Monday night after work I was finally able to check out our town’s entry in “The Simpsons Movie Hometown Challenge.”
Uh, yeah.
My first impression is that it just seemed kind of thrown together in a last-minute panic, like a college student finishing his English 201 final roughly 14 seconds before it was due after going about 56 hours without sleep.
But I’m always willing to give second chances, so here’s a liveblog of sorts:
00:14 – If the title “I Am Springfield” is supposed to be a nod to the Kent Brockman vehicle “Eye on Springfield” (my favorite story: “The Killbot Factory”), then propers must be given.
00:26 – Unpainted Huffhines notes that when Don Hickman says “… our Springfield really is ‘The Simpsons’ hometown,” the Simpsons Spirit graphic goes from “severe” to “guarded.” Perhaps this is because the TV next to Don shows a statue of our very own Jebediah Springfield Abe Lincoln. And as the camera pans down from the statue’s face to the top hat (or whatever it is) on the bench, there’s something inside there. I’m guessing it’s a Mel-O-Cream doughnut (is there anything they can’t do?). Either that, or a roll of toilet paper.
00:37 – When Don introduces “our own Comic Book Guy,” the Spirit graphic goes from “severe” to merely “high.” But at 00:54, it moves back to “severe.” And Zac Atchison does a decent enough Comic Book Guy.
01:21 – A colleague of mine noted that when Zac references the “Lisa the Iconoclast” episode, it would take a mighty big heave to get a clump of dirt from Springfield to Adlai Stevenson’s grave in Bloomington.
02:01 – The Spirit level has gone from to “severe” to “high” and back twice, then down to “elevated,” back up to “severe” then down to “high” in the past 90 seconds or so. And I wonder how many takes it took to tape the bits with the two Britishers.
02:09 – Did they get Fritz Klein to do the Lincoln thing in front of Abe’s crib?
02:15 – The TV behind Don shows Bart rubbing Abe’s nose at the Lincoln Tomb. Sweet.
02:48 – Is there really a Marge Simpson who works at Driver Services? That’s kind of neat, even if in the show, it’s Marge’s sisters, Patty and Selma Bouvier, who work there. And the bit with the $10 Squishee is actually pretty funny if you aren’t offended by mild ethnic humor.
03:02 – The word “Memorex” has been floating on the left side of the screen the whole time, until now, when it changes to “live.” I get the reference, but what does that have to do with “The Simpsons?”
04:12 – During the “Conspiracy Guy” bit, the crawl goes to warp speed. And I just don’t get the whole “Conspiracy Guy” thing, even if it was the most well-acted part of the video.
04:56 – Wow. If you have no idea who Todd Renfrow is, which the vast majority of the people watching this video don’t, then the closing bit will leave you completely baffled. Except that I know who Todd Renfrow is, and I’m still completely baffled.
The end. I think I’m with Nick on this one: Our video wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that great, either. Oh, well. Vote Illinois, people. Remember, though, that Bart once had a daydream starring Abraham Lincoln:
BART: “Hey Huck, what’s L-I-N-C-O-N doing here?”
HUCKLEBERRY FINN: “I dunno; it’s your fantasy.”
In your face, Massachusetts.
