Watching Simpsons

This past Christmas, my in-laws gave me The Simpsons Movie on DVD, and then, we all watched it together. Afterwards, I watched it about three more times, and here are my thoughts in a nutshell. By any stretch, this is not a complete review.

The movie, as it’s written, is interesting because it’s structurally different than what fans are used to. The standard Simpsons episode is usually, without commercials, about 15 minutes or so. There’s usually the set up, which in many cases, has nothing to do with the rest of the episode, and then the rest follows up on it. There isn’t really any time for character complexity on a grander scale.

The movie, on the other hand, allows for multiple story lines at the same time. So, we, as viewers, get to see Bart struggle with his relationship with his father, Marge struggle with her marriage, and Lisa fall in love with somebody other than Millhouse. While this is all well and fine, juggling the sub-plots leaves the movie a little humorless and dragging at points. Or, at least, it seems that way.

Some fans I know, like my wife, for example, complained that there wasn’t enough of the other characters, like Patty and Selma or Comic Book Guy. In that regard, it’s a given – if the writers tried to cram in every Springflielder, then the story arcs would have gotten a little bogged down. And also: every episode, every week, doesn’t cram in every minor character, so why should the movie? In a way, the challenge, for the writers, most have been the colossal expectations fans had. After all, there’s been more than a decade of shows in TV episode format. This certainly was an issue with Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, where the writers knew that eventually, the movie was going to be broken down into episode long segments, so it could air on TV. Still, I kind of liked how the movie tried to get a little deeper into the characters, because that gave Bart, Homer, Marge, and Lisa a little more emotional substance than what viewers are used to on TV. At any rate, it’s sad to know that there’s no ready plans for a sequel anytime soon.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie, Writing

According to Reuters, the Simpsons DVD is still doing well:

“The Simpsons Movie” ruled the national sales chart for a second week, while “Rush Hour 3″ and “The Kingdom” bowed at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, according to Nielsen VideoScan data issued Thursday.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie

It’s a fact. Not only does The Simpsons universe contain a long running television series and a successful movie, but there’s a publishing empire that goes with it. Most of this comes in the form of comics and the soft cover collections of those comics. There’s also a merchandising, which, at times, seems to put out useless stuff like the Homer Simpsons donut maker. Still, some of the non-TV or DVD products are genuinely hilarious, like the fake books of “inspirational wisdom.” In a sense, they mock inspirational books even down to the size and format.

Such is the case with “Comic Book Guy’s Book of Pop Culture.” Basically, Comic Book Guy, as seen on the show, is an entertainment geek – an expert on everything having to do with pop culture. That’s part of the joke, because if one were to visit the local comic book shop, one would likely find a fat guy with a pony tail spouting off about something. The caricature is actually a little true to life.

At any rate, CBG, as the book abbreviates, offers his penetrating, and often hilarious, insight on everything from the internet to the every cranky – but talented – science fiction writer Harlan Ellison (who gets offended if one every calls him a “science fiction writer). A lot of the book consists of numbered lists explaining details in a corresponding pictures. There are other illustrated items too, like a gag that centers on the different snappy slogans on CBG’s shirts.

Over all, definitely a fun read.

Haven’t updated this blog much, partly because I’ve been away, visiting in-laws for Christmas.

Anyhow….

According to The Hollywood Reporter, via comingsoon.net, The Simpsons movie DVD has been selling very well:

The Simpsons Movie easily topped the national DVD sales chart for the week ending Dec. 23. The movie was followed on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart by the previous week’s two big releases, Warners’ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at No. 2 and Universal’s The Bourne Ultimatum at No. 3, each down a spot from their debut frame.

Not that many heads of state have actively chosen to appear on comedy shows. Sure, there’s President Nixon and “Laugh-In” (A precursor to Saturday Night Live that featured a young Goldie Hawn). King Abdullah of Jordan, who was educated in England, is an ardent Star Trek fan, and he once made a cameo appearance on a Trek show, while visiting America. Then, of course, there’s Tony Blair, who lent his voice to an England themed Simpsons episode. His successor, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, has since refused an invitation to be on The Simpsons.

That’s all well and fine. Still, the catch for any TV show would either be a sitting president or the leading cannidates during an election, like back in 2000, when both Al Gore and George W. Bush did tapings for Saturday Night Live. Since then, Gore did do a Futurama-related clip. Bush, however, hasn’t done much. Perhaps, one thinks, this could be due to his poll numbers being in the garbage – even lower than Richard Nixon’s, at the time he was thrown out of office.

Still, that doesn’t change one thing. Producer James L. Brooks would like to lure George W. Bush to Springfield. His plans for the chief executive would not be fluffy promo bits, either. He thinks the current president would be a source of comedy gold, one that could be paired with just about any character in the Springfield universe – and if that’s the case, one could only dream of the Futurama possibilities. In England, in The Sun newspaper, there’s this:

Barney, Carl and Lenny are slouching over the bar at Moe’s before their drunken unconsciousness is woken by Homer, who strolls in accompanied by new pal, GEORGE W. BUSH, voiced by the man himself.
Unlikely, though, this sketch will ever appear on the Simpsons due a rare case of animosity towards the series by Bush’s mother, Barbara, who once questioned its influence on American society.
But, for writer JAMES L. BROOKS, that will always be his ambition, to lure the President to Springfield.
“A vulnerable moment with George would be great,” he said.
“You cannot go wrong with George. George and Homer, George and Bart, even George and Comic Book Guy.
“We’ve never got a United States president. We will take any United States president willing to pass his or her love of us.”

The rest of the article follows a standard profile/feature format.

The Simpsons, George W. Bush, President Bush, Bush, James L. Brooks, Barbara Bush

Interesting. The Simpsons Movie was set for release in the United Kingdom, and as with any product launch, there’s always a push to find some sort of interesting publicity stunt. This time around, somebody thought up this: make an inflatable Spider Pig balloon and float it over London.

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie, Spider Pig

By using Google’s “blog search”, I thought it might be interesting to take a random sampling. So, around the Internet, here are some reactions to the brand new DVD:

Over on Show Me SciFi:

Sure sure Futurama is a cartoon..and it’s funny and insolent.

But i just finished watching the new movie - Bender’s Big Score - and guess what? It’s actually really solid plot wise with a really intricate time travel plot thread that really works.

Time and time paradox have always been a part of Futurama but never in such an intricate and well thought out way.

Evan Primakow writes:

What can I say, it was great. Really, it was beyond great. I have no doubts that part of what made it a phenomenal movie was the anticipation, but even having watched it a second time, it’s still incredible. It fits perfectly with previous episodes of Futurama and fulfills any expectations I had of the movie. As with every previous episode the humor ranges from slapstick to extremely intelligent and the entire film is filled with quotable lines which I’m sure will be a part of my regular speech in due time.

Over on Popmatters:

Now, the first one is here and it was well worth the wait. Subtitled Bender’s Big Score, and featuring the return of all the original characters (including some you thought the show was through with), this revamped version of the Futurama premise remains true to its tenets.

While most of the response seems overly positive, Scott Weinberg, over at Cinematical, provides a loving bit of constructive criticism:

Owing to the fact that the movie will one day be broken down into a quartet of semi-stand-alone cable episodes, Bender’s Big Score is a convoluted, over-plotted, and structurally confused little movie. (Let’s just say it’s a lot like Back to the Future 2, only more contorted, if you can believe it.) There, that’s pretty much my only gripe: There’s almost too much going on! But given that Fry, Leela, The Professor, Bender, and (more importantly) their creators are clearly enjoying their first jolt of post-death resurrection, such a complaint can easily be forgiven. (By me, anyway.) What’s important is this: The fans will adore this mega-packed movie, because all the major stuff is there: The smart and the silly, the characters and the craftsmanship, the eye-popping and the rib-tickling. Call me a Futurama mega-nerd if you like, but Bender’s Big Score is simply one of the most WELCOME DVD releases of the year.

That’s all for now.

Futurama, Bender, Bender’s Big Score

Matt Groening originally comes from Oregon. Over on Alterslash, there is this little trivia morsel, as posted by CranburyKing:

Actually Matt Groening is from Portland,OR and many of the Simpsons character are named after streets in Portland.

Well, I checked. If you do a google map search for Portland, and you zoom in a bit to see the street names, you’ll find a few. Within two minutes of scrolling around the map, I found “Quimby,” “Flanders,” and “Lovejoy.” There might be a few others, but I was pressed for time and stopped looking.

The Simpsons, Mat Groening, Portland, Oregon

The problem with celebrity gossip is that usually the whole story is never trully printed. It seems this it the case with Page 6 out of the New York Times, which cited Hank Azaria saying George Takei came off like a creep. In my post about that, I sort of textually scratched my head, and then cut and pasted a block quote from the post. Well, I have to say thanks, again, to Ricardo Aleman, who left a comment pointing me to LateNet with Ray Ellin, where Azaria’s comments originated. The show, by the way, looks good, and I’ll definately look into more their episodes. Still, for what it’s worth, here’s the clip in question pulled off of YouTube. (The above link, however, will take you to a page that has three other clips as well).

Still, the bits about the origins of Comic Book Guy’s voice is more interesting, I’d say.

The Simpsons, Hank Azaria, George Takei, LateNet, Ray Ellin, LateNet with Ray Ellin

Maybe not the most exciting thing on the net, but Gadling.com has a short but interesting post on dubbing The Simpsons into other languages. The interesting point, however, is to see how far they take the tone and sound of the characters voice, and also how much they remain true to what’s there. The post has a series of YouTube embeds, for comparative purposes. That’s where I found this Japanese dubbing….

This just has me scratching my head, wondering what I have missed. I have to admit total ignorance. Yet, on Page 6 of the New York Post, the gossip is that George Takei (Sulu of the original Star Trek) did voice over work for The Simpsons. Takei, the article alleges, creeped out the rest of the Simpsons talent, and as such, won’t be asked back. I’m scratching my head, because unlike Phil Hartman or Kelsey Grammar, I honestly can’t remember Takei being a semi regular guest, or even a guest, period. More than anything, I remember that he’s had some feuds in the past with William Shatner, but that’s Star Trek nonsense, with a cast that was notorious for its squabbling. At any rate, The New York Post cites Hank Azaria:

THE producers of “The Simpsons” stopped using “Star Trek” stalwart George Takei (Sulu) to do voiceovers because he “creeped out the staff” and kept calling one of the interns “sweetie.” So said Hank Azaria, the voice of Moe the bartender, Apu the Kwik-E-Mart owner, Police Chief Wiggum, Professor Frink, Dr. Nick Riviera and Comic Book Guy.

The Simpsons, Hank Azaria, George Takei, Star Trek

The mock sincerity here is priceless.

The Simpsons, Sideshow Mel, Krusty, Krusty The Clown

The Simpsons has the distinction of being the longest running television cartoon, ever. There are many reasons for this, but I like to think it’s the characters, and the humanity at the core of them. That said, the cartoon The Simpsons replaced was no slouch, and, in fact, it used to be the yardstick a lot of other shows were measured by. I am, of course, talking about The Flintstones (which, by the way, worldtravelerjournal.com, has documented a place that’s about as close to Bedrock is one’s going to find.)

The similarities between the shows are undeniable. Both The Simpsons and The Flintstones are sitcoms, and both are focused around aspects of “family.” There’s a universe at work too. Homer drives around Springfield, and Fred Flinstone drives around Bedrock. But the man fundamental difference come from the main characters. Fred Flintstone and Homer Simpson are fundamentally different people.

Homer Simpson is a lovable moron, he’s a working class boob of lower intelligence. Fred Flintstone, on the other hand, is a little bit rougher. Homer is more stupid, but Fred is more pigheaded. In short, there’s more pride, more stubborn swagger with Mr. Flintstone. After all, one could easily suggest that he’s patterned off of Ralph Kramden, of the Honeymooners. Homer is just an institution unto himself, independent of television precedent

If one is thinking about other points of comparison, there’s always Marge vs. Betty. But once again, the shows, and the time period that helped shape them, are fundamentally different. But then again, some things never change. Homer and Fred are both men who love to eat. Homer has his donuts, and Fred has his dinosaur ribs that, unfortunately, lead him to being locked out of the house, crying “WILMA!!!” as the credits scroll upwards.

The Simpsons, The Flintsones, Ralph Kramden, Homer Simpson, Homer, Fred Flintstone

Spock, on Star Trek, once remarked that, “In an insane world, is a sane man truly sane?” Sanity, intelligence, moral authority — sometimes these are relative terms, defined by the society around them. In a way, it’s also close to something Tom Waits said in his song “Singapore,” where “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” Whenever I think of Lisa Simpson, I think of those two sayings. Lisa really does occupy a unique place within the Springfield universe. To an extent, she really is the only sane person — even Martin, the other nerd, has his own unique delusions. For example, whenever the fire torch wielding Springfield mob forms, and usually consists of the whole town, Lisa had never taken part. Usually, Lisa is the lone voice speaking out against the mob, trying to get them to disperse, despite the protests of Sideshow Mel. Of course, she didn’t always fit that description, as she was less defined and more bratty in the Tracy Ullman shorts.

Still, it’s kind of sad to see people pick on the spiky haired girl in a red dress. Over on Drownedinsound.com, the majority, in a rather small discussion thread, seems to be going against Lisa. The think she’s whiny, unfunny, and, if one can interpret those sentiments, an all around drag and party pooper. However, there are a few commenters over sticking up for her, and they bring up an few important things about Lisa Simpson that bare thinking about.

Mhann24 writes that Lisa is:

… the glue that holds Springfield together. Without her, that town would have gone the way of the dinosaurs a long time ago. Just from a writing standpoint, she has to be right because everyone else is so wrong.

I agree wholeheartedly. Still, while I disagree with much posted on that thread, it’s always nice to see an internet discussion that’s both civil and intelligent.

The Simpsons, Lisa, Lisa Simpson, Nerds

It’s always, always funny to watch the voice actors to their characters in person….