NHC Weekly Episode Club 2.0

[CousinMerl]

NumberZone - Thanks for the response, and I wasn't trying to call you out or anything, merely trying to start some discussion.

Yeah, I understood that so no harm done. Now for a question of my own: is there anything particular in my review that no one else have written in their review of the episode in this thread (including you) that you agree with?

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I definitely agree with you about the animation, the coloring in particular looks really nice. I forgot about the eat my short stories line and the reference to the lottery. I really liked that bit and was gonna use an image of it in my review, but couldn't really find one.

[Old painty-can Ned]

I know the NHC did a worst episode ever thing in 2009 run by Green Man I think and this episode was put as the 2nd worst episode ever. Can you agree with that? Link: http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...st!&highlight=

I also just watched the episode so I will have my review up sometime today or tomorrow. But I do really struggle with doing reviews of post classic era episode unless it's just ragging on an episode's faults. This one really isn't an exception because it is lackluster in terms of plot,gags and any sort of emotion. I really disliked the ending as well. But I'll go into more depth later.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I definitely think this episode, while certainly nothing great, is not even in the bottom 10 in regards to worst episodes.(For me at least)
In no particular order:
Saddlesore Galactica
Kill the Alligator and Run
Tennis the Menace
Simpson Safari
The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed
When You Dish Upon A Star
All Clip Shows except maybe the first
Beyond Blunderdome
How I Spent My Strummer Vacation
Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass
Donnie Fatso

Were definitely all worse than this. I really didn't find anything insultingly bad here, just mediocre, which saves it from the bottom 10 for sure. I kinda liked alot of this episode in my recent viewing. It's bad reputation seems overblown to me, hell Homer the Moe is a far more boring/stupid episode from the same season....imo, of course.

EDIT: Forgot That 90's Show, that turd is worse for sure, I'm actually gonna rewatch Bart-Mangled Banner soon as its next up in my Season 15 reviews and I havn't seen it in forever so can't judge it right now....

Looking over that list though, I disagree with several things about it...

EDIT AGAIN: Okay how the hell is There's Something About Marrying even on that list!!!??? Season 16 is so very underrated

EDIT AGAIN, AGAIN: In that same thread Cash Kerouac sums up my feelings on "The Lastest Gun in the West:"

"So I just rewatched Lastest Gun in the West, and I don't know how you guys can rank that so low. It's nothing to write home about, but it's in no way offensive and has some cute gags. Worse than Jockeyville? Really? "

[Jesse Pinkman]

lastest gun isn't even close to worst of the series for me. it's hard for me to pick my least favorites (almost as hard to pick my favorites), but Donnie Fatso, Greatest Story Ever D'ohed, Bob Next Door, Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass, Bart Mangled Banner, Judge Me Tender, {just to name a few eps} are all way worse than Lastest, for me.

[CousinMerl]

Nah, I honestly wouldn't put it among the top worst episodes of the series; it's nothing to really shout about but I don't think it belongs among the worst of the worst. As for picking least favorite episodes, I suck badly at that; it's not something I can just type and post within a couple of minutes since I barely even think of what episodes I dislike the most.

[Jesse Pinkman]

i'm comfortable with saying 'john swartzwelder's worst episode' though. i don't know if it is his worst (haven't seen regina monologues for a while), but it is definitely close to his worst

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Kill the Alligator and Run and Simpson Safari are both worse Swartzwelder episodes for sure, in my opinion...

[Jesse Pinkman]

i actually don't hate ktaar nearly as much as most people.

simpson safari is OK, but that's also one of his weakest, for sure

[Old painty-can Ned]

Simpsons Safari's first act is fucking hilarious it just might have the worst third act though. KTAAR is terrible all around though. But this episode is bad and in his bottom three with Maximum Homerdrive/Bart Carny or KTAAR. It's really hard to ake a bottom for him and it is really sad to have to because he wrote some amazing scripts in the classic era when he was used properly.

Also Rasberry There's Something About Marrying is very mediocre. It's basically a stupider Homer's Phobia. It's attempts at social satire are extremely weak and it's gags are flat.

[Jesse Pinkman]

something about marrying was in the paper because of the social commentary on gay people/couples, which i thought was interesting back at the time. now i think it's kinda stupid

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Your opinion, but I vastly prefer Something About Marrying to Homer's Phobia. Homer's Phobia is great, but I just laugh way too often at Marrying, a personal favorite episode. It's satire may be weak but I love the gags/story, honestly I'm dissapointed it isn't appreciated more. Ah well...

EDIT: Simpson Safari has a decent first act, and good callbacks to it, but everything else is so terrible...

[Nauru-1]

Yeah I never really understood the hate of this episode, at least not to the extent that it's considered anywhere near the worst of the series. It's better than half of the past few seasons as well as Scully's big offenders at the very least IMO. It's rather slight but certainly not obnoxious or stupid. I wouldn't really miss all that much, but it's not really objectionable unless you compare it to the classics.

The first act with the dog is a peculiar one to me. It's such a strong consistent focus for the entire beginning of the episode only to fizzle out almost as definitively. I can buy it though given that it at least directly leads to the plot point and - I don't know why but - there's some intriguing fsense of efficiency that they were able to construct a third of the episode on such a simple idea at this point in the series without feeling like they were struggling for material. Particular moments I really liked were Bart's day starting off so well before falling back to reality and Marge's line "you're going to be late to be killed by the dog".

After this of course you have Buck in the picture. I think the episode loses some steam here a bit as I personally didn't find him to be all that memorable of a character. He just seems like a generic, somewhat embittered older man. A less interesting version of Chester Lampwick I guess you could say, and it probably should come as no surprise that both of these characters come from Swartzwelder episodes. Dennis Weaver has an interesting voice although I'm not sure how well it's suited for animation, so perhaps that plays a bit of a role. I'll always remember him from Duel at any rate.

Some of the disinterest might be the adequate but not overly inspired parody of the western genre. Buck's old videos are somewhat entertaining but pale in comparison to the comedy the show has earned out of crime and sitcom television. Of course, that could in part be related to the show being less dynamic in general in the post-classics as well as my general indifference to the western theme. That last point interestingly relates strongly to the episode's expression about the death of the classic Western films. This angle is a little interesting and I found the bit with the Springfield Elementary kids on this rejuvenated fad to be one of the more entertaining parts of the episode. It's reminiscent of past storylines like the yoyos and the earrings and I think it worked pretty well here.

In terms of characterizations, I think they're mostly on here. One of the early Jean era's strength was restoring the likeability in the characters and keeping their actions a little more consistent with what they used to be. The comedy has its moments and it's never really cringeworthy here, but it's never hilarious either. The story has some interesting but separate ideas, some of which are well-explored like the dog and others later like Homer wanting Bart to admire him are underdeveloped. All in all it's fair episode. Far from the best and far from the worst.

3/5 (C-)

[CousinMerl]

Just recently I had a wierd thought about the episode's ending:

Could the reason that the dog suddenly starts to angrily chase Bart again right at the end be because the status quo is somehow being restored to what it was before Bart met Buck McCoy? (especially since knowing that it was Buck who helped Bart to calm the dog down and all.)

[hammster]

I know the NHC did a worst episode ever thing in 2009 run by Green Man I think and this episode was put as the 2nd worst episode ever. Can you agree with that? Link: http://www.nohomers.net/showthread.p...st!&highlight=

Someone should run another one of those.

[cinco]

Can I join The List of Members in Line for Episode Nomination?

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

The Lastest Gun in the West

This episode never really did anything for me, it just seemed rather dull and uneventful. Although it being a Swartzwelder script there were some great gags that kept this episode from being a complete waste of time. The opening of the episode using the dog was quite humorous and had some of the best moments in the episode (The dog was funny in himself) and I do love some of the facial expressions it made. Then we get into the second act which introduces Buck, a well designed character who's voice fitted the character well. Although being a good character the episode becomes dull rather quickly once he was introduced. I did however like Homer in this episode and Krusty was quite funny but it seemed as though all the other characters had the humor sucked out of them (Wait...What?!) Another thing I did not like was that the ending felt a waste of time as he spend like thirty seconds staring out the damn window (Then of course the dog returned) I do not hate this episode, I just don't enjoy it as much as other episodes from season 13 (I only like it more than "The Old Man and the Key" which was even more dull)

Score: 6.5/10.0

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Just recently I had a wierd thought about the episode's ending:

Could the reason that the dog suddenly starts to angrily chase Bart again right at the end be because the status quo is somehow being restored to what it was before Bart met Buck McCoy? (especially since knowing that it was Buck who helped Bart to calm the dog down and all.)

I'm 99% sure that IS whats happening there NumberZone, and its partly why I love the ending. We've come full circle!

cinco, I'll add you

[Blobulle]

Me too please.

EDIT : Thanks.

[Old painty-can Ned]

Just recently I had a wierd thought about the episode's ending:

Could the reason that the dog suddenly starts to angrily chase Bart again right at the end be because the status quo is somehow being restored to what it was before Bart met Buck McCoy? (especially since knowing that it was Buck who helped Bart to calm the dog down and all.)

That's the reason and also the reason i don't really enjoy the ending. It would've been better without the dog chasing Bart. But in general I don't really know if I like the meta joke they went out on with Buck saying" now never bother me again".

[CousinMerl]

Overall, I must say that it felt very refreshing to review and talk about a post-classic episode so I'm hoping that someone else might pick another one down the line.

Anyway, which episode is up for the upcoming weekend, D'ohmer?

[D'ohmer]

The episode is...



The Computer Wore Menace Shoes!!!

Some people love it, some people hate it. Can't wait to discuss it!

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

Great choice D'ohmer

[Jesse Pinkman]

one of my favorites from s12, if not my number one favorite. nice

[CousinMerl]

Very interesting choice of episode, D'ohmer; it's such a wierd and wacky episode and it will be fun to see it again and post my thoughts on it.