Simpsons by the Season: 5

"I'd be mortified if someone made a lousy product with the Simpson name on it."

The changes to The Simpsons don't happen with large, swooping motions separated by individual seasons. It's more of a slow, gradual process seen through the occasional alteration in one character's actions in a few episodes here and there until those decisions become the norm. That's mostly what this season is - it isn't a stark change in attitudes between the indomitable season four (and thankfully it's also not a change in quality, at least not a significant one) but there's a few signs of things in the future that twist the show in a different direction.

Namely, the family is clearly making a name for themselves in the town of Springfield. In the previous seasons we see this a little bit here and there; Lisa becomes a beauty queen, Dancing Homer sparked some popularity, even Homer being a monorail conductor had him saving a number of people and would garner a bit of attention. Season 5 takes it a little higher. First off, it shows some of Homer's past when he becomes a part of a barbershop quartet that found a very high amount of popularity. This is somewhere either before or after he becomes a grunge musician in later seasons, but that's a different issue altogether. Homer also becomes an astronaut, and although they make light of the fact that no one actually watches space launches, you have to assume that it would be a fairly country-wide thing to send two blundering idiots into space. That, or it's just the Springfield wing of N.A.S.A. deciding to spend some of their budget. Further, Lisa helps to create a doll that was meant to rival Malibu Stacey, the Barbie of the Simpson world - and she's the voice and name for it. Bart finds fame as well, both in when his "do what you feel like" motto is pushed to the forefront of the town with the help of Brad Goodman in "Bart's Inner Child" and in his other saying, "I didn't do it" on Krusty's show that finds him both fame and you have to assume some degree of fortune. The last episode is literally called "Bart Gets Famous". 

As for other gradual changes in the characters, which thus far are still relatively few and far between, we see for the first time one of the main Simpson family characters acts in a negative way and goes without consequence. In "Boy Scouts 'N' the Hood", Homer is a jerk to both Bart and Flanders pretty well the whole time. Usually the episode will end with him pushing it too far or Bart getting fed up, resulting in Homer repenting and ultimately coming through in the end. This time, well... he came through (saving them on a raft that got lost due to his mistakes) but it didn't really show him seeing how he was wrong. He was being a poor father and got no comeuppance for it. While this is only one occasion, it's indicative of the direction the show takes in the years to come. As for right now, we see Homer's redemption come through in "The Last Temptation of Homer" where he refuses to cheat on Marge, and Bart finding his way in "Burns' Heir" where in the end he stands up for his family. Mind you, Bart also threw rocks through Burns' mansion earlier in the episode, an action that eventually rewarded him, but... meh.

Lastly, the show is gradually becoming more outrageous. I mentioned Homer became an astronaut as an example of his fame, but lets take a look at this for a moment. Homer became an astronaut. Bart got a fully-grown African elephant. I appreciate that they're making it seem more plausible by tying it into the plot - the later being because they wanted to show that just anyone can go into space now, and the former because K.B.B.L. Radio promised a cash prize they assumed everyone would take, rather than a useless second option which Bart chooses - but it's still implausible. Up until this point, the plotlines at least have been somewhat tied to reality, and these are stretching that line a tad tight. It hasn't broken yet, but hey, as I said, this season is all about slow, gradual processes. 

Best Episode:

Once again, it's a great season. It's not as strong as season four where I believe the show hits its peak, but that's not to disparage it - it's hanging right up there with the top, it just doesn't quite take the crown. Of all the great episodes (and there are many) the stand out here is "Cape Fear". Sideshow Bob breeds classics, and this is no exception. I will, however, give a nod to the first great Treehouse of Horror, featuring Flanders as the devil, the monster on the side of the school bus, and Mr. Burns as a vampire. I'll also give a nod to my personal favourite visual joke in Homer chasing after the Flanders' car in the style of Terminator 2.



Best Quotes:
"Life is one crushing defeat after another until you just wish Flanders was dead."
-Homer consoling Apu after losing the Kwik-e-Mart

"I'm a white male, aged eighteen to fourty-nine. Everyone listens to me!"
-Homer after hearing Abe and Lisa complain about the difficulties of being old and young, respectively.

"Dad, I know you're discouraged, but please don't deny the world your fat can."
-Bart after Homer gets in trouble for mooning the crowd at Mr. Burns' birthday

"They don't call me Springfield Fats just because I'm morbidly obese!"
-Homer leaning on Flanders' pool table.

Simpsons by the Season: 4

"It may be on a lousy channel, but the Simpsons are on T.V.!"

This season can do no wrong. So many great episodes without a single miss - "Homer the Heretic", "Kamp Krusty", "A Streetcar Named Marge", "Mr. Plow", "Krusty Gets Kancelled"... it's one hit after another. While I have yet to rewatch the following seasons, I dare say this one is the champion, the holy grail of the series that is and forever will be the the greatest of the twenty-something and counting of The Simpsons. 

Oddly enough, the best stuff from this season comes through their songs - a not entirely uncommon prospect for the show, but is most prevalent in this run of episodes. First, the song they sing at Kamp Krusty. Next, the song detailing the many failings of New Orleans (for some reason the city took offense, and the chalkboard the following episode read "I will not defame New Orleans"). Then there was the monorail song, followed by Lisa's songs outside of the power plant in hopes of a dental plan, and the song to Whacking Day. Plus, Bette Midler's song for Krusty in "Krusty Gets Kancelled", proving once more that Krusty is the best animated character in the series by leaps and bounds. 

Of course, that's not the only positives in the season. They're consistently full of the best The Simpsons has to offer. 

You do, however, start seeing very subtle changes in character. While I understand that by now I must be beating a dead horse with the "Simpsons have family values" theme of this blog series, it is beginning to turn - albeit slightly. Lets not forget that in "Homer the Heretic", the crux of the show is that Homer decides to forego church. After a certain number of seasons, this is such a non-issue that you forget that the family is - at least technically - religious. 

Lets look at Homer. In "Brother From the Same Planet", Homer forgets Bart at his soccer game (he plays soccer?). This in and of itself is a small issue. In previous episodes, Bart would have been upset, and Homer would have had to work his way into his favour once more by being a genuinely good father - a fairly straightforward plotline for seasons one through three. Instead, this time when Bart lashes out and goes to find a "big brother", Homer doesn't try to help the problem but instead responds with finding a "little brother". It's petty and childish. Hilarious, don't get me wrong, but a change in approach for certain. Homer doesn't really learn much of a lesson by the end of it either - he just fights the "big brother" and haphazardly gains back Bart's respect. In fact, Bart apologizes to him. If anything, Homer comes across as a much worse parent than previous seasons, but I will admit that this is just a one episode spread. Don't worry - there is plenty of time for Homer's fall of character in the future seasons. It comes swift and savagely. 

Now, of course it wouldn't be fair to mention that Homer still finds many of the redeeming qualities he has in previous seasons in this one as well. In "A Streetcar Named Marge", he's boarish for the 

majority of the episode only to find redemption in the last few minutes. That is more like previous seasons - flaws in the character of the family, but ultimately good-heartedness shines through when needed. It's the core of the first three seasons, and still sneaks its way through to the fourth. There's also a few of the staples of the series as well; Homer almost dies twice, once during "Homer's Triple Bypass" and once during the clip show. Oh, I lied - there was one weak episode, but clip shows are typically not recognized that strongly.

Lastly, I want to comment on that while I know precious little about the time when this season aired (I would have to be about three or four years old) you can see just how popular it must have been through the guest stars in "Krusty Gets Kancelled". What show nowadays could snag as many stars - Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Hugh Hefner, Johnny Carson, Luke Perry and Elizabeth Taylor - in just one episode? That being said, it shows the age of the show a little as well. Gabbo, Krusty's rival whom he fights for viewership, is a doll. A ventriloquist act to counter a clown for the attention of children is such an old concept that it's kept alive almost exclusively through The Simpsons. 

Aside from that, though, it's hardly aged at all. It's funnier than I even remembered, and I don't think I'll ever be able to watch the "Worker and Parasite" clip without cracking up. Kudos, Simpsons, but it's a slow decline from here on out (while still at the peak for years to come, mind you).

Quotes:
"I'm whizzing with the door open - and I love it!"
-This scene when Homer stays home from church was so funny that my uncle called my father at the commercial almost in tears from laughing. It's been in the family lore for a while now.

"Bette and I owned a race horse together - Kruddler!"
-Like season four, Krusty can also do no wrong.

"Alright you balls of pan drippings, I want to see crisco coming out of those pores! We're not leaving until this Christmas ham gives us a pull up."
-The drill instructor at Kamp Krusty's fat camp

-It wouldn't be fair to have this blog without posting the entirety of the New Orleans song in all its glory.
"New Orleans!
Home of Pirates, drunks and whores, 
New Orleans!
Tacky overpriced souvenir stores,
New Orleans!

If you want to go to Hell, you should take a trip
To the Sodom and Gomorra on the Mississip

New Orleans!
Stinky, rotten, vomiting, vile,
New Orleans!
Putrid, brackish, maggoty, foul,
New Orleans!
Crummy, lousy, rancid and rank,
New Orleans!"

Best Episode:
It's a tie again. I just can't choose between "Homer the Heretic" and "Krusty Gets Kancelled". It's not fair. It's just not fair.

Simpsons by the Season: 3

"Where else but America - and possibly Canada - could our family find such opportunity?"

Enter the Golden Age. 

"Give me three fingers of milk, ma."

Yeah, it's easy to make fun of Steven Tyler's looks.
But The Simpsons will always do it best.

Pop quiz: name the other surprisingly jacked character.
If you're a fan, you'll know it immediately.

Great episodes are not surprises, but rather the norm. The middling, average episodes ("Lisa's Pony", "I Married Marge", "Lisa the Greek") are by any standard still incredibly strong, consistently full of laughs - you would be hard pressed to find a joke that falls flat.. The Simpsons has, at this point, clearly settled comfortably into its own, relishing in what are now properly established characters and a distinct feel for the attitude and style of the show. There isn't much that's new in this season compared to the last, but rather a honing of what was already working. Season two's "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", their politically fueled Mr. Burns episode, has an equally funny (and perhaps an even smarter commentary) in "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington". Season one's Jacques is season three's Lurleen Lumpkin. Season two's "The Way We Was", meet three's "I Married Marge." This is far from a complaint. The individual episodes are clear-cut improvements both in storytelling and humour.

I mentioned in previous posts about the good-natured family values style of the early Simpsons seasons, and those are here to stay - at least for a time. In "Lisa Gets a Pony" Homer goes above and beyond in attempting to be a good father, "Homer Defined" has Marge save the day for Bart when Millhouse's mother calls him a bad influence, and Bart's emotional moment of remorse after falling down the well in the hilarious "Radio Bart" episode (of which Homer comes to save him) has many of the same messages of family goodness similar to the previous two. However, they're less heavy-handed this time around, a touch more subtle. A few times in season one they practically came out and stated the lesson learned for the Simpson family at the end of the episode like a Fat Albert-esque after school special. Season three has it as an underlying tone rather than bringing it to the forefront. It's a welcome change and a sign of better writing.

This holds better without a proper caption.

I said earlier there isn't much new in this season. While I believe that to be true, there are small signs of changes here and there, more as signs of things to come rather than great sweeping differences. The most noticeable is progression to more audacious plotlines as seen in "Bart Joins the Mob" (a classic) and "Black Widower", a mystery-style episode where Sideshow Bob (a can't-miss character for many seasons, similar to Krusty in that sense) tries to murder aunt Selma. Even "Stark Raving Dad", the episode with the Michael Jackson impersonator found in the insane asylum Homer is sent to falls out of the norm in terms of more strict lines of plausibility. This is a positive as well as a negative; on one hand, sometimes it's good to go outside the box, but on the other it reminds you of the far too grim reality of the absolutely insulting absurdity that comes with some episodes in later seasons. While the land of the Simpsons is not entirely real (it's a cartoon, this is fine and all) the show works much better when it's still believable. This goes hand in hand with the friendly, loveable and above all relatable family they were intended to be. Remember this come season 12ish.

Best Episode:
I've seen every episode in this season more times than I can count (so, minimum seven). If I were to choose prior to this rewatch, I would have said "Flaming Moe's" in a heartbeat, but man, if "Radio Bart" didn't make a push for it, with "Homer at the Bat" neck and neck... All three are absolutely top of the line.

A nod goes to "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" for being exponentially funnier now that I'm old enough to understand the jokes in it.

Best Quotes:
A judge for the essay contest in "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" is described as the "wealthy gadabout, Chilton Gaines".

"And in order to keep our broadcasting license, we devote Sunday night dead-time to public service shows of limited appeal."
-The show Bart and Lisa call in to convince Krusty's dad to accept his son.

"If I hear one more thing about the Simpsons I swear I'm going to scream."
"At first they were cute and funny but now they're just annoying."
-Treehouse of Horror episode in which the Simpsons become rich and famous.

"Yes, this is Hugh Jass."
-Bart's prank call gone wrong

"What's the point in money if you can't inspire terror in your fellow man?"
-Mr. Burns, after Homer was laid off from his job when Burns sold the plant and as a result sassed him in Moe's Tavern. 

"Starring in alphabetical order: Yodelling Zeke, Butterball Jackson, Freddie Boy and Yuma, Cloris Moselle, Big Shirtless Ron, Orville and Hurley, Gappy Mae, Hip Diddler, Rudy, and the Yahoo Recovering Alcoholic Jug Band!"
-The line-up prior to announcing Lurleen. Take a moment and appreciate just how great these names are.