Rate & Review "Mypods and Boomsticks" (KABF20)

We're not allowed to ask that question...

  • 5/5 - It's a good program. Just give it a chance, that's all I ask.

    Votes: 31 14.8%
  • 4/5 - Maybe you'd like me more if you knew me.

    Votes: 62 29.7%
  • 3/5 - We're ignoring your demands. What do you say to that?

    Votes: 57 27.3%
  • 2/5 - What the hell is a "Mypod"?

    Votes: 27 12.9%
  • 1/5 - Under attack by commie Nazis.

    Votes: 32 15.3%

  • Total voters
    209

Green Man

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The Simpson family takes a trip to the Mapple Store at the Springfield Mall where Lisa gets her very own Mypod, and Bart interrupts an announcement from Steve Mobbs with his own voiceover, causing pandemonium to break loose in the store. On his way home from the mall, Bart narrowly escapes punishment and befriends a Muslim boy named Bashir. Homer becomes suspicious of Bart’s new friend and invites Bashir, his mother (guest voice Shohreh Aghdashloo) and his father over for dinner so he can investigate their supposed anti-American sentiments. Having already offended Bashir and his family at dinner, Homer goes to their home to apologize, but he instead snoops around their house, a la Jack Bauer, and uncovers what he believes to be a terrorist plot to blow up the Springfield Mall. The race is on as Homer tries to warn the residents of Springfield about the impending disaster in the “Mypods and Boomsticks” episode of THE SIMPSONS airing Sunday, Nov. 30 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (SI-1920) (TV-PG D, V)
 
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First Act: Great joke with Bart and Steve Mobbs and the CBG throwing the sledgehammer through the screen. (PC strikes back)

Second act: Uhh...

Third act: A nice homage to Dan doing the Genie, like he did in the second "Aladdin" movie. The Lisa ending was hillarious!

Grade: B-, or 3/5.

Retarded anagram alert: USB also spells "SUB".
 
Bad: Carls voice sounded a bit off, Bart sounded a bit to educated, and the last 2 minutes were really pointless.

Good: Itchy and Scratchy was pretty funny, along with some good homer lines, MLK gag, and Moe "acting crazy to get outta jury duty"

3/5
 
Interesting couch gag.

First act
Some good jokes with the mall taking down the Christmas decorations, but the song wasn't that great.
Bart buying the same present for everyone - I can relate.
The Martin Luther King stuff seemed kind of... Weird.
"Mypods", "Mapple", "Steve Mobbs"... How clever....
I have to admit, I liked them making fun of that famous Macintosh commercial with Comic Book Guy.
Bart goes from a complete stranger to invited for dinner in a few seconds. It serves the point, but it's lazy and rushed, writing. I would have rather seen them ditch half of that and focus more on Bart and Bashir becoming friends.
Oh joy, the bullies.

Boring opening act. Some okay jokes, but it was mostly a vehicle for lame Apple jokes. There was a rather abrupt ending to the act, but I'm interested. As for voice acting, Shohreh Aghdashloo has done a good job so far. 2.5/5.

Second act
Is it just me or does Kearney's voice sound different?
Moe has a cult now? Okay...
Playing an unaltered song for quite a bit... How Family Guyish.
Interesting Itchy & Scratchy, went on a bit too long, but it's nice to see them bring them back.
Is it just me, or did Homer sound Groundskeeper Willie-ish during the first moments of that lightbulb scene.
The bit with Homer imagining Lenny shower was funny.
Homer's intolerance scene was uncomfortable, but I guess it served the point.
"Their last name is Bin Laden", Okay, that's going a little far.

Interesting second act, nice return of Itchy & Scratchy, but not a lot of memorable jokes. Hopefully the third act has some good pay-off.

Commercial report: Wow, this "Secret Millionaire" show sounds very stupid. I guess some things never change (like Fox's crappy shows)

Third act
You know, it would have been an interesting twist to have Marge be the one who was prejudiced... Or even Lisa.
Interesting dream sequence with the Genie, especially since Dan Castellaneta actually voiced the Genie in the second Alladin movie.
I'm starting to think Shohreh Aghdashloo's voice sounds very out of place, although she is doing a good job.
Homer making sound effects for an extended period, yep, a lot of filler in this one.
The bit with Homer "thwarting" the plot could have been done better.
Unusual ending, it made up for the end of the main plot.

Wow, that was a rather unusual, there was quite a bit of unfunny filler in there. Some okay jokes and an interesting plot idea, but they just didn't pull it off that well. This right here is the biggest problem with the current season: good, but not really that memorable. I'll give it a 2/5.
 
The only good joke was "The doorbell will tell you they've arrived", other than that saw it all comeing a mile away. It was one of those who the hell talks like that sort of episode. "Thats so nice that you invited Bart's muslim friend and his muslim family over" who the fuck talks like that?! Too bad i was really looking forward to this one too.

2/5
 
this was just an awful concept all around

a few good gags is all that redeemed it, but that wasn't enough

2/5
 
Putting "Bart's Girlfriend" as the episode at 6:30 didn't help it look good either. Did anyone else think it was wierd that they aired such an old episode on a sunday?
 
Funniest episode I've seen in a long time. Great gags all-around. It reminds me of Fat Man and Little Boy in that the story was pretty silly and inconsequential, but the quality of the humor made the episode work. Dan C. as the Genie was wonderful (although I was really hoping for a Friend Like Me song parody!). Contained silliness describes this ep well (like Homer's "quiet getaway" with the cymbals). The Mapple stuff was pretty wacky but well-done (and as an Apple fan, I loved the jabs, as well as the ad parody), and a lot of the writing was surprisingly strong (like Bart's dialogue at the beginning of act 2 with Willie).

The Muslim/terrorist angle was pretty much how I expected it would be, but it was still entertaining. The whole show was pretty light and all, but it didn't matter much to me. The Lisa ending was a little odd and long though.

So yeah, short review from me tonight, but there's not really much to dissect here--very few actual problems and excellent, rapid-fire and well-paced humor make for the best episode of this season so far.

B+

EDIT: Pardon my slapdash attempt at reviewin' tonight, I'm jotting this down while doing other things so it's a pretty scattershot collection of thoughts. Liked the ep though.
 
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Putting "Bart's Girlfriend" as the episode at 6:30 didn't help it look good either. Did anyone else think it was wierd that they aired such an old episode on a sunday?

Oh... they did?

EDIT: Never mind... I should watch FOX more.. not
 
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Putting "Bart's Girlfriend" as the episode at 6:30 didn't help it look good either. Did anyone else think it was wierd that they aired such an old episode on a sunday?

You do know what syndication is right? If you saw "Bart's Girlfriend" that was your Fox station's decision, not the national Fox network. On the east coast we had a KOTH rerun at 7:30 and the new Simpsons at 8. If you're in the central timezone and everything's an hour earlier, then you should have had a KOTH rerun at 6:30 and the new Simpsons at 7, in which case, maybe your local Fox station opted to air a syndicated Simpsons rerun instead of the national airing of a KOTH rerun?

The point is, Fox's nationwide primetime Sunday lineup starts at 8 eastern, 7 central. Anything you see before then is up to your local Fox station and doesn't reflect what the rest of the country sees.
 
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My rating: 3/5.

Meh -- not a bad episode, but nothing really all that special, stand-out-ish.

I thought the Apple spoof plot had it's funny bits. Best gag was when Bart was voicing over the spoofed Steve Jobs.

How fast Bart made friends with the new kid was too quick. Things I liked, the bullies and how they eventually started pounding on each other.

When Homer suspects the new family -- that was okay, but we've seen this sort of thing before -- like when Homer suspected Apo of having affairs.

Overal, not a bad episode, but nothing special.
 
did anyone find it hilarious and ironic that they showed 2 apple commercials and an old navy commerical during the breaks?

i enjoyed the first act, contrary to what alot have said. i sat thinking to myself during the martin luther king sequence "are they going too far?". imo, they ended it just right. the apple jokes weren't funny, the cbg moment was great. "steve mobbs", "mapple", "mypod", "mytunes" - all really really bad. i, for one, enjoyed moe as the cult leader. i don't know why, but it seemed really funny to me.

second act: way better. the stuff with bashir's family at the table was pretty funny, especially lenny's commentary. the american flag as the dessert was pretty predictable, but most of it worked. homer's eco-friendly way of exposing of the lightbulbs was funny. the itchy and scratchy short was really long, but it was pretty funny. it should have ended with the explosion. i absolutely loved the dream. dan voicing the genie was great, and i loved "our prices are hussein!"

third act: homer a'la jack bauer was pretty funny, i really liked everything being knocked over, although predictable. homer overhearing the guy and his wife was funny, i think they might have went too far with the whole suicide bombing stuff. the sound effects weren't funny, i never understood why they do them. they did the chainsaw gag in the movie, and i really didn't like it. the destruction of the bridge is when things got weird. the going underwater to get the beer took up time and wasn't funny. nice seeing hans as the truck driver though. the mapple ending wasn't funny at all though, and neither was the lisa stuff near the end.

overall, despite some things i didn't really liked, this is my favorite episode of the season. i was really looking forward to it, and it lived up to my expectations. 4.5/5, A-.
 
Kiyosuki said:
Lookin' to do some stalkin'?
Huh? Don't bother, I learned to make it public long time ago...

I think it was better than most of what was shown in the Season 20 so far. Better than "Dangerous Curves", but less than "Lost Verizon", which is good enough for it to be the second favorite of this season so far.
Plot had its premise, and some aspects could have been better, but it stayed decent to me. I was expecting more suspense, and there was some suspense, but during the particular moment of the episode, I predicted Bashir's father being the deconstruction worker/manager a mile away. One curious thing is that the folder in Bashir's father's computer being read 'Springfield Mall' rather than 'Old Springfield Mall' to create more suspense for the premise that he was actually going to blow up the current Springfield Mall... kind of felt contrived, but that's just me. Speaking of contrived, Bashir's parents' convo while Homer's stalking, I guess, did make sense in someway, but the wording felt kin dof... again, contrived. Anyways, that is basically it for my complaints (the writers could have shown some remorse from Homer, but I guess it made up for his attempt to make up for it in the end of the episode), but other than that, it did not really go as idiotic as I feared yet it was kind of silly (in a good way) and somewhat fun. Homer was just same old Jean era Homer... but not really extreme this time. Lisa's subplot brought some laugh, satire (I actually have some friends complaining over the payment of music download... but wouldn't use Kazaa or Limewire because of their conscience) and ending was pretty good, I really think. Definitely a better of the collection of subplots in Jean era, imo.
Humor... well, the episode had some clever moments (I did not like "Bash-here" joke, but for some reason, my brother, who is not easily amused, laughed at it) such as Homer retrieving Duff Beer instead of Moleman, Genie scene, several Apple references and Bart voicing Steve Mobbs... it was actually pretty funny. One joke that they really need to stop is the one-man show... which, in tonight's episode, was Homer's faking of the ambulance and hurt finger in Bashir family kitchen... well that is one big dark spot in the humor but other than that, the episode itself was not a laugh-fest, but the humor was good enough for me to pay attention to and would be 'worthy for a second look', I'd say :cookie:

Overall, decent/good episode. Strange thing that those two episodes (Lost Verizon, Mypods and Broomsticks) with titles that I did not like are the ones that I have liked so far. Anyways B or 4/5

BTW Marc Wilmore (the writer) actually has a decent history going on:

Treehouse of Horror XIII (Send in the Clones segment)
Bart of War
Midnight Rx
Treehouse of Horror XVI (all three segments)
Regarding Margie
Treehouse of Horror XVIII (all three segments)
 
I actually thought it was pretty funny.

A lot of the Mapple stuff was kind of weak and, you know, if you want to satirize something decently there's a lot better ways than just blatantly saying "THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS" over a very weak veil. Meh. Lisa desperately wanting a Mypod wasn't all that interesting to me and I didn't particularly care about it, or the whole thing in the Mapple store at all. Way too much time was spent on the subplot, especially in the beginning, than on the actual main plot which came off as kind of rushed. Also kinda weird airing order to have it air with Christmas just having been finished but... eh, whatever, that's not really anything to complain about, though the beginning sequence was decent enough.

Bart seemed to get away from... a horde of... well-capable adults... and avoid his mother who surely would've chastised him and made him at least apologize... you know, really really well. Honestly if they wanted that whole "Jack Bauer"-style thing for the episode, somewhat of an action sequence - a brief one, but, you know - was called for there. Rather than have him just... running away and then smell something and wander into someone's bushes...

Which was such, such, such an odd scene. I mean, Bashir notices some dude just there out of nowhere and is all, "Hey, you want some food?" instead of "... Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my bushes?" This is seriously where the time spent in the Mapple store should have been spent, do it a little differently... Maybe while Bart's hurrying up, trying to escape, Bashir could've seen all these people ganging up on one kid that's about his age, think that's unfair, tell Bart to duck down in an alleyway or something with him (which would've gone by just fine considering Springfield's pretty stupid mob mentality), and they could've gotten to talking and find out that they had something in common. Dunno what, but you know, something. And from there, there's a reason for friendship to form... They'd hang out a little the rest of the afternoon, Bashir, excited at having just moved to Springfield and having found a friend already, could invite Bart to dinner... and it picks up from there.

But whatever. I did enjoy the sequence with them at school. And it was great to see a graphic Itchy & Scratchy again, which was actually pretty funny... some really great stuff there.

I wish Marge hadn't called out on Bashir's family being Muslim, so they'd invited Bart's "Muslim" friend over with his "Muslim" family and christ, it would have spoken more if she hadn't considered anything different, because from the way she kept on saying "Muslim" it sounded like she was going to be just as prejudiced as Homer. And the bar scene felt awkward to me, but Lenny in the thought bubbles was pretty funny. The whole dinner scene was just awkward... The rest of the family could have tried to alleviate the tension a little but trying to engage in normal conversation, but I guess that couldn't happen because then it would have lead to the inevitable "So, Mr. Whatever, what do you do for a living?" and then Homer's paranoia would've been for naught! Only... it would've given actual reason to suspect them of something, in typical average American fashion, and an actual reason to snoop around rather than the obvious "they're MUSLIM". But I dunno. The conversation Homer partially overheard between Bashir's parents was so forced and painfully worded in its attempts to make parts of it come across as vague and suspicious and just... ug. That WAS a pretty nice dream sequence, though.

The conclusion to the plot left a lot to be desired, although Homer waving at Moleman and then going for the beer actually brought out a real genuine laugh from me (I would've been laughing during a lot of other points, but instead I just smiled, 'cause I've totally lost my voice and can't laugh... but that joke I actually wanted to and so attempted to). But... yeah. Homer learns nothing, acts like a bit of a dipshit, and Bashir and his dad have absolutely nothing to say to that. Ug.

Amazingly enough, the first act wasn't totally unrelated, though, and I think that's why I'm happy that Lisa accidentally got carried away and downloaded too many songs - that kind of satire on Apple and iTunes was much better than the overly obvious stuff at the beginning - and got freaked out as a little girl would (almost reminded me a little bit about that Corey thing, way back in season... three or four I don't remember, actually). And if a character is going to take a long trip away like that, then it's best to just due a quick cut and not draw too much attention to just how absurd it was (hey, Lost Verizon? Focusing so much on the family travelling down to Macchu Picchu that it just felt more and more wrong with each second passing? Yeah). The ending was cute.

So, you know... I actually did enjoy the episode though. I mean, yeah, you can shoot holes through the story pretty easily (although it was still able to maintain a decent flow), but I was enjoying myself, I did think it was pretty funny (might've been the funniest episode for me all season, so far, actually, but I couldn't totally say for sure), Bashir wasn't a bad character at all, and... yeah. I just wish they'd really stop... Why do they keep on using extended gags and longer titles for filler, and then brush over details that are actually pretty essential to the main plot? That's just fucking retarded and needs to come to an end.

Still. No surprise from me. 4/5.
 
Looks like unlike a lot of this season, I actually liked this episode more than most of NHC so far. Reading some posts reminds me of some gags I enjoyed a lot (like Homer getting carried away and fabricating this entire story out of making almond paste, I feel that's in-character and charming). I guess Simps just clicked for me tonight.
 
Here is my order of episodes this season, (best to worst)

Lost Verizon
Dangerous Curves
Treehouse of Horror XIX
Double, Double, Boy in Trouble
Sex,Pies, and Idiot Scrapes
Mypods and Boomsticks
Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words

EDIT: Subject to change. I change my mind constantly until I officially grade the episodes.
 
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Lookin' to do some stalkin'? :D

Haha, no, I just like to know what other members think about it without actually being spoiled, being on the west coast. Prior expectations are key when it comes to new Simpsons episodes, and this helps balance it out...
 
iceiwynd said:
Which was such, such, such an odd scene. I mean, Bashir notices some dude just there out of nowhere and is all, "Hey, you want some food?" instead of "... Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my bushes?"
McClure said:
Bart goes from a complete stranger to invited for dinner in a few seconds. It serves the point, but it's lazy and rushed, writing. I would have rather seen them ditch half of that and focus more on Bart and Bashir becoming friends.

It is actually a Muslim custom/golden rule to show courtesy and kindness to the strangers... I know it is something that we all learn, but for Muslims, I heard it is very emphasized to their behaviors. So yeah, I am not surprised of Bashir's reaction
 
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SleepyGator2.gif
I promised myself I wouldn't over Annalise this episode,.. So I didn't!
Homer versus tolerance was handled capably enough, but it made me feel slightly uncomfortable anyways. My favorite parts were Lisa's Mypod adventures, but that was just a side story. It was great to finally see Lisa get her comeuppance, (Take THAT! little Girl! )
.. it is my sad duty to take one star away and give it a less than perfect score ...... 4/5 <- don't worry, I still had a good time regardless.
 
By far my favorite episode of the season. The Mapple store scene with Bart on the mic had me dying of laughter. I thought Homer spying on the family was a great time for funny gags and witty humor. Some parts felt a bit Family Guyish, but it didn't phase me at all. The Bully scene gave me some Lulz.....
Dynamite scene was ok. The final Lisa scene was HILARIOUS. I literally died of laughter when she told him to "Click the Compassion bar" XDDDD....his response was very amusing.....

Glad to see a funny, new - fresh episode after getting settled in at home. KotH had a very humorous follow up episode. No new Family Guy, and will catch American Dad soon...

A- 4/5
 
You do know what syndication is right? If you saw "Bart's Girlfriend" that was your Fox station's decision, not the national Fox network. On the east coast we had a KOTH rerun at 7:30 and the new Simpsons at 8. If you're in the central timezone and everything's an hour earlier, then you should have had a KOTH rerun at 6:30 and the new Simpsons at 7, in which case, maybe your local Fox station opted to air a syndicated Simpsons rerun instead of the national airing of a KOTH rerun?

The point is, Fox's nationwide primetime Sunday lineup starts at 8 eastern, 7 central. Anything you see before then is up to your local Fox station and doesn't reflect what the rest of the country sees.

Thanks, my brain is made of shit
 
If I Could Shoot That Episode...So Help Me

Don't think I'll be able to watch this garbage too much longer. I just hated every part of it and for those of you who gave it higher than a 1/5, you are in denial. This was gawddawful. The Simpsons so badly would like to be as risky as Family Guy, but they have horrible execution. This is such a pathetic attempt to be relevant, but instead it just looks like the last attempt by desperately malignant faux-comedy writers. Boycott this episode. This was the worst.
 
It is actually a Muslim custom/golden rule to show courtesy and kindness to the strangers... I know it is something that we all learn, but for Muslims, I heard it is very emphasized to their behaviors. So yeah, I am not surprised of Bashir's reaction

Haha what, you read through my monstrosity?

Yeah, sure, but... I don't really buy it all. It was sudden and out of nowhere and extreme kindness to strangers can be a Muslim custom all it wants, but there wasn't anything in particular to show Bashir as being particularly religious at that point in time or anything (and this is probably just personal experience getting in the way for me, since I went to Jew school and nobody there, when we were ten year olds, seemed particularly interested in adhereing much to its key principles) and it just kind of showed really, really lazy writing to get them to suddenly be friends.

That and, you know, you can be kind all you want, but it's still totally reasonable for Bashir to have asked who Bart actually was before offering him food. And I would have expected his parents to have had a talk with him (pre-episode) about how American society is a touch different and it's still good to be... well... wary. Especially in this day and age.
 
Haha what, you read through my monstrosity?
Sure, why not. Your reviews like, cover a lot of things that I may have/definitely forgotten from the episode

Yeah, sure, but... I don't really buy it all. It was sudden and out of nowhere and extreme kindness to strangers can be a Muslim custom all it wants, but there wasn't anything in particular to show Bashir as being particularly religious at that point in time or anything (and this is probably just personal experience getting in the way for me, since I went to Jew school and nobody there, when we were ten year olds, seemed particularly interested in adhereing much to its key principles) and it just kind of showed really, really lazy writing to get them to suddenly be friends.

That and, you know, you can be kind all you want, but it's still totally reasonable for Bashir to have asked who Bart actually was before offering him food. And I would have expected his parents to have had a talk with him (pre-episode) about how American society is a touch different and it's still good to be... well... wary. Especially in this day and age.
Hmm, yeah. I think you do have a point. I was just wary of behavior of the Muslim and I was actually expecting to see several things demonstrated in the episode itself. In the one way, the writers' (who may have been aware of the particular custom) may have exaggerated it for the sake of lazy writing. I guess Bashir being kind to Bart is expected of me, but making them a friend in all of sudden is not

And... I dunno, I kind of assume Bashir is educated in his moral ways in Islam way and I can see that the family is Muslim one hint being Bashir's mother wearing the Muslim headdress (which is very mandatory for Muslim women). I think it's just a little stereotype of just how Muslims are devout to their religions, which is something I've read some time ago.
 
Don't think I'll be able to watch this garbage too much longer. I just hated every part of it and for those of you who gave it higher than a 1/5, you are in denial. This was gawddawful. The Simpsons so badly would like to be as risky as Family Guy, but they have horrible execution. This is such a pathetic attempt to be relevant, but instead it just looks like the last attempt by desperately malignant faux-comedy writers. Boycott this episode. This was the worst.
Wonders6.gif
... Yes, but did you Like it?
 
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