Homer the Heretic
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Homer the Heretic" | |
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| Episode no. | 62 |
| Prod. code | 9F01 |
| Orig. Airdate | October 8, 1992 |
| Show Runner(s) | Al Jean & Mike Reiss |
| Written by | George Meyer |
| Directed by | Jim Reardon |
| Chalkboard | "I will not defame New Orleans" |
| Couch gag | The wall revolves and the family is transported into another room. |
| DVD commentary by | Matt Groening Al Jean George Meyer Jim Reardon |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 4 September 24, 1992 – May 13, 1993 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Homer the Heretic" is the third episode of The Simpsons' fourth season. Homer discovers the joys of staying home on Sunday morning and decides to start his own religion.
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[edit] Synopsis
On a very cold Sunday morning in a blizzard, Marge is gathering the family to go to church, but Homer refuses and goes back to his warm bed. After sleeping extra-late, he finally gets up and has fun with the house all to himself: He cranks up the heat, dances in his underwear, makes his Patented Space-Age Out of this World Moon Waffles (see below), wins a radio trivia contest, watches a boring debate on TV get pre-empted for what turns out to be an action-packed football game, and finds a penny under the couch. Meanwhile Marge, the kids, and the rest of the congregation shiver their way through the service and a rambling sermon, only to find themselves trapped at the end because the door is frozen shut. To make matters worse, Marge is unable to start the car, the battery having gone dead.
They finally get home, and Homer tells Marge he's had the best day of his life, all thanks to skipping church.
Marge is very angry with Homer for giving up on his faith. Homer gives her his reasons (e.g. "What if we picked the wrong religion? Every week we're just making God madder and madder.") and starts his own personal religion tailored just for himself. Marge prays in bed for her husband. Homer, meanwhile, falls asleep and has a dream where God appears to him. God is initially angry with Homer and shows it by bellowing thunderously, "THOU HAST FORSAKEN MY CHURCH!" Once He has calmed, Homer asks Him what's the big deal of going to church when he can worship in his own way ("I'm a good husband, I have loving kids...why would I want to spend 2 hours a week hearing that I'm just going to hell anyway?") God sees Homer's point and agrees ("I guess it's okay. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to appear in a tortilla in Mexico."), and the dream ends.
Marge, Rev. Lovejoy, and the Flanders family all try to win Homer back to Christianity and fail. The next Sunday morning, Homer is once again at home while everyone else is at church. He smokes a cigar while reading Playdude magazines. Homer eventually falls asleep, and the lighted cigar he was smoking at the time falls on one of the magazines; the hot ash ignites the paper, and it isn't long before the house is engulfed in flames.
Homer wakes up to find the house in flames, panics and succumbs to the thick smoke. Apu, a Hindu, spots the blaze and takes up his duties as part of Springfield's volunteer fire department (of which the Jewish Krusty the Clown is also a member). Meanwhile, the Christian Ned tries to rescue Homer. After the fire department has extinguished the blaze, Homer fears that God was showing vengeance, but Rev. Lovejoy points out that God was actually working in the hearts of Homer's friends, despite their different faiths. Lovejoy convinces Homer to give church another try. Homer is at church next Sunday, but sleeps through the service. God appears in his dreams again and consoles Homer on the failure of his religion.
[edit] Trivia
- God has 5 fingers instead of the 4 fingers all other characters have.
- The blackboard gag was made as an "apology" to the citizens of New Orleans after it was musically bashed in the previous episode.
- The original Fox airing uses an opening sequence recycled from Lisa's Substitute; subsequent Fox airings use a full-length opening previously used by the CanWest Global System on Lisa the Beauty Queen.
- While dreaming about God, Homer drools.
- This episode saw Homer take a day off work by inventing a 'religious holiday' - the 'Feast of Maximum Occupancy', named from a sign 'Maximum Occupancy 65' that he could see in Moe's at the time. Some Simpsons fans now celebrate 5th June (6/5) as this fictitious holiday.
- In a bit of a plot hole, Ned Flanders saves Homer from his burning house when mostly everyone else is at church.
- This episode is remembered for the scene where Ned attempts to rescue Homer, throwing a mattress out of the first floor and throwing Homer out onto the mattress, only for him to bounce off and back into the house through a ground floor window.
- This is the first episode of The Simpsons where the animation was produced by Film Roman. Film Roman will do the animation for the rest of the series. Previously, the animation was produced by Klasky-Csupo (the same people who do animation for the Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats). It is also the first episode to be animated overseas by Rough Draft Studios, which had been established only a year earlier for The Ren and Stimpy Show.
- The end joke with God telling Homer the meaning of life was supposed to be followed with a promo that usually comes up during the credits, unfortunately this was "the one time those things didn't show up."
- The show now has one main end credit theme. Originally before Film Roman took over, there were two end credit themes. The second version was occasionally used during the Film Roman episodes, usually when the theme needed to be shortened. 22 Short Films About Springfield is an example.
- Blinky the three eyed fish appears on the sign for the Springfield harbor.
- God asks Homer if St. Louis still has a team. Four years to the day after this episode aired, the St. Louis Rams, relocated from Los Angeles and played the first NFL game in St. Louis in nine years.
[edit] Cultural references
- Risky Business - The scene where Homer dances in his underwear to "We Wear Short Shorts" is identical to the scene in the 1983 Tom Cruise movie (except Cruise dances to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll.")
- God's comment about appearing in a tortilla in Mexico is probably a parody of the Enchilada tortilla burn resembling Jesus found in New Mexico a year before this episode aired. The tortilla is now preserved in a shrine in new Mexico and is now New Mexico's largest Christ Belief gathering points.
- Homer refers to "another so called heretic" who didn't do what others told him and had long hair, a reference to Jesus though Homer can't remember his name and thinks he drives a blue car.
[edit] External links
- "Homer the Heretic" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
