(S18E16)I was sick, that's why this review is late. Onward:
I may be a Simpsons apologist, but that doesn't mean I don't understand where people are coming from when they say the show isn't what it used to be. Even those like myself who defend the series for still being one of the smartest and funniest shows on television can still recognize a lesser episode, and this episode was certainly not the best one of the season.
I'm sure most of you thought of the "Make Love, Not Warcraft" episode of South Park when Marge becomes immersed in an online game called Earthland Realms, but just because two shows coincidentally decide to spoof the same thing it doesn't necessarily follow that I need to compare and contrast the episodes. Besides, the South Park episode was a kind of twisted love letter to World of Warcraft, whereas Earthland Realms had more of a symbolic purpose as Bart tries to lead the "adult " life of the Shadow Knight while not hurting his mother's feelings (or killing her).
Between the main plot with Marge and Bart and the B story with Homer officiating at Lisa's soccer game, I thought this episode had a lot of potential. Yes, it was venturing into territory already explored in previous episodes by focusing on the dynamics between the kids and the parents, but this isn't the Early Simpsons Era in which we're still learning about the family, this is the Modern Simpsons Era in which the roles are already well-established. Admittedly, that can result in episodes like this one where the plot feels very "paint-by-numbers," but the series has returned to familiar territory before and conjured up something just as hilarious and refreshing as those heavily-praised early seasons.
I felt the Homer /Lisa story might have worked better as the main plot, but even that segment of the episode was hindered by a terrible guest voice in soccer player Ronaldo, who I'm sure is an excellent soccer player, but I hate it when non-actors do guest voices on The Simpsons. If the episode is funny enough, that can be forgiven, but when most of the episode consists of different versions of gags I've already seen the show do a hundred times, bad voice acting becomes much more of a distraction.
This episode gets a 3 out of 7.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-24-2007 @ 9:57AM
Thomas said...
That's one of my main gripes with The Simpsons, in the early days guest voices were either anonymous, because of their actual talent or for a real purpose or justifiable comic effect. Now it's just because they have a "famous" name and can be shoe-horned into a story.
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4-24-2007 @ 10:13AM
Douglin said...
American Dad also did a World of Warcraft parody that was better than this one.
I thought the episode was pretty poor, the online stuff seemed liked it would have worked better in a Halloween episode where players got sucked into the game or something. The Lisa/Homer story just felt very unoriginal and too similar to episodes they've done before.
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4-24-2007 @ 10:15AM
R-Bro said...
I'm one of those who thinks the Simpsons rarely strikes gold anymore, but I have to admit this episode did have one laugh-out-loud line: "I got fired from Foot Locker!"
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4-24-2007 @ 10:20AM
Bill said...
I don't generally mind non-actors (the softball team full of ringers is one of my all time favorites), but Ronaldo doesn't really speak English, so that was a dumb casting choice. Though I guess there aren't too many soccer players the American public knows (and David Beckham has a weirdly high pitched voice).
But I agree, this was certainly a weak episode.
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4-24-2007 @ 10:23AM
beanspants said...
the painting of his black & white ref shirt back to an all white homer shirt was funny too. but i have no interest in either game (warcraft or soccer), so i didn't think much of the episode.
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4-24-2007 @ 11:46AM
Hugeliver said...
I give up. I'm not even going to watch new Simpsons any more.
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4-24-2007 @ 12:08PM
jae said...
Ha! You guys are nuts. Other than maybe The Office, The Simpsons is still the funniest half hour on TV every week. The representation of each Springfield resident within the game was priceless. The recurring joke of Moe as a troll is great, and Milhouse dressed as a princess was priceless!
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4-24-2007 @ 12:10PM
jae said...
Hmmm....didn't mean to use pricelss twice. I'll go with "hilarious" instead.
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4-24-2007 @ 6:48PM
MosquitoControl said...
This, and the episode before it, was the first new episode I've watched in years. Likely since 2002.
And both were unwatchable without a single funny joke.
Seasons 2 through 8 were golden. 1 and 9 were half golden. Everything else is so bad. How could anyone call this "smart?"
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4-25-2007 @ 5:35AM
heinlein said...
I guess I'll have to be the disagreeing voice, because I thought that this was easily the best episode of the season so far. It had two strong stories about bonding and hating and you could really see and believe the feelings of everyone in the family.
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