Rate/Review "The Seemingly Neverending Story" (HABF06)

**That Jerk** · 03-12-2006, 06:13 PM

I loved the "outing the gay one" joke. 4 guys who get drunk together almost every night? Use your imagination. Great gag. In fact I loved all those jokes Tomacco listed. His name is Snake Jailbird, I don't see anything wrong with that. Also the bats thing... I don't know what you are expecting. After 17 years, you should have a 6th sense for a typical Simpsons fakeout gag. So are you saying they should just stop doing them now? I saw an alternate response coming too, but didn't laugh at the "twist" of it, moreso the content of the punchline.

**Sarcastic Guy II** · 03-12-2006, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by Tomacco

And, show of hands: Who found the 1,2,3,4 joke funny the second and THIRD times?

I thought it was funny all three times.

5/5, this was really good.

**Matt B.** · 03-12-2006, 06:30 PM

Does anyone else think this episode can be compared to 22 Short Films About Springfield? I mean not like this episode is one of the greatest ever but with the kind of story it had.

**moed'oh** · 03-12-2006, 06:36 PM

i gave this episode a 4/5. if i could i would have given it 4.5/5. i think it was one of the best of this season but not a 5/5. i really enjoyed the goat telling his story. the 1 2 3 4 joke was funny the first couple of times. i like these types of episodes when they go "outside the box".

**Tomacco** · 03-12-2006, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by That Jerk

Also the bats thing... I don't know what you are expecting. After 17 years, you should have a 6th sense for a typical Simpsons fakeout gag.

I think once a joke becomes "typical" and predictable, it's no longer funny and therefore isn't even a joke anymore, so yeah, I could do without these entirely. I guess I still haven't grown to accept "the show is 17 years old" as an excuse for anything. If you're gonna stay on the air, stay as fresh as you can.

**kevindrz** · 03-12-2006, 06:43 PM

4/5. It was consistently funny, although there weren't any dynamite moments. The flashbacks-within-flashbacks motif played out better than I what have expected, probably because of the way they made it a self-conscious joke. I really like what I've seen from this season. Perhaps the formula for success is to make the season premiere a really crappy episode in order to lower everyone's expectations, then work up from there. It's been working so far.

**Semaj** · 03-12-2006, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by Tomacco

If you're gonna stay on the air, stay as fresh as you can.

That it does.

**DotheBartman** · 03-12-2006, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by That Jerk

His name is Snake Jailbird, I don't see anything wrong with that

Exactly. I don't know why this is confusing to people. No "Professor" is referred to by their first name along with that title, and Moe mentioned Snake's first name earlier. I think it's a funny idea that Snake would actually have Jailbird as a last name. Also note that Snake's son's name was also revealed ("Jeremy", which I got a kick out of because I rarely see my name in anything).

Anyway, after all the repetitiveness and the sense that episodes are starting to run together lately, it was good to see another episode that was really fresh in concept and that will actually stand out in repeat viewings. I don't have much familiarity with what I'm assuming they're parodying (Neverending Story), but the whole structure of the episode was cleverly done and the individual stories were all excellent and really funny. And there was a sense of genuine surprise and not knowing where the story would end up next, which is refreshing at a point in the series when people here have been able to accurately predict things like endings and the use of montages based on brief synopsises. Well done.

And I'm not getting the complaints about the humor either, other than possibly the OCD (but I thought it was tolerable). In general, this was really funny and the jokes matched the brisk pace of the episode. Yes, we can predict "fakeout" jokes by now, but we could already predict those ten years ago, so I don't see the problem. And there were a lot of fakeout jokes that actually were surprises, so that has to deserve some credit.

Not a classic I don't think, but definitely a great episode and one of the better ones recently. On top of what I've said, I'd add that I loved seeing Burns in such good form, and actually having a big role for once. And mad props as well to the direction (I notice Raymond Persi did this one; his stuff is great so far). Fine episode. B+/A-

DYN:
-Burns apparently collected Frank Grimes' tombstone on his scavenger hunt?
-Krabapple claims to hate bars, but apparently had no trouble frequenting one later in "Flaming Moe's"?

**Tomacco** · 03-12-2006, 07:03 PM

The humor complaints seem to be coming strictly from me, so maybe the issue has to do with my over-familiarity with "Simpsony" humor than the quality of it itself. But I have to stand by how I feel about these bits. The Simpsons have also done that same Indiana Jones parody before too.

**TheFlandersMan** · 03-12-2006, 07:34 PM

-Krabapple claims to hate bars, but apparently had no trouble frequenting one later in "Flaming Moe's"?

Yes. That was a story that took place before her life started to suck.

Did you notice Burns' old fashioned gun? I thought it was a nice touch...

**manashima** · 03-12-2006, 07:45 PM

Story- 5/5
Great, innovative, want more like this.
Jokes- 3.5/5
good Jokes- Moe in the dark with a bat, Burns after the money, Mexican showdown.
Bad jokes- OCD, Homers pain joke(the bats)
Characterization- 5/5
Good- Moe, Monty Burns
Bad- N/A
Potential-
1. When Bart was spraypainting, It would of been better if he spayed El Barto, could of been a great callback.
Overall- 4.5/5
Act 1- Bad pacing, got into story quickly though
Act 2- Great jokes, Great pacing
Act 3- Perfect ending, ties it all together.
Really good, definately up their with GWSTL
is it just me or did the episode seem longer than usual...

**Valhum** · 03-12-2006, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by Radioactive Man

Ye haw! 1,2,3,4.

That's the first time I've really laughed out loud all season.

Oh god, i love that line, sooooo funny, lol. It was a very funny episode, 4/5.

**TheFlandersMan** · 03-12-2006, 07:51 PM

It felt longer because there were so many different stories.

**GrandmaBird!!!** · 03-12-2006, 08:35 PM

Man, I was surprised. The story was great and very different. There were some lame jokes but surprisingly I laughed out loud a lot during the second and third acts.

ex. Moe -“Should I rob this guy or rob him and kill him. I did the right thing.”

The episode could’ve obtained perfection if it hadn’t been for the pacing. Slow it down! Please! 4.5/5

**barfly** · 03-12-2006, 08:37 PM

and not a big "steal" or anything, but the "he's going to sleep well tonight" has definately been used in a previous episode

**Corkus** · 03-12-2006, 08:44 PM

When I first watched "The Heartbroke Kid", I was convinced it was a fluke, seeing as how every single one of Ian Maxtone-Graham's episodes after "Lisa Gets an A" got a D+ or lower from me. Now I'm convinced that he's actually becoming a much better writer.

Let's get the nasty stuff out of the way first. The Rich Texan OCD joke was absolutely awful, if you ask me. The fact that it became a running gag and that the episode ended on it made it even more painful. The nickel-in-a-bottle joke at the beginning also bombed hard. Other than that, though, there weren't any excruciatingly-bad moments.

Now for the good stuff, and that's basically everything else. This thing was all over the place, all of which in a positive sense. At first I thought the Lisa and Burns tales were pointless, but when they came together in the third act, I really thought they were clever. Several really funny one-liners ("Unfortunately, fate likes to play a little game called 'Up Yours, Moe'.") Snake finally got a backstory (Jailbird really is his real name), and we got a humorous callback to drunk Barney.

EDIT: Forgot about Frank Grimes' tombstone in the back of Burns' truck. Humorous reference to his constant abuse, even if it was done before in "My Mother the Carjacker".

Best of season. A-

The S16 holdovers were pretty mediocre, but S17 has really picked up since then, with the exception of "Paternity Coot", which still wasn't completely horrible. Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling about next week's episode, which looks like the first true train wreck since the premiere.

**bovine_university** · 03-12-2006, 08:48 PM

While this episode wasn't great, it was very refreshing to see the writers doing something this creative. I really enjoyed the story structure overall, and for such a rapid fire change of plot points and situations, things flowed along quite well. The humor was okay, with the occasional hilarious moments balanced out by the occasional cringe-worthy ones. With other episodes this season seeming to lack a sense of drama or feeling due to a lack of music, I really enjoyed the musical direction of this episode (like Lisa being chased or the stand-off at the end). The idea of putting the stories into one another could have been a novelty that would have worn out it's welcome, but the writers did a nice job of keeping the plot interesting and not using too many stories. As great as the story was however, a few things bothered me. Some of the stories just felt too thin in comparison to the other stories. The initial tale with Lisa being chased had alot more potential, as did Homer's story about finding out about the coins. I was also hoping that the stories within stories structure would last longer, instead it finished less than halfway through act 3, leaving us with Homer's small story and the climax that I personally thought was a little stretched out. Also, Homer finally getting out of the hole felt pretty anti-climactic. As creative as this episode was, it just had a few too many flaws and a lack of really good jokes to be great, but it was still plenty satisfying. 3/5

**vox** · 03-12-2006, 08:49 PM

great dyn in burns family plot: one of the tombstones in burns' family plot was "stewart burns". funny.

a- for the episode.

**Upgrayedd** · 03-12-2006, 08:49 PM

A great improvement from two weeks ago. This episode had a good story(s) that was consistently funny, fun, kept me hooked, and, like TheFlandersMan said, it felt longer because of the multiple stories, which added to the fun. I also liked some of the stuff revealed in this episode.
-Moe once dated Mrs. Krabappel.
-Mrs. Krabappel once was a dedicated teacher.
-Snake was once a law abiding archaeologist.
-Moe is the cause for Snake's changing of personality.
As you can tell, I liked the 2nd act best, because of the things revealed, a good plot and had the least bad jokes. It still had a staple season 17 quality, however, its good share of bad gags (especially the 1234 gag), but I story made me forget about that. But, for once, I actually enjoyed the gag shown in the promo (Moe entering the showdown with the bat). All in all, a fun episode with some minor flaws. A little off topic, but what in this episode made the rating a TV14? If it was just that "bitch" remark made by Burns, those ratings guys are real soft. Anyway, 2nd best of S17. (B+) (4/5) (8/10)

**garret** · 03-12-2006, 08:53 PM

Wow, this episode was truly great, possibly one of the best since the classic era. I laughed at almost every joke. My favorites include burns calling rich texan bitch, and many more that I can't think of at the moment. The characterizations were great especially burns', I liked every story, my favorite was the moe dating krabaple I give this episode an A+, or 5/5. Actually, I think this is the best since the classic era.

**Corkus** · 03-12-2006, 08:56 PM

Originally Posted by Vox Nerduli

great dyn in burns family plot: one of the tombstones in burns' family plot was "stewart burns". funny.

Haha, I missed that. That scene needed a longer freeze frame, as I only caught about 2 of the 7 or so tombstones.

**manashima** · 03-12-2006, 08:58 PM

Great not seeing moe contemplate suicide
I thought they were going to say that after the breakup at the school, but they surprised me!!

**crak bot** · 03-12-2006, 09:23 PM

Good episod. My favorite jokes were.

1)When Burns said he stayed with family and they cut to a graveyard.

2) When Homer loses his hair and buys a toupee of the same exact hairstyle he had before. Maybe it's just becuase I find Homer in a bad toupee funny, like in Future-Drama when he goes out with bart to meet women and puts on that ill-fitting brown toupee.

Overall, for a show that is SEVENTEEN years old this was a pretty good episode.

**Woogie31** · 03-12-2006, 10:08 PM

Episode started off really slow then got alot better. Weak beginning brings it down to a 3/5 for me.

**Green_Peaness** · 03-13-2006, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by Woogie31

Episode started off really slow then got alot better. Weak beginning brings it down to a 3/5 for me.

Correct. The humor was pretty much on par with the rest of the season, but the concept was fun. Since the show is a comedy first and foremost, I wouldn't say it's a great episode.

B

**lethifold** · 03-13-2006, 02:59 AM

Another excellent episode for Season 17

9/10

**Veryjammy** · 03-13-2006, 05:55 AM

Great episode. To be honest I don't have that much to say about it, but it was clever and well-executed. The direction was above-par and they finally used the Rich Texan in a good way. I don't think any joke missed, although to be fair there was definetely a lower joke ratio in this episode. But it really didn't bother me, it was nice to have an episode where the story took centre-stage and the writers didn't feel the need to cram every second with jokes. Not that it was without laughs, I think my three biggest LOLs were Burns on the school bus, Homer's toupee in the cave and *gasp* Barney. Great ending too.

Slight gripes - I was worried after the first minute, that was really poor, but it quickly picked up. The more episodes I see, the more clear it becomes that Bart is the Simpson most in need of work; I don't think he's been great in any episode this season, he just veers between tolerable and lame. He was the latter in this episode, I don't know what the hell that thing with the water bottle was about. I probably would have trimmed the OCD joke of one of the '1-2-3-4's although the payoff in the credits was worth it. Apart from that the bats joke wasn't great, although that was more to do with the execution since it's funny in concept.

And that's all I have to complain about. Definetely best of season.

A-

**Drunk Barney** · 03-13-2006, 06:58 AM

Great to see Barney back

Was he just used in a joke or used for an actuall scene?

**Stratman** · 03-13-2006, 07:10 AM

4/5

I just watched the episode of the season. I didn't wish I was somewhere else half way through the episode, and I laughed heartily.

The story kicked in straight away without the usual unrelated-to-the-story 1st act gag fest, though I'm sure the writers would have included one had there been time. I feel the pacing was good, and for once I didn't realize half way through the episode that I wasn't quite sure of what was going on. There was some excellent characterization; an idealistic Edna is very believable.

There was, however, some not so good characterisation. Burns using the word bitch didn't seem right, and since when did Bart become mentally retarded? It just isn't funny when Bart considers a nickel in a bottle compelling. Also, I noticed two separate jokes were milked for more than they were worth; the OCD joke was funny once, but the ''nucular'' gag was, and isn't funny.

**thesimpsons:eh?** · 03-13-2006, 07:21 AM

I think it was the best of season 17. The episode had it's ups and downs. It still does not compare to some of the great episodes though. I found some of the gags to be really funny however some of them got repetitive and annoying. The story of the episode was solid better than "22 short films about Springfield" in my opinion.

Overall: 8.2/10

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Thread: Rate/Review "The Seemingly Neverending Story" (HABF06)

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