Missionary: Impossible
"Missionary: Impossible"
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Episode Information
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Missionary: Impossible is the 15th episode of the 11th season.
Plot
While watching the rowdy British sitcom, "Do Shut Up" on PBS (with Bart, who enters the living room), Homer becomes annoyed by the interruption of the telethon.
In an attempt to end a pledge drive, which interrupts a favorite show of his on PBS, Homer pledges $10,000 to the network. Homer is applauded for saving the network. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Homer doesn't have the money, prompting pledge drive host, Betty White and a mob of characters and personalities from various PBS shows, including The Teletubbies (they use their antennas as lasers to shoot Homer), Oscar the Grouch (who is in his trash can), Elmo (who is in Oscar's trash can, with him), Yo Momma, Fred Rogers, and Big Bird (who comes flying down, squawking angrily like a real bird) to chase him through the streets. Fleeing to the church ("Bingo!"), seeking sanctuary, Reverend Lovejoy offers him a job as a missionary in a foreign country -- where he can stay, until the heat is off. Fortunately, Reverend Lovejoy saves Homer after he runs into the church. Reverend Lovejoy gets Homer past the PBS mob by hiding him in a bag, disguised as a sack of children's letters to God. Lovejoy puts Homer on a cargo plane to the South Pacific, where he will become a missionary in Microasia, despite Homer's lack of religious faith (to the point, that he mistakenly calls Jesus, "Jebus").
Homer calls back to Marge in Springfield with a radio, during, which he promotes Bart to "the man of the house", Lisa to "boy", Maggie to the "smart girl" and the toaster to "Maggie", making Marge a consultant. Bart replaces Homer at the Power Plant, where Mr. Burns criticizes Homer's record and (not recognizing, who he is talking to) pokes Bart with a stick. After coming home from a hard day at work, Bart agrees to take Marge out for dinner one night.
Homer arrives on the island, and he meets Qtoktok and Ak. He also meets a native girl, who looks and sounds exactly like Lisa (Homer names her, "Lisa, Jr."). At first, Homer is so desperate, that he drops to the ground, writhing and crying, "Oh, God!", repeatedly (which the natives all imitate, following his example). Homer eventually begins trying to teach them about religion, but realizing that he knows nothing about it, he tries something new. While the natives were noble savages ignorant of and unspoiled by civilization, Homer decides to build a casino on the island, which he names, "The Lucky Savage." This introduces alcohol, gambling, and violence to the island, and ruins the natives' virtuous way of life.
After the failure of the casino, Homer builds a chapel in penance, but he and Lisa, Jr. ring the bell too loudly, causing an earthquake, that releases a river of lava. The chapel (carrying Homer and Lisa, Jr.) starts to sink into the lava. As the two are about to meet their deaths, the scene cuts to another pledge drive, this time for the FOX network. It is revealed that Homer's adventures and mishaps were all recorded, while he was on the island, but the show as well as the network are in danger of cancellation. Various FOX show personalities are manning the phones, joined by a cranky Rupert Murdoch and hosted again by Betty White, who entreats the viewers to help keep "crude, low-brow programming", such as Family Guy, on air. Bart calls in and pledges a $10,000 donation. Rupert remarks that Bart has saved his network, to which Bart replies, "Wouldn't be the first time!".
Quotes
Homer Jay Simpson: (running into the church:) SANCTUARY! SANCTUARY!
The Reverend Timothy Lovejoy: (sighing) I wish I'd never taught him that word.
Oscar the Grouch: Give us the money!
Elmo: Elmo knows where you live!
Homer Jay Simpson: Missionary? But I don't even believe in Jebus! SAVE ME, JEBUS!
Fred McBeely Rogers: It's a beautiful day... to kick your ass!
Big Bird: (squawking)
Homer Jay Simpson: (running away from Big Bird:) AAAHH!! AAHH!! AAH!! AAAAHHH!!!
Homer Jay Simpson: Hmm, I can see the house is falling apart without me, so here's the new order: Bart, you're the man of the house; Lisa, I'm promoting you to boy; Maggie's now the brainy girl; the toaster can fill in for Maggie; and Marge, you're a consultant.
References
- The name of the episode is a parody of Mission: Impossible.
- "Do Shut Up" is probably a parody of The Young Ones, a similarly chaotic Britcom that ran on English T.V. in the early 1980's, known for its lowbrow characters who shared a similarly dismal house and spent much of the show bashing each other over the head with household items.
- The scene, where Homer is licking bullfrogs on an island, refers to first verse of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb song from The Wall album. Marge is calling "Hello, is there anybody in there" over the radio, even intoning the melody.
- The telethon scene at the end features various FOX characters as phone operators, including Bender from Futurama.
