On the Wings of My Dreams

I'm getting old. It's hard to believe that tonight was the FIFTEENTH incarnation of The Simpsons' “Treehouse of Horror”. As has been the tradition the last few years since FOX began airing the World Series, they're about a week late for Halloween. I remember the first few years when it would air ON Halloween, and they'd have a marathon of previous episodes leading up to the new one. This year there was no need for a seventh game in the World Series and they COULD have aired the new one ON Halloween, but didn't. Tonight's episode was delayed about 40 minutes due to a football game and was against the network television premiere of The Lord of the Rings. So I'm sure the ratings will be...interesting. Then again, Tolkien fans saw this in the theaters three years ago and probably own the DVD. Explaining the plot to someone who has neither read the books nor seen the movies can be a daunting challenge as well. I was watching some of it while waiting for The Simpsons to start, and my dad asked me what it was about and where they were, venturing a guess of “England?” I figured it was easier to agree than explain Middle-earth, and gave a simplified explanation of how there was this one ring these little people had to throw in to a volcano to stop a bad guy from ruling the world. He nodded, and then went to bed at 8:20.

Tonight's Simpsons was adequate given how long the show has been on. There have been better Treehouses and there have been worse ones. Tonight certainly had its moments, although oddly enough the part I enjoyed the most was that they utilized the theme song from Perfect Strangers for the opening and closing credits. That more than anything took me back, although it took me a few moments to recognize that sitcom theme paradigm. A Google™ search for “Perfect Strangers” confirmed my suspicions though. I even came across an amusing blog entry, although I disagree with a lot of what was said, especially some of the things in the comments section. I was young enough when the show aired to actually have LIKED it, and I think Larry and Balki did eventually achieve their dreams. They married STEWARDESSES; that beats herding sheep or living with your folks any day. Plus it offered a lot of wholesome slapstick, like the time they tried to impress the girls by repairing the bathroom plumbing and plugging one leak consistently triggered another. I'd bet money Michael Richards borrowed a few pages from Bronson Pinchot's repertoire of physical comedy, although it's probably more likely that they simply shared influences.

I miss that show. Nostalgia's as much a part of my life as escapism. I think things need to be finite though to have value. We're upset if someone dies too young, or if a series is canceled after only a few episodes. But nothing lasts forever. I still enjoy the Simpsons but it's not as “must-see” as it used to be, and I don't annoy my friends like I did in college by speaking almost exclusively in Simpsons quotes. I reference it frequently, but I'm not constantly doing the voices, all of which ultimately sounded like a nasal Chief Wiggum anyway. Most of my friends wouldn't even give me that much, saying I sounded more like Pidge. So I don't do the voices anymore, save for the occasional Comic Book Guy. I don't think the Halloween episodes are as quotable as they used to be. Treehouse of Horror V, now THAT was a quotable episode. Urge to conclude post, rising....