I don't really know the seasons that covered the period I felt The Simpsons was terrific, but I agree that people tend to be far too generous when they talk about the good seasons.
Very clear memories of my father berating me for watching this episode endlessly on VHS, his reasoning being that the first season of the Simpsons was "real". The science fiction and song and dance of this episode was apparently not "real" enough for him.
This scene seems to have been the turning point toward my early rebellion.
I've said it before here but I say 2-10, but that's being very generous. 10 had a few good episodes but 11 just nosedives into the craphole. So, I think of it like the edge of oblivion for them.
Homer's Law of Idiot Effort: a comically stupid character can be capable of putting a good, skillful and/or intelligent effort into something when that effort is misguided and still be stupid all the time - either the action or the motivation behind it will be stupid.
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