Season 8
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Season 8
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Season Information
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Season 8 originally aired between October 27, 1996 and May 18, 1997.
Highlights
The Simpsons' eighth season originally aired between October 27, 1996 and May 18, 1997, beginning with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The show runners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season seven, which Oakley and Weinstein also ran. It also contained two episodes for which Al Jean and Mike Reiss were the show runners.
Season eight won multiple awards, including two Emmy Awards: "Homer's Phobia" won for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less) in 1997, and Alf Clausen and Ken Keeler won for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics" with the song "We Put The Spring In Springfield" from the episode "Bart After Dark". Clausen also received an Emmy nomination for "Outstanding Music Direction" for "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious". "Brother from Another Series" was nominated for the Emmy for "Sound Mixing For a Comedy Series or a Special". For "Homer's Phobia", Mike Anderson won the Annie Award for Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a TV Production, and the WAC Winner Best Director for Primetime Series at the 1998 World Animation Celebration. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation awarded the episode the GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding TV – Individual Episode".
The DVD box set was released in Region 1 on August 15, 2006, Region 2 on September 2, 2006, and Region 4 on October 2, 2006. The set was released in two different forms: a Maggie-shaped head to match the Homer and Marge shaped heads of the previous two sets and also a standard rectangular shaped box. Like the seventh season box set, both versions are available for sale separately.
Episodes
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Picture |
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Title |
Original airdate |
Directed by |
Written by |
Prod. code | ||
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154-1 | "Treehouse of Horror VII" | October 27, 1996 | Mike B. Anderson | Ken Keeler, Dan Greaney & David S. Cohen | 4F02 | ||
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Opening Sequence: Homer tries to light a jack-o'-lantern, but catches his hand on fire, then his whole body, so he starts running around screaming. Then, the title "The Simpsons Halloween Special VII" comes up in blood. In the couch gag, the family runs to the couch, but they keel over and die in front of the Grim Reaper, their corpses landing one on top of another. The Reaper decides to put his feet up and uses Homer's corpse as a footstool. The Thing and I: Bart and Lisa begin to hear strange noises and think that there is something in the attic. Homer claims not to know what they are talking about, although he is later seen grabbing a bucket of fish heads and heading into the attic. Bart and Lisa investigate and find out that there really is a monster. Homer and Marge go into the attic and Homer says "oh no, it escaped". Marge immediately calls Dr. Hibbert and he explains that Bart had a conjoined twin brother named Hugo. The two were separated at birth, but it was discovered that Hugo was too evil to live in society, so the Simpsons did the "only humane thing to do": Hugo was chained in the attic, where Homer fed him a platter of fish-heads once a week. The rest of the family leaves to find Hugo, leaving Bart behind, but he soon discovers that Hugo never left the house. Hugo takes Bart up to the attic and ties Bart up so that he can reattach himself. Suddenly, Dr. Hibbert finds them and knocks out Hugo, commenting that the evil twin is always on the left side. But then he realizes that Hugo's scar is on the wrong side and that Bart is the evil twin. In the end, Dr. Hibbert and the Simpson family sits down to a turkey dinner with Hugo, leaving Bart locked up in the attic eating fish heads. The Genesis Tub: Lisa performs a science experiment to see if cola will dissolve a tooth and Bart shocks Lisa as part of his project to prove that nerds conduct electricity. The tooth was also shocked and it undergoes an unusual reaction and creates a race of miniature beings. Lisa discovers this the next day and marvels at how the people in her universe evolve at a rapid rate, going through the various ages humans have gone through into modern times and eventually, a society more advanced than current humanity. Bart destroys some of the ecosystem in Lisa's tub universe and the people respond, sending a squadron of space ships to attack Bart. Bart vows revenge on the small universe and Lisa wonders what to do. Suddenly, she is shrunk and beamed down into the tub where the citizens explain that they regard her as God and they want her to do something about Bart. She can help them if they can unshrink her, but they had not figured out the technology to do that. However, Bart grabs the tub and submits it in the science fair and Lisa is forced to watch from within as Bart wins first prize. Citizen Kang: While fishing, Homer is abducted by the aliens Kang and Kodos. When they demand that Homer point them towards Earth's leader, Homer tells them about the then-upcoming election and that the winner could be either Bill Clinton or Bob Dole. Kang and Kodos kidnap both Dole and Clinton, placing them in suspended animation tubes. Kang and Kodos take on their forms to ensure that one of them will become the next leader. Before returning Homer to Earth, the aliens soak him in rum so nobody will believe him. Later on, Homer stumbles upon the badly hidden spaceship and tries to save the real Dole and Clinton; however, he accidentally ejects them into space. On the day before the election, Homer successfully reveals the candidates' real identities. Realizing it is too late to get new candidates, one man in the crowd decides to vote for a third-party candidate. However, Kang and Kodos convince the crowd that doing so would be a wasted vote. Kang is elected President and forces the citizens of America to build a giant ray gun to aim at an unknown planet. Special Guest Voice: Phil Hartman as Bill Clinton. | ||||||||
| 100px | 155-2 | "You Only Move Twice" | November 3, 1996 | Mike Anderson | John Swartzwelder | 3F23 | ||
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When Homer accepts a new job at the Globex Corporation the Simpson family moves to Cypress Creek. Homer enjoys his new work and his easy-going boss, but is completely unaware that his boss is an evil genius and that the company is a vehicle for international extortion. The rest of the family have trouble settling in Cypress Creek and Homer must make a choice between Cypress Creek and Springfield. Special Guest Voice: Albert Brooks as Hank Scorpio | ||||||||
| 100px | 156-3 | "The Homer They Fall" | November 10, 1996 | Mark Kirkland | Jonathan Collier | 4F03 | ||
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When Bart is beaten up by school bullies, Homer takes matters into his own hands. Although Homer is unable to make his point, Moe is impressed by his ability to withstand a beating. Moe talks Homer into becoming a boxer with Moe as his manager. His sole strategy is to let opponents knock themselves out while pounding on Homer. Promoter Lucius Sweet becomes aware of Homer's rise as a boxer and wants him to fight Drederick Tatum, the heavyweight champion. Special Guest Voices: Michael Buffer as himself and Paul Winfield as Lucius Sweet
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