I think the reason you and I both remember Bartman being a bigger part of the early Simpsons than he actually was, is because he was *literally everywhere!* Merchandise, video games, toys, clothing, and let's not forget the extremely popular Bartman comic book. My dad was big into collecting comics at the time, so I use to go into the basement and read his Simpson comics a lot. Bartman was among my favorites. But yeah, looking back, it's kind of surprising how little he actually shows up in the show. Heck, this episode felt like a special guest cameo the first time I saw it. Still kind of does.
Oh yeah, that's true! I kept thinking he was this big thing that showed up in the show constantly, but the Simpsons Wiki says he was only in two episodes. It's like the phenomenon that happened away from the show.
Do the Bartman was also a #1 hit best selling single in 5 countries including the UK and Australia. Mattel made an action figure in 1990 and a Bartman animation is Bart's character sprite respawn imagery in the classic multiplayer arcade beat 'em up that was all the rage in early '91 and especially that summer. That animation was played every time a kid died and plugged in a new quarter. There were always crowds around those machines and whether they were waiting with quarters in hand for their turn to play or just watching and rooting people on, it was a very public phenomenon that was not unlike seeing it on TV constantly. The 4 player co-op was similar to the classic Ninja Turtles masterpiece that came out a couple of years before.
@@TheRealJims I get that same feeling for Dr. Colossus, who pops up a bunch in comics and secondary media, even though I never even saw his first appearance for the longest time (I watched most of my Simpsons in syndication).
It's blowing my mind how you say all these old episodes are underrated or hidden gems. You see, in South America we have reruns of old episodes all the time, and we all love them.
When the BBC *FINALLY* began showing the series here in the UK circa 1996, their earliest episodes (mostly seasons 1-2 and some season 3) were broadcast wildly out of sequence; so it was some time (as they began broadcasting in sequence) before I got the "feel" for the evolution of each early season. Even so, I knew/felt even from an early viewing of 'Three Men...' that it was quite a benchmark episode. It wasn't quite the slick, mutli-gags season 3, but it was already a lot tighter and a lot cleverer than the somewhat basic (though still lovabale) season 1 episodes. It had decent jokes, a decent plot (already more off-the-wall than the very early episodes), introduces a recurring character (Comic Book Guy's first appearance, I believe) and a great guest character (Mrs. Glick, who I'm surprised they never bought back). One of the best second season episodes, and whilst not exactly forgotten, it seems to be often overlooked nowadays.
@@mathieuleader8601 It started off on BBC 1 on a Saturday. I do remember them shifting between the three seasons a lot initially, especially since the intro was different between all three of them, making me think there were more changing gags each episode than the chalkboard and coach ones.
I like your interpretation of this importance of this episode in the evolution of the Simpsons. I also agree about Mrs. Glick, she was great. She did show up at least once more in the yard sale episode ("No only candy, ninety dollars") where George Bush moves in next door.
In the commentary they state Daniel Stern was their easiest guest star to get because his brother David was a writer on the show, and Matt Groening stated that the stuff with Ms. Glick was based off things he did for old ladies back in the day and only got 50 cents for all that work.
4:54. The best scene is Mrs. Glick , lonely and starved for visitors, offering Bart the hard candy so stale it's all stuck together in one clump. Very much hits home with my own experiences in youth!
adrasdea It's absolutely the OG DVD. I remember buying it at FYE like ten years ago. And from my memory, it was like the only one on that disc. Now, I can check because it's seen a few years, maybe I'm misremembering, but I don't do bootlegs.
For a sec there, I thought you were really dissing Lisa's Substitute, War of the Simpsons, and Blood Feud. (Although War of the Simpsons is a little too schmaltzy for me. That stupid winking fish.)
@@lordroy88 Yeah, early and midway Season 2 feels like a soup up version of Season 1. Late Season 2 and 3 is where the show start its full potential and became the show we're all familiar with. Crazy how the Simpsons evolved between the early Seasons(1-3)
I picked this episode partially to correct the little detail I messed up in a recent video... But then ended up watching all of Season 2 and got really interested in how that season evolved over 20+ episodes and setup the style of Season 3. I didn't cleanly define what I mean by a "Seasons 1-2 episode" vs. a "Seasons 3-4 episode" so I hope it isn't too vague or nebulous. More than most other Season 2 episodes, Three Men and a Comic Book has a lot of moments in it that remind me of both the FROSTY CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE years and the Mr. Plow years. (Is Season 2 the most "important" season of The Simpsons from an evolutionary standpoint? I wonder.)
It feels like these are quickly becoming your "real videos", while the 60 second ones are more of a formality before "extending them" into Extra Seconds. I mean, when's the last time you did a new 60 seconds without immediately following it up with an Extra Seconds? I don't know, maybe I'm biased. I've always felt 60 seconds is kind of an arbitrary limitation to impose on yourself. I'm sure you did it for creative reasons, but it seems to force you to leave a lot of things out.
Although I still would regard the golden era of peak Simpsons being 4-8/9, the episodes they are most known for, I am finding as I get older that I draw more comfort in episodes like this, War of the Simpsons, Colonel Homer etc. Not saying all episodes in the 2/3 season era have that effect but like you say there is an interesting balance of styles that came before and after this period. Great vid btw. :)
Cloris Leachmans portrayal of Mrs Glick in this episode reminds me an awful lot of the late Dody Goodmans portrayal of Miss Miller in 80's Alvin and the Chipmunks, rather than the rather generic Tress Macneille old lady voice she got later on.
I think season 3 is the biggest transformative year for the Simpson's until the pure digital years with new writers past season 12 ...s 2 had a few classics but 3 men and a comic book is the closest they got to season 3 writing and it makes sense since it was a later season episode...1 episode does not make a season memorable ...it may be the most important episode past the Christmas pilot of the first 2 seasons I guess for being so good and feeling more season 3 then 2
Funnily enough the original plot had Bart starting a riot about kids being underpaid for chores. They ditched this idea when they realised it completely forgot about the earlier comic book plot. Shows how the later writing ethics of the show were starting to materialise, even if they were keeping them at bay at this point. Much like The Crepes of Wrath was the 'testing the waters' episode for Season 2's direction, I guess this one was such for Season 3.
Well they lampshade it in one episode (I forget which one), where Homer mentions that room that they may or may not have, and then in "Coming to Homerica", the door to the basement near the kitchen is a bathroom for a bad joke, and then in the fracking episode, the door to the basement/the coat closet (I believe it's only the coat closer in Homer3), is a bathroom for a plot point about water being on fire
Martin: Y'know, if you hadn't tied me up, I could be saving the comic as we speak. Bart: Shut up, SHUT UP... That's my highlight for the episode, Martin trying to insert some hindsight and is NOT appreciated in the context.
I really love your more analytical look at the Simpsons. There's a very genuine display of passion for the series here, which I find lacking on most Simpsons content on UA-cam. That said, I'm surprised you've never talked about "Simpson and Delilah", given how it embodies practically every unique quality of season 2.
Jeez, the number of people who saw this episode or heard about it and then deduced that Bartman was actually Bart's name. A ton of people at my school started calling Bart dolls with him dressed in his normal clothes "Bartman dolls" because he says "Do the Bart, man" in the music video.
On Canadian stations of the 90's, this episode was played over and over again, along with the Monorail episode. The Lisa Substitute episode was played ONCE.
Mrs. Glick cracks me UP! i love how she aggressively proclaims that "Boys LOVE candy!!". Then there's "He knows how to mix whitewarsh, don't he??". Also that little line about penny whistles and moon pies. 🤣🤣🤣😆
I've been watching and rewatching old Simpsons episodes because of these videos, and I'm really starting to pick up on the minor differences between various seasons, in terms of pacing, delivery, animation, jokes, etc. It really is strange how the series has evolved into what it is now, looking back on how episodes used to play out.
8:11 I kind of like how Bart verbalises the obvious moral of the story only to instantly reveal in his reply to Milhouse that he hasn't actually understood that moral after all or learned anything ("What's your point?" "Nothing"). While Blood Feud definitely does that anti-lesson ending in a funnier and superior way, the ending of this episode already feels like a step towards that later Simpsons style where the characters typically fail to see the lesson or message that the audience can see. It's funny how Bart and Milhouse are so close to learning a useful lesson and yet they still don't.
As a kid in the early 90s, I wasn't allowed to watch the Simpsons, but I remember watching this one firstrun at a friend's house. This was probably only the 4th or 5th episode of the show I ever saw. So I have almost perfect recall of it. This is absolutely a special episode, and one of the few episodes that I feel like is aimed specifically at kids. Its one of the best episodes from the Bart-mania era of the show because it understands the way boys socialize so well in the third act, but also that weird liminal space of being a kid and having wants but not really having access to the money to make those wants happen. Even as a kid I was like "Radioactive Man looks stupid" but I didn't care. I cared because Bart cared.
I used to have a Simpsons episode guide (not sure if it was official or not) which had plot summaries, trivia etc for every episode from seasons 1-8. (Basically the Simpsons Wiki in book form!) Three Men and a Comic Book was one of the few eps that had a 2-page spread dedicated to it, so I always assumed it was one of the more popular ones. The fact that it's somewhat of an underrated gem is really surprising to me, I've always loved it!
I wonder if someone really liked the episode and ended up making the structure into the new seasons because they could. Love your work, really looking forward to more character histories
Blood Feud's ending, in my mind, is when the early years ended. They were essentially stating what the blueprint was from here on out: "Perhaps there is no moral to this story." "It's just a bunch of stuff that happened. Of course it would take until Season 4's later half for that to become the norm.
Interesting. You're right that they stopped explicitly laying out the moral or requiring a feel-good moment at the end, except for in certain circumstances. And in the moments they did, it was more heavily lampshaded. Mr. Plow is a good example. Blood Feud's pacing feels much more like an early years episode, though, with all that Smithers and Burns stuff.
TheRealJims Absolutely there's still plenty of Groening/Brooks/Simon/Silverman-era pacing, which is why I treat this as an end to the era rather than as an outright start to what was to come. It was a transformation that took the Jean/Reiss-era to fully form, naturally.
Excellent Extra Seconds episode. You gave me an idea....Perhaps, make a video discussing the music of the show. Like the little motifs we hear throughout, and maybe their first/significant appearances.
I'm so happy I put all of Simpsons seasons 1-10 on my phone's SD card. It means I can not only rewatch these whenever, but I don't have to use the awful early DVD menus they had even as late as season 4. I even rewatched all the old episodes with audio commentaries a few months ago and as much as I love seasons 1-4, I was just looking forward to the good menus of 5 onwards. No more spinning heads or long animations for me.
I've a few, bought at a local hobby shop at a mall that's essentially dead. Thanks for reminding me of my loss. I'll spend my new year looking for it online and at yard sales 😠. The comics were a great deal to me, along with the tie-in Batman the animated series comics & Teenage Mutant Turtles. 😷🍻🙏 🌎
There was actually a modern episode, quite decent at that, that gave Martin something to do. Bart and Martin build a robot, and Martin is integral to the plot execution and conclusion.
The most unbelievable part of this whole episode is the idea that the convention would give you a discount for cosplaying, and also that it was only $8 to attend.
Early DVD menus were always a pain ...they wanted to make them different fron the vhs release so you felt like you spent your extra money well ..its a game I guess ...yeah it was pretty dumb nevermind
When I was a kid I loved to take tracing paper and copy existing lineart into new contexts, then photocopying the tracing paper and coloring the copies in. Once I did that with a bunch of Mario drawings from a newspaper article about Nintendo, but I drew Bartman doing all of Mario's poses.
The reason you remember Bartman being a big thing is because for some reason Bartman had a lot of merchandise in the Simpson's early years. I remember having a Bartman pencil case, notebook and stationary set in school. I wonder if Groening and co were originally intending to do more with the idea?
Actually to me, _Three Men and a Comic Book_ is *the* episode that I first think of, when I think about season 2. A kind of mental attachment point, like _Homer at the Bat_ for S3 & _Mr. Plow_ for S4.
I am currently rewatching season 2 and I didn't realise how rich this episode is. It's simply packed but with great balancing of narrative. Season 2 is arguably the most charming of all the simpsons seasons.
I could be wrong about this, but I believe if you hit the menu button the dvd as soon as the spinning thing comes up, it'll just jump right to the main menu so you don't have to deal with that.
I actually never knew the first three season (especially 1 and 2) were so criticized... They've always been my three favorite seasons, which is probably especially surprising as I'm a younger fan
I am a thirty-one year old man who grew up with Classic Simpsons. My very first memory is Treehouse of Horror I. This is the FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE I've even considered the floorplan of the house.
This is kinda late but incase anyone didn't know, I think the "Rumpus Room" was Maggie's bedroom? Look at it, it's decorated all kiddie. In fact I think they reused this scene from another episode (maybe reverse?) where there was bad signal downstairs so Homer is forced to watch TV upstairs, I forget what scene or episode it is but it is definitely recycled animation.
I always thought the rumpus room was Maggie's Nursery. I know some parents who keep a television set in their baby's room to watch while the baby is asleep.
I wish you do more extra seconds it help remember certain episode and appreciate how good the simpson was . The one where bart becomes a judge would be cool to see.
It's weird, looking back on it, that the Bartman dance didn't really have anything to do with the Bartman character they introduced on merchandise. As long as it was Bart, they just kinda went with it. (Although, why doesn't Bartman dance anymore??? Remember the Bartusi???)
The whole "Bartman" thing actually had a music video created by the creators of the Simpsons called "Do the Bartman". Very catchy song. Also still holds up and very nostalgic.
I remember this episode as a kid and how it was like that if I wanted something, I needed to save up my own money to buy my own comics and manga that I eventually did later on in life.
I remember having a Bartman comic book that I really enjoyed. I also have this home video from late 1990 that has a Bartman balloon, so this character must have existed before this episode.
I have never sat through a season of the Simpsons. No real reason, it was just never a priority when I was a child. That being said, TheRealJims somehow makes his content incredibly interesting. I shouldn't FIND a ten minute analysis of an episode I never watched, from a show I never watched, this interesting. But somehow, Jims makes practically every video he puts out a pleasure to sit through even if I don't understand the source material, he just makes the subject oddly interesting.
ELIJAH! Not to beat a dead horse or to overhype it but The Simpsons is one of the best shows ever. The first 9 or 10 years are perfect mixture of clever comedy, great episodes characters and genuinely heartfelt moments. And while the later seasons aren’t as good or even good in general there are still some gems. You should watch it even if it might take a long time.
High Voltage I certainly wanna take the time someday. Alas, at the moment my schedule has been consumed by College and Doctor Who, so hopefully someday. TheRealJims has certainly convinced me it's worth my time.
High Voltage Making my way through classic Who thanks to Britbox, but I'm also sorta kinda knee deep in the audio stories. Novels are a tad hard to get a hold of here in 'Merica, but I've found a few buried deep in the heart of a few ancient book stores. I'm am certainly way more knowledgeable when it comes to Doctor Who then I am with the Simpsons, haha.
ELIJAH! Always nice to have another fellow classic Doctor Who fan and someone who listens to Big finish audio. Look past the practical/special effects of classic Doctor Who and you have some of the best stories ever made.
Back when this first came out, the 'nothing, just ticks me off, that's all' was extremely funny as it really flew in the face of all the schmaltzy comedies around back then. Guess you had to be there.
This episode is so fucking funny as well. Any Simpsons fan that doesn't remember this (or even has never seen it) really needs to do themselves the favour of watching it (again).
Oh my god finally someone else acknowledges how annoying the spinning heads on the Season 2 DVD are. Seasons 1-3 are very underrated in general. Season 4-6 are without a doubt the show's peak, but I also really love those early seasons.
Homer "checking" on the kids in the tree house is one of my favorite jokes ever
"They're fine"
King in the North yup classic moment
*visible once during flash*........ *visible again during flash who strikes the tree this time* "They're fine."
Same joke happens in Homer Loves Flanders, when he asks Homer how his boys are doing while water skiing.
In the inexplicable "TV room"
7:28 Notice Milhouse has a Sideshow Mel poster in his room instead of a Krusty poster. Sidekicks have posters of sidekicks, I guess.
LOL I never noticed :)
I think that implies originally Milhouse had a sideshow bob poster but replaced it when a new sidskick came in
I think the reason you and I both remember Bartman being a bigger part of the early Simpsons than he actually was, is because he was *literally everywhere!* Merchandise, video games, toys, clothing, and let's not forget the extremely popular Bartman comic book. My dad was big into collecting comics at the time, so I use to go into the basement and read his Simpson comics a lot. Bartman was among my favorites. But yeah, looking back, it's kind of surprising how little he actually shows up in the show.
Heck, this episode felt like a special guest cameo the first time I saw it. Still kind of does.
Oh yeah, that's true! I kept thinking he was this big thing that showed up in the show constantly, but the Simpsons Wiki says he was only in two episodes. It's like the phenomenon that happened away from the show.
Do the Bartman was also a #1 hit best selling single in 5 countries including the UK and Australia. Mattel made an action figure in 1990 and a Bartman animation is Bart's character sprite respawn imagery in the classic multiplayer arcade beat 'em up that was all the rage in early '91 and especially that summer. That animation was played every time a kid died and plugged in a new quarter. There were always crowds around those machines and whether they were waiting with quarters in hand for their turn to play or just watching and rooting people on, it was a very public phenomenon that was not unlike seeing it on TV constantly. The 4 player co-op was similar to the classic Ninja Turtles masterpiece that came out a couple of years before.
@@TheRealJims I get that same feeling for Dr. Colossus, who pops up a bunch in comics and secondary media, even though I never even saw his first appearance for the longest time (I watched most of my Simpsons in syndication).
It's blowing my mind how you say all these old episodes are underrated or hidden gems. You see, in South America we have reruns of old episodes all the time, and we all love them.
argentina papá
"I just wanted the Carl Yastrzemski
Card with the long sideburns". 😭
When the BBC *FINALLY* began showing the series here in the UK circa 1996, their earliest episodes (mostly seasons 1-2 and some season 3) were broadcast wildly out of sequence; so it was some time (as they began broadcasting in sequence) before I got the "feel" for the evolution of each early season. Even so, I knew/felt even from an early viewing of 'Three Men...' that it was quite a benchmark episode.
It wasn't quite the slick, mutli-gags season 3, but it was already a lot tighter and a lot cleverer than the somewhat basic (though still lovabale) season 1 episodes. It had decent jokes, a decent plot (already more off-the-wall than the very early episodes), introduces a recurring character (Comic Book Guy's first appearance, I believe) and a great guest character (Mrs. Glick, who I'm surprised they never bought back).
One of the best second season episodes, and whilst not exactly forgotten, it seems to be often overlooked nowadays.
evenings on BBC 2 on a wednesday
@@mathieuleader8601 It started off on BBC 1 on a Saturday. I do remember them shifting between the three seasons a lot initially, especially since the intro was different between all three of them, making me think there were more changing gags each episode than the chalkboard and coach ones.
That's kinda strange. Here in Germany, the Simpsons premiered in 1991. How come it took five years longer for them to start airing in the UK?
@@Charon.1 It aired in the UK in 1990 on Sky and 1996 on the BBC.
I like your interpretation of this importance of this episode in the evolution of the Simpsons.
I also agree about Mrs. Glick, she was great. She did show up at least once more in the yard sale episode ("No only candy, ninety dollars") where George Bush moves in next door.
The spinning heads on the DVD is a pretty good summary of my childhood
YEESSS I REMEMBER THAT
In the commentary they state Daniel Stern was their easiest guest star to get because his brother David was a writer on the show, and Matt Groening stated that the stuff with Ms. Glick was based off things he did for old ladies back in the day and only got 50 cents for all that work.
One of my most favorite episodes! One of the first I’d watched as a child growing up in the 90s
4:54. The best scene is Mrs. Glick , lonely and starved for visitors, offering Bart the hard candy so stale it's all stuck together in one clump. Very much hits home with my own experiences in youth!
Radioactive Man was first revealed in "Bart the genius" season 1, Episode 2. As a comic. Great video i love your channel.
I'll always remember this episode for being the only episode on the last disc of the DVD. Like there's literally no other episodes on there.
adrasdea It's absolutely the OG DVD. I remember buying it at FYE like ten years ago. And from my memory, it was like the only one on that disc. Now, I can check because it's seen a few years, maybe I'm misremembering, but I don't do bootlegs.
adrasdea Ah, just checked. You're absolutely right, I must've been thinking about the Babersitter bandit joint.
For a sec there, I thought you were really dissing Lisa's Substitute, War of the Simpsons, and Blood Feud.
(Although War of the Simpsons is a little too schmaltzy for me. That stupid winking fish.)
Oh, I wouldn't dream of it! If I ever dissed Lisa's Substitute, I may as well delete my whole channel in the process.
Can you do an episode on the layout for the Simpsions house?
I will forever refer to very early Simpsons as "The Frosty Chocolate Milkshakes Show" now.
Me too. S1-2
@@lordroy88 Yeah, early and midway Season 2 feels like a soup up version of Season 1. Late Season 2 and 3 is where the show start its full potential and became the show we're all familiar with. Crazy how the Simpsons evolved between the early Seasons(1-3)
Favorite line from this episode “I’ll sludge you you old bat” 😂
The reason why Bartman seemed to be pretty big was because of the song Do the Bartman which was pretty popular at the time.
It all started with a T-Shirt, I think.
Michael Jackson that's why
I used to put “do the bartman” in the Walkman on my belt, which was the style at the time
@@CitizenSnips69 You mean you didn't wear an onion on your belt like everyone else?
Parforet And a lot of merchandise, there’s still Bartman merchandise today even though he was only on screen for half a minute
One of my favourite Bart episodes by far, to me it's just perfect in every way 👌🏼
I picked this episode partially to correct the little detail I messed up in a recent video... But then ended up watching all of Season 2 and got really interested in how that season evolved over 20+ episodes and setup the style of Season 3. I didn't cleanly define what I mean by a "Seasons 1-2 episode" vs. a "Seasons 3-4 episode" so I hope it isn't too vague or nebulous. More than most other Season 2 episodes, Three Men and a Comic Book has a lot of moments in it that remind me of both the FROSTY CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE years and the Mr. Plow years.
(Is Season 2 the most "important" season of The Simpsons from an evolutionary standpoint? I wonder.)
It feels like these are quickly becoming your "real videos", while the 60 second ones are more of a formality before "extending them" into Extra Seconds. I mean, when's the last time you did a new 60 seconds without immediately following it up with an Extra Seconds? I don't know, maybe I'm biased. I've always felt 60 seconds is kind of an arbitrary limitation to impose on yourself. I'm sure you did it for creative reasons, but it seems to force you to leave a lot of things out.
Although I still would regard the golden era of peak Simpsons being 4-8/9, the episodes they are most known for, I am finding as I get older that I draw more comfort in episodes like this, War of the Simpsons, Colonel Homer etc. Not saying all episodes in the 2/3 season era have that effect but like you say there is an interesting balance of styles that came before and after this period. Great vid btw. :)
Cloris Leachmans portrayal of Mrs Glick in this episode reminds me an awful lot of the late Dody Goodmans portrayal of Miss Miller in 80's Alvin and the Chipmunks, rather than the rather generic Tress Macneille old lady voice she got later on.
I think season 3 is the biggest transformative year for the Simpson's until the pure digital years with new writers past season 12 ...s 2 had a few classics but 3 men and a comic book is the closest they got to season 3 writing and it makes sense since it was a later season episode...1 episode does not make a season memorable ...it may be the most important episode past the Christmas pilot of the first 2 seasons I guess for being so good and feeling more season 3 then 2
Funnily enough the original plot had Bart starting a riot about kids being underpaid for chores. They ditched this idea when they realised it completely forgot about the earlier comic book plot. Shows how the later writing ethics of the show were starting to materialise, even if they were keeping them at bay at this point.
Much like The Crepes of Wrath was the 'testing the waters' episode for Season 2's direction, I guess this one was such for Season 3.
Great review! This was the episode where The Simpsons really “clicked” for me - the Wonder Years moment particularly.
PLEASE do a simpsons mysteries episode about the rumpus room
Haha, what would I say, though? From what I can gather on the web, it was only in two episodes. Maybe a Simpsons Mysteries Mini?
Well they lampshade it in one episode (I forget which one), where Homer mentions that room that they may or may not have, and then in "Coming to Homerica", the door to the basement near the kitchen is a bathroom for a bad joke, and then in the fracking episode, the door to the basement/the coat closet (I believe it's only the coat closer in Homer3), is a bathroom for a plot point about water being on fire
STOP CALLING IT THAT!
I'm convinced it's only in this episode because Homer needed to be close enough to check on the treehouse simply by looking out the window.
Always thought that was Maggie's room.
Martin: Y'know, if you hadn't tied me up, I could be saving the comic as we speak.
Bart: Shut up, SHUT UP...
That's my highlight for the episode, Martin trying to insert some hindsight and is NOT appreciated in the context.
I thought Milhouse's, "What's your point?" at the end to be hilarious. XD
This is a fantastic episode I remember from childhood and still watch till this day
I love The running gags with the Rompus Room, truly hilarious! Great job on this review! Fantastic episode!
I really love your more analytical look at the Simpsons. There's a very genuine display of passion for the series here, which I find lacking on most Simpsons content on UA-cam. That said, I'm surprised you've never talked about "Simpson and Delilah", given how it embodies practically every unique quality of season 2.
Jeez, the number of people who saw this episode or heard about it and then deduced that Bartman was actually Bart's name. A ton of people at my school started calling Bart dolls with him dressed in his normal clothes "Bartman dolls" because he says "Do the Bart, man" in the music video.
I love the shot of Santa's Little Helper at 8:05
On Canadian stations of the 90's, this episode was played over and over again, along with the Monorail episode. The Lisa Substitute episode was played ONCE.
Mrs. Glick cracks me UP!
i love how she aggressively proclaims that "Boys LOVE candy!!".
Then there's "He knows how to mix whitewarsh, don't he??".
Also that little line about penny whistles and moon pies. 🤣🤣🤣😆
hey Lis, have you ever thought that Caspar might be the ghost of Ritchie Rich?
Marges reaction lol
Fished a dime out of the sewer for god's sake!
I love the one-off bit with Otto's pitch for a comic. Dude was DEFINITELY into the early 90s' Image Comics aesthetic.
It's so good that it feels like it's an homage to Hitchcock, Shakespeare, or even... Homer.
I've been watching and rewatching old Simpsons episodes because of these videos, and I'm really starting to pick up on the minor differences between various seasons, in terms of pacing, delivery, animation, jokes, etc. It really is strange how the series has evolved into what it is now, looking back on how episodes used to play out.
8:11 I kind of like how Bart verbalises the obvious moral of the story only to instantly reveal in his reply to Milhouse that he hasn't actually understood that moral after all or learned anything ("What's your point?" "Nothing"). While Blood Feud definitely does that anti-lesson ending in a funnier and superior way, the ending of this episode already feels like a step towards that later Simpsons style where the characters typically fail to see the lesson or message that the audience can see. It's funny how Bart and Milhouse are so close to learning a useful lesson and yet they still don't.
This episode is really one of my favorites today.
Season 2 may be my second favorite season, i love the character driven stories
I remember there being a pretty big Bartman marketing push at the time, despite it never being used in-show again.
There was a song on the radio.
I never knew the rumpus room actually had a canonical position in the house. I learned something new.
Love that you mentioned the fight music! Always feel the simpsons scores are underrated.
As a kid in the early 90s, I wasn't allowed to watch the Simpsons, but I remember watching this one firstrun at a friend's house. This was probably only the 4th or 5th episode of the show I ever saw. So I have almost perfect recall of it. This is absolutely a special episode, and one of the few episodes that I feel like is aimed specifically at kids. Its one of the best episodes from the Bart-mania era of the show because it understands the way boys socialize so well in the third act, but also that weird liminal space of being a kid and having wants but not really having access to the money to make those wants happen. Even as a kid I was like "Radioactive Man looks stupid" but I didn't care. I cared because Bart cared.
I used to have a Simpsons episode guide (not sure if it was official or not) which had plot summaries, trivia etc for every episode from seasons 1-8. (Basically the Simpsons Wiki in book form!) Three Men and a Comic Book was one of the few eps that had a 2-page spread dedicated to it, so I always assumed it was one of the more popular ones. The fact that it's somewhat of an underrated gem is really surprising to me, I've always loved it!
I wonder if someone really liked the episode and ended up making the structure into the new seasons because they could.
Love your work, really looking forward to more character histories
Great video! Very insightful, thanks!
Blood Feud's ending, in my mind, is when the early years ended. They were essentially stating what the blueprint was from here on out: "Perhaps there is no moral to this story." "It's just a bunch of stuff that happened.
Of course it would take until Season 4's later half for that to become the norm.
Interesting. You're right that they stopped explicitly laying out the moral or requiring a feel-good moment at the end, except for in certain circumstances. And in the moments they did, it was more heavily lampshaded. Mr. Plow is a good example. Blood Feud's pacing feels much more like an early years episode, though, with all that Smithers and Burns stuff.
TheRealJims Absolutely there's still plenty of Groening/Brooks/Simon/Silverman-era pacing, which is why I treat this as an end to the era rather than as an outright start to what was to come. It was a transformation that took the Jean/Reiss-era to fully form, naturally.
"Marge, I'm confused, is this a happy ending or a sad ending?"
"It's an ending, that's enough."
Absolutely love your channel, man. Keep up the great work!
Wait so you're telling me Radioactive Man's first appearance was actually this one with issue #1?
Amazing
Excellent Extra Seconds episode. You gave me an idea....Perhaps, make a video discussing the music of the show. Like the little motifs we hear throughout, and maybe their first/significant appearances.
I'm so happy I put all of Simpsons seasons 1-10 on my phone's SD card. It means I can not only rewatch these whenever, but I don't have to use the awful early DVD menus they had even as late as season 4.
I even rewatched all the old episodes with audio commentaries a few months ago and as much as I love seasons 1-4, I was just looking forward to the good menus of 5 onwards. No more spinning heads or long animations for me.
Bartman was a big deal in the Simpsons Comics, to be fair.
The simpsons cmics where never a big deal to be fair.
I've a few, bought at a local hobby shop at a mall that's essentially dead. Thanks for reminding me of my loss. I'll spend my new year looking for it online and at yard sales 😠. The comics were a great deal to me, along with the tie-in Batman the animated series comics & Teenage Mutant Turtles. 😷🍻🙏 🌎
@@NostalgiNorden how you dare, Simpson Comics got published for like 25 years
I always felt bad for Milhouse when he's hanging out of the treehouse. Like come on now guys, don't actually kill each other!
Really love these videos! 💜
They help me sleep.
Same
Who are you
Please never stop making these
There was actually a modern episode, quite decent at that, that gave Martin something to do. Bart and Martin build a robot, and Martin is integral to the plot execution and conclusion.
The most unbelievable part of this whole episode is the idea that the convention would give you a discount for cosplaying, and also that it was only $8 to attend.
Finally, someone addressing the real problems in the world.
Like those fucking spinning heads!
Fry God I hate those things! I seriously wonder why Fox thought that was a good idea for the DVDs.
Early DVD menus were always a pain ...they wanted to make them different fron the vhs release so you felt like you spent your extra money well ..its a game I guess ...yeah it was pretty dumb nevermind
When I was a kid I loved to take tracing paper and copy existing lineart into new contexts, then photocopying the tracing paper and coloring the copies in. Once I did that with a bunch of Mario drawings from a newspaper article about Nintendo, but I drew Bartman doing all of Mario's poses.
Daniel Stern was the wonder years narrator holy shit
this is a favorite
ANNOYING SPINNING HEADS ON THE DVD! THANK YOU!!
The reason you remember Bartman being a big thing is because for some reason Bartman had a lot of merchandise in the Simpson's early years. I remember having a Bartman pencil case, notebook and stationary set in school. I wonder if Groening and co were originally intending to do more with the idea?
Bartman appeared more often in the comic series as well.
Actually to me, _Three Men and a Comic Book_ is *the* episode that I first think of, when I think about season 2. A kind of mental attachment point, like _Homer at the Bat_ for S3 & _Mr. Plow_ for S4.
Probably one of if not the best episodes of the season
"Frosted Chocolte Milkshakes"
*Frosty Chocolate Milkshakes
Hey man, just wanted to say that I love your videos.
This is an amazing video
And I find it unbelievable how long u have did these videos
I think this was one of the first episodes id seen of the Simpson's as a kid ... and it's one of my favorites
I am currently rewatching season 2 and I didn't realise how rich this episode is. It's simply packed but with great balancing of narrative. Season 2 is arguably the most charming of all the simpsons seasons.
Crazy to think this timeless episode is 30 years old now
I could be wrong about this, but I believe if you hit the menu button the dvd as soon as the spinning thing comes up, it'll just jump right to the main menu so you don't have to deal with that.
8:42 “simp”
Frosty chocolate milkshakes!
I actually never knew the first three season (especially 1 and 2) were so criticized... They've always been my three favorite seasons, which is probably especially surprising as I'm a younger fan
The colors in this episode are very good also, the blues and pinks seem to go very well.
Bart is so lucky he hasn't been killed by lightning in his treehouse. In this episode lightning hits the ground beside the tree, and the tree itself.
I am a thirty-one year old man who grew up with Classic Simpsons. My very first memory is Treehouse of Horror I. This is the FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE I've even considered the floorplan of the house.
This is kinda late but incase anyone didn't know, I think the "Rumpus Room" was Maggie's bedroom? Look at it, it's decorated all kiddie. In fact I think they reused this scene from another episode (maybe reverse?) where there was bad signal downstairs so Homer is forced to watch TV upstairs, I forget what scene or episode it is but it is definitely recycled animation.
I always thought the rumpus room was Maggie's Nursery. I know some parents who keep a television set in their baby's room to watch while the baby is asleep.
I love that you assumed I have season 2 on DVD. (I do)
I wish you do more extra seconds it help remember certain episode and appreciate how good the simpson was . The one where bart becomes a judge would be cool to see.
7:51
I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOR AGES
Maybe a simpsons showdown between lisa's rival vs lard of the dance?
The lisa's enemy showdown.
Or bart of darkness vs bart after dark?
I never thought you'd reference Survivor in a Simpsons video, but there you go!
I have watched waaaaaaay too much Survivor in my life. It is a really good game show format.
TheRealJims I hear you dude.
Easily one of my favourite episodes!
Bro I think you’re a genius
I loved spinning the heads
Maybe you remember Bartman because 1991 was around the time when “Bartmania” started. It could also be because of that song MJ did for the Simpsons.
It's weird, looking back on it, that the Bartman dance didn't really have anything to do with the Bartman character they introduced on merchandise. As long as it was Bart, they just kinda went with it.
(Although, why doesn't Bartman dance anymore??? Remember the Bartusi???)
The whole "Bartman" thing actually had a music video created by the creators of the Simpsons called "Do the Bartman". Very catchy song. Also still holds up and very nostalgic.
I remember this episode as a kid and how it was like that if I wanted something, I needed to save up my own money to buy my own comics and manga that I eventually did later on in life.
I remember having a Bartman comic book that I really enjoyed. I also have this home video from late 1990 that has a Bartman balloon, so this character must have existed before this episode.
Great channel.
Let's all go out for a round of frosty chocolate milkshakes!
I have never sat through a season of the Simpsons. No real reason, it was just never a priority when I was a child.
That being said, TheRealJims somehow makes his content incredibly interesting. I shouldn't FIND a ten minute analysis of an episode I never watched, from a show I never watched, this interesting. But somehow, Jims makes practically every video he puts out a pleasure to sit through even if I don't understand the source material, he just makes the subject oddly interesting.
ELIJAH! Not to beat a dead horse or to overhype it but The Simpsons is one of the best shows ever. The first 9 or 10 years are perfect mixture of clever comedy, great episodes characters and genuinely heartfelt moments. And while the later seasons aren’t as good or even good in general there are still some gems. You should watch it even if it might take a long time.
High Voltage I certainly wanna take the time someday. Alas, at the moment my schedule has been consumed by College and Doctor Who, so hopefully someday. TheRealJims has certainly convinced me it's worth my time.
ELIJAH! Classic Doctor Who or new Doctor Who or both?
High Voltage Making my way through classic Who thanks to Britbox, but I'm also sorta kinda knee deep in the audio stories. Novels are a tad hard to get a hold of here in 'Merica, but I've found a few buried deep in the heart of a few ancient book stores.
I'm am certainly way more knowledgeable when it comes to Doctor Who then I am with the Simpsons, haha.
ELIJAH! Always nice to have another fellow classic Doctor Who fan and someone who listens to Big finish audio. Look past the practical/special effects of classic Doctor Who and you have some of the best stories ever made.
I always got a Lord of the Flies vibe about the kids behavior toward the end of the episode.
Barts worl experience would have put me off hard work for life
Back when this first came out, the 'nothing, just ticks me off, that's all' was extremely funny as it really flew in the face of all the schmaltzy comedies around back then. Guess you had to be there.
This episode is so fucking funny as well. Any Simpsons fan that doesn't remember this (or even has never seen it) really needs to do themselves the favour of watching it (again).
Mrs. Glick: All right, off you go to spend it on penny whistles and Moon Pies.
Oh my god finally someone else acknowledges how annoying the spinning heads on the Season 2 DVD are.
Seasons 1-3 are very underrated in general. Season 4-6 are without a doubt the show's peak, but I also really love those early seasons.
Around this time, Bartman *was* this "big giant thing", but mostly only in the comic books, video games, and merchandising.
It's weird to imagine Bartman being a thing outside the comics.