Talking Simpsons - Talking Simpsons - When Flanders Failed

Episode Date: April 6, 2016

Flanders decides to start a business while Homer feels schadenfreude, and Bart doesn’t learn karate in this strangely animated holdover from season 2…

today's talking sentence is brought to you by tax act the best deal in tax with free federal and state simple returns and affordable pricing and other services your maximum refund is guaranteed and listeners of this show can go to try tax act.com slash laser time and get 15 off federal and state violence Ahoy, ahoy, everybody, and welcome to Talking Simpsons, your source for incredible nuttables and modacious vittles. I am your host, Bob Mackie. This is the Laser Time Podcast Network's chronological exploration of The Simpsons. Who else is here today?

Christopher Antista. Henry Gilbert. They run and I lie like a fly with a booger in its eye. Oh, the booger's the best. Icing on the cake. Hey, hold on. Yes, I know. You don't get Henry sick.

So this is, yeah, I won't do that. This is When Flanders Failed, this episode is about. And it aired on October 3rd, 1991. And Chris, what happened on this mythical day in history, or week, rather? Oh, boy, 1991. And Chris, what happened on this mythical day in history? Or week, rather. Oh boy, Marvin! Future Simpsons guest star Johnny Carson is honored with a 29th Tonight Show anniversary special. Liz Taylor gets married for the

final time, and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton declares his candidacy for president. Wow, I think by that point, Johnny Carson was hosting his own show maybe three days a month. Hence the famous Weird Al song, Where's Johnny? Liz Taylor, also a future guest star of the show. On the same episode!

Oh, yeah. Wait, what? Yeah, the Krusty episode. Okay, she's also on the Maggie episode. She is Maggie, but really she appears as Elizabeth Taylor on the Gabbo episode, but that's getting ahead of ourselves. I can't wait for that one. This is actually a

season two production episode. It really feels like a season two production episode. And it has some classically bad animation. I think it's the worst animated episode the show ever had. It's not that it's well done, but it's of the type... I watch a lot of Christmas specials. There are several things that are like, that's fluid

and nice, but not appropriate for The Simpsons at all. The thing Maude Flanders does at the end is the most Christmas special thing I've ever seen. That is true. I'll talk about that one. Yeah, I guess they outsource it to a different studio or one they hadn't heard of. Because Klosky Chupo does the layouts and they do the storyboards, but then they ship things to Korea, various different studios. If you don't know just the process of a modern American television animation, in the case of The Simpsons, there's Gracie Films,

the production studio that employs the directors of the show and animators, the people who build it, but they work out of Klasky Chupo who help with that. Then for the actual in-between drawings of the characters to make it a complete show, it can

only be affordably done overseas in south korean production companies and the painting and all the other like laborious work all they were that is not credited yeah all the horrible uncredited work and just won't do the work so they sent it over to south korea and there are multiple different studios that do it you get real insight into the book bob introduced me to and loves, Sick Little Monkeys, about the production and what you'll get different things when you send them to different studios. And this was sent to a studio they I don't think had ever used before. I don't think they did, no. And they admit on the commentary, this looks bad.

Like, we tried to salvage it, but it looks bad. And this is what they saw. They say there's also a thing in the system of televised animation called retakes, which is the same deal where you budget for a certain number of retakes, and when they come back, you're like, this looks like shit. Do it again. And they're used to doing, like, I think they talk about they're used to something like a 10% of retakes, maybe.

They're in the budget for this. This they talked about, it was more like half, where a third had to do retakes. The director of the episode, Jim Reardonardon said literally every other scene had to be fixed and now the show is digital and always looks bad so it doesn't matter i kid i kid it looks a lot worse though anyways this is the first like really uh flanders intensive episode and it took them this long to get to flanders which i find surprising well i mean half uh on the the dead putting society was half a Flanders episode. That is true, yeah.

But this is... You got into the jealousy between them. Yeah. But then, like, this is a lot of stuff about Flanders. Yeah. Including, like, did anybody remember he was a pharmacist? I think it's only mentioned here. We never see him at a pharmacy before this.

This is true. Oh, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Oh, yeah. Because Flanders is having a barbecue! The Flanders are having a beef-a-thon. Incredible netables, modacious vittles. Hmm.. Because Flanders is having a barbecue. The Flanders are having a beef-a-thon. Incredible Netables, Maudacious Vittles. I think it means he's having a barbecue.

Why didn't he just say so? He's trying to be friendly. You know, if you gave Ned Flanders a chance. Oh, here we go again. Look, I don't care if Ned Flanders is the nicest guy in the world. He's a jerk. End of story.

Well, we can't hold it against them just because he has things a little better than we do. Excuse me? Better? Thanks a lot, Marge. You really put me in my place. Oh, Homer.

Don't get me wrong. It's worth feeling three inches tall to find out what kind of a person you really are. Marge Simpson, president of the international We Love Flanders fan club. Yeah. This episode just has a lot of domesticity to it. It does. It's the most sitcom-y. Yeah, it is just very sitcom-y.

Homer's arcing it. When you compare it to just the next week's episode, it's night and day. It does not feel season 3-y. Something came alive in them in that break between 2 and 3. And also in this episode, I feel like Homer is irredeemable. He is mad at Ned from the beginning for no reason. In that one episode where they went camping. That's what I was...

We can be nerdy on that level where he says, I get your mail sometimes. You make $20 more a month than I do. But this establishes... He makes way more than Homer. He was a pharmacist for 10 years, apparently. But in that episode, it started off with him kind of rubbing Homer's nose in it

with the crappy lawnmower. But this, he just starts off mad at Ned just because Ned has things better than him. Yeah, he's like, hey, I'm doing this weed whacker, whatever. Do you want to have free food? Homer, do you want free food? No, I don't. Homer finally relents, goes to the barbecue, and Ned makes an announcement. Friends, we love you all.

But I also have a sinister motive for asking you all here. Sinister being Latin for left-handed. But enough joking. That was a joke. As of Friday, I'm saying toodaloo to the pharmaceutical game. I can't believe it. What is he talking about? No, I kid you not. What are you gonna do, Ned? Well, sir, like one out of every nine Americans, I'm left-handed. And let me tell you, it ain't all peaches and cream. You're riding it smeared. Lord help you if you want to drive a standard transmission. Amen to that.

Well, sir, I'm opening up a one-stop store for Southpaws. Everything from left-handed apple peelers to left-handed zithers. Got to call it the Leftorium. Ever applauded me at my own party. Not once. Yeah, well, if you fed him for free. The modern equivalent of this is posting about your new job on Facebook. Or interrelationship status.

In terms of bad animation, this sequence might be my favorite. It's Homer and Ned share a wishbone. Homer wins, and that whole sequence is like, you can just pull it out. This is perfect season three Simpsons. I do love, sorry. This performance from Homer just spitting food. Before he goes to the barbecue, what he's watching on TV, just to prove the alternative to being at the barbecue

is watching the most boring thing on television, which is the Canadian Football League draft. Drafting the CFL, joking about that. I also wanted to mention I could see if those teams are real. There's two different CFL teams called the Rough Rack. As wrestling fans we know the CFL because

their failures come to wrestling. If you're an NFL failure, you go to Canadian Football League and then eventually you give that dream up and you become a wrestler. Like The Rock. Or a bouncer. It's like, I haven't gotten enough concussions yet. Where can I get more?

The Homer's performance here, beautiful. Yes! Oh, yes! Read it and weep! In your face, I've got more chicken bones! What would you wish for, Homer? No, no, no, no, don't say. Otherwise, it won't come true.

Ooh, that would be a shame. What is it planned? What is it planned? I woke my girlfriend up laughing so loud to that. So that part there, when it aired originally, it was that. In syndication, they cut to black. Really? Because, I believe it's because Matt Groening hates Homer turning colors.

It is such a cartoony move for him to turn red and then purple, like bright purple. But I think it's important that Ned saves his life, too, which makes Homer's pure malevolence towards Ned make no sense. I mean, it makes sense to Homer because he's an asshole. I would say 99% of the times I watch this episode, I taped it off of syndication. So I don't remember that him choking. Him choking that much, yeah.

It kind of paints the episode in a different light. He's still very petty, but there's not that extra level of pettiness. There were a couple other things in the party I wanted to mention. One was the lie like a fly with a booger in its eye bit. Henry, are you talking about my line of the show? That's the joke.

I'm only doing this to torture you, buddy. Hey, no tag backs! Yeah, you cheater. You lie like a fly with a booger in its eye! The fly was funny, and the booger in its eye the fly was funny and the booger was the icing on the cake so do you bother picturing the boogers and the icing relating it to yes we haven't done this on talking simpsons yet where you make you throw up just by talking about boogers don't need to talk about i think flies might keep their eyes relatively clean the other reason i brought the reason i brought it up was because originally in the script,

Al Jean and Mike Reese, or Al Jean specifically, wanted a bit where Susie had a Steamboat. That's it. The Steamboat had a bell. Miss Susie went to heaven, et cetera. Hello operator. Give me number nine. If you disconnect me, I'll chop off your behind the refrigerator.

So Homer would hear the girls singing that song, and every time they almost swear, he'll go oh oh oh and they then would put that in a in a season teens episode yeah i think it was 14 or 15 they were recording the commentary while talking about the cut scene yeah i think it was another of those moments where the commentary inspired production of the show but you're saying that song I was just singing has a name? I forget what the name is. Suzy. It's literally like a pre-internet meme.

Yeah, yes, the things we used to say in the playground. Walking down the hall, scratching my balls, my dick got caught in the elevator walls. Is that a fucking Florida thing? I haven't heard that. A lady screamed, my dick turned green, and that was the end of my ding-a-ling-a-ling? Little kids singing that all around the playground? I know Christmastime brought along the deck the school with gasoline, light a match and

watch it clean. No, I didn't know that one either. Songs about bringing down your school, they were so common. Man, not in my town. Also, I follow... We respected our elders, Bob. At parties, I follow Homer's advice of taking food and going to a corner and being left alone while eating free food.

He takes a six-pack and just a stack of hamburgers. He's eating half-eaten just a stack of hamburgers. And then he's eating like half-eaten. He's that disgusting, dude. He's like, nobody finish this hamburger. Yes, not only that, from my perspective, plain hamburgers. You know there was cheese and ketchup out there. The B-plot kicks in in Act 2, and it is the Bart takes karate B-plot,

which doesn't really go anywhere. No, but at least someone acknowledges that he's fat. Yeah, it's the first time Bart's been acknowledged as fat, which has happened a couple times. There's the Pop-Tarts and... But there are Springfield kids who do not have Bart's body. Yeah, he has like a mini Homer body. Yeah. Because I think he was just designed for...

How many hours a day do you watch TV? Six. Seven if there's something good on. Don't you think you should get a little fresh air and maybe some exercise? Yeah, but what are you going to do? Marge, TV gives so much and adds so little. It's a boy's best friend. That's the problem.

Even as we speak, millions of children are staring at the TV instead of getting some much-needed exercise. Those children's parents should be ashamed of themselves. Hello, I am Ahira. That didn't hurt very much because I know the ancient art of contact. His eye is damaged. I forgot that he said very much. I love at the end of that that one of the teachers,

he's dressed as George Washington and then breaks up with him. People from all walks of life. Doctors. Homemakers. Uh, yeah. People from all walks of life. Doctors. Hi-ya! Homemakers. Hi-ya! Landscape architects. Hi-ya!

Choreographers. Ha! High karate at low, low prices. I cannot tell a lie. This is a great deal. Oh! Ha! So two things.

How about if I learn karate? Will that make you happy? Mm, that sounds fine, Bart. See, Mart? You knocked TV and then it make you happy? That sounds fine, Bart. See, Mart? You knocked TV and then it helped you out. I think you owe somebody a little apology. So that is not George Takei. That is Hank Azaria doing a really good George Takei.

And that slogan, high karate at low prices, is a reference to the cologne high karate, which I find inexplicable that it even existed in the 60s. Such a great name. High karate. High karate. Weird. Yeah, that was Akira. It still was Akira, though, who was the name of the employee at the sushi restaurant several episodes earlier, which was played by George Takei.

Oh, I forgot. Yeah, he was on the show before this. And by the way, George Takei, well, I guess it was the episode that aired this weekend. He's on it, too. The one where Smithers is going to finally just be out. Really? Yeah, George Takei is at a gay party in it. I've seen the clips.

It took them this long. Wow. I was a little embarrassed as a kid watching where Bart says, how many hours of TV do you watch a day? Six? Seven if there's something good on. And I'll be like, yeah, it's about what I watch. Yeah.

During the summer. Me, too. If I'm getting home at 3, I'm here until 9. I think mine was like 7, 9 if there's something good on. I shamefully identify with Bart in this episode as a kid because I was overweight,

I was bullied, watched too much television, and for a brief time I did think if I took karate lessons it would fix everything. I took like, I guess like five classes. It would fix everything. And I took, I guess, like five classes. It's not like after school of my... Bob, that's low karate. I also took low karate.

And the instructor, I swear, was like Weird Al's doppelganger. I was going to say that. This guy doesn't look like he would be a good trainer. I'm done. It had to be the 80s. I mean, it's a certain level of Asian mysticism thing. But in the late 80s, if you didn't know, in the mid-80s with Karate Kid,

but into the 90s, thanks to Ninja Turtles, it became this belief among kids in America that if I take karate classes, I am a superhero. It's the same as a superhero origin story. Donatello's weapon was the most achievable, like a broom. That's my... I'm Donatello. Yep, did that so many times,

man. It's like a long lightsaber. I can do this. So, dave and i the only ones who took karate classes i took taekwondo i never did i got to be a green belt yeah well and also are none of us here are left-handed right no no allow it but yeah i don't think i've ever known i wish we did my sisters i wish we had a left-handed expert on here just to say, were these things problems back then and have any of these problems improved? Now there's no such thing as a ledger, so you just put it on your phone or whatever. Yeah, I think most things being digital now would address a lot of that problem. So the history of the leftorium, I wanted to get into that real quick,

or how many times it's appeared. Oh, okay. The leftorium is a very specific joke about stores in malls that you look at and like how is this open like this sells before all mall stores are the same yes i think that would be like an etsy store yeah you know it would not be in a place i mean even like eight even six years after this episode aired it would have been an online business, you know? They'd be selling cigarette vape in the corner, and it would slowly take over the store. But the left to where I am barely appears on the show. It's mainly when the writers remember Ned has a job

and something should happen at it. Like, it appeared in the one where Marge is the listen lady and the bullies bully Flanders out of his place. It also gets destroyed in Hurricane Nettie by Hurricane Adled Mob destroying left-handed stores. And its last appearance was actually in a 2014 episode where Jane Fonda

guested as a liberal senator lady who has a relationship with Mr. Burns. I think Bill Oakley... Lefty joke? I think Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein like season three the most. So you see a lot of ideas reused in their season, season seven and eight. Like Hurricane Nettie is like the evolution of this episode where they take more away from Ned and see how that affects him.

Yeah, this is another one of those old episodes where you like it, but you've seen them build on these kind of stakes and situations. With more jokes and better jokes. Yeah, with more and better jokes about the butthole surfers exactly one thing I wanted to call upon that I noticed in this episode that I've never seen in another one is the extended end credit sequence

to Itchy and Scratchy Itchy and Scratchy always strikes me as a 1940s cartoon with like a simple jingle at the end until this one, this is a full on 80s like He-man outro i love that by the way don't bother free streaming through this because the jokes aren't worth it i believe the director said uh there's a bunch of korean names and they're asking like are these real people and the guy was like no my layout guy just made them up there's one there's one a quote-unquote funny uh thing in the credits

it's uh itchy and scratchy theme performed by zeke moonglow uh and itchy's blood by rodent gut limited so these aren't really jokes but someone wrote them all down i don't know i wrote the title of the cartoon because uh i'm italian just because it's called O Solo Meow. And it's another one that's like not thematically connected to the show. But it has an Italian dog tripping overhead. I do like the added meanness of it's he already did his

damage by making him drink acid. But then he throws it in his face too. And then he gets hit by a trolley? Yeah, I think so. The Simpsons will be right back. How we use electricity can be smarter, cleaner and greener. At Electric Ireland, we can help guide you there. You see, our new Net Zero Hub has all you need to know about smart meter plans,

EV tariffs, solar panels and much more. Making your usage clearer, your trips greener, your home cozier and your world brighter. Find our Net Zero Hub at electricireland.ie oh look homer the irs i know homer taxes aren't fun but they are mandatory and we all have to do them so thank

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Thank you, Tax Act, for reminding us we are running out of time to do our taxes. Also, what do we think? We're small business men now. Do we identify more with the leftorium and man's life? I do. It's just that, like, holy shit. Over what kind of period does the episode

take place? It looks like Ned goes broke within, like like a week. It seems like he had nothing put aside before he starts selling off his furniture. I have a feeling like this was not an incorporated

like LLC that he could like mitigate the damage done to his personal finances. Like, I mean, it's contrived for the sake of a sitcom, but it's weird that Ned

would not have his shit together like the way he should. I forgot if they mentioned like the car in the left room. Was that his car or was it like... No, it was. So that is a big expense he just like threw in there i think he did it i would guess he did it as just a fun thing to look at in the store like that like like a left-hander could just get in the car and see what a left-handed gear shift looks like what

does that look like is it outside the car like that's one of those things that you see it like the disney store when you go to a disney store like oh look at these things i can't buy it it's just a neat little prop so it gives credence to uh the the fact that springfield may be in texas because the only times i ever see big cars in malls are in texas oh yeah like or that left for dead 2 level yeah i i've seen hey win this car things i saw those in malls in florida uh butlanders store is not doing great. Hey, Flanders, when are your busy hours? Oh, I expect things to start picking up soon. And I think word of mouth is starting to spread. Hey, I hear you validate parking tickets without purchase.

Oh, right as rain. Or as we say around here, left as rain. Just stamp a ticket. I like that guy. I love any non-named Hank Azaria character. I believe the writers liked Just Stamp the like that guy. I love any non-named Hank Azaria character. I believe the writers liked Just Stamp the Ticket guy and they thought there was a Just Stamp

the Ticket fever in writers. I think if you look closely, that is an out-of-costume Surly. I think you're right. Surly might have gotten a nose job. Surly just needs Surly. This taught the world shot in Freud, Didn't it?

I think so Even though Homer says it incorrectly And this is my line of the show Alright I'm telling you Wait, wait, listen closely there You can hear the Simpsons crime dog If you listen real closely

I'm telling you Flanders store was deserted So what do you think of your bestest buddy now, Marge? Dad, do you know what schadenfreude is? No, I do not know what schadenfreude is. Please tell me because I'm dying to know. It's a German term for shameful joy.

Taking pleasure in the suffering of others. Oh, come on, Lisa. I'm just glad to see him fall flat on his butt. He's usually all happy and comfortable and surrounded by loved ones. It makes me feel... What's the opposite of that shameful joy thing of yours? Sour grapes.

Boy, those Germans have a word for everything. I think Bart's B-plot is leading up to the second half of that dinner sequence. That's all it's leading up to. So, Bart, what did you learn in karate school today? Yeah, come on, boy. This better be worth my ten bucks. Uh, I learned the touch of death.

Ooh, the touch of death. Permit me to demonstrate. Lisa, shut your eyes. Soon you will be at peace. Hey, quit it Bart. Quit it. Hey, quit it.

Quit it, quit it, quit it. Mom! Bart, don't use the touch of death on your sister. That's the one that was in all the promos for the episode.

That was great delivery by Marge. I think that we don't appreciate enough when Julie Kavner does a good job. That was really good. But the Sean Froy thing, like, I, it's something I do too much. I really, even now when I tell myself, like, no, celebrate yourself. Don't feel happy when something bad happens to somebody else. Somebody is creating something bad. It doesn't allow you to have more

happiness. It doesn't fall on the ground and distribute itself over to you. But even like recently when a bad thing happened to a person I didn't like, it did make me go like, and I immediately felt guilty. From the last 10 years of my professional life, I assure you

everybody I've hated has excelled far further. Yeah, that's why it's man is Homer. They're usually so happy and having fun at parties that I'm not at. Assholes prevail on a regular basis. One of them is going to be the Republican nominee. That Touch of Death

is based on the arcade game. I tried to write down as many arcade game names as I could. A lot of them returned from Robert Goulet Destroyer. Oh, it's back. You figured there'd be a sequel by now. And Nurse. That's arcade game names as I could. A lot of them returned from the... Robert Goulet Destroyer. Oh, it's back. You figured there'd be a sequel by now. And Nurse. That's the only other one I saw.

Nurse. Nurse. Weird. That's not a joke. But I love this sequence because this is... You're right. It does feel like Season 2 Burns at this point because it's not as eloquent. Oh, look, Smithies.

Another member of our nuclear family with some helpful suggestions. And what's your name? Homer Simpson, sir. Simpson, eh? Mm-hmm. I'm Monty Burns. Yeah. Keep that handsome owner out of sight.

He's distracting the female employees. Smithers. Got me, sir. I should say, they're reading from the complaint box. And also, I don't think this is actually happening but Reed Burns is drunk here because that's how it seems to me like he's actually

he wouldn't be I could see I could see that he's a little too smarmy he's giggling and he's making jokes and he's got a cat with him a cat you'll never see again

also he's mentioning women employees and I don't think there has been any in the first he mentions a secretary who doesn't exist in a few episodes he requests a wine spritzer, so he does have a taste for the booze.

That's true. It's a real one. No more apples in the vending machine, please. Well, that's almost a sentence. Can I leave, Mr. Burns? Oh, of course, and don't worry. There'll be plenty of apples for you. Nobody will take away your precious apples.

But the notary was asking you to... No, no, no. Tell my secretary I said you could have a free apple. She'll make everything all right, I promise. Damned infernal gizmo. My kingdom for a left-handed can opener. Uh, Mr. Burns? Come on, Homer.

Tell him about the store. I'm dying out here. Sorry, Flanders. Yeah, that really needed more Burns-isms. It wasn't old-timey enough. His anger was there. His, like, just being patronizing was there. The real petulance that you don't normally...

The pettiness you don't normally see in Burns. Yeah. He's normally not that interested in it. Also, this episode is full of ADR, too. I think that was another cover they had for animation, because this animation isn't expressing what we need him to. So Homer has to say things like

ooh, the Leftorium, or hey, an apple. There's a lot of cover for things because the animation can't cover it. I noticed that, too. You think the Leftorium would excel in a mall that also has a gum for less? Hey, we don't know how well that story did because it's coming soon.

People still like gum. That's true. But we do eventually see Flanders selling his possessions in front of his house. I'll be here all night if you change your mind. Hey, Flanders, is everything okay? Oh, yeah, sure. Thought I'd just get rid of some of the clutter. See anything you like?

Oh, I get it. It's not good enough for you, but it's good enough for me. Well, I wouldn't be caught dead buying this. Hello. Ha-ha, got your eye on the gas grill, huh? She's a butane butte. I'll give you 20 bucks for it. 20?

Homer, I paid $300 for this just last year. You would swindle, my friend. 20 bucks, take it or leave it. Oh, Homer, be reasonable. Sorry, no cash for Neddy. Homer, keep on money. Bye-bye, Neddy. Bye-bye.

Good stuff. All right, Homer. $20? $20. No, I don't want it. What? I changed my mind. It was a passing fancy.

Although, perhaps if you threw in a few lawn chairs, maybe that tool bench, it might rekindle my interest. Homer, come on. No wonder Flanders went out of business though. Settling for $20 and with all that extra stuff, hold out a few hours. You can't haggle with mall rent. It's insane. I think there's a scene earlier when someone breaks a mug in his store and he's like, it's fine, don't worry. He's too much of a pushover

to actually be a businessman. I think he definitely paid too much for his products. All the stuff in there, I'm sure he paid like triple. But yeah, poor. I just love him dancing over the 20 like, bye-bye, Niddy. Bye-bye. The following visual sequence of all of Flanders' shit in the Simpsons' backyard, including Bart wearing Flanders' glasses.

I love that. He's buying the clothes off his body. This has my favorite line of the show. I don't know if you have it. It's Bart saying, hey, get your hands off my china hutch. That's the one I remembered as a kid. I meant to get it. That's cool. No, no. That's just my favorite line of the show. I don't know if you have it. It's Bart saying, hey, get your hands off my china hutch. That's the one I remembered as a kid. I meant to get it. That's cool.

No, no. That's my favorite. It's a really good visual sequence. I knew it. It taught me what a china hutch was. I keep collecting stuff because guess what? Another collection agent. Jesus.

I think it's our first repo man in The Simpsons. Good afternoon, sir. I'm Chuck Ellis from the Springfield Collection Agency, and I'm here to ask you why you don't think you need to pay your bills. Oh, I know I need to pay them, but there's just so many. Does it make you feel good about yourself to owe people money? We've been very patient with you, Mr. Flanders. I know, but wait a minute. I'm Homer Simpson. Ned Flanders lives over there.

Oh. Flanders isn't dead? Are you sure? We don't make mistakes. Damn right-handed ledgers. Can't write in these things. Well, there's a store where you can... Hey, you said you're Homer Simpson? Yeah.

See you on Thursday. Boom! So, are there still repo men? Because people murder census takers. If someone's coming for your stuff, you're, like, ten times likely to get murdered. More likely. I had a collection agency come after me, and I never saw a human being. It's like foreign calls and letters.

It was a letter because of, guess who? Comcast. Comcast returned all my shit, cancelled the bill, and guess what? There were charges that were still miraculously there, even though we closed the account. There's a bonus time that covers that extensively. It's on YouTube

just because like how much overlap there was in Brett and I's experience of like we did everything right and even if we didn't you never called before asking for thousands of dollars.

Chuck Ellis' skin tone is very weird. It's like it looks like Wendell's dad. Yeah. Wendell's dad. He does look very sickly like Homer's bookie

in a much later episode. Yeah and he's like almost about to die. He's going door to door you'd think he'd have like a good tan but he's the whitest character Homer's bookie in a much later episode. He's almost about to die. He's going door to door. You'd think he'd have a good tan, but he's the whitest character I've ever seen in a show. He's jaundiced. More jaundiced. When Homer sees Ned's going out of business thing, it is his exact dream come to life.

That would be eerie. Except it's not called Flanders' stupid left-hand shop. That's the one difference. Put on a happy face. Listen to that singing. Those poor fools. Homer, I'm ruined. I know.

You know, at times like these, I used to turn to the Bible and find solace, but even the good book can't help me now. Why not? I sold it to you for seven cents. You know, ever since that barbecue, nothing's gone, right? It's like there's been a curse on me. No, my mom.

No, it's not. No, you tried to warn me about gambling my family's future. I'm so big and I'm broke. I didn't listen. Homer, you were a true friend. No, I was just blind. Listen, Planner, do you still have that store? I love this line.

Two more days and it becomes Libertarian Party headquarters. I hope they have better luck than I did. Planner, you open that store tomorrow. Oh, Homer, there's no point. I said do it! They're probably trucking in the free copies of Atlas Shrugged right now. That is sadly my big arcade in my old mall.

It did become... It became an army recruiting station. The Libertarians would make you pay for Atlas Shrugged. They would not give it away. They kind of do like to give that book away. Just like, here, it's the first one's free, kid. The first dose of your horrible ideology. Is this the first instance of Flanders being religious?

Because it's kind of like understated. I mean, no, he calls Reverend Lovejoy in the Dead Putting Society for things. So, I mean, he's more religious than this. He quotes the Bible, too, Reverend Lovejoy. Oh, Matthew 19. He's not as much of a Christian in this one, so him questioning his faith is not as big of a deal. It kind of just passes. In Hurricane Eddie, it is more specific.

Again, it's the same thing. Also, man, his house gets seized. That's extreme. You'd think he would have at least had his house paid off. That means it has to be more than a month. Even if he made a million dollars that day at the leftorium when it's fixed, how does he get his house back? I screencapped the register.

It got as high as $57. You can't even pre-order the new call. Then Burns kind of might have, yes. Let's talk about Bart getting beat up. His B story kind of fizzles out. I'm not a fan of this because Bart just gets beaten for being lazy, and Homer gets no comeuppance, and he is the worst human ever in this story.

I mean, Bart gets kind of a boy-who-cried-wolf thing for being lazy and saying he was doing karate when he wasn't. I think Lisa saying two wrongs make a right is not good enough. Homer's montage implies he did a lot of work to help Ned. Yeah, it does. Oh, Jerry. Homer Simpson. Remember last month when I paid back that loan?

Well, now I need you to do a favor for me. I love it. Left-handed corkscrew? Oh, baby. This me? I'm left-handed? Left-handed? Oh, that's a classic.

Homer Simpson's on the phone. I love this. How am I going to out? He needs you to help Ned Flanders. Ned Flanders is in trouble? Smithers, I'm licked. You open this can. Okay, but you soften it up for me, sir.

Hold it, Smithers. I'll open the can. But sir, how? To the mall. I'll explain on the way. I've always wanted an excuse to say that. To the mall! I'll explain on the way! I've always wanted to say that. To the mall! I can't explain! Come!

I have used the line in reverse. Like, when I try to open a jar for somebody and ultimately fail. When someone else stronger opens it, I say, I warmed that up for you. We know. I do love that. Ned Flanders is in trouble. It reminds me of a little girl losing faith in democracy. Though that bit there implies, like, was Ned too proud to say he was in trouble beforehand?

Because all these friends that show up, like, they should have known he lost his house. That's a sin, Ned. He's selling his furniture in his front yard. He has a store in public. He's living in his car in front of his house. Yeah. He mentions a sister who lives in capital city we have never heard from since yeah uh and also the the bart getting beaten up thing

that's another of like it comes up in a multiple commentaries where they say that their original take had part like bloody and horribly beaten and they had to like you know like no send it back into this one when it came, the one in the show is just like he got pantsed and super wedgy. So it looks like he wasn't touched at all. Yeah, he just has a few like scratch marks or like hash marks on his face or whatever. That's it. I guess that does – like there is some time passed because Lisa would have to assume Bart would have had to gone to karate for like a month or two at least to be good enough to take on bullies. Well, he did learn the touch of death on his second class, I think.

Maybe a more advanced like poke of death. My second favorite line of the episode is, come on, karate kid, waste me. Waste me. I like before that where he says, hey, I'm Elvis. Forgot about that. And then the wonderful life ending happens. It is insane.

I call it the leftorium blowout. The worm has turned, is it not, my tin-plated friend? Look at you. You were once so proud. Feel the wrath of the left hand of burns. My life begins today. Wow, what an icebreaker. Left-handed wedges.

Now I can ride all the way to the edge. Ha ha ha. Left-handed boom joints. Wow. You find out like 90% of Springfield is left-handed in this episode. And they try to keep it consistent with the way when characters are holding pens and stuff. Like Burns will always be left-handed, usually. Really?

Bart is left-handed as well. Yeah. Typo negative and left-handed. It is left-handed as well yeah yeah they it depends it depends on when the artists care about it it's the same with like usually they make sure lisa is eating vegetarian food and not meat but sometimes they slip up and draw meat on her plate green mush on her plate instead of brown yeah so both this and uh stark raping dad are the season two holdovers and they both have very very schmaltzy endings with no kind of cynical undercutting, and you can appreciate that on some level, but I feel

like Homer needed some comeuppance in this episode. I mean, he eventually made right, but he put Ned through hell, and just him feeling guilty is not enough of a punishment for what he did to Ned. There's just the animation quality of that last sequence. One, the mod nod. I want a gif of it, because it feels like

there's 700 extra frames and then the simpsons walk around the corner it this it is just to be in the frame it's the most like bob hopey christmas special thing i've ever seen i mean was that a joke or it's just like poor staging i think it was just probably they in the original one the simpsons just showed up and were singing next to the flanders so like we have to at least have a shot of the simpsons walking in because they're not there. It's just Homer. But meanwhile, the mod overacting thing, it is specifically Donna Reed's reaction to seeing everybody give money to her husband at the end of It's a Wonderful Life. So apparently Don Bluth sat in to animate that scene briefly.

And there's other animation mistakes I noticed, too, because this episode just looks very bad. And Moe opens a bottle of wine with his new left-handed corkscrew and then when everyone's singing they all have these like tall juice glasses full of wine like how much wine was in that bottle? Like the very end when they're like the Flanders and the Simpsons are together singing the end of that song. First of all, why would Bart

know that song? Yeah, really. Lots of Sharon Lois and Bram I think. Yeah, but they're all in the frame together and like after the song ends they're all all just twitchy for a second. It's really off-putting. They call it line weight mistakes, but it is like this is a very dark line around Homer's muzzle, but all the rest of him is lighter lines.

You get a sense of the different layers, the physical layers of animation. Parts of his body that are actually moving. It's so distracting. Kids, you'll never have to notice us anymore. Don't worry about it. It's so crazy. I do miss just the physicality of old animation though that's why it's hard for me to watch the show now everything's just kind of sliding around and i mean when we get into the next couple episodes like i don't know it's not like the writing that's weak it's like

the staging and like the the pageantry and the music and the composition that doesn't exist in the new in the new digital world of like the drag and drop simpsons uh i don't know i don't want to complain too much there's a lot of so many great like camera angles you always point out chris like i see these camera angles and we'll talk more about these and with the true season three episodes because these these shows look so much better i think in season two they still had some exciting camera angles and stuff too i think maybe this was also a bit of class kichubo because rugrats always started with an opening shot from a weird angle. Maybe it was something they were more into too. Important trivia.

The guy who animated the opening also did Eon Flux. So he went from doing like crazy lingerie babe, like getting murdered in every episode to babies toddling around. That has the most animation. Oh, yes. For sure. Well, the most animation within 60 seconds. God, I loved Aeon Flux back in the day. So we'll end this episode on our Aeon Flux conversation.

Look forward to that podcast when we hit our $20,000 tier. I have been Bob Mackie, your host. You can find me online at BobServo on Twitter. I also do the classic gaming podcast Retronauts. Go to retronauts.com or usgamer.net to find that. Or just search for Retronauts in your podcast machine everybody else what do you do listen to laser time which bob is on why why would i ever do that oh am i on it it's a pop culture based thing usually we pick a single topic and run with that but if you like the how we break down uh the news of that day you might

like to show 30 2010 that we recently launched uh thanks to patreon.com slash laser time but 30 2010 is a a little portal that looks 30 years ago 20 years ago 10 years ago into the past of that week it's outrageously fun

way more fun than it should be and all you have to do is go to the main page on laser time podcast.com and like how did somebody talk about panzer dragoon

south park and police academy in the same episode justify that this is the only way we tried every other I think the most recent one like had well the Muppets were on it along with... Muppets, Resident Evil, Wonder Shows, and Perfect Strangers.

How did they do it? That's how we did it. There's also Cape Crisis, the comic book podcast I do every week. If you like hearing me nerd out about things and you want to learn a thing or two about comic books, that's the show. You know who's the most famous superhero that's left-handed? Darn it, Dave. Spider-Man. Oh, I didn't know that. I was going to say... That's why. In America, who's the most famous superhero that's left handed? Darn it Dave. Spider-Man. Oh I didn't know that. That's why.

In America he's heavy left handed. I'm going to say Sinestro because of the Sinestro. Oh damn it you're right. It actually. Wow. No. Affordable tract housing made us neighbors but that made us friends. I only say that because I hastily researched which wrestlers because I was the

cheap podcast, the pro wrestling podcast. Apparently Ric Flair is left handed. Terry Funk, Ted DiBiase, and reportedly, Chris Benoit. Though I guess he doesn't use either hand anymore. I was going to say all alive, but then you got to that one. So yeah, that was Talking Simpsons. We'll be back next week when Bart's on trial for murder, everybody. Later. Everybody, race guys are going to clear up.

Stick out that noble chin. Wipe off that full of doubt look. Slap on a happy grin. And spread sunshine all over the place. Just put on a happy face.