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The Simpsons: A Journey Through Shit

Started by JamesTC, January 08, 2021, 11:12:10 PM

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Total Members Voted: 28

Voting closed: December 24, 2021, 08:55:16 AM

H-O-W-L

Dunno if it's come up yet as an episode but I watched The Cartridge Family on a whim and I think it might be one of the best episodes ever, despite being from probably the patchiest pre-10 season. The gag ratio per minute is insane.

JamesTC

Quote from: H-O-W-L on November 20, 2021, 10:41:16 AMDunno if it's come up yet as an episode but I watched The Cartridge Family on a whim and I think it might be one of the best episodes ever, despite being from probably the patchiest pre-10 season. The gag ratio per minute is insane.

Felt a bit special as an episode after it was released on the VHS "Too Hot For TV" and advertised as an episode never before seen on TV.

I actually wonder if they could get away with it now. The NRA would be up in arms. And considering how many arms the NRA has, that probably isn't a good thing.

king_tubby

It was cut to shit the last time I saw it on Channel 4, probably 10+ years ago.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Quote from: JamesTC on November 20, 2021, 11:10:41 AMI actually wonder if they could get away with it now. The NRA would be up in arms. And considering how many arms the NRA has, that probably isn't a good thing.
I dunno. The Simpsons equivalent of the NRA throw Homer out for being an idiot with his gun. The satire is pretty even-handed and fairly tame compared to, say, the episode of Bojack Horseman where Diane develops a love for guns against a backdrop of mass-shootings, and guns are only banned when a woman commits a mass-shooting.

JamesTC

Quote from: Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse on November 20, 2021, 11:51:46 AMI dunno. The Simpsons equivalent of the NRA throw Homer out for being an idiot with his gun. The satire is pretty even-handed and fairly tame compared to, say, the episode of Bojack Horseman where Diane develops a love for guns against a backdrop of mass-shootings, and guns are only banned when a woman commits a mass-shooting.

Yeah, and I guess much of the laughs at the NRA expense would probably not register as a joke to them. Lines like "It could have been a real ugly situation, but I managed to shoot him in the spine" followed by a round of applause.

That and this:

H-O-W-L

I am interested in guns and I feel it's very even handed. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Egyptian Feast

Ignore: caught out by shit clickbait.

Catalogue Trousers

Quote from: king_tubby on November 20, 2021, 11:13:54 AMIt was cut to shit the last time I saw it on Channel 4, probably 10+ years ago.

Yeah, especially the final moments, which really fuck up the whole message of the story.

Channel 4's version, with some remarkably clumsy editing, sees Marge throw away the gun and stride out of the room with never a backward glance as the similarly-butchered extract from The Avengers theme plays.

H-O-W-L

Quote from: JamesTC on November 12, 2021, 09:34:08 PMHey, they have a new Disney+ special!

The Simpsons in Plusaversary

Homer is not invited to the Disney Plus party at Moe's. Goofy is sad he doesn't have a plus one so Homer gets to go in with him. Moe thinks Daffy Duck is choking, so Barney gives him the heimlich manoeuvre. Goofy is drinking with Homer and is sad. Homer doesn't know if Goofy is a cow or a dog. Happy is grumpy with Grumpy, so Lisa comes in and suggests they all cheer up with a good old Disney song. Lisa sings an advert for Disney+. Mr Burns is a Disney+ stockholder. Everybody thinks "the boss" is about to arrive, but it turns out to be Bart dressed as Mickey. Bart tells everybody to get back to work and then tells Goofy to come with him. Goofy tells Homer he wishes he were his sidekick, but Barney says Homer is his and drags him away.

It was shit. I did like this picture in the end credits:



Did you make this up? This has to be fake, right? Fucking hell.

Consignia

Quote from: H-O-W-L on November 21, 2021, 02:16:14 AMDid you make this up? This has to be fake, right? Fucking hell.

It really is fucking awful, JamesTC's description really can't capture the depths to which it plunges. I've got access to a Disney+ login, and checked it out. It's so not Simpsons it's painful. Can't imagine the classic writers ever writing something like this. Also shocking that you have an advert for a streaming service that is exclusive to itself. Absolutely bizarre.

idunnosomename

It was directed by David Silverman and the writing credits (five people for five minutes!) include Al Jean and whatever their role in the demise of the show into the corpse it is now they were involved in the classic era.

Although Disney's animation dept probably advised on character design (interestingly a number of 3D characters are being animated in 2D officially for the first time), this is totally a product of the usual production team and they likely haven't been forced to do it either. They're shills with no ideas left and love to do this semi-official Robot Chicken memberries sort of shit.

Note how Goofy is drunk but there's no beer in the promo poster material. Disney let them do whatever within reason (theres a few cheeky stabs at things like subscription fee increasing) but do control the marketing imagery

Old Nehamkin

#1271
These cross-promotional Disney+ shorts really do represent a depressing new low for The Simpsons, I think.
 
If you wanted to play devil's advocate I suppose you could argue that these characters have been getting licensed out to shill products since the very beginning (in fact, the long-running Butterfinger ad campaign featuring Bart actually kicked off before the series proper even premiered), but there is a distinct difference between that kind of thing - commercials and merchandise, very clearly and discretely identifiable as such and separate from the actual show - and what we have here: a series of PR ads on behalf of the parent company presented as canonical short features within the body of the series, which are treated as events in themselves and promoted accordingly. This blurring of lines is quite unnerving to me.

Quote from: Consignia on November 21, 2021, 11:35:28 AMAlso shocking that you have an advert for a streaming service that is exclusive to itself. Absolutely bizarre.

Yes, this is key to the bleakness of the whole thing and how it represents a worrying new frontier in corporate/media synergy. What is the point of these shorts, ultimately, other than to triumphantly boast about the size and scope of Disney's IP library? Look at us, we've got the Simpsons, and we can make them interact with Donald Duck and Iron Man if we want to, because we own it all, because we deserve to, because we're Disney.

We seem to be in the middle of a sort of arms race where Disney and the few other remaining media giants are trying to compete at flaunting their own accumulated franchises and increasingly trying to cram them together into ill-conceived crossover content, however little meaningful connection between them (see, Ready Player One, Wreck it Ralph 2 or the recent Space Jam movie which contrives to incorporate everything from Rick and Morty to Austin Powers to Casablanca and A Clockwork Orange simply because they all happen to be owned by Warner Media).

Somewhere along the road we've reached this point where the average media consumer is implicitly expected to identify with and be invested in the content portfolios and market conflicts of these faceless corporations. We're supposed to care about the corporate identity of Disney and cheer them on for continuing to best their competition. And the Simpson family are right there to remind us. Weird times!

idunnosomename

Matt Groening having a tantrum over a crossover with The Critic seems incredibly quaint now

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

AOL-Time Warner-Pepsico-Viacom-Halliburton-Skynet-Toyota-Trader Joe's

Catalogue Trousers

https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2021/11/12/tv-review-the-simpsons-in-plusaversary-pays-irreverent-homage-to-the-house-of-mouse-on-disney-day/

QuoteInside, Darth Vader guzzles Duff, Doctor Strange uses his magic to cheat at pool, and Elsa helps the broomsticks from Fantasia fill the ice bucket. The Mandalorian handily defeats Buzz Lightyear in an arm-wrestling contest and Moe (Hank Azaria) thinks Donald Duck is choking due to his trademark speech impediment. There are some great gags like Homer not being sure whether Goofy is a cow or a dog (referencing the internet debate that won't seem to die) and Happy the dwarf being confused for Grumpy (because "that's how bad this party is"). When Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) enters to collect her father, she decides to help cheer up the crowd with "a good old Disney song." What follows is an amusing musical number with more additional cameos than I could count, though I did spot WALL-E, Max Rebo from Return of the Jedi, Jafar, Joe from Soul, Baymax, Miguel from Coco, Scar, Cruella, and others.

Desolation.

Although not so much desolation as the fact that the supposed reviewer concerned apparently finds this genuinely funny.

madhair60

Watch it just to hear their attempt at Donald Duck's voice. It's a fucking embarrassment.

bgmnts

Presumably the "what is goofy?" debate has been around long before the internet, considering it was briefly discussed by the characters in Stand By Me, which came out in the mid 80s.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Goofy began life as "Dippy Dawg". He's a dog. There's only confusion over this because he's anthropomorphic while Pluto, Micky's dog, isn't.

madhair60

Goofy is 100% definitely a cow regardless of any "dippy dawg" nonsense.

Ferris

Goofy is a frog, clues in the name you fucking idiots.

C_Larence

Quote from: madhair60 on November 21, 2021, 02:56:58 PMWatch it just to hear their attempt at Donald Duck's voice. It's a fucking embarrassment.

You weren't kidding, what the fuck was that?!

idunnosomename

Quote from: madhair60 on November 21, 2021, 02:56:58 PMWatch it just to hear their attempt at Donald Duck's voice. It's a fucking embarrassment.
yes also worth pointing out all the voices are done by Castanella and Azaria. Donald and Goofy have been performed by Tony Anselmo and Bill Farmer since the late 80s in pretty much everything official Disney (including series like Goof Troop and Quack Pack)

bobloblaw

The writer of a new episode that gives the A-plot to Flanders getting a boyfriend resolutely avoids engaging with questions about some of the iffier aspects of Simpsons' depictions of gay themes over the years. And bigs up his Dad's writing on, ahem, Homer vs Dignity

https://www.avclub.com/simpsons-writer-johnny-lazebnik-on-penning-smithers-fi-1848086248

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Quote from: bobloblaw on November 22, 2021, 10:50:47 AMFlanders getting a boyfriend
why Flanders tho, I mean really oh wait it's Smithers who gets the boyfriend

thr0b

Quote from: Old Nehamkin on November 21, 2021, 01:09:10 PMThese cross-promotional Disney+ shorts really do represent a depressing new low for The Simpsons, I think.
 
If you wanted to play devil's advocate I suppose you could argue that these characters have been getting licensed out to shill products since the very beginning (in fact, the long-running Butterfinger ad campaign featuring Bart actually kicked off before the series proper even premiered), but there is a distinct difference between that kind of thing - commercials and merchandise, very clearly and discretely identifiable as such and separate from the actual show - and what we have here: a series of PR ads on behalf of the parent company presented as canonical short features within the body of the series, which are treated as events in themselves and promoted accordingly. This blurring of lines is quite unnerving to me.

Yes, this is key to the bleakness of the whole thing and how it represents a worrying new frontier in corporate/media synergy. What is the point of these shorts, ultimately, other than to triumphantly boast about the size and scope of Disney's IP library? Look at us, we've got the Simpsons, and we can make them interact with Donald Duck and Iron Man if we want to, because we own it all, because we deserve to, because we're Disney.

We seem to be in the middle of a sort of arms race where Disney and the few other remaining media giants are trying to compete at flaunting their own accumulated franchises and increasingly trying to cram them together into ill-conceived crossover content, however little meaningful connection between them (see, Ready Player One, Wreck it Ralph 2 or the recent Space Jam movie which contrives to incorporate everything from Rick and Morty to Austin Powers to Casablanca and A Clockwork Orange simply because they all happen to be owned by Warner Media).

Somewhere along the road we've reached this point where the average media consumer is implicitly expected to identify with and be invested in the content portfolios and market conflicts of these faceless corporations. We're supposed to care about the corporate identity of Disney and cheer them on for continuing to best their competition. And the Simpson family are right there to remind us. Weird times!

Space Jam 2 is many, many times better than the first one. Of it.

Space Jam is a war crime against classic Warners. Space Jam 2 at least has a joke in it.

Mobbd

Quote from: idunnosomename on November 21, 2021, 05:05:13 PMyes also worth pointing out all the voices are done by Castanella and Azaria. Donald and Goofy have been performed by Tony Anselmo and Bill Farmer since the late 80s in pretty much everything official Disney (including series like Goof Troop and Quack Pack)

That's a very odd choice. It actually suggests to me that this isn't even a true crossover. I would have thought this whole stunt had been originated by the Sinister House of Mouse, but now I wonder if it was Team Simpsons trying to do a thing.

Old Nehamkin

Quote from: thr0b on November 22, 2021, 11:10:44 AMSpace Jam 2 is many, many times better than the first one. Of it.

Space Jam is a war crime against classic Warners. Space Jam 2 at least has a joke in it.

The quality of the film isn't really the point, it's more the way it explicitly foregrounds the corporate entity of the distribution company and goes out of its way to highlight and advertise the company's other media properties in a way that's almost proudly arbitrary.

To stick with this example: the original Space Jam, as tacky as it largely is, at least situates the Looney Tunes as inhabitants of their own self-contained cartoon universe before pulling them into the "real world". These are characters with a shared lineage and aesthetic who belong with each other, and the film at least acknowledges that even if, yes, teaming them up with Michael Jordan to sell Nike shoes is not a particularly dignified use of them.

In the second one, it's now established that the main thing that actually connects and binds together these iconic characters is that they happen to be the intellectual property of Warner Media, a fact which places them in a gigantic shared universe which includes the Clockwork Orange droogs, the Penguin from Batman, the warboys from Mad Max Fury Road and whichever other entities currently fall under the Warner umbrella.

It's an abjectly stupid sequel to an abjectly stupid film and I feel silly giving even this much analysis to either, but I think in the difference between them you can see a shift - or maybe just a deeper level of shitness - in the principles behind franchise media and the way studios think about IP (and how they want audiences to think about it.)

madhair60

Quote from: thr0b on November 22, 2021, 11:10:44 AMSpace Jam 2 is many, many times better than the first one. Of it.

It's a worthless piece of shit.

thr0b

Quote from: madhair60 on November 22, 2021, 12:53:13 PMIt's a worthless piece of shit.

I enjoyed it - I went with my eight-year-old. But!

Even if shit, it's still better quality shit than the first one. Of it.

madhair60

"Ooooooh, look, Taz." <----- That's you, that is.