Elon Musk on the simpsons

[mejojo]

Ugh, since no one else is saying it: They simpsons episode with Elon was regrettable in many, many ways. The gag was that he is a futurist genius and kind of an emotionless robot. He joins up with Mr. Burns to implement some wacky ideas to save the planet. (the hyperloop was played for laughs several times, as in this is a terrible idea lets make fun of it). And the big payoff was a corporate meeting where Elon explains that they are losing 50 million a quarter, but its ok because they are saving the planet. Ugh.

I don't think that it matters, or that this episode is hugely influential. But I am disappointed in the thought process where Elon wouldn't say "Lets maybe not say that. People already think that is true of Tesla, and I am fighting that perception every day."). But no, he has actual lines spoken at a podium where he says that. And it doesn't play as farce, but more like we should consider that ok because isn't saving the planet more important? A casual viewer might think that Tesla must be unprofitable and living off of handouts on a mission to save the earth and makes no business sense.

There were no Model S appearances, they did do quite a bit on electric self-driving cars (looked like Volts). Basically everyone drinks and drives (realistic application).

Glad the market is up.

Would have been a CRACK-UP if the Simpsons had a Model X reveal!

 

[DJ Frustration]

On the contrary, anyone who doesn't have the ability to sometimes laugh at themselves...on a world-famous, sarcastic, animated TV show is one dimensional. I thought the episode was hilarious. Kudos for Elon for having the comedic chops to do the episode.

 

[drinkerofkoolaid]

Check out the buzz on Twitter. There have been 5-10 Tweets about Tesla every minute for the past few hours.

 

[austinEV]

On the contrary, anyone who doesn't have the ability to sometimes laugh at themselves...on a world-famous, sarcastic, animated TV show is one dimensional. I thought the episode was hilarious. Kudos for Elon for having the comedic chops to do the episode.

You have the correct perspective. As an overweight stockholder I have a skewed view and cannot see it for what it is.

Edit: My portfolio is overweighted with TSLA. But yeah I could stand to lose 20 pounds.

 

[Bulletproof]

Musk responds to "rocket fuel" line http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/26/7904897/elon-musk-debunks-electric-rockets-after-simpsons

I thought that Lisa's quote in the episode was a clever poke at Musk, but a harmless one. With that said, I really like Elon's Twitter responses, especially the rail gun one.

 

[sundaymorning]

On the contrary, anyone who doesn't have the ability to sometimes laugh at themselves...on a world-famous, sarcastic, animated TV show is one dimensional. I thought the episode was hilarious. Kudos for Elon for having the comedic chops to do the episode.

+1

"There is no such thing as bad publicity"...
The more people talk about the show, the more free publicity Elon & Tesla will receive.
You can't sell cars on the Simpsons, and people aren't going to buy cars based on cartoons. But you can win over younger audience who are potential customers that could subliminally buy into the message of "saving the world."

 

[doggusfluffy]

He changed the way Hollywood drives. :smile:

 

[bonnie]

On the contrary, anyone who doesn't have the ability to sometimes laugh at themselves...on a world-famous, sarcastic, animated TV show is one dimensional. I thought the episode was hilarious. Kudos for Elon for having the comedic chops to do the episode.

Completely agree. Plus he scored major 'dad coolness' points with his boys. And that's worth a lot.

 

[JRP3]

Ugh, since no one else is saying it: They simpsons episode with Elon was regrettable in many, many ways.

Not even a little bit.

 

[austinEV]

Not even a little bit.

Well, back to my original thesis. There will come a day in a year or two where I can see the charms of the episode. But for today I just thought it was incredibly tone deaf. I mean, Mr Burns aligns himself with Elon and it literally causes a sepia-toned depression because they lost so much money. What is the joke exactly? That Mr Musk is good at coming up with ideas, and bad at giving a damn if they make money? That hits WAAAY too close to home, and it is the exact sort of thing he doesn't need to be reinforcing. Written down like that, it seems smarter than it played, as that could well be construed as a parody of Tesla Bear arguments. But it wasn't that highbrow. It was just one long "listening to elon's dumb ideas is a terrible idea." If it wasn't the simpsons and was different characters aired on Fox NEWS you all would have pitchforks at this point. I am aware Elon participated in it. But I get the impression he must have just said, just write a script I won't stand in the way or ask for editorial input. If so, admirable, but I think it didn't work.

As a Simpsons fan I hated it too because they already did it with the Li'l-Lisa recycling company episode (Mr Burns aligns with Lisa to save the earth and creates a huge problem instead), and whenever they linger too long on a guest it is unwelcome. Even the hyperloop thing they already did in the much beloved monorail episode. If you knew nothing of elon musk you would say it was at best a terrible retread of old plots.

 

[arondaniel]

If you knew nothing of elon musk you would say it was at best a terrible retread of old plots.

Well as Troy McClure says, they will keep going until the show is no longer profitable.

Good outro music though.

 

[evme]

Well, back to my original thesis. There will come a day in a year or two where I can see the charms of the episode. But for today I just thought it was incredibly tone deaf. I mean, Mr Burns aligns himself with Elon and it literally causes a sepia-toned depression because they lost so much money. What is the joke exactly? That Mr Musk is good at coming up with ideas, and bad at giving a damn if they make money? That hits WAAAY too close to home, and it is the exact sort of thing he doesn't need to be reinforcing. Written down like that, it seems smarter than it played, as that could well be construed as a parody of Tesla Bear arguments. But it wasn't that highbrow. It was just one long "listening to elon's dumb ideas is a terrible idea." If it wasn't the simpsons and was different characters aired on Fox NEWS you all would have pitchforks at this point. I am aware Elon participated in it. But I get the impression he must have just said, just write a script I won't stand in the way or ask for editorial input. If so, admirable, but I think it didn't work.

As a Simpsons fan I hated it too because they already did it with the Li'l-Lisa recycling company episode (Mr Burns aligns with Lisa to save the earth and creates a huge problem instead), and whenever they linger too long on a guest it is unwelcome. Even the hyperloop thing they already did in the much beloved monorail episode. If you knew nothing of elon musk you would say it was at best a terrible retread of old plots.

The flaw lies in the series itself. As they are trying to run it as indefinitely as possible, so they can't afford anything that would force a permanent change in settings. So everything Musk does has to go and Musk effectively has to be kicked out. And Burns can't be bankrupt.

I was hoping the episode would end with Musk saying "This world isn't ready for me yet, and goes to Mars to give them the hyperloop and electric cars". Effectively, they could have had Musk leave on his own will instead of kicking him out. But I guess his tie up with Homer kind of made that hard to do.

 

[StephenM]

I guess I take my Musk more seriously than Musk even takes himself, because I also didn't enjoy watching the episode. I agree with AustinEV that the message is that he's an out-of-touch genius and though he has good intentions, doesn't understand business. It's a cartoon, I know, I know...

 

[austinEV]

I guess I take my Musk more seriously than Musk even takes himself, because I also didn't enjoy watching the episode. I agree with AustinEV that the message is that he's an out-of-touch genius and though he has good intentions, doesn't understand business. It's a cartoon, I know, I know...

The way to make it ok-funny is if it WASN'T him doing his own voice. Then they are just skewering a celebrity, hitting him where it hurts. But the fact that he did agree to it means he thought the content was ok. This is tantamount to him saying suddenly "The stock is at 205? Wow that is way too high." I would be livid if he pulled that again. I was ok-ish when he was popping the 290 bubble, if indeed that is what he was doing. But we stockholders don't need to be taking any ribbing for holding the stock right now.

 

[Todd Burch]

Just watched the episode....it was hilarious. I didn't find that it put Elon in a negative light at all.

Gotta love how they launched the mouse in the Hyperloop .

 

[JRP3]

I guess some people aren't aware that the CEO of the company they invested in expected it to fail, put all his money into it anyway, and is more concerned with the fate of humanity than the stock price. He also likes to implement cool gadgets that may not always be the most practical designs. This is something worth seriously considering if you intend to invest in this company. Bottom line, if a cartoon makes you question your holdings you probably should not be holding.

 

[TTT]

http://deeplink.me/fox.com/watch/388741187891

 

[ggr]

I guess some people aren't aware that the CEO of the company they invested in expected it to fail, put all his money into it anyway, and is more concerned with the fate of humanity than the stock price. He also likes to implement cool gadgets that may not always be the most practical designs. This is something worth seriously considering if you intend to invest in this company. Bottom line, if a cartoon makes you question your holdings you probably should not be holding.

I keep hearing people say that Elon doesn't care about the stock price. I guess that's true as a first-order effect, but the stock price reflects profitability and growth, and these are absolutely necessary in the long term to achieve his other goals (saving the planet and getting to Mars).

 

[ecarfan]

I think it's not the case that Elon "doesn't care" about the price of TSLA, it's that he isn't concerned about short term fluctuations but is instead focused on long term growth of the company which will result in an increased TALA value in years to come.

Which I think is the smart approach.

 

[scaesare]

SpaceX could burn hydrogen and oxygen manufactured from renewable sources if they wanted. Crazy for the world's cars but feasible for any rocket launch rate.

He burns a lot of jet fuel too.

Elon has stated that methane is something they are pursuing because it's possible to achieve the needed specific impulse for escape velocity and can be derived from the Martian atmosphere.

Hydrogen is incredibly abundant in the universe... just not on Earth nor Mars in any free form. Extracting it from other compounds is very energy expensive. I also suggest the effort/energy expended for pressures needed for a rocket would be prohibitive in the case of hydrogen.