Simpsons Tall Tales

Last updated

"Simpsons Tall Tales"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 12
Episode 21
Directed by Bob Anderson
Written byPaul Bunyan:
John Frink
Don Payne
Connie Appleseed:
Bob Bendetson
Tom and Huck:
Matt Selman
Production codeCABF17
Original air dateMay 20, 2001 (2001-05-20)
Guest appearance
Episode features
Chalkboard gag "I should not be twenty-one by now"
Couch gag The living room is a subway station and the Simpsons enter an arriving train.
CommentaryMike Scully
Ian Maxtone-Graham
John Frink
Don Payne
Matt Selman
Tom Gammill
Max Pross
Bob Anderson
Joel H. Cohen
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Children of a Lesser Clod"		Next →
"Treehouse of Horror XII"
The Simpsons (season 12)
List of episodes

"Simpsons Tall Tales" is the twenty-first and final episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons . It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 20, 2001. In the episode, Homer refuses to pay a five dollar airport tax to fly to Delaware, which forces the family to ride in a livestock car of a train instead. There they meet a singing hobo who tells three tall tales which include Homer as Paul Bunyan, Lisa as Connie Appleseed (a female version of Johnny Appleseed) and Bart and Nelson as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn respectively.

Contents

"Simpsons Tall Tales" was directed by Bob Anderson and written by John Frink, Don Payne, Bob Bendetson and Matt Selman. The idea for the episode was pitched while the series' staff were coming up with story ideas for the twelfth season. The staff had noticed that viewers responded well to "Simpsons Bible Stories", and decided to write another trilogy episode because of the warm response.

The singing hobo in the episode was voiced by Hank Azaria. He was originally going to be voiced by Jim Carrey, but he dropped out due to his busy schedule.

In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 7.8 million viewers, finishing in 33rd place in the ratings the week it aired. Following its home video release, the episode received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

After the Simpsons win a trip to Delaware, Homer refuses to pay a $5 airport tax for his flight. After Homer violates the Anti-Fist Shaking Law, the family jumps onto a freight train where they meet a singing hobo who tells them three stories.

Paul Bunyan

Homer portrays Paul Bunyan, a giant who quickly becomes a great burden on the local townspeople, as he crushes their houses and greedily eats all their food. Eventually, the townspeople drug him and drag him out of their town. Out of loneliness, Bunyan carves a block of stone from the mountains into a blue ox that he calls Babe, who is rendered alive by an electric shock. In his travels with Babe, Homer creates several landmarks. Bunyan later meets a young woman, Marge, and though she is initially frightened of him, the two fall in love. When a meteor is soon to hit the town, the townspeople call Paul back to help them. Paul obliges and, after the meteor first hits and severely burns his backside, Paul throws the meteor towards Chicago, starting the Great Fire there.

After the hobo has told this story, he asks them for a sponge bath as compensation. Disgusted, Homer is forced to oblige, as nobody else will do so, but the hobo does not mind anyone seeing his nakedness.

Connie Appleseed

The hobo's second tall tale revolves around Lisa as Connie. Connie is part of a wagon train, and all of the travelers shoot and eat buffalo. Connie, who is against the practice, tries to urge them to stop slaughter or they will wipe out the buffalo, to much ridicule. She worries that no one is eating a renewable source of food and finds some apples for the pioneers to eat, but they reject them. Eventually, she changes her last name to "Appleseed", and leaves her family to journey across the United States and plant apple seeds wherever she goes. Meanwhile, the Simpsons change their surname to "Bufflekill" and they succeed in killing all the buffalo in the land. The travelers eventually starve, and just as they are about to cannibalize Homer, Connie returns and offers them apples instead. Won over by the taste of apples, they agree to the trade, sparing Homer.

Tom and Huck

The hobo's third tale tells the story of Tom Sawyer (Bart) and Huckleberry Finn (Nelson). Tom is a rebellious trouble maker while Huck is a bully. Huck is caught holding hands with Becky (Lisa) after he falls over in her garden from the fence and is forced to marry her by her father, Homer. During the ceremony, Huck switches places with a pig and goes on the run with Tom, leaving Missouri for Missoura. However, they are chased by townspeople led by Becky's father and their families. Huck and Tom flee to a river boat, but are thrown into the Mississippi River and are caught by the townspeople. The townspeople take them back to town and execute them before lowering their bodies into coffins.

Conclusion

The family arrives in Delaware and disembarks the train, but the hobo reminds them that they owe him one more sponge bath as compensation. Homer volunteers to stay behind to do the dirty work and promises to catch up with them in Wilmington.

Production

On April 4, 1999, "Simpsons Bible Stories" aired in the United States. The episode, which contains three self-contained segments [nb 1] in which the Simpsons play different characters from the Bible, was written after Fox requested a Bible-themed episode that would air on Easter. [1] The Simpsons' staff enjoyed writing the episode and it was generally well received by viewers. When pitching stories for the twelfth season, the writers decided to make another episode based around three segments that are all related to a certain theme. [2]

Jim Carrey 2008.jpg
Hankazaria05.jpg
The singing hobo was originally to have been played by Jim Carrey (left), but because he was busy during the recording sessions, the role was given to Hank Azaria (right).

"Simpsons Tall Tales" was written by Matt Selman, John Frink, Don Payne, and Bob Bendetson. The idea for a trilogy episode based on tall tales was pitched by Frink and Payne, according to co-executive producer Ian Maxtone-Graham. [3] While the episode's introduction was written and conceived by Selman, [4] the first segment was written by Frink and Payne. [2] The second and third segments were written by Bendetson [5] and Selman respectively. [4]

Writing segments for "Simpsons Tall Tales" was much different from normal episodes; for example, the writers only had one day to outline each segment's plot, and three to four days to write the first draft of each script, which is much less time than the writers usually get for an episode. Still, Selman has said that working on the episode was "very fun" for the writers. While writing the third segment, Selman listened to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective on tape to "get some of the lingo" that Mark Twain used in his books. He found so many unusual words in the books that he compiled a "giant" list of them. "We wanted to cram in every single [jargon from the books] as we could", Selman said in the episode's DVD commentary. [4]

"Simpsons Tall Tales" was directed by Bob Anderson and is one of his favorite episodes that he directed. Because the segments take place in different places and time periods, the animators had to create new designs for characters and backgrounds. Even though it took a lot of work, Anderson maintained that the episode was "fun to work on." [6]

In a scene in the episode, Moe holds a giant pill that makes Homer fall asleep - at one point in the episode's production, the pill would read "Roofie", but it was eventually removed. Another scene that changed during production was the scene in which Homer uses Marge's hair to clean him up for their date. After he takes Marge's hair out of his ear, her hair would originally be covered with earwax, but it was removed when the animators looked over the episode's storyboard. [6] The second segment originally had many more shots of buffalo being shot, but some were changed so that the deaths were off-camera. [2]

The singing hobo was voiced by regular cast member Hank Azaria, who voices Moe and Comic Book Guy among other characters in the series. Originally, the part would be played by Canadian-American actor and comedian Jim Carrey, who had asked for a role in an episode. Because Carrey was busy with other projects and did not have time to record any lines, the role was instead given to Azaria, who Scully said did a "great job". [2] While most of the hobo's songs were written by Frink, the song that the hobo sings at the beginning of the episode was written by executive producer and former showrunner Mike Reiss. The dialog between Homer and the hobo at the end of the episode was ad-libbed by Azaria and Dan Castellaneta, who portrays Homer in the series. [2]

Like many other trilogy episodes, "Simpsons Tall Tales" ended up very long and the staff were obliged to cut some scenes in order to fit with the program's maximum running time. The scene in which Homer first meets Babe was also cut short; originally, it would show Babe kicking Homer in the crotch after Homer says that he will "whip [Babe] from dawn to dusk." A similar joke was later used in The Simpsons Movie . The last removed scene was from the episode's third segment. It would show Lenny and Carl eating buffalo meat, while Carl speaks like a stereotypical Native American. [7]

Cultural references

"Simpsons Tall Tales" has been described as a "skewed" retelling of old tales. [8] The beginning of the episode shows the family winning a trip to Delaware. This is a reference to the end of "Behind the Laughter", in which Homer is seen watching an episode of The Simpsons wherein the family is visiting Delaware. [9]

The first segment is based on the mythological lumberjack Paul Bunyan, who carved Babe the Blue ox out of the Blue Mountains. [4] The second segment shows Lisa as Connie Appleseed, a female version of the American pioneer nurseryman Johnny Appleseed who introduced apple trees to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. "Tom and Huck" features Bart as Tom Sawyer and Nelson as Huckleberry Finn, both of whom are characters in Mark Twain's 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . Despite the episode's title, only the first two segments are actually tall tales.

This is referenced in the episode, when Lisa says "That's not tall tale, it's a book by Mark Twain." In the first segment, Paul Bunyan and Babe fight Rodan, a fictional Japanese mutated pterosaur introduced in the 1956 tokusatsu film Rodan . [2] When showering Marge with stuffed animals, Bunyan accidentally drops a guard next to her. When noticing the guard, Bunyan tugs his collar in a similar way as American comedian Charles Nelson Reilly. [5] In the third segment, Dr Hibbert can be heard singing the 1927 song "Ol' Man River". [4]

Reception

In order to boost ratings, two earlier broadcast episodes (including "Treehouse of Horror XI") were shown before the episode. [10] In its original American broadcast on May 20, 2001, "Simpsons Tall Tales" received a 7.6 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 7.8 million viewers. The episode finished in 33rd place in the ratings for the week of May 14-20, 2001. [11] On August 18, 2009, the episode was released as part of a DVD set called The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season. Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, John Frink, Don Payne, Carolyn Omine, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Bob Anderson and Joel H. Cohen participated in the audio commentary for the episode. [2]

Since its home video release, "Simpsons Tall Tales" received mixed reviews from critics.

In his review of The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season, Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide disliked the episode. He argued that the episode is similar to the season 10 episode "Simpsons Bible Stories", in that they both "feel a little heavy on cutesy and low on comedic inspiration." [12] Although he found some parts of the episode amusing, he summarized it as overall being lackluster. [12]

DVD Talk's Casey Burchby described "Simpsons Tall Tales" as the season's worst episode. As with most other trilogy episodes, "Simpsons Tall Tales" "did not work" for Burchby, who found that the gags were either boring or too far between. He also argued that "Simpsons Tall Tales" and trilogy episodes in general are an excuse for the series' writers to not have to come up with new stories for the characters. "It's understandable that after eleven years, a show might have trouble continuing to come up with original material for the same five characters, but the anthology episodes come across as rather transparent attempts to avoid that challenge", he wrote. [13]

On the other hand, DVD Verdict's Mac MacEntire argued that "Simpsons Tall Tales" is one of the season's best episodes. He wrote that the episode is "filled with great gags", including the hobo's sponge bath and Bart and Nelson's discussion about "backtacks" and "tackbacks". [14]

Notes

  1. ↑ A fourth short segment with Homer as King Solomon is shown at the beginning of the episode's third segment. Still, executive producer and former showrunner Mike Scully has referred to "Simpsons Bible Stories" as the series' first official trilogy episode. [1]

Related Research Articles

"New Kids on the Blecch" is the fourteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 25, 2001. In the episode, a music producer selects Bart, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph to be members of the next hit boy band, who record songs containing subliminal messages about joining the Navy.

“The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" is the sixth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 3, 2000. In the episode, Homer buys a computer and creates his own website to spread gossip and fake news. However, when Homer starts writing conspiracy theories about flu shots, he is sent to an island where people who know too much are imprisoned.

"Skinner's Sense of Snow" is the eighth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 17, 2000. In the episode, a snowstorm traps the students with principal Seymour Skinner and Groundskeeper Willie in Springfield Elementary. When Skinner uses his army skills to control the students, they overthrow him and take over the school. Meanwhile, Homer and Ned set out to rescue the children using Ned's car.

"A Tale of Two Springfields" is the second episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 250th episode of the series overall in both broadcast and production order. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 5, 2000. In the episode, Homer discovers that Springfield has two different area codes and ends up leading a revolt that splits the town in two.

"Worst Episode Ever" is the eleventh episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 4, 2001. In the episode, Bart and Milhouse are banned from The Android's Dungeon after stopping Comic Book Guy from buying a box of priceless Star Wars memorabilia for $5. However, when Comic Book Guy suffers a massive heart attack, he hires Bart and Milhouse as his replacements while he leaves his job to pursue a relationship with Agnes Skinner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trilogy of Error</span> 18th episode of the 12th season of The Simpsons

"Trilogy of Error" is the eighteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 266th episode overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 29, 2001. In the episode, Homer's rush to the hospital to re-attach his severed thumb, Lisa's rush to school to win the science fair, and Bart's run-in with an illegal fireworks scheme are interconnected as each act tells the events of the same day, but from a different point of view.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XI</span> 1st episode of the 12th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XI" is the first episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, the 249th episode overall, and the eleventh Halloween episode. The episode features "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad", "Scary Tales Can Come True" and "Night of the Dolphin" and was written by Rob LaZebnik, John Frink and Don Payne and Carolyn Omine and directed by Matthew Nastuk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XII</span> 1st episode of the 13th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XII" is the first episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. Because of Fox's contract with Major League Baseball's World Series, the episode first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 6, 2001, nearly one week after Halloween. It is the twelfth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, consisting of three self-contained segments. In the first segment, a gypsy puts a curse on Homer, which puts everybody he cares about in danger. In the second segment, which is a parody on both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Demon Seed, the Simpson family buys a new house, who falls in love with Marge and attempts to kill Homer. In the third and final segment, which lampoons the Harry Potter franchise, Lord Montymort attempts to capture Lisa, a skilled magician, in order to drain her magic powers.

"Tennis the Menace" is the twelfth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 11, 2001. In the episode, the Simpsons build a tennis court in their backyard and are ridiculed by the entire town because of Homer's inferior tennis ability. Homer therefore tries to please Marge by entering the two into a tournament, but they quickly turn into rivals when Marge replaces Homer with Bart as her partner.

"Pokey Mom" is the tenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 14, 2001. In the episode, Marge befriends Jack Crowley, a convict who she believes has some artistic potential. With Marge's help, Jack is granted parole and finds a mural-painting job at Springfield Elementary School. Meanwhile, Homer suffers from a back injury after being kicked by a bull at the prison rodeo and goes to see a chiropractor. Despite this, his pain remains and it is not until he accidentally falls backwards onto a garbage can that his back injury disappears. Homer makes a successful business out of this injury-healing garbage can, much to the dismay of chiropractors in town.

"The Great Money Caper" is the seventh episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 10, 2000. In the episode, Homer, along with his son Bart, con people out of their money in order to pay for Homer's broken car. However, after having paid for the repairs, the two decide to continue grifting, which leads to some troublesome situations.

"Insane Clown Poppy" is the third episode of the twelfth season of the American television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 12, 2000. In the episode, during an outdoor book fair, Krusty finds out he has a daughter, but loses her trust after gambling away her violin to Fat Tony, prompting Homer and Krusty to retrieve it.

"Lisa the Tree Hugger" is the fourth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 19, 2000. In the episode, Lisa falls in love with the leader of a radical environmentalist group and tries to impress him by living in Springfield's oldest tree in order to keep it from being cut down. The episode is based on the story of the American tree sitter Julia Butterfly Hill. Actor Joshua Jackson guest starred in the episode as Jesse.

"Bye Bye Nerdie" is the sixteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 11, 2001. In the episode, after Lisa becomes the target of a female bully named Francine, she discovers a scientific reason as to why bullies pick on nerds and demonstrates her findings at a science conference. Meanwhile, Homer goes into the childproofing business, causing baby-injury-related businesses to go in decline.

"I'm Goin' to Praiseland" is the nineteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 6, 2001. In the episode, Ned Flanders builds a Christian-themed amusement park to commemorate his dead wife, Maude Flanders. The episode marked the return of the character Rachel Jordan, who had previously appeared in the season eleven episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily". Since airing, "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" has received mixed reviews from critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tales from the Public Domain</span> 14th episode of the 13th season of The Simpsons

"Tales from the Public Domain" is the fourteenth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 17, 2002. It is the third trilogy episode of the series, which had become annual since the twelfth season's "Simpsons Tall Tales", consisting of three self-contained segments that are based on historical stories. The first segment puts Homer Simpson in the role of Odysseus in the ancient Greek epic poem the Odyssey. The second segment tells the story of Joan of Arc, and the third and final segment lampoons William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet.

"Simpsons Bible Stories" is the eighteenth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1999. It is the first of The Simpsons' now annual trilogy episodes, and consists of four self-contained segments. In the episode, the Simpson family falls asleep during a sermon in church. Marge dreams that she and Homer are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Lisa dreams that she and her fellow Springfield Elementary School students are Hebrew slaves in Ancient Egypt and guides Moses to lead them to freedom, Homer dreams that he is King Solomon called to resolve a dispute between Lenny and Carl over the ownership of a pie, and Bart dreams he is King David, who has to fight Goliath's son, Goliath II.

"Monty Can't Buy Me Love" is the twenty-first episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 2, 1999. In the episode, Mr. Burns is jealous of megastore owner Arthur Fortune, who is beloved by the people of Springfield. In order to win the people's love, Burns gathers the help of Homer Simpson, Professor Frink and Groundskeeper Willie to capture the Loch Ness monster.

"They Saved Lisa's Brain" is the twenty-second and penultimate episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 9, 1999. In the episode, after writing a thoughtful letter to the Springfield Shopper, Lisa is invited to join the Springfield chapter of Mensa. When Mayor Quimby later flees Springfield, the group takes control of the town, hoping to improve the lives of Springfieldians through the rule of the smartest. Meanwhile, Homer poses for a series of erotic photos.

"Old Money" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 28, 1991.

References

Footnotes
  1. 1 2 Scully, Mike. (2007). Commentary for "Simpsons Bible Stories", in The Simpsons: The Complete Tenth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Scully, Mike. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  3. ↑ Maxtone-Graham, Ian. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Selman, Matt. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  5. 1 2 Gammill, Tom. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  6. 1 2 Anderson, Bob. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  7. ↑ Scully, Mike. (2009). Commentary for "Deleted Scenes", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  8. ↑ Wall, Jim M. (May 19, 2001). "Sunday on TV". Deseret News . p. E08.
  9. ↑ Waltonen & Du Vernay 2010 , p. 303
  10. ↑ Holston, Noel (May 18, 2001). "Weekend highlights". Star Tribune . Klingensmith, Michael J. p. 12E.
  11. ↑ Bauder, David (May 23, 2001). "NBC's Thursday lineup shows it still has some punch". Daily Breeze . Lindus, Linda. p. C7.
  12. 1 2 Jacobson, Colin (September 2, 2009). "The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season (2000)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  13. ↑ Burchby, Casey (August 30, 2009). "The Simpsons: The Twelfth Season". DVD Talk . Retrieved July 23, 2011.
  14. ↑ McEntire, Mac (September 9, 2009). "The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
Bibliography
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.