Well hello again friends! Came back for the second part of the Thanksgiving Balloons, eh? Well, thanks for stopping by. As promised, Part Two of this where did those come from covers the Poochie and Stampy Balloons. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
First up…Poochie. This balloon actually makes a ton of sense to me since it fits right in with Itchy & Scratchy from last year. We have the complete set available as mascots in Krustyland, so why not have them all available as decorations in Springfield?
Poochie comes from Season 8, Episode 14: The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show. Itchy and Scratchy have lost their edge and kids just aren’t watching it any more. Krusty orders the creator to fix it. What’s the best way to fix anything? Audience research of course. (Why else would EA read blogs like this if it wasn’t?)
Lisa points out that the show is as good as ever but after seeing it for so long, the characters just don’t have the same impact. The fix? Break up the dramaturgical dyad and add a new character. Of course, the animal chain of command goes mouse, cat, dog, so the obvious choice is a dog from hell, a dog with attitude that is edgy and in your face. A totally outrageous paradigm aka Poochie. (Blame the episode for all these fancy words… I’m actually indirectly quoting a lot of the dialogue.)
Open casting calls for Poochie’s voice result in our very own Homer J. getting the gig as a voice actor beating out both Otto and Troy McCLure. Poochie’s first episode, The Beagle Has Landed, just wasn’t as good as OG Itchy & Scratchy. Poochie was silly and extreme but the fact is kids just want to see a cat get killed by a mouse. No one wants a surfing, catchphrase-spitting canine with a surfboard aka a soulless byproduct of committee thinking… D’oh!
The new fix for a horrible character? Kill him or at least have him return to his home planet and die on the way there to never, ever, ever return.
Of course, characters tend to pop up again in episodes and Poochie is no exception. I could ramble away about the myriad ways he’s shown up in I&S or Krusty products but hey, that’s what Oogle is for. Ok… I’m just messing. You know I can’t really help myself when it comes to these posts so I’ll do two more…
Season 18, Episode 9: Kill Gil: Volumes 1 & 2, Matrix Poochie in Krusty’s Kristmas on Ice
And Season 19, Episode 8: Funeral for a Fiend. Poochie is a parade balloon!
Guess that makes this decoration make complete sense, right? Even Scratchy is kind of a balloon in the short.
Last up in today’s wandering post finishing an original post that probably should have been one long post from the resident mad Wookiee in the Attic… Stampy. Of all the balloons, this one makes me the most happy inside. I’ve wanted Stampy since EA gave us Jub-Jub but wondered how they would get a full-size African Elephant (the Asian ones have the tiny…. Ears) to wander around our towns. Problem solved with a balloon.
The Stampster comes from Season 5, Episode 17: Bart Gets an Elephant. When Bart wins the “KBBL is gonna give me something stupid” contest, he pick a fully grown African Elephant instead of 10,000 dollars.
Does anyone else wonder why KBBL isn’t in our Springfields yet? This seems like an obvious addition to our towns. I know I’m wandering from my main points but just felt I had to say something. I’ve never heard Monster Mash without thinking of Valentine’s Day and it’s all because of KBBL. Ok… now back to your regularly scheduled post…
Where’s my Elephant!?! Unfortunately KBBL doesn’t have an elephant but Bart won’t settle for anything less. Not even transforming Skinner into some sort of lobster thing or paying him to wear his pants around his ankle for a year.
Well… Bart gets his elephant who smells worse than anything and according to Homer, looks like Al Gore. The elephant’s first action other than scaring off SLH and Snowball 2? Shoving Bart in his mouth (just like the parade balloon!). Stampy has a thing for shoving things in his mouth, sort of like my toddler but I’m wandering again. MUST… KEEP… FOCUS…
Bart names him Stampy for his penchant for stamping on things and general destruction. Unfortunately for the family, elephants are just not meant to be pets and can’t live on Moe’s free peanuts or the trees of the Springfield Arboretum.
Stampy ends up being too expensive to keep so Homer has to sell the big lug. Bart is not happy the winning bid came from an ivory dealer, so he goes to runaway with him. Stampy instead runs off by himself and rampages through Springfield to include the GOP and DEM conventions as well as the Peanut Factory.
They find Stampy at the local tar pits (Springfield really does have everything apparently) and after he saves Homer (and Barney) from the pit, Homer decides to donate him to the local animal refuge. There we find out that some animals (like people) are just jerks, including Stampy.
Stampy of course appears in other episodes if only briefly but as Alissa will beat me if I keep writing, feel free to mention any of your favorites in the comments. My favorite extra moment is Stampy running into the dome in The Simpsons Movie. He may have knocked himself unconscious but he was the first to crack it.
WOO HOO… we’ve reached the end! Well, that seems like enough words for one Wookiee. Hopefully it was informative or at the very least entertaining. TTFN and all that good stuff. If you missed my ramble about the other Thanksgiving balloons, check it out here. I leave with appropriate words from one of our new balloons.
“Catch you on the flip side, dudemeisters! Nooot!” ~ Poochie
Thanks for the Stampy love. He is a favorite!
It was my pleasure.