R&R: "Fland Canyon" (VABF12)

How was it?

  • Total voters
    77
Egg

Egg

insert usertitle here
Joined
Jul 30, 2014
Messages
3,012
Location
Should've got off at Crackton
Fland_Canyon_promo_5.jpg

April 24, 2016
Season 27 Episode 19
Previous R&R
Next R&R
Homer recalls a tense family vacation to the Grand Canyon with the Flanders family. At first, the Flanders’ perfection puts the families at odds, but when they get stranded and Ned and Bart go for help, the families finally bond.
Thanks to [MENTION=45538]handsome_devil[/MENTION] for the thread format.
 
10-second FOX News promo always comes first!
Let the show begin!

The intro is still that crappy Flash-animated style, but at least Eric Goldberg's couch gag really makes up for the Flash-esque animation in the rest of the intro. Even when the family was back to normal, it looked like Goldberg animated that due to the animation bump on them.
 
Full intro! Surprising
* Ralph as Charlie Brown
-- Boring couch gag.
--- Long extended "Dawn" gag. So boring.
* Maggie punching Homer's eye
* Lennie hypodermic needle.
--- Very long moaning gag.
End of act 1: really bad. 4/10.
** Homer mooning glass
* Rod and Tod's screams.
-- Dumb "Checked out gag"
* Mule falling
** Mule noise
End of act 2, Eh... 6/10
* Rod punching Maude
*** Milhouse's night terror
** God shooting stars
** Living in Carcass for warmth
* Throwing out pig
** Homer rolling downhill
* Trout solo
Closing Thoughts:
This is why I still watch the show! After 8 straight bad episodes, we get a good one!
The plot was good. It was nice to see Maude Flanders again, the plot didn't stray off into other directions, and was interesting!
The humor was also good! The first act was bad in the humor department, especially those dumb "dawn" and Homer pooping jokes, but it got better, and the last act was one of the funniest in recent memory, especially Milhouse's night terror, and lots of the mule scenes!
Though it started out weak, the strong ending allows me to give it a 7/10. Best episode for some time, 4/5 for the poll.
 
"I hate to see a wolf get punished for having normal appetites!" Loved that line.
"2 HOURS THAT FELT LIKE 8 HOURS LATER" was amusing. I've worked 8-hour shifts though, so once you've done that, two hours don't feel like eight hours anymore.
The 8-year-old Bart and 6-year-old Lisa figures were a nice touch. But that restroom gag went on for pretty long.

I liked how Homer called Lisa "Big Maggie!", though the rest of the second act was rather flat. And of course, they're rewriting the show's history by adding modern technology to when they were in the past.
I did enjoy the bit with Todd's night terror, and Milhouse having a nightmare about Bart.
Home's trout solo was pretty amusing. I like hear him making music sounds like those.
I liked how they acknowledged that Lisa wasn't a vegetarian yet when she was six.

The ending with Homer and Ned getting along was sweet, though. Not too bad for a modern flashback episode.
 
not the worst modern simpsons outing i've ever seen, but it wasn't exactly good. the stakes were remarkably low and the jokes were on autopilot - a lot of dumb Homer is fat jokes in the first half, and a lot of predictable subversion cheats in the last, like homer's IS THAT WHAT THEY'RE SERVING FOR BREAKFAST joke and bart being sad about ned/the mule. also did that lisa eating bacon joke really warrant an explanation. they already played it up way too much with lisa going MMM YUMMY BACON and stuffin her face for like 30 seconds, and then they explained it but i guess it's okay because they made some lame arteries crack. animation was nice-looking. save for that scene where ned and homer are walking at night. looked like they just got pasted against some generic desktop background.

overall this was kind of hurt by the fact that there was no real plot for a good chunk of the episode's opening, just setpieces about homer and co's WACKY grand canyon adventures. kind of made the whole thing seem lightweight when they tried to pull the "oh no! they're in danger" near the end, and i just didn't care that much. 2/5
 
So this was basically Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood with a lot less humor and a lot more dumb pain gags. I mean, it even had the raft for God's sake. I didn't really see a reason for the episode to have taken place in the past other than to take up time by having some scenes in the present. The episode seemed kind of aimless and lacking a true plot until they got lost and had it turn into some sort of half-baked survival adventure story. And the ending confused me. So did this actually happen, or was it just a story Homer made up? Low 3/5 I guess, since there were a few decent scenes.
 
The nice touch with the Disney couch gag was sweet. But since I was watching TV upstairs, the pics kept getting scrambled. And when we got to the mooning glass platform, the picture got too scrambled up and the sound got too glitched! That made me miss a whole minute or two of the show, and I was so angry! I got through the rest of the episode in one piece, but now I'm gonna have to wait until the whole episode is on Hulu so that I can watch it again! This stinks! :gatorcry:
 
A bit into the episode, I realised that the important plot part was specifically the end, and the rest of the episode was just going to be jokes while we get to that moment. Once I realised that, I laid back and ended up enjoying it a lot more. Teetering between 8/10 and 9/10.

A lot of people died here but I suppose that's the Canyon for ya.
 
Really the only things that made me laugh were Homer saying "Aah! Big Maggie!" and his last comment about friendships between men being up to their wives. Otherwise the episode wasn't much in the humor department. Or the plot department. I've never been one to hate the "wacky adventure" episodes of the Scully era, although generally they are a bit on the weaker side. Still, episodes like that can make up for a weaker plot by being funny, and this one just wasn't. There were some jokes that seemed awkward and a tad cringe-y, some that went on for much too long (there were at least several in this episode--several that made me just sit there waiting for them to end), and some that felt more like Family Guy-style cutaways...it was just miss after miss after miss. And even the small attempts at plot or conflict (Bart's acting out, Homer and Ned's different approaches to life, etc.) were so minimal as to not have much impact. I do agree the visuals were nice (I generally like most vacation episodes), and the idea of Homer and Ned being on a bit more friendly terms was a nice thing to close the episode on (it's been a while since we had a Homer & Ned episode), but that wasn't really enough to save the episode. So overall a big meh from me.

5/10
 
Last edited:
I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. It was very slice of life-ish. Didn't have much of a storyline beyond Homer and Ned bonding (the part about the families bonding in the synopsis was a lie) but it didn't really need to be more than that. A good number of the jokes hit their mark and it was a fun break from the usual Springfield routine. I even got an amusing "Lovejoys avoiding the Flanders" gag before they left the city; we don't get near enough of those these days. Chalk up the top-shelf Disney homage in the couch gag and this gets an easy 4 out of 5 from me in the poll.
 
I liked this one. It wasn't amazing or anything but it was pretty refreshing after... whatever those last few episodes even were.
It wasn't as good as, say, Halloween of Horror, but it could have been way worse and I had pretty low expectations for this one.
also I actually laughed at the Homer pooping joke... I know how stupid it was and I usually hate toilet humor but I feel like they executed it really well
 
3/5 Decent for a modern Simpsons episode.

I enjoyed the Lovejoys bit, Bart and Homer fighting with the snake and scorpions, Marge waking up Maggie and the 'Big Maggie' comment.
That scene in the toilet went on for waay too long though, same with Bart saying goodbye to Flanders and the mule.
 
This is one of those where I probably would have liked it better in Season 4 or 5 than now.

Yes, the Fox press release still says that Ned and Bart go for help; it was not corrected before the episode aired.

In the opening, Barney says, "Morning," when Bart lands on him; this is the first time since Season 21 that he did anything besides burp.

"Couch gag by Eric Goldberg" - is this the first time a couch gag was specifically credited in the show's opening, rather than the show's closing? (John Kricfalusi's signature appears in his openings, but he isn't credited until the closing credits.)

Maggie went through the entire episode without a hair bow.

"Batman v. Batwoman - This Time It's For Custody"

Lisa should have known the "motto" of most National Parks when offered the "piece of the canyon" (a quote attributed to Chief Seattle) - "take nothing but photographs; leave nothing but footprints" (usually "keep nothing but memories" is added)

Despite the reminder near the end that Lisa wasn't a vegetarian, she did have a vegetarian meal at Skobo's.

I don't know if they still do this, but in the past, for mule rides down the Grand Canyon, they actually weighed you, rather than taking your word for it.
 
If you get to the bottom of it, this was pretty much standard season 27 fare but with better animation, though I think the Grand Canyon setpiece and the flashback together helped it stand out a bit more than the rest of the season so far. The opening scenes with the cleanup were fine and even had some Lovejoy/Flanders interaction that we don't see as much these days (also best joke of the ep: "if you were homeless, you'd be home by now"). The billionaires ruining the environment to set up camp seems like a pretty contrived way to set up an antagonist, especially since Homer and Flanders manage to steal from them with no problem anyway. There's also the generic "oops stranded at the bottom of the canyon" plot twist that seems to resolve itself really quickly as soon as Homer and Flanders head over to the camp and grab some supplies. I mean even the boat leaking (which I thought would genuinely develop into a problem given Homer throwing out the life vests) became a throwaway joke.

I guess the main point of tonight's episode was Homer and Flanders's relationship, except there wasn't anything outstanding there either. There's traces of good character development when Flanders doesn't want to steal from the camp but Homer thinks it's justified, but it's quickly squandered with Flanders getting duped because they didn't even try his way first. Then later, Homer inexplicably tries saying something nice to Flanders only to come up with "you can live in my carcass," which uh isn't exactly the most touching of moments. Like, I'm not asking for a sappy heartfelt moment between the two, but when Homer says this out of the blue when neither of them are in danger, it seems like the story just had nowhere to go at that point. And they call back to the carcass bit at the end of the episode, which makes even less sense as a "nice gesture" from Homer to Flanders. I guess the two of them singing on the raft was a nice moment but you can't just have two characters sing together and expect an instant bonding moment.

Other side notes: The mini-stories with Homer trying to get Maggie to sleep and Marge trying to get Bart to behave were nice slice-of-life anecdotes to fill up time without making a half-assed subplot. Lisa's "10000 Places to See Before You're 10" book getting seen in a bird nest is a bit obvious for a callback, but at least it happens an act away from the original joke. The explanation from Homer about why Lisa was eating meet seemed really unnecessary, although my sister didn't get it until they explained it so hey it wasn't all pointless. Using the Grand Canyon Suite made for a nice musical theme across the whole ep, even if it seems like such an obvious choice of music to use. And I like me some Grofe so I can't complain. Goldberg couch gag was pretty great as well.

Overall a pleasant modern episode that uses some beautiful scenery to attempt to cover up some story flaws. Borderline 4 on poll
 
also [MENTION=57401]Rehpotsirhc[/MENTION] there was no prince dedication takin u to task
 
D'oh! I wanted to vote a 5 (I give it a 4.5) but I hit 4!

Anyway, I loved this episode. The Disney couch gag was very nice. At first I thought they were going to go in release order, but Sorcerer's Apprentice came before The Jungle Book.

I didn't mind the "Dawn" or bathroom gags. I think what makes those extended gags work is seeing what goes on in the background. (Like Marge getting out of bed when Homer lists all his jobs in "Papa's Got a Brand New Badge" compared to him listing the disaster movies in "Let's Go Fly a Coot" with nothing going on.) I liked the part when he was at Krusty Burger with the "Dawn".

So yeah, it's nice to see another Homer/Ned bonding episode. The ending was sweet as well. My favorite jokes were probably Milhouse's night terrors, Maggie about to mention Lisa as a vegetarian, and... well, anything with a bear. For some reason, no matter what season it is, The Simpsons always seems to make golden jokes about bears. (The bear trying to use the men's room reminded me of "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" with "How come bears get to crap in the woods?")

Even the carcass joke was funny, as was the bit with the snake and scorpions. Seriously, it's like they took everything wrong with the modern era and knew how to make it work. I must know who wrote this episode.
 
This was an enjoyable episode with pretty good animation. I liked seeing the relationship between the two families and the Grand Canyon made for some good jokes. 4/5

Worst Moment: The joke with Homer in the toilet went on for too long.
 
4/5

Enjoyed it for the most part. Animation was very good and most of the jokes were pretty funny. Great couch gag too.
 
This was a pretty good and even unique episode, in the way that it is both a flashback and a traveling episode. Its good to see the Flanders family (even Maude) being used for most of the episode, while at the same time there's plenty of interaction with Homer and the other family members, even Maggie. I liked the couch gag, a good use of Disney animation with the Simpson characters. And then when the show turns back to their regular animation, it looks rather stale in comparison :P

The episode starts out rather good and cute, with Maggie giving some good moments like not wanting to go sleep and Homer visiting the drive-in. I liked when Maggie poked Homer's eye to open itself. Then the first act continues with volunteers cleaning up a poor side of town. One interesting thing thats easy to miss is the Batman vs Superman parody poster in the background, which is now named ''Batman vs Batwoman'' and uses the same poses. There were some good jokes like "if you were homeless, you'd be home by now" and Helen not wanting to go with the Flanders. Not a fan of the joke with Lenny accidently getting injected, the interaction between Kirk and Hibbert had its moments. Overall this first act has been decent with some much needed Ned/Lovejoy interaction and even Homer complaining.

The arrival at their new destination did not... arrive with a good joke aswell. Homer visiting the bathroom dragged on for to long. I do like the touch with the bear wanting to visit the bathroom, because when you look back to an older episode then Homer made a remark that bears get to take a crap where ever they want. But now in both cases they have been doing the polite way of dumping their feces. I wasn't a big fan of the fight between Homer and Bart either. The episode does get better with the Flanders family stepping on screen, showing some Maude characterisation where it seems she's judging Marge on Bart's behaviour. Homer's snoring gag was decent. Alright now what shall I say about the gag with Homer and Bart's butts on that walkable ceiling thing.... gotta admit it was pretty funny. The new guide was a pretty fun character and even Homer's mule actually had some characterisation. The guide falling over the ridge, and that other climber who fell down and had a lot of rocks fall on him felt to Scully-esque for my taste. The episode got more interesting without the guide though.

It was fun to see Homer and Ned on a walk, but then having the billionaires club being set up as the antagonist felt a bit unnecesary if it was going to be this easy for them to steal food. There weren't really much good jokes involved with them either, some of their technology like the drones circling around the birds didn't feel like they belonged in that timelime. Even if its technically only 2 years ago, The Simpsons timeline has been halted a lot earlier. The trip on the rubberboat had some good interaction between the two, and I liked how the episode ended with Ned joining into the conversation, and later on visited a stamp museum.

This was quite a good episode, and much needed after quite some mediocrity. There are certain places they could've done better, but for most of the part they succeeded in making it a fun episode. Seeing the Flanders family playing a bigger role was a nice watch, and I can give credit to the animation being used which just seems really good.

4.5/5, barely rounded down to a 4/5 in the poll.
 
BlueRibbonCommittee said:
The Disney couch gag was very nice. At first I thought they were going to go in release order, but Sorcerer's Apprentice came before The Jungle Book.
Click to expand...

Actually, the Fantasia "Sorcerer's Apprentice" came before both Cinderella and The Jungle Book. And the scenes in release order are: Classic Black-and-White Mickey (1 in Simpsons), Snow White (3 in Simpsons), Fantasia (5 in Simpsons), Cinderella (2 in Simpsons), and The Jungle Book (4 in Simpsons). Otherwise, pretty good couch gag.
 
This episode had fantastic animation, and it kind of reminded me of The Saga of Carl for that reason. Unfortunately, though, it wasn't as good overall. As usual, the conflict wasn't fleshed out enough and the resolution was lazy. I still found it more enjoyable than most of the episodes this season, though; there was a certain element of adventure to it. Don't have much else to say about this. 4.5/10
 
I enjoyed the slice of life approach as it reminds me of the direction the earliest seasons went before they became a bit more hyperbolish.

Uh, biggest complaints that I can remember? Extended Homer and Bart fight scene with the rattlesnake and scorpions and the bathroom gag - I felt a bit of that could have been shaved off to focus more on Marge and Maude's conflict instead which was actually brought up but never enhanced upon.

Best moments? The complete frankness between Ned and Homer and Homer actually behaving like a dad in the beginning with Maggie. Like these were some really close moments that were comparable to the realistic yet dysfunctional feel from the first season (uh, first thing which comes to mind was the family misbehaving in There's No Disgrace Like Home.)

So, yeah this episode was almost great but I am going to have to put it third best so far in my 27th season lineup.
 
This episode didn't live up to the hype, but I still enjoyed it in parts. I think the problem was that there really wasn't a payoff. We see present day Homer telling Maggie a bedtime story of a past event, and the implication (I felt) was that this was a story worth telling. But once we got into the Grand Canyon trip the Homer/Ned relationship wasn't explored all that much and in the end they were semi-buddies just as they have been in past episodes set in "present day" such as in Homer Loves Flanders and Viva Ned Flanders. The ending to the story was simply that Maude and Marge's relationship will define how Homer and Ned get along.

The gags were hit or miss, and I think a bulk of the episode spent too much time on doling out Grand Canyon jokes rather than focusing on some sort of story. I will say that the animation was fantastic and the details and coloring on all the backgrounds were excellent.

Overall, an inoffensive and forgettable episode 3/5
 
5/5

I really liked this episode. Good to see Maggie Roswell-voiced Maude again.

Side note - the 19th episode of last season (The Kids are All Fight) was also a flashback episode, and it was also 12th in its production cycle (and aired 364 days before this one -- almost 1 year to the day!)
 
I just had an odd feeling about the episode. I mean, the waitress' son, a death row inmate, being killed by the electric chair for not saying "thank you", and she wasn't even there for him? Now I oppose the death penalty, but I think this part is just insane for my taste.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top