The Weekly Simpsons Watch (next up, Venture!)

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Nidotamer
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by Nidotamer » Sat Aug 01, 2015 8:59 am

I'm fine with it.
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by gkscotty » Sat Aug 01, 2015 1:02 pm

Forgot to respond to this eariler...
SirMustapha wrote:(by the way, Steve, they read my donation and you were mentioned. :) )
Oh yeah, was watching at the time :D Thanks, that cheered me up.

(currently listening to wind waker in the background)
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It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do bad things. - Jingo, Terry Pratchett
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by c_nordlander » Sat Aug 01, 2015 2:31 pm

Late, but your latest fanart posts are as good as ever, May. Very on-model and just generally pleasing to the eye. I think they deserve colouring.
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Left with honours
Brand new tycoon
Sitting with a harpoon


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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by Nidotamer » Sun Aug 02, 2015 5:27 pm

So other sketches done! Both are quite a bit of new ground: as in drawing Homer AND Jimbo.

Muddy Homer and Jimbo mourning the loss of his bf. Though I made Jebediah's head too small...
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"Harry tore his eyes from his head and threw them into the forest. Voldemort raised his eyebrows at Harry, who could not see anything at the moment."
---- Harry Potter and the Portrait of what Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by gkscotty » Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:45 pm

Tomorrow, we have the joy of watching The Crepes of Wrath and Krusty Gets Busted! I've been looking forward to that second one in particular.
Image

It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do bad things. - Jingo, Terry Pratchett
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by c_nordlander » Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:04 pm

"Krusty Gets Busted" is indeed great! The introduction of one of the show's greatest antagonists...

EDIT: And again, very nice fanart, May! I particularly like the second one: awesome linework. On the first one, Jebediah's head looks a bit hard to recognise unless you know who it is, but Jimbo is spot on and I love how he's crying.
Pretty little baby
Pretty little monster
Went to the good school
Left with honours
Brand new tycoon
Sitting with a harpoon


-- Mother Mother, "Business Man"

Now offering writing commissions! Fanfiction or original, PM me for more information.
Nidotamer
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by Nidotamer » Sat Aug 08, 2015 6:18 pm

Given that last week's episodes were "marriage crisis" back-to-back (at least then it was new) thought I'd mesh these two pics into one.

Man, I really have troubles drawing Homer... and Marge... actually I've been having a pretty bad run with drawing full-stop lately.
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"Harry tore his eyes from his head and threw them into the forest. Voldemort raised his eyebrows at Harry, who could not see anything at the moment."
---- Harry Potter and the Portrait of what Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by c_nordlander » Sat Aug 08, 2015 7:20 pm

Oh, very nice!

I certainly can't tell that you had trouble drawing them. They seem on-model to me (well, Marge looks a bit sturdier than usual, but that might just be me), and their expressions are good, especially Marge's. Nifty tribute to two good episodes.
Pretty little baby
Pretty little monster
Went to the good school
Left with honours
Brand new tycoon
Sitting with a harpoon


-- Mother Mother, "Business Man"

Now offering writing commissions! Fanfiction or original, PM me for more information.
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by Nidotamer » Sat Aug 08, 2015 8:49 pm

Looks like I'll be missing this week due to shitty internet...
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---- Harry Potter and the Portrait of what Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by c_nordlander » Sun Aug 09, 2015 4:33 pm

Damn.

I really hope your connection gets fixed.
Pretty little baby
Pretty little monster
Went to the good school
Left with honours
Brand new tycoon
Sitting with a harpoon


-- Mother Mother, "Business Man"

Now offering writing commissions! Fanfiction or original, PM me for more information.
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by SirMustapha » Sun Aug 09, 2015 6:00 pm

Only one more episode to end season 1. I missed a bunch of episodes, but here's my thoughts on the ones I've watched.
  • Bart, the General: very enjoyable little episode, not only putting focus on the kids, but bringing in Abe and Herman to add some really nice dynamics. This is a good example when a simple, mundane story can be turned great with character interactions being the prime mover... and, of course, a good degree of exaggeration, but that's a given.
  • Moaning Lisa: I'm with Steve on how impressive it is that this episode didn't focus on the reason of sadness. but on its consequences. The jam with Bleedin' Gums is undeniably a classic, and I love it. I was also surprised by Lisa's "what's the point?" talk with Homer; for a moment that's basically comedy at the expense of Homer's cluelessness, it's very hard-hitting to hear Lisa say that. But I admit it's a bit underwhelming how her sadness is cured so suddenly, through something that's entirely unrelated to anything else in the episode. I guess the message was "you can be sad if you want to", but it was delivered awkwardly. Also, the sub-plot was spot on (cruel, but hilarious), and might feel even more relevant today than it did 25 years ago.
  • Call of the Simpsons: I only caught the first half of this episode (had to take a very important phone call), but I liked that part; a great way to focus on consumerism and how people are pressured to buy stuff that's beyond their reach. When the "proper" plot settled in, I admit I was less interested, and I had to stop watching. I still lked what I saw.
  • Life on the Fast Lane: I love this episode. I might be forgetting about lots of future episodes, but THIS to me is still the definitive "marital problems" episode. The story is amazingly well written, and the several layers are very properly fleshed out, with just the right amount of comedy to keep it in the Simpsons rhythm. I confess that, mostly for personal reasons, the episode got harder to watch as it went, and at the end, I wept like a baby. One of my favourite episode endings ever--even being a movie parody, it has its own identity. I love it.
  • Homer's Night Out: Ouch. What an awkward episode. (I commented it on chat but didn't have a chance to elaborate, but here it goes) It's interesting how Life on the Fast Line was quite frank and upfront in how it dealt with infidelity and lust (yet still being tasteful, especially for a comedy show), but in here, it seems like they're constantly trying not to offend viewers. It's weird how showing Marge having a full blown fantasy involving infidelity is okay, but with Homer, a picture with a dancer is "just" enough to cause such a shitstorm. And then, just when we're getting to grips with Homer and Marge's separation, the episode goes into "objectifying women". What the hell?? What story are we watching anyway? It's just weird to see this hackneyed morality from the Simpsons of all places, even more so considering Bart After Dark came out six years later. Yes, I think it's important to talk about objectification of people, but not in such a trite, cheap manner (also, I apologise for my tirade on Reddit during chat; it was a sort of exorcism for me).
  • The Crepes of Wrath: way back when I first saw this, I had a good impression of this episode. This time, not so much. It seems to me that, if this episode were released somewhere around season 13, it would have been lambasted as zany and absurd. And that's what it is, really. I won't say I hated it or anything, but I couldn't find anything truly enjoyable about it. And adding this up to Marge's bizarre behaviour (yeah, I'm totally okay with sending Bart off to France through suspicious means because he misbehaved, I just think he has to have a say in this)... Yeah, okay, I didn't hate this episode. It sucked, though.
  • Krusty Gets Busted: classic. I guess it's "classic" in hindsight, but even ignoring the fact that this is the "origin" story of one of the best characters in the show, it's still great on its own. I can't name a single thing that didn't work well. Only scary thing was to realise that Rev. Lovejoy would not look satirical at all to many in my country; people would look at him and say "yeah, that's a perfectly right thing to do!". ... okay, I'll stop.
What gets me about this first season is how much territory it covered. I think it's far from the "crappy beginnings" many people talk about (except for the animation, I guess), but the stories are very diverse, and the wealth of characters introduced is extraordinarily rich. I can see perfectly why people went nuts over this show back then, and how Bart became such a superstar. Even with the missteps, I regard this season highly.
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by c_nordlander » Sun Aug 09, 2015 9:37 pm

^An interesting read. I agree with pretty much everything you said.

And yeah, the ending of "Life in the Fast Lane" is one of my favourite moments from Season 1, possibly *the* favourite. OFF has never made me cry, but if anything in it comes close, it's that scene.
Pretty little baby
Pretty little monster
Went to the good school
Left with honours
Brand new tycoon
Sitting with a harpoon


-- Mother Mother, "Business Man"

Now offering writing commissions! Fanfiction or original, PM me for more information.
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by Nidotamer » Sun Aug 09, 2015 10:08 pm

Gotta agree with the comment about Homer's Night Out, not even so much the "women are not objects" thing but throwing him out over a silly meaningless dance while just the episode before Marge went on a full date with another guy, fantasized about him and seriously considered dumping Homer for him. I guess it's more that Marge's incident at least had a reason behind it and she was mad at him but... at the same time Homer had no serious intentions of infidelity, he was just dicking around...
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by SirMustapha » Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:40 am

Nidotamer wrote:I guess it's more that Marge's incident at least had a reason behind it and she was mad at him but... at the same time Homer had no serious intentions of infidelity, he was just dicking around...
Life in the Fast Lane got pretty much everything right in how it handled emotions and intentions. Marge was initially just mad at him, but then she was doubtful of whether Homer was the right husband for her, and finding out her own individuality and freedom. It wasn't just a passing anger, but a serious emotional dilemma, and a quite profound study on the stability of relationships.

The problem with Homer's Night Out is how distorted its morals are. Homer went along with the dancer only because of the peer pressure from his workmates, and he was being mocked by a lot of people who probably much more questionable morals than him. And yet, not a single ounce of attention is devoted to that. We're not allowed to sympathise with Homer. Instead, the episode takes for granted that we'll condemn him. I think this isn't even a characterisation thing, it just reflects the backwards morals of people back then: if a person actually does something that could be considered cheating, we're not allowed to give them any thought or think about the social implications of that; it's just "wrong". I don't think the show was quite willing to provoke that kind of question back then.
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Re: The Weekly Simpsons Watch

Post by gkscotty » Fri Aug 14, 2015 7:42 pm

It's a big week next week.

First of all, the finale of Season 1, Some Enchanted Evening

Then, the first episode of season two! Bart Gets an F!

Hopefully those of you who've had to sit this out because you don't have season one can join us from there. This has been fun. :)
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It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do bad things. - Jingo, Terry Pratchett
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