Hey, is Black Mirror dated or old enough to be a classic reference? No
matter, as an anthology series without too many trademark elements.
Could be that Twilighty show about that Zone or anything else. Well, not
bad. Definitely leaning into the alternate reality stuff for these
streaming exclusives now. And into departing from the 3-act structure,
with just two supersized stories (and only one act break!). And season
37, the way I reckon it, finally comes to a late close, if 3 episodes
short (see my other rants); production season 36 too is now done.
Amazingly, the credits seem to be "special" enough to entirely forestall
the annoying PROMO BUGS that cropped up in July!

The Way We Wasn't
Pretty good twist on delving into past episodes and repurposing old
clips, keeping it tightly focused without making the old episode
references overwhelming. Interesting too that it specifically stays
anchored in 1974 instead of keeping up with the time drift; support for
the idea that Homer's life as we know it is the dream? (The end is
carefully left ambiguous, with Homer either returning to his fictional
coma and suggesting The Simpsons is not real, or exiting the flashback universe through the coma and suggesting it is.) I also enjoyed The
Sadsons and the suspiciously familiar set of animators and so on, plus
the way Creator Homer looks like a blend of Homer and Matt Groening.
There are lots of ways to do this meta bit (seen throughout the show, Futurama, etc.) and this was successful.

But something is bugging me; I know I've seen whatever the confrontation
with Barney in Homer's mansion is spoofing, recently, but I can't put my finger on it. Any help?

Previous episode stuff
7F12: Anchor for story, clips used/adjusted
1F15: Homer says his son had an elephant (that's the first thing that
came to mind?)
8F10: The chatter about The Empire Strikes Back mildly resembles, minus
the spoiler Homer blurted out, that flashback episode's own scene
7F05: David Silverman seems to be working on animating Dancin' Homer,
with what I think is the production code underneath
DABF13: Homer's blunt answer that Springfield is in Oregon is very
similar to the Michigan response in a very similar situation (Q&A about
a series based on the characters' lives)
3F23: Reference to Scorpio
Movie: End of nude skateboard scene, Spider-Pig
4F18: Mr. Sparkle

I Have No Tablet but I Must Stream
Feels like any sort of TOH entry, the modern commentary kind. Enjoyable
drug trip and musical spoofs, etc. The end calls to mind some TV=zombie
stuff like in 9F04.


Summer dedication switcheroo

The 7/26 rerun of 36ABF16 (Bart 'n' Frink) added a dedication to
recently deceased Sam Neill, with an image of him as Malloy in 1F09. The entire airing was also time compressed, so that's a bummer.

But then, the 8/16 rerun of 37ABF02 (Aunt Misbehavin'), which originally
HAD a dedication to writer Dan McGrath, lost that dedication as usual,
but ADDED (or more likely restored) a part at the beginning of the
credits, where the montage of stills is now preceded by the card
HOMER J. SIMPSON
DIED 6/5 - ALIVE AGAIN 6/24
(shifting all the credits a little bit). Perhaps this was felt to be in
too poor taste to have 45 seconds away from a dedication in the
original. But that makes another thing that only appears in a RERUN. I
haven't yet checked what's in the on-demand version on my cable system.
Need to do that. Unfortunately, this airing was also compressed, so if
you caught that airing, you get the extra gag, but not the full length
timing.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

I enjoyed the second act more than the first one.

Matt Garvey <mxg77@po.cwru.edu> wrote:

Hey, is Black Mirror dated or old enough to be a classic reference? No matter, as an anthology series without too many trademark elements.
Could be that Twilighty show about that Zone or anything else. Well, not bad. Definitely leaning into the alternate reality stuff for these
streaming exclusives now. And into departing from the 3-act structure,
with just two supersized stories (and only one act break!). And season
37, the way I reckon it, finally comes to a late close, if 3 episodes
short (see my other rants); production season 36 too is now done.
Amazingly, the credits seem to be "special" enough to entirely forestall
the annoying PROMO BUGS that cropped up in July!

The Way We Wasn't
Pretty good twist on delving into past episodes and repurposing old
clips, keeping it tightly focused without making the old episode
references overwhelming. Interesting too that it specifically stays
anchored in 1974 instead of keeping up with the time drift; support for
the idea that Homer's life as we know it is the dream? (The end is
carefully left ambiguous, with Homer either returning to his fictional
coma and suggesting The Simpsons is not real, or exiting the flashback universe through the coma and suggesting it is.) I also enjoyed The
Sadsons and the suspiciously familiar set of animators and so on, plus
the way Creator Homer looks like a blend of Homer and Matt Groening.
There are lots of ways to do this meta bit (seen throughout the show, Futurama, etc.) and this was successful.

But something is bugging me; I know I've seen whatever the confrontation with Barney in Homer's mansion is spoofing, recently, but I can't put my finger on it. Any help?

Previous episode stuff
7F12: Anchor for story, clips used/adjusted
1F15: Homer says his son had an elephant (that's the first thing that
came to mind?)
8F10: The chatter about The Empire Strikes Back mildly resembles, minus
the spoiler Homer blurted out, that flashback episode's own scene
7F05: David Silverman seems to be working on animating Dancin' Homer,
with what I think is the production code underneath
DABF13: Homer's blunt answer that Springfield is in Oregon is very
similar to the Michigan response in a very similar situation (Q&A about
a series based on the characters' lives)
3F23: Reference to Scorpio
Movie: End of nude skateboard scene, Spider-Pig
4F18: Mr. Sparkle

I Have No Tablet but I Must Stream
Feels like any sort of TOH entry, the modern commentary kind. Enjoyable
drug trip and musical spoofs, etc. The end calls to mind some TV=zombie stuff like in 9F04.

Summer dedication switcheroo

The 7/26 rerun of 36ABF16 (Bart 'n' Frink) added a dedication to
recently deceased Sam Neill, with an image of him as Malloy in 1F09. The entire airing was also time compressed, so that's a bummer.

But then, the 8/16 rerun of 37ABF02 (Aunt Misbehavin'), which originally
HAD a dedication to writer Dan McGrath, lost that dedication as usual,
but ADDED (or more likely restored) a part at the beginning of the
credits, where the montage of stills is now preceded by the card
HOMER J. SIMPSON
DIED 6/5 - ALIVE AGAIN 6/24
(shifting all the credits a little bit). Perhaps this was felt to be in
too poor taste to have 45 seconds away from a dedication in the
original. But that makes another thing that only appears in a RERUN. I haven't yet checked what's in the on-demand version on my cable system.
Need to do that. Unfortunately, this airing was also compressed, so if
you caught that airing, you get the extra gag, but not the full length timing.

--
"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." --Isaiah 26:3. Dang ?es, Argentine ?s, ?s, heat, humidity, deaths, life, etc. :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)