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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of The Simpsons (Season Finales) and the season premiere of Family Guy.
The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury
Sigh. Let's get to it.
It was slightly better than expected. I expected it to be kind of cruddy (and it is) but Peter Chung means it's visually interesting at least. Normally animated tales in an otherwise adult genre piece are hit and miss. I didn't much like The Animatrix, Predator: Killer Of Killers, Pacific Rim: The Black, Terminator Zero, or the Hellboy cartoons. But the only one of those projects that LOOKED as visually interesting as this was the Animatrix.
One of the downsides of this 33 minute "film" is the script. Namely that it focuses on Riddick, who I believe it a purely contemptible character that it is lunacy to center a franchise around. Whether or not he's bluffing about not caring if Jack dies or not, it's fucking horrible because the character is fucking horrible.
Tress MacNeille was a shockingly poor choice to voice the heavy. She's a cartoon voice so she sounds like a cartoon character. I get in 2004 she was affordable as hell, but really?
The thing is old too. It's 4:3 full-screen instead of 16:9 widescreen which blows my mind. Back in 2004 the Justice League cartoon was experimenting with widescreen so it's super weird this is shaped to fit a low-def TV.
Okay, I've seen all the Riddick stuff now. Outside of Pitch Black, I didn't like the rest of it. **1/2.
The Simpsons "Irrational Treasure"
I guess I'm doing this essay now. 800th episode feels appropriate.
One of my bolder opinions is that Justice League Unlimited was the greatest animated TV show of all time. If The Simpsons had been canceled after Season 8, JLU would be second, but reality was as I described.
I no longer think this. I don't think I'm a fan of this show anymore. I've put up with a lot of nonsense, but it's been accumulating, and I've had enough at this point.
I am one of the few fans of the show who has literally seen every episode, and just bit by bit, the show killed me.
And it's not just the show. The creators are problematic. Matt Groening was on Epstein's jet. There is no controversy the show has been engaged in Al Jean can't make a hundred times worse. Julie Kavner is such a weirdo she refuses to be filmed while doing Marge's voice. Godzilla 1998's Harry Shearer has a higher opinion of his career than warranted, and is always showing his ass about this show. Nancy Cartwright is such a vile piece of shit she used Bart's voice for Scientology promos, causing strict enforcement of when the actors ARE allowed to use those voices, ruining it for everyone, because she's so fucking stupid it never occurred to her, she shouldn't have done that. Most of Hank Azaria and Tress MacNeille's characters on this show are involved in ugly racist stereotypes and both only repented after it was far too fucking late.
But the thing that finally turned me against the show was last year's Ozempic episode. I realized the problem with the show is unfixable and why it's not something I dig anymore.
The problem with the show is that it's cynical about everything. Literally the last time they did an unambiguous compliment to a person / movement was... Elon Musk. Yeah, this show pisses me off.
I hate the fact that no matter the topic, the show creates plots that are essentially answers searching for a problem. Family Guy is also cynical. But maybe because it hasn't been around for 37 seasons which is why is still has enough gas in the tank to explore the characters and scenarios instead of exploring nice things and telling us why they suck.
Ozempic is a nice thing. I'm on Zepbound. I've lost 165 pounds so far. The Simpsons, because the total reset button has to be hit at the end of every episode decided that weight loss meds need to be taken down entirely. I resented that. I resented the entire episode, and it led me to this essay tonight where I've started to resent the entire series.
Some of the "horrible side effects" of Ozempic are loose skin on the body and face. Horrors! Except that is what happens to EVERY overweight person who loses weight (The skin has less mass to hold) and because the show actively imagines problems, it's acting like it's a side effect of the med itself. Worse, one of the characters "Loses weight the 'right' way" and magically does not seem to suffer this. "Losing weight the right way"? The Simpsons is the kind of show that apparently believes weight loss isn't real and doesn't matter unless the person who lost the weight has greatly suffered in doing so. It feeds into the whole stigma that fat people deserve the random medical condition they have that plenty of people who eat the same kinds of things they do don't have.
Weight-loss meds have leveled the playing field for many of us, and it's clear the kind of society The Simpsons is trying to foster is one based on exclusion and shame attached to people with a medical condition. And it's fucking ugly, and I felt it was aimed at myself, and worse, the shot was taken solely because the idea of there no longer being fat people in society to ridicule and feel better than is clearly a bad thing to people like the producers of The Simpsons. And I've fucking had enough.
How about that episode? Weird that the episode I attached the essay to is passable. I don't really buy Marge's attachment to Santa's Little Helper, but I loved the timing and animation of the gag of us not seeing Santa's Little Helper escape the death trap, but only seeing Marge's and Homer's eyes as they follow him doing that. Extremely well animated.
I've seen all 800 episodes of this show, and I'm not going to stop. But remember Scrubs: Med School? Its faults were so obvious and pronounced, and the disturbing thing is you realize that applied to the "classic episodes" too. Med School ruined ALL of Scrubs in hindsight. I believe all of the shit I just mentioned probably did the same for me and The Golden Years. I can't unsee or unfeel a show with no message other than if something appears good, it's bad, not because that idea is true, but because the writers are lazy and would have to change the premise of the show to acknowledge positive advancements in society help everyone. I talked shit about the animated Dilbert for this exact same mindset, and while The Simpsons was never as cruel or soul-crushing, and had its share of heartwarming moments to counter the cynicism, it's the same problem just to a much lesser, less noticeable degree. And that sucks.
Things have changed for me and this show. I won't be hate-watch it going forward, but during the Wilderness Years, other fans were often exasperated how generous my reviews of the show during its weakest point always were. It's because I enjoyed the show in general, and even a shitty episode of a show I enjoy is still enjoyable. I no longer view the show through that specific lens, even though it's greatly improved from those shady years. Now, I am a skeptic, and each episode must be viewed on its own merits. There is no built-in warmness anymore to excuse a mediocre week. I will still be able to enjoy good episodes, but tolerating bad ones? I think that's over. And that's probably a good thing. ***.
The Simpsons "Homer? A Cracker Bro?"
Speaking as a newly minted franchise skeptic, that did nothing for me.
The joke at the beginning of the wildlife on drugs was pretty funny though. Mostly because it was so bizarre.
But Kirk sucks, and he's a bad character to center an episode around. **.
Family Guy "The Edible Arrangement"
I was worried about this one. I think the biggest thing that concerned me was how they'd buy it back. I think they did all right. Could have been better, could have been worse.
Meg has grown to one of my favorite characters on this show.
I love that the babies in Stewie's preschool also have adult voices.
Solid. ****.
The Chronicles Of Riddick: Dark Fury
Sigh. Let's get to it.
It was slightly better than expected. I expected it to be kind of cruddy (and it is) but Peter Chung means it's visually interesting at least. Normally animated tales in an otherwise adult genre piece are hit and miss. I didn't much like The Animatrix, Predator: Killer Of Killers, Pacific Rim: The Black, Terminator Zero, or the Hellboy cartoons. But the only one of those projects that LOOKED as visually interesting as this was the Animatrix.
One of the downsides of this 33 minute "film" is the script. Namely that it focuses on Riddick, who I believe it a purely contemptible character that it is lunacy to center a franchise around. Whether or not he's bluffing about not caring if Jack dies or not, it's fucking horrible because the character is fucking horrible.
Tress MacNeille was a shockingly poor choice to voice the heavy. She's a cartoon voice so she sounds like a cartoon character. I get in 2004 she was affordable as hell, but really?
The thing is old too. It's 4:3 full-screen instead of 16:9 widescreen which blows my mind. Back in 2004 the Justice League cartoon was experimenting with widescreen so it's super weird this is shaped to fit a low-def TV.
Okay, I've seen all the Riddick stuff now. Outside of Pitch Black, I didn't like the rest of it. **1/2.
The Simpsons "Irrational Treasure"
I guess I'm doing this essay now. 800th episode feels appropriate.
One of my bolder opinions is that Justice League Unlimited was the greatest animated TV show of all time. If The Simpsons had been canceled after Season 8, JLU would be second, but reality was as I described.
I no longer think this. I don't think I'm a fan of this show anymore. I've put up with a lot of nonsense, but it's been accumulating, and I've had enough at this point.
I am one of the few fans of the show who has literally seen every episode, and just bit by bit, the show killed me.
And it's not just the show. The creators are problematic. Matt Groening was on Epstein's jet. There is no controversy the show has been engaged in Al Jean can't make a hundred times worse. Julie Kavner is such a weirdo she refuses to be filmed while doing Marge's voice. Godzilla 1998's Harry Shearer has a higher opinion of his career than warranted, and is always showing his ass about this show. Nancy Cartwright is such a vile piece of shit she used Bart's voice for Scientology promos, causing strict enforcement of when the actors ARE allowed to use those voices, ruining it for everyone, because she's so fucking stupid it never occurred to her, she shouldn't have done that. Most of Hank Azaria and Tress MacNeille's characters on this show are involved in ugly racist stereotypes and both only repented after it was far too fucking late.
But the thing that finally turned me against the show was last year's Ozempic episode. I realized the problem with the show is unfixable and why it's not something I dig anymore.
The problem with the show is that it's cynical about everything. Literally the last time they did an unambiguous compliment to a person / movement was... Elon Musk. Yeah, this show pisses me off.
I hate the fact that no matter the topic, the show creates plots that are essentially answers searching for a problem. Family Guy is also cynical. But maybe because it hasn't been around for 37 seasons which is why is still has enough gas in the tank to explore the characters and scenarios instead of exploring nice things and telling us why they suck.
Ozempic is a nice thing. I'm on Zepbound. I've lost 165 pounds so far. The Simpsons, because the total reset button has to be hit at the end of every episode decided that weight loss meds need to be taken down entirely. I resented that. I resented the entire episode, and it led me to this essay tonight where I've started to resent the entire series.
Some of the "horrible side effects" of Ozempic are loose skin on the body and face. Horrors! Except that is what happens to EVERY overweight person who loses weight (The skin has less mass to hold) and because the show actively imagines problems, it's acting like it's a side effect of the med itself. Worse, one of the characters "Loses weight the 'right' way" and magically does not seem to suffer this. "Losing weight the right way"? The Simpsons is the kind of show that apparently believes weight loss isn't real and doesn't matter unless the person who lost the weight has greatly suffered in doing so. It feeds into the whole stigma that fat people deserve the random medical condition they have that plenty of people who eat the same kinds of things they do don't have.
Weight-loss meds have leveled the playing field for many of us, and it's clear the kind of society The Simpsons is trying to foster is one based on exclusion and shame attached to people with a medical condition. And it's fucking ugly, and I felt it was aimed at myself, and worse, the shot was taken solely because the idea of there no longer being fat people in society to ridicule and feel better than is clearly a bad thing to people like the producers of The Simpsons. And I've fucking had enough.
How about that episode? Weird that the episode I attached the essay to is passable. I don't really buy Marge's attachment to Santa's Little Helper, but I loved the timing and animation of the gag of us not seeing Santa's Little Helper escape the death trap, but only seeing Marge's and Homer's eyes as they follow him doing that. Extremely well animated.
I've seen all 800 episodes of this show, and I'm not going to stop. But remember Scrubs: Med School? Its faults were so obvious and pronounced, and the disturbing thing is you realize that applied to the "classic episodes" too. Med School ruined ALL of Scrubs in hindsight. I believe all of the shit I just mentioned probably did the same for me and The Golden Years. I can't unsee or unfeel a show with no message other than if something appears good, it's bad, not because that idea is true, but because the writers are lazy and would have to change the premise of the show to acknowledge positive advancements in society help everyone. I talked shit about the animated Dilbert for this exact same mindset, and while The Simpsons was never as cruel or soul-crushing, and had its share of heartwarming moments to counter the cynicism, it's the same problem just to a much lesser, less noticeable degree. And that sucks.
Things have changed for me and this show. I won't be hate-watch it going forward, but during the Wilderness Years, other fans were often exasperated how generous my reviews of the show during its weakest point always were. It's because I enjoyed the show in general, and even a shitty episode of a show I enjoy is still enjoyable. I no longer view the show through that specific lens, even though it's greatly improved from those shady years. Now, I am a skeptic, and each episode must be viewed on its own merits. There is no built-in warmness anymore to excuse a mediocre week. I will still be able to enjoy good episodes, but tolerating bad ones? I think that's over. And that's probably a good thing. ***.
The Simpsons "Homer? A Cracker Bro?"
Speaking as a newly minted franchise skeptic, that did nothing for me.
The joke at the beginning of the wildlife on drugs was pretty funny though. Mostly because it was so bizarre.
But Kirk sucks, and he's a bad character to center an episode around. **.
Family Guy "The Edible Arrangement"
I was worried about this one. I think the biggest thing that concerned me was how they'd buy it back. I think they did all right. Could have been better, could have been worse.
Meg has grown to one of my favorite characters on this show.
I love that the babies in Stewie's preschool also have adult voices.
Solid. ****.
