Monday, March 12, 2012

The Simpsons Meet Uncle Scrooge? In Your Dreams!


I wonder how many Disney Duck comic fans saw the March 11, 2012 broadcast of THE SIMPSONS, titled “How I Wet Your Homer”. 
And, did those fortunate fans feel a faint familiarity? 
You see, suffering a guilty conscience over throwing his co-workers under the bus to Mr. Burns, Homer develops a bed-wetting problem! 

To get at the root cause of his shame-fueled sheet soakings, the rest of the family – with the help of “convenient source of miracles” Professor Frink – infiltrate and live within HOMER’S DREAMS, and have a wild ride doing so! 

Yes, really… See HERE! 

Now, go to your bookshelves and long-boxes and pull out your copy of 2004’s UNCLE SCROOGE # 329, and re-familiarize yourself with Don Rosa’s “The Dream of a Lifetime”, in which Donald Duck – with the help of “convenient source of miracles” Gyro Gearloose – infiltrates and lives within SCROOGE’S DREAMS, and has a wild ride doing so!

Yes, once again… See HERE! 

Hey… I’m not gonna say that anyone involved with THE SIMPSONS has even the tiniest shread of awareness of Duck comics, but…

Naaah!  It’s probably just another one of those Coincidences in Writing”! 

Or, maybe there was some movie or sumpthin' that did the same thing...
Nevertheless, it’s really kinda cool to have UNCLE SCROOGE and THE SIMPSONS do the same story! 

And, anyway… Bob Clampett did it first with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, back in 1946! 

Th-Th-That's All Folks!  

4 comments:

Adel Khan said...

You can imagine my surprise, when I saw this post at the time. Where do I begin? Before warned Joe, it is a LONG LONG post.

What I enjoy about “THE SIMPSONS” is it perfectly blends humour and occasionally heart. The many allusions to pop-culture, be it a mention to “Hanna-Barbera”, “Bewitched”, “Rocky and Bullwinkle”, etc is neat.

Back when I was in grade six, my interest in “Donald Duck” and “The Simpsons” were colliding. I could draw many parallels between the two.

*I always thought Duckburg was similar to Springfield.
*How between Donald and Homer was they have hopped from so many jobs.
Years later when viewing the short “Donald’s Crime” (1945) Donald purloining his nephews piggy bank reminded me of what Homer did to Bart’s savings in season ones “Homer’s Oddessy”.

My late friend Ian, and I would recite dialogue, recall scenes many a time from “The Simpsons”. We would sing “Mr. Plow”, “A Street Car Named Marge” (the infamous song defaming New Orleans), “The Monorail Song”, and many others.

“Dream Of A Lifetime” is one of my favourite Rosa stories. I got a kick out of seeing Scrooge’s reaction, “Nephew! What the @*%# are you doing here?!”, upon Donald interrupting a course of his memories. It was heart-wrenching and touching to have seen Donald encountering his mom, despite her being a toddler and not recognizing him.

The final dream where a klondike Scrooge sees Goldie, and I assume they were taking their relationship to another level was interesting. Hope I am not reading too much into that scene or misinterpreting it..I liked the anxious expression Don Rosa drew on Scrooge and Goldie’s face was done well. Scott Rockwell’s colouring adds to the melancholy mood in tandem with the shadowing.

Now onto “How I Wet Your Mother”. It was ludicrous seeing Homer and his fellow employees stealing the affordable office supplies. The reference to Homer’s identies (Mr. Plow, Fat Homer, Angry Dad, and Pie Man) on Mr. Simpsons’ Wild Ride was good. The background where the family enters Homer’s id was very creative.

If you will excuse me, I am of to write a crossover between “Donald Duck and “The Simpsons”.

Joe Torcivia said...

We LIKE “long comments” around here, Adel! …I’ve been known to leave an occasional one myself!

Not so coincidently, I’ve also drawn the parallel between Duckburg and Springfield – "rich old man", "wacky inventor", and particularly in the way the respective populations would “go crazy” with different manias.

“Marge vs. the Monorail”, to this day, remains one of my most favorite episodes – to the point where I paraphrased my favorite line of the episode on the last page of “Heads You Win… Tails You Bruise”.

…I’d have probably “paid a few pence” to hear you guys singing the “Monorail Song” – and would have requested the “Stonecutters Song” and the “Shary Bobbins” songs to boot!

“If you will excuse me, I am off to write a crossover between “Donald Duck and “The Simpsons”.”

You’re excused, only if you tell us when it’s done! :-)

Adel Khan said...

Hi I’m Adel Khan you may remember me from such posts as:"Yogi Bear Goes to Disneyland – This Time for Real?”,"The Case for DVD and Blu-Ray!”and many others.

We would have been ready to sing “Stonecutters Song” and the “Shary Bobbins” songs!

I can’t decide whether “Moaning Lisa” or “Marge vs. The Monorail” would be my favorite episode.
I like how the former for it's emotional depth, while the later is pure fun.

I am assuming you watched “THE SIMPSONS” from it’s first season. Have you ever felt the show dip in quality? What would be your favourite season? Do you enjoy listening to the DVD commentaries?

As a bonus treat, here is a reunion of the early Simpsons writers.. I can imagine the camaraderie between them. Enjoy! I learned about the lack of Phil Hartman’s characters, and that the infamous John Swartzwelder wrote many episodes.

I relate to a similar experience, where personal issues in your life take importance, and the joys of tuning in to watch “THE SIMPSONS” on Sunday evening no longer existed. I stopped watching the show in either the fourth or fifth episode of season 17.

Six years later, while eating dinner, I caught a rerun of the episode “THE PRESIDENT WORE PEARLS”. Oh! How I enjoyed watching it again. It had been a very long time, since I had seen this episode. My favourite part was when Lisa was given an Eva Peron makeover, done to the tune of “Rainbow High” from Evita.I liked Lisa’s transformation. I started watching the show again that Sunday, with the episode “THE TEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION”. You know what? It was as enjoyable as ever!

There was one reference in “THE TEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION” which amused me endlessly was, when Bart fired the pistol Sheriff Baby used only for it to split a seam in Homer’s pants. Homer remarked about how the rip would have revealed a tattoo of Donald Duck smoking a doob, which was meant for Marge’s eyes only.

I was teasing about the crossover. It would end up being like "The Family Guy" crossover. If I could find a twist on it. I would follow up on writing it.

Joe Torcivia said...

Adel:

You write:

“Hi I’m Adel Khan you may remember me from such posts as:"Yogi Bear Goes to Disneyland – This Time for Real?”,"The Case for DVD and Blu-Ray!”and many others.”

Um… Troy McClure called from the grave. He wants his bit back… Or expects you to pay royalties!

I actually began watching THE SIMSPONS in its SECOND SEASON, when it was on Thursday nights. Before that, being the DC Comics fan that I am, I was watching THE FLASH. Anyone else remember that?

With the staggering number of episodes, I no longer think it’s possible to rank them in any meaningful way, beyond “These are my most favorites!”

The earlier seasons have left a greater impression on me (and I presume it’s the same for most folks) because I’ve SEEN THEM REPEATED MORE OFTEN. I also can’t honestly note a “dip”, for the reasons cited here. I’ll just say later seasons may be “different” in tonal quality, and leave it at that.

Season 11, which seems to be regarded as a lesser season – and occurred smack in the thick of my most tumultuous times, so I hardly watched any of it until DVD – was something I enjoyed very much, so who can ever really say. I REALLY liked the supposed worst episode ever, “Saddlesore Galactica” precisely BECAUSE it was so weird, for what that’s worth.

I absolutely LOVE the commentaries! As a (would-be) writer, myself, I very much enjoy them, especially those with the writers. The conversations are not unlike when David Gerstein, Jonathan Gray, and I get together as discuss Disney comics!