60 Second Simpsons (Ep31 - Rosebud)

[Jims]

Wow you were far more positive here than I would've been Jims. Entertaining as always though.

I realized when I wrote the script that, for once, I might be Accentuating the Positive too much... But I feel like the internet in general is too "one part is REALLY BAD, ergo the whole thing is REALLY BAD" sometimes. Whenever I watch Homer vs. Dignity, I'm always amazed at how great the first two acts are (mostly), and how downhill it goes when the panda rape comes along.

I love that the family actually needs money for once and that they're not millionaires. I like that they show them actually doing something about it (like getting financial advice) first, before Mr. Burns steps in. Chief Wiggum's speech about "retirony" is classic. Lindsey Naegle has some clever dialogue. Homer just throwing business cards at people is a good visual laugh. The Smithers musical is inspired.

I love Mr. Burns telling the vending machine not to wrap the toffee too tightly (because he's hungry now!). Love the pudding scene, from start to finish. It's a bit mean spirited, but it's silly enough to not be over the top (yet). The Comic Book Guy prank works in this way as well, also partially because CBG isn't a "nice" character anyway.

I feel like the episode would've been just fine if they would have gone as far as "Baby made a boom boom" and no farther. That's genuinely humiliating enough for them to make a point about Homer's dignity, so the panda rape is just icing on the cake that's not needed. And the less said about the fish guts, the better.

These are great. I would suggest doing one for Deep Space Homer. Not only is it a hilarious episode, but there are a lot of cool images from it you could use in the video. Keep up the good work.

Oooooh, that's a good suggestion. It's probably the quintessential Mirkin episode to me, so it might be a good time to talk about that Mirkin flavor he brings.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I get that, I just think you got much more out of the first 2 acts than I did. A couple years ago I went to New York for Model UN(I know like Lisa, though I was three times her age) and the Simpsons would air on the local FOX every night at midnight, which was itself a surprise to me since FOX hasn't aired the show outside Sundays where I live for at least eight years. Anyway one of the episodes they aired one night happened to be Homer vs. Dignity and I was already aware of its infamous reputation so getting reactions to it from 3 peers was quite interesting. They seemed to like the episode, particularly the pudding scene which likely is the best part of the episode. One fellow even referenced the "not Carl!" line before it came up. Your review reminded me of that. I still can't say I enjoy the episode nearly as much as you, but as usual you make an interesting and understandable argument.

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

This was great like usual I don't like this episode very much but it's always fun to hears your comment about an episode.

[Ryan]

"Homer vs. Dignity" is a lot like "The Computer Who Wore Menace Shoes", in that the first two acts are really strong, but the final elements are so out there and intrusive that it's all anyone remembers. It's sad for the episode itself, and the jokes that work so well.

Great job!

[Mr Black]

I don't think Homer v Dignity has two strong acts at all, the whole thing is typical scully fuckfest, I'm pretty sure the panda rape scene was in the 2nd act.

The computer wore menace shoes I'll agree with, the actual basic plot was great, up until the third act when scully started sniffing glue

EDIT- My god you like Homer v Dignity more than "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"! I'm just speechless

[Jims]

After reflecting on it a little, I think I do actually like Homer vs. Dignity more than The Secret War of Lisa Simpson. However, I would never say that Homer vs. Dignity is an objectively better written episode (because it clearly isn't)... I just enjoy watching it more than the other.

Anyway, the new episode is done! After seeing how much better my Bart Sells His Soul review has done (views wise) compared to the others, I'm going to stick to more populist fare for now.

And what could be more popular than Last Exit to Springfield?



Enjoy!

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

trying to capitalize and embiggen your once small operation that was originally not going to do the episode reviews everyone does, jims? for shame

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Not bad Jims, but certainly your "safest" review to this point, if ya know what I mean. I guess that just comes with reviewing one of the best episodes of the show, though, huh?

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

Congratulation for this one Jims

I agree with you when you said that this episode is a masterpiece but I don't think this is the best episode of the series

[Jims]

Not bad Jims, but certainly your "safest" review to this point, if ya know what I mean. I guess that just comes with reviewing one of the best episodes of the show, though, huh?

I'd agree, it's definitely more on the "safe" side of things. I like to keep a nice mix of shaking things up a little one week (like Homer vs. Dignity) and doing something more traditional the next week. My main inspiration for choosing LETS is that it's funny to me how one of the greatest Simpsons episodes of all time... is about labor unions. The topic doesn't sound like "best episode ever" material. Was going to riff on this topic a little more, but didn't want to dawdle too much in the 60 seconds.

Next episode is going to be 22 Short Films About Springfield, I think.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Yeah, just goes to show how good writing can make the seemingly boring hilarious. 22 Short Films eh? Hope steamed hams gets a mention!

[Jims]

To celebrate the board being back, here's a new episode about 22 Short Films About Springfield, in which we try to answer whether there really are 22 short films in it. Not as much of a review, more of a summary or recap with this one. Enjoy!



While writing the review and re-watching the episode I was surprised by how complex the episode is. The episode is known for doing lots of transitions between scenes and stuff, but it isn't really as known for being all inter-connected (like how Trilogy of Error was designed). But there are a lot of common threads throughout the episode, even if the scenes don't transition into each other.

Stuff like how both the cops and Principal Skinner have independent discussions on hamburgers, with both of them going to Krusty Burger. The cops also reference McDonalds, and then later Milhouse buys a Hamburgler comic from CBG.
How both Maggie and Moe get trapped behind glass.
How much bumblebees play a role in the episode, with the Lisa gum story transitioning into the Smithers/Burns story, but then Bumblebee Man has his own separate story.

Then there's stuff like Bart buying gum at the beginning of the episode at the Kwik E Mart (before Apu's story) and then throws it in Lisa's hair earlier. The gum always seemed random to me, so I feel stupid for not noticing how they showed him buy it earlier in the episode.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Heh, you mentioned steamed hams! That's good enough for me!

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

I was just amazed how you fit that into 60 seconds, good job Sir

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

good "review"

[Jims]

Heh, you mentioned steamed hams! That's good enough for me!

Love the steamed hams... Definitely one of the Top 5 Simpsons scenes of all time. Wish I could've talked about it more, but it's hard to say anything other that "Wow, it's amazing".

I was just amazed how you fit that into 60 seconds, good job Sir

The initial script ended up being around 1:30, so I had to rearrange and condense more than usual this time.

I'm going to try to write the 9th episode tonight, but I'm still not sure which episode I'm going to pick. I know what I want to do for the big 10th episode spectacular, though.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Might I suggest Football in the Groin?

[HMS pinafore]

Might I suggest Football in the Groin?

I would say that Football in the groin is kind of similar to 22 short film's in that a large portion of A star is Burns is in short films.

And if you are taking suggestions, I would like to suggest a sideshow Bob episode.

[MagicalManFromHappyLand]

I would say that Football in the groin is kind of similar to 22 short film's in that a large portion of A star is Burns is in short films.

And if you are taking suggestions, I would like to suggest a sideshow Bob episode.

Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming would be interesting, it probably gets the least attention of all classic era Bob episodes (I'm not a big fan of it myself).

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

Awesome Jims It's one of the best episode of the show!

[Mr Black]

I suggest Treehouse of Horror IV

[Jims]

Now I feel bad for just going ahead and doing a different episode altogether. I started screencapping the pictures and forgot to look at this thread. The downside of the episode I picked is now I have like 50 pictures of a single character on my computer. That's the only clue I'll give.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Better not be And Maggie Makes Three

[Jims]

New episode is up. To be honest, I initially felt pretty unmotivated to do the 9th episode and to just move onto the 10th episode spectacular, but this episode really went by like a flash. And that's not to say I put less work into it... All of the ideas and images just came together really smoothly. I think having one central subject instead of covering an entire episode makes things a little easier. Maybe I was just in a good mood this week.

So, here it is. A one-minute tribute to the wondrous joy that is Ralph Wiggum. Enjoy!



Next episode may take a little longer than usual, as I'm going to go considerably over 60 seconds.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

[Jims]

I loved watching those Homestar Runner cartoons back in the day, although I haven't visited the site in ages. It's sad to think that Ralph Wiggum probably makes less sense than Homsar these days...

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Never got around to watching it much; which feels strange, being that it's long running and well known.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

No mention of this being the reveal that he's Wiggum's son(I think they may have mentioned it in passing earlier but it is on full display here anyway) or the Monster Mash intro and outro(my favorite parts of the episode)? For shame Jims

[Ryan]

I loved watching those Homestar Runner cartoons back in the day, although I haven't visited the site in ages. It's sad to think that Ralph Wiggum probably makes less sense than Homsar these days...

That site hasn't been updated in nearly two years.

Awesome reviews! Excited for your 10th, though I do echo the Sideshow Bob sentiment.

[Jims]

No mention of this being the reveal that he's Wiggum's son(I think they may have mentioned it in passing earlier but it is on full display here anyway) or the Monster Mash intro and outro(my favorite parts of the episode)? For shame Jims

You caught me! The Wiggum reveal was actually the one piece of information I wanted to add, but I couldn't find a place in the script to put without having to rearrange everything. The Monster Mash thing got glossed over a little because Ralph ate up the whole episode.

While screencapping the episode, I was most amazed by the variety of acting and facial expressions they used for Ralph. Since he's just a joke machine now, they don't usually have any other reason to give him a different expression other than "vacant". But in this episode, he's happy, sad, determined, relieved, dramatic, concerned, and a variety of other adjectives. It's a nice change of pace to watch an episode like "I Love Lisa" to see that there's actually more to Ralph than what the last 15 years of The Simpsons suggest.

I don't really hate that Ralph is just a vehicle for making jokes, though, because Ralph is essentially a background character that doesn't need to be three-dimensional all the time. They just go too far in making him completely one-dimensional and predictable.

That site hasn't been updated in nearly two years.

Awesome reviews! Excited for your 10th, though I do echo the Sideshow Bob sentiment.

That sucks that they stopped updating... You'd think once they had "made it" that they would just keep that train going. I kind of want to go watch a bunch of Strong Bad emails now.

Since I keep teasing you guys and asking for suggestions (and then not doing them), I promise I'll do a Sideshow Bob episode for #11. I almost did Black Widower this week but held off for the sake of variety. I'll add a poll to this thread and whichever episode gets the most votes, I'll choose.