The Simpsons: A Journey Through Shit

[purlieu]

I don't think I've even seen the Max Power episode, just read a synopsis and none of it rings a bell at all.

[JamesTC]

I always thought it was considered a classic. I know "that's the end of that chapter" is one of my most quoted Simpsons lines.

[frajer]

Not sure it's an all-timer but it does make me laugh a lot. Really like the absurdity of the town giving Homer a huge amount of respect because a character on the telly happens to share his name (and then really mocking him when the character turns shit).

[madhair60]

There's some very funny dumb humour in Max Power, which still crops up on occasion all the way up to season 20 (which is as far as I've watched), but in increasingly lesser quantities.

"This isn't bad."

"Isn't bad? Tell me one thing mankind's ever done that's any better."

"The Renaissance."

"This is better."

[petril]

Not sure it's an all-timer but it does make me laugh a lot. Really like the absurdity of the town giving Homer a huge amount of respect because a character on the telly happens to share his name (and then really mocking him when the character turns shit).

I do love it as an exaggeration of that happening at like work or school. within a week there's a few dozen ripping the piss at you having a similar name

[frajer]

I do love it as an exaggeration of that happening at like work or school. within a week there's a few dozen ripping the piss at you having a similar name

Yeah it's the disproportionate acclaim Homer suddenly wins that I find really enjoyable. I suppose the easier joke would be for Homer to be proud of it but no one else give a shit, but the fact everyone at Moe's and the plant are actually impressed and respect him for it is wonderfully silly.

[Leej88]

Ot oh Spaghetti oh.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

I've got a theory: what do Max Power defenders think of Homer's Enemy?

I like the Frank Grimes episode but hate Max Power.

[JamesTC]

Both are great. Homer's Enemy is by far the better episode but there is room enough to consider both classics in my book.

I can see why the second half of Homer to the Max might put people off. It is funny but a little aimless.

[Ornlu]

*Homer walks into a cactus*
"we should really put that in the corner"

[Leej88]

Hey Bart kill that cat
Ok
And they big yellow flower

[idunnosomename]

I think the Max Power episode is a "classic" in that the viewing figures when it aired were so high most Simpsons fans have seen it. I have.

It was also referenced in the "push it to the limit" extended couch gag from season 27 animated by Steve Cutts. Can't imagine anything from 12 onwards getting a nod like that

to whit:

[JamesTC]

Oddly looking at the reviews on Wikipedia, it didn't do all that well there. The later episodes are given a much lower bar as they regularly get great reviews.

[JaDanketies]

I remember a lot of lines from Max Power but not the storyline (without reading a synopsis). I mean I know Homer changes his name and gets respect but not much more. I remember the great lines at the end where Homer suggests changing Marge's name to 'Chesty Larue' and 'Hooty McBoob'.

[Leej88]

His name is my name.

[Old Nehamkin]

I say "and that's the end of that chapter" all the time (in my brain).

[mippy]

George and Jerry drug a woman to gain access to her vintage toys happened.

Other stuff that was an indication of where it was heading:

Elaine stealing and eating antique wedding cake while dancing around the office.
George and the Frogger machine.
Gross gag of Newman laughing with his mouth open while eating junk food occurs in at least two episodes.
Puerto Rican Day.

Seinfeld never became anything less than great but there were plenty of clues of what he equivalent of Simpson seasons 15-20 would've been like. One of the things is they carried on with the thing of mentioning brand names and making brand names a part of the plot, which was a hallmark of excellent early episodes but once that became stale it was over. The later episode where George has a weird mantra about Twix bars that he repeats to everyone they meet in a car dealership is close to Zombie Seinfeld, even though its a decent episode. 

Also Seinfeld would still be dating hot 25 year old hipsters as the show rolled into season 35.

Puerto Rican Day was actually the first episode of Seinfeld I ever saw, so I find it hard to see as as bad as everyone else does

[Thursday]

Max Power episode is an people mistake for an earlier episode because it came out on a VHS way before it would have aired on the BBC, but when you dig into it a bit more, it's got a lot of the hallmarks of a shitty episode, even though it has above average jokes for the era.

That sums up season 10 for me, it's really descending fully into "Zombie Simpsons" by this point but it's still capable of coming up with some good lines and bits that feel like they belong in the classic era.

[idunnosomename]

God those awful themed tapes. I used to fit like 12 taped off the telly on a vhs cassette

[JamesTC]

88
MINUTES

INCLUDES
FOUR CLASSIC
EPISODES

[Leej88]

I had some of those themed videos as a kid is how I saw the Max Power episode, Trash of the Titans, and Treehouse of Horror XI way before it ended up on BBC2

[buttgammon]

I had the Max Power video too, so the episode is ultra familiar. Although I find it very quotable, I put it down more to the exposure than the quality; I last saw it about a year ago and thought it was okay, but by no means one of the best.

[Sebastian Cobb]

88
MINUTES

INCLUDES
FOUR CLASSIC
EPISODES

That's twice as many as I had.

[kalowski]

Max Power episode is an people mistake for an earlier episode because it came out on a VHS way before it would have aired on the BBC, but when you dig into it a bit more, it's got a lot of the hallmarks of a shitty episode, even though it has above average jokes for the era.

That sums up season 10 for me, it's really descending fully into "Zombie Simpsons" by this point but it's still capable of coming up with some good lines and bits that feel like they belong in the classic era.

Yeah. I remember it starting well, I liked the whole "he has the same name as me" stuff and the very accurate terrible sit com version "Simpson!" "Oh-oh, spaghetti-o" but it went nowhere fast.

[idunnosomename]

Ha, those came out from 1991. Interestingly, only in the UK. Presumably because the Simpsons was confined to satellite TV here unlike in the US where it was much more accessible.

Rip off Britain. Lovely box design though

[Mobbd]

I always had it in my head that 10 was the end of classic Simpsons, but when it came to watching it I found is very, very hard going. Totally disjointed plots that make no sense, barely any warmth, weird out of character jokes. Uncomfortable viewing and I had to stop.

Isn't there a general idea that the Last Great Episode was Homer's Phobia? I never really loved that one, though the United Steelworkers of America are pretty great. I like John Waters quite a bit but he feels a little unwelcome here imo - a slightly pointless celebrity appearance, one-shot character thing. And I don't like thinking that Homer had that actual "phobia" because it's gross (or is it commendably honest since Homer is a blue collar guy in 1997?). And this was SEASON 8. Dead or dying by Season 8 and now we're on Season 32. So weird.

Elaine rapes Jerry in a steroid fuelled passion.

Heh. I remember that one.

[Mobbd]

That's twice as many as I had.

I have deep nostalgia for those white tapes. When The Simpsons began, it was slightly tricky to watch in the UK because it was only on SKY, which barely anyone in my world seemed to have. We watched the Moanin' Lisa tape at a 7th birthday party (I was 28 years old at the time - oh wait I was 7 too) and it was extremely exciting.

I like those 4-episode theme tapes to an extent too though some of the later themes (and content) were quite bad. The first one to come out, I'm pretty sure, was the Springfield Files and there was a good sense of buzz around it.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

Homer's Phobia is a weird one. It's well written and surprisingly not condescending as its almost a Very Special Episode, and has one of the biggest gets for a guest voice. But it's not really that funny. It's very 1990s in that its idea of knocking down stereotypes is doing them ironically.

City of New York and Trash of the Titans are both far funnier.

[idunnosomename]

There were four with that precise cover design



They continued till 95.

https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/The_Simpsons_Collection

Then in 1997 the releases became international and focused more on a "best of" and then ultimately a themed angle.

The only VHS released in America before that was the Christmas special, presumably for that specific market of Grinch/Rudolf etc.



I think this is interesting for reception and the prominence of particular episodes (even if you didn't buy the tapes, you could see them from rental shops), as its how most people in the UK would have experienced the Simpsons before Nov 1996 when the BBC finally started showing it.

I think why that took so long was less about money and more about the BBC being far too genteel to be wasting its money on American rubbish: the Simpsons seemed very counter-culture and dangerous back then, like South Park would be ten years later. On the other hand, it was a huge part of the marketing for the Sky in the early 90s. Considering the premier league was basically set up so it could be confined to Sky, it was very exclusive and I never knew many people who had it until the later part of the decade.

Now isn't THIS so wonderfully late-90s.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

My Simpsons Mandela Effect: what there ever a VHS called something like "Too Hot For TV!" (not the later comp of sex based episodes) that was a 90 minute clipshow of edgy or shocking moments with some new material wrapped around?

I never saw it myself but I remember an advert for from the late 1990s "as you've never seen them before!" that prominently featured the Jerry Springer clip in a way the suggested there would be more Jerry Springer content that just from the Treehouse of Horror skit?

edit: I'm probably thinking of this being marketed as having "never seen" material because one of those episodes wasn't shown on UK tv.