The Homer They Fall

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The Simpsons episode
"The Homer They Fall"
Drederick Tatum showboating for the crowd.
Episode no. 156
Prod. code 4F03
Orig. airdate November 10, 1996[1]
Show runner(s) Bill Oakley &
Josh Weinstein
Written by Jonathan Collier
Directed by Mark Kirkland
Chalkboard "I am not my long-lost twin"[2]
Couch gag The living room is in a desert and the family is dressed as cowboys and cowgirls. When the family sits down, the couch neighs and gallops away.[3]
Guest star(s) Paul Winfield as Lucius Sweet
Michael Buffer as himself
DVD
commentary		 Matt Groening
Josh Weinstein
Dan Castellaneta
Yeardley Smith
Mark Kirkland
David X. Cohen
George Meyer
Season 8
October 27, 1996 – May 18, 1997
  1. "Treehouse of Horror VII"
  2. "You Only Move Twice"
  3. "The Homer They Fall"
  4. "Burns, Baby Burns"
  5. "Bart After Dark"
  6. "A Milhouse Divided"
  7. "Lisa's Date with Density"
  8. "Hurricane Neddy"
  9. "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)"
  10. "The Springfield Files"
  11. "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson"
  12. "Mountain of Madness"
  13. "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious"
  14. "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"
  15. "Homer's Phobia"
  16. "Brother from Another Series"
  17. "My Sister, My Sitter"
  18. "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment"
  19. "Grade School Confidential"
  20. "The Canine Mutiny"
  21. "The Old Man and the Lisa"
  22. "In Marge We Trust"
  23. "Homer's Enemy"
  24. "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"
  25. "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"The Homer They Fall" is the third episode of The Simpsons' eighth season and originally aired November 10, 1996.[2] After discovering he can not be knocked down, Homer becomes a boxer. It was written by Jonathan Collier and directed by Mark Kirkland.[2] Guest starring Michael Buffer as himself and Paul Winfield as Lucius Sweet.[2] The title is a parody of the phrase "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Contents

[edit] Plot

A parody of the George Bellows painting "Dempsey and Firpo"
A parody of the George Bellows painting "Dempsey and Firpo"[4]

The Simpson family visits a high-tech gadget store and Bart buys a gimmicky utility belt from Comic Book Guy. He shows off its features to his classmates until he is chased and beaten by Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney and the belt is stolen. In response, Homer decides to talk with the bullies' fathers at Moe's Tavern, but he is also beaten. Despite the savage three-man beating, Homer does not fall and Moe is impressed, saying he has seen prize fighters who could not take hits that well. Moe, who has already had a failed boxing career himself, decides to help Homer get into boxing. While training, it is discovered that Homer is a weak puncher (unable to kill a fly with his left jab), and Moe strategizes that he should stand still in the ring and let his opponents tire themselves out and then knock them down with a tap.

Homer does well in his first fights, mostly facing underfed hobo opponents who cannot force Homer to fall. At every match, he follows Moe's advice and starts to gain widespread attention. Moe's former boxing manager, Lucius Sweet visits Moe and announces that the current Heavyweight Champion, Drederick Tatum is being released from prison and is ready for a comeback fight, and Sweet wants Tatum to fight Homer. Moe, despite knowing full well that Tatum is far too powerful, still wants to take his last shot at the big time and schedules Homer to face Tatum for three rounds in "Tatum Vs. Simpson: Payback."

Tatum is paroled and the media begins hyping the fight. With headlines like "Champ to whale on Local Man" and the odds against Homer being a thousand to one, everybody believes that Homer will lose. Even Homer himself visualizes that the only way he could win is if a heart defect fells Tatum before entering the ring. Marge makes Moe promise her that the moment Homer is in any danger, he will throw in the towel. But after Marge leaves, Moe throws away the towel.

The fight starts and Homer can not withstand Tatum's fearsome barrage and is in danger of being knocked out within six seconds. Homer decides to fight back, but misses. Moe, seeing Homer get destroyed, flees. Tatum completely dominates the fight and after some time, he readies himself to deliver the final blow, but suddenly Moe flies in using the Fan Man's paramotor and carries Homer away.

Outside the arena, Homer thanks Moe for saving him and Tatum shows respect for the love Moe showed for Homer. Sweet declares that Moe will always be a loser and gives him a check for a hundred thousand dollars. Moe starts up the paramotor and flies off into the night.[1][5][2]

[edit] Production

A poster advertising Syzlak vs. Oakley and also Kirkland vs. Silverman.
A poster advertising Syzlak vs. Oakley and also Kirkland vs. Silverman.[4]

The episode was written by Jonathan Collier, who is a huge boxing fan.[6] Knowing that the people on the internet would "give them grief", the writers went to a lot of effort to explain how Homer would be able to challenge for the Heavyweight Title.[7] A lot of the stuff involving Homer fighting hobos was pitched by John Swartzwelder.[8] Lucius Sweet is a parody of Don King, voiced by Paul Winfield who had previously played King in HBO's 1995 biopic Tyson. In the script, Sweet was described as "A Don King type who looks and sounds exactly like Don King."[9] The similarity is even pointed out by Homer with the line "He is exactly as rich and as famous as Don King - and he looks just like him, too!" King was asked to guest star, but turned the part down.[6] Drederick Tatum is a parody of Mike Tyson. The name came from George Meyer, who went to high school with a boy named "Drederick Timmins" and Meyer thought it was a cool name.[7] Tatum's having done time in prison is a reference to the fact that, at the time of the episode's production, Tyson had just recently been released from prison after serving three years for rape.[6] Homer is named "The Southern Dandy" as a reference to the old-time boxers and wrestlers who had similar nicknames.[6]

In preparation for this episode, Mark Kirkland watched several boxing films and is satisfied with how it turned out.[4] Whenever designing rooms, Kirkland tries to show a bare lightbulb because he feels that it makes things more depressing.[4] In the scene in Moe's office, there is a brief shot of a poster advertising "Szyslak Vs. Oakley" and "Kirkland Vs. Silverman," referring to then-Executive Producer Bill Oakley[6] and Simpsons directors Mark Kirkland and David Silverman.[4] The scene where Tatum is walking to the ring surrounded by shady characters is based on a real life photo of Tyson.[4]

Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney's fathers make their first and only appearances in the history of the show.[6]

[edit] Cultural references

The episode opens with a parody of Bonanza.[6] The montage of Homer fighting various hobos was based on a similar montage in Raging Bull.[4] The music is also a parody of the music, but it is an original composition by Alf Clausen.[10] During the montage, there is a brief parody of the George Bellows painting "Dempsey and Firpo". [4] The "Fan Man" is based on James Miller, a fan famous for parachuting into arenas during big events.[7] Homer's theme song is "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War and Tatum's is "Time 4 Sum Aksion" by Redman.[9] The song heard over the end credits is a rendition of Barbra Streisand's "People," sung by Sally Stevens.[3]

[edit] Reception

In response to "Barting Over," which is about skateboarding, Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star listed what he thought were "excellent" Simpsons episodes and scenes also related to sports. He included "The Homer They Fall," writing that Drederick Tatum is "a thinly veiled Mike Tyson parody who's made cameos over the years."[11] Similarly, in 2004 ESPN.com released a list of the Top 100 Simpsons sport moments, ranking the entire episode at #2, saying "Greatest sports introduction ever: In the Tatum fight, Homer is introduced as the Brick Hithouse (and is also known as the Southern Dandy), and his walk-to-the-ring music is 'Why Can't We Be Friends?'" Drederick Tatum was placed at the eighteenth spot on the list.[12] Conversely, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "the dullest, one-joke episode of the entire series."[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "The Homer They Fall" The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on March 27, 2007
  2. ^ a b c d e Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 213. ISBN 0-00-638898-1. 
  3. ^ a b c Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). The Homer They Fall. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Kirkland, Mark. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  5. ^ Episode Capsule at The Simpsons Archive
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Weinstein, Josh. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  7. ^ a b c Meyer, George. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  8. ^ Groening, Matt. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  9. ^ a b Cohen, David X.. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  10. ^ Smith, Yeardley. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "The Homer They Fall" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  11. ^ Raju Mudhar, "Simpsons' sports spoofs simply 'excellent'; Stars like Tyson often lampooned Show celebrating 300th episode," Toronto Star, February 16, 2003, pg. E.03.
  12. ^ Collins, Greg. "The Simpsons Got Game", ESPN.com, January 23, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-03-29. 

[edit] External links

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