REVIEW: "The Blunder Years" (Spoilers Ahoy!)

OPENING BLACKBOARD GAG : " I Am Not Charlie Brown On Acid"

OPENING COUCH GAG: OFF come into the living room in a sweeping pan effect similar to a scene in "The Matrix". (recycled)

PLOT SYNOPSIS: Wanting to make up to Marge for a cruel practical joke he and Bart played on her, Homer takes the family out to dinner at the Pimento Grove. There, Mezmero the Hypnotist takes Homer back to when he was twelve years old: and Homer suddenly starts screaming! In fact, he can't stop until Marge uses a narcotic tea she just happens to have at home to cause Homer to relax and bring a repressed memory to the forefront: a memory of a day when he, Lenny, Carl and Moe spent a couple of days at the Springfield Reservoir - and where Homer made a gruesome discovery, one that may hold a clue to what happened to Smithers' father.

MY REVIEW: Flashback episodes have usually been pretty good during the entire Simpsons run, and here we have the makings of a pretty good one again - it's neat to see the friendship that Homer has with Lenny, Carl and Moe and how they came to their current cameraderie.It's just a shame, though, when Homer casually throws away that cameraderie for most of the rest of the episode (apart from Moe's little explanation of "what really happened" right at the end, which is amusing if not gut-busting funny). There's also some problems with continuity regarding characters' ages (see GOOFS). The short B-plot of Marge's obsession with the mascot of Burly Towels, not to mention the product itself (great product, BTW!) is pretty good, and it even re-appears to solve a particular problem at the end. And for all those of you who've complained about too many gruesome moments as of late: well, let's hope you hadn't eaten a big plate of pestomagoom before you watched, because Homer's childhood discovery of the corpse is particularly gory . All in all, a good little episode that could've been better (B)

GOOFS (disclaimer: a wizard must have done it)

- isn't Fat Tony much older than Homer and the other guys? He should've been in at least his twenties in that flashback.

- Smithers seems to have gotten much younger - in "The 138th Episode Spectacular" Troy McClure mentioned that Smithers was 38 years old, yet here he's at the most 31 years old. (then again, Troy also mentioned that Smithers was a bachelor, he's actually been married and divorced).

- it was intimated in "Bart After Dark" that Smithers' dad was very much alive: when Burns was aghast that he went to Maisson Derrierre, Waylon explains that his "parents told me to...give it a try!" (Smither's mom could have remarried after Burns told her the cock and bull story about how Dad died).

MAY NOT MEAN ANYTHING, BUT POSSIBLE CANADIAN REFERENCE: Burns' hair and clothing style in the plant flashback similar to that of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, who was equally foppish around in the same time frame (early 1970s). And ever notice how much Mr. Burns resembles Trudeau?

CULTURAL REFERENCES:

SKELETOR: this isn't the first time Mr. Burns' appearance has been compared to that of the enemy of He-Man, an evil megalomaniac with a skull-face bent on world domination. The two characters were on the _Masters Of The Universe_ half-hour toy commercial popular with young kids in the 1980s (and was later done as a live action movie with Frank Langella as Skeletor battling with Dolph Lundgren's He-Man).

"MR. SANDMAN" - a popular 1940s pop tune, the most famous version being done by The Andrews Sisters in perfect three-part harmony. (Emmylou Harris would also have a hit with this in the late seventies/early eighties). This was definitely the coolest part of the episode, with Lenny, Carl and Homer singing this in harmony - without changing gender....

"THE NUTTY PROFESSOR" - Frink's transmogrification into a swinging super-stud a reference to the classic original Jerry Lewis comedy from 1960 (which was remade with spotty results with Eddie Murphy in the 1990s). Appropriate, as Frink is based on Lewis' character Professor Julius F. Kelp from this movie, right down to the hair, glasses and buck teeth.

OOPS! Forgot about tonight's guest:

PAUL NEWMAN: legendary American actor, his film debut was the starring role in a sword and sandles Biblical movie called _The Silver Chalice_ in the 1950s that was a real stinker. However, Paul soon bounced back from that turkey and made a name for himself in such classics as _Hud_, _Cool Hand Luke_ , _The Hustler_ , _The Life and Times Of Judge Roy Bean_ , _Slap Shot_ and many other films. Nominated many times by the Academy for his excellent perfomances, he finally got a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in the sequel to _The Hustler_, _The Color Of Money_ .

Among his many films were two classics he made with Robert Redford, _Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid_ and _The Sting_ , both of which benefitted from the two stars' chemistry between them in witty repartee and acting off each other.

These days Paul has another concern going - his Newman's Own food products, which he developed himself (he has a reputation for being an excellent gourmet cook). He started with popcorn and salad dressing, and has now expanded to other foodstuffs, he's even started a sister line based around his daughter's food creations. It's also a sideline with a generous benefit: Newman donates all his profits from his food business to charity.

Er yes that's all well and good but 'He-Man' was never mentioned tonight.

And not that goddamn Disneyfied version, either. The one that made Fred Murray claw his way out of the grave and stalk Michael Eisner for six straight days.

Somebody claiming to be Alex Cain wrote in news:[email]:

Er, don't you mean Fred MacMurray?

Both.

The hypnotist calls Mr. Burns "Skeletor."

Yes, I realize that, but the name 'He-Man' was never mentioned.

ARE YOU EATING PIE AGAIN? STOP THAT.

Frank

If a main character in a TV show is mentioned, then I obvious that the TV show itself is being referenced. Skeletor was in He-Man --> Skeletor was mentioned --> He-Man was referenced.

Skeletor is not a 'main character.' The 'main character' would be He-Man.

Skeletor was in He-Man --> Skeletor was

You are to idiocy as this thread is to . . .

been

with a

the

young

TV

<turn off your sarcasm detectors> My mistake. In that case I guess Bart's not a main character, neither is Marge or Lisa. Homer is obviously the only main character, since a TV show is only allowed to have one main character. <ok, I think it's safe to turn them back on>

Whether or not you consider Skeletor a main character doesn't matter (although since every episode involved him I would say he is) it's still a reference to the show which is all the guy was saying...why are you being so difficult? Besides, if you'll look, he noted it as a reference to "Skeletor" not the show "He-Man" he just mentioned He-Man in explaining who Skeletor was for clarification...so get the hell over it already.

Kevin

Kevin Madden wrote:

    I thought the show was called "Masters of the Universer".
    -megafrim

Are you paying attention? No one said the name He-Man was mentioned. The name 'Skeletor' was, who is He-Man's enemy. The original poster was mentioning this as a pop culture reference and also noting that it was not the first time Burns has been compared to him.

Kevin

Alex Cain wrote:

Hmm, I'm not sure which movie you mean. I'm thinking of the Jerry Lewis one. I don't remember one w/ Fred Macmurray. then again the only movies I've seen w/ him are The Absent-Minded Professor and Shaggy Dog.

Drunk and full of pie, Greg Bair wrote:

Yeah. Let's not confuse "Absent-Minded Professor" (with the Flubber, glavin) and "Nutty Professor" (with the Jerry Lewis, and the hay hay it hurts me)

On Mon, 10 Dec 2001, The Rack wrote:

This is actually quite funny. Because a lot of old Disney films have been remade in recent years, by none other than Disney. "The Parent Trap" remake was on ABC just on Saturday. Fred MacMurry just might have crawled out of his grave, because The Absent-Minded Professor was remade a few years back, starring Robin Williams.

Actually, that movie was remade twice, because there was TV version starring Harry Anderson in the late eighties.

There are some others of those remade for TV Disney movies floating around. At one time, I'd see a listing for a movie I remembered from when I was a kid, but it would turn out to be the remake. Nothing worse than expecting to see Kurt Russell, and instead seeing Kirk Cameron, in those tennis shoes.

Michael

ohhhh but why not?

It doesn't matter --- Fred would have a fit over how Disney screws up and changes movies like they do today --- don't you remember the 'Flubber' fiasco? Michael Eisner is an asshole.

"Alex Cain" wrote in message news:[email]...

Yeah. It was *so stupid* the way he came along and saved Disney, after they hadn't had a hit film in 15 years. What an asshole.

Dr Music P.S. Parking was ample.

I haven't read all the other reviews and threads, but here are my thoughts. This was right in the middle for the season so far. It was much more interesting than TOH12 and more clever than Homer the Moe, but not as funny as Parent Rap. It was pretty close to Hunka Hunka Burns in its tone, style, and approach, although it replaced that episode's characterization with a more gimmicky type of plot.

I can see this episode being torn to shreds by the more sacrosanct members of alt.tv.simpsons, like the way The Principal and the Pauper was. People could view this as a disrespectful "tampering" with the essence of the characters. Ian Maxtone-Graham is one of that crowd's most hated writers, partly because he admitted he had barely watched the show before he joined the staff 5 years ago and is perceived as playing fast and loose with the history and tradition of the show in terms of plot and tone. This episode played like crazy with continuity, if not rewriting the show's history, certainly filling in blanks in ways that might not be accepted by longtime fans. I'm sure the hardcore fans will find one continuity error upon another if they really try.

But I don't hold that type of thing sacred. I don't hold this sort of thing against a Simpsons writer since the show has blatantly thumbed its nose at the type of continuity that Trekkies or comic book fans like to get obsessed over. This is a show that said nothing is sacred and that included that strict interpretation of continuity. At the same time, I agree it can be lazy writing to spend all your time making people go "wow" by reinventing a character's history. That type of thing doesn't really have that effect unless you do consider the character's history sacred to begin with.

I may be making too much of that though, since the episode wasn't entirely about that and had a story to tell of its own. Like Hunka Hunka Burns it didn't succeed as a laugh fest, but it did tell a more complete story which respected the sense of drama the show used to achieve marvelously moreso than episodes in the past few years that thumb their nose at it by coming up with "surprise" 3rd acts that don't resolve anything and instead try to say, "Haha, isn't that funny, you were expecting a good ending and we threw you a curve by throwing the plot out the window...the whole episode was a joke, dummy!" Now that is lazy writing which totally throws out the brilliant weaving of storytelling and humor that made The Simpsons great.

As the story was in this episode I thought it had a lot of intriguing moments. Maxtone-Graham succeeded here in moving the plot forward with a lot of bold, attention-grabbing gestures, reminiscent of his City of New York or Trash of the Titans episodes. He uses the cartoon medium really effectively that way by highlighting plot points in a stark fashion without overwhelming us, the way Homer's screaming, the diving into the ground, or the dead body might in live-action. All that really grabbed my attention and drew me in. I liked the playing on continuity with Smithers, and it's great to get some really spot-on Mr. Burns moments two weeks in a row, although his appearance here was a predictable end to a story that seemed to be building us up for something more exciting. I thought it was also good here how supporting characters didn't just seem to be doing walk-ons but seemed motivated to be there by the plot, although putting Lenny and Carl let alone Moe into Homer's flashback does seem to be playing with continuity a little unnecessarily when using Barney would have been more traditional and probably funnier.

I think the weakness of the episode lies around the margins. It held my interest but I didn't feel like everything paid off as much as I expected. The Brawny towel gag was cute, but it hardly seemed like it fit into the rest of the episode or was consistent with the rest of the story. I think too many characters got involved in this...Lenny, Carl, Moe, Lisa, Bart, and Marge...this cast could have been trimmed down because by the end you realized their presence wasn't meaningful. The episode didn't follow through with the theme of examining Homer's psyche either. Once we find out what was causing it, that whole theme gets forgotten and it turns into a mystery. Although they could have worked in more and better jokes, I thought more than any episode in recent memory, the vocal performances themselves were done so well, especially Hank Azaria's, that they totally transcended the scripted material and elicited laughs for their own sake. Overall I was impressed how much this episode held my attention even if it didn't feel totally satisfying by the end.

Of course it's ironic this episode was called "The Blunder Years," seeing as it is Mike Scully's last as executive producer and that title arguably sums up his 4-year reign, in which the writers made more blunders than under any other regime in the show's lifespan.