The Complete Thirteenth Season DVD Collector's Edition: The Official Thread

[Nauru-1]

8 episodes through the DVD set, and the Jean episodes, even ones I had previously regarded to be substandard episodes, seem to holding up well so far, certainly much less lazy than the final run of Scully episodes. Looking at it, I'd be pretty content if the writers could at least muster the ability to reach this level again which is more than watchable and mostly decent entertainment throughout. Looking forward to the last disc which appears to be the best disc of the Simpsons post-season 9.

[jbauer]

The show is still hand drawn.

My typo. I didn't mean last hand-drawn shows. I meant last hand painted shows. The show switched to digital coloring, but kept the manual drawings.

[Flimpson Tide]

The one deleted scene that made me laugh was the Little Homer gag, damn censors.

What happened? Is this like the Bart Jr. "gag" in Girls Just...I don't want to type the title, it's too terrible.

[The Wiggs]

What happened? Is this like the Bart Jr. "gag" in Girls Just...I don't want to type the title, it's too terrible.

Homer says something to Marge in bed like "Marge you haven't given any attention to Little Homer yet", and then you see that he's holding a little doll of himself and Marge says, "I really wish you wouldn't bring that thing to bed" or something to that effect.

[Snaked]

Ya know, I'm actually tempted to get this boxset (especially on blu ray due to having a PS3) but yet, I said I wouldn't because there were like 6 episodes in it which I despised pissed me off, thus warranting no purchase from me as I claimed that it takes one rotten apple to spoil the bunch (in this case, the episodes being apples & the bunch being the season).

So the question being should I still get it?

[EthanRunt]

Homer says something to Marge in bed like "Marge you haven't given any attention to Little Homer yet", and then you see that he's holding a little doll of himself and Marge says, "I really wish you wouldn't bring that thing to bed" or something to that effect.

The key part is the second and a half Homer reaches down under the covers to his genital area before he brings out the doll, the wait made it work.

[The Sovereign]

the joke is that lil' Homer could also refer to his penis

[Captain Squid]

I don't get why Al Jean doesn't get why most don't like "The Lastest Gun in the West".

It's bland. It feels like the plot of a decent Saturday morning cartoon. Nothing exciting. The dog chasing Bart was the length of a Looney Tunes short and the rest was an episode of Recess. It felt like a modern day season 1 episode. Not bad, but not amazing by modern day standards.

[lionelhutz123]

I think he means that he doesn't understand why fans act like it's one of the worst episodes ever as if it includes jockey elves, a random alligator appearance/revival, or a time jump. There's nothing obvious that makes it bad, and I wouldn't say Jean takes blandness into account considering there are about as many bland episodes now as there are classics.

[Wavy Gravy]

One thing I'll say about "Lastest" (my God, I've been listening to Al Jean speak for too long) is that it's one of those pure John Swartzwelder episodes, where stuff just happens for no reason and the things people say make no sense, yet it all still feels like it should be logical. The whole first act is just full of the sort of thing Swartzwelder loves, i.e. the overtly arch aspects of all the good things that happen to Bart before he meets the dog, the inherent silliness of characters acting out of character ("Finally, I'll be the dominant one!" "Be quiet!" "Yes, sir..."), and total non-sequiturs ("Mom, a dog ate my clothes!" "Nice try, but we're still going to Riverdance!"; "Oh, I'm sick of this Tarzan movie!" "Dad, it's a documentary on the homeless"; etc.).

It's the humor of lameness; it's meant to be laughed at because it's not funny, yet it's being presented as funny anyway. Unfortunately, that's a really hard line to straddle, and Swartzwelder usually nails it, but with "Lastest", he kinda missed the mark. ("The Sweetest Apu" is another Season 13 episode that goes for this effect and achieves a similar result - not really funny, but not awful either, just plain weird.)

[Nauru-1]

Hurry up or you'll be late to be killed by the dog!

But I see where Jean's going with it. It's for some reason gone down as one of most disliked episodes in the series. Certainly not one of the best examples of the improved show Jean put out there in season 13, but really? The show just started distancing itself from obnoxious characters and lazy stories, and this episode was no exception. Even in the Jean era, there have been much more blatantly offensive episodes in terms of quality churned out.

[Captain Squid]

"Lastest" reminded me of Futuramas " A Leela of Her Own". Both are just there, very bland. Enjoyable enough once, but not worth a rewatch due to it being neither great nor a glorious train wreck.

[The Sovereign]

good god, The Sweetest Apu might be the first commentary I ever just turn off, godawful boring

[zartok-35]

"Lastest" reminded me of Futuramas " A Leela of Her Own". Both are just there, very bland. Enjoyable enough once, but not worth a rewatch due to it being neither great nor a glorious train wreck.

When I think of "Bland" Simpsons, I think of 'Mad mad Marge', and 'Bart to the future'. "Lastest" never bothered me too much at all, I've liked it consistently since it premiered. I certainly don't think its very bland....Maybe a little, but thats all.

You are right about 'Leela of her own' being unremarkable. I can't deny that at all.

[Green_Peaness]

I think Lastest would be fine but nobody 40 years or younger seems to care about cowboys. It's just a disconnect that makes it difficult to get invested in it...also the cowboy dude's monotone voice doesn't help. I'm sure if I showed it to my dad he'd enjoy it more than me.

[Nauru-1]

Get Dennis Weaver being stalked by a truck and that voice grows on you.

[merzitar]

Damn, I'm annoyed. It seems as though Season 13 has been pushed back to 20th September for the UK.

[lovedartsandsimpsons]

Damn, I'm annoyed. It seems as though Season 13 has been pushed back to 20th September for the UK.

Even though it (obviously) has already been released in the US....

[merzitar]

I know - I don't see why it should take a month after its US release! I want this so bad!

[LittleMissLisaSimpson]

Damn, I'm annoyed. It seems as though Season 13 has been pushed back to 20th September for the UK.

Grrrr. Why did they push it back for? I was looking forward to watching the set

[merzitar]

Grrrr. Why did they push it back for? I was looking forward to watching the set

I have no idea. . .
All I know, is that at first, everywhere except HMV were saying 13th September (HMV were saying 20th). After a while, I noticed that Play.com started to copy HMV in saying 20th. This still left loads of other websites such as Amazon, Woolworths, Zavvi, etc. saying 13th. Today, I noticed that every other website had changed the date to 20th. Perhaps they ran into a problem?

I too, was looking forward to watching Season 13 on the 13th. It has been a long time since I have seen the episodes, and most of them I have only seen once.

[EthanRunt]

Wow, that's weird. Still, at least it's still got release dates, I had my 30 Rock season 4 preorder stopped cos, well, they're not releasing it in October no more, according to play.

[merzitar]

I'm sorry to hear that. I have noticed that Play.com are starting to go downhil within the last year or so. They should improve. They used to be brilliant.

[D'ohmer]

I actually have never understood the hate for Lastest. It has a solid plot that seems to flow well to me and the humor also seems there to me. I also like the characterization of Homer and Bart. It's not the greatest, but I think it's a good episode. I still don't see what's wrong with it.

[The Sovereign]

Lastest is pretty funny

[The Wiggs]

To me, "Lastest" is just weird. The whole dog thing just throws me off. It honestly makes absolutely no sense. Also, the whole drinking thing seemed to just be thrown in there at the end in a way to get a little longer story. If they would've already made it clear that he was an alcoholic rather than just "oh I forgot to mention I'm an alcoholic", it would've worked better. It just seemed like a cheap plot extension.

[MasterMarc]

Just finished Season 13 today. Average season at best. There are some good episodes. Homer the Moe, Blame it on Lisa, and I am yellow furious. but there are some bad ones. Old man and the key, tales of public domain, hunka hunka burns in love with Last Gun is the west being without a doubt one of the worse episodes ever.

Also the Treehouse of Horror has the be the worst one ever.

[Green_Peaness]

Do the writers not know that some stuff that's funny to them doesn't work on the show? It was kind of disheartening to hear Al Jean say that the leprechaun voice was one of the funniest things ever...I guess it would be funny to watch some guy do that voice in real life but on the Simpsons it's godawful.

[D'ohmer]

I actually liked the leprechaun voice. I thought it was funny.

[jscottstroup]

good god, The Sweetest Apu might be the first commentary I ever just turn off, godawful boring

Really? I get a kick out of James Lipton's pomposity. When he sighs a relieving "finally yellow!" after his scene, it made me chuckle.