Notes for FABF16 (Midnight Rx)

After waiting over a month for a new Simpsons episode (but at least having time to go completely through the season 5 DVDs in that time), I feel pretty happy about "Midnight Rx" (insert your own bad prescription for [symptom] pun here). It was a topical episode, to be sure, but at the same time kind of a lighthearted romp. That said, I'm not going to hold it to many more standards than a decent plot and consistent humor. The plot and its development worked well (and it was pretty full, too; no time for a B story, except the standard Act I setup), and had a couple interesting twists; the episode was pretty funny throughout, except for a couple groan/wince moments (sanding fingerprints comes to mind) and a few rake scenes (Krusty's bipolar fit, the drugs spilling). In addition, the characterization wasn't that bad for an episode of this

type, with the only annoying thing being the self-awareness of being funny. Having now listed why it's a good episode by saying what wasn't bad about it, I'll list a few things I found particularly amusing or interesting: Apu and Flanders' religious debate, Flanders' Canadian counterpart, the basic setup (Apu and the coffee) for the drugs being discovered, the French translator, and Wiggum's apparently lack of object permanence (that is the term, right?). So in summary, "Midnight Rx" was an enjoyable episode...nothing outrageously special, but mostly full of fun. B+

Previous episode references DABF06: Mention of Canada's healthcare system 7G01, 7G09: Nothing out of the ordinary happens in the couch gag CABF05: Air and Space Museum mentioned 7F05, 3F14: SNPP event held at a public place 1F08: Plywood Pelican like Spruce Moose (see also below) 9F15: So long, prescription drug plan! AABF02: That song ("White Rabbit"?) played in reference to a drug theme DABF09: Los Souvenir Jaquitos return 4F15: Homer masterminds a smuggling operation DABF03: Homer assists in one, as well as Apu and Burns AABF22: Various drugs being combined and drug names bandied about, like one scene here FABF20: Apparently Apu didn't desert his family for good (hooray) 1F13: Homer identified as a "former US astronaut" 1F11: Sideshow Mel is lactose intolerant 8F09: The ending ("good news") reminds me a bit of this episode's ending

Other references Speed 2, I think: The sequence of the plane approaching Wiggum's car and

finally hitting it just slightly seems to parallel a scene from this movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Just in case anyone didn't get it, Smithers in a glass coffin and Burns rescuing him with a "kiss" is out of this story/movie

Goofs: -Bart knows more men than Homer and Burns. (I know this is really picking apart the joke, but come on.) -That was not an IMAX movie, or at least wasn't shown in one of the specialized giant theaters.

Other notes: This season pretty much qualifies for longest holdover ever: -6 episodes (FABF16, 19-23) beats the previous records of 5 ([CDE]ABF18-22). -Latest in the calendar year for a new production season to start (all previously had started before the new year, but the GABFs won't start till 1/30/05) - I thought they'd at least straddle the December/January line for a few years! -FABF16 is the lowest-numbered holdover (ignoring the 3G episodes), beating BABF17. -Second-latest date for a production series to finish (ignoring 3G again), beating out BABF22 (1/7) and 3F24 (1/5), but 4F24 holds the record and probably will continue to for quite some time (3/8). However, don't forget that seasons have been starting later in recent years; in terms of airing order within a season (ignoring 3G once again), FABF16 was only the 6th episode in the season, which doesn't hold a candle to 3F24 and BABF22 (both 9th) or 4F24 (17th). Also, this is only the second-longest time period from the start of a broadcast season to the end of the holdovers: 168 days till 4F24, 70 days till 3F24 and FABF16, and 67 days till BABF22. If you've made it through this whole explanation and don't know why I'm ignoring the 3Gs: They were 4 special episodes made during season 7 by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, but not aired until seasons 8 (3G01, 3G03) and 9

(3G02, 3G04). It kind of wrecks the fun to include them, and they are special cases anyway. (If I made a mistake in any of the above notes, please let me know. I'd rather have it be right.)

Deleted scenes: Someone else is bound to look at this more carefully... the only thing I

remember seeing in an ad but not the episode was a remark from Homer about crossing the Canadian border when he thought it was Mexico.

Alliteration, rhyme, it's all good: The "Plywood Pelican" is naturally a reference to Howard Hughes' "Spruce

Goose." There's more information at http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020726.html, for anyone who wants to

compare stats with Burns' plane.

Bart's comment about Mr. Burns is a "Manchurian Candidate" reference. I did not see the new movie. But I remember it from the old Sinatra/Harvey/Landsbury one.

Aaron "Space Museum" Hirshberg

I

prescription

to

humor.

too;

to

spilling).

this

wasn't

"Midnight

mostly

theme

like

ending

and

out

(all

December/January

this

I'm

by

and 9

I'd

thing I

"Spruce

to

Assuming you saw the episode on the East Coast (your post time was Jan 16, 6:48 pm (Pacific time); how did you put together this submission in only an hour and 15 minutes???

The show ended at 8:30 EST (5:30 Pacific) and there now is no delay in Google posts.

That's A LOT of cross referencing to previous episodes, observations and opinions to this episode in such a short period of time. What's the deal?

888eight888 wrote:

Um, Iunno... It's not a race, of course, but I'm usually done sooner than this... there are also a couple people besides me who post lengthy reviews and capsule submissions shortly after the episode airs (the rest, like Don and Benjamin, seem to prefer to let things sink in a little more, re-watch it...), and it doesn't strike me as anything special.

When I watch a new episode, I jot down notes as it goes by - pretty much little reminders for what I'd like to list, like previous episode references, goofs, and longer comments. Occasionally I'll do a brief bit of research (e.g., where was X used before?) during commercials, or do some other recap stuff for the short review; after it's done, I make them all pretty-like and take a short time to think about what was good or bad. If it helps you make sense of it, I can associate particular events with their episodes pretty quickly.

Either he borrowed Xino's time machine, or, ... or, ... it's the reeferino.

Air And Space Museum

In alt.tv.simpsons, on the "Notes for FABF16 (Midnight Rx)" thread, Matt Garvey wrote:

That made it to the show. Or at least, there was a gag where Homer confused Canada with Mexico. Abe proposes going "across the border" for drugs. In the next scene, Homer tells the border guard that he and Abe are "gringos" who came to spend "mucho dinero." The guard says, "Welcome to Canada," and that's when Homer realizes his mistake.

In case you or anyone else cares: Aside from taping it, the first time I watch an episode, I do it like anyone else would, without taking notes, etc. When I rewind the tape and watch it again, I make a list similar to yours. Then, I write the review. The actual review part takes the most time to write, since that's not just reciting a list of DYNs and references. "Midnight Rx," not counting the note-taking time, took about two hours to write, including the references and such.

Benjamin Robinson wrote:

My VCR is currently in use, so I can't check now (but my my are we having fun at 2 am responding in lagging fashion to each other's posts?), but I seem to remember a separate line, a la "Welcome to Canada..." "When you said crossing the border, [some joke I forget]!" Time will prove one of us right, I guess.

The effort shows with your reviews - I look quite forward to reading them after new episodes run, actually.

Defense of methods aside (this could be a thread in its own right, i.e. what people do during a new episode, how they like to review it, and which methods are "best"), I find that if I don't have some method of recording notes when I watch most shows or movies (generally for the first time), I go mad trying to remember them for later, particularly if I will want to spew them back out. (And I have little faith in my ability to re-notice everything the second time around, though perhaps another pass would be useful anyway.)

Matt

thing I

Homer

confused

drugs. In

"gringos"

Canada," and

having fun at

seem to

crossing

guess.

It went something like this:

Homer: Canada? Dad, why didn't you tell me? Abe: You didn't tell me you were putting me in a home!