(originally aired November 13, 1994)
Here’s another episode that feels very slice-of-life, one that’s really such a joy watching the characters react to a certain situation. Upon learning she’s failing gym class, Lisa is forced to participate in an outside sport to get a passing grade. Meanwhile, we see Bart is doing pretty well for himself in junior league hockey. While Homer greatly encourages and rewards his champion athlete son, Lisa is perturbed by the seemingly barbaric violent nature of the sport. But when it’s revealed that she’s pretty great at blocking, she is recruited by Apu’s team to be their goalie. At first she’s petrified in her position, but over time she gets more and more invested in the game until she’s just as viciously competitive as her brother, if not more so. Some might say this is out-of-character for Lisa, but I don’t think so. Firstly she’s pretty competitive in most things, priding herself on being the best, so whatever she sets out to do will have that effect. Second, I can completely relate to this; I’m not a sporty guy, but if I’m thrust into a game like that, I can get pretty pissed and riled up about it. You get swept up in that atmosphere, and the episode certainly addresses that.

People also might be bothered by Homer’s behavior in the show, goading and ramping up the antagonism between his two children and acting like a general ass. But here, Homer acts like your typical overzealous sports parent (Lisa references them herself when speaking of peewee teams, “You mean those leagues where parents push their kids into vicious competition to compensate for their own failed dreams of glory?”) It starts off when Lisa is being scolded for her one alert letter from school, Homer gleefully fills out Bart’s enormous pile of them and offers him a present. It’s both parental favoritism over something trivial, as well as like when schools give athletes special treatment to get out of classes to train or what-have-you. Lisa’s intellectualism is nowhere near as impressive as Bart’s hockey skills, so to get recognition from the school and her father, she must get into the game. By the end, Homer is completely swept up in the fight, pushing his wife to pick a side (“The winner will be showered with praise! The loser will be taunted and booed until my throat is sore!”)

Then we have our ending, which of course is a penalty shot between Bart and Lisa. The entire crowd is out for blood, getting really worked up over this hockey game for 10-year-olds (with the amazing “Kill Bart!” and “Kill, Bart!” chants). In the final moment of truth, Bart and Lisa reflect on past moments of their lives and how much they mean to each other as brother and sister, then decide to hug it out and declare it a truce. Some people may think this is really sappy and manipulative, and to them, I say fuck you. It’s one of the sweetest moments in the entire series, and I get a bit teary eyed every time. Then like the show does, we get our beautiful moment of emotion combined with a beautiful moment of comedy. Marge is touched by the display, but Homer is devastated in a different way (“They’re both losers! Losers!!”) The crowd is so outraged by the tie game that they riot, destroying the stadium as Bart and Lisa skate off in the distance. Endings don’t get much better than this.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Great opening bit with extreme action news with Kent Brockman, who leaps into his chair screaming his name (“Our top stories tonight: a tremendous explosion in the price of lumber, President Reagan dyes… his hair, plus Garry Trudeau and his new musical comedy revue.”) It’s a brilliant parody of sensationalist news.
– Nice prank from Lisa tricking Bart to go outside thinking it’s a snow day. Jimbo’s taunt (“Nice PJs, Simpson. Did your mommy buy them for you!”) backfires when Bart responds plainly, “Of course she did. Who else would have?” Jimbo has no rejoinder.
– I love Skinner’s total displeasure about the unfortunately named Butt-Head Memorial Auditorium (“Dammit, I wish we hadn’t let the students name that one.”)
– This episode features what must be the most famous Ralph line, “Me fail English? That’s unpossible!” I also like during the big assembly, Nelson’s sheepishness over the public announcement of his doing well in Home Ec.
– A really great gag with Lisa’s spiky hair puncturing the volleyball (“Children, that was our only ball. There’ll be no team this year.”)
– Great joke that Apu’s team name is the Kwik-E-Mart Gougers, and Wiggum’s the Mighty Pigs. When Milhouse is rendered immobile, Apu hoists him up in front of the goal with ropes. The plan is kind of faulty, since he cannot move his arms to block, as a very slow moving puck easily enters the goal, despite Milhouse attempting to blow it away (Apu is annoyed, “Oh come on, you call that blowing?!”) I also like the gall of Apu to smack a puck really fast straight at Lisa’s face. She could have easily not caught it and knocked her teeth out, that would be horrifying. But Milhouse getting his teeth out? Hilarious. Marge is later revealed to have said teeth in her possession for no reason, and won’t give them back to the kid’s doctor. It’s a really weird joke, but hilarious in its weirdness.
– Great bit with Homer giddily chasing a naked Uter about the locker room (“Don’t make me run! I’m full of chocolate!”)
– The sequence of Homer and Bart laughing uncontrollably at a terrified Lisa in goal, on paper, sounds really really cruel, but for some reason, I love it. It’s the funniest thing in the whole show, especially when Homer says they’re laughing with her, followed by a scared yell from Lisa, then more laughing, and Homer instantly stopping to give a quick “With her” to Marge.
– Bart concludes if Lisa is taking his spot as the sporty one, he’ll be the brainy one. So, in a great fake-out of a potential new plot line, we get a quick montage of a grinning Bart raising his hand to answer every question of the day, only to be scolded by Mrs. Krabappel for getting them all wrong. Following this is a great scene of Nelson beating up Bart (“This is for wasting teacher’s valuable time!”) Lisa then accosts the bullies and gets them to disperse, emasculating Bart once again. I like the flow of these scenes; they could have easily had the bullies beat up Bart for no reason, but they had it tie in with the last scene. It makes everything fit together.
– Classic sequence with Bart and Lisa kicking and punching the air and walking toward each other, with great performances by Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith fighting with each other. And the follow-up of Homer doing the same thing to get at a pie, but banging his head on the range hood, leaving a really sizable dent. Marge tries to stop the fight by flicking the lights on and off, which is a well animated bit, which works in the end (“Mom, that is really annoying!”) Marge reinforces that the two are not in competition with each other, only to have Homer run in with big news (“Apu just called. This Friday, Lisa’s team is playing Bart’s team! You’re in direct competition! And don’t go easy on each other just because you’re brother and sister. I want to see you both fighting for your parents’ love!”) To rev them up, he flicks the lights on and off (“Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!”) It’s one of the most perfect act breaks in the show’s history.
– Nice bit of Bart-Lisa rivalry passing and blocking condiments at the table. Homer asks for ketchup, but gets mustard instead (“I asked for ketchup! I’m eating salad here!”)
– Amazing, amazing, amazing scene with Moe infiltrating the Simpson house. It has nothing to do with the story at all, but is so damn hilarious, between Moe calling Marge “Midge” for the first time and Marge’s dissatisfied telling off to him (“You caught me at a real bad time, Moe. I hope you understand I’m too tense to pretend I like you.”) It’s just so crazy, another look at this seedy underhanded side of Moe, but showing he’s really a pathetic man (“I’m sixty-two grand in the hole! They’re gonna take my thumbs!”)
– Krusty blanking on the National Anthem and getting booed is a great scene (“I shouldn’t have turned down those cue cards.”)
– Jailbird Snake appears to be touched by Bart and Lisa’s display of affection (“Those kids are, like, so sweet. If only they had had peewee hockey when I was a lad.”) But nonetheless, he starts to riot like the others, using the crowbar he apparently brought with him to rip out a seat.

And with this, I find myself at the quarter mark. Only 333 episodes to go. Still quite a long haul, but hey, I’m impressed I made it this far.

(originally aired November 6, 1994)
This is yet another example of how an episode can be memorable and masterful with a relatively simple story. We’re so committed to these characters that we can be entertained by seeing them in any new situation, and can even come to learn a little more about them. Here we see Bart having to face off with a girl who pushes things too far, even by his standards. The girl in question is Jessica Lovejoy, unassuming daughter of the good Reverend, given a siren song of a voice by guest star Meryl Streep. Bart is instantly smitten with this girl who won’t pay him a moment’s notice. Assuming she’s a prim and proper religious girl, he assumes a good guy persona to attempt to impress her (a plot element that will be repeated many a time in the many stupid “Bart’s celebrity voiced love interest” episodes further down the road). But come to find out, she’s a baaaad girl, and she and Bart seem to be the perfect match.

Act two is interesting in how Jessica continues to mess with Bart’s mind and screw him over, with Bart turning mostly a blind eye to the affairs. Then we see the division between the two’s antics. Jessica is a true careless delinquent, which Bart is a loveable prankster. When Jessica steals money from the church collection plate, Bart calls her on it. He’ll deface property and pull overblown pranks, but theft is not the boy’s M.O. In the end, Bart’s left holding the bag, or rather the empty plate, and must carry the blame until Lisa comes to his aid and exposes Jessica’s thievery. Her mini-sermon about absolving of guilt is very true to her, and then we get the joke where Lisa just points Jessica out when she won’t come forward herself. We also get a nice telling bit at the end where we see Reverend Lovejoy turning a deaf ear to Jessica’s retellings of the harsh reality of her expulsion and past discretions. While I think it’d be neat to see the return of Jessica, I kind of like how that last scene sort of illustrated that Jessica is the Lovejoy’s little mistake that they’d like to sweep under the rug.

The plot’s so simple and perfect I don’t have much to delve into. Like I said, it’s just so naturally entertaining watching these characters do their thing. The opening with the parents corralling their kids (literally) a la Planet of the Apes is spectacular. We get more dim-witted Homer so oblivious to his son that he thinks he wears glasses, Lisa pining to make a changed man out of a James Dean-esque teenage librarian, Nelson pummeling Bart for apparently besmirching an honest woman’s name, and Ned Flanders singing in a high falsetto as we’ve heard in “Bart of Darkness.” These characters are so rich and familiar to us that we love seeing them in action. There’s so many hilarious bits in this one, and along with being a great character study for Bart, it’s one of the absolute classics.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The cowboys and Indians game the kids play is usurped by Nelson in cyborg garb shooting at them with a futuristic weapon. When Bart complains that his “Killmatic 3000” is not historically accurate, Nelson retorts, “Records from that era are spotty at best!”
– I love Bart singing a retooled “Soul Man” while playing with a Troll doll, as well as Marge chastising him for playing with a toy with such bizarre hair.
– We get the greatest appearance by the Sea Captain here. A shining angelic light appears behind Jessica… which we reveal is actually coming from a lighthouse. A man atop it yells to Captain McAllister that it should be pointing to sea, but the captain shoots him down. A ship in darkened waters crashes into some rocks. McAllister pats down his pipe and comments, “Yarr, I hate the sea and everything in it.”
– A great quick line from the Sunday School teacher (“Ralph, Jesus did not have wheels.”)
– I like the minor detail of the church hamster’s little house has a cross atop it.
– Bart forces himself to be good, but is literally handed temptation in the form of a “replica” of David’s slingshot. Taking aim at the teacher’s behind, he experiences a moral crisis (“Must… fight… Satan… make it… up to him… later!”)
– When his efforts to be good are a bust, Bart musses up his hair and untucks his clothes, and I love how he slaps some dirt on himself for good measure.
– Wonderful appearance by Willie at a school festival explaining Scottish customs, when Bart rigs his kilt to fly away on balloons (“‘Tis no more than what God gave me, you puritan pukes!”) The whole thing was actually an elaborate sting to catch Bart. Skinner admits there’s no such thing as Scotchtoberfest, but no one told Willie this (“Yah used me, Skinner! Yah usssssed me!!“)
– Dinner at the Lovejoys is a great scene. I love how suspect the Reverend is at having Bart at the house, as well as the slow rhythm of which Bart sets up his raunchy anecdote (“Watching FOX last night, I heard a rather amusing story. This character named Martin was feeling rather… randy, and he was heard to remark…”) He was already in hot water, that just clinched it.
– Poor Sarah plain and tall. S’all I gotta say.
– I don’t know if I care for the scene of Bart and Jessica TPing the Jebediah Springfield statue, considering the respect Bart exhibited for the town founder in “The Telltale Head.” I guess it’s the first sign of Jessica pushing Bart into things he wouldn’t normally do.
– The big skateboard scene is pretty damn great, where at first you anticipate the jokes, then they turn on you. Bart talks to himself how he’ll be fine as long as the terrain is steady, then he runs straight into an oil slick and a field of ball bearings. A damaged glue truck seems to be his salvation, but sadly it remains intact as he passes it by. Bart eventually wipes out when hitting a seed an ant is carrying, violently tumbles to the bottom, and then the glue truck ruptures, completely entombing Bart under a flood of sticky glue.
– As mentioned earlier, I love the glasses bit with Homer, along with when Marge worries about smothering Bart, he responds that they would get the chair for that. Marge retorts, “That isn’t what I meant,” and Homer responds, “It was, Marge, admit it.” I don’t know why, but that whole exchange may be one of my favorite bits of the whole series.
– I take offense to Bart’s analogy about Jessica (“She’s like a Milk Dud, Lis: sweet on the outside, poison on the inside.”) Milk Duds are delicious, how dare he.
– Getting caught with the empty collection plate, Bart assures himself everything will be fine if he tells the truth. He barely gets an “I” out before he is immediately accused (Moe shouts, “He confessed it!”) Out of options, he leaps out the window, and a slow-to-react Homer yells, “Stop him! He’s heading for the window!”
– Great Doppler effect with the car going by and a guy quickly yelling, “You stole money from the church collection plate!”
– My favorite scene of this show is probably when Bart confronts Jessica, who is twirling a baton on the front lawn. It gives visual interest to this dialogue heavy scene, but also is symbolic of Jessica’s carefree guilt-less nature, and toying with the baton mirrors his continued toying with Bart (“No one will believe you. Remember I’m the sweet, perfect minister’s daughter, and you’re just yellow trash.”)
– On the pulpit, Lisa quotes the Bible, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” Lovejoy mutters, “I think it might be somewhere towards the back.”
– When Lisa reveals Jessica to be the thief, Homer announces, “To the little girl’s room!” Rather than simply lift the girl’s mattress, Moe uses a jack to lift it, and confirms the pile of money to be the stolen goods (“Oh yeah, smells like church.”) I also like Lovejoy’s last ditch effort to make up an explaination (“I guess it’s obvious what’s happened here. Bart Simpson has somehow managed to sneak his bedroom into my house. …well, come on! Use your imaginations!”)
– Lastly, I like at the end Jessica heads off with her new boy toy… the bad boy librarian Lisa was pining for.

(originally aired October 9, 1994)
This is the first of a few times we see the Springfield Republican Party headquarters, located in a creepy castle on a haunted hill, where seemingly demonic rituals and dastardly plans are formulated. Even Dracula himself is one of the representatives. What’s so amazing about this that, at least to me, this reads two ways: it’s poking fun at conservatives, but simultaneously poking fun at itself. This set piece is so ridiculously over the top that it’s laughable, but the nugget of satire works against its seeming target, and those who would bash said target. This episode aims at Democrats and Republicans, and pretty much everyone gets their head in a proverbial noose, but in a very hilarious way.

We open with Rush Limbaugh wannabe Birch Barlow spewing his brand of conservative garbage water over the Springfield airwaves, who makes a call to arms to free “political prisoner” Sideshow Bob. After Bob’s knock at Democrats at the end of “Black Widower,” it only makes sense he would be revealed a diehard Republican, but seemingly only as a means to an end Also ironic that his prior comments about Democratic leniency on prisoners got him out of jail multiple times at this point. Anyway, Bob is selected by the Republican party to run for mayor against incumbent Joe Quimby. Satire of general elections and currying public favor has been done, and quite expertly, in “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish,” but we get lots of great material here, like Bob being fed questions that will make for clever sound bites, and a neat nod to the Kennedy-Nixon debates featuring a prim and proper Bob against a direly sick Quimby.

Bob wins, of course, but Lisa remains suspicious (“I can’t believe a convicted felon would get so many votes and another convicted felon would get so few.”) She and Bart helm an investigation on the election results, which almost feels nostalgic at this point, harkening back to earlier episodes like “Krusty Gets Busted” and “Like Father, Like Clown” when the two would tag team for a common goal. The reveal that the ballots have been stuffed by deceased voters is really great; Bart gets a classic line (“Oh my God. The dead have risen and they’re voting Republican!”) Bob’s undoing is also absolutely perfect. When Lisa claims in court that Birch Barlow was behind the election tampering, Bob’s pride gets the better of him and he gives a bombastic confession. I guess given the subject matter, people may have been expecting a more vicious political satire, but to me, this is really just a damn good Sideshow Bob episode.

Tidbits and Quotes
– Harry Shearer does a great job voicing Birch Barlow, not really imitating Rush Limbaugh exactly, but mimicking his rhythm and vocal tics. I don’t think we ever heard from him again, but I wish we had.
– Kind of like showing Bart holding a bong in “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet,” I’m surprised they got away with showing Quimby watering a pot plant in his office.
– Great opening line by Bob, with the initial reveal of just his voice over the radio, with a line that proved to be just as relevant many years later (“Kudos for bringing the public back to the Republican party. It’s high time people realized we conservatives aren’t all Johnny Hatemongers, Charlie Bible Thumps, or even, God forbid, George Bushes.”
– Great quick appearance by Dr. Demento, who is apparently Bart’s other mortal enemy, after Bob. It’s another hilarious joke that leaves you to draw your own conclusions on where the rivalry came from. We also get Larry King hosting the mayoral debate. These guest roles may be small, but at least they’re funny and make sense. It’s not like Britney Spears randomly appearing to host a Springfield award show, or a celebrity randomly appearing on the street.
– Moe apparently has a drawer full of grenades under the bar, which he can pull out at a moment’s notice (“Hey, who pulled the pin out of this one?”)
– Fabulous line by Quimby responding to the Bob protests (“If that is the way the winds are blowing, let no one say I don’t also blow.”)
– I really love the scene where Bob uses his show business training to entertain the children. It’s a side we don’t see of him too often. He’s trained as a physical performer, as well as a thespian. I also like Bart and Lisa’s return fire of acting like cloying, adorable children, bullshitting how Quimby said kids are the city’s most important research (Kent Brockman incredulously asks, “More important than coal?!”)
– The campaign commercials are amazing: Quimby’s jingle and the slogan (“If you were running for mayor, he’d vote for you”), and then Bob’s ad condemning himself, but placing the blame on Quimby.
– Great bit with the bullies mummifying Milhouse with bumper stickers and pushing him down a hill in a shopping cart. Milhouse’s screams and the small animation of him being flung from the cart at the very bottom makes it even funnier.
– Barlow tosses Bob a softball question, then hits Quimby hard (“Mayor Quimby, you’re well-known, sir, for your lenient stance on crime. But suppose for a second that your house was ransacked by thugs, your family tied up in the basement with socks in their mouths, you try to open the door but there’s too much blood on the knob…”) Quimby interrupts asking what the question is. Barlow says it’s about the budget.
– The second act break is one of the best, featuring the greatest of all Bob laughs. It’s funny enough that it’s his victory speech, that he approaches the podium, ruffles his papers, then lets loose the most evil, maniacal laugh ever. Then even funnier when Kent jovially comments, “And just look how happy he is!”
– Homer reacts to the house shaking violently (“It’s the Rapture! Quick, get Bart out of the house before God comes!”)
– I love the Flintstone phone. It seems like one of those must exist, and if so, I want one. Also I’m not sure who did the voice of Fred Flintstone (I think Hank?) but it’s pretty spot on.
– Something I love about the classic episodes: callbacks. If a joke’s good enough for one laugh, you can bring it back for another. Homer getting thrown on his ass by the Archie gang is funny, then seeing him grumbling in the car reading an Archie comic is even funnier. Then you can make something that wasn’t too funny funny. At the opening, we get a quick bit with a man opening the card catalog at the library and bats fly out. Not too funny. Later during their investigation, we take a quick trip to the old Springfield library. This is seventeen minutes after that original joke, so you’ve probably forgotten it at this point. We get an establishing shot of the library. Lisa opens the catalog and bats fly out. Cut to them leaving. Get the joke, get out. A random joke at the start comes back to a twofer, making it even funnier.
– Just as we’ve seen George Washington and Albert Einstein are apparently buried in Springfield, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper are also buried there too (I love the inscription of the latter: “Goodbye, baaaaaaaby!”)
– Brilliant quick use of Lionel Hutz, clearly out of his element going up against Bob (“Mr. Mayor, did you rig the election?” “No, I did not.” “…kids, help.”)
– Bob quotes A Few Good Men, but unlike Homer’s ramblings in “Successful Marriage,” he twists it around and makes it funny (“No truth- handler, you. Bah! I deride your truth-handling abilities!”) When asked why he did it, Bob explains, in one of the best monologues of the series (“Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down inside you secretly long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king. That’s why I did this: to protect you from yourselves!”) He’s then immediately arrested (“What? Oh yes, all that stuff I did.”)

(originally aired October 2, 1994)
As a kid with Floridian grandparents, I was obsessed with Disney World: the rides, the environment, the unique overall aura of the place. So I would always be thrilled when this episode popped up in syndication, since it does such a phenomenal job recreating and lampooning so many theme park staples, from the names, the abused costume characters, the lame gift shop items, even down to small stuff like the concept of Disney Dollars. But around all the Disney bashing is a vein of an emotional story of Marge’s desire to have one family vacation that doesn’t end up a disaster, which oddly enough, concludes on a positive note that both amuses and satisfies. This is one of those episodes that’s filled with so many great individual elements. Just saying the title to a fan will make them laugh at the ten things that immediately pop into their heads. It’s an absolute classic.

There’s not much of a plot here, at least until the very end, as the Simpsons take a vacation to Itchy & Scratchy Land, the new theme park based on the homicidal cat and mouse team. Although they are transported to the park via a Jurassic Park helicopter, the allusions to Disney parks start almost immediately, with the park map mirroring Disneyland with its different themed lands (Searing Gas Pain Land, Unnecessary Surgery Land) and sad, sad men in giant mouse costumes who get abused by children. Bart and Lisa enjoy the ridiculous rides and learn more about the history of Roger Myers, Sr., the Walt Disney stand-in here, and see his previous works, including the exquisitely done parody “Scratchtasia.” Meanwhile, Homer and Marge enjoy Parent’s Island, a wonderful riff on Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney, which has more adult-oriented fare, like a retro disco, and the unfortunately mentioned-but-not-seen recipe-related bumper cars.

Marge is humiliated when she has to bust Bart and Homer out of Disney jail (another spectacular send-up of the extensive underground employee facilities under the Magic Kingdom), when unbeknownst to them, chaos has set in on the park. Professor Frink’s chaos thoery (another Jurassic Park reference) has come to fruition as the Itchy & Scratchy robots go haywire and begin to attack guests, leading to a full evacuation. The Simpsons are left behind, leaving them to fend for themselves. This ending is a bit silly, but it’s still neat to see the Simpson family work together to get themselves out of trouble. I like how Marge is the running focal point of the episode, starting from her not wanting to go to Itchy & Scratchy Land, then being swayed and eventually won over by the park, then her dissatisfaction about Bart and Homer, and in the end conceding that it actually was a great vacation… that they will never speak of ever again. It’s the perfect ending and in-character of Marge to want to sweep this tale under the rug. Stupendous show.

Tidbits and Quotes
– The I&S cartoon at the beginning always disturbed me, how it seemed that Itchy would have Scratchy die slowly and painfully by blood loss. Then they give an ad for the theme park, and Itchy jams scissors into Scratchy’s brain. The cat takes them out, brain and all, and proceeds to drool profusely. Very sick. And very funny.
– I like how Bart and Lisa run into Homer in the living room, who is inquisitively looking at a Bible. I almost wish they hadn’t have Homer talk about it, like have that be a joke on its own. Also, great bit of animation and sound effects when Bart runs into the kitchen and screeches to a halt, his sneakers squeaking against the tile floor.
– Homer, the most obnoxious tourist ever, packs his suitcase (“Lobster hat, Fishnet Speedo Junior, wheelie shoes, ‘Invisible Dog’ leash…”)
– Nice quick moment with Grampa, befuddled at the responsibilties of watching the Simpson house (“What was that last thing you said? Grampa’s Little Helper?”) He sadly asks the pets which one of them is the mailman, and the animals give each other a glance.
– A lot of quick bits on the road, from Homer’s paranoia about the fruit and vegetable check-point (he nervously looks over at a pamphlet “Smuggled Vegetables: The Road to E-Z Success,”) country AM radio, which is all religious stations spewing damnation (very true), and the fabulous fake-out of Homer seemingly falling asleep at the wheel and crashing the car in a fiery wreck. And then the great finale of Homer taking a shortcut through a corn field… and ending up at the park with their car destroyed. It’s one of those great jokes that says so much with no description. There’s an army missile lodged in the back, a Homecoming banner, a chicken flies out of Marge’s hair, you can come to your own conclusions as to what the hell happened.
– We get our first great Disney swipe at the gigantic Itchy lot, and the equally as big Scratchy lot. The Disney lots have a bit more variety, but one Goofy lot is pretty much that size.
– I like the smarmy I&S Land official who keeps popping up to reassure guest concerns. When he gets cornered by Marge’s concerns regarding the violent cartoon, he makes a swift exit.
– I absolutely love that in the Tavern on the Scream restaurant, there’s a light music version of the I&S theme song playing. It’s such a wonderful minor detail that is really great.
– The I&S parade is great, which kind of mocks the various Disney parades. I like when Lisa coos about the baby axe, and Marge still expresses mild disdain (“It’s cute, but I’m sure it’s very sharp and probably dirty.”)
– The log ride is spectacularly dumb. Let’s look through how dangerous it is. The arrows and cannon fire could have been timed by the ride’s proximity, so that’s safe. Then are the spikes, which seem to be molded to get mere centimeters away from piercing the Simpsons. Now even that could be explained if the ride seats two small children in the front and the adults in back. But the giant buzz saw slicing through the ride vehicle seems like it would raise some red flags about safety. I love how there’s just mats haphazardly placed at the bottom for people to land on. Also what a waste of a good log, that ride must cost a fortune to maintain.
– Nice bit at Itchy’s Disco (est. 1980) with a sheepish John Travolta as bartender, who at the time was in a career slump. Actually Pulp Fiction came out that year, so this was right before his career insurgence, I guess.
– I love the idea of the Itchy & Scratchy & Friends hour, like at some point studio executives forced them to make more characters so they could sell more toys, with memorable characters like Disgruntled Goat and Ku Klux Klam. I’d love to see a clip of that show.
– The Roger Myers Story building is perfect: the set-up of the standing room with guard rails is just like in Disney World, where they have a similar thing for Walt’s story. The narration is brilliant (“Roger Meyers, Senior, the gentle genius behind Itchy and Scratchy, loved and cared about almost all the peoples of the world. And he, in turn, was beloved by the world, except in 1938 when he was criticized for his controversial cartoon, ‘Nazi Supermen Are Our Superiors.'”) I mentioned “Scratchtasia,” but also great is “Pin-itchio” and Dan Castellaneta’s great Italian Scratchy (“OUCH-AH!”)
– The underground, super sterile and industrial I&S Land is so wonderful. Passing the control room are three jokes, but what’s great is that two of them call back to previous events, one being the waiter at T.G.I. McScratchy’s seems to be attempting suicide, and the other that the gift shop is out of Bort license plates.
– I like Homer’s indignation about his wrongful incarceration (“I kicked a giant mouse in the butt! Do I have to draw you a diagram?”)
– During the robot fight, Bart, mimicking a movie tough guy like Schwarzenegger, tells an Itchy-bot, “Say cheese” before scrambling its circuits. He comments, “With a dry, cool wit like that, I could be an action star.” Later, Homer emerges from a pile of robots with the less clever “Die, bad robots, die!” He then attempts to repeat Bart’s earlier comment, but Bart cuts him off, not paying the least bit of attention.
– Great final swipe with showing the completely deserted Euro Itchy & Scratchy Land (“My last paycheck bounced! My children need wine!”)