The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued - Makes ANYONE laugh!!
Written: May 20 '02 (Updated May 20 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Loads of facts and quotes from the Simpsons, fans will love it.
Cons: A little short.
The Bottom Line: The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family..Continued will make anyone laugh out loud - even those who don't know quotes off by heart. Recommended.
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| freelancer1's Full Review: Matt Groening - The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete ... |
I, like most other people with a sense of humor and a TV set, am a Simpson's fan. I'm not obsessed by the show and I can't give you a quote from episode 5F03, but I watch the show when it's on and enjoy it. So when I received The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued as a Christmas present, I was pretty pleased. And when I opened it up, I wasn't disappointed...
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The Content of The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued
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The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued begins with a short introduction by Matt Groening (better known to Simpsons fans as "God"!). There are then two very long sections on seasons nine and ten followed by several shorter chapters and an index which lets you find particular episodes by name or search for individual characters.
Within the two large chapters, one page - or sometimes a double-page spread - is devoted to each episode. Under the heading there are more details than you'll ever need to know - Episode Number, Airdate, Writer, Producer, Director and Guest Voices. Below this is a short summary of the story-line of the episode and some hilarious quotes; here's an example:
Marge: You bought a car, without consulting me?
Homer: I don't recall being consulted when you bought that hat.
Marge: I found this hat!
There is a "Stuff You May Have Missed" section for each episode with details for the real die-hard Simpson's fan and, on the outer edge of each page, a profile and picture of a lesser-known character. Other pieces of information that are normally included are things like the phrase Bart writes on the blackboard at the start of the episode and the movies that certain scenes parody. I probably don't have to tell you that the book is crammed with illustrations and scenes from the shows.
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Season 9 - Do The Bartman - Twenty-five episodes are covered here, including my favorite from this season - "Treehouse of Horror VIII".
Season 10 - Deep, Deep Trouble - The bad news here for British terrestrial viewers is that they won't recognize many of the episodes in this section of The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued; this is because many of these haven't yet been aired in the UK. US citizens are more likely to have seen them, but either way you're sure to find some great laughs in this section.
A Tribute to Troy McClure - For those less familiar with the Simpsons, this is the guy who always begins by saying "Hi, I'm Troy McClure, you may remember me from such educational films as Lead Paint: Delicious But Deadly". Contained in this double page spread are the names of every film Troy has ever been in and the episodes in which they appear. These make for laugh-out-loud reading and include my favorite of Troy's TV adverts: Sun & Run: The Suntan Lotion that's also a Laxative.
Homer Says - This is a double page devoted to the times Homer says "D'oh". Big Simpson's fans might find this interesting, but there's little chance that the rest of us will remember these scenes. More interesting to me is the bottom of the page - about the times when Homer says "Mmm". These include:
"Mmm...recirculated air" (after stealing Flanders' air conditioner)
"Mmm...hippo" (after seeing a hippo barbecued in an infomercial).
Who Does What Voice - It's interesting that all the regular voices on the Simpsons are done by just a handful of people, but that's where the interest ends for me, I'm afraid. This double page in The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued will be of most interest to big-time Simpsons fans.
Songs Sung Simpson - I love the songs - especially the musical parodies - in the Simpsons, and this double page gives you the opportunity to read the lines you might not have caught when they were sung on the episodes. One you might remember if you watch regularly is "Cut Every Corner", a song from the Mary Poppins episode that was sung to the tune of "A Spoonful of Sugar".
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The Verdict on The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued
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The great thing about The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued is that even people like me - who watch the episodes and enjoy them but aren't "cult" followers - will find something funny to amuse themselves within its pages. For big Simpsons fans it's a must though, and it would make a great gift for anyone even remotely interested in the show.
Personally, I love dipping in to the book every so often to take a look at a funny quote or read about a new episode I've just seen on TV. But the reason I haven't given it five stars is that it is just too short - it's probably only about half as thick as the first book and I think they could have waited just a little while longer before bringing out this one; I suppose making shorter books increases profits. On the subject of the first book (The Simpsons: A complete Guide To Our Favorite Family), I don't think you'll need it in order to appreciate the new one, but you might want to buy both and bundle them together to make a fantastic gift for your favorite Simpsons fan. The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued is a brilliant book and I recommend it.
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Details of The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family...Continued ============================================================
Author - Matt Groening and others
Publisher - HarperCollins
Length - 95 pages (I warned you it was short!)
Cost - $10 - $12 (£9.99 in the UK)
Where to Buy - the lowest new price on the Internet (you can also buy it second-hand) is at Amazon.com.
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Similar Books To Consider
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The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the World's Most Animated Family - by Mark I. Pinsky and Tony Campolo. An hilarious account of Christianity based around your favorite characters. I found it an enjoyable read. It costs around $10.
The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer - by William Irwin, Mark T. Conard and Aeon Skoble. This book combines philosophy and The Simpsons in an amusing way, but I'm not all that fond of it. I've seen it for around $20.
The Simpsons: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family - by Matt Groening, Ray Richmond and Antonia Coffman. This is a great book, but you don't necessarily need it to enjoy The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family..Continued. It costs $12.57 on Amazon.com
Recommended:
Yes
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