Animation on FOX Talkback 2022-2023 (Spoilers)

[Not It]

That being said, the episode probably would’ve been more funny as a short. This one tried to have a stronger narrative than “everyone dies.” Here’s the thing though... giving it a happy ending isn’t all that fun because that’s not what Treehouse of Horror is for.
In response to this:

1. The problem with doing an "It" parody as a short is that the tale is basically a two-part story: the initial confrontation that the heroes have with Pennywise when they were kids, and the mission to end It once and for all when they are adults. As such, you're either left with one of two options: Have the annual THOH episode do two stories parodying It or make It a full 30-minute THOH story that's an addition to the regular episode airing next week.

2. "It" is a tale that is meant to end on a positive note (with the Losers Club being able to kill Pennywise and the surviving members moving on with their lives afterwards). As such, a downer ending will not work here.
 
In response to this:

1. The problem with doing an "It" parody as a short is that the tale is basically a two-part story: the initial confrontation that the heroes have with Pennywise when they were kids, and the mission to end It once and for all when they are adults. As such, you're either left with one of two options: Have the annual THOH episode do two stories parodying It or make It a full 30-minute THOH story that's an addition to the regular episode airing next week.

2. "It" is a tale that is meant to end on a positive note (with the Losers Club being able to kill Pennywise and the surviving members moving on with their lives afterwards). As such, a downer ending will not work here.
That’s fair. I was thinking more along the lines of just doing part one perhaps making it more gruesome instead of two parodies or going into part two. I feel something as condensed enough as The Shinning or Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace would’ve been fine. I was unintentionally undermining IT’s overall story and felt Simpsons could’ve made a more intense alter if they wanted to. But I get it if you’re glad it was more true to the plot.
 
Not IT: I enjoyed this. The Treehouse of Horrors have been weak story wise lately, but I thought this was pretty good. I liked that it had very little of Bart and Lisa since I was expecting them and others to be in the starring roles. The only thing that bugged me was the scene where Homer was gonna tell Marge that he wrote the poem, but took too long to say it. It just went on for too long to be funny. I like how Krusto was defeated in both times. Infact, Krusto's final defeat was better done than the actual IT 2 film, even though Krusto's defeat didn't feel permanent, it still a lot better than the film's. It would've been funny if the bullies ended up being tossed down to Hell after trying to ascend into Heaven with the other spirits.
 
That’s fair. I was thinking more along the lines of just doing part one perhaps making it more gruesome instead of two parodies or going into part two. I feel something as condensed enough as The Shinning or Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace would’ve been fine. I was unintentionally undermining IT’s overall story and felt Simpsons could’ve made a more intense alter if they wanted to.

I think the team admitted that was their original idea of wanting to do a parody of It for just a TOH segment but the problem is they had a lot more jokes and spoofs and bit they wanted to do with the characters and the set up that wouldn't have been able to fit into just 7 minutes so a result decided to make it a full half hour ep which again I have no issue with. Yeah "The Shinning" was also adapating a major Stephen King plot which was also adapated into a mini series could have been stretched out as well but that likely had fewer notes and bits to cover then what was shown here.
 
Yeah "The Shinning" was also adapating a major Stephen King plot which was also adapated into a mini series could have been stretched out as well but that likely had fewer notes and bits to cover then what was shown here.
Also consider that "The Shinning" was based on the Stanley Kubrick movie, which downplays just how big of a threat the Overlook is and treat the haunted nature of the place and Jack's craziness as two different things instead of the hotel trying to get its hand on Danny by using Jack as a means.
 
[Treehouse of Horror XXXIII]

I’m quite impressed with the turnout this year. Not only did we get two Treehouse of Horror episodes; this could all happen right before Halloween, and NOT have a sports interruption.

They seem to care less about doing big theatrical intros. Makes sense in these days when in general I hear it’s tough to get the intro or a couch gag in with time. They jumped right into the Pookadook story.

Laughed at the stupid aquarium joke. Maggie’s a survivor.

I guess people can’t gripe about Julie Kavner sounding in pain when Marge is possessed by a demonic figure.

Pookadook was eh. Kinda came and went.

The Death Note parody was something that got instant hate from fans the moment they heard of it, coined as “the bit that would’ve been topical 15 years ago.”

Luckily, that’s all changed to a slightly more positive tone ever since trailers and such have dropped online.

Death Note was one anime title that blew up on Adult Swim back in ‘07. Compared to all the other big premieres from that decade, I didn’t pay nearly as much attention to Death Note in spite of the craze. The last time I heard the title brought up in public conversation was like... 2011. I live in No Where though so take that as you will.

Whether you’re a fan of the source material or not, the segment is as gorgeous as it is almost authentic. It’s a striking contrast to just about every anime parody Simpsons has ever done, in that it’s not an easy and bloated stereotype to fill time.

I could see a majority of Simpsons fans still being polarized from such a segment taking place. I feel most simply won’t get it. But ultimately I think this is a good thing because it’s showing they can be much more cultured when it comes to these stories.

Treehouse of Horror in the past 10+ years has had a fair share of unfunny, suckyass segments that were nothing more than a ticket to poke fun at some dumb blockbuster movies.

This was a successful attempt at shedding light on a different medium. I think it also just might motivate me to give Death Note another chance.

The Simpsons World segment immediately grabs you with the Monorail scene at the beginning. Feels like a reference to not just fanfare but how much the show is celebrated over at Unviersal. I felt very recognized by the dumb frat fans that could recite a key Homer line from season 4.

Sidebar, recent Treehouse of Horrors LOVE referencing Frank Grimes any chance they get.

Last one was fun, doesn’t fully live up to the majestic hype or anything but you’ll still like it. Same as last week, I guess Kang & Kodos is where some of the age is really showing. Still glad they had a bit of input this year.

South Park Park, Family Guy Town & Futuramarama would be cool to visit. I grabbed a Stewie doll back when Simpsons Ride first opened up. I intend on going back there soon someday, no telling how much has changed since 2008. I still remember that massive shelf full of Simpsons Movie DVDs.



[Happy Holo-ween]

Funny thing about Family Guy. Throughout the years of enjoying the show during its prime, never once did I think “oh man! Family Guy could really use a Halloween episode!”

Not that I was ever against it back then... it’s just kinda funny how the show went so long not even warranting a Halloween show.

And when they finally did Halloween on Spooner Street, it was just a neat trick or treat story episode.

It’s popped up here and there since then, usually nothing to cry home about. American Dad, and even Cleveland Show has had more interesting shows involving Halloween.

Was nice seeing the Tom Brady from the Patriot Games episode as a hologram. And Obama.

“Leave the satire to Garrison Keillor.”

Peter getting stuck in the painting was good.

So far in terms of modern Family Guy, this is actually a really entertaining way to explore the “Peter could be a better dad” plot. I liked that the hologram had to iterate that he’s been gone for three days.

Sam Elliott’s overall role in FG is typically more miss than hit. He’s no where near being like Mayor West, but he’s good narrating anything of course. The narration of him whizzing in the bathroom was actually pretty good.

Palpatine came back lol.

Holy crap, wasn’t at all expecting Larry & Steve to be referenced. That’s like, the first time ever that they’ve done that. Twitter’s gonna have another viral field day with that scene.

This was pretty good. This and the Blockbuster episode are the two top ones from this season so far that are perfect with the Griffin family.
 
The Simpsons "Treehouse Of Horror XXXIII" - Though I really liked "Dead Ringer" a lot from last year I have to say this one overall was a whole let better due to the individual fragments overall being better so let me briefly heap praise on this one

'The Pookadook' - I admit this is probably the one I have the least connection to because I never saw the Babadook and besides it being a horror movie revolving around a picture book and a family I don't really know what it's about I sitll dig this one actually. I actually like that the focus of a TOH is on Marge and Maggie which is a pairing I don't think we've ever seen dealed in TOH specifically. Like even the one that revealed Kang was Maggie's father was still more on the family itself but I guess due to the nature of the parody they wanted to focus more just on the two. And you know with the book popping up broken apart and the smoke possessing Marge and making her want to kill Maggie this was probably the creepiest of all the segments but there were still a lot of good laughs from seemingly despite it popping up everywhere only having one space for the book to Homer just taking the axe to chop wood to "sleeping with the fishes" being a night trip to the aquarium to the memories of the family showing Marge get shafted with all the hard work. Like nothing amazing I might connect to it more if I knew the material but still good.

'Death Tome' - I admit this is probably the one I was looking forward to the most. Not only because I actually have seen all of Death Note so I actually get the references but I give major kudos they went the extra mile making this one fully anime esque. Heck even getting some of the people who worked on the original anime adaptation to do some shots which between the death note being dropped and a lot of close up on Lisa's expression (I especially love the ones just focusing on her mind not showing her talking because that really captures the DN aesthetic we'd get in the show) and showing her flicking the pen when writing one of the death really shows the team did their homework. It does feel like they are missing out on some good references though. Like they should of had Lisa say after killing all of those executives "couldn't I just keep giving them all heart attacks?" and the Shinigami Steve going "no that would be too boring to repeat" and also maybe have the Shinigami instead of being some random guy be Moe who Lisa thinks is some horrible monster even if it looks mostly just like Moe with wings. I do appreciate though they did have the hutspa to have Lisa go full Kira and off the people and major props to have L be El Barto that was a good way to connect the characters. I admit though i think like "Not It" this would have benefitted from having a full episode to milk the parody. Yeah they got away with that with It since those movies are much more famous but seriously if they bothered using the police as the investigation unit (and have either Ralph or Wiggum play Matsuda) and really delve into a lot of the overly complicated out there scheming of DN this could have been a full top notch parody but eh guess they also might not have been able to get the team for this segment for a full ep so I appreciate the bits we did get. Lisa as Shinigami is a weird ending. Like it probably would have bene out of nowhere for this segment to spoof how DN ends but that just felt like a random way to end this segment but still a good spoof for the short frame this had anyway.

'Simpsonsworld' - Yeah not a fan of west world either but I have seen every single Simpsons episode so the idea of the show mocking Westworld's premise but having it be about their own continuity I'm all for. Admittedly I think the team saying "oh we're doing something Groening would never do" is stretching it since stuff like "Behind The Laughter" was all about the show being a fake sitcom the cast was playing and not like TOH are canon either but honestly just delving into the idea and showing all these variation of the family and town over the years are great. Honestly I appreciate the shout out to stuff like "SMRT" from "Homer Goes To College" and the teens wanting to jump in on the "I call the big one bitey" from "Marge Vs The Monorail" but there were a lot of good background ones like Lisa goalie from "Lisa on Ice" to the various crushed grandpas. And the idea of having it end with Ralph as the guard who keep popping up and taking him out with the giant stick from "Whacking Day" and all of those bull horn speakers from 'The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson' to Marge pulling out the Canayero from "Marge Simpson In Screaming Yellow Honkers" is great. And though as funny as the Linda cameo at the end was (kind of ruined though) I think with how super meta this whole thing was they instead woudl have wound up in Rick and Morty land and ran into Rick and Morty and Rick helping telegraph the big twist and how pointless life is and the family pointing out how annoyingly over negative he is or something. I mean still a funny ep but probably would have been a better note for this sort of ending with how meta the rest was.

Still again really good segments I admit as a huge DN fan and of the idea of the ending of Simpsonsworld I did have ideas for those I wanted to see and am bummed they didn't but what we got was still really good so yeah two solid halloween eps this year I have to say... also will say thoughts on the other animation domination eps later on when I see them.
 
LOVED the Death Note parody!
The Simpsons may have big eyes, Linda, but at least they have visible teeth. ;)
 
The Simpsons "Treehouse Of Horror XXXIII"

The Pookadook:

There's no opening this year. Because of this, it is unneeded.

One of the best Treehouse sequences the series has done in years. Frankly, I think it's one of the best ever. What about it absolutely wowed me? It's actually SCARY! The early Treehouses used to hype the fact that the Halloween episodes were unusually violent and scary, and I feel like over the years, they've gone harder into the spoof side of things. Not only did this story involve the actual family (instead of an outside of continuity scenario where they were playing different characters), but there were few actual jokes, and an unusual happy ending gotten to by Marge and Maggie realizing their love for each other.

Julie Kavner also brought her A-game in her performance. Can't forget to mention that.

I am floored and amazed by that. Don't ever let anyone tell you The Simpsons is no longer capable of greatness. I just saw it. *****.

Death Tome:

That was... freaking something. I was underwhelmed by the ending, but kudos for another scary outing, amazing anime animation completely outside of the house style, and a villain in Steve as funny as he is frightening. Another segment that swung for the fences and hit a Homer. ****1/2.

Simpsons World

I think that Treehouse parodying Westworld is a no-brainer. It's just that they did the most genius version of it possible.

The Simpsons' recent negative continuity has ruffled the feathers of long-time fans like me. Because it suggests nothing in the show matters or will stick. That specific short says EVERYTHING matters, and whether or not the show can reference it again, it's something that occurred in that Universe.

What Universe is it? Five fingers and peach skin. Is it the future world of Disenchantment? That sounds about right to me.

When a lot of TV shows do episodes for Milestones (or just special episodes in general), the producers invariably call them "Loving Valentines to the fans". I often dispute whenever a producer calls an episode that. (If "These Are The Voyages..." was actually my Loving Valentine, I'm dumping Star Trek's cheap, easy ass). But The Simpsons, for whatever reason, doesn't really do that. At least not to this extent. I mean "I call the big one Bitey" isn't any fan's favorite joke, but it's Matt Groening's, which is why it's so great to see it called back. And the short just went nuts with every memorable Simpsons thing over the years they could think of. You wouldn't find much stuff from the last 15 seasons in Simpsons World, but it's amazing some of the stuff they DID use, like Lisa with the mayonnaise in her hair to get rid of gum and the angel skeleton. Deep cuts, both.

I feel like that is the second best Treehouse of Horror of all time. The only better one was Treehouse Of Horror VIII, because ALL of those segments were five stars (including the amazing Fox Censor opening). The first and last segment of this were five stars, but the middle segment is four and a half. But the episode is still amazing, one of the greatest things the show has ever done, and a reminder that a long-running show only needs to be underwhelming if the producers allow it to become so. Amazing episodes for shows that have been on the air for 30 seasons are possible, and should be no big deal. I am very glad the show got into its head a few seasons ago there was really no need to phone in the quality of every episode. Great episodes can still occur now. I think what makes it nice for me to see the producers recognizing that fact is that I believe everyone is aware that The Simpsons doesn't even need to be on the air anymore. Last week took a direct shot at that idea, and suggested the show might be more profitable for Disney if they stopped making new content. And that has been true for at least ten years (and maybe longer). It's in Disney's best financial interest to cancel the show, and shop around syndication contracts. It's only kept alive to keep Fox's branding in check. And while that's so, I doubly take notice and appreciate how Matt Selman and the current writers often put in the damn effort. And I think this episode might be their finest moment yet. It impressed the hell out of me. *****.

Epilogue:

We didn't forget Kang and Kodos! We never do! ****.

Episode Overall: *****.




The Great North "Blood Actually Adventure"

You know what? I hate Honeybee's version of Halloween too. And I love the moral is that it freaks Jerry out.

That lady asking Beef if his tail was in the front was made all the more delightful by Nick Offerman's giggle at that.

Judy's Slimer costume is hideous. I also was a bit surprised to see the Alvin and the Chipmunks sheet WAS an Alvin and the Chipmunks sheet. I was having a hard time visualizing that.

The scary doll talking about expectations about what women can and can't do was great.

And yeah, everyone knows A Christmas Carol. The Muppet version is the best.

If I was forced to pick I would have given the cat costume to Moon. Judy wanted it more, but her presentation was unintentionally creepy. Moon's cross between cuteness and madness was utterly convincing. Hopefully not catching though.

Solid. ***1/2.




Bob's Burgers "Apple Gore-chard! (But Not Gory)"

I liked it.

I was like "There is no way these kids know about either Twister or Helen Hunt" until Louise points out that the 40-something adults that answer the door on Halloween would go crazy for it and give them a ton of candy, and it suddenly seemed like a believable Louise scam.

I love Gene saying if a costume doesn't hurt, you aren't doing it right. I think all the actors who suffer through prosthetics on Star Trek probably relate to that statement.

I like that they brought back Louise and Jessica's friendship. I also like the dude saying at the end that he forgot kids are scared of stuff. Little late.

Pretty good. ***1/2.




Family Guy "Happy Holo-ween"

Some really funny jokes. The giraffe sarcastically suggesting they wait for the grown men who write for cartoons to tell them what to do was great.

Sam Elliott's stuff as the Narrator was hilarious. He was way funnier in both this episode and the one where he narrated Brian's SVU than he's ever been as Wild West.

Did Hologram Peter briefly turn into Bob from Bob and Larry at the end? I forgot what Bob looked like, but maybe.

Lois' foot was gross. Nobody wants to touch that.

Brian and Stewie know the proper way to make the Emperor mad. Honestly, they were starting to piss ME off too.

Peter's boss as "Paul Shore" was great. Peter Macon makes me laugh. Total Bortus move.

I love Peter telling the guy on the phone he isn't mad at him, he's mad at the company. I think we've all been there.

It's easier for Peter to do the half-thing from the fake thing so he'll just do that. Lois is like "All right." Lois needs her head examined.

Not a strong or believable story, but a LOT of the jokes were great.

Needless to say, The Simpson won the night of Fox toons. I actually believe Bob's Burgers, The Great North, and Family Guy could have each delivered the greatest episodes they had ever delivered, and The Simpsons would still have won. It wasn't even a contest this week. ***1/2.
 
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Not surprisingly, Matt Selman's first "Treehouse of Horror" special he showruns turns out to be the best one the show's done in years! All the segments were really good (and I sure got a kick out of seeing the Simpsons in an anime style in the "Death Note" parody!)
 
The latest Treehouse of Horror was pretty good. 9/10
 
It does feel like they are missing out on some good references though. Like they should of had Lisa say after killing all of those executives "couldn't I just keep giving them all heart attacks?" and the Shinigami Steve going "no that would be too boring to repeat" and also maybe have the Shinigami instead of being some random guy be Moe who Lisa thinks is some horrible monster even if it looks mostly just like Moe with wings.
The story sets it up early that Lisa can't write the same "cause of death" in the Death Tome twice. Besides, a montage of ridiculous deaths works better parody wise here.

Lisa as Shinigami is a weird ending. Like it probably would have bene out of nowhere for this segment to spoof how DN ends but that just felt like a random way to end this segment but still a good spoof for the short frame this had anyway.
A popular fan theory among Death Note fans is that
Once he died, Light became a Shinigami himself.
So, having Lisa become one in the end wouldn't be too out of left field.

Also, I may be in the minority, but the Westworld parody wasn't as great as people said it was. I think part of it is due to something that I refer to as "pandering vs. plot", in which a weak plot (in this case, a Westworld spoof with the Simpsons as the robots) can be made up with something that can the fandom to go nuts (in this case, being all meta and filling the story with tons of references to previous Simpsons episodes).
 
Compared to the last few Tree House of Horrors this was super amazing. The first segment wasn't that funny but it had a great character study for Marge which I always have a soft spot for. The second segment was a terrific parody of death note, a great understanding of the source material, I just wish we could have seen more characters in an anime style. I just wish I could watch the Japanese dub of that segment. Was kind of worried when I learned they were parodying West World since that was basically the third act of Itchy and Scratchy Land. However, it turned out to be an amazing reference to the show

Apparently, the Tobins are so poor they can't afford a new Halloween costume, this feels like news. Also kind of messed up the entire family wanted what was clearly a teen girl costume and in the process implied Beef wanted it because he was a perv. But how the heck did the costume perfectly fit every member?
I really liked Honey Bee's plot, especially the family's horrified reaction to making the house haunted so it got a lot of laughs out of me.

Thank god the writers remembered to use Jessica again, Katherine Hahn is probably a hard get but I like her a lot more than Milly was starting to think Jessica and Louise weren't even in the same grade. It was pretty obvious the poster was misleading but hey at least the plot was interesting.

Didn't bother to watch Family Guy because I knew there was no way they could top the other episodes. I find it funny the writers put Roberta in a Harley Quinn costume since she basically dressed as her in the Cleveland Show Halloween Episode.

The Simpsons was the easy winner tonight
 
Simpsons Tree House of Horror was good, I think the 'The Pookadook' will be the underrated segment it was good. Picking Maggie, the more "innocent" of the Simpson children and the one that can't speak, helps make it more disturbing when Marge is possessed and Maggie having to struggle to stay alive it's dark but not bad. I like they made an segment where it was scary with out it being a slasher thing. I've never seen the source material, but I liked this one.

The Death Tome - I liked this one, they did a great job making it feel like an anime. I see they had the studio that worked on Death Note to do it, so nice touch Disney Money. I like how it's Lisa, she was good for the role since it fits she would be thinking it's alright to kill people to fit her agenda, versus Bart having it and just being Bart. It was a well done segment, the background music and seeing the background characters in anime form too was nice. I

Simpsons World- I do like how it kind of references the old Simpsons World site, before Disney Plus was the home. It fits because Simspons World held all the Simpsons episodes and this one references the past Simpsons episodes and moments. That was nice touch along with having it be a Westworld parody, which I'll admit I've never seen. The start was pretty nice to see a classic art style for the show before it goes to the modern, that was nice. I think the segment is more a Simpsons the reference the segment, it wasn't bad, and kind of like when the show can make fun of itself. I liked seeing them interact with Linda Beltcher and the other IPs that have been franchised also seem to be in their world was fun, nice seeing Spongebob's Pineapple. This one might be the fan favorite, but , again I do like it, but I think the first two got me more.

The start and end being book ends were nice. It was a good Treehouse of Horror.
 
Best Treehouse of Horrors in years. The ToH have been so subpar lately, it's nice to see one that feels like it belongs with the classic ones.

The Pookadook: I liked this one the best. It had the most ToH feel to it with the horror elements. The Pookadook possessing Marge the way it did, reminded me of another Horror......movie?...TV segment? I forgot what it was, but it involved a killer voodoo-like doll trying to kill this woman, and after she burns it in the oven, the spirit of the doll possesses her. But any way, the focus on Marge and Maggie was a nice change and it was funny when the Pookadook made a classic switcheroo gag with making us think it was gonna kill the rest of the family and just sending them to the aquarium instead.

Death Tome: I never watched the anime, but I was still able to enjoy this. I forgot that Lisa was being influenced by the Tome book and that made it easier for her to be killing so many people. Steve gave her a list of all of the executives, but there was a possibility that not all of them would've followed through with Burns' plans. "L" being Bart should've been obvious since he hadn't shown up for most of the episode. Nice that Lisa loves her brother enough to turn against Steve and it was karma of Lisa to turn into a Shinigami after killing so many people.


Simpson World: This... was actually pretty weak. It just had so much potential, but it was too short. I had thought this was gonna go the Five Nights at Freddy's(Security Breach to be more specific) route with the Simpsons-robots trying to kill people. But maybe next time. I don't get why the Ralph-robots were the security to deal with rogue robots, were that cheap to make since they didn't pose a threat except by having the numbers.

Also, I may be in the minority, but the Westworld parody wasn't as great as people said it was. I think part of it is due to something that I refer to as "pandering vs. plot", in which a weak plot (in this case, a Westworld spoof with the Simpsons as the robots) can be made up with something that can the fandom to go nuts (in this case, being all meta and filling the story with tons of references to previous Simpsons episodes).
Yeah, that hurt the episode for me as well. It's part of why Ralph Breaks the Internet was so bad to me, and why I refuse to consider it a actual sequel to Wreck-It Ralph.
 
Never thought I would see a realistic version of The Simpsons in anime form(even if it was for a Death Note parody) in this lifetime but it's here and it worked as a parody and homage.

Also, this is probably the closest we'll get The Simpsons VA's voicing in an anime series.
 
Animation Domination might be postponed thanks to football on Fox packers vs cowboys this Sunday at4pm

I really hate football or baseball or Nascar or Hockey on my Local fox on Sunday starting at 4 pm on The east coast

Animation Domination Sunday and Friday night smackdowns are the two Reasons, I watch fox
I am a fan of The Simpsons and bob burgers is Pretty good

are the suits at fox are fans of cartoons or Sports?
 

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Okay hear me out, Isn't it kind of crazy how CN never thought about doing a Kids Next Door x Teen Titans OG crossover back in the 2000s? There's five members of Sector V, five titans, and they both have super cool HQs. I'm telling you guys, a TT and KND crossover would've been so epic!
Watched the live-action "Moana" today and felt nothing that special compared to the original 2016 film. In fact, I don't remember much from the first animated film, but I think they barely changed anything in the 2026 version
@Sam the Cartoonist is right, I've registered on this site two times and I've enjoyed it! :) I'd posted this back in 2016, over ten years ago!

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