Watching Simpsons

I think at some point, FOX will have a hard time transforming anything else into the Simpsons; they are simply running out of stuff. But for now, we have The Simpsons Pinball game. I haven’t been to an arcade since the eighties and so I’m not sure how popular pinball machines are these days, but if you like the Simpsons and you have a spare $5,000, then this pinball game is all yours.

The game features familiar decoration of The Simpson family, tons of sound effects and audio clips, and flashing lights. It also shakes and rings as you go about scoring.

Also…

There is an interesting feature which is related to playing with or without coins, this means that you can use it at home and make it a freebie for everyone, or you can place the pinball machine on a bar or restaurant, and make other people pay for the coins.

I love the Simpsons as much as the next guy, but spending $5,000 on a pinball machines seems a little over the top. That is when your average fan crosses the line and enters into the world of Creepy Scary Fandom.

Pinball, The Simpsons, FOX

P.S.- I’m starting a new feature here at Watching Simpsons. Since every liked the last poll we did (Top Ten Simpsons Characters) I decided we would have Poll Thursday. So stay tuned for that post later this week.

-Anna

But which Springfield will it be? If you know anything about the Simpsons then you know that they reside in Springfield, but through all the seasons, the writers never told us where Springfield is. In the United States, there are 32 Springfields; only 16 are being considered. Ouch! That’s gotta hurt.

According to our source, Fox has asked the 16 Springfields to lobby on why their town should host the “Simpsons” flick premiere. Springfield, Illinois, seems to have the inside edge in that they actually have some nuclear power plants. Springfield, Oregon, might get just a little special treatment, if only because “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening was born and raised in Portland.

This is obviously part of a huge promotional plan and it seems to be working. Plus, a huge movie premiere in a comparatively small town should provide for a lot of fun. I happen to live in a small town (not a Springfield), and I can only imagine what a small town would do with big Hollywood types. Hey, wasn’t there a Simpson episode with this same premise? Anyway, if my town hosted the premiere there would probably be a big banner on Main Street, booths up and down the street selling Simpson merchanise and there would probably be a booth as well that would protest the movie. That’s small town conservatism for ya.

I’m sure we’ll hear which Springfield will get the special treat of hosting a premiere in the coming month or two and I’ll be sure to pass it along.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie, Springfield, Fox

-Anna

This is just a quick post for everyone. This week’s episode was a rerun that had Bart getting a license and almost getting married titled “Little Big Girl.”
A new episode, titled “Marge Gamer” will air on the 22nd.

Marge becomes a spectacle during a PTA meeting for not having an e-mail address, and she decides to take a chance on using the Internet. Amazed and delighted by all the Internet has to offer, Marge decides to join a popular role-playing fantasy game named “Earthland Realms.” To Marge’s dismay, the game has her interacting with practically the whole town of Springfield, including Bart, who happens to be the game’s most feared and destructive player. Meanwhile, Homer saves Lisa’s soccer game from cancellation after he volunteers to take the place of a referee who recently quit. However, Homer’s refereeing skills only exasperate Lisa, and her competitive streak gets the best of her.

The Simpsons, spoilers, Marge Gamer, FOX

Todd McFarlene, the mind behind McFarlene Toys, just signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to create the toys for the upcoming Simpsons Movie. “In early summer, Tempe-based McFarlane Toys will bring America’s most-watched family to 3-D life through meticulous detail and voice-chip technology featuring dialog from the film.”

McFarlene knows that making figurines of The Simpsons will be hugely successful with the upcoming movie, but he also says that, “Everybody knows the Simpsons, even the conservative moms, it may be offensive to some, but if you like ‘The Simpsons,’ how could any of it be offensive?” So movie aside, America has already been emersed in The Simpsons now for 18 seasons. To put it bluntly the toys won’t be hard to sell.

“McFarlane would not disclose terms of the deal, but he did say the 6-inch Simpsons movie toys — which include Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie, and some specialty sets — will sell for $12.99 to $19.99. ” Pretty good price for everything that will go into them.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

The Simpsons Movie, McFarlene Toys, Todd McFarlene, 20th Century Fox

-Anna

Alright folks, the results are in. We got tons of votes and I just want to thank everyone for getting in on the fun. It was great getting your comments on here and on Netscape where the story also appeared. Okay, now the moment we’ve all been waiting for….the results.

10. Nelson
9. Bart
8. Chief Wiggum
7. Barney
6. Ned Flanders
5. Grandpa Simpson
4. Krusty the Clown
3. Ralph Wiggum
2. Moe
1. Homer

Honestly, I’m a little surprised by the results. I thought for sure that we’d have more of the Simpson family in the top ten. I got a few comments wondering about other characters not included in the poll. The truth is that I had to stop somewhere, but I promised to have an honorable mentions sectons.

Honorable Mentions:
Troy McClure
Groundskeeper Willie
Sideshow Bob
Comic Store Guy
Special Guest Star Barry White
Lionel Hutz
Itchy and Scratchy
Gill
Hans Moleman
Kent Brockman
Disco Stu

Alright, now for everyone’s comments on why they voted the way they did. I picked out only a few comments to highlight here in the post.

Homer:
Jondola Bengali says, “Homer is the heart of the show, and it upsets me to see that they have relegated his character, and indeed the entire show, to bad sight gags and preachy, heavy-handed political statements. I honestly wish they would stop the show before it gets run any further into the ground.”

Will Work says, “Homer…. why, cause scary enough I’m a dad.”

Blksentra2 says, “Homer: ‘I won’t lie to you, fatherhood isn’t easy like motherhood.’”

Grandpa Simpson:
Earthlingerer says, “I’d love to see a series made of Grandpa Simpson from his young adulthood to homers birth.”

Maggie:
Annie says, “Even though I don’t watch the Simpsons as much as I want to, maggie is my all time favorite! She doesn’t say much but I think she’s the smartest one on the show! Even more than Lisa. She rules the house! Homer comes in at a close second though with his love of donuts and idiot humor! woot!”

Lisa/Homer/Carl:
Emma says, ” These were hard decisions! I had trouble picking between Homer and Lisa. I like Lisa and share lots of her interests…but I guess overall Homer provides the most entertainment. I would probably rather have lunch with Lisa, but I’ll pick Homer as the best character.
For my second character, I chose Carl. He seems pretty wise and laid-back. I just get a good feeling about him.”

So there you have it. I learned a few things from this post and I think I’ll do more polls from now on. Thanks again for voting and commenting. It’s nice to connect with other Simpson fans.

-Anna

There are hundreds of characters on The Simpsons. Granted, we don’t see every character every episode and some have even died throughout the years. Through 18 seasons we’ve seen quite a lot of weird things and some characters seem to be more special to us than others. Go ahead, wipe that tear from your eye. So, I thought that we would create a Simpsons Top Ten Characters list, complete with our reasoning for each character we choose.

So here is a poll for you to vote for your favorite Simpson character. I will allow voting until tomorrow and then I’ll post the results. Vote for your two characters even though there are 3 polls. Once you vote for your character, use the comments section to tell me why. The best reasoning for each character will be used in the results post.

It just goes to show that there are more awards out there every year. So many that by the end of award season, everybody should have received something. One award show I’ve never heard of, The Genesis Awards, presented The Simpsons with the Sid Caesar Comedy Award. The show won the award for the episode “Million Dollar Abie.” They won the award “for attempting to take the ‘bull’ out of the so-called bravery of bullfighting. Exec producer Al Jean accepted the award and joked, ‘No animals were harmed in the filming of this cartoon.’”
Well congratulations Simpsons. Apparently the awards are given out every year to shows that address animal issues in a positive way. Can you guess whose behind these awards? That’s right. The Humane Society.

The Humane Society of the U.S. is the nation’s largest animal protection organization with 9.5 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and fieldwork. The non-profit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices across the country.

For more information about the society or for a full list of winners, go to hsus.org.

Here’s a promo clip of “Million Dollar Abie”

The Simpsons, Genesis Awards, Million Dollar Abie, Humane Society

-Anna

No, you did not miss the opening day for The Simpson’s Movie. I came across one lucky soul who was allowed to preview the movie and decided to write a review of what he saw. Obviously he had to sign a bunch of forms saying he wouldn’t release any info about what he saw, but his review is just his impressions of the movie, no details are given.

Here’s a blurb:

The first thing to say is, it’s too short. I didn’t time it exactly, but the movie is something like an hour and a quarter in length. It’s over in a heartbeat. Because (I would guess) of this short running time we come up against the first of the films little problems… Not nearly enough screen time is given to any one of the multitude of surrounding characters. Not one of them. We have the main Simpsons family taking centre stage, and a couple of new characters to be introduced to, but aside from that any of the other people who populate Springfield are reduced to one line (or at least sub-5 second) cameos. I feel they have wasted their best resource by simply omitting them. The trailers assertion that ‘the gangs all here’ is pretty misleading, since with a couple of exceptions (who get a few short minutes each) we don’t get to spend any time with any of the surrounding cast. It’s a crying shame.

I hope this guy doesn’t get in trouble. Anyway, he introduces this review by making sure we all know that at the time he previewed it, a lot of it was left unfinished meaning it was still in storyboard form and so his perception of the movie may be a tad skewed. I’m not surprised by his comment that it’s short. With a lot still being in storyboard form, it may cut the time down as he viewed it and they might add more before the release. But, even if they don’t, animated films tend to be on the short side anyway. I will have to agree with him though on it being shame that we don’t get more screen time with the other characters of Springfield. But then again, a screening is to get the audience’s reaction before the movie is released and as watching tons of “The Making of…” specials have taught me, is that the screened version and the end result can be very different from each other.

Read the rest of his review here.

The Simpsons Movie, review, FOX

-Anna

This week’s episode had Homer learning a valuable lesson about revenge, or rather ignoring a lesson or two about revenge. The Simpsons are taking a trip and are cut off by the king of Texas cliches. Homer immediately pulls out a bat and vows revenge. Before he can take out the sideview mirror of the offending party, Marge begins on the story of The Count of Monte Cristo. Marge takes us back to historic Paris, France. Homer and his family are enjoying French chocolate, French wine, French schooling and French accents. As you might have guessed this story follows very closely to the story of the real Monte Cristo, with a few minor adjustments. Homer is thrown in prison after Moe reveals a poem that Homer supposedly wrote about how much he loved England. Homer is sentenced to life for treason. In prison he meets old man Burns who allows Homer to use the hole he has been digging for 30 years and gives him a map to his treasure. After a few failed attempts at escaping through this rather easy escape route, Homer is finally free to build his revenge off the gold Burns left him. 5 years later, Homer springs his revenge on Moe. It is an elaborate plan that has Moe sit on a “relaxing chair” where he is first sprayed in the face with water, this kicked in the stomach, slapped in the face and finally dumped into a frying pan to be made into a crepe and then burned. Ah, sweet revenge.

The lesson to be learned here was that seeking revenge causes you to lose everything you care about.

This still doesn’t sway Homer as he bops his head to Jamacian beats from their new satellite radio.

Lisa now cuts in with her story of Revenge of the Geeks. The poor geeks of Springfield Elementary are being constantly bullied by well..the bullies. They get together and create a glove tied to a backpack. But it is no ordinary glove tied to a backpack. This model can zap any bully you desire and cause wedgies, wet willies, and other such bully tactics. Milhouse gets to use it because he learned how to juggle at camp. Milhouse goes through the whole school and zaps every enemy in sight. Soon the school is a happy place once again where no one lives in fear. But Milhouse starts to remember everyone who ever did anything to him, so he goes zap happy on the playground. But when it comes to zapping Lisa, he just can’t do it. Milhouse gives up his weapon only to have it snagged by Nelson who then zaps Milhouse.

The lesson here is that when you take revenge on your enemies, you end up as bad as your enemy. But Homer is now about to take his revenge and nothing can stop him, so Bart steps in with his tale of Bartman Begins.

Bart is the young billionaire who parents are shot by a ruthless criminal. Grandpa Simpson comes along to help Bart get his revenge. After all, Grandpa used to be the Crimson Cockatoo. Bart trains and is finally ready for battle. He takes out every conceivable enemy he meets, even the cross-dressing Lenny. Finally it is time to take revenge on the man who shot his parents, Snake. In one final battle at a swanky party, Snake goes down and Bartman stands triumphant. Lisa then asks him how he feels, expecting an answer of “empty”, “not happy” or something. Even though Bartman doesn’t have his parents back, he says he feels a little bit better and is excited about the prospect of having all that money and no parents to boss him around.

The lesson was that revenge is a good thing. But Homer and the poor Texan driver have already made amends and now stare at the stars and ask life questions of one another.

The End.
I liked the episode, but I don’t ever like episodes done in this fashion as well as just a regular episode. The story telling thing isn’t my thing I guess.

The credits then paid tribute to everyone who died in Star Wars. Let’s have a moment of silence for:

Darth Vader
Darth Maul
Greedo
Uncle Owen
Storm Trooper #5
Jango Fett
General Grievous (Droid)
Storm Trooper #22
Dak
Obi Wan (Ben) Kenobi
Whoever Jimmy Smits played
Hutt, Jabba The
Sy Snoodles
Unfortunately, Not Jar-Jar Binks
Everyone on both Death Stars when they blew up

The Simpsons, FOX, Star Wars, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Bartman

-Anna