(this episode was directed by Carlos Baeza)
After two years of Marge in front of the curtain with her earnest word of warning, here Homer steps in, childishly goading the audience. But first, a wonderful take on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with Homer subbing for the master of horror, clearly even fatter than the silhouette.
I laugh out loud every damn time during this shot of Marge chastising Homer, with no movement but Homer's chewing lips. That completely blank expression serving to pay off the simple gag involving Homer the food monster. Also, not animation related, but I do like Marge setting up this traditional, but still slightly macabre party game, it's such a true mom thing of her to do. Nowadays, extreme wet blanket one-dimensional Marge certainly wouldn't be up for something like this.
Always fun to go frame-by-frame on animation smears like this. The limited amount of frames, and the wonderful coconut sound effect of Milhouse's head hitting the wall, makes this a brilliant small moment of funny.
What a hilarious shot. The framing of it, the repairman's shocked expression against Marge's unaffected one, presumably having been dealing with this for a few hours, and the Krusty doll hoisted upon Homer's lips painfully yanking at his elongated tongue. Just amazing.
"King Homer" pays tribute to the very original King Kong, of course, aping (heh heh) many of the shots from that film. My favorite is this, recreating of the beast as the reaction to a live actor screaming in terror. Also great is later when he pulls Marge through the window, it's just like the original, with Fay Wray flailing within a giant fake monkey fist.
My favorite moment in the entire show may be Shirley Temple's little shoes falling off when she's being picked up by Homer. But that doesn't really come across in a framegrab, so here's a shot of him eating the famous child actress.
Another great drawing. As if a gargantuan ape wouldn't look awkward enough inside a church, they pose him in such a way he seems not only awkward, but self-conscious. Look at him looking up at his little hat! It's almost adorable.
A perfect example of the show piling jokes on top of jokes on top of jokes. So Bart's reading "Find Waldo Yet Again," already a double joke, in the title referring to the dizzying amount of Waldo books, and the fact that since Bart figured that he struck out with "Baby's First Pop-Up Book," maybe this mature tome would appease Krabappel. So we see Waldo's right there in the open, and if it weren't easy enough, there's a kid right there on the beach pointing at him. Brilliant.
Astounding reference to three network animated shows that emerged soon after The Simpsons to attempt to reach a similar audienceand were all swiftly cancelled. Lucky that they all involved animals so this joke works perfectly. Of the three, I've only seen Fish Police, and boy oh boy
Another great "Technical Difficulties" card, as usual. The only show to rival this incredibly specific type of humor is The Critic ("Wheel Be Right Back!")
I love how even in the middle of a joke involving how brainless he is, Homer is still able to realize he's been insulted when the zombies look elsewhere for brains.
Great drawings of zombie Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney kicking about Skinner's head. I love how while a yellow complexion seems perfectly normal, altering them to green and purple truly makes them look sickly and undead.
Not animation related, but I wanted to end with my favorite line from the show.
"Excuse me, I'm John Smith."
"John Smith, 1882?"
"My mistake!"
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