alive": _"I feel fantastic and I'm still alive"_
Are those samples of Ellen McClain’s voice, or someone else’s? Because it also sounds very similar to early Vocaloid software (maybe Luka or MEIKO).
Thank you! I clicked on this 'cause I thought it was about the Jonathan Coulton song. I didn't realize he was related to the Portal credits music, but it sure fits his style of humour.
Interesting. Now I can see the connection between Tara and GLaDOS.
@@Cure_Hana Are you asking if she sung Still Alive? Or if "I feel fantastic" was a voice model based on her voice?
@@GoodContentCreator The latter.
i remember this. it kinda made me feel ... uncomfortable. not super scared or ... creeped out .... idk...
thanks for covering this weird, old memory
Thank you for watching :)
that, my friend, is called the uncanny valley effect
Glad to see her acting career is going well. Getting a primary role in Smiling Friends s2 will look amazing on uer IMDB
RIP 🙏
JOHN BERGERON ....U were a fantastic designer and ur creation of Tara will never be forgotton 🕊👌🥲
Ya she will haunt my nightmares forever.
Sure, Tara creeped out a lot of people due to her falling under the uncanny valley, but his creations were impressive at the time. May he rest in peace. 🕊
"Nah."
@@masterseal0418it's nice to think how far je could have Upgraded and developed Tara. Jist imagine how Enhanced she would be now
If I could I would have deleted her long ago from my memory
As a legend once...no, many times said:
"Very easy to use and design is very human"
"2 grand please?"
And now she is in Smiling Friends
"FUCKING HELL. I KNEW SHE WAS GONNA DO THAT, JESUS CHRIST."
Precisely why I’m here now
She is the new 5th smiling friend
@@hermescarraro33936th
It needs to be canon
I'm still curious as to why there is a random shot of that patch of ground in the video.
I have a feeling it’s just a splicing issue with the vhs tape. Could be wrong I don’t know much about video editing and film quality differences.
At one point John Bergeron mentioned he had attempted to add small video cameras to each of the robot's eyes so the operator could see what she is looking at. Maybe the random image of the ground was a shot taken through her eye-cam.
@@Liquorice_Monster Yeah. This video was probably to show off Tara's abilities so it's likely POV from her camera.
Whatever the reason might be, that shot of a random patch of grass shot that video into absolute creepiness
The person who uploaded it added it in to make it more creepy
If it was John Jr, then maybe the death of his father took a toll on him and he no longer had the energy to work on the project. It's also possible that his dad had been helping him in the early days and maybe he needed his dad's help when it came to the more ambitious plans, but without his dad, he wasn't going to be able to make Tara match up with what he had envisioned. Also, if they had been working on the project together, then it would have been all the harder to return to the project after his dad had died because the whole situation would have just been a reminder that his father wasn't there anymore. If it was John Sr's project, then maybe his son originally planned to continue his father's legacy, but got stuck or lost interest or became distracted by something in his own life, maybe he had his own passion project that he wanted to get on with and thus his father's work was left unfinished.
John wanted and somewhat expected Tara to take off like crazy. He got his wish when it became a viral video but he seemingly was dead by this time. All it would have taken was one comment by whoever ran or inherited the project at that time clearing up that he wasn’t a killer (which always seemed unlikely) or sex-bot creator.
If the project was handed down, the virality of the video could have been huge in gathering investors and potential customers.
Would have been cool if his son had taken over the brand and capitalized on the success of the viral video, built a team, and created the Apple of pasty-white singing androids.
It would never have gone viral without that aspect, it was pretty lame otherwise
@@lunarsugar Kinda impressive for 2005 standards to be honest
@@Android-Twenty-One not really. It was basically decades old tech by the 90s already.
Didn’t expect to see you guys mention “Transfiguration” of all things. Definitely one of the more fascinating pieces of esoteric art I’ve seen in years.
It really made me question what art can be. I loved it the first time I saw it, and I'm still amazed by it.
I have a customer named John Bergeron from Nevada… I always wonder if its him
What do you do for work?
NOW this is a debunk video.
Back to boots on the ground Debunk vids
considering that there was a video of John being interviewed over a call that came out some time ago, John Sr. definitely wasn’t the creator. it’s a shame that this man likely lost his father though. I wouldn’t be surprised if the grief on top of his project getting very little recognition was what made him quit.
Out of all the creepy and disturbing videos on the internet, this is the only one that I couldn’t finish watching back then when I saw it in middle school and still keep thinking about it so many years later
It's interesting to see that Tara had more lore way before the TH-cam days. I remember when someone on TH-cam called John years ago just to ask him a few questions, but I'm guessing that he wants to move on after the whole controversy and theories spreading around.
It was a female youtuber wasn't it maybe reighbot or cayle elise maybe? I remever that video so well. Nice to meet a fellow viewer from years ago so hello 👋
@@emmareilly5141 It wasn't Cayleigh and it wasn't Reignbot either. I can't remember the name, but I do remember her mentioning she was a student at UBC.
@@emmareilly5141 I just found it again: th-cam.com/video/FhMPpdShvnM/w-d-xo.htmlfeature=shared&t=103
it's almost unbelievable that we have a father and son with the same name in this mystery, with both having about the same likelihood of being the creator. i really hope that the case wasn't john jr witnessing the people's reaction to tara and giving up on her because of it, the thought of that genuinely hurts me. i find it really sad that such a passion project that someone spent decades developing was twisted in such a way.
Being “genuinely hurt” by the internet at large not perceiving something the way you want it to is a one way ticket to having a bad day
@@lunarsugarwhy are you up in these comments hating on John and John Jr like mad crazy 😭
I miss the TH-cam from before 2016. In those days, the rabbit holes went to the most bizarre places. Nostalgia…
I'm just glad Tara is doing fine. Idk why she ended with Charlie's uncle, but good to know Charlie is taking good care of her.
Still being fantastic and doing every once in a while a little spook.
I’m an independent musician so I may have some insights into the whole copyright takedown situation.
It seems like someone tried to capitalize on the song by uploading it to a distributor, which then automatically delivers it to platforms.
The distributors have no way of knowing if a work is original or not so if it isn’t already linked to a creator on the back end, the platform systems will automatically detect any instances of the work and take it down. There seems to be some kinda arbitration process that can end up in courts if messy enough.
That process probably happened after initial takedown, and considering the og yt uploader probably wasn’t the owner of the song, that leads me to believe it was reinstated by default cus the actual owner wasn’t known or hadn’t legally claimed the work in any way and that the investigation into the matter after the takedown revealed that the person who uploaded to the distributor wasn’t the owner, so their fraudulent upload that had autogenerated all of the streaming profiles was taken down everywhere, and the og video reinstated, leaving only the songless profiles as artifacts of the chain of events.
My best guess
I live next to Vermont this whole time I lived good not knowing Tara the robot wasn't near me.... This whole time it's been a few miles from me. Especially closer when he was still alive.
NH bro?
If it's NH, there's definitely worse than her there lmfaooo
@@pablowentscobar yup yup👍🏿
@@sourgreendolly7685 I've lived in GA and FL too NH is kinda my favorite (most the time) lol
@@travey2390Fair enough 😂 I'm just a Masshole talkin shit, don't mind me lol
Well, I will be buying this DVD for my siblings and have them delivered with no context. Then, I’ll sit back and enjoy the terrified phone calls.
Im sure it will make them feel fantastic
It’s so funny how the widely accepted reaction to these androids and videos is to be creeped out or scared of them, I’ve always found them comforting and a really cool impressive piece of robotics history, especially considering how it was a one-man project
I love this. Thank you for covering it! I've been so curious about this but the info has always been so superficial. You went deep to a place I've never seen with this one. Seriously good journalism on display here
Thank you so much!
The whole serial killer thing always cracked me up. More than likely, some guy who's on the cutting edge of tech but who doesn't know how to get angel investors puts feelers out there, gets ripped off by Sony, dies young. Tale as old as time.
I remember watching I Feel Fantastic on TH-cam many years ago. Thanks for the interesting video.
I just placed an order for the DVD; it will be interesting to see if it actually shows up.
Woah! Definitely send us a DM on social media if it does! All socials linked!
@@DebunkFile Yeah I'll do that, if I ever get the package
@@Beelphegorsprimedid you get it?
@@zaccarycrumpton8163 not yet, unfortunately. Still waiting. Another commenter on this vid I believe, mentioned they also ordered it and it took quite a long time before it eventually showed up. I'm still hopeful it might arrive eventually.
Sometimes I find myself singing the I feel fantastic song out loud. Other times, it plays on a loop in my mind. Even if I'm not necessarily feeling fantastic.
Even before making this it was something that would periodically get stuck in my head too. I feel your plight
Honestly it's sad all that work just went into people thinking it was creepy. All of that work is extremely impressive, that coming from someone who knows a lot about programming and robotics.
Definitely one of the more fascinating internet rabbit holes. Great video regardless, I remember using the original video as a means to mess with friends in college back in 2011-12.
I am surprised at the amount of research you did. Job well done!
Came here after watching the 2x04 episode of smiling friends lmao
I love this story so much, and the android itself. I love weird stuff, that the creator didn't click on that it's so creepy because they're just so close to it
Thank you, youtube algorithm! I'm glad to catch this within the first hour of the upload. Great video! I feel fantastic now. 😅
This is the best video covering Tara yet, but people always overlook part of one of the videos where the man's hand puts a needle through Tara's mouth corners. You don't need the over the top creepypasta stuff, in order to still be creepy. There is a known kink among certain men of wanting a subservient robot woman. If flesh lights were a thing back then, you know John would have mentioned a slot on Tara to place one. lol
The whole "he's in love with his creation" theme goes all the way back to ancient Greece and Pygmalion. So, nothing new under the sun.
This and Obey The Walrus were the only ‘weird side of youtube’ videos that scared me so bad I’d literally flinch just seeing the screenshots until i was like 15. Funnily enough they’re probably the least scary within context
John had a great demonstration of the technology, and in that sense, it doesn't really matter how it looks, only how it works. The problem is, he seemed to think it looked lifelike, and that is definitely the furthest thing from the truth, so his perception comes off as being a bit strange, but then again, maybe he was just excited and proud about his project. Besides that, however, he was correct and successful in his demonstration of the technology, the appearance of which could always get more "real-life" coverings in the future, which is why it didn't have to be lifelike.
9:22 so that "hello handsome" wasnt a random quote. didn´t know Charlie´s uncle was in kinky stuff.
This deep dive was really fascinating, and a bit sad. Thank you for your hard work and diligence. I never would have known where to start on this investigation
I honestly feel bad for John. His creation was really innovative, albeit a bit creepy, but I agree that it had a lot of potential. I wonder if maybe he’d been able to make more connections to the entertainment or theme park industries, he would have had more success. I hope he wasn’t disheartened by the internet’s reception of Tara.
It's sort of beautiful and sweet to know how much Tara was beloved by her creator. Maybe she didn't change the world in the way that he imagined she would, but his dedication really leaves me feeling like creation is a special thing.
I Feel Fantastic was definitely one of the more unnerving videos I watched as a teenager. It wasn't outright frightening, but it was unsettling in a confusing sort of way. Like the idea of being trapped in the room with the android would make me feel uneasy. I had always assumed it was some sort of art project or maybe a demo of some kind.
This robotics engineer was way ahead of his time. He reminds me of Skynet and Terminator. Imagine if he ChatGPT AI models, advanced voice AI models, and newly discovered robotic joints and technology. This guy (and let's face it the create is a man that specializes in robotics) is a really smart engineer and software developer.
I’m here because of Smiling Friends.
same
The 2000's were a unique place. Like going back into an arcade and playing pacman 20 years later.
Same
I saw it in the episode and said holy shit then I just went down my mental rabbit hole from all those years ago and just over a week later I’m listening to the story from a different person
The boys would want you to keep that to yourself
Of course this gets recommended to me after that damn robot made its appearance in Smiling Friends.
best stuff to watch 4/20
hey raymundo
@@balls806ditto
I have an appreciation for Tara, ironically her creepiness gave her some sort of edge and my younger imagination likened her to a more realistic and cooler Hatsune Miku.
I watched uploads of her music videos and even tried to convince myself that the music itself was good, lol, even though it's extremely amateurish. Although, to be honest, her best song is already I Feel Fantastic; the other ones, Electricity and Brutal, just go nowhere.
Thank you for such a complete video, now I can relive those odd days where I considered myself a fan of hers.
Dang... you cured the creep factor with thia video. Well done! But now I feel some kind of melancholic nostalgia about it... It's a shame.
I wish this youtuber had reached out to the potential family members for comment and waited a while to see if they were willing to speak before uploading this video. If they did end up deciding to talk it would have been a valuable addition to the video. But it's so good!! Good job!
I love I feel fantastic. I feel so bad now knowing this genius creation was put in such a creepy light.
Makes sense he uploaded it expecting a positive reaction and was saddened by what followed. Like no one laughing at your joke.
Shes a famous OG Creepy Pasta!!! It's really awesome to know Tara's origins thank you so much for your time in this and for sharing!! She's still creepy to me though!! Where is she now? And why the woods shot in her video??
“What is this thing? Throw this away!”
"I can't, I'm holding onto it for my uncle until he gets out of the hospital."
"I can't, I'm holding onto it for my uncle until he gets out of the hospital."
Sometimes I like to sing the "I feel fantastic" song just to amuse myself. I still remember the first time I watched the original video but I had no clue about the whole history behind the doll.
Thank you for uploading this video and for all the investigation behind it.
I love this video, it really clears things up and makes me feel fantastic
I was having a bad day but after relaxing with such a quality video i feel fantastic.
Great video! I’ve heard bits and pieces of Tara’s history but I’ve always been curious about the full story. Thanks for making this deep dive!
Thank you, I’m really happy you enjoyed!
Crazy how one guy singlehandedly made the robot and then completely and unintentionally traumatized millions of kids on TH-cam.
My favorite smiling friends character!
Awww, usenet. The good ol' days, lol
Edit: This was way more interesting and educational than I expected. Great job. When I heard he stopped posting, honestly, my first thought was that he died. Early internet would have had a lot more older folks, as before AOL and other programs that made it easier to get online, access was pretty much limited to universities, military/government, and professionals that had things like dedicated T1 lines through their jobs. My bet is on John Senior. I wonder if John Jr. is still out there.
Only the best content from the best creators!!!!
Glad to see some appreciation for Tara rather than just dismissing her as creepy and garbage; she really was a passion project and quite impressive.
Its literally a modernday tragedy of Frankenstein, wow.
"Telling my kids this was Taylor Swift" Best comment i've seen in a while
The truth was a lot sadder than I imagined.
The first time I saw the video when I was like 9-10 it put a deep instinctual fear inside my heart. I’m now an adult and that feeling hasn’t changed. I genuinely have to look away each time it comes across my feed. I hate it, and it makes me feel not fantastic
The surprising thing is that this was remembered and put into a Smiling Friends episode
I'm glad someone made a video about tara it was my favorite "creepy" youtube video
I like that Smiling Friends popped her in an episode.
Really enjoyed your narration throughout this.
She just made a cameo on Smiling Friends!! 😮😮😮😮😮
Terrific work, the most researched and detailed dive into this particular video that I've ever seen....the only thing that you forgot to include that may have been very interesting is a 2015 video titled "Phone call to the creator of Tara the Android", where whoever made it actually got to talk to John Bergeron....granted, they didn't get much out of him and we have no evidence to support the authenticity of the video, but still, it's an interesting piece of "I feel fantastic" history.
I’ve seen many explanation videos about Tara and Bergeron Jr’s accounts but almost none of them have mentioned another of possibly Bergeron Jr’s other TH-cam account from late 2009 that is still available. It is name halloweenandroid and most of the videos is about how unique Tara is, along with the most random editing and strange clips and pictures of her. It’s pretty new to see if you watch it for the first time, since she’s in a different room of the house. But since it’s last video was only a month after the channel was created, I remember in early 2019 looking at that channel, finding out in bio that he had a link to either his Google email or a phone number of his, and I swear it had a phone number icon on it. It makes me wonder if that was the same phone number this one TH-camr contacted to Bergeron Jr in a 2015 video, in which she was writing a documentary about Tara, but John refused to answer any questions, saying that he was busy and hung up on her immediately. I honestly wish I had a better phone at the time and should’ve screenshot that link because it was only there for a while before it was permanently gone. Plus I was 11 or 12 year old when this happen and I was afraid to even click on it. But anyways, I’m glad there’s new update videos about Tara like this one that tells everything in order about the truth, and this really better than the misinformation they are explaining on TikTok. I hope many people soon finds out about these videos and not be too gullible to the whole “serial killer” rumor which is still happening today. You did well job on this!
Holy shit, that video description about Pygmalion went so hard.
“died unexpectedly” is obituary code for suicide ☹️
What?
Doubtful. In the event of a suicide, at least one person would have expected his death, and it is usually mentioned that they "lost their battle with depression" or "passed away by their own hand". By contrast, "passed away unexpectedly" is typically used if the exact cause of death cannot be determined. No illness. No injury. Just didn't wake up one morning and we don't know why.
This is a really well made video that explains so much of the story behind Tara, and why it's a bit of a sad one. At 12:05 John says he will send out video tapes of Tara talking and moving to the first serious inquiries. This got me thinking that maybe those tapes are the source of the videos that the channel halloweenandroid uploading, such as "piercing the android". I always wondered where those videos came from.
I know this guy called Charlie his Uncle who has one of these in like the corner of his room? his Nephew is looking after her while he is in hospital after being in a car accident, small world
I like to think it was the father, and after his fathers passing his son came across the video from his father and posted it a few months after his father died as a way of showing the world that despite all the big businessmen around at the time, his father truly was a smart brilliant man taking steps toward the future
I actually found this video was back in the day on my own before all these kids on youtube started doing videos discussing it
This was a fantastic explanation of the topic!
Thank you so much!