Notes for LABF18 (Pranks and Greens)
Matt Garvey
developed a little more (that is, past the health food store scene),
but I did like it by the end. As for the main Bart plot, I like the
classic feel (they've been revisiting the pranks in general lately)
and it went more or less fine. I admit I was fooled a bit by the end-
of-act-3 worm delivery (it reminded me a bit of Jack burning Skinner's
car in CABF05), but also did work out it was for a sketch soon
enough... what I didn't anticipate was that the creative prankster
type would actually be a good match for a writer on a show like
Krusty's. (Odd, too, since I'm about halfway through the new
unauthorized Simpsons history!) I also liked some of the zingers from
Lisa, the "Boner Way" callback, and the one baby CD lyric ("doggies
and kitties don't last forever, but they do a lot better than fish!").
OPENING
Shary Bobbins L to R (repeat of LABF15, though I haven't compared the
animation)
Ralph, Barney, Stu same as every recent episode... ??
DYN:
...the opening billboard has Dr. Otto's "Wellness Clinic" and later
(IIRC) the health food store is "Wellness Foods"?
...Lisa's "loser" run has a few parts similar to Jim Carrey's in Ace
Ventura?
Previous episode references
3F04: Milhouse imagines the sidekick with an e^i*pi+1=0 shirt; in 3D
e^pi*i=-1 turned up
7F20: Ice cube with a fly in it (and elsewhere in the episode some
annoying preachy talk about offensive plastics!)
3F05: All the bad food in Homer's stash was reminding me of this (esp.
"Lard Glug!")
Meta-reference corner
-"I think he's gonna ruin the show!" "He's about 20 seasons too late."
-Lisa calling TV writers losers (over execs too - but doesn't continue
through credits)
Other
I'll see if it was mentioned in captions later, but what was the music
in the end credits? I don't remember it from anything in the episode,
but given the Jonah Hill guest spot, was it out of one of his recent
Apatow movies?
Did anyone else's broadcast (esp. east coast, especially WJW in
Cleveland) freeze on the Gerald/Maggie part of the intro all the way
through the sax solo? I'm not too familiar with the different types of
digital broadcast errors, though usually if reception isn't coming in
too well out of the air the whole thing starts stuttering and doesn't
do *that*.
And on tonight's American Dad ("My Morning Straitjacket"), almost the
exact same thing with the pool cover just happened. It was accidental,
but otherwise really close: a switch was conspicuously flipped, hand
impressions were seen, and Hayley didn't get out for quite some time.
Wow.
Brett A. Pasternack
> Previous episode references
> 3F04: Milhouse imagines the sidekick with an e^i*pi+1=0 shirt; in 3D
> e^pi*i=-1 turned up
To pick a nit, note that i*pi should be in parentheses.
There's a solid (if hard for non-math-geeks to follow in places)
explanation of why this is so here:
http://www.math.toronto.edu/mathnet/questionCorner/epii.html
CABF01: High-level vegan food that doesn't even disturb light.
I seem to recall seeing some references in the pranks, too, but I'm not
recalling them at the moment.
Carl
> Not bad. I wasn't crazy about where the Marge story was going until it
> developed a little more (that is, past the health food store scene),
> but I did like it by the end. As for the main Bart plot, I like the
> classic feel (they've been revisiting the pranks in general lately)
> and it went more or less fine. I admit I was fooled a bit by the end-
> of-act-3 worm delivery
Well, you were probably the only one. My first thought was, "Krusty's
using this as a comedy bit." Yep. Predictable.
--- C H