Happy Father's Day Reuben Martinez.
I think to celebrate this day of Patriarchal Parenting, let me share a story that takes me back to late 1999 or early 2000.
You know how I stated my father Reuben was the one who molded me into the Cartoonist I am today?
Just compare that to John Kricfalusi who grew up in the 60s with his Cartoon-Hating late father Michael Kricfalusi....
When John K., aka the creator of Ren and Stimpy, was growing up, his father was pissed about his son being more into Cartoons, Comics, Mary Blair, MAD Magazine, and THE BEETLES,
instead of Taxes, Fishing, Cottages, Canadian Mounties, etc.....
You know, the manly stuff that fathers demand from their children.
My dad on the other hand is the opposite of MIKE.
My dad loved Television and was always supportive of my interests even if the word NINTENDO did sometimes annoy my dad throughout my school years.
Now, I'm sort of inspired by this Blogpost where John K. stated that the only Cartoon that his father actually liked was FOGHORN LEGHORN because he reminded him of how a real man acts when it comes to Patriarchal parenting.
But for the life of me, I didn't grow up with Classic Looney Tunes till 4th Grade which was 2007-2008.....
In fact, my mother domineered my viewing habits.
When I'm not watching Disney movies on VHS, my mother preferred to cherry-pick my TV Channel habits so she insured I only watched Treehouse TV on her watch.
Obviously I can't talk about anything from that block but at the same time, I can't talk about the Cartoon Network stuff due to Zaslav and the fact that I could only watch that channel at Gregoria's via her Shaw Cable plan which didn't happen until 2003-2004.
So instead, let me tell you an anecdote about THE SIMPSONS since it's Father's Day.
My dad and I watched THE SIMPSONS on our little Woodgrain Television when we were living in Apartment building 1809 in Francis Street in Vancouver.
To my mother's bemused Chagrin, my dad let me watch THE SIMPSONS with him on our little woodgrain TV because why not.
Suddenly, I was exposed to real television that I could not get from TREEHOUSE TV because it was my first exposure to DOWN-TO-EARTH screenwriting, not the cherry-picked crap that Treehouse had in their scripts.
Anyway, I can't remember what was my first episode I watched with my Dad but the one that I think did made a major Impact in my Childhood was the episode
THE CITY OF NEW YORK VS. HOMER SIMPSON which aired in 1997.
I think we watched a rerun of that in 1999 or 2000 but it really made me laugh for the hell of it.
The Simpsons' New York Episode is regarded as an All-Time Classic despite how dated the episode is due to the Twin-Towers, Robert Downey Jr's drug problems, etc.
But after 9/11, the episode was removed off Syndication because Network affiliates were worried that the episode would be in bad taste in the wake of the collapse of the Twin Towers.
So thank balls my first exposure to the episode was before that infamous day...
Anyway where was I,
Oh yes, the impact the episode had on me and my father back in the day.
This episode follows Homer as he goes to New York..... BEGRUDGINGLY.... to retrieve his car after his friend Barney borrows it but doesn't return it a month from now.
I was very young back in 1999 so until I became more obsessed with THE SIMPSONS in 2010, I only saw spurts of this episode.
But my memory is vivid and I remember many things from this episode that had a major impact on me.
One of these is the Flushing Meadows Scene from this episode.
But I think the most memorable for me, my father, and every SIMPSONS fan on this Planet, is the scene where Homer thinks to himself:
"SCREW IT! I'LL DRIVE EVEN WITH THIS DAMN BOOT ON MY CAR!!!"
Though the actual quote was
"Well that's it!
I'm getting out of this town alive if it kills me!!!"
Yeah Yeah, I had a small Woodgrain TV from the 1980s, even in 1999 but that didn't stop me from laughing my balls off watching Homer driving with that boot still on his car.
As I get older, I seem to know more about this episode than I let on, even for 2 year old me back in 1999-2000.
For example, this Episode had major research on making the landmarks as realistic as possible.
As well as future anecdotes.
For example,
This is the first time Homer said an F-Bomb..... close..
We know what he's saying but we can't hear it phonetically due to the fact that when he says it, he's biting a bolt on the BOOT on his car.
Like I said, this episode is date and due to these two behemoths
Because of what happened on September 2001, the producers expressed some regrets with the episode...
Well they don't regret it because it's a fan-favorite of CLASSIC SIMPSONS
But what they regret is not taking future events as well some jokes that they think are in poor taste.
One such joke the writers regret is the JERKS ON TOWER 1 joke.
"When September happens, we will bring our arguments someplace else because...
Well, you get what I'm talking about and I'm not saying it!!!"
This episode was also the earliest to implement CGI.... sort of.The first was in a TREEHOUSE OF HORROR episode in 1995 but this episode made some attempts to merge CGI with the Cel Animation but unlike the Butterfly in the Pepper Episode, this episode took a different approach.
For the Bridge Credits scene, the models were made on the Computer, printed, and then the animators traced on another sheet of paper over the bridge scene to make the scene stand out better with the driving car on the scene.
And I heard that before this episode's 1997 debut, the SIMSPONS Staff had to negotiate with FOX not to cut to Commercials before the credits just so this Awesome Punchline can be more effective with all that awesome Jazz Tunes.
And that's the episode.
And as for you Reuben, hope you find this Father's Day Blogpost entertaining.
On another note, While I have previously use my DVDs for SIMPSONS Images, This time, I recorded this episode using my Avermedia Capture Card while watching on Disney+ because I had some issues with Screenshots on VLC Player and my Season 9 DVD as well as ripping the contents using the convert tool.
So I felt SCREW IT, I'll just go the Avermedia route and capture the episode since it's in a higher resolution than the DVD.
And yes, I confirm that the SIMPSONS Aspect Ratio has been set to Classic so I retain the original Height and Width Presentation of the episode.
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