The Simpsons - General Discussion

[radishcake]

Sunday Jan 25, all times EST Looks like this is a block all about MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY!

 

3:30pm: "You Only Move Twice" Ep.2 Sn.8
The Simpsons relocate to another community after Homer unwittingly takes a job with a company controlled by a super-villain.
4pm: "The Trouble with Trillions" Ep.20 Sn.9
When a tax audit lands him in hot water, Homer goes undercover for the government—and attempts to retrieve a trillion dollar note from Mr. Burns.
4:30pm: "Half-Decent Proposal" Ep.10 Sn.13
Marge's ex-boyfriend, now one of the world's richest men, offers Homer a million dollars in exchange for a weekend with her, to see what “might have been.”
5pm: "MyPods and Boomsticks" Ep.7 Sn.20
Homer thinks Bart's new Muslim friend belongs to a family of terrorists; Lisa acquires her first iPod-like device.
5:30pm: "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble" Ep.3 Sn.20
Bart swaps places with his exact double unaware that the double's wealthy siblings are plotting murder.
6pm: "The Burns and the Bees" Ep.8 Sn.20
As Lisa tries to find a habitat for endangered bees, Mr. Burns builds a state-of-the-art sports arena which happens to look like a giant hive.
6:30pm: "Judge Me Tender" Ep.23 Sn.21
Moe discovers a talent for judging contests, leading to an appearance on the television series “American Idol;” Homer drives Marge crazy when he begins hanging around the house.
7pm: "Loan-a Lisa" Ep.2 Sn.22
Lisa donates money to a microfinance bank to help Nelson's custom bicycle company; Homer games the system by purchasing expensive items from stores and, after using them for a period of time, returns them for a refund.

[radishcake]

I'm interested to see this one for the Elon Musk character representation.

[Galileo908]

"The eagle is our country's mascot. Fighting him would be like kicking George Washington in his wooden testicles." That whole first act setup resolved itself much quicker than usual. I wonder why they even did it at all? It just gave Elon Musk a way to kill something before he landed. It seemed that his whole reason for coming to Springfield was "because." It's sad that Elon Musk was so dry and monotone that you could've replaced him with a generic character and no one would've noticed. I wished that they would've revealed that he really WAS a robot. That somehow built himself.

 

I don't know why, I just loved that homer made Elon Musk ride in the backseat. I also love How Burns instantly assumed that Elon Musk's suggestions were "clearly the work of Lenny." Also, total Burns move to assume that he's Henry Ford. And hiring old assassins.

 

Carl was channeling his inner Cab Calloway during that random song break.

 

This plot was very random. Nothing much led to anything. There was a bit where Bart activated manual control in a self-driving car (why?), and that whole bit led to nothing.

 

ETA: What little of what we saw inside of Elon's rocket was great. Lots of cardboard boxes labeled "space stuff," plus he was playing Tapped Out. And he wasn't very far in it.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Galileo908

[TVSpectator]

 

ETA: What little of what we saw inside of Elon's rocket was great. Lots of cardboard boxes labeled "space stuff," plus he was playing Tapped Out. And he wasn't very far in it.

 

Damn, I thought he was spying on Homer/playing back a spy recording of their last brainstorming sessions, but that does sound a bit meta (the playing Tapped Out part). Although, we he just replaying what Homer said to him, for the last time before he left in his spaceship, in his mind?

 

As with the story, I did like and I think the best scene was:

 

Smithers: God Lord! Sir do you know who that is? The man who revolutionized the car industry

Mr. Burns: Henry Ford, good to see you. As healthy and vibrant as Detriot itself. 

Smithers: No, sir this is Elon Musk; for some reason he is sharing a console with Homer Simpson

Elon: His mind is as rich as an Italian Wedding Soup. Homer what are you thinking now!

Homer: Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31

Classical Music plays while Elon envisions

Elon: Pittsburgh Steel, Dallas' Cowboys. Robotic cattle herding! Thank you, Homer!

Hearts coming out of Elon's chest and going towards Homer

Elon: Sorry, that's something I'm working on so I don't have to display facial expression.

 

Another good scene was seeing Elon Musk all alone in his spaceship, longing to share ideas with Homer.

Edited January 26, 2015 by TVSpectator

[Galileo908]

Smithers: God Lord! Sir do you know who that is? The man who revolutionized the car industry

Mr. Burns: Henry Ford, good to see you. As healthy and vibrant as Detriot itself.

Smithers: No, sir this is Elon Musk; for some reason he is sharing a console with Homer Simpson

Elon: His mind is as rich as an Italian Wedding Soup. Homer what are you thinking now!

Homer: Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31

Classical Music plays while Elon envisions

Elon: Pittsburgh Steel, Dallas' Cowboys. Robotic cattle herding! Thank you, Homer!

Hearts coming out of Elon's chest and going towards Homer

Elon: Sorry, that's something I'm working on so I don't have to display facial expression.

 

 

Yeah, that was probably my favorite part. Also, the music sting that kept playing whenever Elon got an idea made me think of Don Hertzfeldt (I know he uses it in at least one of his works)

[TVSpectator]

Yeah, that was probably my favorite part. Also, the music sting that kept playing whenever Elon got an idea made me think of Don Hertzfeldt (I know he uses it in at least one of his works)

I have heard that music before it was composed by Tchaikovsky and called Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor Op. 23 - Allegro non troppo:

 

 

Although, I don't know what music they used while Elon Musk was up in his spaceship, but I think it was a David Bowie song.

 

Edit: never mind I figure it out, it was Starman by David Bowie:

 

Edited January 26, 2015 by TVSpectator

[opus]

It probably didn't help that I never heard of Elon Musk. Sorry.

[ottoDbusdriver]

It probably didn't help that I never heard of Elon Musk. Sorry.

 

While his name isn't that well known, what he has accomplished you should be familiar with -- PayPal. Tesla Motors. SpaceX.

Edited January 26, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[opus]

While his name is that well known, what he has accomplished you should be familiar with -- PayPal. Tesla Motors. SpaceX.

Paypal, definitely. Tesla, ehhh. SpaceX, nope.

[Kaboom 2.0]

I actually enjoyed watching Elon Musk as Elon Musk although as someone above pointed out, how great would it have been if he was actually a robot that somehow built itself. Now thanks to the Simpsons whenever I see/hear Elon Musk I'll think of a bald eagle and George Washington's wooden testicles.

 

And of course Mr. Burns would assume that Elon's suggestions were clearly the work of Lenny. Of course.

 

Almost forgot this: also loved seeing Elon's capsule jammed with boxes labeled "space stuff" and him playing Tapped Out. Hee!

[radishcake]

When Lisa learns Springfield's anthem was stolen from another town she writes a replacement. Meanwhile, Homer learns the meaning of "Wide Pride".

 

[radishcake]

When Marge gets fed up with the thankless duty of chauffeuring her kids around, she begins working as a driver for a transportation app service. Meanwhile, Homer bankrupts Moe when he watches over the bar for one night, which forces Moe to take a temporary job as a janitor at the nuclear plant.

 

[6 MeowMeowBeenz]

The Cult of Elon.  Ugh. The man who spent many years telling others how to make cars, and who admitted a few months ago that making cars is hard work

 

And a little Detroit bashing. Jeez, Simpsons, kinda late to that party. 

[Galileo908]

That Sushi family was neat.

 

Oh man, that flashback to Old Springfield was fantastic, we needed to see more. Hans Moleman used to be the mayor?!

 

Springfield finally gets an anthem (not like the one cut from The Simpsons Movie), and Pharrell shows up...only to be carted off by Horseback like Moleman was. Bart & Lia's song was really good. And I noticed Hans Moleman in the audience for it.

 

Man, we got a few good callbacks: Michael Jackson, Burns getting shot, outlawing Whacking Day, Muumuu Homer.

 

So the show takes on the Fat Acceptance movement, and essentially rehashes "King-Size Homer" but with a group. I...was perfectly okay with this. I loved Homer's long list of names he's been called, my favorites being "Manfred Mannboobs," "Walking 'Before' Picture," and "IT IS BALLOON!" (F Troop reference)

 

Albert was a funny character, he even got up out of his scooter like the captain from "Wall-E." Too bad that caused him to die from a heart attack. At 23.

 

Homer's yo-yo dieting montage at the end was fantastic, capped off with Robocop Bart. But having Milhouse's head (who is still stuck at age 10) trapped in his stomach raises all kinds of implications.

 

ETA: "I was distinctly promised no math!"

Edited February 9, 2015 by Galileo908

[mightycrone]

I'm in the very unusual position of not having watched any Simpsons before the movie came out.  (The reason is long and boring, so I won't relate it here, but suffice to say that I didn't even know about this melancholy until fairly recently).  

 

I will say, though, that it makes me curious about the early episodes, but, apparently not curious enough to watch them (I assume they are online, somewhere).

[Galileo908]

Here was Homer's list of mean names:

 

>Chubby
>Chunky
>Blobble
>Slobble
>Fat bastard
>Michelin man
>Stay Puft
>Chumbawumba
>"IT IS BALLOON!"
>Poppa grande
>Augustus gloop
>Beached whale
>Big-boned
>Wisconsin skinny
>Butter-ball
>Dump truck
>Jelly belly
>Pudgy-wudgy
>Lard ass
>Blubberino
>Buddha Belly
>Hurry-Eat Tubman
>One-ton soup
>Blob Saget
>chub hub
>Calvin Cool Whip
>Manfried Manboobs
>21 Lump Street
>Walking "before" picture
>Fatso
>Harvey Milk Chocolate
>Obese-Want Cannoli
>Mahatma Gumbo
>Salvador Deli
>Elmer Pantry
>KFC and the Spongecake band
>Snacky Onassis
>The foodie blues
>Hoagie Carmichael
>Wideload
>Mr. 2-Belts

Edited February 9, 2015 by Galileo908

[Galileo908]

The early episodes are easy to come by, and their DVDs are pretty cheap nowadays.

[Kaboom 2.0]

I actually gasped at Young Hans Moleman. He looked so...virile.

 

I need to rewatch and pause the audience shots of the characters singing the old town anthem throughout the years. I thought I saw younger Carl with a high top fade and would love to see the others.

 

Thank you for posting the list of banned mean names! I have a question though, is it Elmore Pantry or Elmer Pantry? I swore I heard Elmer Pantry which made me think of Elmer Gantry which made me think wow, Moe, Lenny and Carl are more well-read than I thought. LOL

[Galileo908]

I actually gasped at Young Hans Moleman. He looked so...virile.

 

I need to rewatch and pause the audience shots of the characters singing the old town anthem throughout the years. I thought I saw younger Carl with a high top fade and would love to see the others.

 

Thank you for posting the list of banned mean names! I have a question though, is it Elmore Pantry or Elmer Pantry? I swore I heard Elmer Pantry which made me think of Elmer Gantry which made me think wow, Moe, Lenny and Carl are more well-read than I thought. LOL

1) Yeah, it was weird to know that Hans Moleman was once young.

 

2) That transition was really interesting. Watch Krusty with Rabbi Krustofsky...and then have his seat become empty near the end.

 

3) I'm pretty sure I heard Elmer Pantry, too. I've edited it as such.

[peeayebee]

I'm old enough to have watched F-Troop when it originally aired, but I haven't seen it since. Could someone explain IT IS BALLOON!

[JTMacc99]

I'm in the very unusual position of not having watched any Simpsons before the movie came out.  (The reason is long and boring, so I won't relate it here, but suffice to say that I didn't even know about this melancholy until fairly recently).  

 

I will say, though, that it makes me curious about the early episodes, but, apparently not curious enough to watch them (I assume they are online, somewhere).

Well, if you can get the FX app streaming on your TV, you can go to the Every Simpsons Ever section. Hit play and off you go.  I'll see you in a few weeks, but feel free to stop back once you get to season 3 when it all came together, and then season 4 - 6 when you'll find things you may say day to day that you didn't even realize came from the this show, and so on.

[mightycrone]

Well, if you can get the FX app streaming on your TV, you can go to the Every Simpsons Ever section. Hit play and off you go.  I'll see you in a few weeks, but feel free to stop back once you get to season 3 when it all came together, and then season 4 - 6 when you'll find things you may say day to day that you didn't even realize came from the this show, and so on.

Thank you.  I'll look into this.

Edited February 9, 2015 by mightycrone

[opus]

I'm old enough to have watched F-Troop when it originally aired, but I haven't seen it since. Could someone explain IT IS BALLOON!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-lgnXM54Zw

[peeayebee]

Ah. Thanks. That makes the line really funny in this ep.

[Kaboom 2.0]

Yes, thank you for the link explaining "it is balloon." I've heard of F Troop but for some reason no one watched it at our house.

 

I did rewatch and pause during the citizens' singing the Springfield anthem that Moleman purchased. Enjoyed seeing the various Kearny elders with eventually the Kearny we know with his son. Also caught CMG, Captain McAllister, Barney, Otto, the Wiggums and Ralph, the Spucklers with their ever expanding brood, the Hibberts in all their fashionable glory, and of course Krusty (loved the red tracksuit and fat chain) and Rabbi Krustofsky with the last shot of Krusty sitting next to the empty seat. Sniffles.

[Aprilshowers]

What a up and down season this is. This episode was fantastic though! What the hell happened to Moleman in 30 yrs? Holy cow that's aging and making him mayor was pure genius.

[radishcake]

Homer is put in charge of keeping Princess Kemi out of trouble while her father, a Nigerian king, works out a uranium deal with Mr. Burns.

 

[radishcake]

Chief Wiggum is mistakenly delivered a military jet pack, which he gleefully accepts and uses in order to fight crime. But when the jet pack crashes into the church, the congregation, led by Marge, must resort to gambling and counting cards in order to collect money to repair the church.

 

[mtlchick]

The opening was so fun!  The rest...eh. 

[Kaboom 2.0]

I agree, the opener was the best part! Was weird seeing that it was Apu scanning Maggie instead of the faceless person that usually scans her.

 

The rest was just ok, always like to see Moe branch out away from surly depressed bartender.

[Aprilshowers]

After last weeks stellar episode this one was meh. Opening was great though.

[MoreCoffeePlease]

I enjoyed it.  I loved watching Marge run around town taking the kids to various activities, and then racing with another mom.  Ain't it the truth!

 

I also liked how Moe's 2 nickels disintegrated when Homer rubbed them together.

[opus]

Liked the various pop culture taxi references.

[VCRTracking]

RIP Leonard Nimoy:

 

[radishcake]

I am so so sad about this.

This one was my favorite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6lTSPXDOAI

[Kaboom 2.0]

Aw, he will be missed. Thanks for posting the vid and link! Another fave Nimoy/Simpsons scene is of the town gathering together to sing Good Morning Starshine in the Springfield Files episode and you see Leonard singing between Agent Scully (I think) and a Wookiee (I think).

[TVSpectator]

Aw, he will be missed. Thanks for posting the vid and link! Another fave Nimoy/Simpsons scene is of the town gathering together to sing Good Morning Starshine in the Springfield Files episode and you see Leonard singing between Agent Scully (I think) and a Wookiee (I think).

 

I am not really sure but are you referring to this picture?

 

 

Edit: he was in that episode but acted more like a narrator:

 

Edited February 27, 2015 by TVSpectator

[Kel Varnsen]

When I heard about Nimoy, first thing I thought of was "weren't you one of the little rascals?".

[Galileo908]

Hey, there was continuity from the Elon Musk episode (apparently the previous episode had some, too. I still need to see it). Now thanks to him SNPP is on the verge of bankruptcy. Again. The hounds are adorable puppies, I love that. I really did like how the entire plot was driven by Smithers' dream to finally be with Burns. Sure, he never got his tropical getaway, but he settled for Burns' missing clones (that was a great bit).

 

Richard Branson is the perfect Flanders for Burns. But now we live in a world with both a Richard Branson and Arthur Fortune.

 

"Can you go five minutes without saying the word Virgin?"

"That's a Virgin Challenge I won't be Virgin taking. Virgin."

 

I knew that because they brought in a Nigerian Princess they were gonna eventually reference the classic email scam. And of course Moe's the one that falls for it and thought there was an actual prince. I'm just sad that Moe forgot about him during his brief romance with the princess.

 

"Woman Kisses Man, Yuck!" That THAT, Jezebel.

 

Hey, it's Jon Lovitz's paparazzi character. Only one line and he had more personality than the princess.

[Kaboom 2.0]

I think I may heart Lovitz more than I should, I totally tee-hee'd and clapped when I heard him. And the return of Richard Branson as Burns' Flanders, I love how much fun he seems to be having with his guest spots. And can Burns keep his teacup poodle guard dogs? They were adorable!

 

Smithers' fantasy and his attempts to make it happen were just so sad for me (yeah I know, he got the clones at the end but still). But I did enjoy seeing Julio and that other gay guy, is his name Scott?, in one of his fantasies, I love those two.

 

I actually didn't mind the Nigerian princess although I have already forgotten her name, she brought out a side of Moe that is rarely shown. I mean, come on now, he called her a cab! ;-)

[radishcake]

When Duffman (guest voice Stacy Keach) undergoes hip replacement surgery and retires, the company sets up a reality show competition to find his replacement. Homer wins the competition, and because the job requires him to stay sober, he learns that beer isn't as necessary as he thought to have a good time.

[Corvino]

And I hope everybody noticed that what this episode turned into was a low-rent version of "Roman Holiday". The closest Moe will ever come to Cary Grant, presumably.

[Galileo908]

Finally caught the rerun! That pixel opening was awesome! As was the Jetsons parody. I caught Bender in the Jetsons bit, and Stampy and Roy in the Pixel one.

 

Heh, Gerald's parents also have one eyebrow.

 

I laughed at Lady Duff (Duffman in drag).

 

I enjoyed it.  I loved watching Marge run around town taking the kids to various activities, and then racing with another mom.  Ain't it the truth!

That was a great bit. I also liked the montage of all the people Marge drove. And she drove both Nelson and his mother.

 

I also liked how Moe's 2 nickels disintegrated when Homer rubbed them together.

"Hey, who's been rubbing my nickels?"

 

Speaking of background characters, I spotted the guy that whipped Homer when he forced him to make the cake display turn in the cafeteria.

 

It was great to hear Christopher Lloyd. He sounds really old these days.

[Galileo908]

Looks like we have a spoof about the militarization of the police. And Chief Wiggum got a jet pack and being silly. For all of a five minutes, then we got a card counting plot with Apu. We lost the main titles for that?? But the teasers for the next Sky Police were also amazing. Again, we lost the main titles for that. And that this wasn't the whole episode.

 

This was apparently a spoof of the movie "21" with Apu in the Kevin Spacey role. They couldn't actually get Kevin Spacey? I liked the visual of Flanders dressed as a Saudi prince, though. I'm actually proud of Marge for not becoming stuck in Gamblor's neon claws again and only gambled as much as she needed to save the church. And the Lovejoys RPing as goths is another foray into their love life that I wish I can unsee.

 

MIT = The Mumbai Institute of Tantric Sex. That was a great pun. But wait, Apu came to Springfield to earn a degree at Springfield Haights Institute of Technology and (is immediately knocked out by the Retcon bat)

 

Middle management people like the guy in the casino are really like that. And annoying. ETA: That was Nathan Fielder (of Nathan For You), and he played that guy perfectly.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Galileo908

[readster]

Really enjoyed this episode but yeah, I saw that Lisa and Bart were going to screw this all up. I got a kick out of when the contractors laughed about giving the money back. Yeah, that's a contractor for you.

[Galileo908]

To quote a previous episode: "That's right, you're all crooks!"

 

I also loved Homer's line regarding the plot: "If anything happens to Marge, we'll all be orphans!"

[futurechemist]

Marge has come a long way.  She managed to successfully card-count with getting enslaved by the evil Gamblor.

 

At least in Atlantic City, casinos aren't allowed to punish card-counters.  So that subplot struck me as mocking old gambling stereotypes and/or movies rather than anything real.

Edited March 9, 2015 by futurechemist

[Latverian Diplomat]

At least in Atlantic City, casinos aren't allowed to punish card-counters.  So that subplot struck me as mocking old gambling stereotypes and/or movies rather than anything real.

IIRC, they just shuffle the cards more often. That's really all it takes to defeat card counting. I think the Nevada casinos are allowed to ban people pretty much at will, so they do that instead.

[Kaboom 2.0]

I found this ep boring other than the various disguises Marge and crew used to get into the casino, Homer gasping that without Marge the Simpsons will be orphans and the contractors LMFAO'ing at the thought of returning money.

 

And thanks to Clancy I had "Baby Face" stuck in my head all night long.

[Spartan Girl]

You know, I like episodes where Marge actually decides to cut loose.  It's usually refreshing from her being such a prissy little ninny all the time.  And then she says stuff like "I don't want our scam to be dishonest" that totally ruins it.