Page 61 of 117

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 1:46pm
by Kory
...started to feel more and more like the show claiming a moral superiority that preemptively absolved it from any criticism.
They were getting to be masters of relinquishing any responsibility for the show at all. Armin Tamzarian is evidence enough.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 2:04pm
by Dr. Medulla
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 1:46pm
...started to feel more and more like the show claiming a moral superiority that preemptively absolved it from any criticism.
They were getting to be masters of relinquishing any responsibility for the show at all. Armin Tamzarian is evidence enough.
I get why people hate the Armin Tamzarian episode, but there's such a joyous fucked-uppery to it, complete with a moronic status quo ante conclusion, that I love it. It also had echoes of Spider-man's second clone saga to it, reinforcing how messed up that was.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 2:06pm
by Kory
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:04pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 1:46pm
...started to feel more and more like the show claiming a moral superiority that preemptively absolved it from any criticism.
They were getting to be masters of relinquishing any responsibility for the show at all. Armin Tamzarian is evidence enough.
I get why people hate the Armin Tamzarian episode, but there's such a joyous fucked-uppery to it, complete with a moronic status quo ante conclusion, that I love it. It also had echoes of Spider-man's second clone saga to it, reinforcing how messed up that was.
I don't hate the Tamzarian episode, mainly for the same reasons as you—but I DID hate the clone saga. Fuck that shit.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 2:10pm
by Dr. Medulla
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:06pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:04pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 1:46pm
...started to feel more and more like the show claiming a moral superiority that preemptively absolved it from any criticism.
They were getting to be masters of relinquishing any responsibility for the show at all. Armin Tamzarian is evidence enough.
I get why people hate the Armin Tamzarian episode, but there's such a joyous fucked-uppery to it, complete with a moronic status quo ante conclusion, that I love it. It also had echoes of Spider-man's second clone saga to it, reinforcing how messed up that was.
I don't hate the Tamzarian episode, mainly for the same reasons as you—but I DID hate the clone saga. Fuck that shit.
I grew to like the Ben Reilly character, but that was in spite of the editorially cintrived narrative. (He's back, btw, but on the villainish side.)

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 2:15pm
by Kory
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:10pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:06pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:04pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 1:46pm
...started to feel more and more like the show claiming a moral superiority that preemptively absolved it from any criticism.
They were getting to be masters of relinquishing any responsibility for the show at all. Armin Tamzarian is evidence enough.
I get why people hate the Armin Tamzarian episode, but there's such a joyous fucked-uppery to it, complete with a moronic status quo ante conclusion, that I love it. It also had echoes of Spider-man's second clone saga to it, reinforcing how messed up that was.
I don't hate the Tamzarian episode, mainly for the same reasons as you—but I DID hate the clone saga. Fuck that shit.
I grew to like the Ben Reilly character, but that was in spite of the editorially cintrived narrative. (He's back, btw, but on the villainish side.)
Yeah Ben was ok. He played a role in the New Warriors for a while, so I got to read him outside the context of SM. But fuck that fucking piece of shit storyline. It made my heart Marvel's plaything and turned me off spandex comics for 20 years.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 2:24pm
by Dr. Medulla
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:15pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:10pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:06pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:04pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 1:46pm




They were getting to be masters of relinquishing any responsibility for the show at all. Armin Tamzarian is evidence enough.
I get why people hate the Armin Tamzarian episode, but there's such a joyous fucked-uppery to it, complete with a moronic status quo ante conclusion, that I love it. It also had echoes of Spider-man's second clone saga to it, reinforcing how messed up that was.
I don't hate the Tamzarian episode, mainly for the same reasons as you—but I DID hate the clone saga. Fuck that shit.
I grew to like the Ben Reilly character, but that was in spite of the editorially cintrived narrative. (He's back, btw, but on the villainish side.)
Yeah Ben was ok. He played a role in the New Warriors for a while, so I got to read him outside the context of SM. But fuck that fucking piece of shit storyline. It made my heart Marvel's plaything and turned me off spandex comics for 20 years.
Weirdly, it brought me back. I had quit comics in the mid 80s—pretty much when I found punk—and was in grad school when I heard about this huge controversial story, so I checked it out and ended up getting hooked in spite of it all.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 2:30pm
by Kory
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:24pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:15pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:10pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:06pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:04pm


I get why people hate the Armin Tamzarian episode, but there's such a joyous fucked-uppery to it, complete with a moronic status quo ante conclusion, that I love it. It also had echoes of Spider-man's second clone saga to it, reinforcing how messed up that was.
I don't hate the Tamzarian episode, mainly for the same reasons as you—but I DID hate the clone saga. Fuck that shit.
I grew to like the Ben Reilly character, but that was in spite of the editorially cintrived narrative. (He's back, btw, but on the villainish side.)
Yeah Ben was ok. He played a role in the New Warriors for a while, so I got to read him outside the context of SM. But fuck that fucking piece of shit storyline. It made my heart Marvel's plaything and turned me off spandex comics for 20 years.
Weirdly, it brought me back. I had quit comics in the mid 80s—pretty much when I found punk—and was in grad school when I heard about this huge controversial story, so I checked it out and ended up getting hooked in spite of it all.
I was 11 at the time so I felt manipulated—my little boy emotions were fragile. It was at the tail-end of a lot of stories that I thought showed they were really running out ideas already. Plus I thought the writing itself was corny. I was into Cerebus by this time, so was getting a taste of writing that reflected how people actually talk to one another.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 2:58pm
by Dr. Medulla
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:30pm
I was 11 at the time so I felt manipulated—my little boy emotions were fragile. It was at the tail-end of a lot of stories that I thought showed they were really running out ideas already. Plus I thought the writing itself was corny. I was into Cerebus by this time, so was getting a taste of writing that reflected how people actually talk to one another.
Having the clone survive and return was a neat idea, but, holy macaroni, how it was stretched, distorted, and allowed to rot was a wonderful case study of how awful Marvel was. There was a long blog series shortly after it was done by one of the assistant editors that provided an insider account of how fucked up a simple and fairly short story was turned into something pretty much everyone hated.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 3:15pm
by Kory
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:58pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:30pm
I was 11 at the time so I felt manipulated—my little boy emotions were fragile. It was at the tail-end of a lot of stories that I thought showed they were really running out ideas already. Plus I thought the writing itself was corny. I was into Cerebus by this time, so was getting a taste of writing that reflected how people actually talk to one another.
Having the clone survive and return was a neat idea, but, holy macaroni, how it was stretched, distorted, and allowed to rot was a wonderful case study of how awful Marvel was. There was a long blog series shortly after it was done by one of the assistant editors that provided an insider account of how fucked up a simple and fairly short story was turned into something pretty much everyone hated.
Yeah, it lasted like two years or something, right? Storytelling by committee.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 09 Aug 2017, 3:21pm
by Dr. Medulla
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 3:15pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:58pm
Kory wrote:
09 Aug 2017, 2:30pm
I was 11 at the time so I felt manipulated—my little boy emotions were fragile. It was at the tail-end of a lot of stories that I thought showed they were really running out ideas already. Plus I thought the writing itself was corny. I was into Cerebus by this time, so was getting a taste of writing that reflected how people actually talk to one another.
Having the clone survive and return was a neat idea, but, holy macaroni, how it was stretched, distorted, and allowed to rot was a wonderful case study of how awful Marvel was. There was a long blog series shortly after it was done by one of the assistant editors that provided an insider account of how fucked up a simple and fairly short story was turned into something pretty much everyone hated.
Yeah, it lasted like two years or something, right? Storytelling by committee.
Wikipedia shows it as just over 2 years, but, fuck, it seemed like 5.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 11 Aug 2017, 3:04pm
by Dr. Medulla
Image

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 11 Aug 2017, 6:58pm
by Kory

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 11 Aug 2017, 7:11pm
by Dr. Medulla
Kory wrote:
11 Aug 2017, 6:58pm
I heard about that a few days ago and will certainly check it out. I've wondered from time to time whether The Simpsons got away with a lot of that because it was, on the whole, so damned funny and sharp. We tend to make exceptions for those whose work we adore when, in other people it would be quick condemnation.

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 13 Aug 2017, 8:50am
by Dr. Medulla
https://www.sporcle.com/games/Electrica ... cture_quiz

Tough Simpsons identification quiz on minor characters. I got 50/96, but I recognized almost all of them—just couldn't retrieve their names (tho in some cases they have no names, just descriptors).

Re: The Simpsons

Posted: 13 Aug 2017, 9:49am
by Silent Majority
Dr. Medulla wrote:
13 Aug 2017, 8:50am
https://www.sporcle.com/games/Electrica ... cture_quiz

Tough Simpsons identification quiz on minor characters. I got 50/96, but I recognized almost all of them—just couldn't retrieve their names (tho in some cases they have no names, just descriptors).
61 and I was proud of some of the very obscure ones.