Difference between revisions of "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"

Revision as of 10:36, July 17, 2022

This episode is a Clip Show. It features clips from previous episodes.

This episode is considered non-canon and the events featured do not relate to the series and therefore may not have actually happened/existed. The reason behind this decision is: The episode is from the point of view of The Simpsons being a real show.. If you dispute this, please bring it up on the episode's talk page.

"The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"

Episode Information Episode number: 138 Season number: S7 E10 Production code: 3F31 Original airdate: December 3, 1995 Chalkboard gag: "I will only do this once a year" Couch gag: A montage of various couch gags. Guest star(s): Phil Hartman as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz Buzz Aldrin as himself Glenn Close as Mona Simpson Showrunner: [[Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein]] Written by: Jon Vitti Directed by: David Silverman DVD features

"The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" is the tenth episode of season 7 of The Simpsons and the one-hundred and thirty-eighth episode overall. It originally aired on December 3, 1995. The episode was written by Jon Vitti and directed by David Silverman. It guest stars Phil Hartman as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz, Buzz Aldrin as himself and Glenn Close as Mona Simpson, with Aldrin and Close only appearing in clips.

Synopsis

"Troy McClure hosts "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", where we take a look at the show's history answer viewer questions, and take a look at some never before seen deleted scenes."

Plot

At the Springfield Civic Auditorium, Troy McClure hosts "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" to honor America's favorite non-prehistoric family. He tells the viewers about how the show was created when Matt Groening teamed up with award-winning producers James L. Brooks and Sam Simon to make the show. McClure then shows the original short, "Good Night". After that short is finished, scenes from "The Perfect Crime", "Space Patrol", "World War III" and "Bathtime" are also shown.

The first commercial break then happens, asking the audience what the cash register says when Maggie is scanned in the opening sequence. After the break, the answer is revealed to be "NRA4EVER", one of the many radical right-wing messages inserted into the show. After the break, McClure answers viewer questions. The first one, from Professor Lawrence Pierce, simply states "I think Homer gets stupider every year.". Troy points out that it's not a question, but then goes on to show clips of Homer's stupidity from various episodes.

The next viewer question, from Dr. Linus Irvin, asks how Matt Groening can write and animate an entire episode every week. The crew go to Groening to ask him just that question. However, Groening yells at them to get out of his office and shoots at the crew. Troy then tells the viewers that, according to Groening's lawyers, what he meant to say was that he couldn't possibly do it alone. A list of people who work on The Simpsons then scrolls down the screen. The final question is from Ambassador Henry Mwabwetumba of the Ivory Coast, who asks "What is the real deal with Mr. Burns' assistant, Smithers". Several scenes of Smithers romanticizing Mr. Burns are then shown off. Troy summarizes the clips by saying that the "real deal" with Waylon Smithers is that he's Mr. Burns' assistant, he's in his early 40s, is unmarried, and currently resides in Springfield.

The next commercial break asks what popular Simpsons characters had died in the past year. After the break, the announcer says that if you answered Marvin Monroe and Bleeding Gums Murphy that you were wrong, as those characters were never popular. The next segment of the show has Troy McClure showing off deleted scenes from episodes. The first scenes are from "Krusty Gets Kancelled" and has Krusty trying to get people to watch his show by offering free copies of his book, Sex, and being told that his show is being replaced by a hemorrhoids infomercial. The next scenes are from "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)" where Homer is the dealer for a poker game involving James Bont, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Jaws, and Oddjob. The scenes after that are from "Mother Simpson", where Homer retrieves the care packages that were sent to him by his mother, and proceeds to eat everything from them. The next scenes are from "Treehouse of Horror IV", where Lionel Hutz tells Marge that if they don't win the court case in 30 minutes, the pizza is free. Bart also says that he would sell his soul for a racing car, causing Flanders the Devil to appear, before Bart changes his mind, The next scene is from "Homer and Apu", where Apu and the Simpsons watch an Indian movie. Finally, a deleted scene from "Burns' Heir" featuring the Robotic Richard Simmons is shown off.

The next part of the special looks at "Who Shot Mr. Burns" and the different outcomes for the end that were written and animated. A montage of different characters shooting Burns is shown off, followed by the alternate ending where it is revealed that Smithers shot Burns. Mr. Burns then gives Smithers a five percent pay cut for shooting him. Troy McClure then ends the special by showing what everyone came to see, a montage of hardcore nudity.

Reception

The episode ranked among the ten most heavily viewed episodes of the seventh season. After its initial American airing, the episode received a Nielsen rating of 9.5, and a Nielsen rank of 48. The episode has become study material for sociology courses at University of California, Berkeley, where it is used to "examine issues of the production and reception of cultural objects, in this case, a satirical cartoon show", and to figure out what it is "trying to tell audiences about aspects primarily of American society, and, to a lesser extent, about other societies."

The episode received positive reviews from critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought "the out-takes are up to standard" and contains "a number of great self-referential moments". Simone Knox praised its visual style in her article Reading the Ungraspable Double-Codedness of "The Simpsons". DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said even though the episode is a clip show, it "gussies up the concept with some interesting elements, and keeps repetitive material to a minimum. Instead, it offers lots of then-unseen footage as well as old snippets from The Tracey Ullman Show. It still feels like a cheap way to crank out a new episode, but it's one of the better clip shows you'll see."

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