Cape Foure: The Simpsons Madness Goes On...

[Reply #120 on:]

The THOH sounds ok, "All's Fair in the Oven War" sounds bad (stupid guest stars), and "Sleeping With the Enemy" sounds great. Only time will tell though, as a description is no substitute for the real thing...

[Reply #121 on:]

I wouldn't be so excited about All's Fair in Oven War, but its written by Matt Selman, who's written some very good episodes despite the seasons there in, including Natrual Born Kissers and Trilogy of Error.
and many of his other episodes, seem above average for the season there in, such as 'They saved Lisa's Brain,' co-writing on 'Behind the Laughter', 'Lisa the Tree Hugger' and 'Jaws Wired shut'.
The only worrying things is the amount a lot of the episodes and jokes revolve around sex, but these are usually well handled.

[Reply #122 on:]

I don't know the writer, but I agree most of those episodes are some of the better eps from there seasons. But even if it's written well, it could be ruined by other peoples contributions, so who knows...

[Reply #123 on:]

I heard of a gay marriage episode. That one will probably be the one that kills the Simpsons (again).

[Reply #124 on:]

I don't watch the simpsons anymore. 

[Reply #125 on:]

 

Originally posted by mint:
I don't watch the simpsons anymore.   

Uh, yeah....thanks for sharing....

Anyways, "All's Fair in Oven War" sound alright to me.  It could go either way really.  Seems like a fairly run of the mill plot to me and I can't see any particular way of predicting its quality.  It is sort of history making in that its the first time ever a Marge episode has been a season premiere.  The guest stars don't really bug me for the record.  Seems like they have somewhat of a reason for them if nothing else.

"Sleeping with the Enemy" sounds like a potential classic though.  I'm pretty stoked for that one.

[Reply #126 on:]

I saw the two Season 16 Premiere Clips for the new THoH on IGN. Pretty meh affairs, and I disliked a joke from each clip. The weird green animal/monster thing crawling out of Chief Wiggums mouth in the Sherlock Holmes parody. And Mr Burns’s line about grabbing as much cancer as you can from his body, in the Fantastic Voyage parody. That doesn’t bode well considering they were both short clips. Luckily it’s the Flanders seeing into the future storyline which I’m looking forward to then...

[Reply #127 on:]

I thought the "grab as much cancer as you can" line was hilarious actually.  Agreed about the Wiggum mouth thing though.

Anyways, though the Fantastic Voyage clip was actually pretty great, while the Eliza/Dr. Bartley one was simply decent (with that bad gag at the end).

[Reply #128 on:]

I'm still on the fence about the Fantastic Voyage clip, because it's almost an animation by-law that a show must parody that movie some time.  I did like Homer's end speech, though.

"Has science ever kissed a girl?  Has science ever won the Super Bowl?  Has science ever put a man on the moon?  This is what I think of your precious science........HELP ME SCIENCE!"

[Reply #129 on:]

That sounds like a futurama joke, I can't remember what though.

[Reply #130 on:]

I think the THoHs have been going downhill... probably about the time that they decided to stop showing them before/on Halloween.  I mean I still watch them, and I can understand why they wouldn't be as good as the classics, afterall they used up all the good storylines and parodied the classic horror movies.  I'm just saying that watching a new THoH isn't the same thing as watching one of the old ones, especially when I saw those for the first time.

[Reply #131 on:]

Well its not as simple as that, VII(includes Citizen Kang) in season 8 I thought was the 2nd best. than there was VIII (Homega man, witches one) and IX(with Jerry springer) which were the weakest so far but still pretty good.
but then X(The Y2K one) was awful as bad as Ktaar and Saddlesore Galtica. then XI(the dolphins one) was quite a bit better though still not particulary good. between XII and XIII I can't decide which is better but I think I prefer XI and XIV(the reaper one) I thought was the best since IX, though not at all as good as IX.
but this one does sound a little better to me.

[Reply #132 on:]

Was XII the one with "Hex and The City"? I think my 2 favortie segments in recent years were "Hex in the City", and "Send in The Clones".

[Reply #133 on:]

My favorite THOH segments from recent years are probably "Send in the Clones", "Reaper Madness" and "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off".

[Reply #134 on:]

Oh shit, I just remembered that one "Wiz Kids".   
I actually think XII was the best one since the classic era. It had 2 great ones and one OK one. XIII had one great one and two bad ones, and XIV had one great one, and two OK ones. Of course it's just my opinion on the matter, I knowmost are going to like XIV best.

[Reply #135 on:]

I thought the last decent THoH segment was "Send in the Clones". That was awesome, but I haven't enjoyed a segment fully since then...

[Reply #136 on:]

Send in the Clones was great.  To bad about the rest of that particular THOH. 

I actually think that, personally, the first five THOHs are really the best ones, the truly classic ones.  Individual stories after that were often just as good (Citizen Kang, Homer3, Starship Poopers) but there were always more mixed after THOH V.  Often some good stories with others that less memorable, and in other cases (mainly THOH X) just plain complete shit.

Also, a note to anyone that owns or plans on owning "Simpsons Christmas 2":  Word is that it contains the syndicated version of "Dude Where's My Ranch", thus containing a minor edit to one line and another small deleted bit.  Nothing huge (and its not a particular crime with that episode honestly), but just something worth noting.  Thankfully the others are apparently uncut.

[Reply #137 on:]

I never knew that about "Dude Where's my Ranch", but that's probably because I never saw it before I bought the DVD anyway. Do you know why, was it so that the DVD could get away with a lower cert? It's my least fave ep of the compilation anyway, so I don't really care. Although part of me gets annoyed that they'd change it though, more on principle in this case...

[Reply #138 on:]

I think they changed it because Cookie died in the original version, and he reappears in a season 15 episode. That's what was cut in the syndicated version, right?

[Reply #139 on:]

Well, that's the cut, yes.

I think it was just a dumb mistake/omission that came from laziness, though.  I'm sure the eventual season 14 set will have the original cut.

Here's what Matt Garvey (maintainer of the SNPP syndication cuts guide) apparently had to say though:

Yep, that's definitely the syndicated episode. Really surprising, since I thought they'd be stored somewhere totally different... _unless_ they only made the Grosse Point change to the syndicated version (see below).   (DTB's Note: "Grosse Point" was originally "Pittsburgh" before the syndication changes)

Another note about this (since I haven't put it into the SCG yet) is that _originally_ the town was Scarsdale, NY... I forget the reason (it's in an email somewhere), but it was good. You can "verify" this by watching Homer's mouth movements - it fits better than either of the other two. Although the line was used in advertising in the Scarsale area, I guess they felt the high-priced and letigious lawyers of the town would have a problem with it, and changed the name. No idea why they used different towns there, or even which one was used in the (one) Fox repeat.

Feel free (Jouni, or anyone else with a nohomers account) to post this info, if someone hasn't done it already. This news is not very pleasant, consider the string of other accidental (or accidental-on-purpose) DVD errors - on the other hand, it's only a single-discer, and if the season 14 DVD has the original version this could be a neat item to have (for the alternate line).

Incidentally, this episode is so marginally tied with Christmas, this DVD reminds me of some of those VHS releases. What's next, "the best of Nelson's haw-haws"?

[Reply #140 on:]

A little late, but my favourite Treehouse Of Horror stories from the past 5 years are "House Of Whacks", "Send In The Clones" and "Reaper Madness".

Anyway, getting back on topic - I'm so glad we don't get the syndicated versions here. I've heard of some of the cuts made in the U.S. syndicated episodes, and some of them are just plain moronic. The only cuts made here are in the daily 6:00pm episodes, where the more offensive jokes are removed for the G-rating.

[Reply #141 on:]

Yeah....I'd actually have to say that, once I've finally seen these episodes uncut on dvd (until season eleven or so there won't be any restored cuts that I've already seen) I have a hard time watching the syndicated versions.  I don't really watch syndication anymore anyway, but occasionally my sister will have one on and I'll have trouble watching it.  Every few minutes (at least) I'll be expecting some great line or scene to come up and it won't.  In fact, even just from reading the cuts guide, when I watch episodes I've never even seen uncut I half-expect certain things to pop up and get angry when they do.  Its even hard to watch those now.

If there's any reason why I may resort to downloading, the cuts would be it.....

[Reply #142 on:]

That's one of the great things about Foxtel - they air every episode totally uncut. Even though the channel that airs them is a direct Fox channel (Fox 8), the syndicated versions don't air here. And since Foxtel doesn't follow normal TV censorship laws, they can air them at any time, too - providing they say the classification before the episode begins. You'd never see Weekend At Burnsies airing at 4:00pm on free-to-air TV.

The only thing I find strange is the ratings it gets on Foxtel. On free-to-air TV, the only episodes to get an M rating were Natural Born Kissers and Weekend At Burnsies. On Foxtel, about half the episodes in Season 12 got an M rating, whereas other episodes which really deserve a PG rating got a G rating. I mean, they rated Trilogy Of Error M for a little bit of blood spurting across the screen (more violent episodes have gotten PG ratings, though), but they gave Trash Of The Titans a G rating, even though the word "wanker" is uttered twice! On free-to-air, though, both the episodes I just mentioned got PG ratings.

Natural Born Kissers gets rated M on TV, yet I own that episode on the Simpsons "Too Hot For TV" tape I bought, which by the way was rated PG. Natural Born Kissers isn't even that bad... big deal, there's a bit of sexual humour - Jaws Wired Shut pretty much nothing but sex-related jokes, and only got a PG rating. It's just plain stupid... I personally think that Weekend At Burnsies is the only episode that deserves an M rating, for obvious reasons.

Speaking of drug use, what's with this "Midnight Rx" episode I've been hearing so little about? It appears to be one of the only Season 16 episodes that nobody really knows anything about, other than it being rumoured to be "an episode about drugs". Anybody here know anything more about it?

[Reply #143 on:]

I think the word is that it involves Grandpa and the senior citizens going to (maybe sneaking into?) Canada for cheaper prescription drugs.

And yeah, what's ironic is that in other countries they seem to air the uncut ones, which we can't get here in the U.S.  Australia plays them uncut I believe, Canada doesn't on some channels but they do have them uncut on some cable channel.  Plenty of other examples I assume.  But here we have to watch them hacked up.

[Reply #144 on:]

Yeah, it's odd up here in Canadia. Being Halloween, there has been mainly THOHs on for the past two weeks (oh, how I am sick of them), and I have seen the same episode twice with two different sets of cuts(THOH VII aired once with the cuts in the snpp guide, and again on a different network with those scenes restored, but with the part where Marge turns the police officers into things removed, even though Wiggum still appears later as a gopher), and another episode both cut and uncut (I had never seen the oscilloscope intro to THOH V before yesterday... that was cool). As soon as I have them on DVD, I'm not bothering with the TV versions.

[Reply #145 on:]

Catch em if you can aired in the U.K today.
it was a fun and creative episode, many people complained about the characterisation of Marge in the episode, but it seemed fine to me it was well established that she and Homer just wanted a break from the kids.
and it was very amusing to see Bart and Lisa playing the floor is made of lava.
(I noticed DTB agrees with me on this on)

[Reply #146 on:]

That episode was ok. Love the nit where Homer strips for Marge 

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[Reply #147 on:]

   

Originally posted by Ranadok:
 (I had never seen the oscilloscope intro to THOH V before yesterday... that was cool). As soon as I have them on DVD, I'm not bothering with the TV versions.

Yeah, I have the "Trick or Treehouse" tape set, so I have THOH V (along with a few other episodes) uncut from that.  I couldn't believe they cut that intro bit, so classic.  Incidentally, did the leave the "Time and Punishment" bit with the wiener dogs in when you saw it? (Homer, while being chased by the rotweilers, says "Oh no!  They're gaining on me!  Wait, I have an idea!", then pulls out a string of hot dogs and says "These weiners will give me the quick energy I need to escape!"  Always cut in synd. here).    And yeah, I'm never bothering with the tv versions again once these sets are out.  In fact, I plan on pretty much trashing most of my tapes when the sets finally come out.  I wish I had them in order on the tapes, so I could trash them in sequence.  Unfortunately, when season five comes out I'll have tapes that only have 1-3 episodes on them that I'll even still need, but I still can't get rid of them until/unless I re-record them.  I'm thinking of setting up two vcrs sometime and recording some of them onto the other tapes though.

Also interesting what you say about there being some different cuts over there.  I had never heard that, though I know in some other countries there are censorship cuts that we of course don't have here.

User:  Yeah, that "lava" bit is treasured to me.  My sister and I played essentially the same thing a lot as kids.  Granted most kids probably play variations of it.  And the episode overall was pretty great.

[Reply #148 on:]

 

Australia plays them uncut I believe

Actually depends on the time they're on. The 6:00 ones are sometimes slightly censored, anything past that is uncut. Australian cable is also uncut.

[Reply #149 on:]

Yeah, I've heard they're cut over there for censorship reasons.  But the main point was that they don't have cuts for time like we have here.

[Reply #150 on:]

What IS annoying here (and I believe that I've mentioned this before, but anyways), is that even though the episodes are censored for the 6pm timeslot, if these eps are ever aired at a later time, it's the cut versions shown, not the originals. Gerf, nongblat!

[Reply #151 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
Incidentally, did the leave the "Time and Punishment" bit with the wiener dogs in when you saw it?

Yeah, the version I saw the other day had both of those scenes restored... which was nice, almost like watching deleted scenes, but better. Like I said, the other time I saw it, it was the syndicut version (the only reason I watched it twice was because I saw the restored intro, and wanted to see what else there was. I was seconds away from turning off the TV...)

 

  And yeah, I'm never bothering with the tv versions again once these sets are out.  In fact, I plan on pretty much trashing most of my tapes when the sets finally come out.

I don't have the episodes taped, but I do have them on my computer (What? I have a TV tuner! I would never download TV episodes  ) Of course, most of those are syndicated versions, with the exception of the last few years. I still keep them around, as they are good for a quick reference when I don't want to dig out my DVDs. Same with my Futurama files.
 

  I'm thinking of setting up two vcrs sometime and recording some of them onto the other tapes though.

Record them on computer and burn to DVD... that's the way to go!   

 

Also interesting what you say about there being some different cuts over there.  I had never heard that, though I know in some other countries there are censorship cuts that we of course don't have here.

I'd be really surprised if it was a censorship cut, as the differently cut version aired in a later timeslot than the standard syndication cut, and the scene they cut out was not... cut out worthy(IMO, at least). That, and we get so much American TV anyhow that I doubt having a separate 'Canadian cut' would make a difference. But hey, this is the CRTC, they do all sorts of crazy stuff.

 

Yeah, that "lava" bit is treasured to me.  My sister and I played essentially the same thing a lot as kids.  Granted most kids probably play variations of it.

Me and my brother did... I loved that scene.

[Reply #152 on:]

 

Originally posted by Ranadok:
 Record them on computer and burn to DVD... that's the way to go!   

Heh, I would but it would seem like a waste.  Since they're all the syndicated versions, and also in sometimes pretty weak quality and with commercials, it would seem like a waste to burn them on new discs when I'll eventually just trash them anyway for the official sets.  That and I don't have the equipment anyway. 

The main reason I want to consolidate my tapes into fewer ones is just that they take up so much damn space....I have 19 tapes with syndicated episodes on them and I'm literally running out of room.  And they're annoying to have to fast forward and rewind through all the time, due to the random order (which granted would be a plus for burning them to dvd).

I actually finished watching season five on my tapes again recently.  Was kinda wierd to think that I'll likely never watch them on those tapes ever again.  Of course after watching my copies of "Treehouse of Horror IV" and "Burns Heir", both of which have this wierd and distracting white line going through the upper part of the screen through most of them, its sort of a good feeling.

[Reply #153 on:]

Yeah, I have a show that I was taping on VHS for a while (Made in Canada) before I got the proper whatzits for my computer, and I'm just waiting for the episodes to re-air and record them straight to my computer, because the VHS quality is not worth saving (the audio, mainly). Sadly, I doubt that it will ever see the light of official DVD, so I'll be stuck with my better-than-VHS-but-not-DVD-quality copies. Also, CBC should show them in proper order, none of this "second half of the second season, third season, last episode of the fifth season, then the rest of the fifth season" stuff... it's really annoying! There are still episodes I haven't seen in seasons 2 and 4! SMASH!! KILL!! DESTROY!!!

Sorry about the off-topic... uhhh... I saw those clips from the upcoming THOH, and the Fantastic voyage one looks better than expected, and the Jack the Ripper one looks slightly worse than expected (based mainly on jokes, there isn't much else to go on with that clip). Still looking forward to the episode as a whole.

[Reply #154 on:]

Season one of Made In Canada is on DVD....

[Reply #155 on:]

I know, and I have it.  It's a low-quality release, and there is little chance of later, better seasons making it to the medium (interestingly, when I got season 1 from Amazon, it was only seven bucks...).

[Reply #156 on:]

This is not good. 

I'm worried about the same thing happening to Puppets Who Kill. As far as I know, season 2 has yet to be announced on DVD despite the fact that it started airing almost a year ago now. We need a Canadian television thread.

Anyway, has anyone else played the little flash game kicking around the net in some flash ads promoting season 16? It's called Homer's Space Oddessy, and it's a pretty addictive little game.

[Reply #157 on:]

Yeah, I've seen that.  Not bad for a few minutes.  There's also a Bart skateboarding thing.

There's also a zombie shooting thing on the official site, though its nothing special.

Clearly the best way to get THOH gaming though is to just play the last level of Hit and Run.  My jaw was dropping when I first saw that.  So cool.

[Reply #158 on:]

Agreed about the Hit & Run level. What an awesome game.

In other merchandise-related news, its just four days until "Christmas With The Simpsons 2" comes out in America. I'll probably pick it up at Target or something, just because I forgot to record "Tis the Fifteenth Season" when it aired last year.

[Reply #159 on:]

I have high hopes for Season 16. I mentioned this awhile back, but IMO since the release of the DVDs, The Simpsons has been gradually improving again, after some shaky seasons...perhaps while participating in the commentaries, it gave folks a chance to "reconnect" with the show's strengths...

Personally, I'm kinda disappointed to hear people from the Simpsons camp taking digs at Family Guy. I mean, no doubt The Simpsons is superior, but c'mon...even The Simpsons has ripped off a thing or ten, so it's not like comedy hadn't been invented yet until the first season aired...