Simple Simpson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Simple Simpson" | |
| Episode no. | 332 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | FABF15 |
| Orig. Airdate | May 2, 2004 |
| Writer(s) | Jon Vitti |
| Director(s) | Jim Reardon |
| Chalkboard | None |
| Couch gag | Homer is Batman, Bart is Robin, and Marge, Lisa, and Maggie are all Batgirl, as they slide from a pole to a couch, a la the original Batman series. |
| Guest star(s) | Nichelle Nichols as herself |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 15 November 2, 2003 – May 23, 2004 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Simple Simpson" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season. The episode aired on May 2, 2004. The concept is mainly inspired by (and parodies) the 2002 Spider-Man movie, though it contains elements of other superheroes as well.
[edit] Synopsis
Homer watches a commercial about a contest that will allow the winner, the finder of a golden ticket, a trip to "Farmer Billy's Bacon Factory", and is intrigued by the commercial. Although Homer buys a surplus of bacon from the Kwik-E-Mart, he only manages to find a silver ticket, which allows him to judge the pig competition at the county fair. However, at the fair, Lisa's entry in the place setting competition is wrecked by the Rich Texan, which angers Homer, who decides to teach the Rich Texan a lesson. Recalling a warning from Chief Wiggum that he will be arrested if he commits another felony assault, Homer disguises himself as a masked superhero, "The Pie Man", and throws a pie in the Rich Texan's face. He leaves as quickly as he came, before Lisa says "thank you" to him. Seconds later, Homer returns, not in disguise. Springfield wonders if they will ever see the "Pie Man" again. Homer says they will.
The next day, Lisa is seen drawing her favourite superhero - the Pie Man. Homer appreciates it. After he hears that the Comic Book Guy has ripped off Bart and Milhouse, he arrives as the Pie Man to throw a pie in the his face. Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek, whom the Comic Book Guy invited on a date, suddenly shows up and is turned off by the pie on his face. This humiliates him in front of the kids and he runs away in tears.
The next day, the family watches the news and realise that the Springfield Children's Hospital is being turned into a cosmetic surgery clinic. Homer worries about the plight of the sick children.
Later that same evening, Chief Wiggum believes that the Pie Man must be stopped, and the police set a trap for him at the hospital, where sick children are being evicted. The Pie Man shows up, pie at the ready. The cops start shooting at him, wounding him in the arm. He manages to escape rather flamboyantly, but takes time out to save Marge from a stampede and kiss her while hanging upside down (à la Spider-Man), though she tells him she is a married woman. Later, at home, while Homer - still disguised as Pie Man - uses a knife to remove the bullet in his arm, Lisa enters and sees him. He tries to act like Pie Man, saying that "Pie Man is not your father, little girl. I murdered your father." But Lisa figures out that he's actually Homer, partly because they've been getting Pie Man's mail for a week. He promises Lisa (who doesn't want him to get hurt again) that he will stop his pie avenging.
At the power plant, Mr. Burns comes particularly antagonistic to his employees. He whips Lenny and Carl, so that they will eat faster and return to work, and docks Homer a day's pay for being late... and fat. Even though he remembers his promise to Lisa, Homer makes another appearance as Pie Man and splats Burns in the face. However, after watching the video surveillance cameras, Burns sees that Pie Man has tired from his escape and fallen asleep on a couch. Turning around, he sees Pie Man sleeping on the couch in the next room. Burns and Smithers lock him in the employee detention centre, and unmask him. Burns realises that Pie Man is Homer. So he makes Homer his personal "hit man", and threatens to reveal his identity if he doesn't comply.
His first task is to pie himself, then a girl-scout who comes to Burns' mansion to sell cookies. His next assignment is throw a pie in the face of the Buddhist supreme head, the Dalai Lama. However, at the Dalai Lama's show, Homer - disguised as Pie Man - can't go through with it. He admits his identity to the public, but no one believes he could possibly be Pie Man, as he's not the kind of person who would throw away any form of confectionery. This negates Burns' control over him, and leaves only his own family who believes in him.
Later, we see Homer and Marge snuggling in bed. Marge says that she believed that Homer was the Pie Man. Before she asks him to show her his superpowers, Homer escapes and - disguised as Pie Man - stands on the roof, along with Bart - disguised as Cupcake Kid - declaring war against injustice. But they fall victim to an even greater, inescapable injustice perpetrated by Marge - to clean the leaves from the gutter in the roof.
[edit] Trivia
- When this episode was first broadcast in Asia on the Star World channel on November 6, 2005, all scenes mentioning or showing the Dalai Lama were cut. This act of censorship was to appease the predominantly Buddhist viewers of East, South, and Southeast Asia with regards to any view of mocking the Dalai Lama.[citation needed]
- This is the Dalai Lama's second visit to Springfield, since according to Stark Raving Dad, he visited in 1952.
- During the Farmer Billy's Bacon Factory commercial, Ralph Wiggum is seen on the "Five-Story Pig Shredder."
- At the Nuclear Power Plant the photos move position.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title is based on the nursery rhyme Simple Simon
- Several scenes are directly based on the Spider-Man movie, including the montage of Homer creating his costume, and Pie Man's upside down kiss with Marge. There is also a scene when Mr. Burns remove Pie Man's mask and realises it is Homer. This scene is similar to the scene in Spider-Man 2 when Harry Osbourne removes Spiderman's mask and realises it is Peter Parker.
- The police attempting to arrest/kill Pieman is remininscent of the Gotham City police often attempting to do the same to Batman in his mythos.
- Burns' quote, "It's cobblering time!" is a parody of The Thing's catch phrase, "It's clobbering time!"
- The golden ticket plot is an obvious parody of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
- One of the comics that Bart tried to sell to Comic Book Guy was "Richie Rich Incorporates in Delaware." Since the 1800s and through today, a large number of corporations have incorporated in Delaware because of tax advantages.
- The Scene where Homer is cutting out his costume for Pie-Man is reminiscent of the scene in Batman Forever when Bruce Wayne is Designing his costume. It's also similar to the same scene on the first Spiderman movie.
