The Simpsons: A Journey Through Shit

[JamesTC]

REVIEW MORE BAD EPISODES

In fairness the last few weeks have been punishing with work (albeit a promotion and huge pay rise have come in the middle of it) and I barely have the energy to do anything after my run at the end of the working day. But I guess it has been a couple of weeks now, so I will try to watch a few tonight. I believe the next episode is one of the episodes considered a gem of the HD era, so it is sure to be a good one!

[Bernice]

The Simpsons is Charles Bronson now.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Jesus Christ there's a season 23 opener by Bill Plympton where young Homer fucks the couch and impregnates it only for him to leave it for Marge, and the couch is forced into stripping and prostitution to support itself and its baby armchair. Then it attempts suicide by leaping into a garbage truck before Homer pulls it out and takes it and the baby armchair home.

[dissolute ocelot]

Jesus Christ there's a season 23 opener by Bill Plympton where young Homer fucks the couch and impregnates it only for him to leave it for Marge, and the couch is forced into stripping and prostitution to support itself and its baby armchair. Then it attempts suicide by leaping into a garbage truck before Homer pulls it out and takes it and the baby armchair home.

I used to like Bill Plympton (I have a signed sketch by him somewhere that he did after I went to a preview of one of his increasingly terrible animated films) but he has been in decline for a long time. I've still not seen his bizarre "concentration camps were really animation studios" satire Hitler's Folly, which sounds like it's a The Day the Clown Cried for the 21st century. The only vaguely tolerable guest animator Simpsons intro I can think of was Banksy's, where obviously Banksy isn't an animator, and he did the obvious Banksy thing of going for the stupidly obvious target with minimal subtlety.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

oh just to remind everyone the baby armchair is Homer's baby. Because he fucked the couch.

[JaDanketies]

The only vaguely tolerable guest animator Simpsons intro I can think of was Banksy's, where obviously Banksy isn't an animator, and he did the obvious Banksy thing of going for the stupidly obvious target with minimal subtlety.

There have been quite a few I can remember that were very good. The Rick and Morty and the Adventure Time guest animator openings at least!

[Moltar]

There have been quite a few I can remember that were very good. The Rick and Morty and the Adventure Time guest animator openings at least!

I like the Don Hertzfeldt one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m78gYyTrG7Y

[JamesTC]

Season 21 - Episode 19 - The Squirt and the Whale

Bart and Lisa are watching a trailer for a Hollywood adaption of Tic-Tac-Toe. Homer starts turning off everything electrical due to the electricity bill. Lisa suggests alternative forms of energy, so the family go to an alternative energy expo. Homer buys a wind turbine which isn't the plot of the episode.

Homer cuts the power to the house as the electricity company were stealing their excess energy. The wind stops which causes the power to go out. Lisa explains that when the wind is off that they have no power, but Homer vows not to crawl back to big energy.

Homer powers the wind turbine by connecting fans to Flanders' house and pointing them at the turbine, but Flanders disconnects them. A storm then arrives and damages the turbine. Bart and Lisa go to the beach for some reason and they discover a beached whale which is the plot of the episode.

Lisa wants to get the whale help so goes to Homer and Marge. Marge read an article about beached whales and is worried about Lisa getting her hopes up but Homer vows to bust the whale out of prison. Homer enlists the help of various people around town but nothing works. Lisa dreams the whale is saved, but then she wakes up and the whale is dead. Lisa is sad. Bart and Milhouse go to poke the dead whale, but the police are fixing dynamite to it. They blow up the whale and blubber flies all over the beach injuring many people.

Lisa returns to the beach and sees some baby whales in the water, but then they are about to be killed by sharks. Homer arrives and they set off to attack the sharks. Some conservationists try to stop Homer and Lisa because they believe all life is precious. Lisa convinces Homer to not kill the sharks but then Homer falls in the water and is surrounded by the sharks. Homer is rescued by the daddy whale and the daddy and babies swim off. Credits roll with pictures of the daddy whale marrying a squid.

4/10 - Sometimes saccharin stories can really work well (late Futurama such as the episode Game of Tones comes to mind) but this was badly paced and just felt haphazard. Still wasn't bad, just below average.

According to the Wikipedia article for this episode, it includes the chalk board gag "South Park - We'd stand beside you if we weren't so scared". This has been changed for the version I'm watching on Disney+.

I usually take a quick look at the reviews on Wikipedia for each episode after I'm done. They are usually positive and often proclaim that the show's "still got it" in some form or another. The best is IGN who bafflingly always give incredibly specific rating out of 10. This episode got a 9.3/10. Of course a 9.4 would be too much and a 9.2 would be way too harsh.

[neov1974]

YES good to see these reviews back, clearly more important to continue this journey than prioritise actual real life

[evilcommiedictator]

Jeepers that sounds dire, is there even a mild bit of support for renewables, or indeed, environmentalists in that entire episode?

[JamesTC]

Jeepers that sounds dire, is there even a mild bit of support for renewables, or indeed, environmentalists in that entire episode?

Homer does a funny and then Lisa is sad.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

They're just not giving a fuck now: https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a35849887/the-simpsons-timeline-change-homer-teenager-90s/

The show's history has been rewritten once more last weekend, with the latest episode showing Homer as a teenager in the '90s.

[...] Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman responded to the fans saying: "Continuity Alert: Sunday's @TheSimpsons playfully re-interprets the show's timeline to allow Homer to be a teenager in the early '90s.

"The Simpsons is a 32-year-old series where the characters do not age, so the 'canon' must be elastic / contradictory / silly. This does not mean other beloved classic @TheSimpsons flashback shows didn't happen.

"None of this happened. It's all made up. Every episode is its own Groundhog Day that only has make sense for that story (if that)," added the producer.

"There is no @TheSimpsons 'canon' or 'non-canon.' There are only stories. If all these crazy things really happened to one family the characters would be in a mental hospital.

HORR HORR IT'S A CARTOON YOU SIMPLETONS A CARTOOOOOON

[Bad Ambassador]

They're just not giving a fuck now: https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a35849887/the-simpsons-timeline-change-homer-teenager-90s/

HORR HORR IT'S A CARTOON YOU SIMPLETONS A CARTOOOOOON

A full confession that they've given up. I've been watching Bob's Burgers again from the start and it's fantastic right off the bat.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Why do they even need to DO an episode about Homer as a teenager in the 90s oh it's because they're out of ideas and/or can't age up Bart.

[rue the polywhirl]

I hope Simpsons stays around long enough so we get a 2020 flashback episode of when Homer and Marge were teenagers during the pandemic.

[JaDanketies]

Watched The Road To Cincinnati - season 32 of The Simpsons, episode 8, aired in 2020, and it was at least a five out of ten. Totally different tone to Simpsons. The storyline sees

Spoiler alert

Skinner and Chalmers making up

[close]

which felt like a Very Important Episode. I also watched Undercover Burns - a parody of Undercover Boss - from the same series and it was okay too but not as good.

[idunnosomename]

i am 90s homer i am 90s homer

So dumb though. Homer is a boomer born in the 1950s. Thats why he's a lazy blue collar guy with no decent college degree. If he was born in the 80s he wouldnt be able to have three kids for instance

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

i am 90s homer i am 90s homer

So dumb though. Homer is a boomer born in the 1950s. Thats why he's a lazy blue collar guy with no decent college degree. If he was born in the 80s he wouldnt be able to have three kids for instance

but you're forgetting that in this timeline there was no groundbreaking animated sitcom that completely obliterated the television landscape as we know it

that's right everyone it's The Simpsons' fault the world is all fucked up

massive media conglomerates distract us with cartoons full of swearing while they melt the icecaps and hoard all the money

[JamesTC]

I hope they made a joke about Homer being into this great new animated sitcom that has just started on Fox.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

I hope they made a joke about Homer being into this great new animated sitcom that has just started on Fox.

oh god they probably did and it's probably called the Chimpsons and is about monkeys or something

[ajsmith2]

Matt Selman talking out his arse with that 'no canon' jive. Someone on that Twitter thread replied (rightly) that if that were the case they could just bring back Maude Flanders tomorrow with no explanation, and he replied with something to the effect of 'well deaths births and marriages are different'. YES WELL IN THAT CASE THERE CLEARLY IS A CANON THEN ISN'T THERE MATT YOU FIBBER.

Incidentally, this Sunday's episode apparently is a flashback one where it's revealed that Homer helped deliver Todd Flanders and his parents then named him Todd Homer Flanders in gratitude. :(

[idunnosomename]

it's just sad how these arseholes are trotted out against "internet comic book guys" to defend a corporate husk that was scrapping the barrel twenty years ago

[JamesTC]

Matt Selman talking out his arse with that 'no canon' jive. Someone on that Twitter thread replied (rightly) that if that were the case they could just bring back Maude Flanders tomorrow with no explanation, and he replied with something to the effect of 'well deaths births and marriages are different'. YES WELL IN THAT CASE THERE CLEARLY IS A CANON THEN ISN'T THERE MATT YOU FIBBER.

Okay Matt Selman, if that is your real name. I will accept that births, deaths and marriages are different.

Incidentally, this Sunday's episode apparently is a flashback one where it's revealed that Homer helped deliver Todd Flanders and his parents then named him Todd Homer Flanders in gratitude. :(

Homer didn't meet Flanders until after Todd was born. It was a birth so it is canon.

[dissolute ocelot]

I like the Don Hertzfeldt one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m78gYyTrG7Y

Yes I forgot about that, it's very good: genuinely creepy without just being gross-out, and it also seems to be a sly dig at the eternally decaying Simpsons just strung out for thousands of years in the endless pursuit of money. A lot of the guest animator couch gags are just "here's the simpsons mixed in with my animated franchise for no good reason with no actual jokes".

And in an attempt to be even more unpopular, I don't mind them messing with the timeline as long as they're true to the characters. (I must admit I even quite liked the one where Homer invents grunge just because it's so silly and takes the piss out of grunge.) Obviously it would be good if they took the other sensible option and just cancelled the show. But I'm happy to see Homer and Marge falling in love every decade as long as Homer's stupid but well-meaning and Marge is ultimately won over by his good nature.

But Homer delivering Todd/Rod/Bod/Cod/God? The Flanders timeline/personality has been messed about with far too much, leave them be. Or better, kill Ned!

[Kankurette]

Not watched it in years, don't want to. Homer getting raped by a panda was the nadir. The old seasons still hold up though.

ETA: Herzfeldt's couch gag was funnier than any recent Simpsons episode I've seen.

[idunnosomename]

>ALL ANIMALS
>
>CAN SCREAM
>
>

[JamesTC]

Not watched it in years, don't want to. Homer getting raped by a panda was the nadir. The old seasons still hold up though.

Homer getting raped by Marge was the nadir.

[St_Eddie]

Given that this is now being discussed here, I may as well re-post my thoughts on the matter from the Dennis the Menace thread...

"This does not mean other beloved classic The Simpsons flashback shows didn't happen. None of this happened. It's all made up. Every episode is its own Groundhog Day that only has [to] make sense for that story (if that)."

Oh do please kindly fuck right off.  It's bad enough when audiences trot out the old "what are you complaining for? It's fiction. It's not real. Anything can happen!" BS argument to excuse bad writing.  It's ten times worse when a supposed professional creative uses that same excuse.  A fictional universe still has to abide by its own internal logic, lore and rules.  Not "anything can happen!".  That's what the 'Treehouse of Horror' episodes were for, for fuck's sake.

[Kankurette]

Homer getting raped by Marge was the nadir.

Oh fuck me, I'd forgotten that episode existed.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Oh fuck me, I'd forgotten that episode existed.

Family Guy did the same "joke", too. At least when Francine got ripped on American Dad! she didn't rape Stan.