The Call of the Simpsons
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| The Simpsons episode | |||||
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| "The Call of the Simpsons" | |||||
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| A disgruntled Homer begins to take on the appearance of Bigfoot | |||||
| Episode no. | 7 | ||||
| Prod. code | 7G09 | ||||
| Orig. airdate | February 18, 1990 | ||||
| Show runner(s) | James L. Brooks Matt Groening Sam Simon |
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| Written by | John Swartzwelder | ||||
| Directed by | Wes Archer | ||||
| Chalkboard | "I will not draw naked ladies in class" | ||||
| Couch gag | The family comes in and just sits on the couch in a normal manner | ||||
| Guest star(s) | Albert Brooks as Bob | ||||
| DVD commentary |
Wes Archer Al Jean Mike Reiss |
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| Season 1 December 17, 1989 – May 13, 1990 |
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| List of all The Simpsons episodes | |||||
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"The Call of the Simpsons" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons. It originally aired February 18, 1990. It was the very first episode shown in the United Kingdom, when Sky One began airing the show on September 2, 1990, as well as being on the first UK VHS release in 1991. The episode deals with The Simpsons' family vacation in their new RV.
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[edit] Plot
Homer is envious of his neighbor Ned Flanders's new RV and goes to Bob's RV Round-Up to buy one of his own. The sly con-man Bob tells Homer that because of his poor credit, he only qualifies for a second hand, dilapidated RV with broken windows and weeds growing out of its grill. Thrilled with the new RV, Homer takes his family on an excursion. After seeing the gridlock on the freeway, he decides to take a shortcut through the Springfield Forest. Marge tells him the road is getting bumpy and that he should turn back, to which he replies "Don't worry, this is an all-terrain vehicle!". After a short while he loses control of the camper and comes to an abrupt halt at the edge of a huge gorge. With the RV tilting back and forth at the edge, the family slowly creeps out of it just before it plummets into the abyss and explodes.
Stranded in the wilderness, Homer and Bart set out for civilization, unaware that baby Maggie is tagging along. As they stroll through the woods, they hear a noise and assume it is a rattlesnake. As they run off, it is revealed that the noise was just Maggie sucking her pacifier. Separated from Homer and Bart, Maggie is soon adopted by a family of grizzly bears. Homer and Bart lose their clothes in a fast-moving river and use plants and mud to cover themselves. Homer finds a bee hive and digs his hand inside, and after eating a scoop says it tastes "tangy". He is soon bombarded with bee stings and flees in the direction of water, which turns out to be thick mud. Homer emerges from the brown goop and, due to the bee stings, mumbles like an animal at a nearby nature photographer for help. Mistaking Homer for Bigfoot, the man takes a picture and flees. Soon the forest is infested with Bigfoot hunters and souvenir stands. Reporters find Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie and warn them about the hideous creature roaming the woods. When she sees the picture of Homer, Marge identifies the grotesque monster as her husband and tries to clear up the misunderstanding, but the authorities now think that she married Bigfoot.
Cold and near exhaustion, Homer is captured by hunters, shot with a tranquilizer gun and taken to a lab for tests. Scientists observe Homer, but are unsure if he is a below-average human being or a brilliant beast. They allow Homer to return to his family until they can determine to what species he belongs.
[edit] Debut Appearances
Characters making a first appearance in this episode are:
[edit] Miscellanea
- Flanders makes $27 more a week than Homer does (although this is based on Ned's original job at a pharmaceutical company, not the Leftorium).
- Signs at Bob's RV-Roundup (formerly RVs R Us): "We want to make friends :-) Not Profit :-(" "We give credit to everyone!"; "Bad Credit. Good!"; "Bankruptcy Shmankruptcy."
- The Ultimate Behemoth RV: two-stories high with a fireplace, a full kitchen, four deep fryers---"one for each part of the chicken," a flat-screen television set, and its own satellite, the Vanstar I.
- The breaking Bigfoot report interrupts the president's address.
- Signs advertising the Bigfoot cottage industry include "Half-Man, Half-Ape Burgers" and "Get Your Photo Taken with Bigfoot."
- This is the first episode to feature Albert Brooks as a guest star. Like all his appearances, he is credited as A. Brooks.
- Bart wears his "lucky red hat" for the first time in this episode (but coughs it out multiple times in Bart the General). Also, this is the only time the hat is totally red (other episodes depict it as red with a white visor).
- This episode was the theme of a Burger King promotion including kids meal toys and collectable cups.
- In the United Kingdom, this was one of the first episodes released on video cassette in the early 1990s (on a tape paired with Bart the Genius), and thus was many viewers' introduction to the series (especially in the days before the series was shown on terrestrial television). A second tape featuring Bart the General and There's No Disgrace Like Home was released at the same time.
[edit] Cultural references
- The tune for the camping scenes is called "The Happy Wanderer".
- The episode title is a reference to the novella "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London.
- When Homer is shot with tranquilizer darts, his last words to Bart before he loses consciousness are "Avenge my death." This is similar to Harry Dean Stanton yelling out to his two sons in Red Dawn.
- When the camper is filming the deer grazing in the mud which Homer falls into, there is a short excerpt from the main theme of Claude Debussy's 'Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune'
[edit] Legacy
The scene with Bart and Homer making a trap was used in the season four episode So It's Come To This: A Simpsons Clip Show (the first clip show on The Simpsons). The part where Homer is naked after losing his clothes in the waterfall dive was used during the "hardcore nudity" montage at the end of the season seven clip show episode The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular. The fact that Homer is percieved as the missing link is referenced again in season 16's "The Monkey Suit".
[edit] External links
