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"The Call of the Simpsons" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons' first season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 18, 1990. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wesley Archer. Albert Brooks made his first guest appearance on The Simpsons in this episode as the voice of Cowboy Bob.

In this episode, Homer decides to purchase an RV and the Simpsons set off for a vacation in the wilderness. After accidentally driving it off the edge of a cliff, the family find themselves trapped in the woods. As Homer and Bart try to find a way back to civilization, Homer gets himself covered in mud and is mistaken for Bigfoot by a naturalist. The news about the encounter spreads quickly and Bigfoot hunters converge on the woods to capture Homer. Meanwhile, Maggie finds herself separated from the family and is cared for by bears.

Plot

Jealous of Ned Flanders' new motor home, Homer visits Bob's RV Round-up to buy one. Because of his poor credit rating, he only qualifies for a smaller dilapidated RV. Homer takes his family on an excursion, driving on remote back roads. After Homer ignores Marge's suggestion to drive back to the main road, the Simpsons find themselves teetering over a precipice. They escape the RV before it plummets over the cliff and explodes, leaving them stranded in the wilderness with no food or supplies.

After Homer builds a crude lean-to shelter, he and Bart leave to find help, unaware Maggie is tagging along. Marge and Lisa stay behind and build a fire and sturdier shelter despite knowing nothing about camping. Separated from Homer and Bart, Maggie is adopted by a family of bears. Homer and Bart lose their clothes after falling into a raging river and plunging over a waterfall. They hide their exposed bodies with leaves and mud. After a frigid night's sleep, Homer tries to steal honey from a beehive. When the bees attack him, he evades them by jumping into a mud pit. Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot after a nature photographer takes a picture of him covered in mud. Soon the forest is inundated with Bigfoot enthusiasts after a tabloid offers a $5000 reward for capturing the creature alive.

After Marge and Lisa are rescued by park rangers, Marge tells the media the monster in question is her husband, leading to tabloid headlines like "I married Bigfoot". Cold, hungry, and exhausted, Homer and Bart stumble upon the bears' cave and retrieve Maggie. Homer is captured and taken to a lab for testing. He returns home after scientists agree that he is "either a below-average human being or a brilliant beast". While watching news coverage of his ordeal, Homer worries his co-workers will mock him until Marge consoles him by calling him "my brilliant beast."

Production

The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wesley Archer. A plot twist that involved Homer being carried away to an eagle nest and being raised as a baby eagle was suggested for this episode by executive producer James L. Brooks, but they ended up going with Maggie being raised by bears instead. The sequence with Marge and Lisa by the bonfire was originally longer and included a conversation between the two about boys, but it was cut from the episode. In the original script, Homer and Bart were not talking in the scene where they concealed their private parts with mud and moss, but Sam Simon thought it would be "too funny to leave as a stage direction" and they added dialogue to the scene.

Albert Brooks guest starred in the episode as the voice of Cowboy Bob. He was not sure whether he wanted to be identified with a cartoon show or not at the time, like many of the other early guest stars on The Simpsons, and was therefore credited as A. Brooks in the ending credits. The episode was a satire of the Bigfoot specials that had aired on Fox at the time it was written. A lot of resources were spent on the backgrounds, trying to make them look realistic with many observational details such as trees, rocks, fences and the way the cars were positioned. Burger King figurines were made out of the camping designs of the Simpsons family in this episode.

Reception

In its original American broadcast on February 18, 1990, "The Call of the Simpsons" finished third that day, with a Nielsen rating of 14.6 and a 22 percent audience share. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1990 in the category "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special".

IGN.com named Albert Brooks' guest performance in this episode, along with his four other appearances on The Simpsons, the best guest appearance in the show's history.

"The Call of the Simpsons" received mixed reviews from critics.

Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, both criticized and praised the episode saying: "This episode is a bit less than the sum of its parts. The early stuff at the RV Round-Up is much better than the main camping story, although there's some nice Marge-Lisa bonding, and who could resist Maggie and the bears?"

In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck rated the episode a 1+1⁄2 (of 5), adding "the surrealism of Homer as bigfoot is a major misstep. This type of gag would be very different today, if done at all."

Jon Bonné at MSNBC called the episode "a perfect example of the first season's bizarre and fruitful balance between edgy humor and softly-drawn neuroses" and said "it was this combination that made Groening's shorts for the Ullman show so compelling, and ultimately what made it possible for The Simpsons to break the molds of network television".

Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that "while doesn't offer the continuous highs of the best Simpsons, it's a generally solid show" and added that "the episode uses a wackier tone than usual for this era, but it works, and the program is consistently fun".

References

1. ^ Call of the Simpsons BBC.co.uk. Retrieved on August 6, 2008
2. ^ "The Call of the Simpsons" The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on August 6, 2008
3. Groening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia (eds.). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN 98141857. OCLC 37796735. OL 433519M..
4. ^ Goldman, Eric; Iverson, Dan; Zoromski, Brian. "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances". IGN. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
5. ^ Jean, Al (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Call of the Simpsons" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
6. ^ Archer, Wes (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Call of the Simpsons" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
7. ^ Reiss, Mike (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Call of the Simpsons" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
8. "Simpsons Ratings". rec.arts.tv. January 21, 1991. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
9. Emmy Awards official site Archived 2009-04-03 at the Wayback Machine emmys.org. Retrieved on August 8, 2008
10. Grelck, David B. (2001-09-25). "The Complete First Season". WDBGProductions. Archived from the original on 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
11. Bonné, Jon (2000-10-02). "'The Simpsons' has lost its cool". Today.com. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
12. Jacobson, Colin. "The Simpsons: The Complete First Season (1990)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved 2008-08-29.

External links

• "The Call of the Simpsons" at The Simpsons.com
• "The Call of the Simpsons episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
• "The Call of the Simpsons" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode

• The Simpsons (season 1) episodes
• 1990 American television episodes
• Television programs written by John Swartzwelder
• Television about Bigfoot