Simpson Safari

Last updated

"Simpson Safari"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 12
Episode 17
Directed by Mark Kirkland
Written by John Swartzwelder
Production codeCABF13
Original air dateApril 1, 2001 (2001-04-01)
Guest appearance
Frank Welker as assorted animal voices
Episode features
Chalkboard gag "I will not flush evidence"
Couch gag The family and a lot of acrobats form a kickline, which turns the living room into a large circus extravaganza.
CommentaryMike Scully
Ian Maxtone-Graham
Matt Selman
Tim Long
Yeardley Smith
Mark Kirkland
Michael Marcantel
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Bye Bye Nerdie"		Next →
"Trilogy of Error"
The Simpsons season 12
List of episodes

"Simpson Safari" is the seventeenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons . It first aired on Fox in the United States on April 1, 2001. When the Simpsons run out of food thanks to a bag boy strike, the family finds an old box of Animal Crackers in their attic. In the box is a golden cracker that was part of a contest conducted by the owners of Animal Crackers. Finding out that anyone that found the golden cracker would win a trip to Africa, Homer shows it to the company's owners, who refuse to honor the prize. When he is injured by one of the box's sharp corners however, the family is given a free trip to Africa as compensation.

Contents

Although "Simpson Safari" was written by John Swartzwelder, the idea for the episode was pitched by a former staff writer Larry Doyle. The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland, who had been to Africa as a child. Because of his visit there, Kirkland attempted to make the episode look as authentic as possible, even though the Simpsons trip to Africa was "all over the place" geographically.

The episode features Frank Welker as all the animals in Africa. In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 7.7 million viewers, finishing in 42nd place in the ratings the week it aired.

Following its broadcast, the episode received mixed reviews from critics. The episode was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in 2001.

Plot

While Marge takes Maggie to the hospital after Maggie swallows an issue of Time magazine whole, Homer, Bart and Lisa go grocery shopping. Homer and other shoppers at the store mistreat the bag boys, which results in every bag boy and server in Springfield going on strike, which extends to knocking self-packed grocery bags out of the hands of customers. When the Simpsons run out of food in their home, the family follows Santa's Little Helper into the attic, where he finds a 30-year-old box of animal crackers.

Homer bites into a solid-gold giraffe, which is the winning contest piece for a trip to Africa. The animal cracker company initially refused to honor the prize because the contest ended a number of years ago. But when Homer is hit in the eye by a sharp corner of the box, the company gives the Simpsons their Africa trip in order to avoid a lawsuit.

The family lands in Tanzania. When the family is in Africa, their tour guide Kitenge takes them to experience such sights as the Masai Mara, Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, and meet with a group of Maasai tribesmen. During a vigorous tribal dance, Homer accidentally enrages a hippo. It chases after the family, but they manage to escape by using a tribal shield as a raft going down the raging Zambezi river. After surviving the plunge over Victoria Falls, the family eventually reach Mount Kilimanjaro and stumbles upon a nearby chimpanzee sanctuary maintained by the scientist Dr. Joan Bushwell (a parody of Jane Goodall). She claims to be researching the animals' behavior when a group of poachers arrives to take the chimps.

The Simpsons try to hold off the poachers, but eventually, they break into the sanctuary. The poachers are revealed to be Greenpeace activists, who prove that Dr. Bushwell is a chimp slave master, exploiting their labor at a nearby diamond mine. Worried that the Simpsons will report her to the authorities, Dr. Bushwell offers everyone diamonds as a bribe – which all the Simpsons except Lisa happily accept. On the plane ride back to Springfield, it is revealed that their former tour guide, Kitenge, is now president of the country, with the former president now the Simpsons' flight attendant.

Production

"Simpson Safari"'s setpiece shows some of Springfield's citizens mistreating the bag boys in a grocery store, prompting the bag boys to go on strike. The sequence was inspired by an Albertsons store in Los Angeles, whose employees went on strike at the time the episode was written. The idea to have the Simpsons visit Africa was pitched by former staff writer Larry Doyle. [1] Former staff writer John Swartzwelder was then assigned to write the first draft of the episode's script. Because of his involvement with the episode, "Simpson Safari" contains several "classic" Swartzwelder-type jokes, according to staff writer Matt Selman. Examples of these include the cover of the Animal Cracker box and Homer and Dr. Joan Bushwell's discussion about the smell of feces in the doctor's hut. After Swartzwelder wrote the first draft, the writing staff rewrote the script. When writing the episode, the writers deliberately included factual errors to annoy viewers who wanted the series to seem realistic. Commenting on the episode, Selman said "It's kind of a combination of really nice, observational designs and then just [...] things that are deliberately wrong. To anger people who care about things being real." [2]

Mark Kirkland, who had visited Africa before, served as the director for "Simpson Safari". When he was sixteen years old, Kirkland spent six weeks in Kenya with a film crew that was making a documentary film called A Visit to a Chief's Son. When he first read the script, he found that the episode was "all over the place" geographically. "It would be like in the United States, saying: 'I walked out of Grand Central Station and then I turned left and was standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.' The locations are just all over the place" he said in the episode's DVD commentary. [3] Still, Kirkland strove to make the episode look as realistic as possible by drawing influence from his experience in Kenya.

For example, the steering column on Kitenge's Land Rover is placed on the right side of the car. At one point in the episode, the Simpsons visit the Maasai people, a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. The way that some of the Maasai people in the episode are dancing is also true to a traditional dance performed by Maasai people in real life, and although the drinking of cow blood is faithful to the Maasai people's culture, the use of lip plates and neck rings are not. "That was kind of fun for me to try to make this stuff [...] as crazy as the story is, [to] make it realistic", Kirkland commented on directing the episode. [3]

In a scene in the episode, the Simpsons are floating down a river on a shield. At one point, the family is seen by two Africans, who speak in Kiswahili. Additionally, the song that Kitenge sings when driving the Simpsons ("Wé-Wé" by Angélique Kidjo) was a popular song in Africa. In order to make it sound accurate, Hank Azaria, who portrays Kitenge in the episode, was taught to sing the song phonetically by a professor in Swahili in the University of California, Los Angeles. [4] Dr. Joan Bushwell, the "Jane Goodall-type" character in the episode, [3] was portrayed by American voice actress Tress MacNeille, who also voices Lindsey Naegle among other characters in the series. All animals' noises (except for Santa's Little Helper, who is voiced by main cast member Dan Castellaneta) were done by American voice actor Frank Welker. [4]

Release

In its original American broadcast on April 1, 2001, "Simpson Safari" received a 7.5 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 7.7 million viewers. The episode finished in 42nd place in the ratings for the week of March 26-April 1, 2001, tying with an episode of the television newsmagazine Dateline NBC . [5] Later that year, the episode was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore). It ultimately lost to an episode of the science fiction series Star Trek: Voyager . [6] Since its broadcast, the episode has been released twice on home video. On May 23, 2005, it was released along with the season 10 episode "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", the season 13 episode "Blame It on Lisa" and the season 15 episode "The Regina Monologues" as part of a DVD set called Simpsons Around The World In 80 D'ohs. [7] 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, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Yeardley Smith, Mark Kirkland and Michael Marcantel participated in the audio commentary for the episode. [4]

Former The Simpsons' showrunner Mike Reiss stated, at an April 2007 talk in Bristol, Connecticut, that "Simpson Safari" is one of two of the show's episodes that he dislikes. [8]

Following its home video release, "Simpson Safari" received mixed reviews from critics.

In his review of The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season, Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide described the episode as "lousy". [9] While he admitted that he found a couple of scenes funny, he argued that the episode over relied on broad gags and "never threatens to become inspired or amusing". [9] He concluded by describing the episode as "disappointing". [9]

Writing for Bullz-Eye.com, Will Harris gave the episode a negative review as well. He argued that the premise was "ridiculous", and that the episode "remind[s] longtime fans that the show's days of complete comedic perfection are behind them." [10]

On the other hand, DVD Verdict's Mac McEntire was entertained by the episode. Although he mostly enjoy episodes that are "down-to-Earth" and emphasize the Simpson family, McEntire wrote that the "less realistic, more over-the-top crazy" episodes like "Simpson Safari" comprises the season's best episodes. [11]

DVD Talk's Jason Bailey wrote that "Simpson Safari" makes use of one of his favorite story elements that he called a "wandering storyline". "Their habit of using the first act as a red herring, only semi-connected to the rest of the show, is ingenious and hilarious", he wrote. [12] "'Simpson Safari', for example, begins with an extended bit about a bagboy strike, which leads the family to desperate culinary measures, which then leads Homer to a box of animal crackers in the attic, which then leads to the discovery of a prize inside the box for the safari trip that encompasses the rest of the episode. They'd been doing this kind of thing for years, but it still plays". [12]

Related Research Articles

“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 Fox 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Dad Who Knew Too Little</span> 8th episode of the 14th season of The Simpsons

"The Dad Who Knew Too Little" is the eighth episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 12, 2003. In the episode, Homer disappoints Lisa on her birthday when he gives her a thoughtless present. He realizes that he knows little about her and decides to hire private detective Dexter Colt to spy on her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Swartzwelder</span> American comedy writer and novelist (born 1949)

John Joseph Swartzwelder Jr. is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons. Born in Seattle, Washington, Swartzwelder began his career working in advertising. He was later hired to work on comedy series Saturday Night Live in the mid-1980s as a writer. He later contributed to fellow writer George Meyer's short-lived Army Man magazine, which led him to join the original writing team of The Simpsons, beginning in 1989.

<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 Fox 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.

"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.

"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.

"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 and Bart and Nelson as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn respectively.

"Maximum Homerdrive" is the seventeenth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on March 28, 1999.

"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 Fox 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.

"The Mansion Family" is the twelfth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 23, 2000, and was watched in around 11.3 million homes during the broadcast. In the episode, Mr. Burns goes to the Mayo Clinic for a check-up after being declared the oldest man in Springfield at an awards ceremony. He leaves the Simpson family to house-sit his mansion for him. When Homer throws a party on Burns' private yacht in international waters, the party goers are captured by Chinese pirates.

"The Old Man and the Lisa" is the twenty-first episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 20, 1997. In the episode, Mr. Burns goes bankrupt and asks Lisa to help him get rich again. She agrees on the condition that he change his evil ways. They earn money by recycling cans and soon Burns has enough money to start his own recycling plant. Lisa is aghast when she learns the plant makes a slurry from liquefied sea creatures. When Burns sells the plant to a company that makes fish sticks, he offers Lisa 10 percent of his profits, but she declines for ethical reasons.

"Bart Gets an Elephant" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 31, 1994. In this episode, Bart wins a radio contest and is awarded a full-grown African elephant that he names Stampy. After Stampy wrecks the Simpsons' house and eats all the food, Homer decides to sell Stampy to an ivory dealer. Bart runs away with Stampy to save his pet, but the family finds the two at a museum exhibit, where Homer sinks into a tar pit. Homer is saved by Stampy, and so gives the elephant away to an animal refuge instead.

"The Frying Game" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 19, 2002. In the episode, after accidentally injuring an endangered caterpillar, Homer is sentenced to two weeks of community service. As part of his sentence, Homer delivers Meals on Wheels to an old woman called Mrs. Bellamy, who subtly guilt trips him, and later Marge, into becoming her personal servants. One day, the two find Mrs. Bellamy dead in her house, having been stabbed by a man with braces who quickly escapes the murder scene. Being the only ones present when the police arrive, Homer and Marge are soon suspected for the murder. The episode also features a "Snuh cascade", an homage to a group of Simpsons fans on Usenet.

"The Sweetest Apu" is the nineteenth 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 May 5, 2002. In the episode, Homer and Marge discover that convenience store owner Apu is having an affair with the Squishee delivery lady working in his store.

"Mountain of Madness" is the twelfth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 2, 1997. In the episode, Mr. Burns forces his employees of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to go for a team-building hike in the mountains. Burns and Homer are paired together and trapped in a cabin that gets buried by several avalanches.

"The War of the Simpsons" is the twentieth episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 2, 1991. In the episode, Homer gets drunk at a dinner party and embarrasses Marge, so she enrolls them in marriage counseling at a lakeside retreat with Reverend Lovejoy.

"Bart Carny" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series, The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 11, 1998. Homer and Bart start working at a carnival and befriend a father and son duo named Cooder and Spud. It was written by John Swartzwelder, directed by Mark Kirkland and guest stars Jim Varney as Cooder the carny. The episode contains several cultural references and received a generally mixed critical reception.

"Gorillas on the Mast" is the fifth episode of the thirty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 667th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on November 3, 2019. The episode was directed by Matthew Nastuk and written by Max Cohn.

References

  1. ↑ Maxtone-Graham, Ian. (2009). Commentary for "Simpson Safari", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  2. ↑ Selman, Matt. (2009). Commentary for "Simpson Safari", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  3. 1 2 3 Kirkland, Mark. (2009). Commentary for "Simpson Safari", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  4. 1 2 3 Scully, Mike. (2009). Commentary for "Simpson Safari", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  5. ↑ "Nielsen ratings". St. Paul Pioneer Press . MediaNews Group. Associated Press. April 5, 2001. p. 3E.
  6. ↑ "The Simpsons". Emmys.com. Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Simpsons: Around the World in 80 d'Oh's!". Allrovi . Retrieved July 31, 2011.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. ↑ Drzewiecki, James (April 19, 2007). "'Simpson' writer returns to a familiar scene". The Bristol Press .
  9. 1 2 3 Jacobson, Colin (September 2, 2009). "The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season (2000)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  10. ↑ Harris, Will. "The Simpsons: The Twelfth Season". Bullz-Eye.com. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  11. ↑ McEntire, Mac (September 9, 2009). "The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  12. 1 2 Bailey, Jason (August 18, 2009). "The Simpsons: The Twelfth Season". DVD Talk . Retrieved July 31, 2011.
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.