Difference between revisions of "Season 7"

Continued from "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)", the finale episode of Season 6.

After being shot, Mr. Burns is in the hospital in a coma. A hung-over Smithers notices that his own gun has been recently fired, and has a hazy memory of having shot someone. Convinced that he shot Burns, Smithers goes to a downtown cathedral and confesses to the crime. In the other side of the confessional booth, however, is Chief Wiggum, who arrests Smithers and takes him to the police station for interrogation. Afterwards, Smithers is mobbed by reporters. Asked how he feels, Smithers replies, "As low as Madonna when she found out she missed Tailhook."

Sideshow Mel, watching the news, realizes that the Madonna quote was from a comedy show that was airing at the same time as Burns was shot; therefore, Smithers must have seen the show and couldn't have shot Burns. Mel goes to the police with the information, and when they re-interview Smithers, his memory is clearer and he remembers that he left the meeting early so he could see the show, and while he did shoot someone on his drunken way home, it wasn't Burns. Smithers is then cleared as a suspect and let go. (The man Smithers shot turns out to be Jasper Beardly, who was unharmed because Smithers hit him in his wooden leg.)

The police are temporarily stumped, but Lisa visits the station and gives them a list of suspects. Based on her information, the police investigate Tito Puente, Principal Skinner, Groundskeeper Willie and Moe Syszlak and clear all four of them. Again out of suspects, Wiggum drinks some warm cream and has a bizarre dream where Lisa appears to him and tells him to look at the suit Burns was wearing when he was shot. Wiggum does so and finds an eyelash, which DNA analysis reveals to have come from a member of the Simpson family. Burns, meanwhile, wakes from his coma and immediately says, "Homer Simpson!" The police then search the Simpson home, and in Homer's car they find Burns' gun with Homer's fingerprints on it. The police arrest Homer, but Homer escapes when Wiggum wrecks the paddy wagon.

At the hospital, Dr. Nick discovers that Burns can only say "Homer Simpson"; at the police station, Smithers announces a $50,000 reward for Homer's capture. Homer goes to Burns' hospital room to confront him; Lisa puts a couple of clues together and realizes who shot Burns. Everyone converges on the hospital room just as Homer starts strangling Burns. The rough treatment brings Burns fully back to himself, and he reveals who shot him: Maggie Simpson.

Burns recounts what happened: He saw Maggie in Homer's car and decided to steal her lollipop. In the struggle, his gun fell out of his chest holster, landed in Maggie's hands, and went off, shooting Burns. The gun and lollipop fell on the floor and ended up under the seat, and Homer's fingerprints got onto the gun while he was rummaging under the seat. Marge says that Maggie would apologize if she could talk, but Burns insists that the police arrest her. Wiggum refuses and Marge says Maggie didn't mean it, but the camera ominously zooms in on Maggie's pacifier as the scene fades out.

Special Guest Voices: Tito Puente and his Latin Jazz Ensemble as themselves.

A movie about comic book character Radioactive Man is being filmed in Springfield, and there's a casting call for the part of the hero's sidekick, Fallout Boy. Bart auditions and does very well, but is rejected for being too short. To Bart's chagrin, Milhouse wins the role and all the perks that go with it—including Lionel Hutz's services as his agent. Bart, focused on the glamour of being an actor, is jealous, but Milhouse becomes burned out with the drudgery and repetition of making a movie. Milhouse's dissatisfaction culminates in his running away from the set, resulting in an elaborate and expensive shot being ruined. Bart and former child star Mickey Rooney both find Milhouse and try to persuade him to return, but to no avail. The movie's production company leaves town, having been driven into bankruptcy by price gouging and unscrupulous taxes. Things in Springfield return to normal, and the production company returns to Hollywood, "where people treat each other right."

Special Guest Voices: Mickey Rooney as himself; Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz.

Due to a series of misunderstandings, the Simpson children are removed from their home by the county child welfare agency and placed into foster care with the Flanders family. Marge and Homer go to court to try to get the kids back, but the judge tells them they must take a "Family Skills" class before the kids can come home. They comply, but they miss the kids. They aren't even able to call to check on them, as a telephone recording says they have been blocked from calling the Flanders house. Bart and Lisa, meanwhile, are bewildered by the Flanderses' household customs. During a game of "Bible Question Bombardment", in which Bart and Lisa do very poorly, it comes out that the Simpson children have never been baptized. Ned, aghast, decides to remedy the situation and takes the kids to the Springfield River to baptize them himself. Just then, Homer and Marge graduate from their class and go to the Flanders house to pick up the kids. When they see Ned's "Gone Baptizin'" sign, Homer figures out where they've gone, and they arrive at the river just in time to stop the baptism. Now reunited, the five Simpsons hug and go home.

Special Guest Voice: Joan Kenley as the telephone operator.

Bart pulls a prank on the entire church, for which he and Milhouse are punished (Milhouse for snitching). Bart asks Milhouse why he snitched, and Milhouse says he was afraid for his soul. This prompts Bart to pooh-pooh the existence of souls, and he agrees to sell his soul (represented by a piece of paper) to Milhouse for five dollars. Bart at first thinks he's conned Milhouse, but comes to have doubts when he notices changes like the family pets not recognizing him and automatic doors not opening for him. Bart tries to buy his soul back, but Milhouse raises the price to $50, which Bart can't afford. Milhouse eventually trades the soul to Comic Book Guy for pogs. Comic Book Guy in turn sells it, and won't tell Bart to whom. Bart despairs for his soul, when the soul-paper lands in front of him: Lisa bought the soul to give it back to him. A grateful Bart devours the paper to keep from losing his soul again, and that night sleeps peacefully. Meanwhile, Moe attempts to expand his business by making over his bar into a family-friendly restaurant and his usual gruff attitude into that of nice guy "Uncle Moe". The venture fails when he proves unable to handle the stress of running a restaurant and his customary surly demeanor emerges, driving away all of his new customers.

After the Simpsons visit a petting zoo and meet some very cute lambs, Lisa finds herself unable to eat lamb or any sort of meat. Her new stance brings her ridicule and resentment, both at home and at school. The school even shows an "educational" Troy McClure film called Meat and You: Partners in Freedom, which is actually a blatantly propagandistic pro-meat/anti-vegetarian pitch. Homer, meanwhile, hosts a barbecue with a roasted pig as the pièce de résistance. Lisa bursts onto the scene and tells the guests they don't have to eat meat, as she has made enough gazpacho for everyone. The guests laugh at Lisa's announcement, and she goes to her bedroom to sulk. When a hamburger patty carelessly flipped by Homer hits her in the face, she gets angry and steals the pig. The theft provokes an angry confrontation between Lisa and Homer, which results in Lisa running away from home. She decides the pressure to conform is too great, goes to the Kwik-E-Mart and has a bite of a hot dog. Apu informs her it is actually a tofu dog and takes her to meet his friends and fellow vegetarians Paul and Linda McCartney, who are visiting Apu's rooftop garden. After receiving encouragement in her vegetarianism and a lesson in tolerance for other people's beliefs, Lisa apologizes to Homer for ruining the barbecue, and he forgives her and gives her a "veggieback ride".

Special Guest Voices: Phil Hartman as Troy McClure; Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney as themselves.

Opening Sequence: Krusty is the Headless Horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He rides down a road holding his laughing head, then hurls it at the camera, which makes the episode title appear on screen written in blood.

Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores: Disappointed with the size of the "Colossal Donut" at Lard Lad Donuts, Homer takes revenge by stealing the giant metal donut from the store's advertising mascot. Immediately after that, a freak lightning storm brings Lard Lad and all the other advertising mascots in Springfield to life. Lard Lad stops in the Simpsons' neighborhood to get his donut back, then joins the other mascots in a rampage all over town, killing people and destroying buildings. Lisa notices that the mascots came from an ad agency, and asks the agency's executive for help. The exec says that advertising goes away when people quit looking at it. What they need, he says, is a catchy jingle to distract people from the mascots/monsters, and Paul Anka is the best man to write one. Lisa and Anka write and perform a jingle, and it works: People quit looking at the monsters, and the monsters collapse and die. Homer, however, needs extra persuasion to make him stop looking at Lard Lad.

Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace: Bart has a nightmare where Groundskeeper Willie attacks him with a rake, then is shocked when he wakes up and finds scratches on his stomach. Bart asks around at school, and learns that many other students have had similar dreams. When Martin dies in class (after finishing a quiz early, taking a nap, waking up screaming, and collapsing), Bart and Lisa tell Marge about it. Marge reveals that Willie was burned to death in an accident caused by the students' parents' negligence, and before he died, vowed to take his revenge on the children in their dreams. Bart decides to go on the attack and fight Willie in a dream, and asks Lisa to wake him up if he seems to be in trouble. Bart finds Willie transformed into a tractor, fights him, and seems to have killed him, but Willie transforms into a giant bagpipe spider and grabs both Bart and Lisa (who had fallen asleep). Maggie appears and saves the day by blocking the bagpipe's vent with her pacifier, which makes Willie swell up and explode. The next day, everything seems normal, but Lisa wonders whether Willie could reappear. Willie does indeed show up (getting off of a bus), but as a seemingly harmless and bumbling version of his former self as he makes faces at the Simpson children and then asks them to wait because he left his gun on the bus.

Homer³: Patty and Selma come over for a visit. Homer, trying to avoid them and looking for a hiding place, goes through a mysterious doorway behind a bookshelf and finds himself in a world where everything is in three dimensions. Homer is bewildered by his new surroundings, but explores the place while he calls for help. Back in the house, Marge hears Homer and calls several family friends over to help get Homer back, but no one has any ideas, although Professor Frink correctly concludes that Homer is trapped in the third dimension. Homer, meanwhile, is stabbed in the butt by a bouncing cone and angrily hurls it away. The cone lands point-first, creating a hole in the ground which quickly turns into a wormhole large enough to swallow everything. Now desperate, Homer again cries for help and this time Bart responds, jumping into the third dimension with a rope tied around his waist. Bart is impressed with the 3-D world, but quickly gets back to business and tells Homer to jump across the wormhole so Bart can grab him and get him out. Homer makes the attempt, but comes up short and falls into the wormhole. Bart is pulled back into the house just as the 3-D world collapses. Homer, meanwhile, goes through the wormhole to someplace even scarier: the real world. Homer at first walks around whimpering as people stare at him, but quickly calms down when he sees a store selling erotic cakes and goes inside.

Special Guest Voice: Paul Anka as himself.

Homer tries everything to get out of the plant's new exercise program and discovers that being on disability would do just that. With Bart's help, Homer starts eating everything he can, even playdough.

To get out of cleaning a part as community service, Homer fakes his own death. When this results in the family's utilities being cut off, Marge puts pressure on him to reveal that he is alive. However, the spurious news of his "death" brings his long-lost mother - a hippie who is on the run from the law because of her activism against Mr. Burns - back to Springfield.

Sideshow Bob slips away from prison detail, steals an atomic bomb and threatens to detonate it unless the town of Springfield gives up television.

(David Silverman)

(Jon Vitti)

Troy McClure hosts this behind the scenes style show. We start with a brief history, showing some classic Tracey Ullman clips, and then Troy goes on to answer viewers' questions about Smithers sexuality and Homer's stupidity. We then see never-before-seen deleted scenes from various episodes up to this point, and we are shown an alternate ending to 'Who Shot Mr Burns?' where Smithers actually is the culprit.

Bart is caught attempting to shoplift a video game. He tries to keep his failed "four-finger discount" trip a secret from Homer and Marge, and initially succeeds. But unfortunately, Marge finds out when the family returns to the same store to have the family Christmas photo taken.

Homer convinces a light-headed Mr. Burns to give him $500 to register his bowling team in a league, but when Mr. Burns finds out what he has done he demands a spot on the team. Meanwhile, Bart influences a riot at school and as a result, everyone is forced to wear uniforms.

 Homer's jealousy at all the attention his new neighbors, George and Barbara Bush, receive turns to rage when the former President gives Bart a spanking.

Marge gets an expensive "new" dress at the outlet mall. While wearing it she meets a former schoolmate who invites her and the family to the country club. Marge becomes obsessed with trying to fit in. Homer takes up golf at the club and Mr. Burns challenges him to a game. After Homer catches him cheating, Mr. Burns agrees to help Homer's family become members of the country club if he doesn't tell anyone.

When Bart accidentally finks on him to the IRS, Krusty the Clown decides to go for that last plane ride.

As Springfield's bicentennial celebration approaches, Lisa discovers the real truth behind town founder, Jebediah Springfield and finds herself at odds with a protective museum curator who wants to keep Jebediah's unattractive past a secret. Meanwhile, Homer becomes obsessed with being the official town crier for the bicentennial celebration.

Smithers takes a much needed vacation and to insure his position at the nuclear plant, he hires Homer as his temporally replacement.

With the help of Lionel Hutz, Bart unwittingly bankrupts the studio that produces Itchy & Scratchy when he and Hutz successfully prove the idea for Itchy was stolen some 70–80 years ago.

Troy McClure's sagging film career is given a boost when he is seen in public with a woman. And to stay in the public eye, Troy must do more than merely date this woman, who happens to be Selma.

With fake drivers ID in hand, have Bart will travel. In this case, Nelson, Martin and Milhouse come along for the ride when Bart hits the wide open road. Meanwhile, Lisa spends some quality time with Homer at the power plant.

149 - 21

Jonathan Collier, Greg Daniels, Brent Forrester Rachel Pulido, Steve Tompkins, Josh Weinstein & Matt Groening

It is about the untold stories of many people of Springfield, focusing mainly on recurring characters. This is one of several episodes which are considered anthology episodes that features mini-stories.

Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia

Buried World War II treasure is the prize in a tontine, in which Grandpa Simpson and Mr. Burns are the last two surviving members. But Burns is determined that he'll be the one who collects the prize.

When a bear wanders down Evergreen Terrace, Quimby proposes tax rises to fund a new bear patrol. To distract people, he blames the taxes on illegal immigrants, and calls for the deportation of all illegal immigrants from Springfield. Apu realizes that he will have to be deported, as his visa is expired, and gets a fake ID off Fat Tony. Lisa realises that he can apply for amnesty, he takes a test and is allowed to stay in the country.

After Bart and Lisa inform Homer that his taste in music has become old, he decides to get into the current music scene and takes the kids to a music festival, Lalapalooza, where he accidentally discovers he has a talent for taking a canon ball to the gut. Soon Homer finds himself traveling with the festival and putting his health in danger as he continues performing his amazing feat for cheering crowds.

In the hopes of making friends on the latest family vacation trip, Lisa packs an empty suitcase, determined to leave her 'nerdy' self behind.

• 25 episodes
• 4-disc set
• 1.33:1 aspect ratio
• Languages:
  • English (Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles)^[1]
  • Spanish (Dolby Digital, with subtitles)^[1]
  • French (Dolby Digital)^[1]
  • Special Language Feature for "22 Short Films About Springfield" (Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, German)

• Optional commentaries for all 25 episodes
• Introduction from Matt Groening
• Deleted/Extended Scenes with optional commentary
• Special "3D Homer" featurette
• Paul McCartney's Lentil Soup recipe
• Animatic/StoryBoards for;
  • "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily"
  • "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish"
• Illustrated commentary for "The Day the Violence Died" and "Summer of 4 Ft. 2"
• Sketch Gallery

December 21, 2004