The Simpsons 5th Thread Spectacular!

[Reply #40 on:]

*cough*THoH 11*cough*...

[Reply #41 on:]

*cough*Its worth pointing out that Bart Sells his Soul came after the thoh segment The devil and homer simpsons which both shared themes of selling souls, which the writers admit to forgetting about. but both episodes come out very differntly so its not fair to throw around accusation of plagrism err*cough*

[Reply #42 on:]

The only neat thing in any of the new simpsons episodes tonight was Thank God It's Doomsday episode had my birthday date in it as the doomsday.

[Reply #43 on:]

Can somebody tell me if the new episodes of the simpsons In Australia are still on? Because in the TV Guide it says the new episodes aren't on because of Big Brother.

[Reply #44 on:]

Anyone see the episode with Fantasia (from American Idol) in it? The promos looked like crap, and I can't stand that woman's voice, so I didn't even tune in. Did I miss anything?

[Reply #45 on:]

 

Originally posted by JDB:
Can somebody tell me if the new episodes of the simpsons In Australia are still on? Because in the TV Guide it says the new episodes aren't on because of Big Brother.

That's just for this week. It'll be back next week, but I'm not sure if they'll be new ones or not. Knowing Channel 10, I wouldn't mind betting there won't be any more new ones for a while now - they like to stretch out the new seasons, and given that they started early and this season is fairly short...

[Reply #46 on:]

Eh, sorta.  Here's both reviews.

A Star is Torn:  Agreed with a lot of what (NHC member)Scully said. The ending (including Lisa's song) was admittedly sort of sweet, but I felt like a lot of the plot points just came out of nowhere. Homer gets angry with one person (and yeah, his behavior was pretty bad there) and then Lisa fires him an instant later. Everything after that just moved too quickly, and there just wasn't enough build-up. And what exactly did Lisa suddenly go through the contest? Because her singing in the house was nice? This wasn't exactly like "Lisa the Beauty Queen", where she at least had esteem issues that made the her participation in the contest interesting.

Also, I really wish they would keep "American Idol" off this show. Once with Cowell was enough. If they had anything truly biting to say about the shallow nature of these programs, then I might like to see them have a go at it, but here the references just seemed like an excuse to tie in with their almost completely useless guest star (she's even discared halfway through, which actually was a good call). The parodies in this episode will date worse then almost any pop culture references they've done, and even here they're fairly tired and even come off as a somewhat promotional of AI, given the guest star and the lack of many biting jokes at AI's expense.

Not that this episode was bad. Again, the ending was at least somewhat sweet, and it was overall funny enough to enjoyable for the gags. I enjoyed Lenny and Carl's odd behavior, Homer's failed attempt at thrawting Snake at the beginning, and other things. Still, I hope future character driven/emotional episodes are done a lot better then this, and doubly that we don't have to sit through any American Idol parodies. C+

Thank God its Doomsday:  As religious satire, I didn't feel this was especcially strong. The film Homer and the kids watch was great, satirizing both the concept of the rapture and religious reactionaries ("Why did I choose to be gay?", "Permissive lifestyles on the rise" ), but everything in the actual plot sort of seemed added on to that, and wasn't particularly biting I thought. It wasn't bad in this area, and was certainly far, far better then the atrocious "Pray Anything", but at this point I'm honestly fairly convinced that "Bart Sells His Soul" from a decade ago is going to forever remain the last truly great episode about religion (we'll see how next week goes though. Incidentally, "Holy Guest Star" being delayed turned out to be bad timing, considering its now airing only a week after another religion based episode, this one).

As a gag episode though, it was solid. Funny throughout, and the scenes in heaven in particular had some great moments, like the clocks, Jesus on the swings, the hotel-like menu screen, etc. There were also some nice subtle touches, like the Dogs praying (ala "Dogs playing poker" ) and "iGod" posters in the store, and the last supper homage at the end, which I actually didn't catch at first. Leaving it a little ambiguous as to whether or not Homer was truly right was also good. Referring to the one-hit wonder Baha Men (an odd example of a returning guest star) again was a bad choice, considering the reference is even more dated in 2005 then it already was in 2002, but other then that no major gripes. B

DYN:
-May 18th really is a Wednesday this year. Nice touch.
-The blimp of "stars" had a few old guests, like Ron Howard and Bette Midler (I think I saw Rosie O'Donnel too, though I don't remember if she played herself in THOH X or not).

[Reply #47 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
Homer gets angry with one person (and yeah, his behavior was pretty bad there) and then Lisa fires him an instant later.

One person?   

"Is that green enough for you, honey?  'Cause I can make it greener."

 

Also, I really wish they would keep "American Idol" off this show. Once with Cowell was enough. If they had anything truly biting to say about the shallow nature of these programs, then I might like to see them have a go at it, but here the references just seemed like an excuse to tie in with their almost completely useless guest star (she's even discared halfway through, which actually was a good call). The parodies in this episode will date worse then almost any pop culture references they've done, and even here they're fairly tired and even come off as a somewhat promotional of AI, given the guest star and the lack of many biting jokes at AI's expense.

Aside from the so-called guest star, and when American Idol was actually mentioned, I didn't think that the references were all that glaring.  It was really just an episode about Lisa being in a singing contest.  Even someone who's never heard of American Idol could understand that.

Overall, I thought that it was a good episode.  It's nice to see Lisa being treated more like a real person again, and less like a one-dimensional liberal mouthpiece.

My favorite bit:  when Bart says, "Praise the Lord!" and Maggie mimics him.

[Reply #48 on:]

 

One person?

"Is that green enough for you, honey? 'Cause I can make it greener."

Well that's true, I forgot about that.  I don't think Lisa even noticed it though, so it seems like it was still mainly a reaction to what he did to the Squeaky voiced teen.

[Reply #49 on:]

Lisa isn't stupid.  I'm sure she figured it out.

[Reply #50 on:]

The first episode was "meh-worthy", but I enjoyed the second one.

[Reply #51 on:]

Thanks Beamer, I was Starting to think, "Damn You Channel Ten!!"

[Reply #52 on:]

Also, don't forget the 350th episode is coming up, too. Channel 10 may be saving that & the heavily-promoted There's Something About Marrying for an upcoming special or something...

EDIT: Nope, wait, Something About Marrying is on next Tuesday at 7:30pm. There was a commercial for it at the end of the Three Gays of the Condo repeat yesterday... although they're still over-promoting it. "The controversial episode that divided America!" What the hell?

[Reply #53 on:]

Sorry for the double-post, but it's been over 24 hours, and I've got some episodes to review...

Don't Fear the Roofer
I personally really enjoyed this episode. It had a lot of good, funny moments - and the story moved at a decent pace (although I felt there wasn't enough of nobody seeing Ray for Homer to have been commited, but, eh). Ray Romano was a decent guest star - amazed he did the show considering some of the digs they've had at him, but he's the kind of person who's okay with being made fun of anyway. Cheap plug for his show during the credits, but hey, I laughed my ass off at it. Overall, a good episode, despite the "black hole" explanation. Hawking was a great return guest star, though.
B+

A Star is Torn
I didn't care much for this episode. It was all over the place - at first it seemed as if it was going to be an American Idol parody, then skipped right through many performances, focussing more on Homer and Lisa. Not like that was a bad thing, but still, their characters seemed way off. Since when could Homer write a better song than Lisa? Just not very good - lacking in story, and the last thing The Simpsons needed was an entire episode about American Idol.
C-

Thank God its Doomsday
I have mixed feelings on this episode. It wasn't very funny, and at times it felt like the religious aspects of it were being crammed down my throat, but the plot itself was intriguing. Some things were a tad off, character-wise (Homer being able to make all those caclulations, etc.) but overall, I enjoyed most of it. Still, some parts of the episode were really hard to swallow - not sure if it's because I'm an atheist or because I was REALLY looking forward to this episode and it wasn't what I was expecting... I might need to watch it a few more times before I reach a solid conclusion on it, though.
B-

I also "aqquired" The Heartbroke Kid, but have still yet to watch it...

[Reply #54 on:]

Well, I wondered about Homer's song writing abilties too at first too, but then I thought of Homer's Barbershop Quartet, and Dude, Where's My Ranch? I think it checks out.

[Reply #55 on:]

Great thread name.... I am forever in your debt.

[Reply #56 on:]

 

Originally posted by BeamerOverall, a good episode, despite the "black hole" explanation. Hawking was a great return guest star, though.

Are you kidding?  That was the funniest thing I'd seen all week.  If anything, that episode was good in spite of Ray Romano...God that man irritates me.

[Reply #57 on:]

 

Originally posted by Beamer:
 Since when could Homer write a better song than Lisa?

Heh, well to be fair, he did say he plagirized most of it.

[Reply #58 on:]

The funniest part about the whole "black hole" explanation is that there was already a perfectly valid reason for Bart not seeing Ray (he was carrying a large pile of tiles and then went to play with a chainsaw, iirc), but everyone bought the incredibly unlikely story because it was said by Hawking (and kind of supported by Lisa).

edit: Oh yeah, TVshowsonDVD says S6 out on the sixteenth of August. Sounds like fun.

[Reply #59 on:]

The Heartbroke Kid

This episode was just plain great. Although the basic storyline is pretty bad, all the jokes in these felt like they were classic-era jokes, and I didn't stop laughing the whole way through. Spangler has to be one of the funniest characters EVER, and the re-done intro with fat Bart was simply genius. Easily one of the best episodes of this season.

A

[Reply #60 on:]

Mobile Homer review pasted from my NHC review (I'm Homer Thompson over there in case you hadn't guessed)


Quite a horrible first few minutes and quite a bad closing few minutes and the stuff in between that was quite irratic. Quite a messy plot but it wasn't like the conflict was played out for emotion it was just played out for the fun of Homer and Marge arguing and doing things to spite each other. Which I guess is a little like Brother from the Same Planet .Here the writing of Homer and Marge ranged between funny and irritating. It was a lot fresher to bring in the angle of Bart and Lisa solving the conflict and the whole chase sequence ended up being a vehicle (pun sort of intended) for a mix of some decent wacky and character humour. It was kind of ruined by the whole ending on the ship, it might have worked better if Bart and Lisa just say bailed out of the RV just before it crashed and the whole ship angle was dropped.

It was still on the whole quite a forgettable episode but funnier and at the very least not boring like previous Homer and Marge conflict episodes like Geek Wedding and Brake My Wife Please. I'd probably need a 2nd viewing to really determine a grade but for now a C/C+ seems fair, equal with last weeks 7 beer snitch.

[Reply #61 on:]

Poor Jason Bateman.  First his show gets cut from 22 episodes to 18, and now they do this to his car.

[Reply #62 on:]

This catholicism episode was about the greatest thing I've ever seen.  Blew my mind completely.  It's like it was coming out of my own head.  I'm convinced I somehow wrote the episode and then forgot about it.  I nearly killed myself tonight just to get to catholic heaven.

[Reply #63 on:]

Well check, is your name Matt Warburton, do you work on The Simpsons

[Reply #64 on:]

 

Originally posted by canned eggs:
This catholicism episode was about the greatest thing I've ever seen.  Blew my mind completely.  It's like it was coming out of my own head.  I'm convinced I somehow wrote the episode and then forgot about it.  I nearly killed myself tonight just to get to catholic heaven.

Catholic heaven sure looks like it's a lot more fun, doesn't it?

Also, I read some of those lives of the saints comic books when I was a kid.  They are pretty cool.

[Reply #65 on:]

This weeks episodes weren't all that great...

[Reply #66 on:]

There's Something About Marrying finally aired down here last night.

The stupid thing was that Channel 10 kept trying to hide the identity of the gay person, using "Who comes out of the closet?" as their advertising campaign for months... then my TV guide (which came out on Saturday, 3 days before the episode aired) had printed this as a brief episode description:
 

The Simpsons
There's Something About Marrying. Patty falls for a local female golf pro.

Therefore blowing the surprise completely.   

[Reply #67 on:]

Geez, TV Guide People are idiots!

There's Something About Marrying
I saw it last night and it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. It had some alright jokes but the storyline(even though there was a 'big shock') was pretty weak.B-

[Reply #68 on:]

I've read some tough reviews for this season's episodes (both here and on NHC), but honestly...I think when the Simpsons finally call it a day, we'll look back at Season 16 in a positive light. Nearly every episode has held up strong with repeat viewings, and as a result this could arguably be the most consistent season in awhile.


I remember during the days of Season 6 thinking "hmmm, maybe The Simpsons have lost a step", particularily the Lisa On Ice episode...yet as time went on & years passed, I noticed that many of my current "go to" episodes happen to be from Season 6 (including...gasp...Lisa On Ice). Five or so years from now, I wouldn't be shocked to see alot of folks backpeddling from their original comments about Season 16, kinda like I did with Season 6...   

[Reply #69 on:]

 

Originally posted by Beamer:
There's Something About Marrying finally aired down here last night.

Wow, you guys are way behind...

[Reply #70 on:]

Actually, we're further ahead than usual. Normally, we're 3 months behind you guys... not to mention the fact that There's Something About Marrying aired 4 weeks late. Future Drama's airing here this week...

[Reply #71 on:]

If you live in the U.K and you don't have sky your 4 years behind.
On a clear day..... airs today, although they've been shown a little out of order we had pranksta rap then Goo Goo Gai Pan then 7 beer snitch and mobile homer last week. Next week is when marrying airs.

In fact judging from reviews on a clear day and after that maybe A star is torn are the only weaker episodes to burn through this season.

[Reply #72 on:]

On a Clear Day I Can't See my Sister, Mobile Homer, The Seven-Beer Snitch and A Star is Torn are the weaker episodes of this season, and even they weren't THAT bad.

Although I still have yet to see the last 2 episodes... hopefully I'll get a hold of them some time later this week. 

[Reply #73 on:]

Yeah, On a clear day gets a C- from me, I'm basically in agreement with some people at NHC.
I also thought Homer and Ned's Hail mary pass is joint worst with clear day.

[Reply #74 on:]

Anyone here have an opinion on the new Simpsons DVD? I'm wondering wether to buy it as I haven' seen half of it.

[Reply #75 on:]

Are you referring to the "Bart Wars" one?

[Reply #76 on:]

he might mean the one with some of the vacation episodes on that was released in the U.K today, in which case not at all.

[Reply #77 on:]

Oh yeah....yeah, not a great set of episodes.  I haven't seen the adventures of Tony Blair one but "Simpsons Safari" is awful and the other two aren't really worth buying on their own.

"Bart Wars" is a pretty good set of episodes but with only one real highlight, and according to IGN the picture and sound are pretty bad.  As always the season sets are the better alternative, especcially with one of those episodes already on the season three set.

[Reply #78 on:]

Futura-Drama

Damn. Good episode. So much fun.

"Mr Smithers? I though you were..."

"No, I'm straight, providing I take these injections every 10 minutes!"


'Gulf War V: Operation Rescue the President's Head!' was one of the most Futurama-ish things I ever heard.

And scientist's inventing magic. Genius.

A big fat B from me.

[Reply #79 on:]

I did mean 'Around The World In 80 D'oh's'. My reasons for buying are that I live in the UK and I don't have Sky. Therefore, I won't see 'Blame It On Lisa' until next year, and 'The Regina Monolouges' until 2008+. I don't also see the point of buying the Seasons, which I've already seen and are being repeated on C4 as I speak.