" The Springfield Files " is the tenth episode of the eighth season The Simpsons '. It was originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 12, 1997. In the episode, Homer believed he had found an alien in Springfield. It was written by Reid Harrison and directed by Steven Dean Moore. Guest star Leonard Nimoy like himself and David Duchovny and guest star Gillian Anderson as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully agents, their characters at The X-Files. This episode serves as a crossover with The X-Files and displays many references to the series. The story comes from former showrunners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who re-produced this episode when under contract with The Walt Disney Company. It received most of the positive reviews from critics; Jean and Reiss won the Annie Award to produce it.
Video The Springfield Files
Plot
In the framing story, Leonard Nimoy hosted the alien encounter, and started the episode by talking about the "encounter" that took place in Springfield. On Friday, Homer tells Lenny and Carl that they should sneak out of work early and start drinking beer. Homer puts on their old recordings working into security cameras. That night at Moe, after drinking more than 10 beers, Homer who was drunk was forced to walk home after Moe refused to allow Homer to drive, but took the wrong road and ended up in the woods. In the open, he meets a sparkling, thin-boned alien. Although the aliens told him, "Do not be afraid," Homer panicked and ran home while shouting.
Other family members did not believe Homer's story and his attempt to report alien sightings to the police were dismissed by Wiggum's Chief. Agent Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from the FBI heard the vision and went to investigate. After receiving no results from their psychological tests, Homer failed to provide proof that he actually saw the aliens. Homer is laughed at by most environments; Even Marge refuses to believe in his claim, but Bart admits that he believes Homer. The following Friday night, the couple camped in the forest. The aliens arrive and promise peace, but Homer is afraid when he accidentally steps on their fire and screams in pain. Fortunately, Bart caught the whole incident on the tape.
Nimoy says good night to the viewers. He was then reminded that the show still had ten minutes left by Squeaky-Voiced Teen, where he ran to his car and left. The Squeaky-Voiced Teen takes over the narrative task.
After successfully capturing the existence of aliens, Homer and Bart present it to the media. Everyone in town finally believes Homer, even knocking on his door and asking Homer questions. During a church lecture, Rev. Lovejoy spoke emotionally about the character of E.T. Meanwhile, Lisa states that there must be a logical explanation for the aliens. Friday comes again and everyone goes to the forest. The aliens appeared, promising love, but the townspeople began to riot, and charge on the aliens. Lisa and Waylon Smithers stopped them just in time, pointing out that "aliens" are actually Mr. Burns. Smithers explains that Burns receives long-term care once a week to deceive death; this confuses him, and gives him a soft, high-pitched voice as a result of friction of the vocal cords. Back to his normal self, Burns revealed that his green light was caused by years of work at his nuclear plant. After threatening to bring "fear, starvation [and] plague" instead of peace and love to the people of Springfield, he was given another booster shot from Dr. Nick. Returning to her "foreign" self, she started singing "Good Morning Starshine", with the whole crowd joining.
The Squeaky-Voiced Teen closes the episode with a failed attempt to tell viewers to watch the sky.
Maps The Springfield Files
Production
This episode was produced by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who has served as showrunners for season three and four. They returned to the show to produce this and several other episodes when under contract with The Walt Disney Company. This episode was written by Reid Harrison and directed by Steven Dean Moore. It's one of the longest gaps between conceptions and its completion time. This idea was first conceived in a story retreat. Jean found a copy of TV Guide while in the bathroom, with The X-Files on the cover. Feeling crossover would be a good idea, he went back to his room, told Reiss his idea, and the couple put it up. None of the other staff wanted to do it, so Reiss and Jean decided to do it themselves. Before the episode was produced, the script was sent to Chris Carter, the creator of The X-Files, who said it was an "honor" to be insinuated by The Simpsons . Jean worried that the episode was not funny, because on the reading table there were only a few writers present and thus, the script did not laugh at all. It took a long time to find the end, and an explanation for the aliens. Initially, it will only be left as a mystery. The Mulder and Scully offices are designed to be exactly the same as those used in The X-Files . Once done, Fox sends episodes for critical reviews, which are "really great". The scene with "Homer is an anesthetic" T-shirt originally had an additional line: "I told you, we're sold out!", Thus filling the plot error in the actual episode where Homer asked for some T-shirts, though only told that they were sold out. The scene after Homer's first encounter with aliens, where he walks through the writing field "Yahhh!" on the grass, written by David M. Stern, and added after the original reading.
Cultural reference
- The Leonard Nimoy segment is a delivery of the paranormal documentary series In Search Of... , which is hosted by Nimoy.
- In addition to the appearance of Mulder and Scully, this episode shows some other references to The X-Files .
- The FBI badge Mulder has a picture of himself using only speedo on it; this is a reference to the scene in the episode of The X-Files "Duane Barry" in which David Duchovny is only wearing a speedo.
- In a scene where Scully gave Homer a lie test, The Smoking Man is in the background.
- Budweiser Frog appeared in the swamp, shouting their name, "Bud... Weis... Er." They are then eaten by a crocodile snarling "Coors!".
- Homer's suggestion that he and Bart forged an alien encounter and sold it to the Fox network was an allusion to the Alien Autopsy hoax.
- When Homer recounts his experiences to Chief Wiggum, he recalls the aliens having a sweet, heavenly voice and appearing every Friday night "like Urkel", from the ABC/CBS sitcom The Matters Family .
There are also many movie references. Marvin the Martian, Gort, Chewbacca, ALF, and one of Kang and Kodos siblings became members of the FBI.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "The Springfield Files" ranked 26th in the rankings for the week of 6-12 January 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 11.7, equivalent to about 11.3 million household viewers. It was the third highest event on the Fox network that week, following the The X-Files and the inaugural series King of the Hill .
Al Jean and Mike Reiss won the Annie Award for Best Individual Achievement: Producing in TV Production for their work on the episode. The authors of this book Can I Believe It Is The Larger and Better Renewable Official Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, said it was "a very clever episode, with a line-up one of the best visual jokes in ages ". IGN performance ratings of Leonard Nimoy in this episode, and "Marge vs. Monorail", as the 11th best guest appearance in show history. Nathan Ditum put Duchovny and Anderson's appearance as the fourth best guest appearance in the event's history. Skeptical Inquirer reviewed the episode positively, stating that "It is rare that the major online networking television that was popular at that time turned into a" slam dunk "for skeptics." Critics Chris Knight speculates that if The X-Files is one day forgotten, those who see this episode will probably still appreciate the scene with ALF, Chewbacca, and Marvin the Martian.
References
External links
- "The Springfield Files" at The Simpsons.com
- "The Springfield Files episode capsule". Simpsons Archive .
- "The Springfield Files" on TV.com
- "The Springfield Files" in IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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