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VI (Season 7, Episode 6, Aired October 29th, 1995)
Well, the first segment, “Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores” has a reference to Night of the Living Dead, so there’s that. Again, another that’s just not very good. Some good gags (like Bart acting as both sides of a devil sign’s conscience or Paul Anka making an appearance, with his lameness ultimately saving), but it’s just sort of a weird concept (like is it a parody of something, or just a satire of advertising mascots?), and the joke seems to be “there are parodies of mascots, and they’re rampaging, like they’re in ….”, oh you know what, this might be a parody of 50’s monster movies. Still doesn’t really work.
I like the Tex Avery style opening of the next segment, “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace”, with the more fluid animation and the over-the-top gags. Remember when I said (or implied) that “The Shinning” worked whether or not you’ve seen The Shining. Well, this one kind of works a little better if you’ve seen its source, the 1984 Wes Craven movie A Nightmare on Elm Street. Not to say there aren’t funny gags unrelated to that film (“the 13th hour of the 13th day of the 13th month” referring to a misprinted calendar with “Smarch”), but the parody works better if you’ve seen the film or really any one of the sequels and you get the specific scenes it’s referencing. Still, I have seen all the Nightmare on Elm Street films, so I did get all the references, and I did like the way it put Groundskeeper Willie into the Freddy Kruger role, especially the multiple transformations he undergoes. It is interesting that this was a relatively recent movie being mocked, a mere ten years before this episode came out. If you’re a Nightmare fan, I do think it’s worth watching.
The third segment, “Homer³” is apparently another parody of “that Twilighty show about that Zone” as the segment puts it. This one also based on a Richard Matheson short story, “Little Girl Lost”. I’ve actually never seen this particular episode, but you can’t help but at least admire this segment on its technical achievement alone. The CGI is dated, but for 1995, it would’ve been a little impressive. Plus, without the constraint of realism, 3-D Homer looks very impressive, especially his movement, like when he burps. I liked the gag about Tron (I actually had a similar discussion about a short time ago.) That final gag where Homer emerges in live-action is… cool. Apparently, Fox didn’t like this gag, but really it’s one of the more interesting gags. Personally, I like all the people being confused by Homer’s presence.
Good episode, though I wouldn’t call it great. Not a lot of great material here. I like the next one fine, so there’s that.
