“Ahem, my geode must be acknowledged.” – Martin Prince
13
Mar
18
8 Responses to “Quote of the Day”
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I love this line, but the best part has to be when Bart’s going through all the things on Lisa’s desk, including a bran muffin(!) with a completely clueless look on his face. The animation on that was just perfect.
I always got the impression that Martin was a more popular character with the writers than the viewers. If the viewers could have picked who Bart brought with him in “Bart on the Road” there’s no doubt they would have picked Ralph over Martin but Martin fit better. He had the money for the rental car, and he’s a more grounded character making the story more cohesive. He’s a well developed character with plenty of funny lines, my favorite being in “Grade School Confidential” when he told Bart not to fall in love with him. But he’s not someone I ever hear people quoting. He’s never been on a t-shirt by himself to my knowledge and I don’t think that anyone currently has a Martin action figure on their desk at work. The way he’s used on the show I get the feeling that the writers hold him in the same esteem as Milhouse and Nelson even though the viewers do not.
Plus he’s actually in Bart’s class, it would be dumb as hell to shove a random second grader into the road trip
Despite not being particularly popular with viewers, I still think viewers appreciate him as a character who fills out the world of the show, who can help drive plots forward, who can create conflict. Martin is a unique character in the sense that you can’t take his parts in the show and just switch them out with another character and have it work out the same. Zombie Simpsons often sticks characters into roles that don’t fit them at all and that’s part of the problem with those episodes.
Agreed.
That’s a good comment.
I think Martin’s a pretty great character myself. Even if he doesn’t have a spot as one of the top favorites, I’m pretty sure most Classic Simpsons fans would agree. Zombie Ralph is just overused because they can squeeze a bunch of dumb, cheap “jokes” out of him.
The characters that I would imagine are easy to write for get a lot of screen time in ZS. I believe that this is the reason that Lenny and Carl get so much air time compared to the episodes from the 90’s. Neither one of them have a complex back story or really fleshed out characterizations. They were fairly normal people amongst some larger than life characters who’s main purpose in the show was to underreact at Homer’s incompetence. And much of their humor comes from just always seeing them together. The ZS writers just have to show them together over and over again without having to come up with any actual jokes and they think people will find that funny.
They’re not really character you can get wrong. Their personalities were never that consistent or well shaped. In “Sideshow Bob Roberts” when Homer is listening to Birch Barlow Lenny says that his viewpoints make him uncomfortable and he considers himself to be “politically correct” yet in “The Cartridge Family” he’s an outspoken NRA member.
More complex characters have been seen less; Burns and Smithers, Patty and Selma, Barney, Dr. Nick, and Otto. The writers do enjoying having Otto pop up every now and then for a few seconds to inform the viewers that he takes drugs and then he’s on his way.
Lenny and Carl scenes, extra long couch gags, heavy-handed references to modern technology, and having Lisa read off a list of stuff all help the ZS writers add minuets to the forgettable episode they’re writing.