R&R Trash of the Titans

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Drunk Barney

Stonecutter
Joined
Jul 3, 2004
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I used to love this one. Don't anymore. The ending really p***es me off. Homer's a jerk for a good part of the episode too. Though I do think it does have some superb jokes and it's kinda fun episode too. B-/B
 
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It's a real mixed bag which I guiltily somewhat enjoy while acknowledging all its flaws. Homer is at times a real jerk (tampering with someone's brakes surely has to be one of the worst things he's ever done? Let's all laugh at Homer trying to murder someone!) and some of the dialogue is clunky and animation poor. But the musical number is somewhat enjoyable, there are scattered laughs and some ok, if easy, shots at corporate greed and the laziness of modern society.

C
 
I used to love this episode but I've now realised just how below average it really is. The only thing I like now is the musical number. C-
 
5/5. I thought this episode was quite good for the 200th, I wasn't dis-appointed at all. Great episode all around.
 
This would be close to the magical 10/10 for me, if it wasn't for the terrible ending.
Portraying Homer as such a jerkass works quite well on the whole. Especially for his battle with Ray Patterson.
But the fact he is not punnished for his actions at the end of the episode, really leaves a bad taste in the mouth for me.
Unfortunately, instead of leaving Homer's jerkass nature to this episode, it began to set a trend, and all too often creeps in, in future episodes.
8/10
 
Veryjammy said:
It's a real mixed bag which I guiltily somewhat enjoy while acknowledging all its flaws. Homer is at times a real jerk (tampering with someone's brakes surely has to be one of the worst things he's ever done? Let's all laugh at Homer trying to murder someone!)
C
Oh come on it wasn't his intention to kill him, homer's dumb he didn't really think the consequnces through.

but he's still quite irritating at times and it is a mixed episode C+.
 
5/5

Homer being an apparent jerk, bringing conflict upon himself, was terribly funny in this one.

As for his punishment, wasn't he supposed to get horsewhipped or something?
 
Carolyn Omine said:
Horrible episode. Truly "trash", the only half-decent part is the musical. D 2/5
Close, but way off.

4.5/5 Sure it's just another "Homer gets a job" episode, but its so funny throughout.
 
5/5.

It's definitely one of my favourite episodes, there are a billion great quotes in it - and even if Homer is a bit meaner in this one than usual, so what? Variety is pretty handy after 199 episodes.

I also think that both Steve Martin and U2 made above-average guest stars, in particular the later. The scene over the credits more than makes up for the horrible ending - which is my only complaint for the entire episode.
 
Semaj said:
5/5

Homer being an apparent jerk, bringing conflict upon himself, was terribly funny in this one.

As for his punishment, wasn't he supposed to get horsewhipped or something?

Yes, I stand corrected, they vote for it at the town meeting. What I should've said was he didn't put right his wrongdoings.

Back on to the subject of Homer being jerk, the big difference with this episode, to other later ones, is that he's recognised as being a jerk, by just about everyone else in the episode. His character really changes for the worse once he's met Patterson. The thing i don't like, is that he's still a jerk at the end of the episode.
 
i really like this episode. stupid plot, homer being a jerk aside, it was absolutely hilarious. one of my guilty pleasure episodes, it had me laughing all the way through. 9/10
 
I'm rarely actually botherd by Homer being a jerk, it can be funny a lot of the time, like in most mirkin episodes and a couple of Oakley and Weinstein moments. but otherwise it genereally at worst it only invokes a 'meh' response from me. but it doesn't upset me or piss me off.
 
4/5
What do people mean when they say an episode is a guilty pleasure? If you really like an episode you should defend it, don't be afraid to go against what the majority thinks.
 
For me a guilty pleasure episode is one I somewhat enjoy despite the fact it is riddled with flaws, annoying characterisations, bad dialogue, poor animation, ridiculous plots etc...I enjoy it despite mybrain telling me I shouldn't be. I only somewhat enjoy Trash of the Titans though, I find Homer too annoying for words. And I believe there's a big difference between Homer here and Homer in the Mirkin era. People only criticise Homer as being a Jerkass in the Mirkin era because of what subsequently happened in the Scully era, before that it wasn't an issue. I still strongly believe that, Homer Goes To College aside, you can't honestly compare Mirkin Homer and Scully Homer
 
Veryjammy said:
For me a guilty pleasure episode is one I somewhat enjoy despite the fact it is riddled with flaws, annoying characterisations, bad dialogue, poor animation, ridiculous plots etc...I enjoy it despite mybrain telling me I shouldn't be.
yes, mine include 'Viva Ned Flanders,' and 'The Great Money Caper.' I try to black out the ending of the latter...

anyway,

i'm not much on speeches, so i'll keep this short. Trash of the Titans is truly superb, and gets an A+ from me, because i'm in that mood. Bye.

He's right, he aint much on speeches.
 
This one gets a lot of love on many internet sites, but I always find myself asking "why?". It is really nothing. Forget the song for a moment, Homer's a jerk and there's a cop-out wacky ending. There were only a select number of jokes that actually made me chuckle, and I was less than thrilled with U2's brief appearance (albeit, probably the only decent moment in the episode). Mr. Patterson has to be the most lifeless and boring one-timer introduced in the show, with only one decent line in the entire thing, and with a pretty uninteresting voice that makes me drowsy. Ah, but this review isn't about how dull Ray Patterson is, it's about the episode as a whole. "I never apologise. I'm sorry, that's just the kind of person I am" was probably the biggest laugh for me this episode, but I also enjoyed "close, but you're way off" and the kisses-make-me-boogie-o-pumpkin. I've already said Homer was a jerk in the episode, and it shows a lot. There's his randomly shaking of the bird cage, threatening to beat Bart, telling Lisa to "shut up" when he gets a plan, and his treatment of Patterson. There weren't any big nitpicks about the other characters, although in places they didn't seem right, and the entire family guessing Homer was doing drugs was a bit "iffy", not sure why exactly. All-in-all, a pretty bad episode. D
 
Butters said:
There's his randomly shaking of the bird cage,
He said he wanted to shake things up.
Butters said:
the entire family guessing Homer was doing drugs was a bit "iffy"
They guessed that he was selling drugs. How would he make money to pay the garbagemen by doing drugs?
 
Sarcastic Guy II said:
He said he wanted to shake things up.

They guessed that he was selling drugs. How would he make money to pay the garbagemen by doing drugs?

They're still both horrible jokes though.

Rewatched this again today, it's even more poor - I don't even like the musical number as much anymore. Down to a D-
 
Carolyn Omine said:
They're still both horrible jokes though.

Rewatched this again today, it's even more poor - I don't even like the musical number as much anymore. Down to a D-
The animal abuse isn't funny, though it reminds me of a good joke from TOTT where Homer says something like, "I never apologize. I'm sorry, but that's just the way I am." It's a contradiction joke, because after Homer says he wants to shake things up and shakes the bird's cage, he then says he wants to stand up for the little guy.

But the "some of it is" line from Bart is hilarious. I rewatched this the other night and loved it more than ever, from 3 or 4/5 to 5/5.

It's a polarizing episode. Like George W. Bush, it's love it or hate it.

About 60% in this poll gave it a 4 or 5. Overrated doesn't really apply here due to the fact that such a solid majority agrees that it's A-material.

"Overrated" is the term we use when we disagree with a sizeable majority and we want to shit on an opinion we disagree with.
 
You are certainly correct in calling this episode polarizing. I detest it, while my siblings love it. This is in my bottom 10 of all time in fact. Homer's behavior not once struck me as funny, he was simply too obnoxious and loud to me to laugh at or care about in any way or fashion, and by the end he shows no change in his charater either (a problem I also had with Lisa on Ice, but at least in that episode he had a supporting role). The plot is very basic what with Homer getting a job and screwing everything up in the process, and the resolution is completely unsatisfying and offers little to no payoff. On top of that, you have a comedic genius like Steve Martin on the show and yet they make his character play the straight man in Homer's rude and unfunny moments, and do nothing to take advantage of Martin's talent. U2 also felt completely unnecessary and humorless as well. The only time I can even smile at this episode is the musical number, but even that has worn off over time. A terrible way to celebrate the 200th episode of the Simpsons. 1/5
 
Veryjammy said:
For me a guilty pleasure episode is one I somewhat enjoy despite the fact it is riddled with flaws, annoying characterisations, bad dialogue, poor animation, ridiculous plots etc...I enjoy it despite mybrain telling me I shouldn't be. I only somewhat enjoy Trash of the Titans though, I find Homer too annoying for words. And I believe there's a big difference between Homer here and Homer in the Mirkin era. People only criticise Homer as being a Jerkass in the Mirkin era because of what subsequently happened in the Scully era, before that it wasn't an issue. I still strongly believe that, Homer Goes To College aside, you can't honestly compare Mirkin Homer and Scully Homer

It's mainly true but in fact I have allways found Homer even more annoying in some other Mirkin episodes, like A Star is Burns (EDIT: D'oh, I believe this wasn't Mirkin's...I am always confused by this bunch of episodes that had other executive producers) . I totally dislike his characterization there and I find him much funnier in Homer Goes To College.

I don't care much about Homer in Trash Of The Titans either. He was kind of a jerk, but with a third person, and mainly because he wants to be voted. I recall he says sorry to the other guy once Homer wins. If anything I think he was more dumb than jerk in this one. As I have said I don't mind much when he's a jerk to a third person, I totally hate when he's like that with a family member and he don't apologize. And well, he was a little creepy in A Star is Torn (althought he only hurts strangers he was surpringsily violent).

Anyway Trash Of The Titans is the typical Scully Homer gets a job scheme but this one has decent jokes and the first and second act are mainly ok. By the third one the story became less interesting and it ends with a bad cop ut. It's a C or a C- for me.
 
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I used to dislike this episode, but after rewatching I have come to the conclusion that is a pretty fine episode. Some qoutes, such as:
"I wanna rattle up a few cages", and "Somebody cut my brakes",and the song, the garbage man can, it really puts into perspective that the simpsons can do so many things well, and they pulled out a great episode here. A/ 5/5
 
Yes, very much the same for me, but allow me to wander off on a tangent for the moment. What's the score? 9/10. What? Read on for my reasoning.

---

I feel that the reason why people accuse Homer of acting as a jerkass in Mirkin's season 5 is because, at core, he's an absolute jerk. They don't level the accusation because of some retrospective virus given to them by watching Scully episodes, they don't start blabbering on about some crazy ass theory of post-Scully trauma, they identify the fact that in episodes such as Boy Scoutz 'n the Hood, Homer's an asshole. He throws Rodd's walkman into the sea, he washes his socks carelessly with limited supplies of water and eats almost all of their food.

Is that such a problem though? Yes, it can be. At core, humans are selfish, manipulative, self-centered assholes who care mainly, nay, almost entirely for themselves. Not all humans, but most anyway. Am I a psychologist? Hell no, but do you dare disagree with such an idea? Think about it? Yes, there are some good samaratins amongst us all who steal from the rich and give to the poor, but perhaps only to rid themselves of guilt. A matter of personal satisfaction. Are Simpsons characters, a hilariously exaggerated characterture of real people exempt from such properties? Of course not. They're meant to be real people, and damnit, real people act like jerks! Swartzwelder himself has identified the fact that Homer is, at the core of it all, a dog. His emotion can change on the flip of a coin, he's fiercely loyal and can't be looked at like a regular human. As such, we have a character that still embodies all the asshole like qualities of a regular human, with typical Homer logic (believing that running an administrative sector could be solved by amphibious trucks, for example), and Homer's dog like personality. Why is it such a surprise to people that in a lot of cases, he'll come across as an asshole? I mean, he's a real person. In fact, because Homer is at core an asshole, perhaps it's a better idea to label him as a buffoon. He doesn't know what he's doing wrong (Homer's logic), he just does it. He acts on impulses and goes from there. He's an idiot, therefore a buffoon.

Granted, there are little exceptions to that general idea. Homer's a father, and being the dog that he is, he's fiercely loyal to his family and to his kids. When the story calls for it, by all means, throw the above idea out the window and let him act like he does in say, Lisa's Substitute. Then again, one can still have a caring, heartfelt Homer at the core while he acts like an exaggerated buffoon, much like he does in episodes such as Homer's Enemy (wanting to be Grimey's friend).

If a character can go on one side of the line, isn't it logical that the character might venture over to the other side of the line and take on a form that's, "less pleasing to the eye." I mean, if characters didn't deviate from standard formulas, we'd be left with one of the most dreadfully banal TV shows of all time. It'd be like the ending to King of the Hill, week after week after week. You know the best possible ending is going to come, and bam it hits you with some happy-go-lucky guitar riff accompanying it. The Simpsons shouldn't suffer the same fate. It should dare to be different! It most definately should not stick to the middle of that line and never dare to cross over to surprise and to entertain us. Of course, I'm not suggesting that every week we go from one extreme to the other. The focus should be on that line, but every so often the writers should throw a curve ball to interest us. They did it with Homer's Enemy, they did it with Trilogy of Error and by God they did it with Trash of the Titans.

The problem, my friends, stems from the fact that at times, people can get carried away with these things. One could argue that Mr. Jean, or whoever is in charge these days, has got a bit carried away with marriage crisis episodes. One could also argue that Mike Scully got a bit carried away with having Homer act like a jerk. I think it was DotheBartman who mentioned that while episodes should be judged on their own, that's a bit hard to do. Even if that's true, one should at least make every humanly possible attempt to look at Trash of the Titans as one of the first curveballs of this nature, before the entire game was taken up by these curveballs. One should acknowledge that it was fresh, or at least quite fresh at the time, not becoming hackneyed to the point of mass suicide by this point.

Of course, anyone can get away with saying "well, i don't like Homer being mean, therefore jerkass homer is a jerk and i dont like him." To those people, I say stop kidding yourselves!

Moving on!

---

Trash of the Titans? Now that my feelings are known, we can look at the episode and say with certainty that while Homer may be acting mean, it's not all that strange that he does, and it's not much of a crime to have writers acting in a creative manner to acheive humour. Homer's mean, but by golly he was absolutely screwed over by City Hall. The garbage men didn't collect his garbage, Pattison patronised him when Homer went to speak with him and his wife DID rob him of the dignity that he wanted to hold on to in this fight. The man was angry, and for good reason.

With that anger, I find it quite it quite admirable that instead of just letting Homer do a whole bunch of wacky shit, that the writers actually stick him in office. They show us that Homer, "the last angry man", has acheived what he wanted. That's pride man! Homer's sticking up for the little guy, and it's completely likable to have Homer in such a situation. We get a happy song and dance roultine, an intrinsicly linked host of guest stars and we see the real consequences of Homer's buffoonary. Homer's not fit for office, he's not fit for running a nuclear power plant either. In the same way that Homer is shown to fail constantly at running a power plant, he always fails miserably at running the sanitation department. How do they show us, they show us with EX-AG-GER-ATION. Hear that people? Exaggeration is a funny comedic technique, used all the time and to good effect. For the umpteenth time, when it's overused (like having Homer act as a jerk, or having their marriage breaking down at the drop of a hat) it's totally uncool, but when it's used rarely and with good comedic effect, it's funny! What do I mean by comedic effect? Anyone who says that the idea of a town getting up and moving isn't funny is a liar, and a bad one at that. It's not a nice idea if you're incredibly uptight about The Simpsons sticking to a rigid formula the whole way through, but it's a neat idea within the rubberband reality of OFF. That's the way it works, that's the reason why Homer was in outer space, that's the reason why scraping someone's throat creates a high pitched voice.

I'd also like to add that the initial ideas are hilarious in every way. The tidy, exaggerated but awfully true satire of the greeting card industry is limited to a few minutes and there it stops. It gives us a bunch of jokes and then moves on. The garbage observational humour? Outstanding. I guess you have to be able to identify with it to find it funny though, who knows? The garbage heap? Dunno about you, but our family entertains this idea constantly. Trust Homer, in his dog like logic to actually carry it out.

Did Homer go too far? Not really. Did he cut his brakes? Yeah, but once more, I really don't think Homer did it with the intent to kill. He seemed to be expecting Pattison to show up, what with that well prepared one liner. Did he shake the cage? Yeah, but he was blinded by rage, in the office of a man who he clearly doesn't like and he was trying to make a point. Rattling a bird cage isn't that funny, but the fact that he comes back to it again and again is. Much like stepping on a rake, with repetition comes humour.

All in all, a hilarious, extravagant and all around enjoyable romp for those like me, who enjoy the show with flexible definitions of what's good. 9/10. Man, that went for waaaay too long.
 
Once again Neb absolutely misses the point about Homer's characterisation in order to justify his liking of Scully's bastardisation of him. If you like Homer acting like this then fine, but don't try to put the blame on other people when episodes like Dead Putting Society and Boy Scoutz N The Hood are very much liked. You almost deliberately seem to avoid the point every single time.

And your review of the episode is so god-damned hilarious it beggars belief. Yeah I'm sure glad they avoided giving Homer wacky schtick in this episode! He sure was screwed over by city hall! If I didn't know you better I would think it was a parody review.
 
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