Rate and Review: "Holidays of Future Passed" (NABF18)

[The Governor]

Holidays of Future Passed (NABF18)
Thirty years into the future (where Bart still has ten years to make it to Chief Justice of the United States), an adult Bart and Lisa bring their kids for a family Christmas reunion, and Santa may not be the only one delivering at this time of year when Maggie (who, by the way, is not given a voice credit in Fox's press release for the episode, so don't expect too much) goes into labor.

[Dark Homer]

dude, seriously, quit posting these so damn early

[IceDoesntHelp]

I enjoyed it, a lot. Maybe I'm crazy, or easy to please.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

I really enjoyed it, but they really like to belittle the characters, don't they? (Lisa "experimenting" with women). Other than that, 5/5. But it was a little more depressing than I'm used to in a normal episode. I mean, Bart's life really sucks. Hell, even Lisa's.

I really didn't like recycling the silent Maggie gags though, and how Homer treats his dad. "There is an antidote, but don't tell him."

I really found Bart's kids cute, as well. And I like that Lisa's daughter has a blue ponytail.

EDIT: I thought about it, and decided it would be a 5/5 instead.

[jayleno]

I haven't posted here in ages, but aside from some overly sappy and predictable moments, I have to say this is the best and consistently funniest episode I have seen in a looong time. So refreshing, and A LOT of laugh-out-loud moments for me.

A generous 4.5/5 for a new episode.

[Tubbb!]

Another half intro, but Homer eats himself as a cookie... so, yeah.

Marge's Christmas sweater under her Thanksgiving sweater.

"Lisa The Buddhist" on the original Christmas card.

Lisa the lesbian... then Lisa in a lesbian love triangle.


Bart getting older, but going nowhere.

Bart's kids: "It smells like dog, but there's no dog!"
(Uh... wasn't Lisa supposed to become president? I guess flash-forward episodes don't count as canon.)

Michigan under Sharia law?
"The Benny Hilton"

Homer: "That's when the new penis gets here."
-

Homer: "I just like to dress up to eat my carrots and smoke."

So I guess Nedna doesn't pan out....

"68% of the original Cher is playing."
Robo Snake and the octuplets all grown up.


Mr. Burns lives another 30 years?


-

Bart and Lisa getting drunk in the tree house.

Patty and Selma's "lovebots."

The octuplets had octuplets.


-
"Martain Prince is now Marsha Princess?"
Ralph and his clones.

The Capital City Goofball and Sideshow Bob died at Moe's.


-

Well... considering how much of a total train wreck I expected this episode to be, it actually turned out pleasing! A little flat in some places (well, a lot of places,) but it could have been way worse!
4/5.

[IceDoesntHelp]

Look at all those 5's! Good ol' J. Stewart Burns does it again.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Oh my god Jake gave it a five.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Well I guess J. Stewart Burns does it again because that was a pleasure to watch from start to finish and easily the best episode of the season so far. It felt a lot like Future-Drama only better. Seeing how everyone turned out was just very interesting and funny to watch and the future jokes were good too. Easily my biggest laugh came from the reveal of Homer killing Edna and Flanders marrying Maude's ghost but there were many other great moments. Hell the octuplets were even used well! Smithers releasing the hounds got a pretty big laugh from me too. I feel like there were several solid jokes like that, but I don't just want to make a list so I'll stop there. Homer as a good grampa was a great idea and his lesson regarding his father was actually a very wise direction to take the episode. Aside from that I feel like I missed out on a great many things so a rewatch is necessary, but I mean that as a good thing;this one seemed packed with great material. 5/5

PS: Did anyone else notice the outline of both Sideshow Bob and a rake at Moe's?

PPS: Did they actually show 30 christmas photos in the beginning because it felt like it. I need to go back and look at each one of those separately.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

PS: Did anyone else notice the outline of both Sideshow Bob and a rake at Moe's?

It was the ONLY one I noticed.

[The Governor]

I really enjoyed it, but they really like to belittle the characters, don't they? (Lisa "experimenting" with women). Other than that, 4/5. But it was a little more depressing than I'm used to in a normal episode. I mean, Bart's life really sucks.

I really love it when the sweet and dour side of the family comes to the surface, it makes things more palatable in terms of modern storytelling. Being "depressing" gave this episode a lot of heart and soul.

Anyway, I'm not surprised by the comments Groening made when he said this might be the final episode, because it made the writers give a shit for a change. Even the stupid 'futurey' gags in the past two flash-forwards were funny this time around, especially the cloned Ralph's and shockingly, I felt some empathy for the family. About the ONLY negative I can give this episode that it wasn't the final episode it should have been.

Now I'm going to say two things that will shock and appall most of you:

1. This episode is now my favorite Jean era episode, period, and two...

2. It's the BEST future episode, yes, even better than Lisa's wedding.


Anyway, I'd give this a 6/5 if I could and all I ask is...NO MORE FUTURE EPSIODES. YOU BLEW YOUR CREATIVE WAD WITH THIS!

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Yes, it is far better than "Wedding".

[Snaked]

For a change, I decided to watch tonights episode and all I can say is.....that it was ACTUALLY Enjoyable from start to finish! Was it perfect? No but damn if it wasn't enjoyable. Many funny jokes such as Sharia Law still being implemented in Detroit (Not to be Racist or anything but hopefully the Muzzies won't be too offended by that bit) & how Milhouse was forced to wear a Burqa, along with other bits such as Homer Freezing & Unfreezing his Dad multiple times, Robo-snake trying to rob the Kwik-E-Mart whilist in a gunfight with Apu and the Octuplets, and the Birth of Maggies child (Also, am I the only one who thought that Maggie was going to speak for the first time ever since "Lisa's First Word" but it was purposefully delayed until she gave birth?). I also enjoyed how they called Google what it is instead of some pissant shitty pun like "Moogle", along with all of the Ralph clones.

4-4.5/5 (I rated it 5, though)

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Are they EVER going to get rid of Cookie Kwan? She's not funny in any way.

[jayleno]

Great to see the love here, people are hating on it at IMDb for being "too depressing". Please, people like that make me think there will always be people who hate the new episodes regardless of how good they happen to be. I can't wait to see what Dead Homer Society has to say about this episode.

I can't say whether it's better than Lisa's Wedding, but it's definitely just as good.

[thewalkindude]

There was a lot to love, and very little to dislike in this episode. I even thought they handled things that seemed doomed to be contrived very well, like Maggie not talking. I thought Bart and Lisa in the treehouse seemed very realistic, and a nice touching moment for the two of them. The mother of Bart's sons is Jenda, from Future-Drama, so I guess that episode is now cannon. I didn't like how Maggie became a singer, but it was barely touched on, and they neatly avoided the atrocious Lady Gaga parodies that could have been. (I'm assuming those will come later). I liked air travel being reduced to a combination of the subway and Mad Max. LIsa and Milhouse together wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, probably because it didn't feature Milhouse much at all. Freeze Frame and continuity gags certainly are making a comeback this season. Can anyone identify the list of Lisa's potential friends from Springfield Elementary and Traveling Simpsons? I could only get a few. Also, not only Bob, but the Capitol City Goofball, seem to have been murdered in Moe's. This episode was about as good as an episode with this premise, this late into the series could be. 5/5, and the second-best flash-forward episode.

[irvine_11]

I kind of liked this episode. For starters, I actually LOLed at a blackboard gag for the first time in 12 years or so and I actually liked how they did something school related for once. As for the episode itself, it was slightly above average for a typical modern episode. I liked the technology references and Yeardley using her real voice for Lisa was a nice touch. However, I think they could have done a little more with Zita than just having her use the "ultranet" the whole time than reveal herself at the last minute. The idea of Lisa having a daughter with Bart characteristics had potential to be interesting, but J. Stewart Burns didn't even try. I would have expected more from the writer of Eternal Moonshine. I also liked how in-depth this future episode went - we actually met new characters instead of seeing aged versions of our regulars. Other parts I liked were the Ralph clones, keeping with continuity (Jenda reappearing, Apu's brother Sanjay), keeping with the tradition of having Maggie not talking (though the reason was rather stupid). My only cons were that I felt that they could have done this episode a little better. It had more potential than they used.

Overall, nothing gained, nothing lost. Slightly above average. B-

P.S. When this episode reairs a few weeks ago, I think I will spend 30 minutes looking at Jake's drawings rather than rewatching. I liked his futuristic vision better.

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

You guys thought much more highly of this episode than I did, even though I didn't dislike it. I can't pinpoint what felt off for me. When I look back, I found it funny (especially the cloned Ralphs) and I felt the characters all acted naturally and authentically. I think what was lacking for me was an extensive plot. However, the more I think about it, I somewhat liked the plot's simplicity. It was pretty much a story about them coming home. So, in short, I sorta liked it, but there was a lack of something.

I give it a confusing B-.

[biffwestwood]

5/5

Fantastic episode! It has the best futuristic overtones yet. The best gags was when we learn that Homer accidentally killed Edna, Apu's kids all had octuplets giving him and Manjula 64 grandkids, and all those Ralph clones. Both of Bart's sons were great characters. I am thankful that this story did not get told by some psychic to a Simpson kid(s). The Simpsons cat and dog evolved into human-like creatures was the most unexpected scene to appear.

I once thought that due to "Kill Gil Volume 1 and 2" being my personal worst that they should quit it with the Christmas episodes. But they had made the next three Christmas episodes "Oh Brother where Bart thou", "The Fight Before Christmas", and this episode all good enough for a 5/5 which shows the writers can recover well.




On a side note if they make another Christmas episode, here are two things I would like to see spoofed:

How about a send-up of the Trans-Siberian orchestra in a scene or maybe the actual Trans-Siberian orchestra being seen in animated form and providing music in the episode.

Something else they should do is a spoof of that Chinese restaurant scene in "A Christmas Story" in which the Simpsons go to a Chinese restaurant for their Christmas dinner after