A couple beefs

All in all, this was a great episode - Al Jean is really taking it under his wing. But the couch was a little strangely-animated (and it was the second short opening in a row!)...my major problem is the ball of people rolling down the street. Don't get me wrong; the episode was great, and I'm not just looking for something to complain about. In fact, pretty much everything else was hilarious or nearly so, but that seemed like such a major transgression against the physics of the Simpsons' universe, it actually caused me to stop laughing at that point. But again, everything else was great! I picked up soon after. That's my contribution.

On Sun, 20 Jan 2002 20:42:44 -0500, Matt Garvey wrote:

pfft...how else are oyu gonna weigh a town?

You have a point...there had to be some way to weigh them, but it seemed too cartoony (in the style of Looney Tunes or something) to be able to happen in Springfield.

[email] wrote:

I did like the "not again" line from Moleman.

Me too

Do you mean, "too cartoony ...to be able to happen in Springfield" as in Homer falls some thousands of feet after a skateboard jump goes bad and lives to tell about it? Or "too cartoony ...to be able to happen in Springfield" as in Mr. Burns gets shot by Maggie?

I don't mean to patronize, but you're sort of complaining that a cartoon is too much like a cartoon. I completely understand your Springfield reference, but there are a great many cartoonish things that took place in Springfield well before Scully sunk his fangs in and sucked much of it's relative reality dry.

Maybe I'm just a little over-tired.

BTW- I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's episode.

Hmm...I guess I hadn't thought of that. Well, I guess I have to sort of take it back...it did seem a bit off though, even though clearly there have been examples of cartoony behavior in the past - not that I think it should just be a drawn version of real life or anything...something just struck me as strange about it. By the way, I don't think Maggie shooting Mr. Burns is really that cartoony...that could happen. I mean, people DO get shot and still live, and a one-year old baby could probably pull the trigger on a gun (though I admit that unlike a real 1-year-old, Maggie seems to have known what she was doing). Oh well...sorry.

Jason Saslow wrote:

A one year old could pull the trigger on a cap gun maybe, but not a real gun. Maybe if the baby was able to muster the coordiantion to use both hands to pull the trigger it might have the strength, but still doubtful.

kevin

On Mon, 21 Jan 2002 04:15:12 -0600, Kevin Madden wrote:

Perhaps Maggie, in her infinite strength and wisdom, created a warp in the Eath's gravitational field to create a ball, utilizing the population of Springfield

IT probabely is unlikely for the revolver that Mr. Burns had. If it were a 9mm glock I would say that a 1 year old could do it with a single finger. Some of those guns take unbelievabely little effort to pull the trigger. "Kevin Madden" wrote in message news:[email]...

take it

examples

drawn

about it.

cartoony...that

old baby

real

well...sorry.

On Mon, 21 Jan 2002, A. White stated this considered view. Waking from my doze, I hastily scrawled -

Yes, but it's a standing joke on the show that Burns is as weak as a baby, so it he could pull the trigger, Maggie could!

Don't get me wrong, the population ball itself didn't make me laugh as it wasn't particularly funny (though the suicide jumper was), but I didn't find it to be a weird occurrence for Springfield.

I liked the episode a lot too -- the pace seemed snappier and the jokes funnier than a lot of recent episodes. But the ball of people just kind of fell flat for me.

I think cartoony humor works best as the punchline to a gag, ie. things bursting into flame upon impact, cobras. It's when the cartoony humor is a plot point that has its own effect on the rest of the show that it becomes lame, ie. elf jockeys, nerd sweat. When the cartooniness is a throwaway gag, it's funny and then it's over and the show moves on to other things, but when the whole show or half of the show is based on it, it loses the funny quickly.

(And Maggie being able to shoot Mr Burns may be unrealistic or even impossible, but not cartoony.)

(And 'cartoony' is a word that looks really weird after you type it half a dozen times.)

(Cartoony cartoony cartoony cartoony. Try saying it out loud over and over.)

It was a bit strange but made room for the funny suicide leap. Not all of the surrealism is bad though. One of my favorite parts of the show are the gratuitous fires and explosions. One of my favorites was when homer managed to set cereal on fire. "Matt Garvey" wrote in message news:[email]...

too

in

under

people

I agree completely with you... I'm totally against the new "surreal" direction the Simpsons has taken in recent years, they just can't pull it off (nor should they be trying), it almost always comes across as being ridiculous.

That said, it's nice to see this episode "toned down" a bit... hopefully it's a return to the tone & style of earlier seasons.

-L.C.

On Sun, 20 Jan 2002 20:42:44 -0500, Matt Garvey wrote:

"Matt Garvey" wrote in message news:[email]...

It was a math gag. A pyramid becoming a sphere? Absurd! What is this, comic sections?

Since the writers were going to invoke Willy Wonka, maybe Veruca Salt (not the band) should have shown up to meet the Duff Book officials:

(Homer lifts Maggie above human pyramid, official gets to two Mississippis.)

Veruca: (only faintly blue) Wait! I think I've got it this time! (begins to blow big bubblegum bubble)

Official: Fifth largest, fourth largest, third largest, second largest...Oh, my. Have I ever been more excited?

Official 2: (flips through book) Yes...(insert joke, maybe a good Dartmouth one?)

(Unfortunately, Veruca's bubble bursts short of her goal, coating everyone with sugary stickiness. The pyramid falls apart but naturally arrives at the smallest possible surface area. The ball of connected humans rolls away toward the weigh station.)

Another good gag, after Homer's cliffhanging, would have been Lenny showing up late (first 'MOO', now this).

Lenny: (looks around wildly in wrong direction) Oh, no! Why can't I find the human pyramid?

George Leigh Mallory: (takes Lenny by shoulders and turns him around, points to 'mountain' of humans) Because it's there!

Hee hee!

--Punkass Crab

Veruca was the stuck up girl. The bubble gum girl was Violet(as in, "Violet! you're turning violet, violet!").Duh

"Punkass Crab" wrote in message news:[email]...

"Howard Slater" wrote in message news:1M038.316$[email]...

"Violet!

Then replace 'Veruca' with 'Violet'. Simple.

--Punkass Crab