Standing tall, on the wings of my dream

[vovat]

Well, I watched the Simpsons Halloween special last night. I'm not sure it's actually reasonable to call it a Halloween special, since it aired an entire week after Halloween, but, to be fair, I'm not sure they actually DID use the word "Halloween" anywhere in it. They just called it "Treehouse of Horror XV." "Treehouse of Horror" was actually the official title all along, but they didn't start putting it in the actual episodes until a few years ago. For what it's worth, I think only the first one had an actual treehouse in it.


Anyway, I didn't much care for the episode. It was probably the worst one since the Homer trying to get into Heaven/fairy tale/dolphin one, which might have been the worst Simspons Halloween special ever (although, to be fair, I only saw that one once, and I'm not in the mood of running over all the others to make sure none of them were worse). The Kang and Kodos sitcom SHOULD have been funny, but I really didn't laugh much. Probably the funniest part was that they played the theme from Perfect Strangers, but even then there was no real joke. It was just funny because, well, it was the Perfect Strangers theme. The first two segments had some amusing moments, like the running gag with Homer's frisbee and the Victorian Comic Book Guy, but they weren't anything spectacular. The third story was the worst, taking a premise that had been done in a million cartoons, and not doing much new with it. While I'm sure everyone is annoyed by comparisons and contrasts of the two animated shows that Matt Groening created, I have to say that Futurama got a LOT more comic mileage out of the concept. The ending was essentially a combination of two earlier Treehouse of Horror endings: Burns's head on Homer's body from the second one, and the inside-out chorus line from the fifth. So, yeah, not a very good episode. I'm hoping the rest of the season will be better.

Comments

[zaph.livejournal.com]

The thing that bugged me the most was that almost all of the scenes they showed in the preview bits in ads happened in the first minute and a half.

Well, and that the episode was lame. I think the Treehouse of Horror episodes have suffered the most since FOX added more commercials. The Simpsons used to be a longer show by at least three minutes. It doesn't seem like a whole lot, but one more minute per segment can make a bit of a difference as far as say, rushing through the storyline goes.

I don't have high hopes for this season. They should have quit while they were ahead.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the first segment, especially, seemed rather rushed. There was more they could have done with it, but they didn't have time to do much aside from the main plot.

They should have quit while they were ahead.

Remember what Bart said when The Cosby Show had its last episode? "If I had a show, I'd run it into the ground!" Something like that, anyway.

Seriously, though, I still do enjoy the show, and I think there are enough good episodes to forgive the occasional clunker.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the episode kind of blew, but I think there have been several worse ones. Don't ask me to name them, because I hated them so much I blocked them out of my mind. I do remember ... oh, 5 years ago maybe... seeing a Treehouse of Horror that just totally sucked ass and viewing that as a sign of the entire series jumping the shark, because the Halloween ones were always so good. That's when I stopped religiously watching it, I guess.

I think the series stayed great up till about season 6, and 8 had some good episodes, but after that nothing's been all that memorable. Futurama was so much better than Simpsons episodes on at that time. I hate to say it, but I'd be a lot happier if the Simpsons got cancelled and Futurama was still on.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the episode kind of blew, but I think there have been several worse ones.

Entire episodes, or individual segments? I think most of the Halloween specials have had at least one good segment, even if the others sucked. revme did remind me of another Treehouse of Horror where none of the segments were that great, though. Perhaps surprisingly, I did like last year's. Professor Frink's dad stealing body parts got old kind of fast, but the time-stopping one had one of the best Milhouse lines in recent history. Overall, though, I think they're kind of running out of ideas for the Halloween episodes, and they're no longer as special as they were back in the day.

I guess the show pretty much peaked in seasons 4-8, but even those seasons had the occasional weak episode, and there were some great ones buried in the worse seasons. The worst season of all might have been the tenth, where the premise of almost every episode was "Homer gets a wacky new job." Granted, some of these wacky new jobs were pretty funny, but, well, some variety might have been nice. I think it's picked up some since then, though. Interestingly, I think the weakest Simpsons seasons were around the time when they actually would show Futurama more often than once a month. If I didn't know any better, I would say that Groening had spread himself too thin, but I'm well aware that he's had practically nothing to do with The Simpsons in some time.

No TV and no beer make Homer something something

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

Hm, I don't remember last year's, strangely. They all started to blend together in my mind at some point. I seem to remember REALLY hating the one with the Harry Potter episode (one funny line - 'every moment I live.. is agony..') and the dolphins one that you mentioned. I have noticed that last season the Simpsons got a bit more watchable, but I guess not enough for me to become a freak about religiously following them again. Maybe I should give it another chance this season.

Re: No TV and no beer make Homer something something

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I think it was easier to tell which segment was from which episode back when they had wraparound bits to tie all three together, so you could just say, "Oh, yeah! That one was introduced with a painting!" or whatever. They've really started blurring together for me, too.

[revme.livejournal.com]

I actually liked that one. I thought the worst was the stupid one with the Harry Potter segment. And I'm not too big a fan of the one with "Starship Poopers" either. I liked the cold open with "Keepin' It Kodos" and the first one the best. The Victorian One was amusing enough, if a little filler-y. And the Fantastic Voyage had some good gags, although it was a little strange the way they kept being all "Hey! Marge is half-naked!" (Even though I caught the reference and all, it's still a little strange that they've decided that Marge is apparently the most attractive woman in Springfield now. The past few seasons keep referring to it, and it's just sort of odd.). And the thing with Homer in Burns was pretty gross, and I don't think it was quite animated right (i.e. the Dancing. That just seemed really weirdly done.). But yeah, I really don't think they should have done the Fantastic Voyage setup, just because, well, Futurama did it as well, and Futurama's turn was one of their Best Episodes Ever, and as such... yeah. It's sort of hard to top "Parasites Lost".

But yeah. I've found that the last season has been surprisingly decent. It's still not Good, i.e. Season 5, but at last it's not Mike Scully. Dear god, did he ruin the show something fierce. If I ever see him, I should punch him right in his face. I'm glad that Al Jean's back running the show, since he did some of the strongest seasons (He and Mike Reiss did 3-5, I think). So, yeah, I'm actually reasonably excited for the next season. And Ben's at least stopped making fun of me for Still Watching The Simpsons.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, now that I think about it, the one with the Harry Potter segment was pretty dull. I had totally forgotten about the gypsy curse segment until I looked it up yesterday. I think that episode sort of blurred together in my mind with the next year's Halloween special, which was considerably better. The "Starship Poopers" one wasn't that bad either, although it was hardly one of the best. I did like the Jerry Springer appearance, and the one with Bart and Lisa inside the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon was cleverly done.

The Victorian One was amusing enough, if a little filler-y.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if that one would have worked better in one of the other three-segment-alternate-reality kinds of episodes ("Simpsons Bible Stories," "Tales from the Public Domain," "Margical History Tour," etc.) than in a Halloween special. Sure, a lot of people were murdered, but there were quite a few killings in those other alternate-reality episodes, too.

And the Fantastic Voyage had some good gags, although it was a little strange the way they kept being all "Hey! Marge is half-naked!"

I did think it was funny when she commented that the germs or whatever "knew exactly where to stop."

But yeah, I really don't think they should have done the Fantastic Voyage setup, just because, well, Futurama did it as well, and Futurama's turn was one of their Best Episodes Ever, and as such... yeah. It's sort of hard to top "Parasites Lost".

Well, the sci-fi setup of Futurama made it possible for them to do something like that in regular continuity, and make it a largely character-driven episode, instead of just a bunch of gross gags. That wouldn't exactly be possible in The Simpsons.

I don't know that it's fair to blame Scully entirely for the worst seasons of the show, but I doubt it's exactly a coincidence that the show started improving once Jean came back as executive producer.

[revme.livejournal.com]

I'm checking the episode guide for the more recent ToHs. And, yeah, I thought last year's was actually pretty awesome. And I actually kinda liked the one before that (Clones/Billy the Kid/Moreau), but yeah, the one before that sucked (the only decent one in that was the one with the Talking House, and that one was so much mediocre.) I forgot that Starship Poopers also had the Itchy And Scratchy one, which was actually pretty good, so I take that back. But in its place, I suggest X, which had "I know what you did-diddly-id" which was good, but the other two (Xena/Y2K) were terrible.

OK, I totally take back what I said. Starship Poopers also had "Hell Toupee", and I _like_ that one. So, uh, yeah. It was mainly just Poopers itself I didn't like, I guess.

Also, I think you're right that the Victorian One would have been best for one of the other anthology eps. It just wasn't all that halloween. But it did have Ralph Wiggum smoking opium and flying on a bed, so... you win some, you lose some, I guess.

I also found it amsuing that they knew where to stop.

But... yeah. As for Scully; I don't think that it's 100% his fault, but a) He provides useful shorthand for "You know, all those Simpsons epsiodes that were goddawful." and b) I think he does deserve a good chunk of the blame. But it doesn't help when you've got writers who take pride in how they'd never seen an episode of the Simpsons before writing for them (i.e. Ian Maxtone-Graham), and how the writers were _OBSESSED_ with how a.t.s didn't think that they were doing very good episodes. That was just _SAD_, but I'm pretty sure I've gone on and on and on about how pathetic it is that they kept harping on the Internet Nerds and such.

(though it's kinda funny that on the Futurama side of things, they _embrace_ their Internet Nerds...)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I didn't like the Billy the Kid one that much, especially since they'd already DONE a zombie episode. The other two that year were pretty good, though.

And yeah, I've seen Maxtone-Graham's comment about "the beetle-browed people of the Internet," or whatever. A certain amount of Internet nerd mockery can be funny, and I liked "Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie" and the "wizard" line from the aforementioned "Desperately Xeeking Xena." Maxtone-Graham seemed to go out of his way to belittle the Internet fanbase, though, as if he somehow felt threatened by them. I guess it's kind of close to the "How dare you people criticize this when you've never done anything comparable?" mentality that I talked about recently. Maybe the Simpsons staff wasn't used to bad press, though, since most of the critical reviews at that point seemed to be good.

[revme.livejournal.com]

The Billy The Kid one was OK, but, yeah, Dial Z For Zombies was way better. But Send in the Clones was awesome, and the Island of Dr. Hibbert was pretty cool too.

But yeah -- the Internet Mockery of "A wizard did it." is amusing, but, say, Saddlesore Galactica, where the entire thing was, as far as I could tell, a big "Fuck You" to the Internet fans (continuity problems, actual berating of the Comic Book Guy As Internet Standin, the Absurd Plot Complaints (Jockey Gnomes? WTF?), Jerkass Homer, etc.), and I just couldn't imagine why they'd do that? Since, basically, it's going to piss off that 10% of the Ultra Hardcore Fans who make up ats, and the other 90% of the Hardcore Fans and 100% of the rest of the audience is just going to see a Shitty And Random Episode that they're not even going to _get_. I mean, if I weren't on ATS at the time, I probably would have just seen that episode, blinked, and wondered what on earth they were high upon when they thought that episode was a good idea.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'm not totally convinced that "Saddlesore Galactica" was written to be an intentionally bad episode, but I can see how people think that, given the blunt reaction to the Comic Book Guy. And, yeah, the jockey elves weren't funny at all, and made absolutely no sense.

[revme.livejournal.com]

Hm, maybe. I don't know, though, which is a less disturbing thought:

a) The staff wasted ~9 Months of their Lives intentionally making a horrible episode to insult the Internet Nerds
or
b) The staff actually thought "Saddlesore Galactica" was _good_.

?