Rate and Review: “Them, Robot” (PABF10)

[The Wiggs]

The episode started out all right but it took a turn for the worse once Homer started bringing the robots out of the power plant. The concept had potential, but the episode didn't deliver. 2/5

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Them, Robot

With this episode, the show joins the luminaries of shows which had have robots that malfunction; shows such as "Family Matters". However, the episode which joins this is really, really bad. It's not 1.0/10 bad but it's bad regardless...

Michael Price has always been one of the worst writers of the show and this episode does nothing to change that. (even though scripts contain only 8% of the material written by the writer.) I don't know of anybody who can take a simple idea and turn it into a mess of sloppiness and unfunniness; not to say he's done good but episodes like this aren't helping his case. The plot itself is disjointed, it lacks a proper beginning, middle and end and it just jumps from scene to scene without any major purpose. It does start off well with the physical but then it just declines and declines and declines and declines until it reaches the point where it just has to end. I mean how can Homer not drinking lead to Mr. Burns firing all of the robots which leads to Homer goofing off with them which leads to a rebellion? It just doesn't make sense....

Maybe the intentions of the episode were to showcase what would happen if they lost their jobs and what would happen if Homer were around robots... Maybe that can explain the disjointedness but it doesn't exactly excuse it; the commentary about the robots isn't exactly one of the Simpsons high point, in fact it feels like every other episode involving robots ever made. Common things like human preservation, robots not having feelings, robots having strict rules are there and while there are stuff like the yellow paint and the configuration to make it different; it never gets taken to the max, there is never any true attempts to go above and beyond. I mean there are tons of stuff that could be done to robots; chips, enhancements, programming; I'm really sad they didn't get into the programming because it would of made a lot more sense then a drill and it would of been the catalyst for some pretty funny stuff. Anyways, you don't have to be a sci-fi geek to know the stuff that could of been done; the conversational aspect of it was decent but I feel like the guest star is more suited to appearing in podcasts rather then as a guest star on The Simpsons; in fact I will pay him money to do exactly that.

The unemployment thing is also pretty hollow; like they took a drive to one of the run down parts of LA and just decided to call a day. I don't care if you live solely in LA, why not take your cars down to Riverside or Orange or even San Diego County; there is a world outside of LA you know... Anyways, because of the fact that they don't do an accurate representation of unemployment, their commentary about that issue comes up thin; while there are some stuff that seems reasonable/relatable, a lot of it just screams that they're behind the times and they're trying, just trying to keep up. Worse is that it doesn't even get a lot of airtime, it's all taken up by the unfunny Homer and the robots... I know that it's a sideplot but it could of been given more attention, this makes the ending where the unemployed and employed destroying the robots undeserved; I get that these robots took their job but could you make it so that we cheer for them instead of think of them as convent, because that's what it felt like. No amount of lamp shading could ever justify this.

There are jokes but all of them seem uninspired and lacking; what's worse is that the scenes involving The Simpsons don't feel like they have a specific order, it just feels like someone was goofing off. There isn't any transition or any buildup to these scenes; it just happens. Hell, I don't get why they didn't include dramatic music, they at least would of made these scenes enjoyable. I don't know of any specific example I can say; well maybe Homer's obnoxious "Hardly Working" gag, the worlds smallest violin and the robots preserving their human masters but the fact that there are a ton of bad jokes compared to good jokes make this episode hard to watch. Additionally, there are just a bunch of things that feel off; Homer is not the one to be able to reprogram the robots but somehow he seems knowledgeable enough to read and operate the controls, I know this is for the episode but come on... Additionally, these people seem contempt on retconning stuff just for the sake of it; I mean during the moment where Mr. Burns parade happens we see how Moe got ugly in a different way... Not that it doesn't matter but it seems annoying that they would do this and expect rises from people, it may piss some people off but it's being used soo much that it's starting to feel like a gimmick. Next up: how Marge got her blue hair so stiff... Plus; Mr. Burns can run? I thought the joke was that he was so weak and frail that he needed someone to carry him, well it is needed to counteract the obvious Homer joke.

This episode is one of Season 23's worst. I knew it would be uninspired from the gate but I never thought it would be this uninspired. The robot plot is one of the weakest the Simpsons has done, the jokes here are uninspired and the plot is disjointed. Worse is that this seems like The Simpsons is spinning it's wheels, like this is the best idea that they could come up with. I don't know the reasoning behind this but I do know that The Simpsons is better then this robot rampage crap.

3.0/10

[That Don Guy]

Written by Michael Price
Directed by Michael Polcino
Blackboard: none
Couch: with a banner reading "America - Most Powerful Country in the World" behind them, everyone sits as the years pass from 1989 to 2012, with different characters appearing in every other year between 1991 and 2009; the banner changes to "Too Big to Fail, We Hope", and Maggie ends up holding a Chinese flag
Special Guest Voice: Brent Spiner
Also Starring: Chris Edgerly, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Maggie Roswell
Closing theme: "Robot Parade" by They Might Be Giants
Overseas Animation: Akom
TV Rating: TV-PG-LV

Couch gag appearances:
1991 - Leon Kompowski
1993 - Stampy (with Ralph in its mouth), although "Bart Gets an Elephant" was in 1994
1995 - Poochie, although he didn't appear until 1997
1997 - Leprechaun
1999 - Ghost of Maude Flanders, although she didn't die until 2000
2001 - (WWI-era German soldier?)
2003 - (someone who's dressed like Willy Wonka)
2005 - I think that's Chazz Busby from "Smoke on the Daughter", but that episode was in 2008
2007 - Spider-Pig
2009 - Princess Penelope, but she didn't appear until 2010

I think this was the first time an opening logo gag (Maggie on the paper airplane) was repeated (it first appeared in NABF12).

I assume it was not a coincidence that the term "prime directive" was used quite a bit with Brent Spiner as the voice of the robots.

The ballot proposition Homer reads sounds like one to replace a "committee" that draws a state's Congressional district lines with having it done by the state legislature. (There is a proposal on California's November 2012 ballot, but it involves only state Senate districts, and would have them approved by popular vote.)

Burns's apps: Am I Alive?, Ukulele Hero, Google Naps, Captain Billy's Whiz-Bang, Angry Burns, Trap Door

Every robot's ID was a letter followed by two digits, except for the one that replaced Smithers, which was "LA6".

In the softball game, and at the "funeral," the robots were able to walk off of the yellow lines.
However, when they left the yellow lines to save Homer and then tried to kill him, presumably their prime directive took precedence over the "yellow line" restriction.

The robots put away their buzzsaw hands when they got to Burns Manor.

[Friz]

All in all, Treehouse of Horror XXIII wasn't all that bad. I thought it was a pretty brave move to just do one story, but I suppose it worked. However, it would have been nice to see-

Wait, hang on.

What do you mean it was a regular episode?

That can't be right.

[Beepo91]

I was actually quite shocked at how funny this one was based on the comments.

I hated Politically Inept and The one where they go to Israel but this one wasn't bad at all. It was dumb, but in a silly and fun way.

The plot was dumb, and really went nowhere, but the humor was right on, and I'd give it a 4/5.

Really don't get the comparison to some truly obnoxious episodes.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

2003 - (someone who's dressed like Willy Wonka)

I think this was the first time an opening logo gag (Maggie on the paper airplane) was repeated (it first appeared in NABF12).

That was actually Goose Gladwell from Season 16's "Fat Man and Little Boy" though making it represent 2003 doesn't make sense. At first I thought they were just referencing by Season, since Season 11 is 1999-2000, but some of their later examples(and earlier I guess) don't entirely fit with that. Need to review it though I suppose.

Also they've re-used flying intro gags already, last week's was a repeat involving Santa's Little Helper and the Frisbee and they've used the crow many times.

[Flimpson Tide]

The fuck was with all those errors in the couch gag? Especially considering Al Jean prides himself on his Simpsons knowledge. I bet they envisioned what characters they wanted to appear more than the proper years; they probably didn't have the time (for once, oddly enough) to incorporate characters into the even-numbered years and fix all those mistakes.

Anyway, this was a mixed bag. I found acts 1 and 2 very good and even reminding me of the classic years - particularly Mr. Burns just sitting at his desk like he used to, the total lack of "HAHA BURNS IS SO OLD THAT HIS BODY IS DOING THIS" gag, and the exchange between him and Smithers about training kangaroos. (I feel like there has been an exchange or two very similar to this one years back about training random animals to do unnatural things for bad reasons. Or maybe I'm thinking of his monkeys using typewriters. I don't know.) Other good moments:
-"I didn't say 'Monty says.'"
-"Yes...Hulk smash."
-"WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING?" - You guys found this obnoxious, I found it hilarious. Come on, Homer's had small jerk-ass moments like this since season 5. Not every jerk-ass moment is necessarily bad.
-Seeing Lenny and Carl angry about unemployment at the bar. I feel like we haven't really seen the two jealous toward him in such a way before, and it was quite interesting and realistic (you know, until the violin).
-The "screw the audience" gag, when you think Homer's taking the robots to Moe's but he makes a baseball game instead.
-Did Bart reference his group from Bart of War? Nice callback.

Then the episode got off. Barney's hats were bad, Homer's head partially chopped, the city's unemployment not addressed til act 3, the town somehow saving Homer and Burns. Meh. I'd say it turned into 3/5 or so.

Was anyone else expecting a Robotic Richard Simmons appearance on the steps at Burns' manor?

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

-"WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING?" - You guys found this obnoxious, I found it hilarious. Come on, Homer's had small jerk-ass moments like this since season 5. Not every jerk-ass moment is necessarily bad.

I could do that for a long time and think it's funny but you don't see me doing that. It's not that it's a jerkass moment, it's that it went on for way too long, didn't do anything to make itself funny and just serve to transition into a Homer pain gag.

-Seeing Lenny and Carl angry about unemployment at the bar. I feel like we haven't really seen the two jealous toward him in such a way before, and it was quite interesting and realistic (you know, until the violin).

The violin was one of the unfunniest things about the episode, dragged it on for too long and lead to similar unfunny gags. I get that they had an ideas but some ideas should be bottled up guys.

[bradbradford]

^I assume I'm the only one, but I actually liked the part about Lenny losing the violin bow and the "The buyer specifically said violin and bow". I don't know. Whatever. I like Lenny.

[Friz]

"WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING?" - You guys found this obnoxious, I found it hilarious. Come on, Homer's had small jerk-ass moments like this since season 5

Yeah, but if Homer kept headbutting the safari park owner in Bart Gets and Elephant for 40 full seconds, it'd be a bit friggin' tedious.

I actually liked the part about Lenny losing the violin bow and the "The buyer specifically said violin and bow". I don't know. Whatever. I like Lenny.

I like Homer.

[Tubbb!]

2001 - (WWI-era German soldier?)

It's Kaiser Wilhelm from THoH XIII, which aired 11-3-02: "Yippie Whippie."

Wow, they were off on a few of those years, weren't they!
Why doesn't the staff of the show include a Simpsons historian? I've always wondered that. Simple research would fix so many problems....

[Friz]

It's Kaiser Wilhelm from THoH XIII, which aired 11-3-02: "Yippie Whippie."

Hang on, but Maude's ghost was in THOH XIII as well, and that was put in a different year. Blimey. They honestly didn't care about that massively long, barely animated couch gag in the slightest.

[Tubbb!]

Hang on, but Maude's ghost was in THOH XIII as well, and that was put in a different year. Blimey. They honestly didn't care about that massively long, barely animated couch gag in the slightest.

D'oh! It's not Kaiser Wilhelm, it's Baron Von Kissalot from Half-Decent Proposal, which aired 2-10-02. For some reason the first time I watched it... he registered as Kaiser Wilhelm.


Also, I found this while trying to get a synopsis of Beware My Cheating Bart:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/10/...minimum-rates/

Interesting....

One more thing: Smithers' briefcase also contains two other works by gay authors

I'm going to assume it's "Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin and "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman.

[Beepo91]

Showing Maude's ghost in 1999 was referring that '99 was the year the killed her off.
Sure the ghost is from TOHXIII in '02, but that wasn't the year or episode they were referring to.

[shoz999]

Honestly, I think 2/3 of these people who didn't like this episode, was just because of the robots being apart of the plotline. Maybe, if it was immigrants, foreigners, or possibly genius's who are much better at their jobs, most of you would probably give it a better review. Though, if it were to be robots or anything out of the ordinary yet possible, you would think otherwise. I wonder about "You Only Move Twice" episode where Hank Scorpio planned to launch an attack against the world governments. That's out of the ordinary, yet possible. I don't know, I give it a 4/5 because I seen classic episodes that are more odder than this, and this episode was able to maintain it's humor and it's plotline. I do have to admit that Marge appearing as a background character with no speaking role at the end was a downer, but everything else, I thought it was good.

Sometimes I think that even though the show has it's 50 to 50 chance of being an hit or miss these days, I also think some of the fans themselves have a 50 to 50 chance of being a supporter or just a downer of the series. Basically I sometimes think that us fans have a "decline in quality" ourselves whether they stick to the classics or continue on. I don't know. Sometimes I think the fans has it's own decline, maybe they haven't realized that you can't judge an episode just because it's in modern times. I've seen pretty good modern day episodes. "Holidays of Future Passed", "The Book Job", "The Squirt and The Whale", they are pretty funny and have touching and saddening moments to it. Sometimes I think that some of you fans just lost that touching feel from classic Simpsons and can't move it to the Modern Simpsons. It's just an assumption. Probably false to most of you guys. I don't know. But Like I said, 50 to 50 chance of being an hit or miss in modern times.
Don't always say it's going to be a miss, just by judging it for the series being here for over twenty years, that it has modern change and look. There not doing it for the money. Even throughout the changes, It's still the same laughter and touching moments we knew, the same Simpsons we knew.

[ModernSimpsonsRocks]

Why isn't this episode getting the score it deserves? Anything less than 4/5 means that you're just a cynical humorless ex-fan who has no business on this forum. Stop rigging the average score, seriously.

[Homer I Am]

Did Mike Scully write this or has Mike Scully become the show runner again?

[ThankYouComeAgain]

Once again Le Jake gave it 2/5 so its not worth watching for now I'll watch it later

[Prune Tracy]

Why isn't this episode getting the score it deserves? Anything less than 4/5 means that you're just a cynical humorless ex-fan who has no business on this forum. Stop rigging the average score, seriously.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Very minor point but I just re-watched the couch gag and noticed the tv switches in 2007, which makes sense of course but is still something I missed entirely initially. Homer also takes off his shoes in 1998 for some reason...

[Friz]

The ending song, Robot Parade, I bloody loved. I only know the They Might Be Giants version which is a lot more thrashy and has different lyrics - but is this another version? I can hear Harry Shearer quite prominently in it.

Edit: I'm an idiot. It is the They Might Be Giants version, but I've only heard the "adult version" from the Working Undercover for the Man EP. If you want to check out the full song, check it out here on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/1C2bA9nGliA5WfVYh6wYoB

[Bartesque]

The "working hard or hardly working" bit pissed me off.

[alex_on_ice]

This was a very bad episode. The story was just boring to follow (especially in the second half of the episode).

I think the worst thing about this episode is that the story is pointless (it doesn't go anywhere, nothings developped) : we go from Homer needing to stop drinking beer to Burns hiring Robots, to Homer playing baseball with the Robots to Robots that are completely mad and finally to Robots being destroyed by Spingfields inhabitants. It felt like there were mini little stories everywhere and it bored the hell out of me !!!

Couple good jokes but hey if the story doesn't deliver, what's the point ? 7/20 (2/5 on the poll).

4th worst episode of the Season. Treehouse Of Horror XXII, The Ten Per Cent Solution and Politically Inept still beat this episode.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Honestly, I think 2/3 of these people who didn't like this episode, was just because of the robots being apart of the plotline. Maybe, if it was immigrants, foreigners, or possibly genius's who are much better at their jobs, most of you would probably give it a better review. Though, if it were to be robots or anything out of the ordinary yet possible, you would think otherwise.

It could be a disgruntled worker for all I care; if it isn't funny, if it doesn't use up the potential of it's subject matter and if it eats up alot of time then it's a bad episode; regardless of whether or not they're robots. I swear people try to find excuses to justify good ratings. (I respect those who do give good ratings without resorting to excuses).

I wonder about "You Only Move Twice" episode where Hank Scorpio planned to launch an attack against the world governments. That's out of the ordinary, yet possible.

I don't get how it compares to this episode but that moment was one part of what made the episode a classic.

I don't know, I give it a 4/5 because I seen classic episodes that are more odder than this, and this episode was able to maintain it's humor and it's plotline.

What odd episodes, what humor, what plotline? Name names!

Sometimes I think that even though the show has it's 50 to 50 chance of being an hit or miss these days, I also think some of the fans themselves have a 50 to 50 chance of being a supporter or just a downer of the series.

The only 50/50 is guessing whether the episode will suck or not; we may have different ways of judging episodes but we judge them based on whether we enjoy it or not, and basically a majority will not enjoy what's on screen.

Basically I sometimes think that us fans have a "decline in quality" ourselves whether they stick to the classics or continue on. I don't know. Sometimes I think the fans has it's own decline, maybe they haven't realized that you can't judge an episode just because it's in modern times.

Oh look, it's the common "the fans are living in the past" excuse. I like some modern episodes, I'm not living in the past. It's just the episodes we've given mainly suck... We're not judging our opinion based on nostalgia, based on what's on the screen. If we were to live in the past, every episode would be a 1/5.

Sometimes I think that some of you fans just lost that touching feel from classic Simpsons and can't move it to the Modern Simpsons. It's just an assumption. Probably false to most of you guys.

It's not a feeling, it's the stuff that happens that gives us that feeling. Even if we could trick ourselves into taking that feeling and applying it to the Modern Simpsons, it wouldn't be the same. This applies to other forms of media too, and different genres. I know that you want to get your reasons out there but it's best to keep those reasons to yourselves...

Don't always say it's going to be a miss, just by judging it for the series being here for over twenty years, that it has modern change and look.

Like SNL... I remember the argument about the show changing with the times but they don't have to try to be relevant. It's like the show is an old white man trying to be hip.

There not doing it for the money. Even throughout the changes, It's still the same laughter and touching moments we knew, the same Simpsons we knew.

Really... Care to tell me the episodes that seemed rushed, the episodes that had no plot, no characterization and no soul. I can name a lot of episodes that have guest starts appear out of nowhere and a plot that seems written to accommodate a guest star. If they really wanted to do this for the show then they would have less guest stars, have better knowledge of when to end a joke and better plotting. Don't get me wrong, there are some touching moments and inspired but those moments are far and few inbetween compared to the moments where they try to hard and they try to be as thematic and visual with their plots as possible. Ask yourself this, when you watch recent episodes, does it remind you that you're watching a movie with slick visuals?

Also they were doing it for the money, but then it became unprofitable; now they're doing it because they need a job.

[Friz]

Why isn't this episode getting the score it deserves? Anything less than 4/5 means that you're just a cynical humorless ex-fan who has no business on this forum. Stop rigging the average score, seriously.

Yes. That's what we're doing. We're rigging the poll score with our damn opinions.

[Blobulle]

1.5/5 => rounded up to 2 on the poll.
Pretty bad episode.

[Bartesque]

Why isn't this episode getting the score it deserves? Anything less than 4/5 means that you're just a cynical humorless ex-fan who has no business on this forum. Stop rigging the average score, seriously.

[Captain Squid]

No doubt one of the weirder episodes of the season, but I much prefer episodes like this to The D'ohcial Network and Politically Inept. To me, those are the lowest of the low.

I loved the first act, I'm really happy that the Power Plant has gotten a lot of attention this season. Second act was a little weak, mainly because some gags went on too long and there was little more than Homer and the robots. Brent Spiner did a fantastic job! I loved how he and Homer interacted, but I wish they broke their scenes up with a B-story.

THird and fourth act did dip into THOH territory, but I don't think they ever crossed the line into a true THOH tale. For one thing, nobody died (except for the robots) and their existence in this episode was no more crazy then the Itchy & Scratchy killer robots or the freakin' Loch Ness Monster. So once I got over that fact, I enjoyed this episode.

Not the best of the season, but far from the worst. Like I said, I'd take a goofy fun episode like this over another political/technology commentary episode in a heartbeat.

3.5/5, 4/5 for the poll.

Also this amused me:

Last week:


This week:

[Cartoonnetwork]

A mixed bag, for sure.

I was expecting it to be awful or quite good, but it turned out mediocre. It turns out that the story, wacky as it is, could have worked fairly well, even including most of the plot points. The problem was simply that, for the most part, the gags just weren't very good. I hate Homer shouting things for a long time like the "hardly working" part and while some of his other ideas with the robots, like the baseball game or drawing a yellow line that delivers to the canoe, were actually imaginative and the kind of thing Homer would do, other parts like him randomly changing the robot programming by making holes in their heads, seemed a little lazy and not especially funny. And definitely some gags were too long, especially the hardly working rant and the part with the robots dying, which could have been a good joke with better pacing. Burns and Smither were mixed, delivering some of their classic behaviour (I enjoyed Smithers directing the band while Burns talked in the microphone as if they were in old fashioned radio), but often feeling short (as usual, Burns is just not evil enough). Gags like Homer's head being chopped out is the kind of thing that they should avoid in the show. They are unrealistic, they add nothing and they are not funny.

Even with all these flaws, I enjoyed the plot progression and the dialogues of the robots and I got the feeling that this episode would have been very funny if done in Mirkin era. As it is, it was really flawed but still kept me entertained. So maybe a C-.

I think I liked The D'ohcial Network a little more, but I found Politically Inept much worse. I don't mind political commentary if done right, but that was very bad.

[The Governor]

Why isn't this episode getting the score it deserves? Anything less than 4/5 means that you're just a cynical humorless ex-fan who has no business on this forum. Stop rigging the average score, seriously.

Awww...someone didn't get their juice.

Also, why wasn't the 1/5 option "crush, kill, destroy!"?

Honestly, I think 2/3 of these people who didn't like this episode, was just because of the robots being apart of the plotline. Maybe, if it was immigrants, foreigners, or possibly genius's who are much better at their jobs, most of you would probably give it a better review.

Maybe you should stop making blind assumptions. It didn't get a majority of 2/5 votes for being weird, it got them because it was pretty much borderline shit, save for a few good spots. Holidays of Future passed was even more bizarre and that got 50 percent 5/5 votes.

Sometimes I think that some of you fans just lost that touching feel from classic Simpsons and can't move it to the Modern Simpsons. It's just an assumption. Probably false to most of you guys. I don't know. But Like I said, 50 to 50 chance of being an hit or miss in modern times.
Don't always say it's going to be a miss, just by judging it for the series being here for over twenty years, that it has modern change and look. There not doing it for the money. Even throughout the changes, It's still the same laughter and touching moments we knew, the same Simpsons we knew.

Stop crying in your boot.