“Oh, no, Marge! Come on, please!” – Homer Simpson
“Homer, I’m not sleeping with the lights on. They’re just children’s stories. They can’t hurt you.” – Marge Simpson
Owing almost as much to the Tapped Out game as to the broadcast of last week’s episode, the internet had lots of Treehouse of Horror lists, articles and arguments this week. As per usual, where Zombie Simpsons does make an appearance, it’s mostly because it’s being compared unfavorably to The Simpsons. So there are lots of people who agree with us this week, plus the usual assortment of usage and fan made stuff.
Enjoy.
Top 5 “Treehouse of Horror” Segments from “The Simpsons” (Cesar Zamora’s picks) – Not a hint of Zombie Simpsons and it comes complete with lots of .gifs and YouTube.
Ranking the Treehouse of Horror episodes – This rates all of them, has plenty of pictures, and doesn’t have a single Zombie Simpsons season ahead of anything from Seasons 1-11. Excellent.
31 Days of Halloween TV Specials: Bob’s Burgers’ “Full Bars” – Some general Halloween television love that agrees with us:
Of course it will never be better than The Simpsons when it was in it’s prime (seasons 1 – 10), but in comparison to Simpsons now, Bob’s Burgers is so much better.
Bob’s Burgers is much better than Zombie Simpsons.
Top 15 Treehouse Of Horror Segments – Surprising amount of Zombie Simpsons on here, even near the top. “The Shinning” comes in at #1, of course.
Doctor Sleep Review: The Doctor is In (Though Not as In as The Shining) – This doesn’t quite count as a ranking, I suppose, but it kinda does:
Stanley Kubrick’s movie version (which changed the story up a little bit—no more moving-when-you’re-not-looking topiary animals) helped bring The Shining to iconic status. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, indeed. (And, of course, how could we forget the most awesome Simpsons Tree House of Horror episode ever?)
Simpsons 25th Anniversary Homer Simpson Mr. Potato Head – The Krusty Brand Seal of Approval is all over this thing:
The Mr. Potato Head will come with Homer’s classic hair style, white shirt and blue jeans. It will, of course, come with Homer’s favorite doughnut as well.
The toy is set to release in February, 2014 for $17.99
“Breaking Bad” Characters Drawn As “The Simpsons” – There have been a couple of these floating around for a while now, and this one is quite good.
breaking bad drawn as simpsons by adrien noterdaem – Some more examples, and the direct Tumblr link.
The Dark Side Of The Simpsons – A very odd but kind of endearingly dark fan story.
Day 5: 31 Days of Halloween – Heh:
I can remember when the show first started airing, that many years ago and it was considered very controversial. My parents let me watch it because they didn’t believe in censorship and yes they were hippies. And when I mean hippies, I don’t just mean the sit around and smoke pot hippies, even though they did a lot of that.
Awake – Bummer:
Late at night when I can not fall asleep all I can think of is:
“Can’t sleep, clown will eat me, can’t sleep, clown will eat me”
Which eventually (my brain is quite sleep deprived but unable to compute the sleep action) leads me to start thinking about china dolls attacking me.
Then I am even more unable to sleep.
Screw you Simpsons.
And I Ran – This isn’t strange at all:
Is it strange that I still take advice from Lisa Simpson on what to eat before sporting events? As she told Bart in the classic episode “Dead Putters Society” a champion thoroughbred eats oats before winning the Kentucky Derby. Therefore, my pre-race meal was a hearty bowl of Cheerios.
Steak would make you logy.
To The Couch! – The farmed out couch gags have generally been entertaining. Here’s YouTube of some of them.
I Do Believe I’ll Be Watching the Simpsons This Sunday… – Common sentiment this week:
I was, once upon a time, a Simpsons fanatic. In face, half of the Brotherhood routinely gather and revisit classic episodes. And even in the decade or so since I’ve stopped watching religiously, I try and make a point of watching the Treehouse of Horror specials.
FagGIF: The Simpsons | THE GAYEST BLOG of ALL TIME – Animated .gifs of some of the show’s gayer moments. Has no one made a .gif of Smithers driving that boat towing all the dudes in “Homer the Smithers”, or the conga line?
The Simpsons Bart Vs The World NES Review – It was, not so good:
The sound effects sound like something that could easily have originated from the Atari 2600 – now for an Atari 2600 game they were nice sound effects, although often recycled. Bearing in mind this game was made in 1991 and after the advent of Mario 3, you’d think that more effort would be made. Music wise, you hear the Simpson’s theme tune done in 8 bit, which although is ok, to hear it over and over again, I may as well stick a Simpsons DVD on, let the main theme loop constantly, which would be more fun.
A Complaint About Complaints About The Simpsons: Tapped Out – I started playing Tapped Out a couple of weeks ago. Those of you who have not yet begun chasing the freemium dragon might be puzzled by this, but that it has reached second-level meta blog popularity no longer surprises me in the least:
When I first discovered TSTOTips there were only two writers, and today it seems they have many more. One writer happens to call themselves CrankyOldGuy, and I’ll never know their true age or gender, but one thing’s for sure, this guy really is cranky.
I’m not trying to be critical or hate on the guy or anything, but I came across one post about “odd” things that he’s noticed in the game, and I was taken aback by not only how much complaining there was in his post, but also the kinds of things he complained about.
The coming soon: the counter-counter-backlash.
Treehouse of Horror – Episode #016 – Ash continues:
Friendly aliens. Seems really farfetched to me. I guess that why the Treehouse of Horror shows are the ones that I enjoy the most as it pokes fun out of scary movies or even television scenes that could make you jump or have you on the edge of your seat with anticipation.
It’s always weird when you see something for real, like a Twilight Zone episode, that you already know from The Simpsons.
Movie Review: Blue Jasmine – Excellent usage:
Marge: Did anyone see that new Woodsy Allen movie?
Flanders: You know, I like his films except for that nervous fellow that’s always in them.
Perfectly quoted and very apt. What did he do to deserve this? Oh, right.
Lisa Simpson: Feminist Hero – Don’t worry, you weren’t the first and won’t be the last:
When I strayed off the feminist path in middle school, it was Lisa Simpson who brought me back. My small act of rebellion in middle school had been to reject my feminist upbringing. But it was the wise words of a small 8 year-old cartoon character reminded me of the importance and necessity of my beliefs.
[…]
A lot of people look at me weirdly when I tell them Lisa Simpson is one of my feminist icons. But really, who wouldn’t want an icon committed to speaking out against injustice, violent protest, discrimination, and still loves watching cartoons?
Right on, say it, sister!
Rethinking Biblical Literacy – There’s a book about the Bible coming out, this is one of the chapters:
8. Biblical Literacy and The Simpsons – Robert Myles (University of Auckland)
Might have to read that.
Think 26 seasons of The Simpsons is a bit much? So do The Simpsons – Ten items, only two from Zombie Simpsons, of the show making fun of itself.
Best. Episode. Ever. (Round 66) – Season 7 versus itself. Ouch.
Best. Episode. Ever. (Round 67) – “I Love Lisa” trounces “Maximum Homerdrive”.
BENDER AND KRUSTY THE CLOWN – A Simpsons/Futurama keychain.
Day 8: Nightmare On Evergreen Terrace – A series of Halloween pop culture remembrances includes Willie striking in Bart’s dreams.
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXIV – True:
Any non-delusional fan of the series would admit that the quality of the writing on The Simpsons plummeted somewhere around the 10th season. Any other show as equally awful as The Simpsons has been for the past decade would have been quickly and unceremoniously cancelled. But it’s still getting by on the strong foundation of characters and setting established in those masterful first 10 seasons.
This also might (might) also be a good idea:
While I think The Simpsons is long past due for cancellation, I’m glad they’re still making excellent Treehouse of Horrors. Maybe we could compromise… Put The Simpsons out of its misery, but release a new Treehouse of Horror each Halloween?
Turn it into something Peanuts like? I could see that.
The Breaking Bad & Dexter Finales – Good move:
At one point in my life, The Simpsons was the greatest show on television for me. But, just because I loved its first decade doesn’t mean I’m going to sit around watching the next decades.
Treehouse of Horror XXIV – Indeed:
But much like The Simpsons itself in the last decade, “The Treehouse of Horror” series isn’t the same what it used to be. Is it because The Simpsons overdosed on mocking horror films or is it because the show ran out of inspired ideas for the episode? Seeing as how I can watch many of the Treehouse of Horror episodes from the 90s endlessly, I’ll say it’s the latter.
5-paragraph review of ‘The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXIV’ – And finally, I get to end with one more person who agrees with us:
“Treehouse of Horror” has turned me into Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin. I tune into the annual Halloween episode of “The Simpsons” each year with the expectation of laughter. It never comes. But each year I sit there and watch the writers of a show 17 years past its prime try to pretend it still has its mojo. It was like watching the New York Yankees this season.
Heh.
[Late addition: Random Episode – The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror – A fond, nineteen minute podcast about the first “Treehouse of Horror” and its successors.]
