[*] Weekly discussion summary
Chris Baird
to those readers who find wading through zillions of articles one of the
less attractive aspects of alt.tv.simpsons, here's a brief recap of the
past week's discussions,,
[NB: Much of the information in this summary comes from episodes still
to air in most parts of the world, so consider this a `spoiler' warning.]
+ The Springfield Elementary's Presidents' Day pageant was responsible
for more articles than you could roll a log over...
Different ideas from outside the context why Ralph chose the costume
for Franklin Delano Roosevelt (when playing George Washington).
FDR's spending his entire presidency in a wheelchair because of
poliomyelitis; the media actually cooperating to keep this from the
public.
A history of Presidential assassination attempts, without forgetting
Jimmy Carter and the Killer Bunny.
The reviews of `The lesser known Presidents' speak for themselves,
and a shared opinion that one of the highlights of the show is
whenever the writers spoof any kind of stage performance (the school
recitals, theatre, pageants and the like).
+ A 106 uses for Petroleum Jelly.
+ Several FOX-distributed sitcoms made recent mention of `The Simpsons'.
In `Married.. with Children', Peg tries to encourage Al to think of a
meaningful catchphrase for her comic strip character. (``Come on Al,
be like Homer Simpson -- say D'OH or something.'')
A more subtle (contrived?) mention occurred in `Herman's Head'.
Louise (Yeardley Smith) has a secret admirer (tell us something we
don't know:), whose name is revealed to be Ralph... Recall that
``I Love Lisa'' aired only a few nights earlier.
And one more surprise in `Full House'. The two younger daughters were
fighting and then compared to Itchy and Scratchy.
+ Once again Krusty's illiteracy came under question -- being able to
read (in part) the cue cards in 1984, yet was completely illiterate
by the '89/90 ``Krusty Gets Busted''. (Maybe the card had pictograms?)
+ Matt Groening celebrated his own special anniversary with a 39th
birthday on February 15th, at the home of one Frank Zappa and in the
presence of half a chocolate log birthday cake. `Happy Birthday' was
sung by a small group, including three Tuvan throat singers and a
Canadian.
+ Rumours that Smithers has a rare skin condition that has paled his
once brown complexion (as seen in a few first season episodes).
+ Rock musician and previous guest star on the show, Sting, will be the
opening act for concert this Spring, something he says has never done
before...
+ CNN Headline News had a brief story on American [television] programs
being exported to international markets. Short clips were shown of
``Krusty Gets Busted'' in French. And when asked to explain the
success of the show in places afar as Turkey, Groening replied,
``I think ``The Simpsons'' would be popular in any country where
fathers are screaming and strangling their kids.''
+ Who Homer's conscience sounds like -- Droopy, or the meek-submissive-
husband-of-domineering-wife voice of Daws Butler.
And one of our number noticed an old cartoon where Sylvester slapped
his forehead and said something remarkably like ``D'oh!''
+ Michael Savastio reckons that Homer and Tom's screams as they `fall'
up the gorge (``Brother from the Same Planet'') is the same scream
played in reverse from their fall down.
+ The North Americans are back to watching repeats after a month of
consecutive first-run episodes, with ``Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie''
on Feb 25th, and ``Mr. Plow'' scheduled for March 4th. Elsewhere,
melancholy viewers in Scandinavia are without the show altogether.
+ Matt G. was a guest of Larry King's on Thursday 11th, and had to
``field Homer-level questions from the outraged, judgmental, and
humorless masses.''
+ The layouts for the cameo by Ren & Stimpy in ``Brother From the Same
Planet'' were prepared by a former Spumco (R&S) employee, Chris
Reccardi. When this was being planned, the creator of R&S, John
Kricfalusi, wanted to arrange the layouts personally.
+ What must be Bart's first role in a `R' rated movie -- cast as a
conspicuous keychain ornament in `Basic Instinct'.
+ Capsules were released for ``I Love Lisa'' and ``Lisa the Beauty
Queen''. Mark Holtz leaped into the newsgroup with his episode guide.
+ The alt.tv.simpsons News/Email gateway and mailing list is now in the
process of moving to a new home. The news gateway is soon to be
switched over to simp...@net.bio.net, and enquires about the mailing
list are now handled by simpsons...@net.bio.net
+ The Return of Ayn Rand.
+ The accuracy of `The When did everything happen' time-line in the FAQ
was doubted, reasoning that your typical student who graduated in 1974
would've been born in 1956-57. (The diagram uses Homer's DOB from the
health insurance form in 7F02, 10-May-55.) A all but forgotten tale
from alt.tv.simpsons' prehistory concluded Homer repeated a year.
This is now moot because Homer's drivers license in 9F14 gives his DOB
as 12-May-56. This doesn't make the FAQ maintainer very happy...
+ Without elaborating how he found this out, Jym Dyer recognizes Lisa's
Valentine to Ralph from a variety pack of `Thomas the Tank Engine'
cards. And it was quipped that Itchy and Scratchy's exchange of
valentines is another demonstration that `Love Hurts'...
+ A subscriber sees Itchy and Scratchy in the Italian adults-only comic,
`Squeak the Mouse'. The character designs are very similar and have
the same love of hyperbolic violence, but the net.agreement is they're
simply born from the same inspiration.
+ Hearsay that all the Tracey Ullman shorts will be rebroadcast sometime
in the future.
(Assume that all items that follow are in some way associated with
``Duffless''.)
+ Bart's Science project attempts to find out if Hamsters really do fly!
Hehe. And her Abject Admirers were horrified as they watched Lisa
perform research on live animals!
+ As suspected... Rodd and Todd Flanders were born within wedlock.
+ More attention has been given to the details on Homer's drivers
license than the story.
+ 9F14 will probably be referred to as `the psychology episode', at
least by the psychologists in the audience who boldly attempted to
convince us.
+ A few additions to `The Stellar Acting Career of Troy McClure'.
+ If the writers are becoming more explicit in their (shrewdly
disguised) sexual references, after considering what the `cupcake
scene' was alluding to.
+ Those who wish to avoid the `r' word should skip the remainder of this
item... A reciprocal mention to `Herman's Head', `A Clockwork Orange',
James Bold/Ernst Stravo Blofeld (tangent'd to a general discussion
about evil villains and their furry pets), `They Saved Hilter's Brain',
and the classic 1928 film loved by design students all over the world,
Fritz Lang's `Metropolis'.
--
Chris Baird,, <c892...@mystra.newcastle.edu.au>
Michael C. Berch
> [...]
> + The alt.tv.simpsons News/Email gateway and mailing list is now in the
> process of moving to a new home. The news gateway is soon to be
> switched over to simp...@net.bio.net, and enquires about the mailing
> list are now handled by simpsons...@net.bio.net
This has now been completed, and the gateway seems to be running fine
in both directions. For mailing list people, the submission address
is
simp...@net.bio.net
and all requests should go to
And, as always with mailing lists on the net, please see if you can
possibly use the Usenet (alt.tv.simpsons) version instead if it is
available at your site, instead of the mailing list. If you can do
this, and you're on the list, please ask to be unsubscribed.
In the future the mailing list requests will be handled by Majordomo,
a list server for UNIX -- watch for details on this.
--
Michael C. Berch
simpsons...@net.bio.net
Phil Mueller
> ...
> And one of our number noticed an old cartoon where Sylvester slapped
> his forehead and said something remarkably like ``D'oh!''
It wasn't Sylvester. It was a one-time only cat in a Tex Avery/MGM cartoon.
--
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