R&R: Raging Abe Simpson And His Grumbling Grandson In: Curse Of The Flying Hellfish

How did you rate it?

  • Total voters
    189
A

Adam R

Stonecutter
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Messages
3,206
Location
herts
A fantastic episode that never gets the praise it deserves. The whole episode looks great, there a lot of good uses of shadows. It may not be particularly funny and not very "Simpson-y" in a way, but it has an intriguing story that's great from start to finish. A great exploration of Grampa and Bart's relationship and showing how Grampa wasn't always a pathetic old coot. Since humour isn't the strong point at the moment, I'd love to see an episode like this this season.
A true hidden gem.
A
 
The plot is very intresting but the emotion is hokey. So it doesn't have a good excuse for not being funnier. Also Grampa's transformation from senile old coot to action hero is too big and underdeveloped.
I'd give it a B- But this is a rare case where the direction is so stunning I lift it to a B.
 
A-
I thought it was pretty good and it wasn't as bad as some of the others in season seven.
I love when Burns breaks through the wall and Lisa says, "Santa?"
I just thought this was funny for some reason.
 
Like Adzzzzzzzzzz says its very underrated. I know it's a bit of jump in Grampa's character, but I think it's believable. Grampa has a fighter edge to him in Bart the General. I know it's still undeveloped, but I don't personally think it's a big issue. The episode also brings in a great Bart/Grampa bond. So yeah, great episode. An undeveloped Grampa, but as I say I don't think it's a huge issue. A
 
Last edited:
Good plot and quite funny jokes imo for a S7 ep, I loved the 'santa' bit aswell, hilariuos.
I give a B, also this is my first review of an episode of simpsons ever!
 
This is a great epsiode with hilarous jokes and amazing plot line. My favorite jokes are mr.burns attempts to kill Granpa. A
 
I'm not sure I would say silly is the right word but the 3rd act really does feel like a cheesy hollywood action movie.
 
Well it doesn't so much parody or subvert action genre cliches as embrace them, that's my biggest problem, that it becomes a silly brainless action movie with a 90 year old, or whatever, man rescuing his grandson. It's a weird thing to want to do, to produce an action-orientated episode of a comedy and it doesn't really succeed, immensely stylish as it undoubtedly is. At least it has the distinction of being almost completely unique amongst 370ish episodes which is no mean feat. And it is quite hard to buy the central conceit when Burns and Grandpa have never so much as acknowledged one another in the series.
 
Veryjammy said:
Well it doesn't so much parody or subvert action genre cliches as embrace them, that's my biggest problem, that it becomes a silly brainless action movie with a 90 year old, or whatever, man rescuing his grandson. It's a weird thing to want to do, to produce an action-orientated episode of a comedy and it doesn't really succeed, immensely stylish as it undoubtedly is. At least it has the distinction of being almost completely unique amongst 370ish episodes which is no mean feat. And it is quite hard to buy the central conceit when Burns and Grandpa have never so much as acknowledged one another in the series.
Click to expand...

Agreed with every point here, but it gets a few extra points for giving Grampa some dignity (which may have been the point of the episode).

B
 
I admire the totally new concept of doing an episode with a more action-oriented approach and attempting to add new dimensions to Grampa while exploring the Bart/Grampa relationship. The direction of the episode is also fantastic, feeling cinematic at times. But unfortunately the humour of the show suffers due to the more action-oriented approach, it becomes tough to buy Grampa as an action hero and Burns feels like a more generic villain than his usual unique evil self as he was in Who Shot Mr. Burns or Mother Simpson. So while it has a great concept, it is ultimately one of the weaker episodes of season 7. B-
 
I gave A-, a very good episode, but i leave A's for the very best. Great 1-off character in Ox, good character development between bart and abe. Hilarious moment when Abe's pants fall down...."how long was that?" :)
 
'Flying Hellfish' (for short) is a much underrated episode that is not subject to the praise it truly deserves. It is very much an action episode and that by itself makes it supremely enjoyable. Grampa is senile, yet somehow likeable and Bart is in perfect touch as a cheeky yet underachieving cynic. Classic Bart. Homer, Marge and Lisa do not appear much, but the support cast, including the Flying Hellfish and the assassin, make up for this. The humour, while not always plentiful, also works well. There are only a couple of gripes I have with this episode: 1) Mr. Burns is, as a fellow commentator has stated, is a bit of a cliche - a cartoony supervillain, much like Hank Scorpio only with more sadism. As a result, he has lost much of his ability to invoke hatred; an element which made the first part of Who Shot Mr. Burns? so great. 2) The ending is a little bit anti-climatic, as a young, rich, obviously undeserving German gets his fortune and acts like a wanker over it. I am tempted to give this an A, but these couple of gripes reduce it to a A-. It is a very well done episode.
 
Last edited:
I quite liked it; I give it an A.
There were some really funny moments "Hey fun boys, get a room!" and...WWII history, which I like haha.
Plus Grandpa and Burns and Bart are all interesting characters, especially when working with or against each other.
 
There are only a handful of episodes in the first 8 seasons that I really dislike, and this is one of them. I went back and watched it for the first time in years today, and I still feel the same as the day it premiered. It's certainly unique, but that's a large part of my problem with it. The tone of this episode really doesn't feel like the rest of the series. I also really dislike Burns' characterization in this episode. Mr. Burns has always been evil, but it's usually presented in a lighthearted way. Here we have him trying to murder Grandpa, which isn't so bad because it's played for comedy. But what really rubs me the wrong way is when he tries to drown Bart just for the fun of it. To top it all off, there's nothing that's particularly laugh out loud funny here except for a few decent moments from Homer. D-.
 
J-Spot said:
There are only a handful of episodes in the first 8 seasons that I really dislike, and this is one of them. I went back and watched it for the first time in years today, and I still feel the same as the day it premiered. It's certainly unique, but that's a large part of my problem with it. The tone of this episode really doesn't feel like the rest of the series. I also really dislike Burns' characterization in this episode. Mr. Burns has always been evil, but it's usually presented in a lighthearted way. Here we have him trying to murder Grandpa, which isn't so bad because it's played for comedy. But what really rubs me the wrong way is when he tries to drown Bart just for the fun of it. To top it all off, there's nothing that's particularly laugh out loud funny here except for a few decent moments from Homer. D-.
Click to expand...

There are several episodes that differ from the rest of the series and yet remain some of the series' best, so I miss where there is a problem with that aspect. And Mr. Burns has always been portrayed cruel like that. His trying to take candy from Maggie and then wanting to file a lawsuit against her for an accident which he mostly caused is evil beyond anything, and Mr. Burns has never shown a hesitation to kill people. Mr. Burns seemed incredibly in character, as not only is he evil enough without motivation, but the money he can possibly attain only sparks his wickedness to a greater extent, so it seems only natural he would push his cruelty. Other than these two not so major criticisms, you mentioned not much else wrong with this, and yet you still manage one grade above an 'F'. I really don't understand what made this episdode that bad.
 
Probably in the B-/C+ range for me. Much like many Season 8 episodes for me, this one just feels different and odd. Not bad, but nothing to knock my socks off. I also agree that the ending seemed a little Hollywood, which isn't a bad thing, just when the Simpsons do more daring and action-oriented stuff, it doesn't always seem to work. I guess it fit with the storyline of Grampa trying to recapture the strength of his youth, but it just reminds me of the somewhat canned ways that contemporary episodes try to show heroism or other bizarre actions.
 
TheForbiddenDonut said:
Other than these two not so major criticisms, you mentioned not much else wrong with this, and yet you still manage one grade above an 'F'. I really don't understand what made this episdode that bad.
Click to expand...
My grade is solely an indication of my enjoyment of the episode. Aside from a couple of moments from Homer, there's nothing I like about it. Hence the D-.
 
Xt'Tapalatakettle said:
Probably in the B-/C+ range for me. Much like many Season 8 episodes for me, this one just feels different and odd.
Click to expand...

Not to mention it came from season 7 ;)
 
Frank Grimes Sr. said:
Not to mention it came from season 7 ;)
Click to expand...


Whoops! :lol: I remembered it was around the same time as the Homerpalooza and for some reason I always associate that with Season 8.
 
This is one of my favorite episodes in the series. The art direction was great and it was a great time for Gramps to shine as well.

I know its not everyone's cup of tea so I'm not so sure about calling it underrated, but to me this episode is one of the funnest because its one of the best examples of the show really showing you another side of a character. This episode was meant to show just how strong Abe really is or was. Everyone in the current day takes him for granted, and assumes he always talks about bs but back in his day he was a fucking badass. Its kind of a tragic commentary on those times as well how he fell down so much from those days in the war, even by the time Homer was born.

I always say in a way Abe brought his neglect on himself by being such a well, jerk to Homer in a lot of ways. I dunno maybe he took his own shortcomings and post-war resentment out on him. But regardless of that, he was the shit in World War II and it just goes to show that you never know what history some old geezer you may know may be packing.

In general its pretty much just about a boy learning something cool about his Grampa. I don't agree with the notion that the emotion is hokey myself, I think it was very genuine in a way. Just not straightforward. But it was also just a fun little adventure, like I said above the art direction for this episode was one of my favorites in the series. It had a slightly more epic feel than the usual episode which really went well with the premise. It was meant to embrace the action element of it just to show you how badass Abe used to be, and maybe still is deep down inside now. Seeing a little of the history of the other Springfielders, even if its just this was fun too.

Easilly an A+ from me.
 
It was never a favorite of mine. Weaker for S7. A good, solid episode. B- seems right..
 
I thought this was a really excellent episode with great characterization, pacing, animation, and writing. The tone for this one is very unique and memorable. Grandpa was great in this one, and Burns' characterization was also spot on: a perfect balance of menace and cowardice, passion and weakness. Great, underrated episode. 5/5
 
Last edited:
I currenty have this ranked #2 in my all-time best episodes list. A+
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top