Sunday, October 19

I actually made notes for everything I watched, and then they got destroyed, because I suck. So, I'm sort of going from memory. Doesn't mean I forget how I felt about everything, but the neat little quotes and items I made notes about are mostly gone.

The Simpsons - "Double, Double Boy's in Trouble"

If I remember my notes, the title of this episode comes from Macbeth. The plot comes more from Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper." You're all familiar with the story: a rich kid and a poor kid switch places, to see what it's like for the other half to live.

In this case, Bart is the poor kid and "Simon Woosterfield" is the rich boy. I know he had a race car bed that actually raced, and a poster of Joe Montana that was actually Joe Montana standing there in a pose. (Every day Joe stands there the Woosterfields donate 1 million dollars to Notre Dame.)

As I recall, the beginning of the episode featured Lenny winning $50,000 and throwing a party for all his friends, including a musical number. Also, Simon had an air hockey table, which Bart lay on to talk on the phone. (I so want an air hockey table, not just to lay on and keep cool, but to play.)

If I sound sketchy on details, it's because I was in a great deal of pain while watching. This is why I made all the notes! My overall impressions are that it was a pretty good episode, if not quite as good as the first two of the season.

Family Guy - "Road to Germany"

First, I loved the opening. It's the same thing they did for (I think) Stewie's Big Adventure. Rather than the traditional All in the Family parody (that morphs into a stage show), we get glossy "stills" from the upcoming episode, along with classic music. It's feels like you're watching an old classic movie.

Anyway, Mort accidentally goes back in time to Poland in 1939, and Stewie and Bryan go after him, only find themselves in the middle of the Nazi invasion.

I don't remember a whole lot, other than recalling it wasn't hit out of the park funny, but pretty tightly constructed overall.

I do remember Hitler writing a cable to the army (ordering the Polish invasion), and on the bottom of the cable it reads, "Got your last message. LMAO." Somehow the idea of Hitler using IM-Speak was funny to me. (You know he'd be all about the lulz.)

Another great moment was when Stewie and Hitler come face to face (Stewie is dressed in disguise like Hitler while they were trying to escape). Hitler is confused, and starts doing that mirror thing you've seen in the movies, where it's two people, but inexplicably they do the same thing over and over again, perpetuting the idea that the first unaware guy is looking in a mirror.

There was also a great bit that riffed on Back to the Future, and it got me wondering why they never came up with the idea of making a Back to the Future cartoon, where every week Marty and the Doc would battle some historical baddies. Turns out they did make such a cartoon. Why wasn't I told???