33 replies to this topic

[InvaderNorbert]

Tonight's the annual THoH episode, and premiering right on time, to boot!

From SNPP:

"The Diving Bell and Butterball" - Homer is put into a coma by a spider, but can still communicate...through his farts
"Dial D for Diddly" - Ned becomes a vigilante by night
"In the Na'Vi" - Bart and Milhouse do Avatar...in Kodos and Kang's bodies
also, Homer gets his arm trapped by a boulder, but when he calls 911, he gets someone with first-hand knowledge of the problem - Aron Ralston (who, in a similar situation, self-amputated his arm)

ETA: Cold Open: Nice Baby Xenomorph costume on Maggie! and I can't really unsee Homer as Dr. Manhattan. While kinda squeamish, Homer chewing off the wrongs limbs (then somehow reattaching them) was quite funny.

The Diving Bell & The Butterball: Paralyzed!Homer was quite funny to look at. While I'm no fan of fart humor (sadly, I'm no longer 12), I liked the contrast of Lisa reciting his words over everyone in the background freaking out at it. And then the bit redeemed itself with Paralyzed Spider-Man. We needed more of that and less farting.

Dial D For Diddly: Couple of great sight gags: Gerald in a gang fight, Apu's Hot Dog Machine, the Yale School of Prostitution, Burns' head growing a third eye. The voice of God being HOMER and using a variation of the Superstar Celebrity Microphone was a great reveal. God killing Homer via his fingers, now THAT'S how you strangle Homer. But it was quite an abrupt ending.

In The Na'Vi: Ha, Lisa was wearing a Stanford University shirt. "Now you're having sex with Uncle Tree!" Despite not seeing Avatar, I really liked this segment. Really liked seeing the animals that doubled as battle vehicles...and then Chalmers' giant mech climbed into a bigger mech, while the bulldozer animal climbing into a bigger animal. That was great.

On the whole, best of the season so far, and I thought this was one of the better THoHs in a while. Shame (or not?) that we didn't see Grampa as the Black Swan.

Edited by InvaderNorbert, Oct 30, 2011 @ 7:37 PM.

[McKay]

I actually think Grampa was onto something - Lisa in a Black Swan parody would've been much funnier than an eight-minute fart joke. As would Grampa in one, really.

I did love the parody of the Dexter opening, though. Flanders as Dexter was a great idea in general.

The whole thing with Bart having sex was creeping me out, honestly - but the "now you're having sex with Uncle Tree!" joke made me snortgiggle. I'm twelve.

Aron Ralston's "scary" name was hilarious - he must have a fucking awesome sense of humor.

Edited by McKay, Oct 30, 2011 @ 7:34 PM.

[Marq DeCarabas]

Aron Ralston's "scary" name was hilarious - he must have a fucking awesome sense of humor.

I missed it. What was it?

Crossing "I got laid" off the list of things I'd never thought I'd hear Bart Simpson say.

I think Ned as Dexter was probably the most inspired and best of the three.

[AimingforYoko]

The Dexter parody was the best. I laughed out loud when Ned Roadrunnered Patty and Selma.

[InvaderNorbert]

I actually think Grampa was onto something - Lisa in a Black Swan parody would've been much funnier than an eight-minute fart joke. As would Grampa in one, really.

Definitely. But an idea that awesome requires more time than than a regular THoH segment would allow, sadly.

ETA: The Dexter parody should've been longer, too. The first 3 acts not only seemed rushed, but seemed to scream "We're getting to the Avatar parody as fast as we can!"

Edited by InvaderNorbert, Oct 30, 2011 @ 7:41 PM.

[futurechemist]

That was ... not very Halloweenish. I'm really not liking the extended openings. 2-3 minutes on the cold opening meant that the other skits were less developed. The first 2 stories didn't really have plots, more like stuff that simply happened.

I'll just pretend that I watched the Disparately Xeeking Xena, I Know what you Diddly-Did Last Summer, and Citizen Kang.

[InvaderNorbert]

Sure, this edition slid more on the "parody" scale of THoH episodes, but each theme at least had some semblance of a horror theme to them:

Cold Open: Trick of Treating, leading to Homer trapped in the cliff and having to chew off his limbs.

Diving Bell & The Butterball: Homer gets paralyzed.

Dial "D" For Diddly: Flanders as a serial killer.

In The Na'Vi: Aliens.

Yeah, it's pretty reaching, but these segments were MUCH better than "Mr. & Mrs. Simpson" and the one with the Golem.

[A Conspiracy]

Phrase unexpected in closed caption:
"confused farting"

[McKay]

I missed it. What was it?

"I gave my right arm to be on The Simpsons" (or something to that effect.)

[jbreckenridge]

I liked how Dan Castellaneta's "Homer as God" voice resembled the Robot Devil.

[courtneybot]

Does anybody know what the song was that played right before the "Ned Flanders/Dexter" portion?

[TWoP Howard]

I’m not a fan of farting humor, but Paralyzed Homer farting out D…E…A had to be a Breaking Bad shoutout, and I definitely laughed at that. If you don’t watch the show, a paralyzed drug lord used his bell to spell out D…E…A… to his attendant, but in his case he actually wanted the Drug Enforcement Agency. That set a whole chain of events into motion. Homer used it as the beginning of his love letter to Marge.

I loved the sight gag of Paralyzed SpiderHomer swinging back and forth and knocking the bad guys over a couple of times.

Overall, I thought it was a really good episode. The Ned segment was the best, but I laughed throughout. Bart’s line about being loyal to his new home planet because it got him laid cracked me up, as did the sight gag of the rhino-like creature climbing into its own mech.

I was hoping that Bart would end up talking Homer into ordering Ned to kill his first born son, in a reenactment of the Abraham and Isaac story, but that might have been too dark.

Edited by TWoP Howard, Nov 1, 2011 @ 2:47 AM.

[Kaboom]

Although he mentioned the Blinky reference when Burns' head grew an extra eye, I feel I have failed in my mission to Simpson-ize my boyfriend's life, re: the 3 tombstones in the Simpsons' yard, he didn't know who Grimey or Bleeding Guns Murphy was. :(

and I can't really unsee Homer as Dr. Manhattan.

Oh me too, it's the best costume he's had in a while.

I thought overall the episode was just ok, I'm one of the three people left on earth who still hasn't watched Avatar but for me In the Na'vi was saved by Lisa's Stanford tee, the alien race being Rygellian and Alien Milhouse somehow still having one blue eyebrow on his face, lol.

I’m not a fan of farting humor, but Paralyzed Homer farting out D…E…A had to be a Breaking Bad shootout, and I definitely laughed at that.

Omg I totally mentioned the BB shoutout last night to the boyfriend as I clapped with delight. :D

[Bob Hartley]

Worst ToH EVER.

They need to get away from this crappy homage to movies and TV shows and come up with actual original funny Halloween related bits. This totally sucked from beginning to end. This was especially obvious after watching some of the classic, good ones from the early seasons this past week.

[M. Darcy]

I'm one of the three people left on earth who still hasn't watched Avatar

Me too so I am sure there are lots of jokes I missed but I still enjoyed it.

[futurechemist]

Although he mentioned the Blinky reference when Burns' head grew an extra eye, I feel I have failed in my mission to Simpson-ize my boyfriend's life, re: the 3 tombstones in the Simpsons' yard, he didn't know who Grimey or Bleeding Guns Murphy was. :(

On the topic of minutiae, were those Bleeding Gums' hands holding the saxophone in Lisa's costume at the end?

Oh and how many "Dial X for X" title parodies have we had now? This was Dial D, we had Dial M a few years ago, and possibly Dial N for Nerder.

Edited by futurechemist, Oct 31, 2011 @ 9:35 AM.

[CheekyLilDevil]

Worst ToH EVER.

They need to get away from this crappy homage to movies and TV shows and come up with actual original funny Halloween related bits. This totally sucked from beginning to end. This was especially obvious after watching some of the classic, good ones from the early seasons this past week.

I didn't think it was the worst ToH ever (for me, that would be Season 19: ToH #XVIII or even last year's), but I definitely agree in that I'm kind of getting sick of them using these episodes merely to do movie/television parodies or meta-humor, most of which have only the most tentative reference to horror or Halloween. I miss seeing original storylines or, at the least, references to classic horror films or literature (Dracula, Poe's "The Raven", King Kong, etc.).

[braggtastic]

If you don’t watch the show, a paralyzed drug lord used his bell to spell out D…E…A… to his attendant

But aren't Simpsons episodes prepared at least 8 months ahead of time? That Breaking Bad episode was just a couple of weeks ago. I know South Park has a lead time of a few days, but I thought Simpsons was completely different.

[BeatrixKiddoe]

I didn't really enjoy this episode, though I did absolutely love Homer as Dr. Manhattan. Maybe I'm just taking the show too seriously, but I really didn't like the first story. What happened to Jean-Dominique Bauby is horrifying (and how he managed to write a book through blinking is amazing) so seeing it turned into a fart joke sort of bothered me.

I thought Ned as Dexter was okay, but it could've been better.

I've also never watched Avatar so maybe I missed a lot of the jokes, but I was way too weirded out by the idea of Bart having sex.

[IBM62]

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is kind of an obscure movie to spoof (and a not very Halloweeny one at that), but I kind of liked the segment.

[JyDanzig]

I enjoyed the Ned-as-Dexter and Avatar segments, but that Diving Bell And The Butterfly parody... I really, really hated it. So much so that I resorted to fast-forwarding , which I don't think I've ever once done with this show, and I've seen every episode. Gross, off-putting, idiotic, horrifying, in supremely bad taste. What a hideously awful misfire. I wish I could unsee it.

Died laughing at the delivery of this exchange:

"In Rigellian, there is no word for 'yours' or 'mine.'"
"That's why we didn't enjoy the movie 'Yours, Mine, And Ours'"

[McKay]

They need to get away from this crappy homage to movies and TV shows and come up with actual original funny Halloween related bits.

Agreed. There are dozens of horror movies left to riff on, as well as many other scary/Halloween-related things to work with. Dexter kind of fit the theme, but Avatar really didn't, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and 127 Hours? Nothing to do with Halloween or horror at all. Black Swan would've been a good one to parody, or Scream, with the recent rejuvenation of the franchise.

Oh, and those of you who haven't yet seen Avatar: don't bother. It's a steaming pile of Smurf-colored crap.

[TWoP Howard]

If you don’t watch the show, a paralyzed drug lord used his bell to spell out D…E…A… to his attendant

But aren't Simpsons episodes prepared at least 8 months ahead of time? That Breaking Bad episode was just a couple of weeks ago. I know South Park has a lead time of a few days, but I thought Simpsons was completely different.

But this was dialog which could easily have been edited in. I’m thinking they had the gag with Homer dictating a letter to Marge by making Lisa decipher his farts already in the episode, and just changed the word they started out the letter out with to D.E.A. (for Dearest) once that BB episode aired, because that was a month ago now.

If it was all just a coincidence, it still is funny as an unintentional BB shootout.

[Kel Varnsen]

I have never seen 127 Hours, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Dexter or Avatar, so this episode was like a rare pop-cultural black hole for me which was kind of weird.

There are dozens of horror movies left to riff on, as well as many other scary/Halloween-related things to work with. Dexter kind of fit the theme, but Avatar really didn't, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and 127 Hours?

Doing non-horror stuff isn't really that new, I mean Desperately Xeeking Xena was from 12 seasons ago. That said I think they need to back off a bit on trying to do current references and go back and do some classic parodies. I mean sure after 22 THOH episodes you are starting to run out of classic stories, but hire a few of interns, get one to watch every episode of The Twilight Zone, another to watch every Alfred Hitchcock movie and TV episode and another to read every Stephen King book and another to read every Victorian Monster story. Do that and you should be able to find some more stories to use.

Oh and how many "Dial X for X" title parodies have we had now? This was Dial D, we had Dial M a few years ago, and possibly Dial N for Nerder.

There was also the Classic Dial Z for Zombies, and you might remember Troy Mclure from Dial M for Murderousness.

[xander874]

Lisa was wearing a Stanford University shirt

Didn't it say Stanford Elementary? Thought I saw that. Still fun though.

I agree with the need to get back to horror/supernatural references. They could easily spoof recent movies like Saw or Paranormal Activity and I would love to see their take on the Human Centipede.

[Kel Varnsen]

I agree with the need to get back to horror/supernatural references. They could easily spoof recent movies like Saw or Paranormal Activity and I would love to see their take on the Human Centipede.

Personally I would prefer they stuck with more classic stories, rather than try to be current, and ending up with stuff that is going to be super dated in like 4 years. That said I was looking through all the old episodes and I realized they have never done a parody of The Exorcist. What is up with that?

[Limbonaut]

They've never done an Exorcist parody have they? Maybe that one's been spoofed by other people too often.

[Fungi Wisdom]

Weak THoH installments. But great quotable line:

'To repeat. No pickles. Butter brickle.'

[McKay]

Doing non-horror stuff isn't really that new, I mean Desperately Xeeking Xena was from 12 seasons ago.

That was a Halloween-themed segment, though. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly isn't even tangentially related despite the brief weak effort with the spider in the Halloween decorations. It just felt like they were thinking of things they wanted to parody and then at the last minute trying to find a way to make it fit the theme of the show.

Have they ever done Halloween (the movie that is) or Friday the 13th for that matter?

[Kel Varnsen]

Have they ever done Halloween (the movie that is) or Friday the 13th for that matter?

I was thinking about that. They should totally do a Marge and Homer highschool flashback segment and make it a parody of a Teen Slasher movie.