The Simpsons - General Discussion

[emma675]

 

Homer: Am I turning you on?

Marge: No, Homer. I'm going to sleep.

Homer (in a deep voice): What if I talk like this?

Marge: Goodnight Homer!

Homer: What if I sing to you? (singing) I gave my love a chicken, it had no bone... mmmmm chicken.

Edited August 1, 2014 by emma675d

[BatmanBeatles]

"Iron helps us play!"

[DrSpaceman]

"When I grow up, I am going to Bovine University"

That whole meat film and scene is hilarious.

"Just listen to this scientologist". "Uhhhh....."

[AimingforYoko]

"Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, it'd kill you and everyone you care about."

[Iboatedhere]

"You don't win friends with salad!" 

[BatmanBeatles]

"Good news everyone! You don't have to eat meat. I made enough tomato gazpacho for everyone. It's tomato soup served ice cold!"

[DrSpaceman]

Whenever I see a Taco Bell or Mexican food commercial come on TV, I always think "I am looking for something in an after dinner burito."  The seriousness with which he states it is what sells the line. 

[M. Darcy]

Wow. Just wow. http://www.avclub.com/article/conan-obrien-will-sing-monorail-song-during-live-s-207737?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=LinkPreview%3A1%3ADefault

[JTMacc99]

Wow. I wish I could be there.

[M. Darcy]

Hopefully it will turn up on you tube.  Or it would be cool if Conan singing with the Gay Men’s Chorus Of Los Angeles was released on iTunes. 

[Iboatedhere]

Homer: and that's when the chuds came at me.

Marge: oh Homer, of course you'll have a bad impression of New York if you only focus on the pimps and the chuds.

[AimingforYoko]

Whenever I see a Taco Bell or Mexican food commercial come on TV, I always think "I am looking for something in an after dinner burito."  The seriousness with which he states it is what sells the line. 

Reminds me of when Moe is trying to impress Renee, "Hey, Hey Sabu! Bring us another magnum of your finest champagne and bring us the finest food you got, stuffed with the second finest."

"Excellent, sir. Lobster stuffed with tacos."

[Iboatedhere]

Lisa: Mom, are those rabbits dead?

Marge: No, they're just sleeping. Upside down. And inside out.

Homer: We're getting out of here now! Jump in Marge, trust me. Throw the kids! No time for the baby!

[JTMacc99]

Furthermore, to this beer, I would also like three of your finest, cheapest cigars.

[Kel Varnsen]

I thought this episode was ok, although I was totally waiting for a scene at the end where Homer wakes up at the bottom of the stairs, because these future episodes usually have some kind of framing device like that to indicate they are not quite real.

 

Also as much as I like Amy Poeler, Jenda has always bugged me. Maybe it is because her first appearance was in that high school future episode and the thought of Bart Simpson having sex always creeps me out. That said the Ms. Hoover joke was really funny.

[M. Darcy]

Very important info - the complete schedule for the FXX Marathon  http://uproxx.com/tv/2014/08/here-is-the-complete-schedule-of-every-episode-of-fxxs-the-simpsons-marathon/

 

I have a feeling that on the 24th, I will just be sitting in front of the tv all day.  Yea for Sundays!  And, the episode I looked for immediately - 8/22 9:00 PM ET – “Marge vs. the Monorail” (even though I could just put the DVD in whenever but still....)

[Iboatedhere]

I'm overwhelmed by this marathon.

[M. Darcy]

Me too. 

 

It just occurred to me - I wonder if these are the full episodes or the syndicated versions.

[emma675]

I saw someone on Twitter say they were going to record every Treehouse of Horror episode and then do a marathon of them all. I thought that was a cool idea.

[M. Darcy]

My question got answered on twitter!  Mike Scully tweeted that the episodes will be as originally aired - not hacked up for syndication.  

[Ltg.jon]

Post season 9, I have to give praise to season 12's "Trilogy of Error" (in addition to the ones already noted).  The intricately interlocking stories and timelines, the life and death of Linguo, and some classic Dr. Nick.

[Iboatedhere]

I love Trilogy of Error. I just deleted it to make room for the first part of the marathon. Homer's 'What the hell?!'  as he's throwing his thumb away and Linguo's head comes flying at him is my favorite.

[Ltg.jon]

Similar to Trilogy of Error, I enjoy season 17's "Seemingly Never-Ending Story" for the complexity of the plotting, even if the lines and jokes aren't nearly as memorable.

[JTMacc99]

So there is this article in EW where the writers give us 15 tips on how to survive the marathon.  God bless them, I was already chuckling at the first one. 

 

How can you binge 25 seasons of the animated comedy just 12 days, bearing witness to every Homer “Woo hoo!”, Barney belch, and grisly Scratchy disemboweling? Hydration, meal breaks, micro-naps, and multiple empty DVRs will help, for starters. But you also might want to check out these 15 survival tips, given to EW by the writers of The Simpsons.

 

15. After every episode, make sure to thank Jebus.

14. ...

[radishcake]

I thought it might be fun to have a topic to chat about the marathon. Anyone else watching? Here's the AV Club guide: Linkeeloo

[M. Darcy]

It's even better than I imagined it was going to be!

[emma675]

I'm watching as much as possible (I'm working from home this week, yay!) and I've got all of the Treehouse of Horror episodes set to record so I can do a marathon at some point.

[radishcake]

Me too! It was fun to go through the list to see what to record. :)

[M. Darcy]

I did the same thing and then got mentally overwhelmed so I'm just going day by day at this point.  It's really nice seeing the older episodes since they are rarely shown in syndication.  I need to be better at watching the DVDs.

[alynch]

Gotta be honest, I'm pretty upset about them cropping the old episodes to 16:9. I really hope they're not also planning on doing this for the streaming site.

Edited August 22, 2014 by alynch

[rubaco]

I'm at work* but just checked in via Comcast streaming to see where we're at. Almost done with season 3 already?! Aye caramba!

 

Last night I thought it would be kinda cool to leave the TV on overnight so that, at the various times I woke up, I'd hear whichever episode was on. But apparently my subconscious wasn't into that idea, because I snapped off the TV sometime during the wee hours.

 

(* Homer voice: "Stupid work.")

[JTMacc99]

It's even better than I imagined it was going to be!

This is exactly what I've been thinking, The best part is I can use this to further my brainwashing of my children, who are already partially on board.

 

I flipped through the list between 7 PM yesterday and 5 PM and added something like 8 episodes to the DVR. I realized that wasn't going to work if I kept it up through seasons 4-9, so I stopped. I do plan to maybe grab all of the treehouse of horror episodes however. Running my own marathon of those seems like a great idea.

 

 

Gotta be honest, I'm pretty upset about them cropping the old episodes to 16:9. I really hope they're not also planning on doing this for the streaming site.

I had a somewhat different thought when I saw the episodes. I thought they looked really good in general, even the season 2 episodes. Maybe I'm just comparing them to the 600 times I watched them on the VHS tapes I used to record them back in the day. The quality is certainly higher on my HD set today than it was on those old recordings.

[bref]

I am LOVING this. I wish i could stay awake for 12 days!

 

Agree with JT, the episodes look great on my television. Did they do some remastering prior to the marathon? Plus they seem LONG. Twenty-seven actual minutes of content back then, and all the material cut in syndication restored (sadly just for this run, not when the reruns resume on FXX in the fall). Pretty awesome seeing them in order, too. I always remembered that it took several seasons to get up to speed, but some of the best. episodes. ever. occurred starting in S2. I'm amazed how many treasures I have already seen. Can't wait for the weekend!

[radishcake]

Hey guys! Since so many of us are taping (ha! see I'm old!) all the Treehouse of Horrors do you want to set a time to watch them all? We could pick a Saturday in September and watch them all together. Could be a fun day!

[M. Darcy]

One thing this marathon is doing is really showing how much Phil Hartman is missed. Seeing these episodes all together really highlights just what a presence he had.

[Megan]

Even though this has been my favorite show since it began airing, I had forgotten how smart and funny the early seasons are. I haven't seen a lot of these episodes in years. I used to record them on VHS too! I had (still have) the season guides and would mark off when I recorded each episode.

 

My husband keeps saying you have all these on DVD! You can watch them anytime you want! But it feels more special to watch them on TV. I am excited about Simpson's World. I hope PS and/or Roku pick it up. I am spoiled and lazy now, DVDs are too much work.

 

There are so many characters they don't use at all anymore and Tapped Out still has years and years of things to add to the game.

[JTMacc99]

The marathon is also dating how long I have been saying certain things. "Can't talk. Eating." has apparently been with me for 20 years now.

[JTMacc99]

Homer to Mindy: "Maybe I want to, but then I think about Marge and the kids. Well, not the boy. He drives me nuts. Sometimes I'd just like to [makes strangling gesture!]"

[radishcake]

Kid's you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is never try.

[emma675]

I may or may not mutter "Stupid trash, rotten, stinky, hate world, revenge soon." every time I take out the garbage. I haven't seen "Trash of the Titans" in so long. I love this marathon.

[radishcake]

No YOU were crying at the end of & Maggie Makes Three! 

[rubaco]

Guilty. "Do it for her" gets me every time. 

 

That promo that says "we're all gonna die" has pretty much got it right. Is there news going on in the world, I wonder? The TV's been on FXX since I got up this morning. I didn't think I was going to be this obsessive. (I probably won't be in about a week's time.) Lots and lots of classic eps today, though. 

[radishcake]

I'm surprised we've been watching all day too! I mean breaks for grocery store & errands but if the TV has been on we've had the marathon running. It's kind of a nice break from the nonstop news cycle. :)

[Iboatedhere]

Marge: Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Homer: Yeah, let's push him down the steps.

[Iboatedhere]

Right now I have 30 episodes saved to the DVR but I've got about 10 set to record overnight and early morning. It's hard to keep up. I'll think of a funny line or moment and have to track down the episode and record it.

[mariah23]

I hear you, Iboatedhere.  If I don't watch any more of the episodes I DVR (for the rest of the week), I will have over 70 episodes recorded.  I have been trying to watch and delete the ones I record overnight.  Simpsons overload!

 

Also, "Do it for Her" always gets to me!

Edited August 24, 2014 by mariah23

[alynch]

Dumb question - I really don't understand the topic very well. My provider has FXX on a non-HD level, so I just assumed the episodes were airing "as is" in terms of the screens they were made for twenty-five years ago. If I had FXX in HD, would I have expected to see it look different - would/could they have "stretched" it to fit the full screen, or at least more of it than on the non-HD channel?

 

I've been seeing this mentioned on AV Club and honestly didn't understand what they were talking about . Thanks for any information you can provide!

 

I'll try to keep it simple. Up until about a few years ago, all Simpsons episodes were made in what has traditionally been called "fullscreen," which means the frame had a length-to-height ratio (i.e. "aspect ratio") of 4:3, which was the screen-shape of most televisions prior to HD. Modern televisions are widescreen and have an aspect ratio of 16:9. FXX had two choices: they could air the episodes in their original shape, which would necessitate adding black bars to the left & right to fill out the screen, which tends to annoy some viewers, or they could crop the top and bottom of the original image so it fits the screen, which takes away 25% of the image.

 

The fact that you're watching on a non-HD channel doesn't change this. You're still getting the cropped widescreen image, only now you're getting black bars at the top and bottom to fill out a 4:3 screen.

 

If that's too confusing, maybe these visual aids will help:

 

Here's what a 4:3 image broadcast in HD would look like.

Here's what a 16:9 image broadcast in SD would look like.

[radishcake]

My kid is getting a real education in sex, first the Secrets of a Successful Marriage and now Bart After Dark! Luckily she hasn't asked any specific questions! :)

[Maire]

Definitely enjoying the marathon. Setting DVR for 2 favorites: Homer v. NYC Monday @ 3:00 am and Viva Ned Flanders tomorrow @8:00 pm (East Coast time)

[emma675]

Omg, I adore The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson! Even though it still feels a little wrong, I can't help laughing uncontrollably over the fight between the two people in Tower 1 and Tower 2 and the guy who intervenes. Every bit of that episode is genius.