The Simpsons 191-195

The Joy Of Sect

This episode premiered on February 8th 1998. The lead in show was The World's Funniest and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite The Wonderful World Of Disney (Aladdin and the King Of Thieves), The 1998 Winter Olympics and The NBA All Star Game (East 135, West 114)

The title of this episode comes from the 1972 book The Joy Of Sex.

The chalkboard gag is "Shooting paint balls is not an art form" and the couch gag is the family is shrunken down and can only get on the couch by Homer boosting them up. After they pull him up a full size SLH comes in and carries him off. 

Homer and Bart go to the airport to see the team coming home from their road trip, everyone has shown up to throw rocks at them after their loss. The bullies are there stealing luggage and when the pimple faced security guy asks to see their claim check they all punch him in the stomach. Apu is at the snack bar praising the high prices. Dolf finds a liver transplant in his stolen luggage and tosses it, it smacks Barney at the bar and he thinks it's his liver trying to escape and shoves it in his shirt. Homer runs into the Movementarians who offer him a better life on their home planet Blisstonia. He goes to the cult compound for the fishing, they try to convert him but he's only interested if they have beer, which they've sworn off. After the cultists make several attempts he finally goes to the main barn for a free movie. As people are trying to leave they are shamed into staying. After 6 hours people are converted, except for Homer, it turns out he was making up his own movie as he went along. They try a shame circle but Homer agrees with everything they say about him. They try to use starvation but he eats everyone's gruel. They eventually convert him by using the 1966 Batman song "Na  Na Na Na Na Na Leader". He signs over the deed to the house and the family's life savings and they have to move to the cult farm. Kent Brockman does an expose on The Leader but the station is bought by the cult and he has to read a positive story (sounds like Fox News). Bart tries to cause trouble at the cult but is quickly brainwashed. Reverend Lovejoy speaks out against the cult but his church is empty except for Lenny and the Flanders. Mr. Burns finds out that The Leader gets tax free status so he starts his own religion, he appears in a God outfit but is accidentally set on fire by the fireworks. The cult does a mass wedding. Krabappal teaches at the cult school, for the first time Bart is the best student since he answers all the questions with "The Leader". Lisa complains but Krabappal says she will flunk if she doesn't give the right answers, Lisa stops objecting. Marge decides to leave however she has to cross through barbed wire, a mine field, attack dogs and an alligator moat. When she gets passed all the traps a bubble comes up but it lands on Moleman instead. When Marge gets back to Springfield she finds Lovejoy about to torch the church for insurance purposes, Willie offers to catch and deprogram her family. They do the deprogramming at Ned's house, he offers them Rice Krispie treats. Marge offers the kids hover bikes and they are deprogrammed, only to discover the bikes are held up on fishing lines and Marge hast to return them to the store. When Willie tries to deprogram Homer he ends up getting converted himself. Ned offers Homer a beer but the cult lawyers rush in and haul him off. At the compound Homer is welcomed back however the beer turned him back and he opens up the barn but there's a space ship inside. It flies off however it falls apart and it's just a guy on a pedal helicopter. He crashes into Cletus's house who robs him of his stolen money, everyone goes home. The family is glad they escaped a mind control cult but end up mindlessly watching Fox TV. 

Springfield International Airport, No Crashes Since Tuesday. (The word "Tuesday" is on a changeable board)

The airpot book store:  Just Crichton and King Books, a reference to the number of novels by Michael Crichton and Steven King and how they are always available at the airport. When Moleman asks if the clerk has anything by Robert Ludlum he is told to "get out!"

Religious people at the airport: Hara Krishnas, Christians and the Movementariuns. 

Bart has a L'il Bastard General Mischief kit.

Springfield Shopper Headline: Springfield Shopper Purchased by Evil Nice Cult. Check out our new cult lifestyle section.

For Burns' first suggestion of a religion he draws out a K, but it's the Special K trademark. Then he draws the Mickey ears. 

Books in the cult school: Arithmetic the Leader's Way / Science for Leader Lovers.

When Lisa gets mad at the cult school she shouts "He's wrong, you're wrong, the whole damn system is wrong". This is a take on the speech in the 1979 movie ....And Justice For All.

To convert the small children they have a Barney character singing the theme song but "the leader" is swapped out for You and Me. 

The bubble trap at the cult compound is from the 1967 TV show The Prisoner.

At the church Willie scrapes his fingernails down a stained glass window and offers to get the family for a price. This is a take on the scene in Jaws.

Reverend Lovejoy tries to knock out Homer but can't do it. This is a reference to the episode The Homer They Fall where they explain the layer of liquid in Homer's skull that protects his brain.

In the episode Sideshow Bob Roberts the sign in front of the Springfield Community Center reads "Tomorrow: Mass Wedding Of Cult Members"

The Movementarians were based on the Heaven's Gate cult, who were going to meet a passing comet. Unlike the Simpsons the real cult committed mass suicide in 1997.

Das Bus

This episode premiered on February 15th 1998. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The Wonderful World Of Disney (The Garbage Picking, Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon), The Winter Olympics and the NBA.

The title of this episode comes from the 1981 movie Das Boot.

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is the living room is a pond and the family are all frogs leaping onto a lily pad. Homer turns on the TV with his tongue. 

The family is watching a movie starting Troy McClure as Noah, he is given instructions by God to build the ark although he tries to hedge on them. Marge lets the kids stay up late to watch, just as they are getting to the end the show is cut off by a commercial for AM Springfield. Homer calls in sick. Lisa and Bart are part of the model UN, she is France and he is Libya. Milhouse's facts on Poland is all based on bad jokes. The model UN breaks down in chaos. A letter to Flandcrest Enterprises winds up in Homer's mailbox, it's the name of Ned's home business selling religious hook rugs over the internet. Homer decides to start his own company however he doesn't even have a computer. On the bus trip to the model UN the kids get bored so Nelson and Bart race an orange and apple to see which will reach the front of the bus first, Ralph races a banana and Milhouse rolls a grapefruit. The grapefruit gets stuck under the break and when Otto stomps down on it, it squirts into his eyes and he drives off the bridge. Otto tries to swim for help but gets carried out to sea. The bus gets peeled open and the kids are sucked out by the current while it sinks, they wash up on a deserted island. The kids start blaming each other but Nelson points out it was Milhouse's grapefruit that caused the crash. Bart tells them they could live like kings on the island with a treehouse and monkey butlers however the best they do is a pile of sticks in a tree and some berries that make Ralph sick. Homer needs help naming his new company, Marge suggests CompuGlobal HyperMega-net, Homer says "fine, it's not important". Homer names himself Jr. Vice President. Otto gets picked up by a Chinese fishing vessel, they plan to enslave him at their cannery. Milhouse runs into camp shouting about a monster but nobody else sees anything. Nelson uses Milhouse's glasses to spark a fire and scratches them up. When the kids get hungry Lisa remembers a cooler full of snacks, Bart takes Milhouse's inhaler to dive down to the bus and retrieve it. They all start scarfing the food but Lisa tells them that they need to ration their supplies. The next day they wake up to find the cooler empty and blame Milhouse. Lisa demands that Milhouse gets a fair trial. Homer runs an ad for The Internet King, Comic Book Guy comes to him for a computer upgrade but Homer doesn't understand the jargon. The kids hold a trial for Milhouse, he denies taking the food and blames Lisa even though she's his lawyer. He blames the monster but they don't want to argue about it, nobody can say they saw Milhouse eat the food. Nelson, the opposing lawyer, punches Milhouse. Judge Bart can't find Milhouse guilty because of the lack of proof. Nelson hits Milhouse with a rock, Bart and Lisa join up with Milhouse and gets run off by the rest of the kids who start a hunt. Bill Gates shows up at the Simpson's house and trashes Homer's set up as a "buy out". The kids get stuck at a ravine, Milhouse swings across but doesn't throw the vine back so Bart pushes over a tree, they hide in a cave but it's where "the monster" aka a wild boar is hiding out, there is a chips package stuck to his tusk. The boar is eating the slime from the rock so Lisa is happy they are saved. The rest of the kids kill the boar and eat it instead. There is a narration of how the kids were rescued by Moe.

The plot of this episode was based on the book and the 1990 movie Lord Of The Flies. 

James Earl Jones does the closing narration in this episode.

Troy McClure in other such Bible epics as David vs. Super Goliath and Suddenly, Last Supper.

When trying to get order in the Model UN Skinner bangs his shoe on the desk, this is a reference to Khrushchev banging his shoe at the UN in 1960.

Model UN "Order at any cost" It has the image of a dove with an AK-47. 

Bart's description of the island treehouse is based on Disney's Swiss Family Robinson and there is a pedal car from Gilligan's island.

Homer reads Wired magazine to figure out what to call his company. The magazine has been in circulation since 1993.

Sherry says she's so hungry she could eat at Arbys, everyone is shocked. 

Comic Book Guy is checking out a photo of Captain Jainway (Star Trek Voyager) but it is taking forever to download. Welcome to the wonderful world of dial-up. 

Homer reads Internet For Dummies. 

When the kids go on the hunt for Milhouse they put on war paint, Ralph does his face like Peter Criss of Kiss.

Items on Homer's desk: Drinking Bird (from the episode King Size Homer) / a Newton's Cradle / Cymbal Playing Monkey / A joke voice box / pencils stuck in a stick of butter / perpetual wave machine / assorted office supplies. The only thing not on the desk is a computer.

This was another "Drop The Cow" episode, they came up with a story about the kids being stranded on a tropical island and then didn't have an actual ending so they just did a filler narration and left it at that. Unfortunately not being able to come up with an ending would become a regular problem. There is also the logical problem of how did they go off a bridge and wind up in tropical waters on a deserted island, this episode really stretched the Suspension Of Disbelief. 

The Last Temptation of Krusty

This episode premiered on February 22nd, 1998. It ran in its usual time slot. It was opposite The ABC Family Movie (Casper), The XVIII Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony and Dateline NBC

The title comes from the 1988 movie The Last Temptation Of Christ.

The chalkboard gag is "Pain is not the cleanser" and the couch gag is a repeat of the pants on fire. 

While at the mall the family is invited to a charity comedy show, to fight soil erosion. Bart points out they didn't invite Krusty, the promoter has no idea who that is. Bart goes to the auditorium looking for Jay Leno, Leno thought Krusty died in a grease fire. They call Krusty but he's taking a steam bath at a kid's birthday party. Bart convinces him to do it by saying it counts towards his community service. Krusty does his classic stuff and the only one who laughs is Bart, he gets desperate and turns to his racist Chinese act, everyone is shocked. He's depressed but Bart tries to tell him he was great but the acoustics were bad, however he overhears the rest of the comedians making fun of him. Krusty reads the reviews and they call him a hack, he decides to get really drunk. Bart watches the Krusty show the next day however Kent Brockman shows up to fill in, he does the jokes like a newscaster. When Bart goes outside he finds Rod and Todd poking a passed out Krusty on their front lawn, he drags Krusty into the house. Krusty tries to pull a tack out of his head but he's looking at a poster. He's upset by all the Krusty crap in Bart's room. Jay Leno comes over to help Bart clean up Krusty and give advice on how to modernize his act. Bart does a comedy showcase in the living room and does jokes about Marge, Krusty comes out and tries to be topical, Lisa keeps answering his joke questions. The family walks out on him, he holds a press conference to announce his retirement but when he insults modern comics the reporters start laughing at him, he announces his return. Moe holds a comedy night, it's a 4 drink minimum per customer and Homer promises to cover Marge's share. The audience loves Krusty's new act. As part of his rebellion against the corporate exploitation of celebrities he sets a dollar on fire, soon the whole audience is doing it. A couple of pitchmen try to hire Krusty to sell their new SUV The Canyonero. He's temped by the offer of a free car but kicks them out. At his next show he promotes the car because they offered him a truckload of money. The episode ends with the Canyonero commercial song. 

Mall store Goody New Shoes. The mascot is a spoof on Buster Brown / Fancy Lingerie / All Creatures Great And Cheap (Lisa's Pony) / Fancy Styles / Laugh Till You Care

Gil is the shoe salesman. 

Self Aware Joke: Marge picks out shoes for the kids that are two sizes too big, she says they are way overdue for a growth spirt.

The Laugh 'Til You Care showcase is based on the 1986 fundraisers Comic Relief. The guest comedians are Jay Leno, Janeane Garofalo, Bruce Baum, Bobcat Godthwait and Steven Wright. They all do their own voices.

Spencer Tracy called Krusty the most promising newcomer of 1959. 

Springfield Shopper Headline: Dog Kills Cat, Self. (Kind of dark there)

Neon signs during Krusty's binge: The Gutter Room / Blottos / The Bloated Liver.

Krusty drinks a beer / a 6 pack all at once / a wine bota / sips from a glass slipper / an old boot and the Stanley Cup. 

Bart has a Kamp Krusty banner in his bedroom from the episode of the same name.

When he's giving his retirement speech Krusty reads To An Athlete Dying Young by A. E Houseman

Krusty's new act is styled after George Carlin in his later years.

Krusty meets Leno at Java The Hutt, a Star Wars spoof.

Krusty's Legal Forms "Hey, Hey! They're Binding!"

Best line of the episode: Homer "I didn't know you Jay Leno and a monkey were bathing a clown"

The Canyonero song is sung by Hank Williams Jr. 

Dumbell Indemnity

This episode premiered on March 1st 1998. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite The W.W.O Disney (Pocahontas), Touched By An Angel and Dateline NBC

The name is a reference to the 1944 movie Double Indemnity.

The chalkboard gag "Silly string is not a nasal spray" is and the couch gag is a repeat of the family being squished into a cube.

The kids are having a snowball fight with the ice cream. Homer goes to fix the water heater and ends up causing it to explode and flood the house. When Marge comes home Homer rushes out to Moe's. Moe gets mad at Homer boasting about being married so Homer decides to help Moe get a woman. At a club Moe meets a woman who offers him a Bacardi, he soon realizes that she's working for the rum company. As he is leaving he meets a woman, Renee, running a flower cart, he asks her out. Moe keeps overspending in order to keep Renee interested. Moe's card gets cut off so he tries to call in all the bar tabs, everybody flees. Homer suggests Moe sell his car but it's not worth anything, so Moe talks Homer into stealing it for the insurance money. The plan is for Homer to steal the car while he is at the police moonlight charity cruise, Homer will park the car on the railroad tracks and after it's smashed he collects the insurance money. Homer catches Snake trying to steal the car but stops him. Homer gets distracted by a drive in movie and misses parking the car on the train tracks so he decides to roll the car down a hill and into the bay. When he bails out and accidentally rolls back in and plunges over the cliff. When he comes up out of the water it's right by the boat loaded with the cops. Homer gets arrested but he thinks Moe will help him out. Moe tells Homer that he's going to do the right thing but instead offers to take Renee to Hawaii. Moe sees the ghost of Homer and has a crisis of conscience. Homer gets a book How To Tunnel Out of Prison and hits Moleman over the head with it in order to escape. When Moe comes up with a plan to fake their death Renee leaves him, meanwhile Homer is on the way to kill him. Moe accidentally sets the bar on fire, he and Homer get into a fight and pass out from the smoke. Barney, who was in the restroom the whole time rescues the two of them, and the beer kegs. Homer lets Moe set up shop in the family kitchen. The show ends with One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer by George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers.

Helen Hunt does the voice of Renee. She had been the star of Mad About You which ran opposite The Simpsons for several years.

The club Moe goes to in order to meet women is Stu's Disco. There is a sign out front with picture of Sanjay saying "You must be at least this swarthy to enter". 

Moe and Homer dance to Brick House by the Commodores.

There is a montage of Moe's dates with Renee to the tune of I'm A Believer by the Monkeys

Sea World has changed the name of Shamu to Willy, Free Willy had come out in 1993 and of course there is the irony that the whales are not free. One does escape when Moe is riding it.

Moe has a Player's Club card. These were discount cards for casinos that were promoted by Telly Savalas in a series of commercials in the 1980's.

Springfield Drive-In is showing Hail To The Chimp.

The train going by the drive in theater is based on the photo Hotshot Eastbound by Ogle Winston Link.

Homer's mug shot number is 5F12, which was the production code for the episode. 

Moleman is the prison librarian.

For me this was another off episode, Homer is an escapee from jail and Moe is guilty of insurance fraud and arson, but nothing happens to either of them. Another observation, in the past when the family would go to the basement we'd see the big Aztec head, in this episode the basement scene is just a corner with the water heater. We have entered the Hit and Miss era of The Simpsons. 

Lisa The Simpson

This episode premiered on March 8th, 1998. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite the regular programs. The Disney movie was Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan Adventure.

There is no chalkboard and the couch gag is a plant grows in the living room, the family appears as various fruits and vegetables.

At school the kids complain about their lunches, Lisa brought a prepackaged lunch she bought at the gas station. On the back is a puzzle, the kids all figure it out, except for Lisa. The next day she can't open her locker and  forgot her agriculture project, she makes a pig out of an eraser and push pins. Jasper shows up at the Kwik-E-Mart and cleans out the ice cream freezer, he freezes himself with a note asking to be defrosted when robot wives are cheap and perfected. Lisa has trouble playing her sax, Grandpa tells her it's the Simpson gene and the older she gets the dumber she'll get. She goes to Dr. Hibbert who shows her a movie about DNA. Dr. Nick comes by the Kwik-E-Mart and finds out that Jasper is still alive. The bullies offer Apu $1.20 to see the frozen man, he turns the store into a freak show. Lisa decides to accept her stupidity and goes to watch a show about collapsing buildings with Homer and Bart, then they switch over to When Surgery Goes Wrong. At the Kwik-E-Mart Apu is making money running a freak show but then he sees Jasper start to move so he turns the cooler down to Freezing. Bart and Homer want snacks but it's almost dinner time, Homer has candy hidden in the couch cushion, Lisa imagines her future where she's morbidly obese and married to Ralph with a bunch of stupid children, she insults Bart and Homer. Lisa goes to the museum to see a Miro painting, it turns out the security guard stole the real one and put up the fake, nobody noticed, she then visits the Jazz Hole. Colonel Tex comes to buy Jasper but he defrosts, he thinks he in the future and wanders off. They close the freak show and open the Nude-E-Mart "Topless Dancers! Bottomless Coffee!" Lisa goes on TV claiming she's protesting proposition 305 "bus discounts for war widows", instead she goes on to say she's turning stupid and asks people to read banned books and look at the beauty of nature. Homer calls up his family to prove the Simpsons don't turn stupid. The guys all do mediocre jobs, however the women all turn out to be super smart. Lisa finally figures out the brain teaser on the back of the box.

The couch gag plants, Homer is a gourd, Marge is an asparagus, Bart is a strawberry, Lisa is a pineapple and Maggie is broccoli. This is a spoof on the Christian cartoons Veggie Tales.

Lisa's lunch: Portion Time, Vacuum Packed, vegetarian with Apple Sauce. On the back is Professor Provolone's Picto-Puzzle "What Comes Next? (the answer is six). Ironically smart people tend to overthink simple puzzles so they struggle when us common folk can figure it out.

Med-Films Presents: Someone's In The Kitchen With DNA!

Troy McClure You may remember me from such medical films as Alice Doesn't Live Anymore and Mommy, What's Wrong With That Man's Face?

When Lisa comes downstairs to watch TV Homer offers her a seat on the couch and says "Room for one more" This is a reference to the Twilight Zone episode Twenty Two. This joke was also used in the episode There's No Disgrace Like Homer. 

When Buildings Collapse: Old Printers' Home / Leanin' Tower of Pizza / Society of Structural Engineers / The House of Usher (Poe reference)

Apu's freak show: See the Incredible Siamese Hot Dog / Astounding Rubber Check / The Can Of Mystery / The Haunted Cash Machine "Dispenses Images Of Dead Presidents" / The Offensive Baseball Cap, Do you dare read it? "Show Me Your T...." / Behold Fostillicus (Jasper)

At the Nude-E-Mart they play That's The Way I Like It by KC and the Sunshine Band. 

On Disney+ this is episode 3 for the 9th season instead of 17. Thankfully I go by the Wikipedia list and was able to do it in the proper release order. 

In the Hit and Miss era of The Simpsons this one was a foul tip for me. Although I found it entertaining it was a Lisa heavy episode and as I've said before she isn't my favorite character. Once again she talks down to the rest of the family and tries to prove how smart she is. Just annoying. I'd like to also point out the scene where Grandpa take Lisa to the attack to see an old photo of Homer winning the First Grade Spelling Bee. In previous shows the attic and basement would be full of "Easter Eggs" from past episodes. In this one it's just an empty space, a few scattered boxes but nothing clever for the fans to say "Hey, isn't that Homer's (thing) from the time the family (did something or went somewhere)? I understand the cost of animation but it just felt like they weren't even trying. 

Woo Hoo, 195 episodes down. I'm almost up to an even number and ever closer to the end. The end that is pretty far away. Me and my stupid ideas.