Scullyfied Simpsons: “Trilogy of Error” (Season 12, Episode 18)

Homer: “Linguo… dead?”
Linguo: “Linguo… is dead.”

Airdate: April 29th, 2001

Written By: Matt Selman

Plot: The Simpson clan, known for ordinary days going out of hand, have one hell of a doozy through three separate events. Homer’s silliness results in his thumb getting cut off, and his quest to get it reattached is thwarted at many a turn. Lisa’s drive to get to the school science fair is detoured thanks to less than ideal directions. Concurrently, Bart and Milhouse wind up part of a fireworks sting operation. The connections between the three threads wind up more consequential than the trio suspect at first glance.

Review:

Am I done yet?

As you can infer from this (and most of my recent Simpsons reviews), I’ve reached the breaking point with this show. I reached it a long time ago, but I’m just about ready to power through and finally shove it into the rearview mirror and stick to the golden era until the day I become worm food.

You know what? I’m calling it. These next four reviews are all going to be Simpsons reviews. I’ve thought about it before, but “Simpsons Safari” might have finally broken the remnants of my spirit. I’ve been reviewing this show’s decline into sub-mediocrity for six-and-a-half years, and it’s time to move the hell on, find something new. I’ve already found that something new, but might as well clean the old out before moving to pastures that haven’t been left without maintenance for lengthy periods of time.

BRING IT ON, SIMPSONS WRITERS! BRING IT ON!

Fortunately for me, the show has seen it fit to throw me a bone. And a really tasty bone, at that! I speak no hyperbole when I say that “Trilogy of Error” might just be the best episode from Mike Scully’s tenure as showrunner. I would even go as far as to say that it would fit firmly in the middle of a ranking of “golden era” episodes.

The Prisoner Review: “Hammer into Anvil” (Episode 12)

The Cat: Wait, I know this game. It’s called “cat and mouse”, and there’s only one way to win; don’t be the mouse.
Lister: What are you saying?
The Cat: I’m saying the mouse never wins. Not unless you believe those lying cartoons. We don’t run – we strike. It’s the last thing they’ll be expecting.
Rimmer: No, the last thing they’ll be expecting is for us to turn into ice skating mongooses and to dance the Bolero.
– “Gunmen of the Apocalypse”, Red Dwarf. Hey, pretty much sums up this episode in a nutshell.

Airdate: December 1st, 1967

Written By: Roger Woddis

Plot: Six watches the new Number Two (Patrick Cargill) in his zone – mentally manipulating a woman into leaping out of a window, all without showing remorse. While meeting Six, this Two informs him of an old analogy – one can either be the hammer or the anvil, and he intends to be the hammer to break the anvil. Six decides to play his game and appeal to his paranoia by becoming a jammer.

Review:

The question that forms the center of The Prisoner is a rather simple one – who is Number Six? As the episodes go on, we do get a firmer grasp of his character, his past, and we do get hints at what drove him to his epochal resignation from the civil service, all while leaving the answer until I suspect, the very end. (Again, I’m watching this show for the first time. Left a good impression on me thus far, but there are still five episodes after this one.)

But the flip side to that question is grander, more encompassing, a bit more symbolic, a broader representation of the society we live in.

Who is Number Two?

Really, the decision to make Number Two multiple characters elevated this already brilliant show into something ingenious. After all, Number Two can now be used to symbolize the various faces of government – the brash, the populist, the technocrat, the suave, the youthful, the old guard, et cetera. One thing that remains certain is that the only thing genuine about those who yield the role of Number Two is the rather consistent duplicity emanating from their actions.

It’s as if the writers of this show intended to say, no matter who or what your head of government is or what their personality has been, prepare yourself for immeasurable disappointment as they leave you in the dust, stripping you of your autonomy and liberty as they reap the benefits.

And let’s be real here – I don’t think many of us would consider any of the Number Twos upstanding people. But it does feel like a few of them carried themselves with at least some decorum and civility, even if they had ulterior motives concerning their conduct towards Number Two.

None of this applies here – in an episode with probably the most vicious and antagonistic Number Two to date.

Scullyfied Simpsons: “Behind the Laughter” (Season 11, Episode 22)

“They were the first family of American laughter, surfing a tidal wave of hilarity onto the sands of Superstar Bay. But behind the chortles, this funny fivesome was trapped in a private hell. […] Tonight: the Simpsons as you’ve never seen them before, on “Behind the Laughter”.” – Jim Forbes. Yes, that Jim Forbes. This is gonna be something…

Airdate: May 21st, 2000

Written By: Tim Long, George Meyer, Mike Scully, Matt Selman

Plot: In an alternate world, The Simpsons is but a sitcom starring the Simpson family, written by the family themselves. Ergo, we get a documentary revolving around this family. Homer, feeling disillusioned with the state of television families, ships his script to networks, and winds up picked up by FOX. Success comes quickly, but production strains begin to tear the family apart.

Review:

I’m not going to mince words – this is the last episode of Season 11, and thank god it’s over. In retrospect, I’ve spent two years covering each season of Mike Scully’s take on the show – Season 9, I covered from September 2013 to April 2015, although a lot of those earlier reviews were not quite as long as they are now. Season 10, I took on from June 2015 to June 2017 (literally almost two years to the date.) And Season 11, from July 2017 to the Spring of 2019.

Six years, I have spent watching what was once one of the greatest TV shows of all time, if not the greatest, collapse into utter tripe. Season 9 was the show starting to slip, Season 10 had the show stumble over, and Season 11 demonstrated a complete freefall into absurdity that even The Prisoner would call demented. Trust me, I’m making my way through that piece of ’60s weirdness. In short, I am now expecting Season 12 and the Scully leftovers in Season 13 to be one, twelve-hour-long death rattle before Al Jean is given the keys to let the show formally sink into an innocuous, incompetent, cliche-driven money pit.

There’s one more episode to go, though, in what is probably the worst season of The Simpsons ever. I’ll argue why I think that in my season wrap-up/Top 11 Worst Episodes List, because depending on how you count The Simpsons, it has a lot of competition. But for now, in this season that broke the grounds of reality, characterization, and plot development… we finally have the show throw up its hands and shatter the one barrier left, the fourth wall.

Time to go “Behind the Laughter”.

The Prisoner Review: “The Schizoid Man” (Episode 8)

Lister: (having watched a Psiren that took his form get shot) How did you know that wasn’t me?
Cat: Because that dude could play!
Lister: (aggravated) He was no better than me.
Kryten: That’s the way you believe you can play. That way, when the Psiren read your mind, he shared your delusion that you are not a ten-thumbed, tone-deaf, talentless noise polluter.
– “Psirens”, Red Dwarf. (I can use Red Dwarf quotes all day.)

Airdate: October 27th, 1967.

Written By: Terence Feely

Plot: Six finds himself replaced! No, seriously, he finds himself awake one day, demoted to Twelve. As in, he now has the personality of Number Twelve. Twelve, meanwhile, has been promoted to Number Six – as in, he has the personality of Number Six. This, of course, is meant as an extremely complex game of chess by Number Two, who claims that he wants to break Twelve (who is now Six).

Basically, what I’m saying is, this episode might come off as confusing at first glance. Then again, you could say the same for most of the episodes of this show.

Review:

One of the central themes of The Prisoner thus far is the power of the individual within a society. More specifically, the show demonstrates this by stripping said individual authority from everybody in The Village. Everything within is meant to be for the good of the increasingly milquetoast society – but not the society, the higher-ups who decide what is right and what is wrong. Even the facade of democracy, for instance, is just that – a facade. Contradict the powers that be, and best case scenario, you are replaced. Worst case scenario, you wind up psychologically tortured, broken beyond any sort of comprehension… your personality stripped from you.

And that’s assuming that The Village is insular. Odds are, it’s not – it’s becoming clear that we are dealing with a national outpost meant to hide the troublemakers and saboteurs, or something akin to that. This is a nation likely committing crimes against their citizens for daring to expose their more insidious underbelly. Thus, we get a slow breakdown of the citizen as a result.

Now, what if the next step was to replace the individual entirely – with a body double, for instance?

Welcome to “The Schizoid Man”, part 8 of our 17-part look at Patrick McGoohan’s thus-far epic spy-fi drama.

The Prisoner Review: “The Chimes of Big Ben” (Episode 5)

Well, at least we now know that Six would actually win the art aspect of a Robolympics, no matter what the topic may be.

“You really are the limit, Number Six!” – Number Two, pretty much summing up the protagonist of this really surreal adventure.

Airdate: October 6th, 1987

Written By: Vincent Tilsley

Plot: New to the village is a woman, simply with the name of Nadia. The new Number Eight, Nadia is just as hellbent on escaping the village as Six has been. However, her torture is much more direct when compared to Six’s. Staggered by this, Six offers to horse trade – in exchange for protecting Nadia, Six will participate in an upcoming crafts show. However, that is just a cover for the two escapee-wannabes to formulate their escape from The Village.

Review:

Much has been made of the idiosyncratic order that The Prisoner operates on. If one was to watch the episode in the order that the episodes were sent out by ITV, many fans would argue that the viewer would end up more confused than ever before. Which, considering what I’ve seen in the past four episodes, is quite an impressive feat.

Yes, you could argue that this show is more episodic than the television that we here in the 2010s are used to. But the point still stands, there existed this conflict between network and production. Possibly, this tied to reports suggesting that the network having to relent on a limited number of episodes – 17 instead of their recommended 26 or 36, which would’ve made the show an easier sell to CBS (given the length of our TV seasons here in the States.)

Anyway, this episode is the second one to be produced. What would’ve made this episode stand out as a second one? What sent it back to fifth? And, most importantly, is it any good?

The Prisoner Review: “Dance of the Dead” (Episode 3)

“If our torment is to end, if liberty is to be restored, we must grasp the nettle, even though it makes our hands bleed. Only through pain can tomorrow be assured.” – The Mysterious Radio Broadcast.

Airdate: November 17th, 1967

Written By: Anthony Skene

Plot: Carnival has come around to The Village. It’s another day of democratic frivolity, where people are allowed to bring their partners to dance. Lucky Six – he just got out of a brutal round of torture. Contemplating it after another escape attempt fails, he stumbles across a radio on a dead man. Taking it, he hears a distinctly libertarian message, quoted above. With a new gravitas, and warned by an old comrade of his, he decides to take part in the carnival. But is it the frivolity that it appears to be at first glance?

Review:

“Dance of the Dead” is a rather interesting episode of The Prisoner, based on how one can put it in the lineup… or rather, how it should go in the lineup. Despite airing 8th on the UK’s ITV Network, Patrick McGoohan has suggested that this episode should go second in a chronology of “important” episodes – seven episodes that are said to best enhance the plot and character development within the show. The order, according to him, reads…

1. Arrival
2. Free For All
3. Dance of the Dead
4. Checkmate
5. The Chimes of Big Ben
6. Once Upon A Time
7. Fall Out

The Six of One appreciation society – the order that I am using for my review series –  agrees with that order, but includes the other ten episodes omitted by McGoohan. I mean, after all, there might be some hints within those ten episodes to the true state of Number Six’s situation, new characters, and how to best build the world around our protagonist.

However, McGoohan only wanted to do seven episodes, rather typical for a British drama. To sell the show to the states, however, the producers wanted 30 episodes. They settled on 17. Hence, the debacle of new fans watching The Prisoner to this day.

Based on the order that I’m watching the episodes in, not only does Number Six find himself trapped on the island, but the next episode took the concept of Democracy that he was so used to and destroyed it right in front of his face, absolutely crushing him and his spirit.

So, now what?

“Dance of the Dead”, the third episode I’m covering so far, is probably the silliest episode so far… as well as the most insane.

And that’s saying something.

The Prisoner Review: “Arrival” (Episode 1)

It’s like bizarro Busch Gardens!

“Where am I?”
“The Village.”
– Number Six and Number Two. The latter would make an excellent tour guide.

Airdate: 29 September 1967

Written By: George Markstein and David Tomblin.

Plot: A British Intelligence agent resigns his commission in a fit of anger. Driving back to his house to pack a suitcase, his house is gassed, and he is knocked out. When he comes to, he finds himself in a mysterious village. No one can give him answers as to where, and no one – least of all the government – will help him out. In fact, the government of the Village appears to want him there…

Review:

The very first scene of The Prisoner contains no audible dialogue. A man on a mission, throwing down his dossier and resigning. A life that we are obscured from in terms of the voices of the actors within, but we see being torn to shreds. We only get a few minutes of that, but those few minutes set up what we need to know – that the life of our protagonist beforehand is to be taken away, dusted off like it was nothing.

Our protagonist knows that his maneuver there would produce a dramatic and possibly life-threatening result, and tried his damnedest to stay ahead of the curve… unaware that there are those ahead of him, and willing to do whatever to make sure that our protagonist pays a hefty price.

Ladies and gentlemen? Welcome to my review series on The Prisoner.

Welcome to “Arrival”.

Red Dwarf Review: “M-Corp” (Series XII, Episode 5)

“Welcome to M-Corp – a pay-per-life, virtual integrated environment. Most people who come stay forever!” – M-Corp representative. What a soothing thing to learn!

Airdate: November 9th, 2017

Written By: Doug Naylor

Plot: An update to the Red Dwarf‘s software reveals that the ship – in fact, the whole of the JMC – has been purchased out by M-Corp, a mega-corporation that has also brought out the whole of Earth. They inject a virus into Lister that eliminates his ability to see anything not made or employed by M-Corp – read, the Posse. Desperate for any contact with his friends, he decides to enter the M-Corp’s core, which is the poor man’s “Better Than Life”… and much like that game, almost kills him through his id.

Review:

On February 15, 1988, at 9:00 PM GMT, BBC Two debuted a brand new science fiction series. Entitled Red Dwarf, it revolved around two polar-opposite bunkmates – the fastidious and acerbic and incompetent Rimmer, and the warm-hearted yet lazy Lister – aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf. They were the bottom of the rung, much to Lister’s contentment and Rimmer’s contempt. Within 30 minutes, Rimmer made it so that they were the last men standing – Lister’s warm heart towards his cat kept him alive in stasis, while Rimmer’s incompetence wiped everybody else out and damned him to an eternity with Lister as a hologram. A fitting fate, in hindsight.

Anyway, Red Dwarf has changed through the years – Series II showcased a shift to more expansive settings, Series III-V showcased a shift to an ensemble Star Trek parody, Series VI took on a more action-based route, VII was closer to dramedy, VIII was a prison comedy (results may vary), Series IX was basically The Movie, X-XI were closer to III-V, and XII is more of a social commentary than anything – ironically following somewhat in Star Trek‘s footsteps.

In fact, XII has been peculiar as it has made the Red Dwarf universe a little less lonely. Sure, the crew have faced many other characters before (the Enlightenment, the Simulants, the GELFS), but what always stood out through most of the series is just how despairing the scenario for the crew is. Earth is three million years away, and any returns have been in part through time travel (be it 1988 Nodnol or 1924 America). Series XII, meanwhile, has brought us Telford’s base, the Mechanoid Liberationists, and unfortunately for me, the Enconium. Lacking in those episodes is the aura of loneliness and despair that had once made its way through the earlier series of Red Dwarf.

In some ways, that’s not a bad thing – shows evolve, more so today compared to 1988. But it does make you wonder if there’s still a point to the series, or if maybe the show’s raison d’etre is running dry. Well, “M-Corp” does go quite a way to try and restore that sense of despair, all while mixing in that sense of social commentary present in Series XII – and this time, going more pointed than the show has ever gone before. The result is an episode that I can safely say is the best of the series, and possibly a contender for the best of the Dave era.

Gravity Falls Review: "Weirdmageddon III – Take Back The Falls" (Season 2, Episode 20)

Massive Inter-dimensional pyramid with bowtie used mega fist pound! It’s not very effective.

Airdate: February 15th, 2016

Synopsis: After going through the sugar-coated hell that was Mabeland, Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy team up with a group of refugees taking shelter in the Mystery Shack alongside Stan. There, they devise a plan to rescue Ford and bring down Bill. Thing is, Stan is remiss over rescuing somebody he feels screwed up purely on impulse. He begrudgingly goes along, but his feud with Ford almost brings the Pines family – and, on a larger scale, the entire town of Gravity Falls, Oregon – to the brink of death.

Review: First off, a personal note. I can’t believe that this is the last one of these new episode reviews that I’ll do for this show. Sure, I’ll re-review the show in the not-too-distant future, maybe set up a “tribute” site, but it won’t really feel the same. The waiting for every Gravity Falls episode will never be experienced again.

With that said…

“Ah, summer break. A time for leisure, recreation, and taking her easy… unless you’re me. My name is Dipper – the girl about to puke is my sister, Mabel. You may be wondering what we’re doing in a golf cart, fleeing from a creature of unimaginable horror.

Rest assured – there’s a perfectly logical explanation…“

On June 15th, 2012, with those words, we were introduced to the world of Gravity Falls, thanks to the Disney Channel. Initially coming off as merely a quirky Disney cartoon, within 22 minutes, the show unveiled itself as something more complex and brilliant. What was Grunkle Stan doing at the end of that last episode? Who did write that journal? As it turns out, we were about to go on a beautiful journey.

Forty-four months later (to the day, no less), the long, long, long summer ended. So, how did this last episode close it all out?

Warning before we go further… spoilers are legion. Watch the episode before you go any further. I am dead. Serious.

Movie Review: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

“The battle for galactic peace has begun…” (Screencap from Wikipedia, poster by John Alvin.)

Premiere: December 6th, 1991

Synopsis: The moon that provides the Klingon Empire’s energy suffers a major disaster, releasing ozone onto the planet. This potentially condemns the empire to a maximum of fifty years, should the planet not reign in it’s military expenditures. The Federation is ready to broker a treaty between them and the empire, and sends Captain James T Kirk and the Enterprise out to make a truce. Thing is, Kirk doesn’t trust the Klingons – something about them stabbing his son and wrecking his old ship doesn’t endear them to him.

Just after a series of awkward talks between the Klingon Ambassadors and the Enterprise (appointed ambassadors), the latter ship fires on the former’s ship, killing the Klingon Chancellor. With no knowledge of who did it, Kirk and Dr. McCoy stand trial and face life in prison, and the two forces appear on the brink of war.

Review: Well, it took far longer than I expected (again, my apologies), but here we are. The last movie solely based off of Star Trek: The Original Series, and the last film produced during Gene Roddenberry’s lifetime (he died a month and a half before the premiere, but got an advance screening two days before he died).

After the utter disaster that was Star Trek V, nobody was sure what to do with Star Trek VI. In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was the franchise’s 25th anniversary, and that TNG had done alright in the ratings so far, Paramount probably would’ve sunk Star Trek into history. After waffling around as to what the plot would be, the end result is actually a genuinely moving film – an arguably overlooked classic in the Trek canon.

(Warning: spoilers. Proceed at your own peril. Or disappointment. Hey, it’s a movie.)