Author Topic: The Simpsons: A Journey Through Shit (Read 30885 times)

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #30 on:** January 09, 2021, 05:07:50 PM »

^flanders as the devil? During a treehouse of horror?

What a fresh idea![1]!

in 1993

Sebastian Cobb · « **Reply #31 on:** January 09, 2021, 05:09:15 PM »

No interest in watching new episodes but the classics I'll watch any time.

A show that's been shit for longer than it has been great, and presumably 'shit old people watch' in the eyes of young people. But when it was good it was amazing.

dead-ced-dead · « **Reply #32 on:** January 09, 2021, 07:56:05 PM »

I've been watching several episodes from season 5 and it's just brilliant. I think in its peak it was my favourite show.

JamesTC · « **Reply #33 on:** January 09, 2021, 08:23:34 PM »

Season 19 - Episode 6 - Little Orphan Millie

I'm not sure if this has been the case for the previous episodes but they have added a few new reactions to the opening titles such as Bart laughing or Wiggum saying "hey" as Bart speeds past him on the skateboard. Shite.

The episode opens with Homer getting his head stuck in a bee hive, getting covered in blue paint and falling into a green picnic sheet which makes him look like Marge and then he does Marge sounds when the bees are stinging him.

~~Glinner~~ Kirk and Luann announce they are getting remarried. They do this and then go on their honeymoon on a cruise. They fall off the boat and are presumed dead which is the plot of the episode.

A subplot involves Marge wearing glasses because she is angry at Homer who can't remember the colour of her eyes.

Milhouse is depressed because his parents are dead but then Maggie convinces him he needs to be a man so he gets a leather jacket. Lisa now likes Milhouse in his bad boy persona but Bart is jealous because of all the attention he is getting. Bart does the crump and then Marge does the crump and so a meme is born.

Bart realises in order to solve his problem he needs to make Milhouse happy again so he tracks down his uncle who is basically Indiana Jones for some reason. Unfortunately making Milhouse happy does not make Milhouse unpopular again.

Homer is reminded of an old song he written about Marge and she overhears which resolves this subplot.

Milhouse announces he is leaving with Uncle Indiana Jones but then Bart tells him he doesn't want to go. This leads to Bart climbing onto the hot air balloon which they are on for some reason. They then end up flying to a desert island where Milhouses parents are for some reason and then they crash and then Indiana Jones and ~~Glinner~~ Kirk have a fight. Credits roll.

4.5/10 - Felt much funnier than the rest of the season up to now. The main plot let it down really.

JamesTC · « **Reply #34 on:** January 09, 2021, 08:53:06 PM »

Season 19 - Episode 7 - Husbands and Knives

A new comic book store opens and it is owned by Jack Black. Marge compares herself to a Wonder Woman cut-out and decides she needs to go to the gym. Comic Book Guy trashes the new comic book store but gets beat up by some comic book artists led by Alan Moore. He then closes his store.

Marge hates the gym so opens a women's only gym in the location the old comic book store was and it becomes really successful which is the plot of the episode.

Homer initially enjoys the newfound success but is then convinced by some men on "wife support" that she will trade him in for a better man. He realises he needs his stomach stapled in order to keep Marge. Newly thin Homer now needs more plastic surgery which turns him into Frankenstein's monster. Jesus fucking Christ just look at this.

Turns out it was a dream and he never got the surgery. A meteor heads for the earth. Credits roll.

I honestly thought I had missed a line of dialogue about Marge's successful business ending but I didn't. They just completely ignore it at the end. They also ignore Comic Book Guy losing his store. You had 15 seconds for an Ok Go reference but none for a couple of lines of dialogue to resolve the plot of the episode?

2/10 - Baffling. They just don't give a shit.

JamesTC · « **Reply #35 on:** January 09, 2021, 09:15:57 PM »

Season 19 - Episode 8 - Funeral for a Fiend

Homer gets Tivo free with some batteries. Poochy reference. Mr Sparkle reference. Marge (!) becomes obsessed with Tivo and coddles the remote. Then she has a nightmare about skipping the adverts so feels bad and has to watch all the adverts she skipped. They see an advert for a restaurant and decide to go.

Turns out the restaurant is specifically tailored to entice the Simpson family and that is because it is owned by Sideshow Bob which is the plot of the episode.

Sideshow Bob fails in his plan to kill the family due to being distracted by Lisa correcting him and then he gets arrested.

Bob tries to get off the charges by pleading insanity. Bob then pulls out some Nitroglycerin which Bart thinks is a weapon so he steals it and throws it away but Bob then pretends to die of a heart problem and is helped in the plot by his mother and father. Bart is blamed for his death because the Nitroglycerin was his "heart medicine".

Sideshow Bob is now a hero in death and Bart is hated by the town. Cecil returns for some reason. Bart goes to the funeral parlour to pay his last respects to Sideshow Bob.

Lisa figures out the plot and the family rescue Bart who is about to be burned alive. The Sideshow Bob family are sentenced to 87 years in prison. Credits roll.

3/10.

JamesTC · « **Reply #36 on:** January 09, 2021, 09:47:05 PM »

Season 19 - Episode 9 - Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind

Before watching this, I note that Al Jean referred to this as one of the five most essential episodes of The Simpsons of all time in 2014. Hmm...

They have switched back to the opening titles without the extra reaction sounds. We are off to a good start.

The episode opens with Groundskeeper Willie in a parody of the Ice Age film and then he gets attacked by squirrels.

Homer wakes up in a big pile of snow after a night out. He returns home to find the family gone and Santa's Little Helper hates him. After asking Moe for help it turns out he has drank a some drink that Moe came up with which makes you forget the last day. This leads to Homer begin to piece together the day before.

Homer's patchy memory indicates he punched Marge in the fucking eye. I don't particularly like this but at least as an audience member you know that it is all just misleading and he didn't really beat his wife.

Homer punches a guy in the face. He then goes to see Professor Frink who has a machine to make him remember stuff. He sees Marge with another man who is clearly Duff Man but we are supposed to not know that yet. He then visits Lisa in an earlier memory for advice. He begins smashing through old memories including his first kiss so now he thinks his first kiss was with Apu. Homer goes back to the memory of Marge with another man and he realises it was Duff Man.

Homer is on the edge of the bridge about to commit suicide and Patty and Selma try to convince him to do it. Homer decides not to jump but Patty and Selma commit attempted murder and push him off (to be fair this leads to a funny joke later). Homer's entire life flashes before his eyes. While falling he realises that Marge was organising a surprise party with Duff Man and that Marge got hurt by the cork of a Duff Champagne bottle.

Homer lands on an inflatable castle on a big boat and it is actually his surprise party. Turns out it was all Homer's plan to make the surprise part a surprise.

4.5/10 - There is a smugness to the episode that puts me a little off. By the end they kind of feel they have a pretty good episode by later Simpson standards and it reeks of self congratulating by the end. Still it is probably the best episode of the season so far. If only there were more really good films they could just condense into 22 minutes every week then they'd be set.

JamesTC · « **Reply #37 on:** January 09, 2021, 11:42:06 PM »

I've still not seen The Mandalorian. I've still not seen Agent Carter. I choose to continue to do this.

Season 19 - Episode 10 - E Pluribus Wiggum

Ralph wants to make America great again according to the blurb on Disney+. This was aired in 2008.

Homer starts a diet by eating loads of fast food. He discards the wrappers in a bin along with an old car battery which leads to a huge explosion and likely led to a fair few deaths. I don't think Homer is on a diet anymore and he is leading a campaign to rebuild the fast food district.

The explosion leads Mayor Quimby to move the primaries forward so now they are the first in the country. The media descend on Springfield.

Moe announces he is a registered sex offender. He doesn't actually say "sex offender" but the insinuation is there.

This is all rather tame generic political humour. Jon Stewart. This is boring more than anything. But after 5 tedious minutes it leads to the townspeople deciding they are sick of all the candidates and that they will write in the most ridiculous candidate, so they decide to write in Ralph Wiggum which is the plot of the episode.

Ralph is taken serious as a candidate. The republicans and the democrats both want him to represent them which is a bit like that one really great episode of Designated Survivor except with a moronic child instead of Ralph Wiggum. Hahaha I am funny.

Wait what? It is over? What? I am seriously fucking aghast. It just fucking ends with nothing. No resolution. Nothing. Fucking hell. Shite. Lazy fucking hacks. Fuck off.

2/10 - Don't end the episode, get a couple of points knocked off. Fuck you.

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #38 on:** January 09, 2021, 11:45:47 PM »

Every episode synopsis seems to have a sentence that does not follow at all (marge wearing glasses because homer forgets her eye colour). The below is a great example:

Quote from: JamesTC on January 09, 2021, 11:42:06 PM

The explosion leads Mayor Quimby to move the primaries forward so now they are the first in the country.

Like... what? Am I missing something?

Just lazy, lazy bullshit.

JamesTC · « **Reply #39 on:** January 10, 2021, 12:13:46 AM »

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on January 09, 2021, 11:45:47 PM

Every episode synopsis seems to have a sentence that does not follow at all (marge wearing glasses because homer forgets her eye colour). The below is a great example:

Like... what? Am I missing something?

Just lazy, lazy bullshit.

Something about voting a bill through to have a bond to pay for the fast food sector to be rebuilt.

Season 19 - Episode 11 - That '90s Show

Homer hasn't paid for the heating bill because of global warming. Bart rummages through old stuff to burn and finds Marge's University certificate which it turns out she went to but never mentioned. Turns out they grew up in the 90s. Matt Groening and Futurama mention.

Homer got a job as laser tag to pay for Marge's university fees. A liberal History professor fancies Marge. This is uncomfortable as it really comes across as a bunch of right-wingers making fun of liberals a bit like that robot from Star Wars Rogue One. The professor convinces Marge that Homer is oppressing her.

We tread on a little bit of ground from Homer Goes to College about how it isn't like Animal House. Not best to remind me of a far better episode, particularly one I watched yesterday.

Homer starts a grunge band. Back to the Future reference. Homer and Marge breakup. Bittersweet Symphony plays. Marge dates the professor. Homer hates being a successful grunge singer. The professor turns out to be a mysogynist jerk, so Marge goes back to Homer.

Marge finds a Homer a wreck with a heroin needle in his arm. It is then revealed that he is diabetic and that the needle was insulin. Ha ha. Ha. Credits roll.

You've undermined a fair few episodes of classic Simpsons and have completely destroyed Homer and Marge's backstory in order to turn Homer into Kurt Cobain for some reason. Well done.

2/10

neov1974 · « **Reply #40 on:** January 10, 2021, 12:54:22 AM »

so much about That 90s Show episode is utter sacrilege, it enraged me when I saw it (my daughter watches them, she is a small child, so is forgiven)

the throwback episodes from the classic era are nearly all great, and this is just a criminally poor copy

This thread is great btw, do keep going as long as you have the will

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #41 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:05:18 AM »

So 2 episodes have homer becoming a successful singer (opera, grunge) in a 9 ep span?

Sorry, I don’t mean to swamp this thread with my predictable opinions but like, wow, man. That’s just so lazy.

JamesTC · « **Reply #42 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:09:23 AM »

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on January 10, 2021, 01:05:18 AM

So 2 episodes have homer becoming a successful singer (opera, grunge) in a 9 ep span?

Sorry, I don’t mean to swamp this thread with my predictable opinions but like, wow, man. That’s just so lazy.

He also remembers a song he wrote for Marge in another episode. I noticed this too.

I'd let them off if the Nirvana thing wasn't so awful.

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #43 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:11:31 AM »

Quote from: JamesTC on January 10, 2021, 01:09:23 AM

He also remembers a song he wrote for Marge in another episode. I noticed this too.

I'd let them off if the Nirvana thing wasn't so awful.

Well, and the resolution seems to be the same for both storylines “oh I’m successful at this thing now, oh actually I don’t like being successful so I’ll just stop”.

I got disney plus the other month, I’m strangely tempted to get in on this. If I wasn’t terrified of what it would do to my algorithms, I’d be straight in there.

JamesTC · « **Reply #44 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:13:31 AM »

Quote from: neov1974 on January 10, 2021, 12:54:22 AM

the throwback episodes from the classic era are nearly all great, and this is just a criminally poor copy

I always felt like the classic ones were a bit underrated. Lisa's First Word is one of the very best episodes in my eyes.

DrGreggles · « **Reply #45 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:17:17 AM »

Even these synopses are depressing me.

JamesTC · « **Reply #46 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:20:42 AM »

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on January 10, 2021, 01:11:31 AM

Well, and the resolution seems to be the same for both storylines “oh I’m successful at this thing now, oh actually I don’t like being successful so I’ll just stop”.

I got disney plus the other month, I’m strangely tempted to get in on this. If I wasn’t terrified of what it would do to my algorithms, I’d be straight in there.

Disney+ seems to have very rudimentary algorithms. And it certainly doesn't differentiate between good Simpsons and bad Simpsons so if you watch a classic on there then it'll be the same as if you watched the one where Lenny and Carl date rape some old women.

The most important thing about watching on Disney+ is that you go into the settings and click the switch to go to the original aspect ratio rather than the fucking awful zoomed in widescreen.

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #47 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:26:30 AM »

Quote from: JamesTC on January 10, 2021, 01:20:42 AM

...doesn't differentiate between good Simpsons and bad Simpsons so if you watch a classic on there then it'll be the same as if you watched the one where Lenny and Carl date rape some old women.

What a sentence!

I might watch a few tonight or tomorrow and just see how long I can stand it.

JamesTC · « **Reply #48 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:36:14 AM »

I'll be positive by sharing this picture of a real life Santa's Little Helper and Snowball 2 as it made me smile.

neov1974 · « **Reply #49 on:** January 10, 2021, 01:53:06 AM »

Quote from: JamesTC on January 10, 2021, 01:13:31 AM

I always felt like the classic ones were a bit underrated. Lisa's First Word is one of the very best episodes in my eyes.

yeah that's a firm favourite here too, crammed full of great stuff, Krusty LA Olympics subplot & relentless mini Bart etc
I note it's right next to Mr Plow so they were really hitting a stride by then

Sonny_Jim · « **Reply #50 on:** January 10, 2021, 04:11:34 AM »

Quote from: Lungpuddle on January 09, 2021, 01:01:17 PM

What were the 2 legitimately funny moments, unless it's too depressing remembering details?

Honestly, I just put 2 because usually there's at least 2 jokes even in the shit episodes. But I'll try and recite the plot from memory:

Large Marge S14E3
Marge goes to hospital for some reason, but there's a mixup and instead of getting her tonsils removed (or whatever), she ends up getting breast implants that were supposed to go into Mayor Quimbys secretary. I think one of the jokes is there ('They turned my maguppies into bazingas!') but from here on out it's a misogynist nightmare.

Marge really enjoys the new attention her amble boobs provide, but oh no, there's drawbacks! Her back hurts! The final straw is when she goes to pick up Maggie but for some inexplicable reason keeps on bashing her into her jubblies. Then she gets them removed and there's a lesson to be learned? I don't fucking know. It's shit. Watch and find out for yourself.

2/10

EDIT: Just read the synopsis on Wikipedia. Yeah it's the one with Stampy. And the lesson learned for Marge is that men like tits?

Carpool Dragon · « **Reply #51 on:** January 10, 2021, 04:42:54 AM »

The 90's episode is where I gave up any hopes of it being good again. There have been so many great episodes making reference to Marge and Homer growing up in the 70's (plus Homerpalooza showing that Homer was out of touch with grunge), for them to make a show that throws that all away for the sake of base, hack jokes that anyone could write screamed of completely not giving a fuck about the characters or the fans anymore. "We need to write 22 minutes of material - what if Homer was in Nirvana? Sure, whatever".

Although the episode that made me stop watching was season 18's Rome-Old and Juli-Eh where Selma shags Grandpa Simpson. To think that thats not even close to the nadir of the show is astounding.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse · « **Reply #52 on:** January 10, 2021, 11:21:03 AM »

Remember how Selma went to China to adopt a baby and now we hardly ever see the baby any more?

dead-ced-dead · « **Reply #53 on:** January 10, 2021, 11:25:41 AM »

Quote from: JamesTC on January 10, 2021, 01:20:42 AM

The most important thing about watching on Disney+ is that you go into the settings and click the switch to go to the original aspect ratio rather than the fucking awful zoomed in widescreen.

I didn't know this was an option. Is there a guide to doing this or is it straightforward?

mippy · « **Reply #54 on:** January 10, 2021, 12:34:48 PM »

If I'm catching episodes on TV, usually the length of the couch gag is a good indication of whether to keep watching. Later episodes seem to get longer and more gimmicky.