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The Simpsons: |
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n the classic Simpsons episode "Rosebud," the series once again did what it does best, making bold and intelligent statements about society with references to modern culture, this time doing a beautiful job parodying Orson Welles' much-honored film Citizen Kane. In this episode, C. Montgomery Burns, billionaire operator of Springfield's nuclear power plant and Homer Simpson's employer, is depressed, and his executive assistant, Waylon Smithers, whose affection for his boss is not returned in kind, intends to find out why.
We discover that Burns was sent away from home at a young age, forced to leave behind his precious teddy bear, Bobo. With his birthday approaching, Burns begins a quest to find his lost bear, but to no avail. Smithers tries to cheer Burns by dressing up as a teddy bear himself in an awkward scene that helps Burns not a bit. Burns eventually discovers that the Simpsons' baby girl, Maggie, has Bobo. He offers the Simpsons a cool million dollars for the now dilapidated, practically shredded bear, but they refuse, as Maggie is quite attached to it. Later, in a moment alone with Burns, she takes pity on Burns and hands it over. Burns is happy for once in his miserable life.
Then, in a bizarre all-too-brief epilogue, we see Burns, a million years in the future, holding Bobo. However, the hands that hold him are not human hands but mechanical tubes. Burns' head is suspended in a glass bubble as his robotic body stomps off into the distance, while Smithers' head on a robotic dog body follows obediently. Meanwhile, apes act as slave drivers, whipping a group of obviously devolved humans—who now look just like Homer Simpson.
Sheer brilliance.
Playmates has spent the last several years producing some of the best likenesses ever of the Simpsons panoply of characters, in the form of Intelli-Tronic voice-activated figures that play sound segments from the various episodes when placed on appropriate playset environments. Recently, Playmates replicated the short epilogue of "Rosebud," featuring future Mr. Burns in robotic shell, Smithers as Bobo, Smithers as future robotic dog and, of course, beloved Bobo. Burns and Smithers are fully featured Intelli-Tronic figures that utter phrases such as "I want my teddy, Bobo ... Bobo ... " and "You want your bear, Bobo, don't you?" Smithers as dog and Bobo are more like accessories, but well-chosen ones.
The purple base features a cartoon-drawn backdrop showing a super-evolved ape whipping a devolved trio of Homer Simpsons.
The base requires three AAA batteries.
A Century worth living in
This playset was not distributed to most mainstream toy stores but was an exclusive to specialty stores like comic-book shops and computer software outlets. As such, it was not terribly hard to find and well worth the cost. Most other "Town of Springfield" playsets have an MSRP of approximately $20 and come with only one figure, but they can support up to two other compatible figures at the same time.
This playset is a smaller unit than the more typical Simpsons environments. It has two reader ports rather than the more usual three, but it comes with more figures. Like most specialized playsets, such as the Treehouse of Horror and other exclusive sets, these figures are not compatible with the standard "Town of Springfield" line of playsets. When connected to those sets, the "Next Century" figures will not play their recorded sound segments.
The tradeoff here is that the playset is a little less elaborate, but it ships with more figures—in this case, Burns as an articulated robot whose head, shoulders, waist and hips rotate in one plane of movement; Smithers in furry costume whose head and shoulders turn; Smithers as robot dog with moving legs and head, and a solid Bobo that can be held in Burns' spindly fingers. A wealth of figures and accessories.
Both figures fit well on the base, and the buttons are easily accessible when the figures are attached, not the case in some other environments, whose buttons are sometimes obscured by the figures placed on them.
The connection points of this set are much more workable than some previous sets, including the Treehouse of Horror playsets and the Town Center. Often the figures must be crammed onto the sometimes ill-fitting reader ports, and even then they misfire when activated. In this set, the figures fit snugly, and there is no issue with vocal misfires.
When pressed, the button connected to Burns clearly says the following phrases: "I want my teddy ... Bobo ... Bobo ... ", "Let's roll!" and "What could be more humiliating!?" Smithers in his bear costume utters: "You want your bear, Bobo, don't you?", "Here's something that should cheer you up, sir. It's me, sir, Bobo! Hug me, squeeze me, tug at my fur" and "Wait for me, sir. Woof!" However, if a figure is not connected to its reader port, the resulting audio segment is the sound of bubbling water to alert you that it is disconnected.
The flat backdrop completes the mood of this futuristic world, with its depiction of an ape driving Homer-Simpson-like slaves pulling a cart. The obvious reference to Planet of the Apes is just one of the many references this episode highlights.
The episode aired the week before the season's usual Treehouse of Horror segment, and, considering the more mundane main segment of the show, the epilogue seemed like more of a lead-in for the always-surreal Halloween episode that followed. This fact, and the incompatibility of these figures to the regular environments, makes this more of a companion piece to the four "Treehouse of Horror" playsets than the regular Springfield series.
The one mystery remaining is why the set is called The Next Century when the show aired in 1993 and the epilogue takes place 1 million years in the future. — Sean
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