The Man Who Came To Be Dinner?

Hi all and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday. This week I’m going to try and talk about the most recent episode The Man Who Came To Be Dinner. I say try because, all though the dialog gives me all I need to know, there are still things I don’t quite get about this episode.

One of my favourite moments in this episode is when Homer eats potato chips to the tune of The Blue Danube and says “d’oh” after each crunch, out of time with the music. At one time we two d’oh’s right after each other. Sometimes my phone does that because that is also my email ringtone for my main email account. Why is it out of sink with the music? I would think that the crunches and the “d’oh’s” would have worked better if they were in time with the music….oh, well! I guess it had to do with the visual timing of the animation. I’m not sure but it’s just my guess.

If you havent watched this episode yet, basically, the Simpson family go to a Disneyland type of amusement park, where all the rides are either very terrible or busy and one ride just happens to be available, which takes the family to Rigel VII, the home planet of Kang and Kodos. They are taken prisoner by the inhabitents and later on Homer is to be eaten in a giant fondue. However, the queen says that humans are not edible, after taking a bight of Homer’s ass. Thus, the family is taken back home with The theme to Star Trek playing in the background and Homer missing a piece of his but.

My question is why take a bite out of Homer spot? Why not somewhere else? I guess the answer is because it’s a frequent but of comedy, pertaining to Homer. At first it isn’t funny but if you think about it the joke grows on you, when the queen takes that bight out of Homer’s rear. I guess the other reason could be for scatological humor. I will not further elaborate because there’s just no need.

Another thing I thought was cool was the Star Trek references, such as the theme and the sound affects from the original show being played on the rocket. I haven’t looked if any guest stars have been listed but now that I think about it, why wasn’t: Leonard Nimoy, Brent Spiner or any other Star Trek alumni who have guested on the Simpsons in the past guest starred in this episode? Not that there is anything wrong with it but now that I know there are Star Trek references in there it begs those questions.

As for tonights episode, I am looking forward to it, especially since it is a reworked old script from Judd Apatow written 24 years ago, before he became big. I hope it will have some of the old Simpsons zany spirit from the first few seasons, which has been missing in the last few seasons. Not that the last few years worth of episodes aren’t funny, they just aren’t the same as the early days.

On the birthday front, Simpsons executive producer and current show runner Al Jean turned 54 on Friday. He has ran the show by himself since Season 13 and ran it with Mike Reiss during seasons 3 and 4. As an aside, if you have an iPhone or an iPod touch and you use Voice Over to read Mike’s name, it pronounces his last name as Rice. I actually have met someone named Mike Rice, who worked at a Toronto radio station and for a record company, the last I heard.. Anyway, happy birthday Al and I’m glad you like the blog and of course, I made sure to remember your birthday.

As usual to end each Simpsons Sunday post, I recommend checking out Chris Ladesma’s blog. He is the Music Editor for The Simpsons and has been since day 1.
http://simpsonsmusic500.wordpress.com/author/simpsonsmusic500/
I also recommend checking out Yeardley Smith’s blog at http://gobbingoff.tumblr.com
I should also mention Marchez Vous, which is her women’s shoe designer company, which she started earlier in the decade. You can check out their website at
http://www.marchesvous.com
For some strange reason everyone I know hasn’t heard of them yet. Hopefully I can change that.
You can also comment here or you can email me at blindgordie@gmail.com and I will reply as soon as I can to all messages I receive. I would much prefer getting an email so I can reply directly to you, but that’s just me.
One final thing to mention is that you can follow Simpsons Executive Producer Al Jean on Twitter and his Twitter handle is @AlJean.Anyway, that is it for this weeks post. Talk to you again on Weather Wednesday.