Difference between revisions of "Season 5"

Homer tells the story of when he was a member of a barbershop quartet consisting of himself, Principal Skinner, Apu and Chief Wiggum. The group became popular in Springfield and eventually got an agent, who told Homer to get rid of Wiggum because he was "too Village People". Homer complied, and after auditioning and rejecting several applicants (including a disguised Wiggum), the group settled on Barney as a replacement and called themselves The Be-Sharps. The group became popular very fast, largely due to their album's hit song, "Baby on Board", which earned them a Grammy. The award was presented by David Crosby, and Homer got to meet ex-Beatle George Harrison. The Be-Sharps went on tour and recorded a second album, but Homer missed his family. The group's popularity began to decline when Homer ran out of song ideas and Barney got a girlfriend whose influence pushed him into musical directions that bewildered the rest of the group. Soon after that, the group broke up and the members returned to their regular lives. Back in the present, Homer calls the other members and the group reunites to perform "Baby on Board" on the roof of Moe's Tavern. A crowd gathers, and George Harrison happens by in his limo and dismissively says, "It's been done." The gathering also draws Wiggum and the police, and they also enjoy the performance, but Wiggum still orders Lou to get the tear gas.

Special Guest Voices: George Harrison and David Crosby as themselves; The Dapper Dans as The Be-Sharps' singing voices.

Bart is worried when he receives anonymous threatening letters written in blood, and even more worried when he learns that the sender is Sideshow Bob, and Bob has recently been released from prison. For their protection, the Simpsons are placed on the Witness Relocation Program, given new identities and moved to a houseboat in a town called Terror Lake, 15 miles upriver from Springfield. Unbeknownst to the Simpsons, Bob follows them to Terror Lake, stowing away by clinging to the undercarriage of their car. That night, Bob breaks into the boat, ties up the family, sets the boat adrift, and advances on Bart to kill him. Thinking quickly, Bart appeals to Bob's vanity by asking him to sing the entire score of H.M.S. Pinafore. Bob consents and gives an excellent performance, but is unaware that while he's singing, the boat is drifting downriver—and back into the jurisdiction of the Springfield Police. When Bob finishes, he is about to kill Bart when the boat runs aground. The police then board the boat, arrest Bob and take him back to jail.

Special Guest Voice: Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob.

Inspectors from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conduct a surprise evaluation of worker competence at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and Homer is discovered to be underqualified for his own job because he has no college training in nuclear physics. Homer enrolls at Springfield University, where he tries to live the stereotypical college life of pranks and parties. His schoolwork doesn't go as well, however, as Homer causes a meltdown in class and is assigned supplemental tutoring with three physics nerds. Unabated, Homer continues his pranking and partying ways and gets the nerds to go along with him. When one prank gets the nerds expelled, they move in with the Simpsons and cause all kinds of problems for the family. Homer is able to get the nerds back into school, but fails his class. The nerds hack into the college computer and give Homer a passing grade, but Marge finds out and makes him retake the class.

Smithers overhears Mr. Burns talking in his sleep, saying he misses someone called Bobo. Burns then falls into a depression and nothing brings him out of it, not even a birthday performance from The Ramones. Smithers discovers that Bobo is Burns's long-lost childhood teddy bear and begins searching for the bear. Maggie Simpson is discovered to be in possession of Bobo, and Burns offers the Simpsons a large reward to give him back. They decline, however, when they see how attached Maggie is to Bobo. Burns and Smithers try threats and begging to get Bobo back, but nothing succeeds. When the next step (cutting off beer and TV) affects all of Springfield, the whole town forces Homer to return the bear, but they relent when they see the expression on Maggie's face. Finally, Burns confronts Maggie in person and persuades her to gives Bobo back to him. Now reunited with Bobo, Burns snuggles up with him and wonders what the future holds for Bobo.

Special Guest Voices: The Ramones as themselves.

Conan O'Brien, Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein, Greg Daniels & Don McGrath,Bill Canterbury

Prologue: Bart talks to the viewers in a room with paintings lampooned by the Simpsons. Marge tells him that he should warn viewers that the episode is scary, and leaves Maggie with him while she goes to buy some earrings. Bart ignores her, continuing to present the episode and telling three scary stories.

The Devil and Homer Simpson: Homer laments that he would sell his soul for a donut. The Devil promptly appears, producing a contract (which Homer signs) and a donut. Thinking he's outsmarted the Devil, Homer leaves one segment of the donut uneaten to keep the Devil from claiming his soul. However, that same night, Homer eats it anyway while half-asleep raiding the fridge. The Devil returns to collect, but Marge insists on having a trial, to which the Devil reluctantly agrees. After Homer spends a day in hell, the trial is held. Homer wins, but for revenge the Devil turns Homer's head into a donut. He is then unable to leave the house, as police officers with coffee are expectantly waiting outside for him.

Terror at 5½ Feet: Bart witnesses a gremlin attacking the school bus and tries to warn everyone, but nobody believes him because they don't see the gremlin. With each warning, Bart gets deeper into trouble while the gremlin further damages the bus. Bart manages to get the gremlin off the bus, and it falls into the road and is picked up by Ned Flanders. When the bus finally gets to school, everyone sees the damage but they still think Bart is crazy. Bart is sent to a mental hospital in an ambulance, thinking he'll finally be able to relax. However, to his shock, the gremlin reappears in the ambulance's rear window, holding Ned's severed head,

Bart Simpson's Dracula: When a series of mysterious attacks occurs in Springfield, Lisa suspects that a vampire is responsible and that the vampire is Mr. Burns, but no one believes her. Lisa becomes more suspicious when Mr. Burns invites the family over for dinner and serves blood for drinks. Lisa and Bart then discover vampires in Burns' basement, and Bart is caught and turned into one. Later that night, Bart and several other children of Springfield try to attack Lisa. She tells the family that they have to kill the head vampire to get Bart back, so they return to the mansion and kill Burns (who fires Homer just before he dies). They return home, where Lisa discovers that the whole family (except herself) are vampires, and the head vampire is actually Marge ("I do have a life outside this house, you know"). They all swoop in to attack Lisa, but they stop at the last second and everyone wishes the viewers a happy Halloween. Then, in a parody of the Peanuts special A Charlie Brown Christmas, they sing while Santa's Little Helper dances and Milhouse plays the piano.

When Homer misses a date to take Marge to the ballet, Marge instead takes the family's neighbor, Ruth Powers. The two have so much fun that the next night they have a girls' night out, hanging out at a country bar and doing some target shooting using a farmer's antique cans as targets. Homer, meanwhile, decides to prove he can have fun on his own. He hires Lionel Hutz to babysit the children and goes out by himself. To Homer's disappointment, however, it's just not the same without Marge. He meets up with Chief Wiggum, who offers him a ride home. Then Wiggum sees a car with a broken taillight and tries to pull it over, but it speeds away: It's Ruth and Marge, and Ruth doesn't want to pull over because she's driving her ex-husband's car, which she stole from him to get even for his failing to pay child support. A high-speed pursuit follows, and the police eventually catch up to Ruth and Marge. In the end, a Dragnet-style voice-over summary says that the car theft charges against Ruth were dropped, but Marge was fined for shooting the farmer's cans.

Special Guest Voices: George Fenneman as the narrator; Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz; Pamela Hayden as Ruth Powers.

Marge realizes she is addicted to nagging and consults a self-help guru, Brad Goodman, to overcome it. Marge and Homer put Goodman's teachings into practice and find that it improves their relationship. Encouraged, they take the whole family to hear Goodman speak, hoping that he can do something about Bart's bad behavior. Instead, Goodman uses Bart as an example of how people should behave: "Do what you feel." The whole town starts acting like Bart, which Bart at first enjoys, but later finds disturbing as he feels he's losing his identity as a rebel. The town then holds a "Do what you feel" festival, but it causes a number of dangerous mishaps due to people not feeling like doing their jobs. The festival flops, and things in Springfield return to normal.

Special Guest Voice: A. Brooks as Brad Goodman.

Bart and Milhouse go on an all-syrup Squishee bender, and Bart awakens the next morning to find that he's joined a Boy Scouts-esque group called the Junior Campers. Bart at first hates the group and wants to quit (especially when he learns the patrol leader is Ned Flanders), but comes to enjoy it when he discovers that the skills he learns are highly useful for pranking Homer. The group has a father-son rafting trip, and Bart reluctantly invites Homer. True to Bart's expectations, Homer's bumbling causes the raft with himself, Bart, Ned and Rod to take the wrong turn at a river fork and end up adrift at sea with no supplies. Homer saves the day, however, when he smells hamburgers and leads them to a Krusty Burger restaurant on an oil rig, where they are rescued. Meanwhile, the rest of the rafters (led by "celebrity dad" Ernest Borgnine) take the correct fork, but end up being stalked by hillbillies, attacked by a bear, and finally attacked by a mysterious person or creature at an abandoned summer camp.

Special Guest Voice: Ernest Borgnine as himself.

Homer finds himself highly attracted to Mindy Simmons, a new employee at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, but is torn because having an affair with her would ruin his marriage to Marge. It gets worse when Homer discovers that he and Mindy have very similar traits, such as a fondness for beer, TV, naps and junk food. A vision where Colonel Klink shows Homer what his and Marge's lives would have been like if Homer had married Mindy only leaves him more confused. Matters come to a head when Homer and Mindy are sent on an out-of-town overnight business trip and accidentally kiss while gorging on food they order from Room Service. In the end, Homer and Mindy acknowledge their mutual attraction, but Homer stays faithful to Marge. Meanwhile, a series of medical treatments temporarily transforms Bart into a nerd, making him a target for the school bullies.

Special Guest Voices: Michelle Pfeiffer as Mindy Simmons; Werner Klemperer as Colonel Klink.

A declining economy prompts Springfield to legalize gambling, and Mr. Burns opens a fancy casino, whose staff includes retired boxer Gerry Cooney as the greeter. Homer is hired as a blackjack dealer, and becomes popular among customers when they realize he always loses. Marge, however, becomes addicted to gambling, ignoring her family in favor of playing slot machines. She realizes she has a problem when Homer confronts her about breaking a promise to Lisa. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns becomes a reclusive clean freak (a. la. Howard Hughes), and Bart, after being kicked out of Burns' casino due to being underage, takes revenge by opening his own casino in his treehouse and tricking Robert Goulet (who had been booked into Burns' casino) into giving a performance for the neighborhood kids.

Special Guest Voices: Gerry Cooney and Robert Goulet as themselves.

A wave of burglaries hits Springfield, and many items, such as Lisa's saxophone, are stolen from people's homes. When the police can't catch the cat burglar, Homer forms a neighborhood watch group. However, it too is ineffective due to Homer's bungling, and the cat burglar steals the world's largest cubic zirconium from the Springfield Museum. Grampa Simpson reveals that the cat burglar is Molloy, a fellow resident of Springfield Retirement Castle. When the townspeople confront Molloy, he confesses, returns the stolen items, and says he's hidden a treasure worth millions of dollars in town. Everyone races to dig up the treasure, but they find only a note where Molloy says that there is no treasure and he tricked everyone so he could make his escape. Mayor Quimby, however, insists they keep digging just in case there really is a treasure.

Special Guest Voice: Sam Neill as Molloy.

"Bart Gets Famous"

John Swartzwelder

Bart sneaks away from a school field trip and ends up getting a job assisting Krusty the Clown. When Krusty puts Bart into a sketch as a last-minute replacement for Sideshow Mel, Bart flubs his line and accidentally trashes the stage. He then says, "I didn't do it," which the audience finds hilarious. Krusty then puts Bart into more sketches to say "I didn't do it," and Bart's catchphrase catapults him to instant stardom. Bart, however, finds fame to be dissatisfying, and becomes tired of being known for only one line. He appears on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and tries to cultivate a more intelligent image, but to his frustration, all Conan and the audience are interested in is hearing him say "I didn't do it." Eventually Bart's popularity fades and he returns to being average.

Special Guest Voice: Conan O'Brien as himself.

Homer gets food poisoning twice from expired products at the Kwik-E-Mart. When Kent Brockman does an exposé on the store, Apu is fired and replaced by actor James Woods. Apu moves in with the Simpsons, and Homer decides to help Apu by going with him to India so he can ask the Kwik-E-Mart chain owner for his job back. However, the trip is unsuccessful as Homer's bumbling spoils Apu's chance to talk to the owner. Apu then visits the Kwik-E-Mart and saves James Woods from being shot in a robbery (by taking the bullet himself). A grateful Woods then helps Apu get his job back.

Special Guest Voice: James Woods as himself.

Lisa is dissatisfied with the new Malibu Stacy doll because everything it says is demeaning to women. Lisa visits Stacy Lovell, the doll line's reclusive creator, and persuades her to make a doll to be a more positive role model for girls. Together they make the doll, named "Lisa Lionheart" after Lisa. The Malibu Stacy executives see Lisa Lionheart as a threat, and sabotage her roll-out by distracting the customers with a Mailbu Stacy doll that has a new hat. Meanwhile, Grampa worries that he is getting old and tries to make the most of life by working at Krusty Burger. Grampa does not do well at the job, however, and when he sees how the restaurant treats seniors, he quits his job and leads a group of seniors in a boycott of Krusty Burger.

Homer is passed over yet again for the "Worker of the Week" award at the nuclear plant, the award going this time to an inanimate carbon rod. At the same time, NASA decides to launch an average American into space to improve TV ratings for space missions. Homer and Barney are selected as candidates, and Homer is chosen to make a shuttle flight. During the mission, an emergency arises when Homer accidentally breaks an ant farm (sending ants and sand into the controls) and breaks the handle of the shuttle's hatch. Homer saves the day, albeit purely serendipitiously, by using a carbon rod as an improvised latch to seal the hatch. The shuttle lands safely, and the rod is hailed as a hero—which disappoints Homer, but he wins his family's respect for making the trip.

Homer is unable to get tickets to the Pigskin Classic football game, but Ned Flanders has an extra and invites Homer to come to the game as his guest, They have a good time and Homer is grateful, but his gratitude turns annoying when he constantly hangs out around Ned. Ned realizes he can't stand Homer when the two families go to the lake and the Simpsons start a food fight. In an attempt to get away from Homer, Ned drives off in his car and is pulled over and given a sobriety field test. The incident causes the Flanders family to be shunned at church, but Homer intervenes, lecturing the congregation for misjudging Ned. The churchgoers back off, and Homer and Ned finish up as friends—but things are back to normal within a week the next time Ned gets on Homer's nerves.

Bart wins a radio contest where the prize is either $10,000 or an elephant. Bart insists on the elephant, even though it's obviously a gag prize. When the announcers are threatened with being fired, they give Bart the elephant, which he names Stampy. Taking care of Stampy proves to be too expensive for the family finances, and the Simpsons look for a new home for him. They consider donating Stampy to a nature preserve, which Homer rejects in favor of selling him to an ivory dealer. Stampy escapes and wreaks havoc on Springfield, but when he's caught again, Homer relents and sends Stampy to the nature preserve.

Mr. Burns nearly drowns in his bathtub and decides he needs an heir to inherit his wealth. He holds auditions and rejects many local children, including Bart, but when Bart takes revenge by vandalizing Burns' mansion, Burns decides that Bart is what he's looking for and selects Bart to be his heir. Marge encourages Bart to spend time with Burns, which turns into Bart living at the Burns mansion full-time. Bart misses his family, but Burns shows him a video showing that they no longer care about him. (The "family", however, are obviously actors.) Bart then enjoys life with Mr. Burns, and Burns has Bart fire power plant workers for fun. As a loyalty test, Burns tells Bart to fire Homer, but Bart refuses, gives up being Burns' heir, and returns home to live with his family.

Bart brings Santa's Little Helper to school for show and tell. The dog is a hit with the children, but he escapes and causes a series of mishaps, resulting in Principal Skinner being fired. Ned Flanders is hired as principal and Skinner rejoins the Army. At school, Flanders proves to be ineffective at discipline and the school turns into a madhouse. Bart, meanwhile, befriends Skinner and enjoys their friendship, but he realizes that the school needs Skinner, which means they need to be enemies again. Bart persuades Skinner to return to the school if Flanders is fired, and Superintendent Chalmers fires Flanders when he hears him saying "Thank the Lord" over the school's PA system. Skinner is re-hired as principal, and he and Bart return—reluctantly—to being enemies.

Deeming the day too beautiful to stay inside, Bart ditches school. Principal Skinner nearly catches him, but Bart escapes by stowing away in a car driven by the mayor's nephew Freddy Quimby, who is on his way to his birthday party. Bart witnesses a confrontation between Freddy and a waiter, after which the waiter is injured in a bizarre series of mishaps. When Freddy is put on trial for assaulting the waiter, only Bart knows that Freddy is innocent; everyone else believes Freddy to be guilty. However, in order to reveal the truth, Bart will have to admit to ditching school. In the end, Bart decides to testify. Freddy is acquitted, but Bart gets four months' detention for ditching school. Meanwhile, Homer serves on the jury and takes advantage of the situation, getting the jury sequestered and put up in a fancy hotel.

102 - 21

"Lady Bouvier's Lover"

Grampa falls for Marge's mother, Jacqueline, and they begin dating. However, when they go to a dance, Mr. Burns cuts in and Jacqueline decides to date Burns instead. She and Burns become engaged, and Grampa interrupts their wedding to win her back. Jacqueline says she doesn't want to marry either man. Grampa says that's good enough for him, and the two of them board a bus and ride off together. Meanwhile, Bart uses Homer's credit card to buy an Itchy & Scratchy animation cel and is disappointed to find it only shows Scratchy's hand. Taking advantage of Burns' dating his grandmother, Bart extorts $350 from Mr. Burns to pay Homer back.

Tired of being called "slow", Homer teaches a class at the Adult Education Annex on how to build a successful marriage. He discovers, however, that the only way he can hold his students' interest is by telling them stories about his and Marge's love life. When Marge finds out, she asks Homer to stop, but when the students threaten to walk out of the class, Homer resumes telling intimate stories and invites them to the house for dinner to see their marriage in action. At this, Marge has had enough and throws Homer out of the house. After only one day of living in Bart's treehouse, Homer realizes he can't survive without Marge and begs her forgiveness on the grounds that he can't afford to lose her trust again. Marge admits that Homer does make her feel needed, and she forgives him and lets him move back into the house.

• 22 episodes
• 4-disc set
• 1.33:1 aspect ratio
• Languages:
  • English (Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles)^[47]
  • Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, with subtitles)^[47]
  • French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)^[47]
  • Special language feature for "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" (Czech, Italian, Polish and Hungarian)

• Optional commentaries for all 22 episodes
• Introduction from Matt Groening
• Animation Showcases
• "A Look Back" with James L. Brooks
• Deleted Scenes for 14 episodes
• Commercials
• Illustrated commentaries
• Audio outtakes
• Original sketches

December 21, 2004