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Difference between revisions of "The Wife Aquatic"

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{{episode
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{{Icons||FE}}
|image=blank.png
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{{Tab}}
|productionCode=
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{{EpisodePrevNext|Kill Gil, Volumes I & II|Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times}}
|originalAirdate=
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{{Episode
|blackboardText=
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|image= Jabf03.png
|couchGag=
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|number= 388
|specialGuestVoices=
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|season=18
|Written By=
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|snumber=10
|Directed By=
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|prodcode= JABF03
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|airdate= January 7, [[2007]]
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|blackboard=  
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|guests= [[Sab Shimono]] as the [[Gruff Japanese sailor]]<br>[[Maurice LaMarche]] as the [[oceanographer]]
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|couchgag= The Simpsons are pinned onto a board.
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|showrunner1= Al Jean
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|writer= [[Kevin Curran]]
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|director= [[Lance Kramer]]
 
}}
 
}}
  
The Simpson family goes to see an outdoor movie, but when they get there, the entire area is crammed with people, except for one spot.  They race [[Milhouse]] and his [[Van Houten family|family]] to the space, and [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] succeeds by wrapping a picnic blanket around [[Maggie Simpson|Maggie]] and throwing her into the space, where she uses the blanket and parachutes down to fill the space.  When the silent black and white film [[Ned Flanders]] brings fails to please the audience, [[Patty and Selma Bouvier|Patty and Selma]] produce one of their many old-fashioned film reels and plays a movie of [[Marge Simpson|Marge's]] childhood paradise, an island called Barnacle Bay.  Homer ends up taking the family to the island, where they find it is a disgusting slum full of bums and marijuana addicts.  The night they stay, Homer gets a group of out-of-business entrepreneurs to rebuild the carousel Marge used to ride on, and invites Marge to ride on it with him.  While [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] and [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] power the carousel from underneath, Homer sets off a fireworks show, attracting a large number of people, then accidentally sets the dock on fire, burning it and the carousel completely down.  The residents of the island hang him from his nose on a fish hook until Marge comes and releases him.  They find out the island's economy failed when overfishing drove away the prized Yum-Yum Fish, and Homer promises to bring the fish back to the island to repay the damages. 
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"'''The Wife Aquatic'''" is the tenth episode of [[season 18]] of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and the three-hundred and eighty-eighth episode overall. It originally aired on January 7, [[2007]]. The episode was written by [[Kevin Curran]] and directed by [[Lance Kramer]]. It guest stars [[Sab Shimono]] as the [[Gruff Japanese sailor]] and [[Maurice LaMarche]] as the [[oceanographer]].
While Homer is on a boat fishing, Marge and Lisa visit a storm watching center and find out that a massive storm is heading right for where Homer is.  On the ship, Homer mixes up his directions and "puts bait on the steak and beer-batters the fish hooks", but the batter brings back the Yum-Yum Fish.  Homer briefly finds joy in clubbing the hundreds of fish they catch to death when the storm strikes.  When they open the compartment for the life raft, there is no raft, only Bart.  The ship has to stay afloat on large waves, and finally, they encounter a huge wave they barely are able to climb over.  Behind it, there is a mountainous wave ten times higher that all but destroys their ship.  When the storm goes, they are rescued by a Japanese fishing ship, but are thought dead by all on the island.  As a memorial service occurs back on the island, Homer, Bart and the ship's crew burst in and everyone goes out to catch Yum-Yum Fish with Homer's new recipe.  However, Lisa bars the way and warns the islanders that overfishing the fish will only bring the island its former woes again.  In the end, much to Lisa's objection, the villagers abandon the fishing trade and begin large scale logging operations all over the island.
 
  
==Cultural references==
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== Synopsis ==
* Homer's job on the fishing boat, their successful catch, and the subsequent storm (including the monster wave that wrecks the boat) are all reminiscent of the 2000 movie "The Perfect Storm".
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{{Desc|[[Marge]] reminisces of the time in her childhood she vacationed at [[Barnacle Bay]] but when the family goes to visit, they find it has become a dump. After [[Homer]] accidentally burns down the town's pier, he is forced to repay his debts as a fisherman aboard [[The Rotting Pelican]].}}
* The title is a reference to 2004 film; "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", directed by Wes Anderson.
+
 
{{Stub}}
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== Plot ==
{{Season 18}}
+
The [[Simpson family]] goes to [[Springfield Park]] to see a silent film shown by [[Ned Flanders]]; ''[[Dunderhead Deputies in Farmyard Follies]]''. In the film, [[Officer Joe]] tries to arrest [[Italian Pete]] until Joe ends up killing himself. [[Jimbo]], [[Dolph]], and [[Kearney]] dislike the film so they throw the provided snacks, which were radishes, at the projector, causing the film reel to break. [[Patty]] and [[Selma]] then bring out their home movies to show on the projector instead. The movie they show is of a vacation they took as children to [[Barnacle Bay]], which [[Marge]] remembers fondly. After seeing how Marge reacted to the film, Homer had it burned onto VHS for her. Then he decided to put it onto her {{W|iPod}} so she could watch it wherever she went. However, Homer had no idea how to do this so he took the whole family to Barnacle Bay instead.
 +
 
 +
As the ferry approaches Barnacle Bay, the family smells the fog and thinks it smells horrible. When they get to the island, they find that it's no longer how it used to be and had fallen into complete disarray. Marge went to the pier to find the carousel she loved to ride on had been vandalized and was a wreck. Upset by this, the family walks through the town where they are approached by employees of a [[Candy Shoppe]]. After Homer gets his arm caramelized, the family walks along the marina where they see [[The Rotting Pelican]], captained by {{ap|Jack|The Wife Aquatic}}. Marge asks Jack what happened to the town and Jack explains that the town used to thrive off of [[Yum-Yum Fish]], but they were no longer found very much in the waters around the island. [[Lisa]] suggested that may have been because of overfishing.
 +
 
 +
When Homer sees how sad Marge is, he gets the Candy Shoppe employees together to fix up the carousel and plans a fireworks display for Marge. Marge is excited to see the carousel repaired and rides it, not knowing that [[Bart]] and Lisa were operating it by turning it underneath the pier. To top off the night, Homer starts his fireworks display, but one of the embers sets fire to the boardwalk and burns it down. Homer is then lynched by the town and strung up like a fish. He is then made to join The Rotting Pelican as a fisherman to repay his debt to the town.
 +
 
 +
Aboard the ship, the crew starts by failing to catch anything of note except some [[Slarg Fish]]. When it comes to Homer's turn to cook food for the crew, he thought it was [[Opposite Day]] and beer-battered the hooks and baited the shrimp meal instead. The hooks then started getting pulled and the crew found that the Yum-Yum Fish had been attracted to the beer-batter and were getting caught. Meanwhile, Marge, Lisa, and [[Maggie]] go to the [[Barnacle Bay Oceanographic Institute]] where an [[oceanographer]] reveals that a huge storm is coming in. The storm hits The Rotting Pelican and starts to damage the boat. When the crew go to get the lifeboat, they find that [[Bart]] had smuggled aboard in the lifeboat box. The crew then gathers together in the cabin where they see a giant wave coming towards them. After the ship sinks, the crew is thought to be dead.
 +
 
 +
At the church in Barnacle Bay, a memorial service is held for the dead crew. Marge is horrified to learn that Bart was also aboard the ship. As she mourns, the crew of the ship comes into the church. Homer reveals that the crew was saved by a [[Japan]]ese fishing vessel and then brought back to safety. Jack decides to take the townspeople to get more Yum-Yum Fish now that they know they're out there, but Lisa convinces him not to as he should have learned a lesson about overfishing. Instead, Jack and the townspeople become lumberjacks and cut down the trees that cover the island.
 +
 
 +
== Production ==
 +
The idea for the episode was pitched by [[Kevin Curran]] who came up with the idea of Marge loving the holiday location and the overfishing of the Yum-Yum Fish.<ref name="Jean">{{Com|Jean, Al|The Wife Aquatic|Eighteenth|(2007).|link=Al Jean}}</ref> At the time of animating the episode, a lot of the crew were working on ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'', so the newer animators had to work on the episode.<ref name="Kramer">{{Com|Kramer, Lance|The Wife Aquatic|Eighteenth|(2007).|link=Lance Kramer}}</ref>
 +
 
 +
[[George Clooney]] was asked to guest star in the episode, due to his appearance in the film ''{{W2|The Perfect Storm|film}}'', but he turned it down.<ref name="Jean"/>
 +
 
 +
== Reception ==
 +
Dan Iverson of {{W|IGN}} gave the episode a 7.8 rating. Iverson said that the episode "wasn't the best episode of the season" but did have a "concrete storyline and some decent humor".<ref>[https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/01/08/the-simpsons-the-wife-aquatic-review IGN - "The Simpsons: "The Wife Aquatic" Review"]</ref>
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"The Wife Aquatic" was nominated for a [[2007]] {{W|Environmental Media Award}} in Best Television Episodic Comedy, but it lost to "Robbed a Stoner Blind" from ''{{W|My Name Is Earl}}''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071016041813/http://www.ema-online.org/awards_17th_annual.php Environmental Media Association - "17th Annual Environmental Media Awards"] (archived on {{W|Wayback Machine}})</ref>
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 +
As of March [[2023]], the episode has a 6.5 rating on {{W|IMDb}}.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918024/ IMDb - "The Wife Aquatic"]</ref>
 +
 
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== In other languages ==
 +
{{LanguageBox
 +
|de=yes
 +
|deName=Der perfekte Sturm
 +
|deTrans=The Perfect Storm
 +
|es=yes
 +
|esName=Esposa acuática
 +
|esTrans=Aquatic wife
 +
|la=yes
 +
|laName=La esposa acuática
 +
|laTrans=The Aquatic Wife
 +
|fr=yes
 +
|frName=Les Aqua-tics
 +
|frTrans=The Aqua-tics
 +
|qu=yes
 +
|quName=Homer, qu'on voit danser
 +
|quTrans=Homer, who is seen dancing
 +
|it=yes
 +
|itName=La moglie acquatica
 +
|itTrans=The Water Wife
 +
}}
 +
 
 +
== References ==
 +
{{Reflist}}
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 +
{{Images|ep=yes}}
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{{season 18}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wife Aquatic, The}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wife Aquatic, The}}
[[Category:Episodes]]
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[[Category:Season 18]]
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[[Category:2007]]
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[[Category:Homer episodes]]
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[[Category:Marge episodes]]
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[[Category:Environment-themed episodes]]
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[[Category:Environmental Media Award nominated episodes]]
 +
[[Category:Episodes written by Kevin Curran]]
 +
[[Category:Episodes directed by Lance Kramer]]
 +
 
 +
[[sv:The Wife Aquatic]]

Latest revision as of 10:13, October 8, 2024

Season 18 Episode
387 "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II"
388
"The Wife Aquatic"
"Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times" 389
"The Wife Aquatic"
Jabf03.png
Episode Information
Episode number: 388
Season number: S18 E10
Production code: JABF03
Original airdate: January 7, 2007
Couch gag: The Simpsons are pinned onto a board.
Guest star(s): Sab Shimono as the Gruff Japanese sailor
Maurice LaMarche as the oceanographer
Showrunner: Al Jean
Written by: Kevin Curran
Directed by: Lance Kramer


"The Wife Aquatic" is the tenth episode of season 18 of The Simpsons and the three-hundred and eighty-eighth episode overall. It originally aired on January 7, 2007. The episode was written by Kevin Curran and directed by Lance Kramer. It guest stars Sab Shimono as the Gruff Japanese sailor and Maurice LaMarche as the oceanographer.

Synopsis[edit]

"Marge reminisces of the time in her childhood she vacationed at Barnacle Bay but when the family goes to visit, they find it has become a dump. After Homer accidentally burns down the town's pier, he is forced to repay his debts as a fisherman aboard The Rotting Pelican."


Plot[edit]

The Simpson family goes to Springfield Park to see a silent film shown by Ned Flanders; Dunderhead Deputies in Farmyard Follies. In the film, Officer Joe tries to arrest Italian Pete until Joe ends up killing himself. Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney dislike the film so they throw the provided snacks, which were radishes, at the projector, causing the film reel to break. Patty and Selma then bring out their home movies to show on the projector instead. The movie they show is of a vacation they took as children to Barnacle Bay, which Marge remembers fondly. After seeing how Marge reacted to the film, Homer had it burned onto VHS for her. Then he decided to put it onto her iPod so she could watch it wherever she went. However, Homer had no idea how to do this so he took the whole family to Barnacle Bay instead.

As the ferry approaches Barnacle Bay, the family smells the fog and thinks it smells horrible. When they get to the island, they find that it's no longer how it used to be and had fallen into complete disarray. Marge went to the pier to find the carousel she loved to ride on had been vandalized and was a wreck. Upset by this, the family walks through the town where they are approached by employees of a Candy Shoppe. After Homer gets his arm caramelized, the family walks along the marina where they see The Rotting Pelican, captained by Jack. Marge asks Jack what happened to the town and Jack explains that the town used to thrive off of Yum-Yum Fish, but they were no longer found very much in the waters around the island. Lisa suggested that may have been because of overfishing.

When Homer sees how sad Marge is, he gets the Candy Shoppe employees together to fix up the carousel and plans a fireworks display for Marge. Marge is excited to see the carousel repaired and rides it, not knowing that Bart and Lisa were operating it by turning it underneath the pier. To top off the night, Homer starts his fireworks display, but one of the embers sets fire to the boardwalk and burns it down. Homer is then lynched by the town and strung up like a fish. He is then made to join The Rotting Pelican as a fisherman to repay his debt to the town.

Aboard the ship, the crew starts by failing to catch anything of note except some Slarg Fish. When it comes to Homer's turn to cook food for the crew, he thought it was Opposite Day and beer-battered the hooks and baited the shrimp meal instead. The hooks then started getting pulled and the crew found that the Yum-Yum Fish had been attracted to the beer-batter and were getting caught. Meanwhile, Marge, Lisa, and Maggie go to the Barnacle Bay Oceanographic Institute where an oceanographer reveals that a huge storm is coming in. The storm hits The Rotting Pelican and starts to damage the boat. When the crew go to get the lifeboat, they find that Bart had smuggled aboard in the lifeboat box. The crew then gathers together in the cabin where they see a giant wave coming towards them. After the ship sinks, the crew is thought to be dead.

At the church in Barnacle Bay, a memorial service is held for the dead crew. Marge is horrified to learn that Bart was also aboard the ship. As she mourns, the crew of the ship comes into the church. Homer reveals that the crew was saved by a Japanese fishing vessel and then brought back to safety. Jack decides to take the townspeople to get more Yum-Yum Fish now that they know they're out there, but Lisa convinces him not to as he should have learned a lesson about overfishing. Instead, Jack and the townspeople become lumberjacks and cut down the trees that cover the island.

Production[edit]

The idea for the episode was pitched by Kevin Curran who came up with the idea of Marge loving the holiday location and the overfishing of the Yum-Yum Fish.[1] At the time of animating the episode, a lot of the crew were working on The Simpsons Movie, so the newer animators had to work on the episode.[2]

George Clooney was asked to guest star in the episode, due to his appearance in the film The Perfect Storm, but he turned it down.[1]

Reception[edit]

Dan Iverson of IGN gave the episode a 7.8 rating. Iverson said that the episode "wasn't the best episode of the season" but did have a "concrete storyline and some decent humor".[3]

"The Wife Aquatic" was nominated for a 2007 Environmental Media Award in Best Television Episodic Comedy, but it lost to "Robbed a Stoner Blind" from My Name Is Earl.[4]

As of March 2023, the episode has a 6.5 rating on IMDb.[5]

In other languages[edit]

Language Name Translation
Germany.png Deutsch "Der perfekte Sturm" The Perfect Storm
Spain flag.png Español "Esposa acuática" Aquatic wife
Hispanic America.gif Español "La esposa acuática" The Aquatic Wife
France.png Français "Les Aqua-tics" The Aqua-tics
Flag of Quebec.svg.png Français "Homer, qu'on voit danser" Homer, who is seen dancing
Italy Flag.png Italiano "La moglie acquatica" The Water Wife

References[edit]


The Saga of Carl - title screen.png Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "The Wife Aquatic".
Season 18 Episodes
The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer Jazzy and the Pussycats Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em Treehouse of Horror XVII G.I. (Annoyed Grunt) Moe'N'a Lisa Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair) The Haw-Hawed Couple Kill Gil, Volumes I & II The Wife Aquatic Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times Little Big Girl Springfield Up Yokel Chords Rome-Old and Juli-Eh Homerazzi Marge Gamer The Boys of Bummer Crook and Ladder Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot! 24 Minutes You Kent Always Say What You Want