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This week we return to the world of animation and who better to guide us than a couple of animation creators, returning guest Toby Jones (Regular Show, OK K.O.) and Maddie Queripel (Regular Show, Infinity Train)! As Marge becomes the nemesis of cartoon violence, we talk about art vs influence, the cartoon history this episode reflects, and how much things have changed in the last three decades. So listen now before your baby beats you up!

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Dylan (batmanboy11) Freitag

Not only is this a GREAT classic episode, but pairing it with season 12 as Talking Simpsons has been doing this year really highlights the changes in tone and joke style that the show had underwent by 2000. This episode is still VERY cynical, not only shitting on moral panics by how much it mock's Marge's crusade, but also still addressing that our media consumption very likely DOES have negative impacts on our behaviour. BUT unlike an episode from 2000, it lacks a real hatred and venom that's just off putting when the show thinks it has to compete with the likes of South Park and Family Guy (and the cheap low-blows against, say, trans folks). It's just so refreshing to go back to these episodes that are far from toothless but manage to say what they want to say without coming across like complete assholes (and while still being DAMN FUNNY, too). EDIT: I do also agree with what Toby very astutely points out though, that while this episode itself is good, maybe it did still also contribute to the beliefs of more "both sides are dumb" idiots that would become more prevalent as the time goes on.

ShyRanger

Okay I know you guys just barely mentioned it so maybe this comment is a little irrelevant, but I seriously need to rant because FUCK BILLY MITCHELL. He is STILL continuing his lawsuits, and I found out this week that a few months ago, one of the people he sued (who had to settle out of court) ended up committing suicide, not just due to the lawsuit but also a lot of things on social media that can impact a person with mental issues, and Billy's immediate response was tweets about how good it was the guy was finally dead. He has gone from asshole to monster.

Joe Hodgson

The magic staircase in the garage has always drove me nuts! I guess they added it so that Maggie had a way to get above Homer, or he was supposed to be in the basement originally and it ended up becoming the garage for some reason. It would have been a clever in-joke if the recent Simpsons episode about the room over the garage referenced that staircase somehow. That's why they should just start pitching ideas to all of the continuity nerds who subscribe to this podcast. Christmas 1990 was definitely a TMNT Christmas in my house. I have a home movie from that day and I got a VHS of the TMNT movie and must have put it on. I'm guessing the adults were too hung over to care. During the home movie, you can hear the TV and Donatello's line "It's a Kodak moment," and everyone paying attention cracks up at that joke. I guess Kodak Moment jokes were still fresh in 1990, or those hangovers and lack of sleep just made everyone a touch delirious.

Chris Dobson

Reardon does an amazing job in his first directed episode. The Psycho parody and Homer's off-model scream is so great, I love how much time they take to do the whole parody. That scene and the Fantasia scene are two tour-de-force scenes. This is one of the earliest episodes I remember cracking up my dad (who is 3 years younger than Homer in season 1) when it'd come on. The ending is pretty unambiguously bad, but the first 18 minutes or so are great. And the big-eyed I&S designs are so hilarious too, just a great episode of animation. And maybe it's giving the show too much credit, but I always thought the first Smartline segment about the Crusades was a parody of how bad the arguments made on TV news shows were, especially with Ken's credulous "and this was _before_ cartoons existed?" softball journalism.

Tricia

I remember sometime ago some conservatives compared some democrat lawmaker to Marge and and Julie and the show’s Twitter came out to defend them, I wonder if this was the episode that conservative was referencing. But like Marge and the woman this episode is based on I respect them for taking on The Man

littleterr0r

Since I live in Oregon, I've been to the Silent Hill school and the Goonies house is not too far from it.

Alex Irish

I was surprised to hear how you guys were kind of ambivalent on this episode, cause it may just be my favorite season 2 episode (the other being The Way We Was). It looks great, has terrific laughs, and has something to say on censorship issues while being a tour de force episode for Itchy and Scratchy. Definitely their zenith is Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie, but I’ll always have a soft spot for this. It’s no wonder it was the highest rated episode in the FXX Simpsons marathon in 2014

Alex Forsyth

My favorite Field of Dreams reference is the Married with Children episode where Al spends hours going through an automated phone menu in an attempt to buy a car part for the Dodge. Al finally gets through to a real person and while he's rummaging for his wallet to pay, Kelly hangs the phone up on him. The episode ends with "If you build it, he will come. If you want him to build it for you...press 1"

Alex Forsyth

Oh and speaking of full frontal nudity on tv in the early 90's. Canada had this:. https://youtu.be/VyD3iB2F_U4 better watch all these heritage minutes Bob, they might be on your citizenship test. Question 23 "Dr penfield I smell burnt what?"

y2kpodcst

Hey when you did a quick discussion about arthur you mentioned that they had a lesbine couple which is true but what henry undercut was that the episode which was for the spinoff show postcards from buster about arthur's friend buster going to a different state in each episode to show how different families live using live action footage they shot with the actor dubbing over footage as if hes talking to kids The episode with the lesbian was the vermont episode about how they madde sugar. But what was undercut was that it was showen only once in march 22 2005 which could you emagine why a depiction of a gay couple could cause an upraor in 2005. Just want to give a bit more context to a pice of lgbtq history

Guybrush

I didn't realize how much Marge's familiarity with spices had deteriorated. Seasons later, she is marveling at eight spices on a rack and doesn't even know what oregano is.

To Boldly Joe... Moore

Dear purveyors of entertaining podcasts... Marge's issues with Itchy and Scratchy actually remind me of the slightly later "Lisa Lionheart" episode. Both are about moral objections that are presented as holding merit, or at least we are supposed to sympathise with Marge and Lisa in their respective crusades. Both companies behind I&S and Malibu Stacey are portrayed as condescending or uncaring about the issues raised, and we're shown that Marge and Lisa aren't just making a big deal over nothing. Both episodes also end with a sense of futility, that big issues like violence and sexism in media can't be solved overnight or may never be solved, especially where big business and audience appetites are concerned. Rather than taking a side on these issues, I think the show's writers wanted to avoid standard story cliches about "learning lessons" and decided to reset to the status quo with a "what can you do?" sort of shrug (which reminds me of their response to criticisms about Apu in a more recent episode). I don't know why Marge just gives up when Marvin Monroe confronts her though. It's a classic false equivalency; violence and natural depictions of nudity are two entirely different things. Why does Marge seem to agree that both things must either be right or wrong together? It's a weird turn to say the least. I suppose the end message for both episodes seems to be "fight for what you believe in, but don't always expect to win"... or maybe it was just a bunch of stuff that happened. Thanks again for the great podcasts (and for the Married with Children video recommendation). :)

SomeBloke

I never realized this until I heard the audio clip in this very podcast episode, but regarding the slightly-too subtle satire of the pastoral sequence, I think there’s a bit of a joke with Lisa’s bird watching. In certain parts of the US (including where I grew up) grackles are everywhere. It’s like being excited you saw a pigeon.

Joe Kafchinski

Just want to say that Maddie was great and I hope this isn't her only appearance

Redmos78

Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek as "Wagon Train to the Stars" . So, Moe's "Save Wagon Train" sign was most likely a reference to the Save Star Trek campaign that happen after the show was to be canceled after its second season.

PurpleComet

Man, watching the long outdoor shot on Disney Plus really made me hate the transfer they did. Everything looks clean in an artificial, offputting way. I found my DVD rips and it looks much better there. I wish Disney had just thrown those up.

Andrew Bouvier

Was this the second week in a row you guys mentioned Pirates of Dark Water? I smell a What a Cartoon episode.