Armin Tamzarian Revisited

[vovat]

bethje and I watched a few Season 9 Simpsons episodes with commentary last night. This included the infamous "The Principal and the Pauper," the episode in which Principal Skinner is revealed to be an impostor. Ken Keeler, especially, was very defensive of the episode. He and the other commentators suggested some reasons why people disliked it so much, and there was a mention of the episode providing too much back story for the character, but I don't think that was the problem at all. Rather, it took a character who already had a fair amount of back story, and contradicted it. Why would Skinner have all of those flashbacks (in episodes both before and after "Pauper") to his time as a sergeant in Vietnam if he'd never actually been one? (Granted, that's pretty much what happens with Cloud in Final Fantasy VII, but I wouldn't think Skinner is THAT messed up.) Also, I remember rolling my eyes somewhat (not literally, as far as I know) at the idea that Skinner used to be a street punk. I mean, I guess it works, but the idea that a character was exactly the opposite of how he or she is now until they experienced some life-changing event was pretty much cliché by that point. They'd already done it with Ned Flanders in "Hurricane Neddy" (and Flanders would also undergo a change that contradicted pretty much everything we knew about his back story, but not until a later episode). The thing is, I didn't think the episode was that bad overall, because I think it actually played out reasonably well, but there's only so far you can go with an ill-advised premise. I guess it's yet another example of the fans taking continuity a lot more seriously than the writers, which seems to be fairly common in just about any fictional medium.

Looking over the list of episodes from Season 9, it seems to have been the last season to introduce a significant number of recurring characters. It brought in Duffman, Gil, and the Crazy Cat Lady; and established Manjula as a semi-regular character (although her first actual appearance was in a flashback in "Much Apu About Nothing"). Even the Khlav Kalash guy appeared in at least two episodes in that season ("The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" and "Lost Our Lisa"; I'm thinking there might have been a third, but I'm probably wrong), although I don't think he's been seen since. The only characters I can think of who first appeared after this and have been in more than two episodes are Nelson's mom and Apu's octuplets, although there are probably a few more I'm forgetting. Not all that many, though. It kind of seems like the Recurring Character Pool was closed in Season 9.

And here's a quiz result, courtesy of majellen:

Comments

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

Damn, I'm stupid:

I am smarter than 13.98% of the rest of the world.
Find out how smart you are.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

I remember in an earlier season that Marge was talking to the kids and either her or Lisa mentioned something about random minor characters popping up for no reason on current t.v. shows. And then the Capital City Goofball walked by the window and waved. I miss the minor characters from "Simpsons"; they're part of what made the series so funny. So many new episodes revolve around the family having a dumb adventure mostly by themselves and meeting disposable, forgettable strangers.

P.S. Whatever happened to Herbert, Homer's brother? I miss him.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

How do they figure the exact percentage? I got 24/25 correct.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think the percentage is based on how well you did compared to everyone else who's taken the test.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I remember in an earlier season that Marge was talking to the kids and either her or Lisa mentioned something about random minor characters popping up for no reason on current t.v. shows. And then the Capital City Goofball walked by the window and waved.

You're probably thinking of "Homer to the Max," where Lisa is talking about how certain characters fade into the background over time, and the Goofball and Mr. Largo walk by the window. The Goofball also shows up in the crowd of people giving Lisa advice about how to get gum out of her hair in "22 Short Films About Springfield." Why the Goofball was used for the former episode isn't really clear, since he was never a significant character. I think a better choice would have been Scott Christian (Kent Brockman's old co-anchor, in case you've forgotten him like the writers apparently have), or possibly Lewis or Richard.

So many new episodes revolve around the family having a dumb adventure mostly by themselves and meeting disposable, forgettable strangers.

Yeah, they never left Springfield much in the early days, and there was apparently a controversy among the writers when Homer took a trip to India back in the fifth season. Since then, though, they've been taking trips around the world almost constantly. That's pretty typical for long-running TV shows, though.

As for Herb, the writers said in one of the DVD commentaries that they usually only bring back characters like him when they can think of a good plot idea. I do find it a little hard to believe that, in over a decade, they haven't thought of ANYTHING else that could possibly involve Herb, though. It does seem like the show has become more likely to bring back old characters and ideas in the current era, though, so I wouldn't necessarily discount the idea of Herb reappearing before the show ends. Maybe he's been hanging out with Mr. Bergstrom and Leon Kompowski. {g}

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Unrelated, last night you were in my dreams a lot. The first time you were hiding E.T. Like, you were keeping him in your room and hoping your mom/the authorities wouldn't find him. The second part you'd invented this card game that used all black cards but you'd left the red cards in and just crossed them out to remind people not to use them, and somehow there were other cards involving Travelling Wilburys trivia; and then you joined a poker match with the famous Dogs Playing Poker. I thought you ought to know this.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

The first time you were hiding E.T. Like, you were keeping him in your room and hoping your mom/the authorities wouldn't find him.

Was he hiding among my stuffed animals? And was a young Drew Barrymore involved? {g}

Back when I was in elementary school, I had a big bin of stuffed animals, and the cat would sometimes sit in it, which reminded me of that scene from E.T.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough there were no stuffed animals, but the door of the room you were hiding him in had slats in it like the door of the closet with the stuffed animals in the movie. And I think Drew Barrymore was replaced by my sister at the same age. She may have been wearing the same outfit too. But I think it was actually my sister.