The Simpsons Shorts: Scary Stories, Grandpa and the Kids Reviews

Short #18: Scary Stories

This kind of story is so cliched, this shouldn't be funny. However, it is. It plays on that idea of fear that kids have when they hear about certain things. The writing plays it off very well and gets some good laughs as Bart scares himself and his sisters by telling them scary stories. Groening worked on the idea of what a kid's mind goes through. Overall, a solid short that you wouldn't have thought would be good.

Score: 7 out of 10

Short #19: Grandpa and the Kids

This is the first short to feature a recurring character that didn't debut on the show. Hence the title, it's Grampa Abe Simpson. As far as character modeling goes, they got him down right the first time. Not to mention improvements in how the other characters looked as well as the backgrounds. For this one, Abe does sound a little frail compared to his show counterpart and is like a normal grandfather, though with a mischievous side at the end. It'll definitely feel strange the first time you watch it, but you'll appreciate how good of a debut he had.

It is a short that starts slow, but picks up and gets better as it goes on. They hit it on the right cylinders and it shows. A good way to start 1988.

Score: 7 out of 10

Next week is more Bart adventures. He is on a boat with Homer in Gone Fishin, and he shows his sisters lessons in Skateboarding.