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| {{Infobox Simpsons episode | {{Infobox Simpsons episode | ||
| | season = 12 | |||
| | episode_name = {{PAGENAME}} | |||
| | episode = 21 | |||
| | image = ] | |||
| | director = ] | |||
| | episode_no = 268 | |||
| | writer = "'''Paul Bunyan'''":<br>]<br>]<br>"'''Connie Appleseed'''":<br>]<br>"'''Tom and Huck'''":<br>] | |||
| | prod_code = CABF17 | |||
| | production = CABF17 | |||
| | airdate = ], ] | |||
| | airdate = {{Start date|2001|05|20}} | |||
| | show runner = ] | |||
| | guests = * ] as various animals | |||
| | writer = ] &<br>]<br>]<br>] | |||
| | blackboard = "I should not be twenty-one by now" | |||
| | director = ] | |||
| | couch_gag = The living room is a subway station and the Simpsons enter an arriving train. | |||
| | blackboard = "I should not be twenty-one by now" | |||
| | commentary = Mike Scully<br>]<br>John Frink<br>Don Payne<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>Bob Anderson<br>] | |||
| | couch_gag = The family waits for a ] car on Evergreen Terrace, and boards the car. | |||
| | |
| prev = ] | ||
| | next = ] | |||
| }} | }} | ||
| "'''Simpsons Tall Tales'''" is the twenty-first and final episode of the ] of the American animated television series '']''. It originally aired on the ] in the United States on May 20, 2001. In the episode, ] refuses to pay a five dollar airport tax to fly to ], 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 ("'''Paul Bunyan'''", "'''Connie Appleseed'''", and "'''Tom and Huck'''") which include Homer as ], ] as Connie Appleseed (a female version of ]) and ] and ] as ] and ] respectively. | |||
| "'''Simpsons Tall Tales'''" is the season finale and twenty-first episode of the ] of '']''. It aired on ], ]. | |||
| "Simpsons Tall Tales" was directed by ] and written by ], ], ] and ]. 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 "]", and decided to write another trilogy episode because of the warm response. | |||
| ==Synopsis== | |||
| {{spoiler}} | |||
| The singing hobo in the episode was voiced by ]. He was originally going to be voiced by ], but he dropped out due to his busy schedule. | |||
| After the Simpsons win a trip to ], ] is asked to pay a $5 airport tax for his flight, but he does not want to pay the tax. The family jumps onto a ] and meets a singing ] who tells them three ]. They are as follows: | |||
| 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. | |||
| ===Paul Bunyan=== | |||
| Homer plays ] in this story (he also fights with a Japanese movie monster in a godzilla-like fashion). Paul is a great burden on local townspeople, as he crushes their houses and consumes all their food. Eventually, the townspeople drug him and drag him out of their town. Out of loneliness, he carves a block of stone from the mountains into a a blue ox that he calls Babe, which becomes alive after being struck by ]. However when a meteor is soon to hit the town, the townspeople call Paul back to help them. Paul obliges and throws the meteor towards ], starting the ] there. | |||
| ==Plot== | |||
| After the hobo has told this story, he asks for a sponge bath as compensation. Homer is forced to oblige. | |||
| After the Simpsons win a trip to ], ] refuses to pay a $5 airport tax for his flight. After Homer violates the Anti-Fist Shaking Law, the family jumps onto a ] where they meet a singing ] who tells them three stories. | |||
| === |
==="Paul Bunyan"=== | ||
| Homer portrays ], 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 the Northern Lights. In his travels with Babe, Homer creates several landmarks. Bunyan later meets a young woman, ], 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 ], starting the ] there. | |||
| The hobo's second tall tale is loosly based on the legend of ], except ] portrays him, and her name is adapted to "Connie Appleseed." Connie is part of a wagon train, and all of the travellers shoot and eat ]. Connie is against the practice because "If you aren't careful, you'll wipe the species off the face of the earth." She is worried 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 ] and plant apple seeds wherever she goes. Meanwhile, the Simpsons change their surname to "Bufflekill" and they succeed in killing all the buffalo. Just as they are about to ] Homer, Connie returns and offers them apples. They like them, and Homer is spared. | |||
| 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. | |||
| ===Tom and Huck=== | |||
| Though it is not actually a tall tale, the hobo tells this tale based on ]'s story about ], whom ] portrays, and ], which ] has the role of. Huck is caught holding hands with Becky (Lisa) and is forced to ] her. He dodges this marriage and goes on the run with Tom, leaving ] for Missoura. However, there are chased by townspeople and their families. Tom and Huck are later caught and unceremoniously hung. | |||
| ==="Connie Appleseed"=== | |||
| The family arrives in Delaware and disembarks the train, except Homer, who has to give the hobo two more sponge baths as repayment for the tall tales the hobo told them. | |||
| The hobo's second tall tale revolves around ] as ]. Connie is part of a wagon train, and all of the travelers shoot and eat ]. 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 ] 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 ] 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"=== | |||
| ==Trivia== | |||
| The hobo's third tale tells the story of ] (]) and ] (]). 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 ] her by her father, Homer. During the ceremony, Huck switches places with a pig and goes on the run with Tom, leaving ] 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. | |||
| *The sentences in the opening scene of the episode have been eared in the last minutes of the episode ]. They were presented with other images as "preview of the last season of the Simpsons". | |||
| *This was the last episode to air before 9/11. | |||
| == |
===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 ]. | |||
| *''(This dialogue was first heard "behind the scenes" in "]".)''<br/>'''Marge:''' I can't believe it! We won another contest!<br/>'''Homer:''' The Simpsons are going to Delaware!<br/>'''Lisa:''' I want to see ]!<br/>'''Bart:''' I want to visit a screen door factory! | |||
| ==Production== | |||
| *'''Hobo:''' I'm not a stabbin' hobo, I'm a singin' hobo! (sings) ''Nothin' beats the hobo life / Stabbin' folks with my hobo knife! / I gouge them...'' | |||
| On April 4, 1999, "]" aired in the ]. The episode, which contains three self-contained segments{{#tag:ref|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 ] has referred to "Simpsons Bible Stories" as the series' first official trilogy episode.<ref name="Scully2">Scully, Mike. (2007). Commentary for "Simpsons Bible Stories", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Tenth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref>|group="nb"}} in which the Simpsons play different characters from the Bible, was written after Fox requested a Bible-themed episode that would air on Easter.<ref name="Scully2" /> ''The Simpsons''<nowiki>'</nowiki> 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.<ref name=Scully /> | |||
| {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | | |||
| |image1=Jim Carrey 2008.jpg | |||
| |alt1= | |||
| |width1=161 | |||
| |image2=Hankazaria05.jpg | |||
| |alt2= | |||
| |width2=155 | |||
| |footer=The singing hobo was originally to have been played by ] (left), but because he was busy during the recording sessions, the role was given to ] (right). | |||
| }} | |||
| "Simpsons Tall Tales" was written by ], ], ], and ]. The idea for a trilogy episode based on ] was pitched by Frink and Payne, according to co-executive producer ].<ref name="Maxtone-Graham">Maxtone-Graham, Ian. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> While the episode's introduction was written and conceived by Selman,<ref name="Selman">Selman, Matt. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> the first segment was written by Frink and Payne.<ref name="Scully" /> The second and third segments were written by Bendetson<ref name="Gammill" /> and Selman respectively.<ref name="Selman" /> | |||
| *'''Hobo:''' You know, I do 400 sit-ups a day.<br/>'''Homer:''' Oh, it shows! I was gonna say something, but I thought it might sound, you know...queer.<br/>'''Hobo:''' Oh, not at all. I like it when people say nice things about my body.<br/>'''Homer:''' And it's important to feel good about yourself. Okay, spread your toes. Ew...do you know how much glass is in between here? | |||
| 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 '']'', '']'' and '']'' on tape to "get some of the lingo" that ] 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 as we could", Selman said in the episode's DVD commentary.<ref name="Selman" /> | |||
| ===Paul Bunyan=== | |||
| *'''Moe (after feeding Homer/Paul Bunyan):''' Okay, let's get started on lunch. Hey, where's Lenny?<br/>'''Lenny (inside Homer/Paul):''' Carl? Moe? ''(camera cuts to Lenny inside Homer/Paul's stomach)'' Can anybody hear me? <br/>'''Willie:''' I think I found a way out. It's not pretty, but it'll do. | |||
| "Simpsons Tall Tales" was directed by ] 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."<ref name="Anderson" /> | |||
| *'''Frink:''' Oh God! That meteor is headed straight for us! With the fire and the impact and the 100% chance of '''''PAIN'''''! '''''Pain in the glavin!!!!''''' | |||
| 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 "]", 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.<ref name="Anderson">Anderson, Bob. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> The second segment originally had many more shots of buffalo being shot, but some were changed so that the deaths were off-camera.<ref name="Scully" /> | |||
| *'''Homer/Paul:''' Oh, I get it! When I'm crushing and killing you, you don't like me, but when I can save your lives, suddenly, I'm Mr. Popular.<br/>'''Lenny: '''Yeah, thats pretty much it.<br/>'''Homer/Paul:'''Woo-hoo! I'm Mr. Popular! | |||
| The singing hobo was voiced by regular cast member ], who voices ] and ] among other characters in the series. Originally, the part would be played by ] actor and comedian ], 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".<ref name="Scully" /> 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 ]. The dialog between Homer and the hobo at the end of the episode was ]bed by Azaria and ], who portrays Homer in the series.<ref name="Scully" /> | |||
| *'''Homer/Paul Bunyan (preparing to knock a meteor "right out of the park"):''' Come on, right across the plain, show me what ya got! This one's for the little ] boy...that I crippled. | |||
| 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 from dawn to dusk." A similar joke was later used in '']''. 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 ].<ref name="deletedscenes">Scully, Mike. (2009). Commentary for "Deleted Scenes", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> | |||
| ===Connie Appleseed=== | |||
| *'''Lisa/Connie:''' Listen to me! If you continue this slaughter, you will wipe out the buffalo.<br/>'''Dr. Hibbert:''' Wipe out an entire species? That's impossible! ''(everyone laughs, including three buffalo)'' | |||
| ==Cultural references== | |||
| *'''Lisa/Connie Appleseed (carrying several ]s):''' Papa! Look what I found! <br/>'''Homer:''' Oh boy! Buffalo ]! (starts chomping on them enthusiastically) | |||
| "Simpsons Tall Tales" has been described as a "skewed" retelling of old tales.<ref name="deseretnews">{{cite news | title=Sunday on TV | work=] | date=May 19, 2001 | author=Wall, Jim M. | page=E08}}</ref> The beginning of the episode shows the family winning a trip to Delaware. This is a reference to the end of "]", in which Homer is seen watching an episode of ''The Simpsons'' wherein the family is visiting Delaware.<ref name="intheclassroom">{{harvnb|Waltonen|Du Vernay|2010|p=303}}</ref> | |||
| *'''Lisa/Connie Appleseed :''' No, they´re apples! (Homer starts spitting them out, disgusted.) | |||
| The first segment is based on the mythological lumberjack ], who carved Babe the Blue ox out of the ].<ref name="Selman" /> The second segment shows Lisa as Connie Appleseed, a female version of the American pioneer nurseryman ] who introduced apple trees to large parts of ], ], and ]. "Tom and Huck" features Bart as Tom Sawyer and Nelson as Huckleberry Finn, both of whom are characters in ]'s 1876 novel '']''. Despite the episode's title, only the first two segments are actually tall tales. | |||
| *'''Homer:''' I haven't had ] in six hours. Marge, how about whipping up some buffalo ], ], and some fresh-squeezed ].<br/>'''Marge:''' The buffalo are gone. I think you shot them all. <br/>'''Homer:''' Oh God, Connie was right! We wiped out the entire species! What have I done?! What have I done?!<br/>'''Bart:''' Calm down, Pa. There's two left.<br/>''(two buffaloes are seen chewing the grass, they are shot)'' <br/>'''Homer:''' (putting down shotgun)'''''What have I done? What have I done?!''''' | |||
| 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 ], a fictional ]ese mutated ] introduced in the 1956 ] film '']''.<ref name="Scully" /> 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 ].<ref name="Gammill">Gammill, Tom. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> In the third segment, Dr Hibbert can be heard singing the 1927 song "]".<ref name="Selman" /> | |||
| *'''Lisa/Connie Appleseed:''' Stop, everybody! I've got apples! Delicious, nutritious apples! And, there's enough for everyone.<br/>'''Sideshow Mel (takes a bite):''' Sweet! It's like a ] in my mouth! <br/> '''Skinner:''' We're saved! <br/>'''Ned:''' It's a miracle! <br/>'''Carl:''' Hooray for Connie Bufflekill! <br/>'''Moe (emerging from inside Homer's coat with a forkload of flesh):''' What? So now we're not eating Homer? | |||
| ==Reception== | |||
| *'''Hobo:''' And thanks to that little girl, today you can find apples in everything that's good: ], apple ], apple ], apple ], uh, ] with ] in it, apple ] remover... <br/>'''Lisa:''' Don't forget ].<br/>'''Hobo:''' Yeah...I suppose you could grind some pills into it. | |||
| In order to boost ratings, two earlier broadcast episodes (including "]") were shown before the episode.<ref name="startribune">{{cite news | title=Weekend highlights | publisher=Klingensmith, Michael J. | work=] | date=May 18, 2001 | author=Holston, Noel | page=12E}}</ref> In its original American broadcast on May 20, 2001, "Simpsons Tall Tales" received a 7.6 rating, according to ], translating to approximately 7.8 million viewers. The episode finished in 33rd place in the ratings for the week of May 14-20, 2001.<ref name="dailybreeze">{{cite news | title=NBC's Thursday lineup shows it still has some punch | publisher=Lindus, Linda | work=] | date=May 23, 2001 | author=Bauder, David | page=C7}}</ref> On August 18, 2009, the episode was released as part of a ] 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.<ref name="Scully">Scully, Mike. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> | |||
| Since its home video release, "Simpsons Tall Tales" received mixed reviews from critics. | |||
| ===Tom and Huck=== | |||
| *'''Nelson/Huck:''' I'm considerable hungry. We got any food left?<br/>'''Bart/Tom:''' ''(checks his sack)'' Hmm, looks like we're out of ], ], ], fatpone, corntack... <br/>'''Nelson/Huck:''' Any tackback? <br/>'''Bart/Tom:''' Tackback? <br/>'''Nelson/Huck:''' I mean, fattack. <br/>'''Bart/Tom:''' Plumb out. | |||
| 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 ] episode "Simpsons Bible Stories", in that they both "feel a little heavy on cutesy and low on comedic inspiration."<ref name="dvdmovieguide" /> Although he found some parts of the episode amusing, he summarized it as overall being lackluster.<ref name="dvdmovieguide">{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasontwelve.shtml |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season (2000) |date=September 2, 2009 |access-date=July 29, 2011 |last=Jacobson |first=Colin |publisher=DVD Movie Guide |archive-date=November 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103131030/http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasontwelve.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
| *'''Apu:''' One jug of ], three plugs of ], and extra strength ]. That will be two cents boys. <br/>'''Bart/Tom:''' '''''Two''''' cents?!!?! <br/>'''Apu:''' If you think ''my'' prices are high, go across the street! (points to a 99 cent store selling expensive things such as pianos and chandeliers) | |||
| ]'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. | |||
| *'''Bart/Tom:''' Dang, he put the lard pone on top of the egg pone. | |||
| 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.<ref name="dvdtalk">{{cite web |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/38338/simpsons-the-complete-twelfth-season-the/ |title=The Simpsons: The Twelfth Season |date=August 30, 2009 |access-date=July 23, 2011 |last=Burchby |first=Casey |publisher=] |archive-date=November 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103174142/http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/38338/simpsons-the-complete-twelfth-season-the/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | |||
| On the other hand, ]'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".<ref name="dvdverdict">{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsons12.php |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season |date=September 9, 2009 |access-date=July 29, 2011 |last=McEntire |first=Mac |publisher=] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103131117/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsons12.php |archive-date=November 3, 2011 }}</ref> | |||
| *''(Bart/Tom and Nelson/Huck go down rapids like an amusement park ride. At a dock, photos of various people going down the ride are being sold)'' <br/>'''Man at photo stand:''' Mr. Silas, this young lady's flashing her privates. (The woman is exposing her ankles) <br/>'''Silas:''' Well, I'll dispose of this. ''(takes the photo, then tucks it into his jacket) (salaciously)'' All for Silas, all for Silas! | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| *'''Krusty:''' Well, I see ]'s in the news again. Glug, glug, glug! | |||
| {{Reflist|group="nb"}} | |||
| == |
==References== | ||
| ;Footnotes | |||
| {{Reflist|2}} | |||
| ;Bibliography | |||
| {{Refbegin}} | |||
| * {{cite book | author1-last =Waltonen | author1-first =Karma |author2-first=Denise |author2-last=Du Vernay | title =The Simpsons in the classroom: embiggening the learning experience with the wisdom of Springfield | publisher =McFarland | year =2010 | isbn =978-0-7864-4490-8 }} | |||
| {{Refend}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{Wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_12#Simpsons_Tall_Tales|"Simpsons Tall Tales"}} | |||
| {{Portal|The Simpsons}} | |||
| *{{snpp capsule|CABF17}} | *{{snpp capsule|CABF17}} | ||
| *{{ |
*{{IMDb episode|id=0766139}} | ||
| {{The Simpsons episodes|12}} | |||
| {{Paul Bunyan}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 19:34, 27 December 2024
21st episode of the 12th season of The Simpsons
| "Simpsons Tall Tales" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 12 Episode 21 | ||
| Directed by | Bob Anderson | ||
| Written by | "Paul Bunyan": John Frink Don Payne "Connie Appleseed": Bob Bendetson "Tom and Huck": Matt Selman | ||
| Production code | CABF17 | ||
| Original air date | May 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. | ||
| Commentary | Mike Scully Ian Maxtone-Graham John Frink Don Payne Matt Selman Tom Gammill Max Pross Bob Anderson Joel H. Cohen | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| 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 ("Paul Bunyan", "Connie Appleseed", and "Tom and Huck") 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.
"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 the Northern Lights. 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 in which the Simpsons play different characters from the Bible, was written after Fox requested a Bible-themed episode that would air on Easter. 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.
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. While the episode's introduction was written and conceived by Selman, the first segment was written by Frink and Payne. The second and third segments were written by Bendetson and Selman respectively.
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 as we could", Selman said in the episode's DVD commentary.
"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."
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. The second segment originally had many more shots of buffalo being shot, but some were changed so that the deaths were off-camera.
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". 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.
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 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.
Cultural references
"Simpsons Tall Tales" has been described as a "skewed" retelling of old tales. 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.
The first segment is based on the mythological lumberjack Paul Bunyan, who carved Babe the Blue ox out of the Blue Mountains. 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. 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. In the third segment, Dr Hibbert can be heard singing the 1927 song "Ol' Man River".
Reception
In order to boost ratings, two earlier broadcast episodes (including "Treehouse of Horror XI") were shown before the episode. 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. 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.
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." Although he found some parts of the episode amusing, he summarized it as overall being lackluster.
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.
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".
Notes
- 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.
References
- Footnotes
- ^ Scully, Mike. (2007). Commentary for "Simpsons Bible Stories", in The Simpsons: The Complete Tenth Season . 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Scully, Mike. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season . 20th Century Fox.
- Maxtone-Graham, Ian. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season . 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Selman, Matt. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season . 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Gammill, Tom. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season . 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Anderson, Bob. (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season . 20th Century Fox.
- Scully, Mike. (2009). Commentary for "Deleted Scenes", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season . 20th Century Fox.
- Wall, Jim M. (May 19, 2001). "Sunday on TV". Deseret News. p. E08.
- Waltonen & Du Vernay 2010, p. 303
- Holston, Noel (May 18, 2001). "Weekend highlights". Star Tribune. Klingensmith, Michael J. p. 12E.
- Bauder, David (May 23, 2001). "NBC's Thursday lineup shows it still has some punch". Daily Breeze. Lindus, Linda. p. C7.
- ^ Jacobson, Colin (September 2, 2009). "The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season (2000)". DVD Movie Guide. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
- Burchby, Casey (August 30, 2009). "The Simpsons: The Twelfth Season". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2011.
- 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
- Waltonen, Karma; Du Vernay, Denise (2010). The Simpsons in the classroom: embiggening the learning experience with the wisdom of Springfield. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4490-8.
External links
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- The Simpsons season 12 episodes
- 2001 American television episodes
- Paul Bunyan
- Television shows based on works by Mark Twain
- Missouri in fiction
- Johnny Appleseed
- Works based on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Tall tales
- Television episodes written by John Frink
- Television episodes written by Matt Selman
- Television episodes written by Don Payne (writer)
- Television episodes directed by Bob Anderson (director)