Notes for NABF14 (500 Keys)

Despite a bit of a silly start (the cake setpiece), that was a fairly fun romp, with the sort of multithreaded chaos we've seen in 3F18 (22 Short Films about Springfield) and CABF14 (Trilogy of Error). It didn't feel too gimmicky (it was mostly set up by the drawer of keys and not really brought attention to), and that helped. The mystery aspect was a little convoluted, especially once the bus part came in, but eh, still hard to knock the episode as a whole. See also far below.

DYN: ...a new solo, and another new instrument (violin), with end credits to match? ..."go beavers"? not bad at all! ...one of the people Bart moons turns into a werewolf (sigh)? ...that train toy sure has a lot of energy from one winding? ...Wiggum defends not being able to bend down by saying things on the ground are out of his jurisdiction, not long after he's seen chasing Homer in a police blimp?

Previous episode references 3F14: Episode title (somehow) used to label a key from one of Homer's previous jobs 7F22: The first guy to take back mail he'd sent had sent an angry letter to his boss HABF04: Secret key to the school 9F07: Key to the city CABF06: Could that be Nibbles' skeleton in the hamster ball? (Anti- CABF06: Cirque du Soleil named accurately here) BABF07: Lisa tries for a high-visibility expose in a school door but is one step behind 5F11: Otto drives a bus off a bridge EABF11: Fake school photo op

Meta meta meta -Homer's license plate = NABF14 -Homer indicates keys from his many previous jobs, including one for "Homer the Smithers" (I actually couldn't make out any more, but I was watching in SD) -Lovejoy "haw haw"s Bart, and later, Nelson is seen making a decorative "haw haw" in wood shop -Chalmers points out to Skinner that they're always talking about the Simpson kids

Oops! The blackboard gag pointed out something I hadn't noticed last week (I knew the proper spelling but hadn't spotted the typo): in NABF13's first airing, guest star Kristen Schaal was credited as Kristen Schall. Oops! (I confirm it for the east coast. Was this fixed for the west coast? Don?) But I assume that will be fixed for all of NABF13's repeats (and syndication/home video) - so, with the error less apparent, will this episode's blackboard change too? (Other show- specific ones such as the New Orleans apology in 9F01/9F02 and the Butterfinger bit in DABF04 still make sense even if you have to take a guess. This, less so.)

Finally There are a few things I don't get.

-Is the title/general plot a reference to something? It's not really a pun by itself, and considering the general theme of the episode and similiarity to, say, Futurama's "Three Hundred Big Boys (4ACV16)", including the gradually intertwining plots and title of course, I have to assume there's a common reference point.

-The "cloud gag" featured a character voiced by A(lbert) Brooks, possibly Scorpio? Russ Cargill?, flying a jet fighter with what looked like the word Global on it, saying "it was this or a Porsche!" Is there anything to get here? (If it was the word Global, would that be related to the Canadian broadcaster that shows OFF?)

On Sun, 15 May 2011, Matt Garvey wrote:

I don't know. The golf ran late, so we saw no The Simspson here in Montreal (I suppose in later time zones they could fit it in). Global had scheduled The Simpsons for 7pm, then Family Guy, so the schedule would be empty for Celebrity Apprentice at 8pm.

Golf ran to 7:30pm, and they just started with Family Guy. Who knows when the episode may be seen for those of us who couldn't see it tonight. Chances are good they will simply forget it until FOX schedules a rerun. That's happened before.

Michael

Reply is to a message from: Matt Garvey

It was Scorpio. I think the side said "Globex," which was the name of his company.

Mike

##MMR 2.61(beta). !link MG 05-15-11 17:55

Another feed of the episode has it as: Guinea pigs should not be used as "guinea pigs"

Like MABF14 (the South Park one), this was probably a fairly late addition, and perhaps some stations used a pre-feed instead or something. I'd expect to see the guinea pigs gag on all repeats.

I checked it again - it's Globex, Scorpio's company from 3F23 (I didn't put 2 and 2 together - but I also couldn't have named the company off the top of my head). And Scorpio inside. If there's any significance to the jet and Porsche, I don't know (midlife crisis? doesn't seem his style), but there may not need to be.

Matt Garvey wrote:

It was spelled "Schall", at least on the HD feed. Speaking of which, the west coast HD feed for NABF14 had the Schaal/Schall blackboard quote.

-- Don