So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show

So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show
                                                           Written by Jon Vitti
                                                       Directed by Carlos Baeza

TV Guide Synopsis

Bart's April Fool prank sends Homer to the hospital, where incidents
from his past explain his present physical state, and prompt family
reminiscences after he goes into a coma.  Voices: Julia Kavner, Dan
Castellaneta.

Title sequence

Blackboard

    {No one is interested in my / underpants.}
    {No one is intereste} at cutoff.

Lisa's solo

    Traditional.

Driveway

        Homer yells, ``D'oh!'' when Lisa scoots past.
        Homer yells, ``Waugh!'' when the car closes in on him.

Couch

        The family members' heads are on the wrong bodies.

Quotes and scene summary

   

 Bart wakes up and finds himself blind.  April Fool!  Homer put duct
 tape over his eyes.

 Bart goes to the fridge and drinks milk out of the carton.  Then
 spits it out.  April Fool!  ``I've been keeping that carton of milk
 next to the furnace for six weeks!''  Bart vows revenge.

 Lisa explains that April Fool's Day dates back to the pagans.
   
   God bless those pagans...
   -- Homer, ``So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show''
   
 The pagan Simpsons family chant ``Blood for Ba'al!'' as they dance
 around a celebratory fire on 1 April 1022.  The Flanders family
 present them what is ostensibly a jar of ram's blood for their
 godless ceremony.  But it's filled with rubber snakes!

 The Flanders are tied to a stake in the middle of the celebratory
 fire, as the Simpsons family chant, ``Now who's laughing!  Now who's
 laughing!''

 Thus ends Homer's explanation of the origin of April Fool's Day.

 At the Frying Dutchman, the staff put charcoal around the eyepiece
 of Captain McAlister's telescope.  In response, Captain McAlister
 instructs, ``From this day, I be requiring hairnets.''

 Bart spies on Homer fetching a can of that wonderful Duff out of the
 fridge, wondering what he could do to get back at his father...
 Meanwhile, Homer admires the can.  ``Ah, my one weakness.  My
 Achilles heel.''  Ah-ha!  But how to exploit it?  Homer drops the
 can, picks it up, and opens it.  ``It's a good thing that beer
 wasn't shaken up any more, or I'd have looked quite the fool.''

 Bart uses a paint shaker at Springfield Hardware to shake up a can
 of Duff.

 Bart takes the still-jiggling can of beer and carefully places it in
 the fridge.  Homer sits on the couch wolfing down pretzels while
 watching Bumblebee Man on television.  Homer muses to himself, ``So
 thirsty...  Eh, whaddya gonna do.''  Frustrated, Bart cranks the
 thermostat into the red zone.  The goldfish bowl boils, vinyl
 records melt, but Homer is unaffected.
   
   TV:    The following is a public service announcement.
          Excessive alcohol consumption can cause liver damage
          and cancer of the rectum.
   Homer: Mmmmm... beer...
   -- Homer, ``So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show''
   
  He goes to the fridge, removes the can, and opens it.  Bart emerges
 from his hiding place and announces, ``April F---!''  Before he can
 finish his sentence, the roof of the house explodes.
   
   Eddie: That sounded like an explosion at the old Simpson place.
   Wiggum: Forget it.  That's two blocks away.
   -- ``So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show''
   
   Eddie:  Looks like there's beer coming out of the chimney!
   Wiggum: [gets out of the car] I am proceeding on foot.  Call in a Code 8.
   Eddie:  [into radio]  We need pretzels.  Repeat, pretzels.
   -- ``So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show''
   
 [End of Act One.  Time: 3:58]

 At Springfield Hospital, Dr. Hibbert relates the bad news.  ``Mrs.
 Simpson, I'm afraid your husband is dead.''  Ha ha, April Fool's.
 He's not dead.  Though he may not walk again.

 Marge visits a wheelchair-bound Homer.  The vet from [8[FG]17] indicates
 the numerous blows to the head evident on Homer's x-rays.

 Clips:  Bart throws a baseball at Homer. [7[FG]11]
 Homer is hit by a pitch. [8[FG]13]
 Homer is hit on the head by a circular saw. [8[FG]06]
 Homer falls asleep in the Kwik-E-Mart doors. [8[FG]06]
 Maggie whaps Homer on the head. [7[FG]09]

 And Homer's brain waves are disturbingly erratic.

 Clips:  Electro-shock therapy. [7[FG]04]
 Homer's skateboarding injuries. [7[FG]06]

 Marge recognizes the vet.

 Clips:  A visit to the vet. [8[FG]17]

 Dr. Hibbert is shocked that the doctor is a vet.  The vet adds,
 ``And for an extra $20, I'll give Homer a tick bath, and then spay
 him.''  Bart holds out a wad of bills.  When Marge objects, Bart
 explains, ``Shop around.  You can't beat that price.''

 Homer is in his hospital bed, surrounded by his loving family.

 Clips:  Lost in the forest. [7[FG]09]
 The arrival of the flying saucers. [7[FG]04]
 Oh Say, Can You See? [7[FG]09]

 Marge asks Bart what that last clip had to do with anything.
   
   It was an amusing episode.  ... Of our lives.
   -- Bart, ``So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show''
   
 Barney and Moe pay a visit, but Barney is unable to cope.

 Homer is worried that, if confined to a wheelchair, he will be
 unable to continue his life's work.  Marge recalls the strength of
 their marriage.

 Clips:  Marge pays a visit to the plant. [7[FG]11]

 That evening, two therapists try to get Homer to stand up from his
 wheelchair, but Homer cannot.  They leave, resigned to failure.
 Homer spots a candy machine at the end of the hall.
   
   Mmm... Chocolate...
   -- Homer, ``So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show''
   
 Clips:  The Land of Chocolate. [8[FG]09]

 In a trance, Homer rises from his wheelchair and walks to the candy
 machine.  In go the coins.  The spiral turns.  But the candy bar
 does not fall.  Furious, he jostles the machine, which falls on him.
 The candy bars fall into his mouth.  After the cut to black, we hear
 a painful swallow, followed by a relieved, ``Oh, yeah...''

 [End of Act Two.  Time: 13:16]

 Grampa stands vigil over Homer's bed.
   
   Marge:  Please, Grampa, he's in a coma.
   Grampa: Coma!?  Pfffft.  Why, I go in and out of comas all the...
           [falls asleep]
           [wakes up]  French toast, please.
   -- ``So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show''
   
 When asked what a coma is like, Grampa explains, ``It's like one of
 those TV shows where the show a bunch of clips from old episodes.''
 Bart muses, ``I wonder what he's thinking now...''

 Clip:  Slumberland.  (With the enhanced soundtrack.)  [8[FG]06]

 Burns storms in, furious that Homer is costing him $5000 a day.  ``I
 demand he die with dignity.''  He pulls the plug.  Dr. Hibbert plugs
 it back in.  Burns demands a second opinion, and in pops Dr. Nick
 Riviera.  Nick says Homer is dead.  Burns explains his
 cold-hearted-ness: ``You have no idea, what that man has put me
 through.''

 Clip:  Homer asks for money from Burns. [8[FG]17]

 Dr. John Frink suggests a Fantastic Voyage into Homer's body,
 holding a miniature submarine.

 Lisa stands vigil by Homer's bedside.

 Clip:  Lisa plays the sax for Homer.  [7[FG]11]

 Lisa plays the sax once again for her father.

 Bart apologizes to an unconscious Homer.  ``I know I'm not the
 perfect kid.''

 Clip:  Indiana Bart. [8[FG]22]

 ``And sometimes I got you mad...''

 Clips:  32 ``D'oh''s. [various]

 ``And sometimes I get into trouble...''

 Clip:  Lisa eats pistachio ice cream. [7[FG]05]

 ``But you've always looked out for me...''

 Clip:  Homer checks on the boys. [7[FG]21]

 ``And no matter what happens, I'll never forget the advice you gave me...''

 Clip:  Shaving lessons.  [7[FG]11]

 Bart is in tears.  ``Dad, it's all my fault.  I shook up that can of beer.''

 They say that people in comas can still hear you talk, and this proves
 true in cartoon-land as well.  Homer gradually comes to life and
 strangles Bart.  Marge and the girls celebrate, as Homer, now fully
 recovered, strangles Bart with both hands.

 Homer is released and joins his family in the hospital lobby.
 ``This calls for a celebration.  We're all going to Hawaii!''  April
 Fool's!  But the family tell him that it's mid-May; he was in a coma
 for seven weeks.  After a pause, all burst out laughing.  Marge
 adds, ``You lost five percent of your brain!''  Homer asks, ``Me
 lose brain?  Uh-oh!''  More laughter.  (Homer asks, ``Why I
 laugh?'')

 [End of Act Three.  Time: 20:45]
   

Voice Credits

Starring

    Dan Castellaneta        (Homer, Grampa)
    Julie Kavner            (Marge)
    Nancy Cartwright        (Bart, Rod)
    Yeardley Smith          (Lisa)
    Hank Azaria             (Chief Wiggum, Dr. Nick Riviera, Dr. John Frink)
    \:    and
    Harry Shearer           (Burns, Dr. Hibbert, Ned Flanders)

Also Starring

    Maggie Roswell          (Maude Flanders)

Reviews

Yours truly @{rjc}: Although the concept was carried off about as well
as one could expect, it was essentially a one-joke episode, and I'm
not entirely convinced that the one joke deserved to be told.  (``Get
a Life'' does much better at the self-spoofing genre.)  And the movie
reference was gratuitous.  I have the feeling that this episode was
written on a dare.

Didja notice...

    ... Lisa wasn't part of the pagan dancing?

Movie (and other) References

    + One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
        - Barney's bizarre reaction (muffling Homer with a pillow,
          heaving a water fountain through the window, and running off
	  into the distance).

Freeze Frame fun

Homer's D'oh's

    * In the doorway with the rest of the family. [?]
    * De-crane-ing Bart. [7[FG]08]
    * 'Fraid so infinity plus one! [7[FG]08]
    * Driving Lisa to the doctor's. [8[FG]07]
    * Shoving a turn dollar bill into the vending machine. [8[FG]09]
    * Aren't <you> the safety inspector? [8[FG]09]
    * Here you go.  Enjoy. [8[FG]11]
    * ?
    * ?
    * Everybody stick together.  We don't want to get separ... [7[FG]18]
    * [phone call at Moe's]
    * Losing the lottery. [8[FG]24]
    * ?
    * De-crane-ing Bart. [7[FG]08]
    * 'Fraid so infinity plus one! [7[FG]08]
    * Losing the lottery. [8[FG]24]
    * Shoving a turn dollar bill into the vending machine. [8[FG]09]
    * Aren't <you> the safety inspector? [8[FG]09]
    * Here you go.  Enjoy. [8[FG]11]
    * ?
    * Don't be the boy... Don't be the boy... [8[FG]24]
    * Mowing the lawn. [8[FG]24]
    * Report to Mr. Burns' office immediately. [?]
    * ``Well, all right.  If you'll listen to the poem I just wrote.'' [7[FG]24]
    * Searching for a parking spot. [8[FG]19]
    * Dramatic camera angle in Bart's room? [?]
    * With Maggie in his lap. [?]
    * Opening the car door. [7[FG]21]
    * [phone call at Moe's]
    * ?
    * ?

Boring distribution restrictions

Blah blah.