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Difference between revisions of "Simpson Safari"

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{{Quote|The Simpsons are going to Africa!|Homer Simpson}}
|image=Sunset at Tanzania.jpg
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{{Episode
|productionCode=CABF13
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|image=Sunset at Tanzania.png
|originalAirdate=April 1, 2001
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|number=265
|blackboardText="I will not flush evidence"
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|season=12
|couchGag=[[Circus Line couch gag]]
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|snumber=17
|specialGuestVoices=
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|prodcode=CABF13
|Episode Number=265
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|airdate=April 1, [[2001]]
|Written By=[[John Swartzwelder]]
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|blackboard="I will not flush evidence"
|Directed By=[[Mark Kirkland]]
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|couchgag=[[Circus Line couch gag]]
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|showrunner1= Mike Scully
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|writer=[[John Swartzwelder]]
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|director=[[Mark Kirkland]]
 
|DVD features=yes
 
|DVD features=yes
 
}}
 
}}
  
"'''Simpson Safari'''" is the seventeenth episode of [[season 12]]. It originally aired on April 1, 2001. [[John Swartzwelder]] wrote the episode and [[Mark Kirkland]] directed.
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"'''Simpson Safari'''" is the seventeenth episode of [[season 12]] of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and the two-hundred and sixty-fifth episode overall. It originally aired on April 1, [[2001]]. The episode was written by [[John Swartzwelder]] and directed by [[Mark Kirkland]].
  
 
== Synopsis ==
 
== Synopsis ==
In a frantic search for food [[Homer]] finds a box of thirty-year-old animal crackers, which contains a gold giraffe - which means he has just won an African safari.
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[[File:Promotional Card CABF13.png|thumb|left|Promotional image for the episode]]
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{{Desc|In a frantic search for food [[Homer]] finds a box of thirty-year-old animal crackers, which contains a gold giraffe - which means he has just won an African safari.}}
  
 
== Plot ==
 
== Plot ==
When [[Maggie Simpson|Maggie]] eats a magazine, [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] demands that [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] go to the grocery store to pick up some food. While there, Homer (and all the other shoppers) offends the bag boy, causing all the bag boys in [[Springfield]] to go on strike. The bag boys also prevent anyone from carrying their groceries to their cars. When all the food in the [[742 Evergreen Terrace|house]] is gone, Homer becomes desperate and goes in the search of some food. [[Santa's Little Helper]] finds a 30 year old box of [[wikipedia:Animal cracker|Animal crackers]]. Homer bites into a giraffe-shaped cracker and realizes it's made of gold, which means that the family has won a trip to [[wikipedia:Africa|Africa]]. The makers of the animal crackers (who no longer produce the crackers) refuse them the trip, but when Homer hurts himself on the corner of the box, they reconsider, as they don't want to be sued.
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[[Homer]] takes [[Bart]] and [[Lisa]] to [[CostMo Foods]] to go shopping because [[Maggie]] managed to swallow a magazine and [[Marge]] had to take her to the [[Springfield General Hospital|hospital]]. At CostMo, Homer manages to anger the bagboys and they all go on strike. Time passes and the food supply to [[Springfield]] gets cut off, leading to the Simpsons having a low amount of food. [[Santa's Little Helper]] then smells food and leads the family to the attic where Homer's old lunchbox was, with some Animal Crackers from the 1960s in. Homer starts eating the crackers when he finds a gold giraffe, which meant he won a competition to be sent to Africa.
  
When they arrive in [[wikipedia:Ngorongoro Conservation Area|Ngorongroro]], [[wikipedia:Tanzania|Tanzania]], the Simpsons see billboards with messages such as "Hail President Muntu", who their guide, Kitenge, informs them recently seized power. We then see the family staying in a treetop hotel, then going on safari in the [[wikipedia:Masai Mara|Masai Mara]], visiting [[wikipedia:Olduvai Gorge|Olduvai Gorge]], and spending a day with some Maasai tribesmen. The family then join the tribesmen in a tribal dance, and Homer, while attempting to play the drums, accidentally beats the rear end of a hippopotamus, which enrages it. They use a tribal shield as a makeshift raft to escape down the river, but take a wrong turn, get swept over a waterfall, and end up far from the Maasai village. Suddenly, a chimpanzee appears, and lead them to "Joan Bushwell's Chimp Refuge", which is run by Dr. Joan Bushwell (who is voiced by [[Tress MacNeille]]). Dr. Bushwell tells the Simpsons that she is in Africa because she is researching chimpanzees, but, when [[wikipedia:Greenpeace|Greenpeace]] arrive at the refuge, the family discover that she has enslaved the apes and is making them work in a diamond mine beneath the refuge. Fearing the repercussions for what she has done, Dr. Busswell attempts to bribe the Simpsons and the people from Greenpeace with handfuls of diamonds. The next scene starts with the family sitting on the plane to go back to Springfield, with all of them but [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] carrying a small fortune in diamonds. Out of the window of the plane, they see a new billboard which reads "Hail President Kitenge", with a picture of their old guide in the presidential robes that Muntu was wearing earlier in the episode. Marge asks "What happened to President Muntu?", at which point Muntu appears dressed as a flight attendant and says "I don't want to talk about it.". Muntu begins handing out peanuts, and the family all laugh as the plane takes off.
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At [[Kitchen-Maid Inc.]], the company that made Animal Crackers, Homer demanded they honor the competition, even though it ended decades ago. After the Animal Crackers box snaps off the string and hurts Homer's eye, the executive at the company decided to honor the competition after all, rather than get sued by Homer. The Simpsons then go to [[Tanzania]] where they meet their tour guide, [[Kitenge]].
  
 +
Kitenge takes the Simpsons around the country, telling them about President [[Muntu]] and showing them the [[Ngorongoro]] Wildlife Preserve. At the preserve, the family and Kitenge encounter poachers, who Kitenge scares away. They then visit the [[Olduvai Gorge]] archaeological site and then a Masai Village. At the Masai village, the family joins in the singing and dancing and makes friends. Homer then accidentally angered a hippopotamus and Kitenge fought it off, telling the family to run away. The Simpsons get on a small boat and sail down the river, eventually going over [[Victoria Falls]]. They then find their way to [[Joan Bushwell's Chimp Refuge]], near [[Mt. Kilimanjaro]], where they seek [[Joan Bushwell|Dr. Bushwell's]] help.
  
 +
At the Chimp Refuge, the poachers attack. The Simpsons help Dr. Bushwell to fend them off, until Lisa found out that they were with [[Greenpeace]]. Greenpeace explained that they were trying to save the chimps because Dr. Bushwell was running a diamond mine, with the chimps as slaves. Dr. Bushwell gets erratic and slightly crazy and offers the Simpsons diamonds in exchange for their silence on the matter. The Simpsons accept and go home with a lot of diamonds. On the plane, they notice another billboard, this one showing that Kitenge had now become president, which they thought was a big promotion for him. Muntu on the other hand was now a flight attendant on the plane the Simpsons were on.
 +
 +
== Production ==
 +
The bag boys going on strike was inspired by an {{W2|Albertsons|SuperValu}} store in [[Los Angeles]], whose employees went on strike when the episode was written. The idea for the Simpsons visiting Africa was pitched by [[Larry Doyle]].<ref>{{Com|Maxtone-Graham, Ian|Simpson Safari|Eleventh|(2009)}}</ref> The writers of the episode deliberatly included factual errors about Tanzania to annoy viewers who wanted the series to seem realistic.<ref>{{Com|Selman, Matt|Simpson Safari|Eleventh|(2009)}}</ref>
 +
 +
Mark Kirkland, who served as the director of the episode, had previously visited [[Kenya]]. He said that the episode was all over the place geographically and attempted to make the episode look as real as possible.<ref>{{Com|Kirkland, Mark|Simpson Safari|Eleventh|(2009)}}</ref> In order to make Kitenge's singing sound as accurate as possible, [[Hank Azaria]] was taught to sing the song phonetically by a professor in {{W|Swahili language|Swahili}} at the {{W|University of California, Los Angeles}}.<ref>{{Com|Scully, Mike|Simpson Safari|Eleventh|(2009)}}</ref>
 +
 +
== Reception ==
 +
Composer [[Alf Clausen]] was nominated for a {{W|Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series}} in the {{W|53rd Primetime Emmy Awards}} for "Simpson Safari". However, it lost to "{{W2|Endgame|Star Trek: Voyager}} from ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''.<ref>[https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominees-winners/2001/outstanding-music-composition-for-a-series-original-dramatic-score Television Academy - "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) – 2001"]</ref>
 +
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As of March [[2018]], the episode has a 6.8 rating on {{W|IMDb}}<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701213/ IMDb - "Simpson Safari"]</ref> and a 7.1 rating on {{W|TV.com}}.<ref>[http://www.tv.com/shows/the-simpsons/simpson-safari-32450/ TV.com - "Simpson Safari"]</ref>
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== References ==
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{{Reflist}}
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{{Images|ep=yes}}
 
{{season 12}}
 
{{season 12}}
[[Category:Episodes]]
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[[sv:Simpson Safari]]
[[Category:Season 12]]
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[[Category:2001]]
 
[[Category:2001]]
[[Category:Music Composition Emmy nominated episodes]]
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[[Category:Homer episodes]]
 
[[Category:Travel episodes]]
 
[[Category:Travel episodes]]
 
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[[Category:Primetime Emmy Award nominated episodes]]
[[sv:Simpson Safari]]
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[[Category:Episodes written by John Swartzwelder]]
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[[Category:Episodes directed by Mark Kirkland]]

Latest revision as of 11:24, April 14, 2024

Season 12 Episode
264 "Bye, Bye, Nerdie"
265
"Simpson Safari"
"Trilogy of Error" 266
"The Simpsons are going to Africa!"
―Homer Simpson
"Simpson Safari"
Sunset at Tanzania.png
Episode Information
Episode number: 265
Season number: S12 E17
Production code: CABF13
Original airdate: April 1, 2001
Chalkboard gag: "I will not flush evidence"
Couch gag: Circus Line couch gag
Showrunner: Mike Scully
Written by: John Swartzwelder
Directed by: Mark Kirkland
DVD features


"Simpson Safari" is the seventeenth episode of season 12 of The Simpsons and the two-hundred and sixty-fifth episode overall. It originally aired on April 1, 2001. The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Mark Kirkland.

Synopsis[edit]

Promotional image for the episode
"In a frantic search for food Homer finds a box of thirty-year-old animal crackers, which contains a gold giraffe - which means he has just won an African safari."


Plot[edit]

Homer takes Bart and Lisa to CostMo Foods to go shopping because Maggie managed to swallow a magazine and Marge had to take her to the hospital. At CostMo, Homer manages to anger the bagboys and they all go on strike. Time passes and the food supply to Springfield gets cut off, leading to the Simpsons having a low amount of food. Santa's Little Helper then smells food and leads the family to the attic where Homer's old lunchbox was, with some Animal Crackers from the 1960s in. Homer starts eating the crackers when he finds a gold giraffe, which meant he won a competition to be sent to Africa.

At Kitchen-Maid Inc., the company that made Animal Crackers, Homer demanded they honor the competition, even though it ended decades ago. After the Animal Crackers box snaps off the string and hurts Homer's eye, the executive at the company decided to honor the competition after all, rather than get sued by Homer. The Simpsons then go to Tanzania where they meet their tour guide, Kitenge.

Kitenge takes the Simpsons around the country, telling them about President Muntu and showing them the Ngorongoro Wildlife Preserve. At the preserve, the family and Kitenge encounter poachers, who Kitenge scares away. They then visit the Olduvai Gorge archaeological site and then a Masai Village. At the Masai village, the family joins in the singing and dancing and makes friends. Homer then accidentally angered a hippopotamus and Kitenge fought it off, telling the family to run away. The Simpsons get on a small boat and sail down the river, eventually going over Victoria Falls. They then find their way to Joan Bushwell's Chimp Refuge, near Mt. Kilimanjaro, where they seek Dr. Bushwell's help.

At the Chimp Refuge, the poachers attack. The Simpsons help Dr. Bushwell to fend them off, until Lisa found out that they were with Greenpeace. Greenpeace explained that they were trying to save the chimps because Dr. Bushwell was running a diamond mine, with the chimps as slaves. Dr. Bushwell gets erratic and slightly crazy and offers the Simpsons diamonds in exchange for their silence on the matter. The Simpsons accept and go home with a lot of diamonds. On the plane, they notice another billboard, this one showing that Kitenge had now become president, which they thought was a big promotion for him. Muntu on the other hand was now a flight attendant on the plane the Simpsons were on.

Production[edit]

The bag boys going on strike was inspired by an Albertsons store in Los Angeles, whose employees went on strike when the episode was written. The idea for the Simpsons visiting Africa was pitched by Larry Doyle.[1] The writers of the episode deliberatly included factual errors about Tanzania to annoy viewers who wanted the series to seem realistic.[2]

Mark Kirkland, who served as the director of the episode, had previously visited Kenya. He said that the episode was all over the place geographically and attempted to make the episode look as real as possible.[3] In order to make Kitenge's singing sound as accurate as possible, Hank Azaria was taught to sing the song phonetically by a professor in Swahili at the University of California, Los Angeles.[4]

Reception[edit]

Composer Alf Clausen was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in the 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards for "Simpson Safari". However, it lost to "Endgame from Star Trek: Voyager.[5]

As of March 2018, the episode has a 6.8 rating on IMDb[6] and a 7.1 rating on TV.com.[7]

References[edit]

  1. Maxtone-Graham, Ian (2009) Commentary for "Simpson Safari", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season.
  2. Selman, Matt (2009) Commentary for "Simpson Safari", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season.
  3. Kirkland, Mark (2009) Commentary for "Simpson Safari", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season.
  4. Scully, Mike (2009) Commentary for "Simpson Safari", in The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season.
  5. Television Academy - "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) – 2001"
  6. IMDb - "Simpson Safari"
  7. TV.com - "Simpson Safari"


The Saga of Carl - title screen.png Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Simpson Safari".
Season 12 Episodes
Treehouse of Horror XI A Tale of Two Springfields Insane Clown Poppy Lisa the Tree Hugger Homer vs. Dignity The Computer Wore Menace Shoes The Great Money Caper Skinner's Sense of Snow HOMЯ Pokey Mom Worst Episode Ever Tennis the Menace Day of the Jackanapes New Kids on the Blecch Hungry, Hungry Homer Bye, Bye, Nerdie Simpson Safari Trilogy of Error I'm Goin' to Praiseland Children of a Lesser Clod Simpsons Tall Tales