Haven't watched the rest of tonight's "Simpsons" yet, but the couch gag -- in which Homer evolved from single-cell organism to 21st century man, with stops through prehistory and the Renaissance -- was definitely the longest I've ever seen and maybe the funniest. (Lenny and Moe's cameos alone were brilliant.)
Tell me I'm wrong. Name a better one.
UPDATE: So it's on YouTube, for now. Watch it while you can, and hopefully if NewsCorp has it pulled, an official version will go up on Fox.com somewhere.
Can't name one. Certainly the longest I can remember, but it was pretty darn good. Who ever came up with all that - kudos to you. Evem after 18 years, The Simpsons still come up with some like this. Nothing short of genuis in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteIf you can, please update with a link once it's on YouTube or somewhere similar.
ReplyDeleteHow offensive. Homer Simpson did not "evolve." He was created as God intended him.
ReplyDeleteI hope George Bush and the FCC put an end to this blatant left-wing propoganda. I am sorely disappointed in you, Rupert Murdoch.
(Yes, I'm totally kidding.)
I laughed out loud at Moe de-evolving. Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteThe only gag I can remember coming close to this one was the "powers of 10" riff a few years back, in which we zoom out from Homer to aerial views of the house, Springfield, the world, solar system, universe, and then back (or up) to the level of atoms and eventually up to our original view of Homer.
ReplyDeleteYou can see it on YouTube here.
hysterical, and i love skinner's mom dropping in and the other characters' cameos to make it truly simpsons-esque. but to be a downer, doesn't it remind you of the intro to the Dilbert tv show?
ReplyDeletehttp://youtube.com/watch?v=ieEzPfkjEAA
the simpsons intro is much longer and of course tons of fun, but a tad borrowed, no?
Brilliant. I'm curious as to the score for the segment - I quite liked the moody music. Wonder if this was a Clausen original or taken fom elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteWell, in his case it makes more sense than "intelligent design"!
ReplyDeleteThere was a good lengthy couch intro where the couch tried to eat OFF, and the whole scene turned into a zombie movie with shotguns. Thanks for pointing this one out; I finally gave up on the Simpsons because moments like this were too few and far in between.
ReplyDeleteGreat gag, reminded me of the Fatboy Slim video to "Right Here, Right Now" though.
ReplyDeleteHilarious! But I'm with Anonymous -- I miss DILBERT. I'm not saying this gag was lifted from there, but I do miss that show.
ReplyDeleteI think they should have made Lisa a Triceratops rather than a Stegosaurus.
ReplyDeleteThe music was very like the Vangelis music that accompanied a similar evolution sequence in an episode of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos". I'm sure that's where the idea cam from.
ReplyDeleteYes, it does borrow liberally from Fatboy Slim, as well as the evolution sequence in Adaptation, a case in which Spike is cannabalizing himself.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not to say that this ain't clever as shit, cuz it is.
I'm bummed that Marge and Maggie didn't get a cameo in the evolution. Or did I miss it?
ReplyDeleteGreat gag, and by far one of my favorite openings ever (I like the live-action Sky/UK one a lot, too).
Alan, I read your stuff in the Star Ledger, but this website was linked in EW.com's Popwatch! Nice job.
ReplyDeleteUh-huh, yeah! You just got name-checked by EW!
ReplyDeleteInspired, no doubt, by the intro for the classic French animated tv-series "Il était une fois l'homme" (or Once Upon a Time... Man" from 1978. Check it out and compare:
ReplyDeletehttp://youtube.com/watch?v=0yT3XbSorx0
It reminds me of the Guiness Ad
ReplyDeleteFantasy News