Talking Simpsons - Talk To The Audience?!? - February 2026

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

We've reached the end of the month, which means it's time for another episode of our community podcast! To close out the month of February, we talk about The Simpsons' 800th episode, strange Disney+ censorship, and the 10th anniversary of the screenshot search engine, Frinkiac. And, as always, we read and respond to your questions and comments from the last round of podcasts. It's all happening on Talk to the Audience: the podcast that derides your truth-handling ability!

Ahoy, hoi, everybody, and welcome to talk to the audience where this is always death. I am one of your host, a powerful enemy of Philadelphia, Bob Mackie, and who is here with me today, as always. Henry Gilbert, ready, with a overly specific reference to Philadelphia, let's say tasty cakes. Sure, that sounds good. Or water ice. That works, too. But yes, this is Talk to the audience. That's her community podcast. It launches at the end of the month on Patreon at the beginning of the month on the free feed. And in this podcast, we talk about A, what's happening in the world of the Simpsons? B, what's happening in the world of us and C, then we go on to answer your questions and comments from the last round of episodes on the Patreon.

And a lot of things are happening this month because it's a landmark episode. If you care about the Simpsons hitting 100 episode milestones, I don't really care anymore. After maybe 300, I stopped caring as much. When they hit 400, it was the feeling like, wow, it was that. And now, I mean, it also, it feels like it was just the 750th, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, because I can name, okay, 100, it's Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badass Song, 200, Trash of the Titans, 300, barting over. After that, I'm like, you guys just, you're on your own, you keep going, I can't think

of these landmarks anymore, just the Forever Show. Yeah, 800 does it, barely even feels as special anymore, even though, you know, there were a ton of events for it and promotion and everybody doing new interviews. This is like the last month for a while, there'll be Big Simpsons News, I think, until maybe we'll get some, you know, movie news in the coming months. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's going to be just like buckling down to work on a movie that is coming out in like almost 18 months. So get to work. Will it suffer one more delay? At least. I mean, it really, in season 16, we're getting into heavy work on the movie time of The Simpsons. And that took them way more work than they thought it would. And I can't imagine that not happening this time too. Boy. Well, maybe perhaps James L. Brooks is so depressed by the performance of L. M.K. He is no longer. cracking the whip and making them rewrite the script a million times and reanimate scenes and cut entire set pieces that they animated already.

He's too sad about L.O. McKay to make everybody do the script 900 times, I think. Definitely, Mike Scully said that their draft numbers were in the hundreds when we interviewed him one time about it. Yeah, yeah. It seemed to be, like, I really want to know how much work this movie is compared to the first movie, and I'm sure that will come out eventually. We'll find the answers many years from now. Let's get into the news. Yes, we mentioned it. earlier, the 800th episode, asterisk, was aired on Fox recently, February 15th, I believe. It was called a Rational Treasure. And I don't think this is a bad episode.

I think it's an odd choice for 800. It seems like they got to decide which one would be 800. And this one, to me, at least Henry, is very odd because it is both a take on the Westminster Dog Show and a parody of the film National Treasure, which it came out in 2004, so better late than never, but it feels like, why now? Why not 25 years ago? Yes, I had to guess why they would have made this choice. One of them is that it's a big like The Simpsons go to a place episode. And also it has the most guest stars of an episode this season, I think. So maybe they see it as like, oh, it's very star-studded. Like if they wanted to have a backwards-looking, nostalgic or focus on the family one, the kind of one that

does feel like a, what I would think of as a, an event episode. They would have gone with Al Jean's last episode, I think, like, since that was a real, like, back to basics, nostalgic one. Yeah, and I have a question for the listeners out there. A, are we old or B, is it strange that the Simpsons is parodying National Treasure 22 years later? Because if you think about when they were doing their Godfather parodies, the Godfather, too, was probably a 22-year-old movie at that point, were people calling foul? I just feel like National Treasure is not this cultural touchstone. So it is weird to do your National Treasure Joke so late and not around the time that movie came out. Because Hank Azaria even plays like a Nicholas Cage-style character. And

perhaps they tried to get Nicholas Cage for the Star-studded episode. I don't know. I actually admit that obviously Azaria was doing a Nick Cage type character. Why did I not catch on with that? Even though it was the title and I knew it going into it, in actually watching the episode, I was like, oh, what an interesting play on the Dan Brown. books of the Da Vinci Code. Like, no, I mean, yes, because National Treasure is a rip-off of those, but it's National Treasure parody, yes. And we're going to hit the Simpsons-Divinci Code parody and not too long on our timeline. So they already did their DaVinci Code parody, and then it took them a long time to get around to National Treasure. But sure. This gave them the chance to go to Philadelphia, I reference a lot of local things. In fact, they reference so many Philadelphia things. I want the Simpsons to come back to Vancouver and do a better job this time because they went to Vancouver once and they barely touched upon the beauty and marvelousness that is Van Goghams. There were no local references that I could see. This was overwhelming in local references.

I think because it sounds like the writer of the episode, Christine Nangle, is from there. And I believe Michael Price, if not from there, has a lot of personal connections to it. Who was co-show runner on the episode. That's been the practice under Matt Selman that part of his delegation is of responsibilities is he points high-level people like Mike Price or Carolyn Omini as co-show runners on episodes like this one. And the many guest stars included Quinta Brunson from Abbott Elementary. She's new to me, but I know she's a big star. Kevin Bacon, Boys to Men, and a bunch of people from the Pit, which I believe, does it take

place in Pittsburgh? Is that why it's called The Pit? I think so, yes, yeah. Their references were so specific that I have to guess I now know exactly what the show is about. I mean, I've heard people say, oh, wow, it's great. I mean, it's just, it's ER without having to pay the estate of Michael Crichton. I hear it's like a good enough show.

I hear it's nice, though. Also, it's been funny to read, like, it's people rediscovering television production again. It's like, wait, we can make 15 episodes in a year and we don't have to like, it can just be in one location and it's easy. Okay, so I'm looking this up now. The pit does take place in Pittsburgh, and I'll tell you folks, I grew up in Eastern Ohio, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are so far apart from each other. They're on opposite sides of that very long state. So nowhere, I don't know what these pit people were doing in Philadelphia. I've heard David Elementary is a very good show that it's always on my list.

I should really check this out. I watch some clips. I've seen clips from it. I've seen clips from their recent, always sunny in Philadelphia crossover. And I always like when The Simpsons feels current at least by having like a comedy star who has become more famous like Brunson in the last few like five years as opposed to like somebody older. And the beginning of the show is real, a lot of treats for us old-time fans because they are recreating a lot of moments from the older episodes. And by showing just how unhealthy Santa's Little Helper is getting over the years. So we have a clip that they recreated from the Simpsons Rusting on an Open Fire and then Homer the Great, the Stone Cutters episode, and then the Pieman episode.

They're covering all their bases. The idea that now in all of those two previous ones, he was actually like fat or getting fat. It's a clever idea that you would think, like, Homer and the kids are so irresponsible that despite the fact that Santa's little helper never changes how he looks, he's always a skinny greyhound, that they would actually be, you know, bad or irresponsible pet owners and let their pets get out of shape and feed them people food all the time. And the way, I love the running gag of Homer saying, like, but look, he likes it. That's well observed. Yeah, it was all right. And honestly, I don't like when they recreate the old animation style because it, Again, I leave us wondering, why don't you just do this for now on, but they don't want to.

And, you know, they had their choice as to which would be the official 800th. So now there are three 800th episodes. So this is the 800th air on Fox. Guess who's coming to Skinner was the 800th overall episode. And the upcoming Extreme Makeover Homer Edition is the 800th production episode. So if you don't like this being the 800th, you can choose your own. I like guess who's coming to Skinner. It's a nicer adventure one.

I guess it is like the family is not in it at all or barely. in it. So I can see why they might not prioritize it the same. You know who's not in this episode? Harry Shearer, I noticed a distinct absence, but that's not unusual to not hear Harry Shearer. Yeah, it's true, but still, for the 800 to not have him in it, that feels like a statement on his level of involvement. I think, too, all of the Phillies specifics, I felt bad for Paul F. Tompkins, who is like, Mr. He loves being the Philadelphia comic, and he has been on the Simpsons before as a guest voice. So, like, they have other people in this who are just a voice of like, well, you're here because you're like

a Philly guy and you're friends. I also would think Christine Nangle is in the UCB-trained L.A. comedy world and knows Paul of Tompkins. I feel like he sent her an annoyed text, I would bet. I hope so. Hope they make good on this and bring him back for something else. And there was a, I guess a fun couch gag. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but it was not available on U.S. Disney Plus because for whatever reason, as of this recording, they are showing the Fox broadcast version, not the extended version that has an entire traditional opening and an extended couch gag. So, Henry, is this still going on on U.S. Disney Plus? Man, you know what?

I'm going to start her up right now. It was yesterday. They still didn't have it on there. And it was just, you hear the boys to men, The Simpsons, and then it zooms in, and to the P&N starts with the flashback scene. But that opening, though, I've seen people make a good point online that it's like, Why did this joke take three times as long to tell in it? Yeah. It would also confuse some people because I was reading animation Twitter.

There are still a lot of animation people on Twitter, and I like reading their commentary. A lot of people hate this gag just because it's just a little too overdone, I guess, in terms of just how long it takes to execute and how over-explained it is. And the gag is Homer, having been hit by the car, he is very injured, and he's like, why are you all sitting here? I was hit by a car. Look at me. There's wood inside of me.

And he's complaining about it. And I saw a lot of people think like, wow, they're finally paying this off after 37 years. Some people don't remember that Homer before the new opening was just chased into the living room by the car. Yeah, it was the HD opening's escalation of things that he gets hit, which works as a good joke the first time. But, okay, I confirm it still goes straight to the opening. Okay. So if you're living in the truly free country of Canada, you can see a couch guy that's not very good. Or good.

It's also not very good. No, it's a family guy. joke. Like a family guy joke would overplay it too long and just list like, and why is the baby in the front seat? Like it was funny enough, but look, it's fine, but yes, it's also commenting on a thing that's only 20 years old, which is new for Simpson. Yeah, I feel like I really want to know when are we going to get a new opening because that opening was like their first crack at using the new animation tools and they've been able to do a lot more with them since then. So nobody really likes the opening we've been

stuck with since like 2009. Well, they barely have time for it or even. show it anymore. That too, yeah. They had one opening for the first season, then seasons two through 18 or 17, right? It's that opening. And then it's season 18 or 19, or maybe it was even 20, but that's when they switched to the HD opening. And so it's been just as long or longer for them the second opening that they've used the third opening. Why not have a fourth? I have no personal attachment to the third opening anyway. No, and all everybody has is is complain about it. They say, like, look how stiff it looks. I don't like how modular it is. And honestly, like, you're

right, Henry, we don't really even see it anymore. So maybe there's not even the time to even, we don't have the time anymore to even show an opening. So why create a new one? But I feel like you can improve on this early stab at making this digital opening. Yeah, Mike Price made the point too that the reason it wasn't

originally and actually still isn't on Disney Plus was also because it aired on Fox and the scene, it just cost them too much time. They didn't have the 15 seconds to spend on Homer getting hit by the car for the couch gag. So it wasn't in the broadcast version. So if they do more Disney Plus exclusives, then if it's a 26-minute episode or a 22-minute

episode, they could have as long an opening as they want for the Disney Plus ones. Yeah, yeah. The episode is on Disney Plus in Canada, at least, has the entire new opening, a new being from 2009 and then the couch gag. So that probably adds like another minute to the runtime. I feel like the last time I saw the full opening, but probably could be wrong and they did it again, but was on the 750th, and that's because the bit was they tried to have every single specifically named character they've ever designed pepper every scene of the opening. Oh, that was bad. They didn't have the time or the money for it, so it was just like they shot the clip art cannon into the background.

Yep, yeah, nobody moved or did anything or said anything. They won't be saying anything or do anything. So let's move on from that episode of Rational Treasure. By the way, there is a Gravity Falls episode called Rational Treasure. Oh, that's right. Wow. And that's 10 years old, I would bet, at least. Probably by now.

Yeah. Our second episode, though, is called Homer, a Cracker Bro. And this title confused me until I watched the episode because it is something that Homer says. Oh, right. Yes. So it's him questioning it out loud of like, we're pitching the episode name. I was like, is this a parody of something? But no, it's like, I guess they were tickled by Homer asking this question.

And so in this episode, Homer warms up to Kirk eventually becomes his business partner after Kirk creates a crumb-free cracker. And we learned that Kirk has debilitating an unmedicated bipolar disorder, which threatens to disrupt this entire operation and potentially send Homer to prison. New facts about Kirk. I guess he was medicated up until this point. And I'm not sure if this is a sensitive portrayal of bipolar one disorder, but you be the judge. It was an interesting choice after all these years of Kirk basically, for the longest time, being written at. as like a sad loser, like, especially as a near suicidal loser as a divorced man, then he's been back with Luann for the longest time.

And now I don't know if this really fits with his previous characterization, but that he's always been, as we've seen him as a boring guy, a medicated Kirk Van Houghton. And his bipolar change, I mean, his manic episodes, they do feel, I think, I don't know, well observed. I haven't been around too many BP people to fully, or at least officially diagnosed ones, to say, like, oh, that reminds me of this or that. But I feel for Kirk that he's like, well, everybody hates me when I'm on medicine.

And that's why I stopped taking it. It's like, well, everybody is pretty shitty to you, Kirk. And nobody likes you when you're medicated. But yes, he innovates in the Cracker Space and also Michael Stipe guest stars so he can sing the song Everybody Kirk's Crumb Times. And I'll tell you what, the zoomers are having a lot of fun with this because getting curked means getting shot in the neck. Whoa. Oh shit. Of course.

Yes. Why did I not think of that? Because guess what? Every kid thinks that's really funny. And of course it's not at all. No. No. We're shaking our heads so much. The mics are rattling. Editor, please take that out. But yes, I was hearing stories from dads like my kid laughs

at this and he's like, oh, that guy totally got kirked when somebody gets killed or whatever. So the kids now call getting Kirk getting killed. You know, I am impressed by the speed of these kids. I feel like it was at least a year before we were making 9-11 jokes, which is, I would say, much more impactful. I'm not comparing these two things as like, oh, you were not on the right message boards. It was like the day after for me on something awful.

Oh, okay. Also, speaking of things that happened like, oh, only 22 years later, it's like when National Treasurer was in theaters, that's what R.E.M. was on the Simpsons. And now Michael Stipe is back to appear on the show. And you added this note, Henry, I was not aware of this, that this is it for season 28, outside of the extra things they're putting on Disney Plus because 15 episodes have aired. Yes, normally I do this.

When we get to the end, I'm like, okay, I put down my thoughts about the new episode. What's the next episode? And it really is like they are treating this as the end of the season on the wikis for it. They only go to the next season of 38, but nobody knows with a preview of Will it be Treehouse? Normally they have Treehouse is like the third one last few years.

But yeah, 15 episode season of Simpsons. It's strange. I am used to there being two or three more. months of it at this point, even with the delays or changes to schedule they've been doing. We're living in strange times where the TV season ends in mid-February, but okay. So that's the Simpsons news. Another news, Family Guy aired its 450th episode that night, although technically it wasn't 450. It was actually 4-47. But what are numbers anymore with these milestones? We've just shown you there are three eight-hundredths. So now there are two 450s for Family Guy.

I mainly noted just to be like, oh, it gets overshadowed by the Simpsons again, but also I never imagine family guy would hit 450 or 500 and like it seemingly on its way to as well. You know what, Simpsons isn't going to get to 900 as fast with 15 episodes a season? Like what? They're going to get to 900 in five years? Like, I don't know. Yeah, it's going to take a while much longer than it would in the past.

So we're going to see when will 1,000 come? Will we be alive? Let alone any people, all the people who worked on episode 800, will they all be alive? It's going to be a long haul. So, yeah, we've been seeing a lot of new interviews with Simpson staff members about the 800th episode in the show in general.

And these are all things that if you're listening to our show, you know the answers to them. So it's usually kind of boring. But we have seen recently Matt Selman be the key guy they talk to because Al Jean, I mean, he's there. He's no longer in charge. I've seen a few things here and there that are mildly interesting that I'm thinking, well, let's see what happens

when this day comes. Like Matt Salman's saying, we won't do a series finale when the episode ends. We're going to do a final episode. It will have hints that it's the final one, but we won't do a finale. and I'm thinking, let's see what Disney wants you to do. Yes, yeah.

It's not your call anymore, Matt. I think that they will want it to be an event. They will tell you what they, like how many hours of content they want. But I don't think it's going to end in our lifetimes. Maybe this version of the show will, but there will always be some version of the Simpsons on. But at least that's what Matt Selman is saying. Like, if there's a finale, it's not going to be like goodbye, everybody. It's going to be like normal episode.

When he's a spry man in his mid-50s, so he can keep going another 20-something years, I'd say. That's true. I mean, look at James L. Brooks. He's potentially 85 or 90. Yes, yeah. Of the ones I had checked out, and there were also tons that just get, you know, the typical quote gets lifted and becomes a headline type deal. But a one I watched in full was a 53-minute long one from the Associated Press. Some British guy got to be the nerd who in his Simpson's T-shirt who gets to interview them. And he had good questions. He seemed like a fine journalist. But he did just let Mac Raining and Al Jean and everybody and Nancy Carlin.

right tell all of the stories we've all heard before like mac grating's like oh man they got so upset about the blue thing with the things in our first episode and i'm like please tell me a story from like 2017 come up these stories are not for us these stories for people thinking like wow the simpsons are still on and they listen to an interview wow i didn't know that i did like seeing matt selman rep the show and al jean also talked a bit about it from his new position mac raney had some fun stuff about just like yep it sure has been going on a while and he actually did He was asked about like, oh, you have your signature on all this stuff. Like, why is that?

He had the nice answer about like, well, you know, I always like people knowing that I made it. People should know who made it. And he goes like, but the better answer is that I had a very good lawyer back then. And they convinced Fox to do it. He really did. He really did. Yeah, just some new stuff came out. Nancy Cartwright is anti-AI when it comes to like, you know, potentially replacing voices with AI.

So good for her on that. And there was a new hour-long AP documentary. Henry, you did watch this. Yes. Also in that they talked to the current composer or one of the lead composers on it, this young woman who she mentions that she is 37 years old, so younger than the series. And she is like now the lead composer on it. And they do show them, I wonder how much they're doing it for the press. Yeah.

They actually were playing with live musicians, like at least a 10-piece group of people doing live orchestration. Well, I got to say, the music on The Simpsons is awful. It sucks. Well, you know It's all because a woman's doing it No, that's not what I mean I mean like we need someone in there That's not like the Hans Zimmer machine

It's unfortunate I mean they at least Since Alf Kloss and past They at least like mentioned him It's like oh Alf did so much great work for us I want to try to equal that same stuff Oh and you know also the 800th Like our pal Drew Mackie got to attend it

You can see his pictures from it I feel like it's almost old hat to Drew now He's been what is this Drew's news Drew's news Well I feel like when we report on the parties Drew Mackey goes to. Is this appropriate? In this case, it is because...

Henry's reaching for something. It's a gun! No, Henry, put it down. Drew got to get a free hat at it. Only one, and he could get it embroidered, and he actually got it with my name on it. Oh, how nice. It's a hat with 800 on the front,

and Homer in the middle. Or Krusty busten out, sorry. Yes, yeah. And listeners, this is Henry's only baseball hat. He doesn't have one. Well, it's too good to wear. I'm just going to have it displayed to look at because it's personalized with my name. That was the thing, I believe.

I was saving to mention it to you, Bob. It's just a nice thing. Drew said they only allowed him one, so I'm sorry there wasn't one for Bob. Well, Drew, you could have put some cruditaine and like a plastic baggie and send it to me, okay? Yes, thank you, Drew, for this. It was a very nice surprise to get in the mail. Interesting. I didn't know there was a show and tell on this podcast right now.

Sorry. Sometimes I save fun things like, hey, Bob, look at this. Well, I will continue reporting on Drew's news if I get to show something. something off. All right, Drew, it's up to you now. The ball's in your court. We have some weird news here coming up because Disney Plus quietly cut an ending scene out of the episode, Men Behaving Manly, which I believe was from this season.

So this has been cut out in at least Spain's version of Disney Plus and the U.S. version of Disney Plus. I believe this is on Canada, the Freedom Countries version of Disney Plus. So the context of this is at the end of the episode, the men are uniting with the wives. and Mo says, well, thanks to my Eastern European culture, I can't see Maya for another five years. She appears, hugs Mo, and his mother breaks it up and says, four and a half more years. So Maya first appeared in a 2009 episode, and then she reconnected with Mo in a 2021 episode. So the character has not been MIA for too long. But the understanding is perhaps some people misread this as Mo is having a relationship with a child.

and because Maya doesn't talk with an adult woman's voice or talk at all in this scene, it was misread as a very inappropriate joke and that's why it was cut in some markets. I was shocked to learn all about this. So I saw the post shared from the Spanish language account that was like, here it is. Like here's the difference, Disney Plus versus what aired.

And I was so shocked and I had no clue why until I looked up other news stories about it because as a viewer of it, I thought it was a nice little moment because fans, and I had read one Simpsons writer, I forget who, did post of like, you thought we forgot about Maya and the happy ending we gave her and Moe. But no, Maya is still around. We haven't forgot her. It was a nice thing for fans who liked the Mo and Maya relationship of him with this little person that he's with. But because it's a silent appearance, there's a whole cracked episode saying like, Lapp's Simpsons fans have to be explained that this was not a joke. about a horrible thing that Moe is doing with an underage individual. I searched for Mo in the emails and he's not appearing in any way.

So, I mean, let's wait for the next tranche to drop. Mo got to be redacted just like the president. I had no way. Younger people saw it and were like they're, I wouldn't have believed it if Cracked didn't have like a dozen quote tweets from reactions to the episode saying like, what the hell is Simpsons doing? Like, as the reaction of that scene out of context.

I'm far too innocent to have read anything negative. into that moment. And so I am assuming it was cut because Disney saw those reactions to people thinking it was a horrible joke about something terrible. All the zoomers were joking about getting curked. And then when they saw this joke,

they spit out their galaxy gas. You're going to have to explain to me what galaxy gases. What's that? Well, we'll talk about it after the show. Okay. Oh, well. I've got to have to Google myself then.

On an incognito browser, it sounds like. Last news, I have something I added. It's another milestone. Frankie Yak turns 10. 10 years old. So this, in case you don't know what Frankiac is, this is the Simpsons screenshot slash animated gift search engine. It was originally launched on February 2nd, 2016, and it's hard to remember the internet without it. I will tell you back in the olden times, this is my walking uphill to school both ways story. When I wanted a screencap, I wanted them

pure. I would put my DVDs in my computer and use VLC to take a screencap. That's how we used to do it in the old pre-2016 days. I recall back in those days that you would have such great shots. And I wouldn't put in the time or expertise to find that. I would just like Google name of episode and it would be like an artifacted or poorly colored shot from the episode. And I would just be like, ah, good enough. And then Frankieac came along and not only could you like get a pristine DVD quality image from any episode, you could giff any episode and put any text over it you wanted. It made it a meme machine. Like it would be, have been a million dollar, billion dollar advertising idea for The Simpsons.

And it's beautiful that Frinkiac continues to exist on its own and for free. And for the first 18 months that it was around, everybody was adding us on Twitter and everywhere. I was like, did you guys know about this? And we've been using Frinkiac to make our covers for the past 10 years. Yes, yeah. Once it began, it's like, oh, this is how we make images. It's how we make images to post things or the episode image. Which I don't know if folks ever, I don't remember if we officially,

announced it, but, you know, years ago, Nina made a wonderful extra border for us to, like, put that screenshot, used to just be a plain screenshot, and then with logo over it, and then Nina's great border of the TV screen from The Simpsons Home with the episode image in it. Was it an improvement on that, for sure? Oh, for sure. Yeah, I love her new cover art, and I love Frankie Act because I cannot communicate without it. May it live forever. I hope one day Disney releases seasons beyond 20 on physical media, because that is where Frinkiac cuts off because it is ripping the DVDs

and the captioning from them and after a certain point there are no more DVDs to be had so get on at Disney yeah yeah at least for the sake of Frinkiac yeah I've also used I know you've used it as a research tool as well

like I just recently used it for we've recorded an upcoming episode where the Simpsons Mortgage is a fact in it and to help me find info on it I just put the word mortgage in and it showed me previous other scenes where Mortgage was in at Hore. I remember a darker one where I was like,

have they ever said the word abortion before on The Simpsons? I could check Frankie Act. We were covering an episode where Mo calls Marge a bitch, and I was like, how many times did they use bitch on The Simpsons? Not as many as you'd think. And Morbotron was a perfect sister sight to it that came up later, and I just can't believe there is not this for King of the Hill, family guy,

or many other sitcoms that could serve, Like, it's an easy idea for the fans of those series. And I have to say, where are the obsessive crazy fans for those series who would make their own Frankie acts, but for those shows? Well, we are trying to foster a crazy King of the Hill fan base with our mini series on Patreon. I hope someday we can see that as a reality. And then it'll help also with our research of King of the Hill. So it be a gift to ourselves. Thank you.

Whoever out there is making this currently, thank you. We appreciate your efforts. Let's move on to our news and talk about our schedule for the month of March. So we're kicking things off with a new episode of What a Cartoon about the new adult swim hits. Ha ha, you clowns. The episode Bomber Jacket. This is a show that's very hard to explain.

I think we spend about 30 minutes of the episode explaining what it's about and why we like it. Essentially, it is a show with very funny drawings, very funny voice acting, about the world of normies and performative masculinity that unlike most adult swim shows, is very wholesome and feel good with a few dark, weird moments thrown in there to keep you on your toes. but this is a new show we both love and we haven't really covered a new show in a while on what a cartoon. Yeah, after you know, going to

an 80s toy cartoon last month with Dan McCoy is our fun guess. It was nice to go from that to a show that's 40 years younger than that show and get to talk about something so fresh and current and celebrate that there are still great cartoons being made these days

even for basic cable like DaltSwim. On the Patreon at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons, We have our normal miniseries episodes. We have not recorded these yet. So I'm not very familiar with the subject matter of this talking future. I'm a Fry am the Eggman. I believe it is an episode in which Frye hatches an egg and gets a little pet named Mr. Peppy, who becomes very dangerous.

Yeah, Fry adopts a space monster type episode. Yeah, I did a quick watch of it when traveling recently, but I haven't done my dedicated note chits either. It's interesting after a very meta one about kids television that preceded this one. This is more of like a season one, Frye, wacky adventures. And on talking of the Hill, we have the episode Naked Ambition in which Bobby sees Luann naked and gets the reputation of being a pervert. And the B-story is all of the guys end up in a mental hospital. Yeah, it's a combo of more burgeoning sexuality among the teens in the show versus an incredible. I just rewatch this one too.

The B-story, I love so much. It's one of the best. The guys are stupid. Yeah. I just remember the deal line, these pills are making my mouth dry and happy. Yes, God. It's such a good line. And Hank, and it's why they can't have those crazy episodes normally if you don't leave Hank out of it.

And it makes sense why they're all in the mental hospital, except for Boomhauer. He just can't communicate with anyone to let them know he's saying. People just don't know. He's a normal guy. And for what a cartoon movie, we are covering the Henry Selig film, James and the Giant Peach. It's a nice follow-up to our episode about Fantastic. Fox and things like The Nightmare Before Christmas. This movie came out in 1996, which is why only 40 minutes of it are stop motion.

But hey, the rest is fun too, and the stop motion stuff is really great. I like this film. It's a bit flawed, and it's also one of the few Henry Seleck films we can talk about. So it's a matter of time before we hit them all. We might as well get this one next. Monkey Bone has so little stop motion. I feel like that'll be the last one. I kind of hate Monkey Bone, and I only saw it recently. So I have no nostalgia.

I only have adult hatred for it. but maybe if we get desperate enough, Monkey Bone could be on the menu, but until then, James and the Giant Peach, it's a fun movie, and it has a kind of wildly inappropriate Randy Newman score

in series of songs, which feel like he's auditioning for Toy Story. Wow. Actually, no, this movie came out after Toy Story, never mind, but they feel a little too close to Toy Story for my liking. I haven't seen this movie since it debuted in theaters.

I saw it as a 14-year-old, I think, a 13-year-old, so I'm interested to return to it after chatting about it. He came up as well. part of the fantastic Mr. Fox. I'm excited for this one. And a reminder for everyone out there about our recent charity episode,

cheers to Talking Simpsons for their recent charity work. Yes, we did an episode I think we're both very proud of, not just the response to it, but also like we really put a lot of work into it. Like it's almost a double-length episode, just like, I guess it makes sense since we're covering a double-linked cartoon, too. Yes. So in case you didn't get the memo, we put it out there that we covered the Simpsons family guy cross over the Simpsons guy

and it is an exclusive you can only buy in our Patreon shop at patreon.com slash Talking Simpsons. You go there. You click on shop. It's the only item there. It's really easy to find. When you buy that episode, all the money goes directly to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. And right now, I believe we are sitting around like $3,500

on that episode earned so far. Yes, yeah. As we learned, this is our first time listing a thing on the shop and as we've learned Patreon sits on that money for a couple weeks differently than they do with a regular sign-up money. So, we haven't made our first donation with the purchases yet but yeah we're getting close to 4,000 at the time record yes i'm actually looking at it right now as of this recording on

friday the 20th we are like 50 dollars short of 4,000 so great work everybody please check this out if you haven't yet it's a three plus hour episode about this thing that we honestly probably wouldn't have covered unless it was for a good cause so again that's at the patreon dot com slash talking simpson shop really is defined it's the only thing in there and it goes to a really good cause. Oh, and we must underline, too, like, don't buy it in the iOS app. Apple has a dumb charge they add on to it that does not go to any charities. Yes. It goes to lines Tim Apple's fat pockets. Buy it on a desktop or even just a, the browser on your phone. Yeah, it's as easy as like going to Safari logging in there. The Apple store rules are very stupid. Yes, but thanks to

everybody who got it, tell your friends about it too, and all the good work that's being done by the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. In these troubled times, they are doing great work. And now we can talk about what we've been playing and watching. That's not necessarily related to our podcasts. And I've been playing a few games. A few very interesting seven out of tens, I will say. And I mean that in the kindest way possible.

First game, I came out just last week. Romeo is a dead man. The latest game from Grasshopper manufacturer. If you know Grasshopper, the publisher developer, if you know Suda 51, the talent behind those games, the director created. director of the studio, you know exactly what you're getting and this is exactly what

I want. So it is a game with a lot of weird stuff thrown into it. I'm being very reductive here, but you kind of have to know what they do. So it's just like maximalist late 90s Gen X mindset similar to games they've done in the past like No More Heroes

and Killer 7 and let it die and things like that. Lollipop chainsaw. Those are the kind of games they do best. This game is not that different from those and it is a little janky as I was expecting, but I just appreciate the point of view, the cool visuals, the interesting ideas, the strange ideas mashed up together. And I do recommend this game. I feel like only Grasshopper gets to make games this weird at this budget. And I'm very happy to support them. And friend of the show, Maddie Kopp, who is featured in the between level credits. Oh, that's awesome.

That's awesome. She's, uh, she's been working for Grasshopper for a little while now. So that's great to hear. This is absolutely on my list. I've played about half of the Grasshopper. I am a fan too. Like to give you my taste, I love their weird stuff. Those Shadows of the Damned, I think, is my favorite, which is like the most stable of a game, I guess you'd say, or like it doesn't try too many night things. But I also, I like Lollipop Chainsaw, though.

I know it's not them doing this remake of Lollipop Chainsaw that's like AI bullshit's in it and all that. Yeah, I think they're unaffiliated with that. This game is exactly what I expect it to be, and I'm glad they're still out there doing their thing. If it was more polished, it wouldn't feel like a grasshopper game. Take that as you will, but I like this kind of game

and only they can make it. So check out Romeo's a dead man. It's actually releasing at a budget price of $50, which is now a budget game. Take that as you will. Yeah, yeah, that's something else. Now you can buy Pokemon old games for 20 bucks in the e-shop for some reason.

Just announced today. That was surprising too, though. With that, most Pokemon games, like their old games are so expensive. Yes. Okay, I threw this out on social media one day. If you look at the sales, this game sold 20 million copies. Why is it a loose cart? $500.

It's because the fans never let him go. I think it is. I think it's artificial. Also on the Romeo Must Die bit, too, I think. Romeo's a dead man. Romeo must die is the movie. I saw that in theaters. You're thinking of Dante Must Die mode. Or Killer is Dead, the other suit of 51 game.

Oh, I love that. Well, you know what? I'd even say that's a 6.5 out of 10, but I mean that in a good way, too. I really like that game. One thing I miss about being the Games Press, and there's not many, was that I got to be the suit of 51 guy at the website I worked at, and I got to interview him a few times. And after a couple times, he came to realize like, oh, you're the guy who asked me about wrestling stuff

because he got to start working on the Fire Pro Wrestling games. And in limited ways, now maybe I'd understand him a little better, but he could actually, he would mention wrestlers by name and I'd be like, hey, I know a wrestler you said out loud. Your translator didn't translate it because he doesn't want you quoting it, but I know you said Brock

Lesnar or whatever. Yeah, I mean, there are wrestling references in this game because it's all of his things he usually does are in this game, and I just love seeing it. So, yes, recommended by me, Romeo's Dead Man. Another game I'm playing, another good 7 out of 10 is another crab's treasure. This game is a parody

of Souls games in that you are playing like a Soul-style game except you are a hermit crab. You try on different shells to get different powers and the way the levels are structured and the way they're gated in the way you earn upgrades and the way you regain your currency after you die

if you find your corpse or whatever, that's all tied into Souls. And it slowly goes from, oh, this is a fun parody of a Souls game too. Oh, this is actually like a very challenging Soulslike that is kind of taking the premise seriously while making jokes about it. It's very interesting. I think it came out in 2024, but I've been having a lot of fun of it. And it is very hard because there is no multiplayer in this game. And I am a Souls coward. I usually summon people to fight bosses because I don't have time for this. Come on in and help me. I want to see the next level. But you're not doing this in another

crap treasure. I've been spending like 20 to 30 minutes trying to take down one boss, usually succeeding after a certain amount of time. But yeah, this one surprised me. It's been on my two playlists for a while, and it's just a fun little indie game that is like basically 20 to 25 hours souls experience. I am a stubbornly solo souls freak who usually, if I get frustrated enough,

I do beat most bosses eventually by myself out of just pure stubbornness, even though friends like you or my husband will say, you're supposed to get help from people. That's the whole point of the game. I'll be like, no, I can beat it myself. So I like the sound of this being a intentionally solo. And also that it's like a parody that then just becomes the game.

I like that. I like the sound of that too. The controversial thought, your husband and I are correct. Well, you know, I've been taking medications to maybe be less stubborn. We'll see how the medication helps by the next Souls release. Oh, yeah. So in Death Stranding, you let no one help you. You like turned off the servers.

Like, no, I build my own roads. Okay. This ends here. That was passive. That was passive. But in Dark Souls, I basically never put out a soul sign. to get a person to join my game and help me. Basically, like, yeah.

Next time, next time. Next Souls game, you got to try it. The few times they did it, I did like it. But I also was like, well, this isn't the way my brain told me is the right way to do it. That's when you got to stab your brain with a Q-tip, like Homer did. Sorry, other thing about Souls games, one of the coolest ways to grind is you just put down your sign in front of the boss gate and you just jump in other people's games. You help them fight the boss over and over.

It's true. I don't help the other way either. Selfish. I don't think I've ever done it the other way, actually. now that you mentioned, I've only asked for help, not helped others. Is this not like a Scrooge-like realization I'm having here? A Souls game is a personality test. And you failed.

Last game I want to mention, it's not a game, it's a demo, but this is probably not of interest to many people out there. I did want to mention it, though. It's the Monster Hunter Stories 3 demo. Monster Hunter Stories is the offshoot of Monster Hunter that is a turn-based RPG. When I was in the press, I played around with the first one for a little bit. I kind of like what you're doing here. Didn't play the second one.

the third one is a full like current gen experience and it feels like it is the only turn-based RPG that is allowed to exist at this high of fidelity because it's tied into a existing brand so it's really cool to see capcom making this turn-based RPG when otherwise they would not be able to and the turn-based battle system is so complicated it took me nearly four or five hours of this 10-hour demo to fully understand it and process it and be able to like break it in half and figure it out and use it to my advantage. So if you like turn-based RPGs, I would check this out. Even if you don't like Monster Hunter, this is a very approachable way to get into those mechanics. And it translates them all very well into the turn-based

context. I look like what I see here. I feel like I'm going to get this game when it is new, because your progress from the demo does carry over into the full game. In an era where I fear that even the granddaddy of Amal, Dragon Quest, in its next game, won't be turn-based. It's inspiring to hear that some major Japanese developer is still doing a term-based RPG like this. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely worth checking out. At least check out the demo because it will give you like 10 hours to mess around in the world. Like honestly, as much time as you want to spend with it,

but there is like a level cap in it. So your fun will be limited to a certain extent. But I love these very generous demos of RPGs that let you roll into the full game with that save. It's a cool system. Dragon Quest 7 has one of those too, and I played one hour of it. And then I said, what am I doing? Exactly. Yeah, I stopped.

You looked in the mirror and you saw an old man who doesn't have time for this shit. Yeah, I had a good time the first time with Dragon Quest 7. I don't need to do it again. I had two bad times with it and don't need a third bad time. Don't need a third slightly better time is what I'll say. I know it's been reimagined. I wish they just remake 8. Why are they remaking 7 a second time?

Wait, they actually did remake 8 already as 3. Yes, 3x that a second time. Hey, remake 9 while you're right. I like 9. Oh, yes, 9 never got one remakes. Or make 10 available in English. seemingly that'll never happen sadly. Sorry, this is Dragon Quest Side Corner.

I was sure when they announced that new version of it that could even be played offline. I was like, surely this will be released in America. They see that FF14 does very well in America. Please, nope, nope, never going to get it. Thank you for humoring us in Dragon Quest Corner, everybody, and Video Game Corner, for that matter. In terms of watching stuff, a lot of great movies this past month,

Henry and I both saw this, so we can both comment on it. Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie, which is a two-man sketch groups movie about ostensibly playing a show at the Rivoli, but it's really a very extended Back to the Future parody using a mix of film scenes, improv scenes, and live action stunts. And it's like with Ha Ha You Clowns, it's very hard to explain unless you've seen it. And I had no real history with this group outside of that We Shop Wednesdays, sketched it a million years ago.

Yeah, when a reference to that, appears in the movie. All those memories came flooding back, like, and maybe I watched a couple, but back in like 0708, I wasn't paying as much attention to them as say like mega-64, the American, well, they're not exactly the equivalent, but similar vein, you know, like yeah, everybody was reviewing this and loving this, especially our Tarantonian pal on Letterbox, I remember Will Sloan, loved this so much. And I got to check this out. And yeah, I thought it was very funny. I'm glad I didn't know too much going into it. It takes so many funny turns. It makes me nostalgic for 2008 in a scary way as well. Yes. And I will say I normally don't go for these kind of references, but it both

opens and closes with a reference to a 16-bit RPG in a way that I feel like I was the only one in the theater who truly understood what they were doing. And then I went online to confirm like, oh, they were doing this. It wasn't just me. I wasn't going crazy. I usually stay till the lights come on to. You saying, you know, indicating stay till the very end made me stay the end to see it too and know like, wow, Bob was right. They really do that. So if you can go see it in theaters, stay till the very end and you'll see the same reference we have to see. Yeah, a little hint is the first thing you hear in the movie, the piano notes they play, is a reference to the game that will then reference in the Stinger. I don't know why they did it. I guess it does

deal with the general theme of the movie. But again, it's something that's hard to explain unless you watch it. I saw the trailer a ton in theaters. I'm like, what is this? who are these guys. This looks kind of cool. And if I remember correctly in real life, too, the Rivoli, that's where kids in the hall got their start, right? Yes, yes, it was a big, early, important theater for them to play, doing a ton of shows there.

And I guess the movie is very Canadian, but you don't need to be Canadian to enjoy it. I like how this is, at least in terms of North America, an international hits. Yes, yeah. I'm definitely touched by a story of, you know, two friends who made stuff for the internet, who, you know, entering their 40s and still doing it. Like, there is a line in it that makes me, like, kind of choke up a little in the middle part. They talk about time passing, whether your friends you don't even notice. Like, that bit really got me.

It hits extra hard if you're a weirdo content creator in your early 40s. Yeah, if you're us. You got started around the time they did. Right, yes, yeah. Other things, I've been watching a few Oscar noms, so I decided to clean up my best animated picture category here. And I saw both Arcoe and Little Amelie or the character of Rain, both believe French films. Arco, it is, I welcome.

call it like, not to be reductive, kind of like a jibbley-like movie. The story is very simple. A boy from the future lands in the near future, and he's sort of like an ET-style special friend. A girl has to keep a secret and he has to find his way home, et cetera, et cetera. Animation beautiful. The story, I say it's a little too cozy to be truly that interesting. I was having a good time, but there was not enough conflict.

And it's sort of like the villains end up being good guys and there's no true villain and it's all like a lot of feel good stuff. But I like what other countries are doing. outside of America. They're honestly humiliating us and we deserve it. That K-pop Demon Hunters is the most like original non-IP thing that came out of America in this year.

And really it's like America and Vancouver co-production anyway about Korean culture. And now it just has turned into a giant IP as it is. But yeah, the original stuff really does feel like it comes out of more out of Europe these days than America or Japan who are the standbys of the Oscar Noms.

They're not afraid to do things in 2D. They're not afraid to have original ideas. We're like, what about Toy Story 5? Yep, yeah. And then after that, The Incredibles 3. Yeah, I got to say, Bob, I respect your dedication to watching. You were out really on top of the Oscar Noms for Best Picture. And I made a Best Picture last year, too.

And I'm falling behind. I missed Arco when it was in theaters. And I think Little Amelie was in theaters around here. A month or so ago, I missed out on that, too. Yeah, Little Amelie, I want to say this is my pick for Best Picture. I have not seen Zootopia 2 or Elio. honestly I might see them but I don't think based on what I know about them they could be better than

my other picks but this is my number one pick it sounds like it might not be interesting because little Amelie is a story about a Belgian girl growing up in post-war Japan like in the late 60s like from birth to age three and it's all about how you stop being a little selfish piggy as a baby you learn like what other people are

they have needs and desires you learn about like the joy of discovery the tragedy of loss and it's a very like coming of age picture. This sounds like something that's been done before, and it has, but the setting and the way it's executed are done very, very well. And it's another one of those things where just explaining it kind of undersells that you really need to see it. And unfortunately, this one feels like it's not getting the distribution it needs. I know GKids currently rent it because of GKids, but I never ever saw a screening even in a country where you have to put French on all the packaging.

In my local U.S. theater, I think it had a very limited screening, like just a weekend kind of deal, that I remember seeing as I peruse my Cinemark app to see what special things are coming, but I missed out on it when I had the chance. You would think after the nomination G-Kids might get behind it more. Maybe if it does win, though, the odds seem against it when it's up against a film, actual non-cartoon people have heard of

like K-pop Demon Hunters, or the incredibly successful Zootopia. It feels like Zootopia 2 in theaters feels like the Academy voters might not give a character of rain chance. I don't know if Zootopia 2 needs another win. What are we at? Oh, we're at $1.8 billion with Zootopia 2. No, I feel like it'll probably be K-pop Demon Hunters because it's its big. It was the big event of animation this year that every parent heard about for sure. I love when these movies make like $2 billion and then the streaming platform is like, we have to raise the prices. Yes, yeah. Oh, and also,

we need to lay off some more of our staff here too. That too. Yeah, so Little Amelier or the character of rain. Honestly, based on the title, you're like, oh, this sounds boring. But just stick with it. It's good. It really won me over. I wasn't really sure about it in the beginning. My wife put this in her review. It like it could, it looks like it's verging on being very rug-ratsy, like, oh, the skewed

perspective of a child who doesn't understand everything. But, again, they were able to play with that idea in more serious and emotional ways that Rugrats did not dare. So there's no reptar in this, for instance. No raptor. Okay. I'll still give it a shot. I'll still give it a shot. There are

Yo-kai. Oh, hey, Reptara is an American yokai when you think about it. Pretty much, yeah. And other stuff, I've done nothing outside of watch movies and play games and stuff. It's been a very shut-in February for me. Well, for me, my big games was continuing Baldersgate 3. I am

nearing the end game, I feel like, after 84 hours, that's my game clock on it, yeah. My wife and I just got to act, too, about like 40 hours in. Oh, nice. That's about the pace I had, too. Listeners, if you're new this and curious, Well, again, I'm playing as a half-wood elf ranger.

That's my main type. And my favorite pals in it are I like Carlac and Gail. Gail's my boyfriend in that game, I'd say. I like the whoever the Klingon Green Lady is. Oh, Lysel. Lysel, yeah. Githiaki, yeah. She's cool.

Have you done the dirty dingo with any of these? Not yet. Not yet. Everyone in that game is too. Like, you talk to them, you have one conversation. They're like, so you want to fuck now or later? Or some take a little more work than that. But yes, others are down to clown immediately.

And then helpfully, all are pansexual. Like, they go wherever the wind takes on my thing. We're having a fun time with it. I really enjoy it. It really does feel like playing a tabletop RPG. And then the only other game I played, though, I am trying to wrap it up so I can start. I actually do want to start the new Resident Evil soon that's about to come out. The ninth one, because I love Leon.

I liked seven and eight, but I like that this one doesn't have to be in first person. I'd rather play a third person, Resident Evil. You should play the RE4 remake. It's like basically a new game, and it rules, and it's Leon. I skipped it when it came out because I seriously, I'd beat me game three times, and I know I know it's good. It's a different game. It's a different game entirely.

And it's like really cut down in price right now, too. It's like a $10 game or something on Steam, I think. And also, speaking of how I'm good with money, virtual boy. This is when we place Henry in a conservatorship. Henry, I don't want to be too harsh. posted a picture of yourself with that, I immediately looked up to see how much it cost, and I went, good Lord. I split it with my husband. Right. Each paid half. Now, I know the 3D effect doesn't really work well for you. Is this able to translate that? I mean, I still get to

enjoy, I mean, it's just like how 3DS for me wasn't a 3D effect, but I can play the game and it still works for me. Like so, yes, as far as like, are both eyes working at the same time to create a stereoscopic effect? Not really, no. It doesn't do that for me. The reason I bought it is one again. I'm stupid, of course. But second, secondly, Bob nods along with that. I'm notting my head. It was wasteful. But the idea of like Nintendo making an actual selling a thing that's a virtual boy again, it's stupid in a fun way to me. And also that you can actually play a virtual boy like a virtual boy emulation again. It basically makes two little screens on your switch two and you put the switch two inside of it and then you look at it through there to replicate the

experience. I see. I just feel everyone had the exact same impression. Like, oh, this sucks. I have a headache. And they sell like a cardboard version that costs, I think like a fourth of what the plastic version costs. And I think that will last as long as however your interest in virtual boy games are last. Yeah, I mean, it does look, but it doesn't display as well. But how have you seen the bind I'm in?

It was something we both want, but like, yes, I know, I know. But I did just play 15 minutes of it that night and it'd feel sick. I did open it back up again to play a little more. I actually did really like Tetris 3D wasn't bad. And the Mario Land is. good enough, but the others are unplayable. You know, I never had one and I played Virtual Boy for the first time at Portland

Retro Gaming Expo, maybe two years ago. It'd like mess me up for a few hours. It's a danger, honestly. Like, the fact that Nintendo even made it to sell and open themselves up to lawsuit seems like a mistake, I would say, on their part. But I'd only ever played it at like at events like that or at the

Super Potato in Japan, or at least at one of them, and in Tokyo, they have a virtual boy there as well that you can play around with. And I think I played like five minutes of those. I probably won't be touching it too much until again when Mario Clash and Mario Tennis get put out later. It's insane that those aren't just available. You spent $100 on a damn piece of plastic. Let the man play all the games. And also they're only available as digital like subscription games. I don't even own those games either. Yes. Yeah. Anyways, with movies.

We talked about Nirvana. I also saw Send Help, which you saw too, Bob. I really enjoyed it. He's back, maybe. Yes, he's back. Maybe a little too long. But other than that, it ruled, and I hope he gets to do stuff like this from now on, because he was sort of in, like, mediocre movie limbo for, I don't know, 15 years. It seemed like it was easier for him to make TV shows than it was to make movies. So, you know, like, Asf versus the Evil Dead and other things like that. Like, that took his attention for a while. And now they gets to make Send Help, which, you know, reading headlines of, like,

this was pitched to be when he sold it to the first studio, then they said, want to make this streaming. He's like, I want to take this somewhere else where I don't have to make it streaming. And seeing it in theaters is the fun. Like this probably is still a good movie to watch streaming, but seeing it, it's a horror movie. You're supposed to go scream with other people. Yeah, like hearing the crowd reactions was fun. And it, yeah, just very happy to see him back. Because I think his last movie in the Sam Ramee variety was Drag Me to Hell, and that was 17 years ago. Yes, so long ago. And it was PG-13, unlike the Send Help, which is. are and send help is like fucked up in the ways he like making fucked up things with deranged

characters and also Rachel McAdams who I've always enjoyed as an actress since you know mean girls and to see that she is like the new Bruce Campbell who is ready to be covered in garbage and fully commit to the role like that was amazing to see too yeah I believe they Ramey and Rachel McAdams met on the set of Oz the great and powerful and he thought I'm going to use you in a good movie one day. Oh, and also the other guy, what Dylan O'Hara, is that his name, or Ben O'Hara? Mr. Maze Runner. Yes, Maze Runner guy.

I don't want to take credit away from him, too. He also gets covered in fake blood and goop and does great, too, as a piece of shit you hate. Like, that first 20 minutes of the movie felt like PTSD of being in an office, like for me. But not to spoil anything, but it does a good job of getting you to kind of switch sides multiple times throughout the movie. Like, now I like him. now I like her. It's not as one-sided as the intro would make it seem. Yes. Ramie also loves messing with you like that too. Like, oh, is that who you're rooting for? Well, what if this? I guess. Watching theaters, it's doing good. It's doing good in theaters.

I finished up Fallout Season 2, which I did like first season a little more. Honestly, season two felt like I watched half of a TV season and then waiting now for the other have to come out in like a year or so. Did you watch all of season 2 yet, Bob? I did, yeah. I feel like people were kind of negative on this. My own take is I don't watch a lot of these kind of shows. So based on the few I've seen, I know to set my expectations, you know, pretty grounded. And here, seeing that everyone was so spread apart throughout the entire story, I thought, like, okay, it's going to end with all of them coming together and then they're going to reveal

the next destination. That's kind of what happens. But I really wish they would have been able to spend more time together because, like, for a lot of the season, the Brotherhood of Steel guy, the ghoul and Ella Prunel's character are doing kind of their own things. And I'm not sure if that was like a shooting. schedule deal or what, but I kind of like when they were able to spend more time together. You get a few good episodes of Lucy and the ghoul playing off each other, but yeah, you're right.

It's kind of a waste that, I mean, it's a story they're telling and all that and with dual timeline storytelling too, but like I think all of the actors in the main cast and Kyle McLaughlin too, they all have such good chemistry together that having a plot that separates them lessens the opportunities for great episodes in it. Yeah, I'm still looking forward to season three. It seems like they actually have a pretty fast production schedule in terms of, okay, people want more, let's make more, which is why seasons one and two were only 18 months apart, I think. Yeah, I don't think we're going to be waiting Stranger Things style for the next one. Eleoponell is going to get too old.

Then I also watch the whole season in one day of Wonder Man. It's a Marvel TV show, but it's a good Marvel TV show. It actually, it feels like the MCU tried to make their own version of like Atlanta or the bear or just, you know, a 30-man. minute dromedy style like FX show and I think mainly it's based on Ben Kingsley and Yaha Abdul Matine the second both having very good

chemistry with each other and it barely does any setting up of future MCU bullshit in it either that's good I like when they can make these things stand alone and not have them be a promotion for an upcoming movie the only parts of it that are that

are the ones that upset me because one of my all-time favorite dorky niche 80s comic creations was damage control and they are a very funny idea created by dway McDuffie about who are the silly sitcom characters who clean up after a giant superhero fight in new york now damage control is repurposed into the mc u.c. to be ice and it sucks i don't like seeing damage control being the name of fictionalized ice for the mcc universe i don't like it's a non-starter for me not a fan i have been talking about Star Trek all the time anytime I do it, but I've been

watching Tia G, almost done with season two. And then Muppets, Bob, you watched The Muppets show as well. I have yet to watch The Muppets show as well. I apologize. I have sinned against Kermit and the rest. So you wrote lots of Muppets. What were the other Muppets things you were doing? So after we watched that, we're then

like, okay, we'd actually not see, when I say my husband and I had not seen Muppets Most Wanted. We then watched it afterwards, and we're like, you know, that has its qualities to it. And then we also had never seen The Muppets. And it was like the next suggested thing. And by that I mean the 2015 ABC television sitcom called The Muddits.

The one with a period in it. Yes, yeah, The Muppets period. I should have said that. The Office style one. But it's also kind of the Larry Sanders show. I both thought it was, I've watched half of it now, rather relaxedly. And while I do think it is written better than I thought it was written, and they're like, oh, that's a funny sitcom to get.

almost every Muppet acts out of character to me and it bothers me as a Muppet freak and especially I am very protective of the Gonso character and when Gonso does things I don't think Gonso should do I get irrationally mad and so it's not a good watch for me eventually So intense Gonso feelings is what I'm getting But those on the opposite end

when Gonso is still being voiced by Dave Goulds I don't think he is the physical performer anymore He is 79 but Oh yeah he voices Gonso and Dr. Bonson Honeydew the new Muppet Show, the special that is a pilot that even has a Talking Simpsons podcast guest in the audience there in Griffin Newman. Yeah, I've seen, so I guess on the blank check Reddit, they were posting pictures of Griffin in the audience. Yeah, he's a consistent member of the audience through the whole special.

And the special feels like about 38 minutes, I think. And it's just a pilot for a new Muppet show. And it is a good version of that because I think Sabrina Carpenter gets what it's about. What makes me sad is that in the real world, if Jim Henson were still alive, he'd still have to co-produce it with Seth Rogen because they would never just give the money to the originals anymore.

But Seth Rogen seems to give a shit about Muppets and doing it the right way. And I do think he's doing it the right way. Plus, they've unretired characters like Rizzo. And so they're like, you know what, Rizzo's got a new voice, and Rizzo's just going to be doing stuff again. And I'm glad we have the return of Rizzo.

He was too missing thanks to the departure of Steve Whitmire. The expulsion of Steve Whitmire, I should say. It does seem like Steve Whitmire's not made a good in his public appearances and complaining online about this stuff. I don't think he's made a very good case for himself as like, I was wronged by Disney. Yeah, Steve Whitmire, the second voice of Kermit, by the way, after Jim Henson, he's writing a lot of posts lately.

He wrote a really long post and the gist of it was, you can't just replace a Muppet performer. And he's missing the memo that he replaced a Muppet performer, the most famous one. Yes, yeah, on multiple characters. It seems like as much as I've been in some Muppet Redits lately, and people talk about Whitmire of just like, it's hard to, I don't like what Disney's done either,

but Whitmire is his own worst enemy, and lots of Muppet performers do not like him or got tired of his stuff. But anyway, give the Muppet show watch if you'd like to see something that actually feels like they celebrate the Muppets. Kermit doesn't sound right and he never will again. I have come to accept that Matt Vogel's,

I think Matt Vogel can improvise as Kermit well, even if he sounds, if Steve Whitmire is a 70% Kermit, I'd call Matt Vogel a 60% Kermit. I call him a 40% Kermit. That's kind of what's keeping me away from the special. I will watch it, but I feel like he just kind of sounds like a guy. The Miss Piggy performer, who's been doing Miss Piggy for a long time now, Miss Piggy is the star of the show, like Miss Piggy, as she should be. You know what show's going to have right-sounding puppets?

Mystery Science Theater 3, 3000. Hey, yeah, let's mention that. They're Kickstarter. Fuck yet. I felt irrationally happy and heart-warmed to see them operating their puppets again. And they're the shitty old puppets they had whose arms don't move. Yes, they're actually building sets and things, unlike what the last season had that was run by a different person, different team.

And yeah, I'm just excited to see it. They're making four new episodes, and I back the fuck out of that Kickstarter. Yes, yeah, me too. As soon as I could, I bought all in four new episodes, and I hope. Okay, one other thing that's cool about it is Trace Ballou is not just back to, like, perform or to write with it. People don't get this. They don't know that he built so much of the shit that looked great in the original years of mystery science theater. And he's back as a production designer editor or art director, I think it is. We're not doing like a full season. We're getting four,

but I feel like I'm going to like these four a lot more than I've like some of the other new ones. That's just me. And I did like stuff in 11 and 12 and 13. But it feels, I feel more excited for this than I did 10 years ago for 12 years ago. We're allowed to be self-indulgent here. I feel like I love Joel. and I feel like, I think Joel's getting a lot of crap. Joel Hodgson, the creator, Mystery Science Theater, because of his mishandling, mismanagement of the franchise. He's very funny, super funny. I love his episodes.

I think his problem was he wanted to step back. We wanted to hear the voices we like. And he also was like, okay, maybe I'll step in, but then there's going to be like a rotating panel of hosts. No, we want consistency. We want the old men we grew up with. Yes, yeah, while they can still do it. I want to see that.

Yeah. And I thought Jonah Ray did a fine job, and so did Hampton Youn and Baron Vaughn. who took over their roles. But it was the next generation and they were fine, but I did want to see. It also seemed like the Rift Track guys

weren't going to come in until Joel left or I don't know. The timing is interesting, but I don't want it to be a new Joel versus Mike era for the 2020s. I think the recasting of Crow made me sexist because suddenly a woman was performing Crow.

And Crow, to me, is not a female character. I don't know why I think that, but it's like, what if Kermit suddenly sounded like a girl? Yes, right. I barely interacted with that season 13 Crow, but you're right, yes. That actually... Yeah, I think what happened was they had a Crow in place. The performer mysteriously disappeared. They had to slot someone in. I don't blame the performer. But it's just like, that is too different. Like, Crow has to exist within a spectrum. Like, when you were replacing it... This is... We're insane people, by the way. When you're replacing a puppet performer, their performance in their voice has to exist within the same spectrum as the previous performer or something will sound wrong. When you change the gender of the performer, I feel like, what if Ralph was suddenly... like a very feminine woman. I don't know. Maybe you'd be into that. But to me, Ralph is a dude with a gruff voice. Like I said, it made me sexist. Yeah, I mean, too, I was even feeling the disconnect in like in the 12th season, the gauntlet, like, you could tell, I mean,

the production let you know about it. Like, the performers are not doing their puppets. Like, because also those guys aren't puppeteers, but they hired independent puppets from the voice performer and that creates a disconnect in puppeteering. And you can tell. You can't. Yeah, we are crazy. We are crazy. Sorry, going back, I missed you through K, season 13, something that a thousand people watched. My issue with the recasting of Crow, like, the voice was very different, but the performer was doing like, all right, my name is Crow and I'm going to tell jokes. Like this really screechy voice. Yeah, well, hey, things are, we're getting at least four new ones from the Misty, the classic season six through, well, really, it feels like, after all this

time, it's the real season 11 from the, if there had been one in like 2002, right? Yeah. If, like, sci-fi channel had not been short-sighted. It's a pittance for those guys. That show was canceled in 1999. That's what kicked off my final year of high school. I'm like, the world sucks now. This is the future I'm walking into. Remember when we were so sad just about the back nine of season nine and we didn't get those?

That's how I learned the term, the back nine. Is anyone still listening? But that's my month. I did a small weekend trip to Portland as well, which was nice. But really, it was just eating food at nice places and playing Magic the Gathering with friends who happened to, basically, friends from San Francisco were going. going to Portland and that's so close to where I live that we're like, you know, we'll take a little train, a $50 train ride down there to play. Imagine. So we had a nice time. Very nice.

Very pleasant. So we've learned from this segment that Henry is psychotic about Gonzo and the new crow turned me into a gamer gator. Yes, yeah. And I'm wasteful with money with Virtual Boy. I'll say that. Robots only have two genders. I said it. Yep. Yeah. And they should mostly be guys. And Crow was the wrong one until now. But yes, let's move on to some non-controversial topics, to Talking Simpsons questions and comments. We're going to start off with fat man and little boy, Andrew Bouvier says, quote, in addition to places like college humor and t-shirt hell,

where I believe the horrific shirt Bob mentioned was sold, the aughts also saw the rise of print-on-demand shirts and places like Cafe Press. I designed a shirt myself for the site and actually made a couple hundred dollars over the course of a few years from middling sales. I put designed in quotes because I didn't actually design a shirt. I was just selling a plain white t-shirt with the phrase, I hate bottles on it in Comic Sands, no less.

In my defense, Comic Sands was pretty screen accurate to Zoyberg's handwriting on Fry's shirt. This is Bob stepping in. Andrew is referencing the 30% Iron Chef. In this episode, Zoidberg writes, I hate bottles on Fry's shirt to frame him

because he broke Farnsworth Ship in a bottle. That is the B plot of that episode that most people forget. I think Andrew was ahead of his time with that. More people would have got it later on. That's why he only sold a couple hundred dollars of it. Yeah, Cafe Press, takes me back. That was the start of the

print to order stuff. Mostly I started engaging with print to order in the mid aughts because that's what I learned about pro wrestling teas.com, which was also a print to order place. You're putting that whole website through college. And for my

troubles, I got my credit card stolen and hundreds of dollars of charges I had to fight on it because pro wrestling teas was not a secure site it turned out. You know, Cafe Press, I last heard of them when we work for a multi-million dollar company who gave us each $15 cafe press gift certificates for Christmas.

I buried that memory, yes. After canceling the Christmas party and laying off 25% of the company, I did not spend that. I was like, no, this is insulting. It's sad unspent to me for years too, yeah. I was like, well, I'm going to print, ooh, I love this website on a shirt. Like, no, no, thank you.

Robert Vaughn, meanwhile, says on that episode, My Quippy T-shirt with Too Much Text said, I challenge you to a battle of wits, but you appear unarmed. I wore it to a friend's house whose parents were both professors. They compliment my shirt and chastise their son

for not being as clever a child. I never wore it again. They were in the Dennis Miller ratio. I would think a pair of professors, married professors, that's who that shirt is for, yes. And also a tiny, brief Henry catch-up. I normally am so good at catching these things,

but when we covered Fat Man and Little Boy, I mentioned on it that it was the Christmas episode, in that it was the last episode to air in the year 2004 and was the one closest to Christmas. And what I should have mentioned was there was Simpsons Christmas content that year that aired about 11 days afterwards that only British people would know about, maybe,

because on the Christmas Day, the Simpsons did the alternative Christmas message on Channel 4, a long-time tradition I had never heard of before until I had read about this, which is traditionally, you have to listen to your queen gas on about something or king and say like, oh, here's a nice thing I think that fuck those people.

And then Paddington shows up. Maybe he's even partying with Prince Andrew in 10 years ago once. Who knows? But then Channel 4, being a ribald competing channel in the 90s, the Fox seemingly of its time, they did alternative message that you're supposed to switch to to not watch the stuffy old queen. So like the original one was Quinn Crisp,

quite a queen himself, if you catch my meaning. And so for 2004, partially to advertise that The Simpsons were now on Channel 4 and bought away from the BBC channel it was on, The Simpsons hosted the alternative message. And it was like a two and a half minute long original animation of The Simpsons in their kitchen, all wishing England, the United Kingdom, a happy Christmas, as they would say. I have a little clip from it here, actually. Let's see. And in world events, the friendship between America and Britain is stronger than. ever. You're like mini-me to our Dr. Evil, helping out in all our zany schemes to take over the world.

Ha ha, yeah, baby! Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, my goodness, it's a visit from Father Christmas. Yes, Mike. Who the hell is Father Christmas? I thought I was supposed to be Santa Claus. They're the same guy. Which one is Jesus' grandfather? They both are. He has two grandfathers? They're gay? Well, if you wanted to hear Marge make an Austin Powers reference, there you go. Impression, rather. I like that, too, that it's about how they help us with invading Iraq. We're friends together in the evil schemes.

It was just an interesting thing to see that, like, it was the most original content for another country that had ever been made for The Simpsons. Even more, well, you know what, if you had together every C.C. Lemon commercial, I bet it's longer. But this was the longest form, singular thing for another country made. I'll take this over one of those new shorts any day. It's fun to hear them make a bunch of specific jokes about England culture, and they made some joke about some then recent scandal of the Royals, and also Homer jokes about drinking warm beer in England and how much he hates it. So if you listeners out there in the United Kingdom saw that and watched it on Channel 4,

let me know, I wonder how it was received at the time. And it was all done to advertise, Channel 4 has got the Simpsons, which they would have for 20 years, and it ended in 2024, when they lost the license. So we're going to move on to the Simpsons guy. Again, that is our episode that we put together for charity. Check it out at patreon.com slash talking Simpsons in our shop. And Drew Mackey says,

I recently went through a depression and watched all the seasons of family guy. And I can report that they turned Quagmire into a cat-dead weirdo who was overly finicky about his home and its decor. It's super weird. It doesn't completely not work. But it does seem like they knew they had to pivot and this is just what they ended up with. And thank you, Drew. I did not know the fate of Quagmire.

Yeah, we wondered, how could they even have Quagmire on the show anymore? And I guess making him a weird, finicky, lonely man that keeps him away from the dating scene and all the jokes that entails. Somebody brought this joke up, or maybe I just saw it in the meantime, but there's a joke in Family Guy where Cleveland returns and Quagmire is like, well, where's my show? And Peter says, Quagmire, you're a rapist. And that's the end of the scene. Right, yes. I can't recall if that was like, when the last Cleveland shows were on regular family guy, but yes. Yeah, so that really defines who the character was and why he can't be that anymore. Purple Comet also says on special we did,

Family Guy took a swipe at the Simpsons one other time, and it was in the Stewie Kills Lois, Lois Kills Stewie to Parter. Exclusive to the DVD version, there's the song The List, where Stewie, having taken over the world, sings about other people he'd make an example out of if his rule were questioned. It includes the line, the guy who watched the Simpsons back in 1994 and won't admit the damn thing isn't funny anymore.

Got them. Did not air on television, unfortunately. Yes, I apologize, Purple Comment into all of you that in my research for every official time, they made fun of each other. I miss that DVD-exclusive version of it. So add that to the list. I even remember that I didn't watch it, but I do remember them heavily promoting

like Stewie finally kills Lois episodes were coming out. Also, I really like in the comments. We had so many good comments. That had a very good comment, I think, about how a thing I had kind of forgotten in, like, the context of hating Family Guy is it's success made every new animated show for adults have to be mandated to look like Family Guy for about 15 years afterwards. Yeah. So are we still in like the Rick's Berger's era of adult animation?

You know, I just saw a new show coming out called Stripp Law that a bunch of cool people on Twitter have written for. I want to give it a watch. It does look a little Rick Burgerie. I'd say it's 10% more Rick than Burger in it as far as it looks go. I hope that term catches on. It rolls off the tongue. That was a good.

You coined a good phrase there, Bob. Rick Burgerie. Moving on to Sight Show Bob Roberts, Blake R says, Sight Show Bob being a clown with an underlying political agenda for kids who don't know any better, hits close to home. As younger millennial growing up in Austin, Texas, George W. Bush came to my grade school in fall of 1999, back when he was still governor, but had only just announced his presidential campaign.

He came to hype us up for a big field day athletic. and made a big show of running in place in our class, pretending to be exhausted, and telling us we were going to do a heck of a lot better. Being six and stupid, of course my thought process was, you're telling me this wacky guy who talks like this, wants to be president? Sign me up. Knowing what I know now, I wish I had thrown my teeny tiny shoe at him. Yes, thank you, Blake R.

And it's important to remember that before 9-11, George W. Bush was the compassionate conservative. He was the cuddly conservative before he suddenly was thrust into the role of the wartime president. and that did not go well as history has shown. But that previous era for him is, I think, largely forgotten when he would show up and give, like, speeches in Spanish, just to show, like, I love Spanish language people. The idea of the Republican president or president to be doing a speech in Spanish

is an insane thought now. And I hate talking about like, oh, boy, George W. Bush sure was better. Like, because I'd say body count wise, he's still far ahead of Trump so far at this moment. But yeah, I'm with Blake of wishing he threw his tiny shoe at him, But as we know, sadly, Bush is very good at dodging those shoes. Yeah, man, if that shoe hit, what a video that would have been. I know. It's a perfect metaphor for that piece of shit that, like, you want to see that shoe hit him and he dodges it perfectly because both times.

Okay. Meanwhile, speaking of other Texas ideas here, Mark S says, rich Texan having the last name of Heidel is an extremely deep JFK assassination cut. Alec Heidel being an alias, Lee Harvey Oswald, used for, among other things, buying the rifle that he allegedly used to assassinate Kennedy with. So, wow, that was in the cut jokes from the script I mentioned in the episode.

So I guess Rich Texan, he was known as Hydel, Mr. Hydel? Yes, I don't have it right in front of me. But yes, the original script, basically more people than Saito Bob get put on trial, and Rich Texan is one of them, and they say his full name for the record, and Hydel is his last name. But, yeah, to find out it's a JFK thing,

is very interesting also because they already in the Bill and Josh in episode, they already did the like, it always brings me luck like when he wore his hat on the day JFK was assassinated. Oh, right, right, yeah. Excellent. So, yes, thanks for that deep pole, Mark S. And moving on,

we have the water cartoon episode about Gem, the fan, which Dan McCoy was on, Nicky Dan, for suggesting the episode and for being on the episode. And Jacob Bach says, great episode. Jim and the holograms never aired where I grew up, but I encountered Christy Marks through her computer game from Sierra Online.

At the back of the game box, she was promoted as best known for writing The Gem animated TV series. Conquest of Camelot, The Search for the Grail in 1990, was not an MMO, but a text-based single-player graphic adventure. It stood out from other Sierra games at the time by its setting and excellent writing. The research of Arthurian myth was extensive. The art was done by Marx's husband, comic book artist Peter Ledger. He was also an art designer at the TV show Babylon 5, where he designed the first logo and did reference a promotional art. that were used to sell the show. He unfortunately passed away in 1994. Christy Marks' next game for Sierra Conquest of the Longbow, The Legend of Robin Hood, 1991,

is one of my favorites from the studio. It's also very well researched and contains considerable, historical, and cultural details regarding the Robin Hood Legends. Very atmospheric and beautiful games. Thank you, Jacob. I have not really covered too many Sierra games on Retronauts, and I'm aware of the core series, but these were largely unknown to me. I think I've seen the names, but did not know the Christy Marks Association. It's cool that they threw her a job knowing that she could put together a good story and write some good characters.

Yeah, and back then it was not normal for even like a cartoon TV show writer to be hired to be a writer for video games, even in very story-driven realm of the Sierra online releases. I played even fewer PC adventure games than Bob has played. Bob is a much bigger expert on me. But for me, the ones I did play were LucasArts

because they pulled me in with their brand, and colorful characters usually. Also on that episode, Darren says, My partner didn't grow up with Jim, but found it as an adult and adores it for its aesthetic and its music. We got the chance to attend a Cine Family event and Q&A and L.A. in 2015 for Jim

featuring Christy Marks and Samantha Newark. It was a blast, but the audience occasionally laughed a little too hard at some elements of the episode screened and seemed to make Christy a little uncomfortable. Like, yeah, you guys mentioned the show having a very heightened soapy element to it, but some of the crowd was laughing a little too derisively

at some of the plot and occasionally wonky animation. Yeah, I kind of hate when you see a screening of something and you think like, oh, we're all here to enjoy this, but you just hear a lot of derisive laughter and snarky comments and, hey, we're the guys who love mystery science theater, but there's a time and a place. A dangerous thing of going to live showings of like Rift Tracks events is you're surrounded by people who think they're going to riff along with it.

It's a danger. Yeah, I think especially at events like that, like we both attended, like we went to the gremlins that had Joe Dante at it. And if people laugh the wrong way of those things, it just always bothers me, especially when a guest, a creator who worked on it, bothered to show up to it. And it's like, even if you want to laugh derisively at some parts of it, show the respect of the creator who's here and not make it feel shitty. Yeah, yeah, you should really check yourself if like someone who worked on it is there.

and they're not like, isn't this thing I made stupid? Yes, yeah. Oh, I'm so glad you guys hate watch my content. It's why I worked so hard on it, why I loved coming down here tonight with my free evening and probably not paid that much. Like, yeah. Moving on, we have the What a Cartoon episode

all about Sleeping Beauty, and this is somebody calling me out. It's Dennis Kay who says, I'm curious why Bob was so focused on the lack of gags and jokes. It sounds like the purpose of this film was primarily to be visually stunning and judging it by a goalpost, it wasn't even trying to meet feels unfair.

If this movie was made by Studio Ghibli instead of Disney, Would you have the same issue? Thank you, Dennis. I did want to answer this because I'm not sure if I explained myself well enough, but that was like a directive by Disney himself to add gags because he thought the film was boring. So the reason why there are so many animal friends and gags in the long scenes with Sleeping Beauty walking through the forest is because Walt Disney was like, this is boring. Put some jokes in here.

Then we have set pieces full of jokes, like the scene with the two kings and the drunk bar, like there's a space for comedy there. But then you see so many scenes of the three godmothers, very godmothers. And the jokes don't go jokey enough for me. And yes, they are an exercise in showing off animation. But when you're watching this movie, you can't stop thinking about Snow White and the Seven Dwarps. And I'm thinking, like, why aren't they being as fun or as silly as those characters? Why is everything so muted?

And I feel like if you have comic relief characters, they need to be funny. If you're not trying to tell jokes, get them out of the movie entirely. Or make them into different characters. That is my issue. But ultimately it goes back to even Walt Disney saying, we need to liven this up with gag. So I feel like his directive didn't go far enough. And I think certain stages of the movie were too far along

for jokes to be added to them during this very long production process. Yeah, I think if you were judging the gags or their effectiveness or if something wasn't funny, it was, you know, reflecting, you were just reflecting on the research you had done that was like, well, this is supposed to be a joke that Disney made them put in. And so it's not like, you're not judging a lack of jokes. you're judging that the jokes weren't done as well if they were told to have a joke there, right? Yeah, I just see these comic relief characters

that are being held back by the artistry of the movie. Like we were saying, animators were frustrated because they felt like their hands were tied by the style of the movie. They couldn't do the things they wanted to do. And I think how muted the comic relief is is an example of that.

I'm not sure if I explain myself well enough that that is my justification for those complaints. And yes, if it was made by Studio Ghibli, I would say, add more jokes because the boy and the heron needed a few knee-slappers. Kind of boring. Well, the funny stuff in boy and the heron was usually mostly just the heron being like a fun, gross weirdo or bird poop. Those were like...

I like the parakeet kingdom. I like those guys. I'd say those were jokey, but yeah, it's not too many jokes there, but also... Miyazaki, he's not known that much for his humor these days. And he's... No. Has less of a sense of humor the older he gets, I think. Known for his grumbles.

David Baxter also said about Sleeping Beauty. Don Bluth assisted animator John Lonsbury who animated on Maleficent's Goons. So it's absolutely possible that Bluth kept those designs in mind when he had made his own features. And I wonder if Devin is also referring to our conjecture of, or at least I think I remember I wondered aloud like,

oh, did Don Bluth disinformed his designs for like Dragons Layer, which had very similar like setting and mystical stuff in it. They feel like creatures from Dragon's Layer, and yes, there is a direct connection there. so thank you to Devin. And moving on to Talking Futurama, the episode was Yo Lila Lila. It was their Yo Gabba Gabba parody. And Joe Hodgson says,

Bluey is fine, but I do think the vast majority of adults who sing its praises have been poison brain by lesser children's television. As you both observed in this podcast, kids like repetition, and they find something they like and basically run it into the ground until they find something else to do the same thing with.

And when you're home with little kids all day, you do get pretty sick of the same old thing over and over. I hope to never watch another episode of Mickey Mouse Club house. Bluey is more of a children's sitcom where the education component isn't so plainly stated. It also really doesn't bask in repetition and there is a wittiness to the dialogue. The parents display some exhaustion in dealing with their kids, but the most unrealistic aspect of the show is that they're always up for more playtime to the point where they kind of make you feel like a shitty parent for not being as willing to engage with their children on that level 24-7.

For a podcast like What a Cartoon, I don't think Bluey is necessarily a thing you need to look at. If you had to, then maybe go for one of the initially banned episodes as they at least provide it for some cultural differences to highlight. And who wouldn't want to spend a couple hours talking about an episode about Farts? Thank you, Joe Hodgson. Man, well, we just talked about Shrek Farts for five hours in the podcast. So I don't know if Bluey Farts are up for us. That, man, that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse note, though, that makes me think,

they might be giants worked on that, right? Is this made a generation of parents hate they might be giants? Maybe. They sound like the hot dog song, right? I think so, yes, yes. Yeah. Boy, did they actually make good money from that? I wonder.

I hope so. Still going on tour. Well, I believe in Joe Hodgson here, not Joel Hodgson. But yes, I feel like I don't know if it would be appropriate for our show, but keep yelling at us. Maybe one day we'll cover it. Maybe so. Everybody loves it. But meanwhile, a commenter who also was supervising director of this episode of Futurama, Peter Evansito had a nice reply.

Thank you, Sid, was Sid Grauman of Grauman's Chinese Theater. And this is a reference to, we talked about the Chinese theater and how I had seen cement impressions of it last year when I was in Los Angeles. Yeah. In the very old ones, it says, thank you, Sid, or thank Sid, or Sid, you're one in a million. I thought it was Sid Cesar. TV Pioneer. It turns out to be the owner of the theater, the original owner, Sid Grauman. Oh, that's why it's called Grauman's Chinese Theater.

I get it now. I appreciate that, Peter, for the history there. You know, I didn't listen back to it. I wonder how much of like three minutes of silence of me trying to find my picture of the Star Wars feat did it take for me to find that. I didn't listen to that version of the edit either, so I'm not sure how much of that was left in. It took a minute for me to search through my photos. to find, and of course I had to find my own photo of C3PO and R2D2's

feed. I couldn't just Google search that image. I had to find my... No other photos exist. You better sell those two newspaper. Moving on to Talking of the Hill, the episode High Anxiety. And Cameron says, by the way, check out his whole comment on the Patreon. I only pulled out the most essential element

but this is like a five-paragraph comment. I loved it all. It's all about the evil weevil, but I can only read so much of it on this podcast. So Cameron says, I unfortunately can't speak with authority on whether or not Gail would have gotten a good deal. The car was originally released in eight different colors, and I've mostly paid attention to auctions for the offer-mentioned blue Evil Weevil, which seems to be one of the more common colors, generally selling in the

$300 to $400 range if it's still in its original packaging. However, online resources seem to indicate that the purple variant, Gail described, was one of the rarer colors the car was released in. The website, HW. Price Guides, which tracks eBay auctions, reported only sales of purple leave a weevil in the last year, sold non-min and without its original packaging for $643. So at the very least, if Gail had won the auction, the car would probably be worth more now. So thank you so much, Cameron. Again, go to the Patreon, go to that episode. Cameron left a very long comment about this car.

I really appreciate that, Cameron, because me and Bob both, you know, we went to eBay just to look up a little bit of this, but neither of us are Hot Wheels collectors. Of my many collections, I'm surrounded by Hot Wheels isn't one of them. So I appreciate that insight into somebody who shares Gail's love of Hot Wheel collecting. If Gail was still alive in 2026, he could have flipped that car. So you're thinking Gail's dad? I think he had a dark ending, poor Gail. Just like his roommate.

And our last comment here is from Jen Keys, who says, I have also wondered if Kathleen Turner and Meryl Streep are the only two actresses that have done a voice on both The Simpsons and King of the Hill. You know, obviously, I'm sure there's staff people who have done both, like at the Trace McNeil level, but I'm thinking Jen is referring to, you know, guest stars, that type of actors. Yeah, you know, I'm looking at the list of guest stars, and I'm sure there's more than one answer out there, but Betty White is the one crossover between both shows. I should have realized, yeah, and Betty White would have been on Simpsons first then, and she was there in 99 for that episode. Something like that. I think she was on King of the Hill like a decade later. I don't even remember off the top of my head or King of the Hill episode, but okay, good, Bob.

We have an answer. At the very least, Betty White is another female actors who was in both episodes. We leave it to you, the listener, to tell us who else? What other actress was on both shows? I mean, Reese Witherspoon could have been on a Simpsons I had forgotten about. I don't know. I don't know. So that has been another episode of Talk to the audience. Thanks for joining us. We have a great schedule coming up next month, a new what a cartoon about Ha ha, you clowns. We have our typical talking Futurama and talking of the Hill episodes and also a whata cartoon movie about James and the Giant Peach. And remember those mini-series episodes in the movie are only available if you're You're a patron at patreon.com slash talking Simpsons. But yes, despite there not being a lot of news, this is a fairly large episode of Talk to the audience.

I was going to keep it under 90 minutes. But man, once the mystery science theater came in there, I was like, oh, that's another 10 right there. We had a creepy old man puppet corner. Thanks again for everybody who supported the charity this month. I said it on the podcast, but I wanted everybody know, that was Bob's initiative. He came up with it at first, and it was a great idea.

I am so glad we did it. And anybody, if you haven't supported it yet, please do. It has felt very special for me as well that we've been able to do something in these times. And so please check it out if you haven't yet, the Simpsons guy in the shop too. Yeah, and check out our Patreon in the future because when we make our first deposit, we'll make a public post about how much it was for. We'll keep you updated about the fundraising efforts. But as of now, like, it's about 4,000.

And we expect to bring in a little more as more people see the promotion and want to invest in buying the episode. So I'm expecting a little more to come in after that. but very, very happy with what that episode has done for the cause. So yes, thanks for listening, everybody. And we will see you next week for a new Talking Simpsons and next month for another episode of Talk to the audience and we'll see you then.