Difference between revisions of "The Springfield Files"

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"Hello. I'm Leonard Nimoy. The following tale of alien encounters is true. And by true, I mean false. It's all lies. But they're entertaining lies. And in the end, isn't that the real truth? The answer is: No."

―Leonard Nimoy

"The Springfield Files"

Episode Information Showrunner: [[{{{showrunner}}}]] DVD features

"The Springfield Files" is the tenth episode of Season 8.

Synopsis

Homer witnesses something out of this world in the woods near Springfield, but no one believes him, not even FBI Agents Mulder and Scully, who come to investigate the incident.

Plot

Leonard Nimoy begins the episode hosting a show about alien encounters. He begins talking about an encounter in a town called Springfield.

At Moe's on Friday night, Homer drinks over ten bottles of "Red Tick Beer", a brand that is brewed with real dogs. He takes a breathalyzer test which declares he is as drunk as Boris Yeltsin, and he decides to walk home. However, Homer takes the wrong path and ends up lost and disoriented in the woods. In a clearing, he sees a glowing thin-boned alien. Homer panics and runs away screaming.

No one in the Simpson family believes Homer's story, and his attempts to report the alien to the local police are dismissed. Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully of the FBI go to the Simpson residence to investigate. After no results from their psychological tests, which are closely watched by the Cigarette Smoking Man, Homer fails to provide any proof he actually did see an alien. Homer is ridiculed by most of the neighborhood, especially Lisa, but Bart says that he believes Homer. He tells Homer that the reason why he believes him is that he so 'damn' sure, much to Homer's relief. The next Friday night, they camp out in the clearing (with Ned Flanders' camping equipment) and they both see the alien, Bart for the first time. The alien promises peace before Homer scares him away by screaming as he accidentally steps in their campfire. Homer is upset about missing the chance to obtain proof, until Bart tells him that he captured the entire incident on tape (with Flanders' video camera). Homer and Bart cheer as they now have evidence of the alien.

Leonard Nimoy closes his narration, ending the story with Homer and Bart having obtained proof of their alien encounter. He then says goodnight to the viewers, but the Squeaky-voiced teen (offscreen) reminds him that the show still has ten minutes left. Nimoy leaves anyway, running to his car and driving away. The Squeaky Voiced Teen takes over the narrating duties.

Although Bart's tape is only three seconds long and is mostly static, only briefly showing the alien, everyone in Springfield starts to believe Homer (Lisa still isn't convinced). Friday comes again and all Springfielders go to the clearing (among them Leonard Nimoy). Sure enough, the alien appears, promising love. The Springfielders begin to riot until Lisa shows that the "alien" is actually Mr. Burns. Smithers states that Burns receives longevity treatments once a week to cheat death for the next seven days, and the process leaves him twisted and disoriented, and with a sweet heavenly voice (due respectively to a chiropractic treatment, anesthesia, and a throat-scraping).

Back to his normal self, Burns reveals that his green glow is due to many years of working in a nuclear plant, and then renounces his promises of peace and love and instead says that he brings famine and hatred. Before he can say anything else negative, Burns receives a booster shot from Dr. Nick and everyone sings "Good Morning Starshine" along with him. The Squeaky Voiced Teen ends Nimoy's show, telling the viewers to "keep watching the skies," although he mispronounces "skies" in doing so.

Production

Written by Reid Harrison and directed by Steven Dean Moore, the episode guest starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as their X-Files characters, FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Leonard Nimoy also guest-starred for the second time, after first appearing in "Marge vs. the Monorail".

The basic premise of the episode came from former showrunners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who, while under contract with the Walt Disney Company, returned to produce the episode.^[1] The writers struggled to come up with an ending for the episode, which would need to include a satisfying explanation for the alien. Originally, they had planned to just leave it a mystery, but ultimately decided to make the alien Mr Burns following longevity treatment.^[2]

Reception

"The Springfield Files" was viewed by approximately 11.3 million households and garnered a 11.7 Nielsen rating, making it the third highest-rated show on the FOX network the week it aired.

The episode received positive reviews from TV critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide called it "a very clever episode, with the line-up being one of the best visual gags in ages", but were critical of the brief appearance of the X-Files guest stars.^[3] IGN.com, in a flashback review, concluded that "it's an odd, silly, funny episode that would have worked even without the X-Files crossover, but having Spooky and Dana involved just made it that much cooler" and ultimately gave the episode a rating of 8.8/10.^[4] In 2010, Leonard Nimoy's work for this episode was ranked as the eleventh best guest appearance in the history of The Simpsons.^[5]

Fans also praised the episode. Reviews submitted to The Simpsons Archive named the episode "amusing" and "a definitive Simpsons classic", with many calling it the best episode of the season. ^[6] The episode currently holds a 9.1 TV.com rating^[7], and an 8.5 rating on IMDb^[8].

Gallery

Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "The Springfield Files".

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  Promotional image

• The Springfield Files.jpg

  Alternative promotional image

References