Rate/Review The Monkey Suit (HABF14)

How would you rate HABF14?

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From snpp

Ned Flanders gets Mayor Quimby to appoint Reverend Lovejoy as Springfield's "morality czar" dedicated to the cause of promoting Creationism and stamping out Evolution; when Lisa refuses to accept this, she is arrested and put on trial in a rehashing of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial (where teacher John Scopes was arrested for violating a Tennessee law which forbade teaching that humans descended from other animals).

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5/5, best of the season for me.

So many funny moments.

Are the oceans God's tears?
Homer's son's sister is right!
"Now Lisa's the Ralph!"
Little Moe Syzlak
Homer the missing link

Nice end with Flanders, though the Nelson as everyone was weird.
 
In case nobody knows, the entire opening sequence about Bart fitting a whole summer into one day is an extended outtake from the very beginning of "I'm Spelling As Fast as I Can".
 
4/5 I thought it was funny the LSM joke was funny. But the ending seemed a little rushed but still good.
 
Tomacco said:
In case nobody knows, the entire opening sequence about Bart fitting a whole summer into one day is an extended outtake from the very beginning of "I'm Spelling As Fast as I Can".
Click to expand...

very interesting - it was a great sequence and they did a pretty smooth job of adding it here

great ep "curse my slow gavelling..."
 
3/5

solid topical episode. there were some gags that I found myself giggling at but nothing really too funny. marge's picture with the met life snoopy was probably my favorite part.
 
5/5
I"m very impressed. Original jokes, a well handled plot, and Little Moe Szyslak. Who could ask for anything more. One of the best of the season.
 
barfly said:
very interesting - it was a great sequence and they did a pretty smooth job of adding it here

great ep "curse my slow gavelling..."
Click to expand...

Funnily enough, right when the episode started with the shot of Bart barefoot on the couch watching Booberella I thought somehow a rerun of "I'm Spelling.." was put in place of the new episode.

Vigilant Simpsons fans from around here may remember a shot of Bart's summer romance being featured in the Fox promos for "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can" way back in 2003 when it first aired.


As for tonight's episode - I was a little unimpressed. I felt it was more or less a useless addition of an episode with the better "Lisa the Skeptic" tackling the subject 8 years ago. Nevertheless, the story was still decent by its own right. There were a few solid gags, a few lame ones, and a quick resolution, which amounts to a really mixed bag of an episode.

3/5
 
Funny episode. Good story. I figured Marge would be constitantly on the side of Creationism.

L.M.S. was my favorite joke.
 
the simpsons is normally good at showing how people on both sides of arguments go too far and how foolish this is, lisa the vegetarian for example. but this episode didn't do that too well. having lisa be more adamant and over the top in her beliefs would have made it a better episode for me at least.
 
Tomacco said:
Funnily enough, right when the episode started with the shot of Bart barefoot on the couch watching Booberella I thought somehow a rerun of "I'm Spelling.." was put in place of the new episode.
Click to expand...
Now it makes perfect sense why the rarely seen (and with good reason) Boobarella was in this ep. That part was 3 years old.
 
The best thing about tonight, even better than this episode of the Simpsons, is the fact that tonight is the last episode of Malcolm in the Middle.
 
I am appaled. Why did I make my name Lisalover1? I should change it to hide my shame... Lisa, how could you betray me? :( :'(
 
I enjoyed the episode as the rehashing of the Scopes-Monkey trial, but there seemed to be too many things going on before the main plot caught on. Even once it started, too many things seemed to be just added in there to make the episode longer (apparently the episode was still too short since they went through the entire full opening sequence and even had a longer-than-normal couch gag). Few of the jokes did anything for me and there were a handful of cringeworthy moments. Plus the animation in this episode seemed unusually bad and everything seemed rushed. On the plus side though, Carl and Lenny's dialouge lately has been excellent, as were some other portions of the episode. But "Lisa the Skeptic" pulled off an idea like this so much better. Flanders seemed out of character as he yelled way too much and was bitterly angry for too much of the episode. Not one of the better episodes of the season.
3/5
 
Tomacco said:
In case nobody knows, the entire opening sequence about Bart fitting a whole summer into one day is an extended outtake from the very beginning of "I'm Spelling As Fast as I Can".
Click to expand...
I remember Al Jean mentioning that the entire part was cut, and I thought of it immediately, but couldn’t remember the episode when it was airing, which means the episode must have been really short at one point, between this segment and the long main title sequence.

I liked this episode, everything was solid. The satire wasn’t as strong as it could have been, but it wasn’t weak like the Bart-Mangled Banner. Lisa’s characterization was good, much better than it was in Lisa the Skeptic where she played a similar role. I didn’t like Homer at all, giving beer to Bart, trying to have sex with Marge when she wasn’t interested. The ending with Homer as the connection was predictable, but there really wasn’t any other way for them to go from that point. His antics were over the top, but they didn’t bother me that much. B
 
I don't recall the promo in question, but yeah, the beginning did seem strangely familiar. It's like they occasionally work aborted scenes from previous episodes into future episodes.

This episode kinda reminded me of Lisa the Skeptic, another religion-vs.-science episode where Lisa was in the minority against a town grounded heavily on religious beliefs.

Though not as strong, it was an interesting topical episode, and some of the besting storytelling for the season. I can't recall any real bad jokes here, but that goes to show what can happen when they do it right. :thumbsup

4.5/5

Wasteland said:
The best thing about tonight, even better than this episode of the Simpsons, is the fact that tonight is the last episode of Malcolm in the Middle.
Click to expand...

Amen, bro! :D
 
4/5 B+

This is 5/5 for new episode standards. Top notch stuff. The story moved fairly smoothly, the jokes were spot on throughout, as was the satire. I laughed out loud several times. I liked "why is Darwin making out with satan?" Homer was particularly funny in this one, too. Seeing him giggle on the trampoline was hilarious. Good character usage of Ned.

Long ass first act, btw. Ok, so the court scene did seem a little rushed. However, overall I'm impressed, and was very entertained. I might even called it the second best of the season, behind The Seemingly Never Ending Story.
 
Tomacco said:
Funnily enough, right when the episode started with the shot of Bart barefoot on the couch watching Booberella I thought somehow a rerun of "I'm Spelling.." was put in place of the new episode.

Vigilant Simpsons fans from around here may remember a shot of Bart's summer romance being featured in the Fox promos for "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can" way back in 2003 when it first aired.
Click to expand...
Also, realize that this ep's script got re-worked a while back, and they decided use the old 'Spelling' opener when this ep was still imagined to be the S18 Opener. When the rejiggered the running schedule, the appropriateness of the 'summer's end' situation was sacrificed.


Wasn't Maggie Roswell great?
 
Tomacco said:
Vigilant Simpsons fans from around here may remember a shot of Bart's summer romance being featured in the Fox promos for "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can" way back in 2003 when it first aired.
Click to expand...

I knew it! That girl looked very familiar...

Anway, this episode delt with the evolution/creation angle which doesn't really interest me. Otherwise, the first act was pretty good and the rest I tuned out of.

2/5
 
Well, one good thing about this episode: It proves that Lisa's middle name is Marie. Also, Jake: I agree. I got deja vu when I saw that girl.
 
Was not as good as I thought it would be considering the topic. The story flowed along well enough despite all the add on gags that were thrown in.

In general I have to wonder whats with all the pointless make out scenes latley, I find it more disturbing than funny. And Homer seemed to revert back to jerkassishness way too often here, although apparently for the purpose of him acting like an animal in the courtroom.

Some things that made me laugh were Homer saying "when you get to third base, I'll buy you a beer". Moe referring to Sideshow Mel as "Boner". Little Moe Syzlak, and Kent Brockman reporting from the jury.

Some things I didnt like were Homer shooting himself and throwing food like a jerkass, Lenny telling Carl he has a new hero. And I'm really starting to get tired of Milhouse yelling "wazuuuup", even with the intended pun.

Overall it was good, but they could have gone alot deeper with this subject. 3/5
 
Decent episode. Did feel like a bit of a Lisa the skeptic rehash, but in this one I felt that Lisa was a bit more reasonable and less pushy. A couple of pretty funny gags: little moe syzlak, "so it is agreed, normal people can park in handicap spaces if they are just running in for some cigarettes or poptarts."

But the plot was very rushed and I felt the ending was a huge cop out, even my mother said it was wasted potential.

Nothing horrible, about commonplace for this season 3/5

On a side note I watched the series finale of malcolm after, I hadn't seen that show in years. My god it isn't what it used to be.
 
Puzzle Pieces

Does anyone know what show was being referenced with the puzzle pieces and music towards the end of the episode. It's driving me nuts - I thought it was the '68 Britsh TV series "The Prisoner" but I downloaded the soundtrack and that's not it.

(The Pink Panther??)
 
3/5

There were some really funny moments like:

- Little Moe Szyslak
- Homer acting like an ape
- Barney: Homer's son's sister is right (He's always funny) :lol:

but I didn't feel it lived up to all the hype it got. Creationism vs. Darwinism is a good, controversial topic but I felt that Lisa's arguments were a little weak. I was expecting an episode with a little more edge like "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star" Also, I thought the episode was a little rushed and what was up with Nelson pretending to be Milhouse in a Lisa outfit and Rodd (or was it Todd?) at the end?? :confused:

Overall, good episode but nothing spectacular.

I hope next week's season finale, "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play," goes off on a better note! :)
 
phila_jesse said:
the simpsons is normally good at showing how people on both sides of arguments go too far and how foolish this is, lisa the vegetarian for example. but this episode didn't do that too well. having lisa be more adamant and over the top in her beliefs would have made it a better episode for me at least.
Click to expand...
I agree 100%. The episode wouldve been a lot better if they had ridiculed pro-evolution zealots as much as they ridiculed young-earth creationist Christians. The fact that the writers were strong anti-creationist/pro-evolution partisans just shone through, e.g. the ending, which is not in the simpsons tradition of making fun of & satirizing everyone
 
Bob Sacamano said:
I agree 100%. The episode wouldve been a lot better if they had ridiculed pro-evolution zealots as much as they ridiculed young-earth creationist Christians. The fact that the writers were strong anti-creationist/pro-evolution partisans just shone through, e.g. the ending, which is not in the simpsons tradition of making fun of & satirizing everyone
Click to expand...
This definitely wasn't as fair and even-handed as Rock Bottom's handling of the Sasquatch, but so what?

The "pro-evolution zealots" are people who believe in objective science. The Christians are the ones who want to teach literature in a science class. The episode painted the picture very well. Ned wasn't a nasty psycho-Christian like he has been in recent past, so I thought the episode was pretty balanced, with Lisa in Skeptic mode and Ned in relatively normal Christian mode.
 
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