By 1997 The Simpsons was one of the most popular and most profitable shows of all time. However this success comes with certain drawbacks, with network interference being one of them. When the executives at Fox suggested the writers add a new character who would live with the Simpsons the writers responded with one of the best analysis of the creator/manager relationship in the modern era.
It also helps that the episode is absolutely hilarious from start to finish.
The basic plot runs something like this: The creators of Itchy and Scratchy need to fight the shows’ falling ratings, they create a new ,’radical’ character – Poochie the Dog. How do the Simpsons fit into this? Homer is selected to be the voice of the dog, because well, he has a funny voice and it sets up one of the most awesome Bart/Homer scenes in Simpsons history.
After creating the character, Poochie is given a massive media plug (topped by the headline- Funny dog to make life worthwhile). Unfortunately, the character bombs harder than Waterworld, Coke Zero and Paris Hilton‘s music career combined. The first giveaway about how little thought has gone into this is the absolutely amateur attempt to integrate Poochie into the theme song.
Poochie is introduced, he does a rap , plays the guitar, slams a basketball through a hoop on a bmx (a scene that got great praise in another picture) and then….nothing. He just talks, provoking an angry response.
Homer then realizes that Poochie is for the chop. He makes a speech that moves Myers about the role of the character (after pitching the idea that ‘One, Poochie needs to be louder, angrier, and have access to a time machine. Two, whenever Poochie’s not on screen, all the other characters should be asking “Where’s Poochie”? Three– ‘ before being cut off by Myers.) However Homer is stabbed in the back and the character is removed from the show. Cue Homer sulking, but everything back to the status quo.
The character of Poochie ends as he started. In a slapdash, half assed piece of animation.
This is where having a show within a show works so well. The writers have used this before in Itchy & Scratchy & Marge, when they tackled the subject of controversy and violence in cartoons. The writers show that they totally understand the entire creative process of ‘selling out’ a cartoon. The scene when the kids are used as test subjects is great (particularly the Nelson/Milhouse/guy in Speedos bit) and shows how difficult it is to appeal to kids with their short attentions spam and fantastic imaginations. The point that multimillion dollar industries rely on children to provide their direction, is kinda worrying.
The writers even turn the lens upon themselves, portraying their animated counterparts as snarky, know it all nerds who really cant be bothered to do anything with the character. The writers go along with every idea, removing Homers’ impassioned speech about the role of the characters role and responsibilities at Meyers’ behest. The executive staff also come across poorly. They don’t care for the cartoon and simply want to make more money and preserve the ratings.
Hell they even rip the people who adore the show. The scene where Homer manages to put down the questions of the rampaging nerds of the Androids Dungeon is classic and done in such a way that the scene does not need to be lingered on. This is classic Simpsons’, when they had a back and forth relationship with their fans. As a hardcore fan, the jokes are great – and i wish the modern writers could take this up again.
Here is the scene in full.
Doug: [wearing a T-shirt that says “Genius at Work”] Hi. A question for Miss Bellamy. In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy’s skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
June Bellamy: Uh, well…
Homer: I’ll field this one.
Homer: [to Doug] Let me ask you a question. Why would a man whose shirt says “Genius at Work” spend all of his time watching a children’s cartoon show?
[pause]
Doug: I withdraw my question.
[takes a bite from a bar of chocolate]
Database: Uh, excuse me, Mr Simpson. On the Itchy & Scratchy CD-ROM, is there a way to get out of the dungeon without using the wizard key?
Homer: What the hell are you talking about?
June Bellamy: You’re a lifesaver, Homer. I can’t deal with these hard-core fans.
Best moment? The whole episode showing around Homers’ house, capped by Flanders‘ line of “Homer, that was honestly the best episode of Impy & Chimpy that I’ve ever seen!” This scene has me in stitches every time.It provides a good reason to get a few one liners in- with Jasper’s and Bart’s back and forth being worthy of mention also.
Overall the episode is a prime example of how having two simultaneous layers can make great television. The references are subtle hints , from the William Shatner ‘get a life’ sketch, Jay Leno hiding in the cupboard and the character of Roy channeling the Fonz, that don’t slam you in the face to get their point across. This is a great Simpsons episode that truly captures the , at times, acidic wit and cruel streak in the Simpsons staff.
Also am i the only guy who wants to watch Christmas Ape 1 + 2?
Finally – i don’t own the Simpsons or any material presented in the article.
Related articles
- The Simpsons Top 10- Number 9-Mr Plow (themultimediamassive.com)
The future is here -and as predicted its a throwback to the 1980’s. Toriyama you are a genius. DBZ forever!
Surely – ‘Welcome to Earth’ was a better tagline?
Flashback Friday
First off, apologies for the lateness of this review (anyone guess the reference?), real life intervened this week and meant my time was severely constricted.
The Jungle Book (Disney Version)
This is probably the most enduring children’s movie of all time. You watched it, your siblings watched it, your kids will watch it. It is one of the most famous movies to ever come out of the Disney stable, and it is simply magnificent.
“Watch out Baloo”- Spoilers ahead!
If it need to tell you this story, something went hideously wrong in your childhood. However, just to cover the 1% who missed it, here is a brief synopsis.
Mowgli, a boy who is raised by wolves in a Jungle (A Disney version of India) is adopted by Baloo the bear. The pair go on humorous and occasionally dangerous adventures, which interact with other jungle denizens. Eventually, the dangerous Shere Khan (an eloquent,classy tiger out to get Mowgli) attacks and Mowgli is forced to defend himself.
The characters are adapted beautifully from Rudyard Kipling’s original book.
Unlike many other ‘children’s’ movies, the film actually manages to create characters that do not drive you to the point of insanity. Unlike modern film aimed at youngsters it does not include epileptic fit inducing over the top explosions of graphics, no anal dub step soundtrack designed to seem cool in the trailer that only succeeds into metaphorically drilling into your brain, and no mass references to products,places or things you should buy in real life, that only manage to remove you from the experience of enjoying the movie.
The movie is colorful, funny and contains a great story of ones true nature. The characters are really rounded. The fun loving Baloo contrasts with the more serious Bagheera, the great snake Kaa is a funny villain who is swiftly put in his place where Shere Khan comes along. (There is also a tribute to The Beatles, it’s kinda funny but gets slapped in your face like a wet fish.) Mowgli is a pretty good protagonist, he does pretty much what we would expect (at least until the end, talking animals or a village? Poor decision man cub…)
The film has such a nice setting and amazing characters that you forget that this film is one of the most revolutionary of all time. For the first time, the cartoon characters were made to (admittedly slightly) resemble their voice actors appearance and personality. The animation team used an early version of motion capture to improve their designs. Some of the animation in this scene (Kaa and Shere Khan) is truely breathtaking, the cartoony nature of characters being played to full effect.
Think how important that is. Without developments such as this, there would be no Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, no Kong in the new King Kong and no freaky Will Smith fish in Shark Tale. I kid, I kid.
However that is not the end of developments that this film offered. The film also marked the first major use of celebrities as voice over actors. The film took leading lights from comedy (Phil Harris) , music (Louis Prima) and even the cream of foreign talent(George Sanders.) This is another revolutionary development from the Disney studio. Think of every freaking animated movie these days.
What do they have? That’s right, celebrities. Well this film started all that.
Oh and how could i forget. The songs. The songs!
I have not seen this film for a while. However, this does not stop me knowing every single word to every single song. Just to bring you back to your childhood, peep these links below.
Best moment? King Louie, hands down.This orangutan represents a tour de force performance from Louis Prima. He is funny, cracking jokes and singing really great songs, that when combines with some awesome animation really shows that the fusion of drawn characters and ‘real life’ voices can be a winning combination . (I don’t know why I’m presenting this as news, it is pretty obvious to everyone.)
Triple M rating: 90% : One of the greatest animated movies of all time, with a soundtrack that could grace a musical. When combined with the various technological achievements contain in the movie (and allied to some wonderful performances) it truly is one of the most loved, most important and most worthy films of all time.
I remember seeing this trailer and being absolutely blown away. I was so hyped i immediately bought the game. I was not disappointed.
This is simply the greatest game i have ever played. The gaming calender should read B.S. and A.D (after dragonborn), the game is that good. The storytelling, the characters, the history . I even forgive the game for deleting all my DLC. The music is off the charts, the combat, the depth is unparallelled. There are not many other games where the books are even readable, let alone worth reading. Every game after this that decides to call itself ‘open world’ better step its game up.
The strength of the game is the wide ranging nature of the game play. I spoke to a friend about it and we talk for thirty minutes, barely crossing over mission we had done and places we had been. The game is that big. This is a world that could be interacted with, a whole canvass for us to explore and detail. Even the worst spell in the world was more interested that a bolt standard call of duty pistol.
Now we have had the announcement has been made that the game is wrapping up, we should all celebrate the legacy of the game.
I loved red dead, loved it. This is better. Mass Effect was close, but was too constricted. This is the next generation of gaming, it deserves a viking funeral, presumably in a box made of dragonbone. I can’t wait for what the studio turn out next.
The catchiest jingle in all of media? Probably. (You can hear it for yourself (made awesome by Bart‘s ad lib))
The plot is quite simple- one of Homer’s get rich quick schemes finally pays off. Until the idea is stolen by Barney Gumble. Homer comes up with the idea to plough drives to pay for his car (which he only bought due to the salesman’s whipping noise.) Resorting to desperate measures he pontificates in Church about the God‘s ‘infinite wisdom’ of knowing his prices. Catching a break on some terrible television channel with its surefire money making audience of ‘alcoholics,the unemployable and angry loners.’ Also i agree with Homer, the waiting game sucks- hungry hungry hippos is much more fun.
Eventually his business is a success and he saves the kids from missing school , leading to nice homage to Santino’s death in The Godfather, leading to him getting the key to the city. However, Homer plants the seeds of his own downfall when he tells Barney to follow his dreams.
Which involve Barney shooting out Homers’ tires.
Homer is swiftly run out of business until he crank calls Barney to plow the drive on top of a mountain, using his famous crank calling voice. He swiftly realizes his mistake and rushes to save his friend. A piece of teamwork, some smiting and a huge heatwave mean the episode returns to the status quo.
God smiting at the end is a pretty funny ending, straight up the Simpsons alley. The Adam West spot is also very funny, though it has dated pretty badly . The bat dance needs bringing back however. Homer’s reaction to his car crash is also great with him happily proclaiming ‘Well i got him as good as he got me’, before he realizes his mistake.
We have all been in the situation where our parents have spun their cap around and drop some ‘sick rhymes.’ The sheer embarrassment of the situation is difficult to put into words. The arm waving, the boo-chicka wow wow, is so on point it is uncanny. If you fall outside the 90’s kids demographic, watch out. Either your parents will do it to you in future, or you will do it to your children.
I love this episode. I think it is brilliant and offers a introspective look on the nature of friendship. It also contains a nice satire of the advertising industry ,with Homer’s artistic ad showing that often the simplest advert is the strongest.
The send up of liberals outside the White House is pretty great as well, the sign reading ‘Forget the Alamo’ being a particular highlight.
Funniest moment- easily the pornography. Hands down one of the top ten Simpsons moments, down to a combination of Homer’s ‘brain’ in action and the leering look of smugness on Homer’s face. (Just an aside do not Google Simpsons Pornography – there is some weird stuff out there lol) The quick comment to his brain is also a moment of comedic genius.
Funny image i saw- is Simpsons related. Wonder if they had a big singing and dancing number with some brilliant off key singing from the Australian Homer Simpson. Ah what a ripper from our friends down in Australia- nice work guys!
I don’t own this image,The Simpsons or Australia.
Flashback Friday
The Warriors
Straight up- I have a question
Spoilers ahead!
Following a Coney Island based gang (the titular Warriors), this is one of my favorite movies from back in the day. The Warriors flee after they are framed for a murder of the local gang chief who had called all the gangs to a peace summit. Along the way they are chased by all the gangs in the futuristic dystopian New York. The gangs themselves range from the Baseball Furies, a group of fans who really like their chosen sport, a group of possible Lesbians gangster known as the Lizzies, the Riffs, a militaristic all black gang who effectively run the city and a mysterious,velvet toned DJ who speaks in some old school ‘Jazz Talk.’
Also there are hundreds of smaller,weaker gangs, the police and the sheer distance for the Warriors to contend with. All this depth, combined with some decent (if limited) performances and an extreme styling that really defines the film make this into a fan favorite movie, if not quite a classic.
The leader of the Warriors (Swan, played by Michael Beck,) who becomes chief at the start of the film needs to step up and lead his men back to Coney Island- can he do it?
As an aside – how cool is this poster?
Lets get the negatives out the way- the main characters’ acting is pretty bad and at best average, with clunky lines occasionally peppered with a great turn of phrase (warriors come out an play, the baseball furies dropped the ball etc etc) and the baddies are not that much better (David Patrick Kelly aside- look out for him in 48 hours too,he has an appearance.) However, this really does little damage to the movie. The characters are not memorable, heroic or interesting because they are supposed to be actual gang members. Gangs are not known for their turn of phrase or high brow wit, they are known for being tough a violent. Exactly what all the actors in this film give us.
Secondly, there is a love interest in the form of Mercy (played by Deborah Van Valkenburgh) who seems so tacked on. While getting booty calls is important when you are being chased by 10,000 gangs members out to skin the flesh from your body, picking up a random floozy is probably not the best advice. I don’t know why Swan did this, it was totally out of character.
Now onto the good parts-
The final showdown produces one of the oddest,and most chilling, moments of an odd an chilling movie.
Going on today’s standards the gangs are pretty outrageous. At times they look like a Lady Gaga video mixed with a S+M photoshoot. I’m guessing this was due to the era it was made, with all sort going on in terms of fashion. The wacky costumes could also come from the fact that this is set in the future and the director figured we would all be in some Clockwork Orange wacko fantasy land. Take a look at the gangs in the video below.
You see what i mean? They seem kinda wild compared to ‘our gangs’ but it is kinda cool. The color of the gangs offsets the grey,black and flashing lights of the city. This film is very dark, the entire chase is at night so the lighting from the cityscape provides a neon beam that illuminates the flamboyance of the gangs. The design of the whole city is really great, the grime and decay combined with the gaudy outfits creates a real contrast that sticks in the imagination.
The combat is nice and fisty. The gangs had imposed a ‘no weapons’ ban at the summit and as such the Warriors are down to bare fists and whatever they can carry (and one memorable Molotov Cocktail.) There is a lot of old school violence in this move with baseball bats,knives and trains all used to kill or maim wither The Warriors or their opponents.
The ending is pretty nice, with the Rifts coming and saving the day and wraps everything up pretty neatly. Overall this is an underated flick, it has great style,nice combat and a decent twist on the typical ‘pick ’em off one by one’ plot due to its awesome setting.
Tripe M Score : 76%
I don’t own the warriors,any thing in this review,the videos, YouTube or anything. Please don’t sue.
Reports seem to indicate that the new dlc is coming soon. Now I’m freaking hyped for this as I love Skyrim. (Even though it bugged out and forced me to redownload all my DLC) Any thoughts or opinions on what it should contain? The rumour seems to be red-guard and while that would be dope, i really wanted to stick it to the Altmer, maybe this will be in DLC Number 5!
Seeing as we have had one DLC on a monster,one on a Daedra and one on houses, perhaps one on a new war? I felt this was something missing from the original Skyrim as the ‘battles’ seemed to only have at most ten men per side!
Finallly I’ll leave this. Just something to get us all hyped! Pure manliness! (Should be the new anthem for humanity imo)
I dont own skyrim or anything else in this article. Please don’t sue me.
I was motivated to write a short piece on what has to be one of the most unusual games of all time. You can find the game here and it is called Pyongyang Racer.
It is basically a drive round the streets of Pyongyang in a car, while trying to avoid the pitfalls of driving off the road,other cars and crashing. Actually only the first of these is a major concern as there seems to be few other cars on the road and you don’t seem to be able to hit anything anyway. However, the staying on the road is rather more challenging as the car handles like a kneecapped Bambi on Ice. Perhaps the ‘high tech’ North Korean tractor simulator has given the other drivers of Pyongyang the reflexes cats on a sugar rush, but this western decadent found the road rather challenging.
Rather worryingly, the virtual traffic officer seems more interested in telling you not to stare at her than concentrate on your driving. Ironically the sudden appearance of a large text bubble blocking half the screen, including your car, makes this even more challenging.
This game has been made as an advert for the government of North Korea but while it may have bigger problems at the minute, this game is a humorous highlight in an otherwise terrible conflict. Hopefully people on both sides can interact through the medium of video games, rather than the medium of bullets.
themultimediamassive 
