The Awful Little Things in Simpsons Animation

[Flimpson Tide]

Are there little moments in the animation where the scene is okay, but then an additional action that's quite unrealistic is tacked on that makes it truly awful?

Here's my example. I was watching Replaceable You tonight and when Mr. Burns tries to hug that lesbian, she crunches him into a little ball and throw him into a wall. Okay, that isn't awful, but it certainly isn't laugh-out-loud funny. But then why the fuck does he scuttle away like a fucking crab? What the hell was that?

I can't think of particular episodes, but I also hate when Homer for some reason eats stuff that isn't even edible. I think there's a couch gag where it happens, but that moment in Mr. Spitz Goes to Washington with the Fox advertisement crawling across the screen is one. Would have been a lot more bearable if he crushed it with his fist or flung it away. But who the hell eats something that annoys them?

Spider Pig swallowing Homer's cell phone in the movie is pretty goddamn pointless.

I'm sure some people have some pet peeves with the new opening, too. Like people have brought up Marge's car flinging Homer through the wall. After seeing it once it's not funny week to week, so they may as well just had him sprint into the doorway like always.

[ManiacalRoboKiller]

Umm in The Dad that knew too little I hated the "joke" where Homer ate pants then pulled the zipper out of his mouth.

[Matty]

Spider Pig swallowing Homer's cell phone in the movie is pretty goddamn pointless.

It made sense in the theatre: it makes you think someone didn't shut off their cellphone.


Your topic made me think of the jukebox scene in Homer the Moe. Also Mr Burns with the ET neck in The Fool Monty. Or his skull collapsing. Or that whole sequence after he jumps off the cliff.

[wiley207]

In the 2009-present opening, the animation of Marge nodding her head after Maggie is placed in her shopping cart and Maggie and Gerald shaking fists at each other looks like it was done in Adobe Flash. The whole show would probably look AWFUL in Flash animation, but that's just me.
Marge just nodding wasn't really needed; I would've just have her do her classic "relieved" reaction, then pan to Maggie and Gerald threatening each other.
Additionally, the opening didn't REALLY need Lenny and Carl being startled by the whistle, did it? Having Burns and Smithers there is good enough for me (even better than that generic worker in the season one opening!)

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

This topic can easily apply to the majority of the Zombie Seasons since alot of it is robotic and stiff; wonder if anybody has found a truly awful little thing in the animation.

[cymek]

Lisa "scooping" with Santa's Little Helper in "Judge Me Tender". It was one of those "WTF?!" scenes when I first saw it.

[Dark Homer]

[biffwestwood]

How about Bart shaping the butt of SLH to form a face of Grampa in Homer's Paternity Coot?

[zach]

awful

[CousinMerl]

^When I think of it, it sort of looks like Bart is giving us the middle finger.

And yes, that part in the new intro when Marge becomes a robot a second time is not good.

[Wooster]

^ On the latter image Marge smiles exactly or even before she sees Maggie. She's robot whereas it takes realistically a moment by the previous Marge for noticing Maggie. And you can see she's relieved while robot Marge is jammed to its position.

[Friz]

Marge uses WD40 in her hair now too.

[Mr Black]

awful

what episode is that?

[HMS pinafore]

The movie

[parklife]

that's the lowest quality image jerkass homer has ever posted

[Itchy]

A lot of the new couch gags. Like the ones where CBG is eating meals that looks like the family. That idea itself is good but it is so long. Same with the one where the couch comes to life and runs away. Fun idea but it's ruined cause it goes on and on for what feels like forever.

[Flimpson Tide]

The only positive I can see in the second image is the animation is kind of cool when Maggie pops out of the shopping bag. I like the crisp colors of the computerized coloring compared to the drabbier yellow skin they have in the first one, but maybe the animators need to stop using so many straight-edges and just let the characters wiggle around more.

[Dark Homer]

The only positive I can see in the second image is the animation is kind of cool when Maggie pops out of the shopping bag. I like the crisp colors of the computerized coloring compared to the drabbier yellow skin they have in the first one, but maybe the animators need to stop using so many straight-edges and just let the characters wiggle around more.

the guy who animated it wrote a thing about it on deviantart...

4. The super market-This whole scene was mine. I didn't like what they did where they cut pieces of body parts and moved them in the computer ie. Maggie's head etc. It looks like it was done in flash. About the Marge turn, I had originally done a version where she did a nice head turn but, again, they didn't want it. "Just have a simple head turn because we want the joke to be Maggie and the unibrow baby," they told me. I didn't know they were going to stiffen it up that much, I'm just defending myself because that seems to be the first thing people mention is Marge. They kept my Maggie scan and popping out of the bag though and in my defense they added the fist shaking later, I didn't do those 2 drawing cycle *eck*

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

At least there's an explanation. I'm with him, it does look like it was made in Flash.

[Flimpson Tide]

More from the artist:

The reason why the show has stiffend up is because there was an era when fox would tell directors that we had to draw every pose we drew perfectly on model. No distorting of the forms of any kind. It has slowly been dieing down the past couple seasons but they still insist on making the show more about the writing and less about the looks. Every once in a while we'll get let loose and we can do some fun stuff but on the whole don't blame the artists please. Believe me all of us working there would love to express the characters in more ways but there's just so much we can do.

Dang. And here I thought this was the show with no network interference.

[zach]

that's the lowest quality image jerkass homer has ever posted

the quality matches the horribleness of the image.

[The Governor]

More from the artist:

Dang. And here I thought this was the show with no network interference.

I wonder if he means it's the art director who is making them keep things stiff, or is it someone at the corporate level meddling?

[Homer I Am]

I hope we get good animation for the next season.

[Bert Stanton]

The eyes in I Married Marge

[Monty Burns]

I think they're really cute those eyes. It happens in a few Series 3 and 4 episodes.

[zach]

i love the huge pupils.

[Bartesque]

I was watching Replaceable You tonight and when Mr. Burns tries to hug that lesbian, she crunches him into a little ball and throw him into a wall. Okay, that isn't awful

Um, sounds like it is to be honest.

the quality matches the horribleness of the image.

Which episode is it from?

[zach]

the Movie.

[lolcats]

the quality matches the horribleness of the entire movie.

Just fixin' it.

[zach]

yeah that too.