“Bart, stop creating a diversion and get out of here!” – Principal Skinner
This is only the third of the Season 13 commentaries I’ve gotten through, but it’s not at all hard to detect some similarities. Whether they’re talking about Branson, Brazil or, in this case, westerns, they can’t stop commenting on the source material as a means of ignoring what’s going on in the episode. This actually happens in Branson! I read this in an article about Brazil! Remember when westerns were popular? It goes on like that while strange and joke free crap parades across the screen.
I don’t find it the least bit coincidental that many of these rambling pop culture reminisces take place while the episodes in question fly apart at the seams. On this one, it starts right at the beginning. Bart is chased by a crazy dog for several minutes of screen time, but they hardly mention the crazy dog. Instead, they discuss the history of westerns. From there, we’re treated to fond memories of everyone from Johnny Carson to John Wayne and Roy Rogers, and about how [cue soft music] they remember a simpler time, a time when things were different than they are now.
In between all that, they occasionally mention the animation, and those are usually the best parts. Unfortunately, they so overuse their diversionary tactics that, by the time the psychotic tic that passes for the third act comes along, all they’ve got left are long, uncomfortable silences. Well, that and an important discussion of something John Swartzwelder once bought on eBay. Seriously.
Only five guys on this one.
0:30 – Jean hasn’t even finished his introduction before saying that people always call this one the “Latest” gun not “Lastest” gun, which is a pun he admits isn’t great, but at least makes sense.
1:35 – They assigned Swartzwelder to write this one because he’s a big western fan.
2:25 – Someone went to the Roy Rogers museum once, and Rogers was working the ticket booth.
3:05 – After saying that they maybe read on-line reviews too much, Jean mentions that this one was not well received. Jean thinks that maybe westerns are so out of style that this doesn’t register with the youth of today. This goes on for a full minute while the more likely explanation of why this episode sucks is clearly evident on screen. Bart is being relentlessly chased by a dog that hates him (and only him) for some reason, also, the dog seems to have a supernatural ability to find Bart anywhere. Could that have something to do with why this episode wasn’t a fan favorite? Nah. It’s the children’s fault.
4:35 – Still talking about the decline of westerns.
5:00 – Dog still attacking Bart.
5:25 – See above.
5:35 – Since nothing else is happening, they’re now complimenting the design of the dog and someone notes approvingly, “It’s very scary looking.” That’s what we’re going for, scary dogs.
If you thought this got old three minutes ago, you’re fired.
6:15 – They’re taking ignoring the dreck on screen to strange new places here, talking about how great it is that characters like Bart can be recognized in silhouette.
7:00 – Still discussing Simpsons animation history 101.
7:30 – “There are a couple jokes in here I do go, “Oh, I wish we hadn’t put ’em in’.”
7:50 – The story of one of the bad jokes is still going on, it’s about how writers get angry at “film by” credits.
8:10 – Now we’re onto the second long winded story of a bad joke. The second bad joke is about Homer and Bart complaining that they didn’t have an adventure.
8:40 – The bad joke stories are finally over. Now they’re talking about coloring and it’s actually kind of interesting. This was the last season with hand painted colors, after this they went all digital. When they were on hand painted colors they had only about sixty colors; if they wanted something else they had to mix it manually which could be expensive. Now they have a million colors and they’re all free! They keep the same basic palette, but it’s easier to do more variety.
9:40 – Still talking about the advantages of digital color.
10:00 – This was the last season you could buy an animation cel. Jean jokes that those were never very rare since there were roughly 15,000 per episode.
11:05 – Talking about the strobe effect for the film projector, it’s lit up on every other frame to make it flicker.
11:35 – Long discussion of Daniel Boone being a big craze in the 50s and other pieces of teevee Americana.
12:30 – For about the last minute there’s been sort of murmured giggling, both at their conversation a little bit at what’s going on. We’ll see how long it takes them to get back to just talking about the generic history of the western genre.
12:45 – Talking about animating horses.
13:20 – And we’re back to westerns in pop culture history. It took 50 seconds. Now we’re on about the Wilhelm Scream.
14:10 – Now they’re talking about westerns in, I am not making this up, Nazi Germany.
14:30 – As the generic western cowboy rehearses with Krusty, he shoots the Krusty cutout in the crotch. They then feel the need to explain that it’s a reference to this.
15:25 – Finally done talking about Johnny Carson.
15:45 – “Mr. Teeny is like, the best trained monkey.”
16:15 – Now they’re talking about the time John Wayne gave a drunken speech.
17:05 – Finally done talking about John Wayne, also there was some Bob Hope reminiscing.
17:10 – The joke here is that Homer is nipping out like Farrah Fawcett. Oddly enough, they’re impressed with themselves for doing this, “pulled one over on them”. The censors, I guess?
17:45 – Long silence.
18:20 – More with the explaining the references.
19:05 – Another long silence as we get into and out of rehab.
19:35 – The silence is finally broken by laughing about how Snake would probably be killed here, but instead he’ll be back next week.
20:05 – Now they’re talking about the color of Brockman’s suit. Meanwhile, the childishly silly plot where the old cowboy foils a bank robbery and decides to quit drinking is rolling along un-commented upon.
21:00 – Talking about Swartzwelder, apparently he owns the very first baseball.
21:45 – After a long discussion of the first baseball, there’s a brief mention of why we’ll never see this guy again, and then it’s pretty much over.
22:05 – We end on some well deserved praise of Frank Welker.
Dead Homer Society 
12 responses to ““The Lastest Gun in the West” Makes Baby Jesus Cry”
“Jean thinks that maybe westerns are so out of style that this doesn’t register with the youth of today.”
Am I that out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.
“Since nothing else is happening, they’re now complimenting the design of the dog and someone notes approvingly, “It’s very scary looking.””
I thought it was terrible. In fact, when I remembered the episode, that’s one of the first things I thought about it.
“The joke here is that Homer is nipping out like Farah Fawcett. Oddly enough, they’re impressed with themselves for doing this, “pulled one over on them”. The censors, I guess?”
A male nipple in a cartoon? Take *that*, FCC!
Well, I’m disappointed by this commentary. I thought they would have criticised the resolution at the end a little.
Ah nuts, I misspelled “Farrah”.
The closest they come to criticizing themselves, even for really bizarre endings like this one, is when they just sort of laugh nervously. Or that one time they ended with a badger attack and George Meyer said it was out of “desperation”.
I haven’t seen this episode but based just on the screenshot above I think that Mr. Burns’ hounds and even Santa’s Little Helper (when riled up) are MUCH scarier looking.
Not to mention the junkyard dog in Shelbyville.
The digital era may have given them the advantage of cost-effective “variety” in coloring but the art is simply nowhere near the classic era.
I’ll admit, disc 3 doesn’t have the best set of commentaries on this DVD. After listening to the “Blame it on Lisa” commentary after reading yours, I’ll agree that I found it a tad disappointing (I STILL have no answer to the “on top of, beneath” joke that’s been bothering me for the past 8 years), as I did for this one. “Lastest Gun” is probably the weakest episode in the season, followed by “The Parent Rap.” The dog is ONE of the problems I have with this episode. I wasn’t a fan of the design, and they never explain WHY the dog is so mad at Bart. I chalked up the “able to stalk Bart everywhere” aspect as a Swartzwelderism. Then Buck was okay for act 2, right up until he reveals he’s an alcoholic and the Simpsons simply decide to help the Guest Star of The Week yet again for no good reason except their name is the title of the show.
This ALSO wasn’t the first commentary that mentioned that this was the last season with cels. They mention it at least once or twice before this episode. They also bring up the crappy ending in “Tales From The Public Domain,” where the crappy “Simpsons Dance Party” endings mostly came out of desperation at the fact that they wrote themselves into a corner.
I recommend checking out any of the commentaries with Dana Gould, who is actually hilarious and informative. He asked himself “What would Swartzwelder think?” (Always a good question), and he came up with “Old Man Yells At Cloud.” Be warned: a good chunk of the discussion with those episodes involve his brother, who is a home inspector and was in attendance for some reason.
I remember when I first saw this episode, I thought it was a piece of shit. I think I’ve seen it at least once or twice then, and my opinion hasn’t changed. And Swartzwelder wrote it?? Oy gevalt! I do remember thinking that it was out of character for Bart to be hero-worshipping an old TV western guy, and that the overlong vicious dog thing was a lame contrivance to set up Bart’s admiration for the guy.
“After saying that they maybe read on-line reviews too much, Jean mentions that this one was not well received. Jean thinks that maybe westerns are so out of style that this doesn’t register with the youth of today.”
What a load of rot. One of the hallmarks of classic Simpsons is that it was so funny that you could enjoy it even if you weren’t familiar with what they might be referencing or parodying. If an episode is well-constructed, with a good plot and funny gags, it won’t matter if it’s about something that’s “out of style,” people will still respond positively to it.
That screencap above (the good one, not the dog) is very apt in another way. When it comes down to it, Zombie Simpsons really is trying to make a monkey out of you.
Are the commentaries on the older seasons good? Might have to give season 4 a go if so. Seems reasonable to assume they would be, but some commentators can be really apathetic if they can’t remember the story behind the episode very well.
I agree, the older ones are great, ESPECIALLY Season 4! Be sure to keep pressing the “Audio” button on your remote during “Marge vs The Monorail” to access the hidden commentary with Conan O’Brien! The commentaries with Conan are by far my favorite, and I listen to the “Marge vs The Monorail” ones whenever I need a pick-me-up or a dose of inspiration.
It’s not really surprising that doing commentaries for every episode, averaging 22 each over the past 13 seasons, you’re bound to run out of stuff to talk about. There were a few disappointing ones for Season 12, most notably “Eight Misbehavin’.” Garry Marshall just blathers on for 22 minutes, with little insight from anyone else. Sure, you get the origin of the episode, and who created the Octuplets, but the good parts are glossed over by some rambling story.
Yes, those commentaries are hilarious. I suggest season 7.
The older episodes are clearly better than the newer ones, but in terms of commentary I don’t find much of a difference. Even though Seasons 9 through 12 weren’t great episode-wise, and I’m sure Mike Scully must be hated, but I found him to be one of the funnier people to do The Simpsons commentary along with Matt Selman (who doesn’t appear until season 9), David Mirkin, David S(X) Cohen, Ken Keeler, Tom Gammill (who also doesn’t appear until the more recently released seasons) and of course Dana Gould and Conan O’Brien who both I wish would have appeared on more commentaries.
I agree with In10Words in that the commentary featuring Gary Marshall was an utter piece of shit. I’ve listened to most of the commentaries on the first 12 seasons between four and ten times, but that one I refuse to listen to again.
The commentaries get better on Disc 4. I personally believe that Stan Lee’s is worth the price of the entire damn set. Also worth checking out are the following ones with James Lipton and Robert Pinsky. Pinky’s got lots of info with him and on the episode (he flew out to record on September TENTH 2001. From Boston!), and Lipton vastly improves “The Sweetest Apu.” Sure, it’s mostly praise from him, but you expect that from Mr. Scrumtrulescent Remarkablous. He’s funny, sincere, and has info to boot.