"You have many question Mr Sparkle" (Simpsons,The)

Member Name: Fishbulb

Product:	Simpsons,The
Date:	17/09/02 (2998 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Clean Fun, Family Viewing, Cheaper than a night out

Disadvantages: Lots and lots of repeats, Lots and lots of repeats, Lots and lots of repeats

Right folks, after a long period of inactivity on my part I thought it only right to pop another opinion out there in DooYoo land! And on my favourite topic of conversation – The Simpsons! For a bit of a change, I thought about taking the John Malcovich approach and would like to guide you through a typical day (and his thoughts and feelings throughout the day) in the eyes of one Homer J Simpson. The second bit is the facts, I am a mine of information when it comes to this yellow family, I’ll try not to bore you this is my first TV op so any (objective) criticism will be graciously appreciated!

A day in the life of…..

Wakes up
Hmmm….what’s that I smell…. Bacon? Oooohhhhh gurgle bacon…
Marge: Morning Honey
Homer: Can’t talk….eating
Marge: Don’t forget it’s Parents Evening at Springfield Elementary tonight I expect you home straight from work, no stopping of at Moes!
Homer: But honey, it’s…
Marge: No stopping off!

Stoopid Marge, wants me to go to ‘parents evening’ what the hell’s that all about anyway? It’s bad enough that she named him Bartholomew Jojo no wonder he’s such a troublemaker. I know he’s a bad kid, I don’t need a stranger telling me that and wasting an evening too.

(to car) “Start damn you” “Staaarrrt” (kicks car) “Stoopid car. Won’t go.” “D’oh” as the sound of crunching metal fills the air. (hopping)
Flanders: “Good Mor-diddly-orning”
“Shut up Flanders, late for work, stupid car won’t work”
Flanders: “Sounds like you’re in a dilly of a pickle there. Let me take a look-a-roonie” “There’s your prob-diddly-ob-lem, you had a skateboard wedged in your alternator” (car) brrrrrrrm brrrrrrrm
Flanders: “Have a great-diddly-day neighbouri
no”
“Shut up Flanders”
(to self in car) “stupid Flanders, thinks he’s so smart, know all… mumble….skate……..mumble…hm mmm…….pickle”

Ah… work, the old grindstone….9:15am – Uhoh…better sneak in.. creep creep….”Ah, the perfect crime”
9:30am – “Whoohooo!” Doughnuts are here – Doughnut break
9:31am – Hmmm….so many to choose from…..urk, custard….oooh double frosting….purple?..Fruit? Purple is a fruit….hmmmmmm…. drool
11:00am – hehehe time for a quick nap before lunch
4:30pm – uhoh! It’s 4:30 and I haven’t had lunch. Fading away, feel so weak. Must get lunch. “Ah, nuts’ to this, I’m off to Moes for a crafty beer…hmmmmm…crafty”
An undetermined time later, lets call it 10:54pm: hmmm…..thersh shomshin Homers do….uuurrrr..oh no parensheve Merge be cross….nother Duff then home.. Oof

Well that’s a (short) day through the eyes of the hero of the moment, one Mr Homer Jay Simpson so as promised lets have some fact-a-roonies.

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The Simpsons is the brainchild of one Mr Matt Groening, prone to vanity he based the characters on his own family, the mysterious town of “Springfield” on the town he grew up in and most of the characters that are not in the direct ‘Simpson’ family take their names from the street names in same said town.

The Simpsons family include

Homer – a typical blue-collared slob who was hired at Springfield Nuclear Powerplant as part of ‘project bootstrap’ he’s bald apart from a crop of three solitary hairs on his head and a bizarre zigzag hair that goes from one ear to the other. Vain Mr Groenine even signs his initi
als on Homer the M is made up of the zigzag hair and the G is Homer’s ear! Homer is quite keen on Duff beer, TV, American cheese, foot long hotdogs and well… food in general. Says Hmmmm… when happy / appreciative D’oh when cross! Also sang in a barbershop quartet (called the B Sharps)

Marge – fusspot mother who’s secret shame is both possessing webbed feet and dying her hair (she uses blue dye No 56!) Can be a little neurotic and has issues with addictions, including gambling and road rage. Has proudly overcome her fear of flying. Had a mild obsession with Ringo Starr and enjoyed painting him in many many different poses.

Bart – the worlds most famous perpetual ten year old – he has been ten now for over a decade. Enjoys skateboarding, graffiti (goes under the tag el barto) misbehaving and although went through a brief period of being a genius prefers to talk as a 1920’s British Chimney sweep than to concentrating at school. Barts secret shame is that he once took ballet and enjoyed it.

Lisa – smartest 8 year old kid in the world. Smug, know-all, plays the saxophone and has been know to play a jug and a guitar should the occasion fit! Went through a period of being the ‘saddest kid in grade no 2’ has inherited her mothers addictive nature and became addicted to ‘Truckers Choice’ stay awake tablets. Also drank the ‘water’ on the ‘it’s a small world’ ride at DuffLand – was found swimming naked in the fountain. Lisa also has a middle name – Marie.

Maggie – In one episode it transpires that Maggie is actually the daughter of Kang (the alien) and her dummy is a communication tool to speak with her father. Actually Maggie is by far the overlooked one in the family – she can spell (with her bricks) she has been known to play Tchaikovsky on her little xylophone. Although not promoted much, Maggi
e has actually spoken – her first word was “dad-diddly-doo-diddly” when the Simpsons kids were taken into their foster home at ‘Flanders’ house. Maggie has also called Homer Daddy, but only after he’d left the room. Accessories – Dummy, all sorts of colours, preferred colour red.

Snowball II

Original cat of the Simpson family (has appeared both black in one episode and white in another) Snowball I shuffled off her mortal coil one fateful Halloween when the Mayor of Springfield ran her over in his Chrysler. Snowball II is replacement cat can be very amusing to watch – doesn’t like being mated with the dog (Homer tries this one day) Cat’s is as cat’s does can often be seen napping in the background somewhere.

Santas Little Helper – joined the Simpsons back in (the official) series one (episode one). Also answers to the name ‘Number 8’ actually – doesn’t answer to anyone. StH enjoys other peoples cookies, not paying attention and destroying family heirlooms (the Bouvier quilt)

Grandpa – (Abraham Simpson) looks just like Homer but with ‘baggy’ skin – somewhat akin to a deflated football / coconut. Cantankerous and bitter, an old man with a chip on his shoulder and an onion tied to his belt (Onion on belt is from one of Grandpas favourite stories “back in 19dikerty 3, see we had to say dikerty cause the khaiber had stolen the word twenty” Abe is prone to falling asleep mid conversation and infrequently mistakes the cat / Maggie / tables for Death. Also has a tattoo on his arm from when he was a member of “The Flying Hellfish”

Well that’s enough about the family, lets have a little look at ‘Springfield’

In the ‘Behind the Laughter’ episode TS are described as a ‘North Kentucky Family’ so does this mean that Springfield is in North
Kentucky? Who cares? Well, you shouldn’t! But if that sort of thing floats your boat then so be it!

We have all your typical things in Springfield, to be honest, it’s just the sort of place I’d like to live. There’s a real community, whenever there is a town meeting or a problem or something good happens a big ol’ mob forms. Great stuff, nothing like getting to know your neighbours. Or being involved in a gang!

It has it’s fair share of normal stuff, Moes Tavern (bar) Springfield Elementary High School, King Tuts (Music Store) The Maison Derrière (house of ill repute) The Monty Burns Casino, Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, The Kwik-e-Mart and should they not tickle your pickle there’s always the ‘Leftoriam’ a store for leftys (left handed people that is) along with several Starbucks in Springfield Mall…. Might be worth visiting just for a day trip. Of course there is a local Gangster group, led by Fat Tony and upon occasion (in court) also led by one Bartholomew J Simpson.

Not to worry though, Police Chief Clancy Wiggin could sort out any problems I had upon my visit….erm….as long as they involved having too many doughnuts, drinking coffee and using ‘invisible typewriters’ to write down my complaints.

Seems like quite a good place to go to really, what with the community spirit and very popular for immigrants (and bears) why the local school Groundskeeper is from this fair Isle from Lower Kilt-town in Scotland, tis a lovely place. And the Irish settled in Springfield too although they were chased out, but by Grandpa Simpsons generation and they didn’t do such a great job. There’s also Bumblebeeman who you would assume was Hispanic but when not being BBM talks with an Oxford English accent. Ah, but Senor DingDong, the local doorbell wizard, now he’s from Mexico…..I wonder if they’d let me stay?
Well…I wa
s going to finish there, and I really could rant all day about TS, but I’ll chat (don’t worry, I’ll be brief) about the actual show before I depart.

The show has been running since 17th December 1989 (my birthday) and started out as a brief couple of minutes slot on the Tracy Ulman show. 13 years on and 13 seasons later TS is as popular as ever. With nearly all of the episodes being based around the Simpson family and the odd one being based around someone else – they’re a family I feel like I grew up with, well, I guess in a sense I did. Characters really are coming into their own, with more and more episodes being based on not only the central characters but their neighbours and their friends. Yes the tales of these 4 fingered yellow people are certainly entertaining for the ‘children’ of today and don’t be all snooty and put off ‘because it’s a cartoon’ I’d recommend to anyone, just watch one episode and if you’re not laughing….well, there’s something wrong with you. There is a degree of ‘adult’ humour, involving crushes, sex, drugs, politics, sports – but as a kid watching, you wouldn’t even know. But as a parent, surely it’s got to be better to sit through something that you can enjoy “with” your family.

TS is featured every weekday evening on Sky1 from 7:00pm – 8:00pm you can also find TS on BBC at 6:00pm each weekday evening. For those of you who haven’t had your Simpsons fill by the weekend it’s also on at 9:30am Sky1 (this does keep changing though) on Saturdays and at 6:00pm – 7:00pm also on Sky1 (if there’s a new episode due out this is when it will be on. New episodes are rarely shown two weeks in a row, but usually every third weekend look out for one!) And if THAT’s not enough for you the first two seasons are out on DVD now along with a couple of other DVD’
;s with random episodes on. There’s tons of Simpsons videos and merchandise. I myself have a wide and varied collection!

With literally 100’s of characters in TS a whole op could be written just listing them down (don’t worry, I’m not going to do that! Teehee). But I’ll leave you with some of my favourite quotes:

Ralph Wiggin: (Talking about fires) “In my house they call them ‘uh oh’s’ “

Mr Burns: “Smithers use the amnesia ray!”
Smithers: “You mean the revolver?”
Mr Burns: “YES, and be sure to wipe your memory clean too!”

Flanders: (talking to the Simpsons kids when they are placed in the Flanders care as a Foster home) “Welcome to your new home, neglectarinos”

Bart: (To Homer after watching the promotional video for Mr Sparkle Washing Powder) “Right you are then Fishbulb!”

Homer while walking in the middle of the night – sees a sign for a gym: “What’s a gime?” (pronounced wrong) then goes in and says “Ahh….a gime!”

Right that’s really it then folks…..ooh just one final quote from Nelson Muntz

“SMELL YA LATER!”

Official Website Http://www.thesimpsons.com

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