I cannot listen to Beethoven's "Für Elise" without thinking of Donkey Kong, and it's all Matt Groening's fault.
I'm listening to the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, as I do every year (especially at work on the last day before vacation), and one of Groening's more inspired episodes of Futurama is all I can hear in my mind.
The original series finale, entitled "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings," features Fry making a deal with the Robot Devil in order to have hands talented enough to play the holophonor. In a bizarre and totally unforeseen (by the Robot Devil anyway) set of circumstances, Fry wins the Robot Devil's hands.
He then goes to holophonor lessons, and very quickly (like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day) takes to the new instrument. The running joke is that all of his holophonor pieces feature a grumpy snail.
In his recital performance of "Für Elise", the grumpy snail dances with a beautiful woman. They begin to alight a marble staircase, at which point Donkey Kong starts throwing barrels at them from the top of the stairs. The woman and the snail jump over the barrels--as you should do in the video game--thereby winning points. As they jump, the video game's sound effects play.
And that's where this all ties together. I cannot--CANNOT--listen to "Für Elise" without hearing those 1-UP dings at that point in the song. And "Für Elise" is on the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack.
I'm listening to the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, as I do every year (especially at work on the last day before vacation), and one of Groening's more inspired episodes of Futurama is all I can hear in my mind.
The original series finale, entitled "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings," features Fry making a deal with the Robot Devil in order to have hands talented enough to play the holophonor. In a bizarre and totally unforeseen (by the Robot Devil anyway) set of circumstances, Fry wins the Robot Devil's hands.He then goes to holophonor lessons, and very quickly (like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day) takes to the new instrument. The running joke is that all of his holophonor pieces feature a grumpy snail.In his recital performance of "Für Elise", the grumpy snail dances with a beautiful woman. They begin to alight a marble staircase, at which point Donkey Kong starts throwing barrels at them from the top of the stairs. The woman and the snail jump over the barrels--as you should do in the video game--thereby winning points. As they jump, the video game's sound effects play.
And that's where this all ties together. I cannot--CANNOT--listen to "Für Elise" without hearing those 1-UP dings at that point in the song. And "Für Elise" is on the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack.
