Homer's Odyssey

[qwertyuio]

An average episode for season 1, but anyway good.

I think it has been extremely terribly highly underrated here. The plot is well-developed at all and Homer was very convincing. I assume there is a discomfort between the fans about looking a main character trying to commit suicide, but come on. Homer had strong reasons to do that. He was fired, spent days or weeks looking for a work, made Marge coming back to an humilliating job, and had the feeling of having dissapointed his family, both economically and as a fathern figure. Moreover, in another impulsive moment, he breaks Bart's piggybank, and that makes him feel like if he had lost his dignity at all. He thinks he is in a bottomless pit and that makes him considering to kill himself. It was a moving scene that worked perfectly for me, and what really bothers me is seeing that the attempt of suicide in Hello Gutter Hello Fadder, which was an stupid and insulting (being kind) situation, is never as mentioned as this that was, at least, well-written and atmospheric.

About other aspects, I think this episode has serious problems with the humour. It looks very sloppy, dragging out or even forcing gags, and damaging some good ones. The Fission Joe video was one of the few that made me laugh at all. Moreover, the animation is not very good (but not anyway as bad as some people have said here).

8/10, I wish it was much funnier because the plot was already done.

[WBadger]

i thought this episode was awful, and hard for me to watch. not only was it boring, but homer was extremely off in this episode.

D

[hughes]

The first act with Bart at the power plant was good, but after that the only two things I remember even smiling at were the stone already at the bridge and "Enough already, Homer" when he got the speed limit lowered. Too dramatic and depressing, and while I see what they were going for and why others might enjoy it, that's just not what I'm looking for when I watch an episode of The Simpsons. The emotion here just seems too manipulative. Although it does get points for the first appearance of Otto. 6/15

[Jesse Pinkman]

3/5, my least favorite season 1 episode

[pulpa11]

INTRODUCTION

Couch Gag: Couch pops apart
Chalkboard: I will not skateboard in the halls

GOOD GAGS

Otto: “party hearty equals tardy.”

Bart singing ‘John Henry was a steel driving man.’

Bart: “Is there a Mr. Freely, first initials I.P.”
Moe: “Hold on, I’ll check. Is there a I.P Freely here, hey everybody, I.P. Freely!”

Bart: “All he does is lie there like an unemployed whale.”

Duff: “The beer that makes the days fly by.”
Homer: “Beer: now there’s a temporary solution.”

Old lady: “Looks like young Simpson is going to kill himself.”
Old man: “No maybe not, maybe he’s just taking his boulder for a walk.”

Burns to Homer: “You’re not as stupid as you look, or sound, or our best testing indicates.”

CHARACTERIZATION

Bart’s gags are so simplistic, it’s cute.

The fact Sherri and Terri’s dad works at the power plant has never been revisited.

The family is incredibly encouraging, including Grandpa’s encouraging words to Homer (from Homer’s memory…anyways)

Homer trying to kill himself? Not a fan…

ANIMATION

Otto parks on the curb.

First informational video in the series…

Homer has snacks at Moe’s bar! I love that touch!

Design of ‘El Barto’

OTHER

What’s the ‘U’ stand for on Bart’s report card?

A good first season episode. Homer really stayed true to himself and his need to have a task to accomplish in order for him to be happy. I loved how supportive the family was of him too.

Scale Rating 1-10: Not rating first season

[Nauru-1]

One of the weakest of the first season. Not that funny but more underwhelming than anything. A high 2/5.

[Simpsonsfan1981]

I really don't get the dislike of this episode. For me it had all the elements of a classic Simpsons episode -it was funny, heartwarming, touching and moving all in one. Homer's characterization here was one of the best that I've ever seen it. I consider this to be an absolute classic. 5/5

[hughes]

What’s the ‘U’ stand for on Bart’s report card?

Unsatisfactory

[Mt. Doom]

^Kind of like this episode

Homer attempting suicide is one of my least favorite bits from the entire series

1/5

[bartyboy]

2/5. Although I like Homer's Quote: Beer. No theres a temporary solution.

[nathan]

homer was extremely off in this episode

dude, it is the third episode of season 1. seeing as how none of the characters had really been developed yet i don't know how you can make this comment. considering how many different homer's there are i also don't know what you would be comparing this to.

all in all, i think this episode gets too much flack. my only real complaint with it is the pacing. it doesn't really come to the main plot point until the last 5-6 minutes and it feels like it kind of meanders to get there. this has been addressed by many people involved in the first two seasons and they simply said that they didn't really know how to write 30 minute episodes yet. almost every episode in S1 has pacing issues, i just find this one to be the most obvious, it still has many great gags and classic moments.

3/5

[lovedartsandsimpsons]

Quite a good episode. Not many jokes but a good story.

4/5

[Bella Drape 'er]

The bizarre third act was about the only interesting thing in a boring and merciless season one episode. 2/5

[J Dog]

There are two problems with this episode: The first, obviously, involves Homer's attempted suicide. I felt that it was too dark, and for a show that was starting out, I think one could avoid that plotline. The second problem is the animation. You know, they bitched a lot about the original layout of "Some Enchanted Evening", but this one has errors all over it. Let me point out a few:

1. Smithers' skin color.
2. Sherri (or Terri) loses her head when she tells Bart what her father thinks of Homer.
3. There's this black girl who has this "drooping overbite", and if you notice her walking under the guardpost with the other students, she has a two-frame "shuffling" animation (her legs switch places without and movements between those two), as opposed to a more layed-out walk cycle that the others have
4. That crowd sequence after Homer says "This stinks!", featuring a lot of blobs.

5. This guy:



I try to forgive the first season's episodes a lot, but this one is a little difficult.

2.5/5

[the secret code]

This is the first episode of the season that I really liked.

4/5 - B-

Oops, was meant to vote 4 on the poll, but accidentally did 3. Ah well, it was a low 4/high 3 anyway.

I don't know why you guys don't like the whole Homer about to commit suicide thing, yeah it might be out of character, but he was really feeling like crap, and wasn't doing anything good with his life. Sure, it was pretty selfish to leave Marge and the kids alone, but he felt they were better off without him. I thought it was a quite emotional episode.

[J Dog]

This is the first episode of the season that I really liked.

4/5 - B-

Oops, was meant to vote 4 on the poll, but accidentally did 3. Ah well, it was a low 4/high 3 anyway.

I don't know why you guys don't like the whole Homer about to commit suicide thing, yeah it might be out of character, but he was really feeling like crap, and wasn't doing anything good with his life. Sure, it was pretty selfish to leave Marge and the kids alone, but he felt they were better off without him. I thought it was a quite emotional episode.

I understood the gravity of it, since Homer felt that he could not support his family at all and that was the only job in Springfield that he could've worked at (until Homer began freelancing for plot jokes later in the series). However, for a show that's completely starting off on its own at the time, I think one should've avoided having the main character try to kill himself. Plus, Homer walked all the way to the bridge with that boulder when there was another one waiting for him.

[Real Melvin]

for a show that's completely starting off on its own at the time, I think one should've avoided having the main character try to kill himself.

I think the first season might be the only time you can have Homer possibly kill himself without having the fear of fans crying foul or putting the whole established character at stake years later

just like Season 3 is the latest we can go for Homer to seriously consider leaving his family just to be gone with them (Colonel Homer) ... though not the latest for Marge to kick him out, which seems to be a recurring theme

[Little Nellie Kelly]

I'd give this episode a 4/5. It was an entertaining episode, and moderately funny, but Homer's characterization was just wrong. I wouldn't think that Homer would ever try to kill himself, but overall, this is a fine episode.

[jayleno]

I gotta say the lot of you are nuts. You're the same people rating the dreadful new episodes as 4/5 all the time, and you rate this 1/5 and 2/5?

WOW.

Anyway, 4.5/5

[cinco]

What a hard one to review.

Great during the first watch before having seen what came later,
but after all those years it doesn't hold up anymore.

You can look past the miscoloring of Mr. Smithers, but Homer's epiphany and everything that comes afterwards is not in sync with the later Homer-characterization.
But the writers can't be blamed. In this stage, every aspect of the show was trial and error.
Homer's speech at the end stays emotional and he certainly shows an intelligence in this episode that went lost throughout the seasons.
So as a standalone episode: great.
But watching it in the context of the rest of the show: out of place.

Still, the beginning with Bart, Sherri, Terri and Wendell is classic Simpsons as well as the intro-video from the power plant and the first appearance of the three-eyed fish.

Also worth noting: the great and menacing introduction of Mr. Burns and the unusual angle he is drawn into during that first shot of his head.
Luckily he moved to a more appealing office in later episodes.

[the secret code]

Just watched this again, I would probably change my review down to a 3/5.

[cinco]

Putting scores on episodes from season 1 always feels unfair.
In their timeframe, these episodes were groundbreaking. (each and everyone of them)
Because of that, they probably deserve 5/5.
But that score wouldn't be fair compared to later masterpieces.
I hope there are enough people here who watched the classic era in the right order; (thank you Belgian/Flanders broadcasting for presenting the Simpsons to me in the late 90s, episode by episode and letting me experience this series as it was meant to be)
So if you have actually watched the first season first,
I hope you remember the impact it made.

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

Homer's Odyssey

Let me start off by saying that the episode is not bad it's just that I find it very boring. The plot worked very well but the execution was poorly done and the jokes were few (If any) It was so unmemorable that I actually forgot the plot of it while writing this. Anyway the ending didn't help it felt very tacked on and the suicide bit were stupid. But still they were still working hard on a 20 minute episode format so we can't really blame them can we?

Score for Homer's Odyssey: C+, 3/5, 6.5/10, Adequate

[Veganpunk]

Putting scores on episodes from season 1 always feels unfair.
In their timeframe, these episodes were groundbreaking. (each and everyone of them)
Because of that, they probably deserve 5/5.
But that score wouldn't be fair compared to later masterpieces.
I hope there are enough people here who watched the classic era in the right order; (thank you Belgian/Flanders broadcasting for presenting the Simpsons to me in the late 90s, episode by episode and letting me experience this series as it was meant to be)
So if you have actually watched the first season first,
I hope you remember the impact it made.

One of the best posts I've read on here yet. I loved this episode. Just like every Season 1 episode. I remember watching this every week, going to school the next day, and everyone talking about. The Homer suicide wasn't out of character then, sure it is now, but not then. And yea, the animation was off, The Simpsons wasn't a big budget money maker then like it is now. They did the best they could with what they had. The jokes were classic, the plot had meaning. I give this episode a solid 5/5.

[The Robot Devil]

I gotta say the lot of you are nuts. You're the same people rating the dreadful new episodes as 4/5 all the time, and you rate this 1/5 and 2/5?

WOW.

Anyway, 4.5/5

Not really. I hate the new episodes. I'm probably not going to watch season 22 because of how bad they're getting.

And this episode? 2/5.

[Cracko Racko]

2/5

[iambobdole1]

3/5

This is a bit weak, even for season one, but it has some good spots.
Homer attempting suicide was way too dark, especially for that stage in the show's development. Also, this episode just drags on forever. More of a B plot would have been helpful.

On the upside, Bart singing on the bus is great. (there's even a twister head in there) I kind of liked Homer being a semi-celebrity and crusading for safety. Of course, they retconned this later with the safety salamander, but what are you gonna do? Anyway, not too bad an episode, but not something I would want to watch repeatedly either.

[Blobulle]

Smithers is black in this episode, that's weird ! Good episode of the season 1, I liked the documentary about the plant. But it's pretty sad again : Homer wanted to kill himself ! I liked when he took charge of the security, the end with the crowd, and the Homer in all of us... 13/20 => 3/5 again.

[potatojoe]

3/5

Not the best season 1 episode and a little boring in parts. I still love the animation when Maggie sticks her finger in Homer's eye.

[WarioDude]

One of my least favourite episodes. 2/5.