February 13, 2004

Simpsons: The Movie Via Slashdot
posted by shotsy 20 years ago
  • They say this every year. I'm not thanking Jebus until I start seeing some previews.
  • I want a Futurama movie.
  • ooohhh, now you're talkin' dng. Personally I don't want to see a Simpsons movie. I just don't want to risk an abomination.
  • I think the best thing to do would be to run the series through spring '05 as planned and then end it all at the multiplex. I haven't dug this current season at all (with the exception of the London episode), and think it is about time to pull the plug. And a Futurama movie would be awesome.
  • No, I want "Life in Hell, the Movie"...
  • But at this point a "Life in Hell" movie would be a 90 minute conversation between Akbar and Jeff culminating in one small joke and not really rewarding the effort put into reading the damn thing.
  • or, um, watching the damn thing. doth mine prejudices betray me?
  • There's a Family Guy movie in the offing, but I bet y'all know that.
  • Ugh...i just saw an article on CNN about how friends is the most over-rated comedy ever, but I would say family guy is a close second. Coming from someone who read "Life in Hell" as a kid and have been a near-religious simpsons watcher since the tracey ullman show. I have not seen a single episode of this current season, the last season put me off so much. Groening is right to say that the South Park movie is the only movie adaptation of a TV show that wasn't horrible, but I dont think the current simpsons staff would be able to top that, or even approach it. As a disclaimer, I didnt like South Park until I saw the movie, which I honestly expected to be the end of the series, but was actually the start of their peak. The simpsons are way past their prime, and the episodes they do with incoherent story lines based around a guest star (that used to be a character in the story rather than an out-of-place scooby doo "Sonny and Cher" cameo) leaving the characters to rehash tired one liners because there is no longer any room for depth in the characters. What really irks me is that the last season of futurama was sheer mastery in animation (from a technical standpoint). While the humor would revert to its original cornballitry, and the romantic subplot was stretched a bit thin, the concepts behind each story were well laid out and were often a respectful homage to the evolution of science-fiction throughout TV and Film. Its shortcoming was that it was marketed by fox and put in a perpetually bad time slot, often pre-empted, and rarely announced. The fact that they had an arc that stretched from the first episode to midway through the fifth season is just an inkling of what could have been. Of course, the academic backgroundsof the writers and producers complemented a science-fiction show (though not necessarily comedy). In contrast, The Family Guy is a mean-spirited simpsons rip-off (Fat, stupid, embarrassing father; sensible, wallflower mother; dumb, chubby son; smart, isolated daughter; smart baby) with a talking dog (which is a throwback to one of Seth MacFarlanes Hanna Barberra shorts for the Cartoon Network). Where the simpsons references stem from classic movies, and fururama from classic sci-fi to accentuate the story; The Family Guy uses its characters as one dimensional vehicles for a nonstop barrage of references to toothpaste commercials and 80s sitcom openings, often with a snide put-down to the subject. The references then, rather than a tribute are digging up past characters of pop-culture history simply to mock them (often undeservedly). So, if you get the references, and think they are funny you are simply acknowledging that you, like the writers, have wasted your time watching crap and have great satisfaction in only tearing down the work of others rather than creating something new. Then again, there is no accounting for taste. /son of a cartoonist sidetrack
  • (Which is not to say that the writers are unintelligent, or not giving it their best shot. Stewies lines are always clever, and often smart. I just think there is a difference between being clever and being funny.)
  • You're right, I suppose lkc. FG does tend to bludgeon the viewer with its references rather than incorporate them fully in the show. However, I'm madly in love with Stewie and spend half the show wondering why it's supposed to be normal that the dog talks (despite watching Scooby-Doo for years). I just can't resist it -- FG is sort of my post-Simpsons fix, since I don't like the Simpsons much these days either, and the early episodes have been thrashed to death. (And I remember the Tracey Ullman Simpsons well -- I used to stay up late and watch it just because she had the same first name as me.)
  • This seasons Simpsons have been very hit and miss, but the hits are hot. The Krusty gets a barmitzvah episode totally got me. I used to watch the simpsons RELIGIOUSLY and then stopped six years ago when i was no longer willing to schedule my life around any tv program that didn't involve sports. that changed once more: for Sopranos, and is now back to "tv is for watching dvds and playing ddr".
  • Poor you! /Livia
  • "God-schmod, I want my monkeyman!" -- Bart
  • According to a friend of mine involved with the production, the release date is set for July, 2007. The teaser trailer is out in theaters now.
  • That's not even funny Koko!! Now go to your room until I say you can come out!
  • Lkc, you put waaay too much thought into anal-yzing this thing.
  • He's right though. I wish I could be more excited about a Simpson's movie, but ... meh. And I was never able to get into FG.