Simpsons Season 15 Review Thread: Crap... or not?

[Reply #440 on:]

I know. I thought that you thought that we had the wrong plot for Diatribe when you said "more real to her character than writing a novel".     

TOTPD (Do the Bartman!)

[Reply #441 on:]

I'doh bot sounded crap. Now the money.

[Reply #442 on:]

Did you even read the reviews, or are you just ruling it out because it's wacky? Well, then you might as well rule out "Itchy and Scratchy Land", "Marge vs. the Monorail", "You Only Move Twice", and a shitload of other classics, too.

[Reply #443 on:]

Yeah, those eps are wacky and great.

[Reply #444 on:]

True. Much wackier than "I, D'oh-bot", which could easily really happen.

[Reply #445 on:]

 

Originally posted by leelaholic:
Did you even read the reviews, or are you just ruling it out because it's wacky? Well, then you might as well rule out "Itchy and Scratchy Land", "Marge vs. the Monorail", "You Only Move Twice", and a shitload of other classics, too.

Well, I didn't like the 3rd act of "Itchy and Scratchty Land." It crossed the boundry between 'sorta wacky' and 'truly wacky.' I have the same gripe with "You Only Move Twice." Decent enough, weak ending. As for "Marge vs. the Monorail," well, it's not completely unlikely for a town like Springfield to waste all of its money on something stupid.

[Reply #446 on:]

I think that an out of control monorail is more than a little wacky.

[Reply #447 on:]

I think the fact that it runs on solar power is the topper. 

[Reply #448 on:]

'You only move Twice' was a true classic.
"What is the matter with this country, when a man can't walk down the street without being offered a job?"

[Reply #449 on:]

Regarding "Monorail", it is undeniably pretty wacky.  I mean, Leonard Nimoy disapears into thin air at the end.  Its really the wackiest episode the show had done up to that point.  In fact, as a side note, Yeardley Smith apparently considered it to be the "worst episode ever" at the time.  Not to say I agree per se, but its interesting to note that.  Don't think I noted it before.

[Reply #450 on:]

The 'Monorail' ep was wacky, but I loved it for it's other qualities.

[Reply #451 on:]

I don't mind a wacky plot, as long as a.) it's funny, and b.) they stick to that plot. Scully-era wackiness was just one lameness followed by a completely unrelated lameness, followed by a few more random lamenesses with a lame self-referencing ending. Marge Vs. The Monorail stuck to its monorail plot, and the gags were mostly hilarious.

I D'ohbot stuck to the story pretty well, but was it funny? I don't know, maybe it's just nolstalgia, but Marge Vs. The Monorail's story unfolded in such a funny way. The way the town decides to spend all their money on a monorail was funny(the whole beginning segment, with the monorail song). How Homer becomes the monorail conductor was funny(the monorail class, plus the whole selection process). Marge discovering the scam was funny, and the monorail going out of control was funny, and the way they stopped it was funny.

D'ohbot didn't unfold in nearly as funny a way. I don't remember there being anything funny about how Homer and Bart decided to participate in the Robot Wars(although I admit, I don't remember exactly how that happened. Maybe something funny happened, and I missed it). And there certainly wasn't anything funny or clever about how Homer's little scam was found out. And there wasn't much story in between those two events, where they could have made something funny happen.

On the positive side, the Snowball II subplot was funny and cute. But, of course, they had to ruin it all with the "hey look, we suck! But it's ok, because we're clever enough to point out how much we suck! We are so clever!" ending. Come on, Simpsons fans, you keep telling me how much better the show is under Al Jean. And yeah, ok, there has been SOME improvement. But that ending right there was typical Scully garbage.

 

By leelaholic:
Also, I just realized that "I, D'oh-bot" has yet to be flamed.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE SIMPSON BASHERS GONE???

I imagine that most people are just tired of talking about it. /tired of watching it. (of course, there will always be people like homerjay who post crap like "that episode sucked" without arguing their point at all)

I'm finding the episodes this season to be too bland to discuss at length.

[Reply #452 on:]

 

Originally posted by FishyJoe:
(of course, there will always be people like homerjay who post crap like "that episode sucked" without arguing their point at all)

Agreed 

Also, I thought the revelation of Homer's scam was pretty funny. Not hilarious, but funny.

The cats, on the other hand, were different. It started out sad, then funny, then not funny, then REALLY funny (Gil was the perfect person for a car crash victim).

As for the "ha ha. We suck" ending, I personally found the scene to be funny.

For those who missed it.

Lisa: (to cat) You lived! You must be the one for me. I'll call you Snowball V. But, to save money on a dish, I'll call you Snowball II and pretend this never happened.

Skinner: (enters) Isn't that kind of a cheat?

Lisa: I guess so, Principal Tamzarian.

Skinner: (looks uneasy) As you were. (leaves)


What's wrong with that?

[Reply #453 on:]

I think it was FishyJeff who summed it up like this. The writers are saying "well, we know we suck, but you don't see us trying to improve it." What's so wrong with giving the cat the new name? I think that after 15 years, they can afford to add a new cat to the series.

[Reply #454 on:]

I do have to say that was a HUGE cheat, I think calling the cat Snowball V would have been fine. I did find it funny where Lisa pointed out Skinner as a fraud, although I'd hoped it had never been brought up again ever in the show's run. EVER.

[Reply #455 on:]

You could argue that they're saying, "We can't keep you interested with our clever writing and interesting plots so we'll just try to suprise you with needless charactar development, unnecessary location changes, pointless guest stars and stupid plots."

*Pats his thesaurus.*

[Reply #456 on:]

 

Originally posted by leelaholic:
For those who missed it.

Lisa: (to cat) You lived! You must be the one for me. I'll call you Snowball V. But, to save money on a dish, I'll call you Snowball II and pretend this never happened.

Skinner: (enters) Isn't that kind of a cheat?

Lisa: I guess so, Principal Tamzarian.

Skinner: (looks uneasy) As you were. (leaves)

So now Lisa is to be punished with torture?   

[Reply #457 on:]

Yeah, someone at NHC remembered that, too. I forgot all about it. I'm so ashamed. 

[Reply #458 on:]

I have not seen the episode, but that ending really sucks, big-time! It's a pathetic cop-out and really transparent.

[Reply #459 on:]

It's not the ending. It's the end of the Lisa subplot. The ending to the whole episode is much better.

[Reply #460 on:]

 

Originally posted by Shadowstar:
I do have to say that was a HUGE cheat, I think calling the cat Snowball V would have been fine.

I don't know what difference it makes, really.  How many times during the series did anyone refer to the cat as "Snowball II"?  Hell, how many times did they even call her "Snowball"?

I liked the Homer/Bart storyline better.  Seeing Jessica Lovejoy again was a nice touch too.

Hey, did anyone else see Maggie inside the robot with Homer, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?

[Reply #461 on:]

Yes. 

My favorite Maggie moment this season.

[Reply #462 on:]

Oh, good.  I thought that I was going crazy.

[Reply #463 on:]

 

Originally posted by David A:
 I don't know what difference it makes, really.  How many times during the series did anyone refer to the cat as "Snowball II"?  Hell, how many times did they even call her "Snowball"?

 I can remember one time, way back in Lisa's Pony:

 Lisa: Santa's Little Helper, Snowball II - this is Princess.

 I'm sure it's been mentioned some other times.

[Reply #464 on:]

 

Originally posted by Mouse On Venus:
I'm sure it's been mentioned some other times.

I'm not saying that it hasn't been, but it's just not something that comes up very often.  I really don't think that it would make any difference what number the cat has on the end of her name.  Most people wouldn't notice anyway.

I don't really like the way that the cat storyline was resolved.  Lisa's cat dies, so she gets a new cat that looks the same and she gives it the same name?  It's not that simple.

If they wanted to kill off Lisa's cat, then there should be lasting results.  If there aren't lasting results, then they shouldn't have killed the cat.

[Reply #465 on:]

Good point.

[Reply #466 on:]

Oh, I agree. I wasn't posting that example to try and suggest there was an importance to keeping the "II" moniker, just to point out an example in my immediate memory.

 It does seem like a highly pointless cop out, like a cheap leap into absurdity. At least the Tamzarian = Skinner cop-out was fairly necessary for the episode, even if the actual episode itself was not. 

[Reply #467 on:]

geez you people moan, if you weren't so ready to jump on and criticise every little thing you might actually enjoy it.

I'd prefer the subplot then the dog plot from jurrasic bark in a pathetic attempt to appear emotional and deep

[Reply #468 on:]

 

Originally posted by David A:
 I'm not saying that it hasn't been, but it's just not something that comes up very often.  I really don't think that it would make any difference what number the cat has on the end of her name.  Most people wouldn't notice anyway.

I don't really like the way that the cat storyline was resolved.  Lisa's cat dies, so she gets a new cat that looks the same and she gives it the same name?  It's not that simple.

If they wanted to kill off Lisa's cat, then there should be lasting results.  If there aren't lasting results, then they shouldn't have killed the cat.

Definitely. Her getting a new cat by the same name and look made the entire story pointless. Most secondary simpsons stories are filler anyway.

[Reply #469 on:]

So are most b stories in all comedy's always
its just a bonus whe you can tie them together


you people can be such fucking morons

[Reply #470 on:]

That's not true, there are plenty of instances where the side stories come together as part of the big picture.

Like every episode of Seinfeld for instance.

And watch your mouth, we're not at sea here.

[Reply #471 on:]

 

Originally posted by User_names_suck:
geez you people moan, if you weren't so ready to jump on and criticise every little thing you might actually enjoy it.

Except Simpsons fans are much harsher on episodes than we are at PEEL...

[Reply #472 on:]

 

Originally posted by User_names_suck:
you people can be such fucking morons

Hey, flattery will get you nowhere.   

Anyway, I think that a better way that this story could have been done would have been if they thought the cat was dead, but at the end of the episode, Snowball II shows up and it turns out that she wasn't dead after all.  Same lack of any lasting change to the show, but it doesn't dismiss the life of a cat as a trivial thing.

[Reply #473 on:]

 

Originally posted by sheep555:
Except Simpsons fans are much harsher on episodes than we are at PEEL...

Like fuck we are!!!

Most Futurama fans bash The Simpsons just because it's The Simpsons!!!! What've YOU been smoking???

[Reply #474 on:]

 

Originally posted by User_names_suck:
So are most b stories in all comedy's always
its just a bonus whe you can tie them together


you people can be such fucking morons

Well you're no better: you just complain about all the A stories that have any sort of depth or emotion to them and then call everyone else a "fucking moron" for not liking the more shallow, joke-ahoy approach that you abuse yourself over. Hmm. 

 I know you confessed in an earlier thread that you had a strange obsession with having the last word in everything, but there comes a point where you really stop having anything worth saying. You passed it several weeks ago.

[Reply #475 on:]

 

Originally posted by User_names_suck:
 I'd prefer the subplot then the dog plot from jurrasic bark in a pathetic attempt to appear emotional and deep

It wasn't a pathetic attempt, other than to viewers without souls...

[Reply #476 on:]

I must not have a soul then.

[Reply #477 on:]

 

Originally posted by leelaholic:
I must not have a soul then.

Did you sell yours to Milhouse again?

[Reply #478 on:]

Well, that would explain where all these "Alf" pogs came from.

[Reply #479 on:]

 

Originally posted by leelaholic:
I must not have a soul then.

You thought it was a pathetic attempt too! Yet you like a lot of modern Simpsons. Actually, why doesn't that suprise me...