Season 5
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The Simpsons (Season 5)
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Season Information
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The Simpsons' fifth season began on 30th September 1993 with the first episode, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," and ended on 19th May 1994 with "Secrets of a Successful Marriage." David Mirkin was the show runner through most of the season's episodes. Al Jean and Mike Reiss were show runners of two episodes, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" and "Cape Feare," which had been produced for the previous season. Consequently, they have Season 4's production code, 9FXX, rather than Season 5's, with 1FXX.
The season received eight awards nominations. It won an Annie Award for "Best Animated Television Production", an Environmental Media Award for "Best Television Episodic Comedy" for "Bart Gets an Elephant," a Genesis Award for "Best Television Comedy Series". David Silverman earned a nomination for "Best Individual Achievement for Creative Supervision in the Field of Animation", Alf Clausen and Greg Daniels received a nomination in the "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics" category for the song "Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?", a song from "Homer and Apu." Clausen had another nomination for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)" for the episode "Cape Feare" and the series was nominated for a Saturn Award for "Best Genre Television Series." The producers again tried to submit episodes for "Outstanding Comedy Series" category rather than the "Outstanding Animated Program" as they had previously done, but were still not nominated.
All 22 episodes of Season 5 including extras were released on DVD on 21st December 2004 in Region 1, 21st March 2005 in Region 2 and 23rd March 2005 in Region 4.
Episodes
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Picture |
# |
Title |
Original airdate |
Directed by |
Written by |
Prod. code |
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| 100px | 82 - 1 | September 30, 1993 | Mark Kirkland | Jeff Martin | 9F21 | |
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Homer tells the story of when he was a member of a barbershop quartet called The Be Sharps, consisting of himself, Principal Skinner, Apu and Chief Wiggum (later replaced by Barney). The group became popular very fast, largely due to their hit song, "Baby on Board," which earned them a Grammy. However, Homer missed his family while the Be Sharps were touring, and the group's popularity began to decline. Eventually 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. | ||||||
| 100px | 83 - 2 | "Cape Feare" | October 7, 1993 | Rich Moore | Jon Vitti | 9F22 |
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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 Terror Lake to live on a houseboat. Unbeknownst to them, Bob has followed them to Terror Lake. He 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 HMS Pinafore. While Bob sings, the boat drifts downriver back into the jurisdiction of the Springfield Police, where Bob is arrested and sent back to jail. | ||||||
| 100px | 84 - 3 | October 14, 1993 | Jim Reardon | Conan O'Brien | 1F02 | |
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Homer is required to go back to college as he has no college degree for nuclear physics and must have one in order to keep his position as a safety inspector. He goofs off in college having watched Animal House knock-off films and is sent to a group of stereotypical nerds for tutoring. Homer convinces them to party and help pull another prank on another college. They steal Springfield's A&M's mascot, who is in a form of a pig. The boys are caught and expelled which Homer offers them to live with him although the family berate their new housemates. While he succeeds to get them back to college, Homer fails in the final exam which the boys hack into the school's student records and change his grade into an A+ although Marge finds out and forces him to retake the test. | ||||||
| 100px | 85 - 4 | October 21, 1993 | Wes Archer | John Swartzwelder | 1F01 | |
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Mr. Burns remembers his long lost childhood toy, a teddy bear named Bobo, and wants to retrieve it. It is in the hands of Maggie which Burns offers a large reward for the Simpsons to give him the bear although Maggie becomes attached with it, having the reward declined. Burns and Smithers then attempt to retrieve the bear through numerous methods such as controlling all TV networks and even begging. None of which are successful. Burns then relents and lets Maggie keep Bobo but not to abandon it like he did when he was young. She eventually gives it back to him, much to his delight although the Simpsons are not rewarded. Burns keeps the bear for years to come. | ||||||
| 100px | 86 - 5 | "Treehouse of Horror IV" | October 28, 1993 | David "Dry Bones" Silverman |
Conan O'Brien, Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein, Greg Daniels & Don McGrath,Bill Canterbury |
1F04 |
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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 continues to present the episode and tells the following three stories; The Devil and Homer Simpson: Homer is willing to sell his soul for a donut after none left in the Nuclear Power Plant. The Devil is interested in his will and has a donut prepared for him. If he eats it all, his soul would be sold as he would be sent to hell. Homer leaves one segment of the donut which the deal is not fullfilled if he does not eat it. He does, however, finish the donut and after negotiation with the family, is sent to hell for one day while on trial to determine Homer's fate. While he eventually wins the trial, the Devil turns Homer's head into a donut before he leaves. He cannot help eat his edible incarnated head despite Marge's disapproval to do so and is warned not to leave the house as some policemen wait outside to eat his donut head. 'Terror at 5''½ Feet: Bart witnesses a gremlin tearing down the school bus and tries to warn the passengers although they cannot see it and do not believe him for that. Each time he warns everyone, he is accused of being disruptive while the gremlin further damages the bus. Bart manages to have it off the bus by an emergency flare as it has it on fire and off the bus. Although they notice that the bus is damaged due to the gremlin, they still state Bart as crazy and have him sent to a mental hospital. He is relieved of the gremlin gone although is once again alarmed when he sees on the ambulance with Ned's severed head, whom picked him up when it fell out of the bus earlier Bart Simpson's Dracula: Lisa suspects Mr. Burns is a vampire as several attacks by vampires have occured although the family do not believe her. The Simpsons are invitied for dinner at Burns' mansion and Lisa becomes further suspicious when drinks are blood. She and Bart discovers vampires in the mansion and Bart gets caught and transformed into one by Burns. The family except Bart return home although Lisa is worried and sees him incarnated into a vampire along with other children of Springfield and tries to turn her into a vampire.Lis states that the only way to restore Bart is to kill the head vampire that is Burns. Homer kills him by hammering a wooden stake into his heart although Burns fires him before dying. However, the whole family except Lisa are vampires as Marge is in fact the head vampire. They swoop in on her although they say happy halloween to the viewers and sing with Santa's Little Helper dancing and Milhouse playing a piano in a parody of the Peanuts special A Charlie Brown Christmas. | ||||||
| 100px | 87 - 6 | "Marge on the Lam" | November 4, 1993 | Mark Kirkland | Bill Canterbury | 1F03 |
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Marge and the family's neighbor, Ruth Powers, spend time together while Homer tries to cope without Marge and has Lionel Hutz babysit the kids. Homer and Chief Wiggum follow the two and tries to pull them over. Ruth insteads speeds up her car and reveals that it had been stolen from her ex-husband, much to Marge's dismay. While the police catch up to them, they dismiss the two and the charges. | ||||||
| 100px | 88 - 7 | "Bart's Inner Child" | November 11, 1993 | Bob Anderson | George Meyer | 1F05 |
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Marge consults a self help guru, Brad Goodman, for her constant nagging. Although he uses Bart's behaviour as an example of how people should behave. The whole town of Springfield then acts like him, which Bart does enjoy at first but then finds his behaviour assumed. The town then stop acting like him when things go wrong during an inaugural "Do what you feel" festival. | ||||||
| 100px | 89 - 8 | "Boy-Scoutz 'N the Hood" | November 18, 1993 | Jeffrey Lynch | Don McGrath | 1F06 |
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Bart remembers that he had joined a Boys Scouts-esque group called the Junior Campers while intoxicated from a squishee entirely made out of syrup he and Milhouse drank the previous day and became hyper as a result. Bart at first hates the group although is interested in some of its routines such as a member's own knife and enjoys it. A father-son rafting trip is to be held, which Homer is forced to enter. He, Bart, Ned and Rod Flanders become groups as ordered and end up seperated from the rest of the group. They become stranded at sea with no supplies for survival until upon discovering a Krusty Burger restaurant on an oil rig and become saved. | ||||||
| 100px | 90 - 9 | "The Last Temptation of Homer" | December 9, 1993 | Carlos Baeza | Frank Mula | 1F07 |
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Homer wrecks both of the family cars during a blizzard, buys a snowplow, and goes into business by starting his own plowing service business, "Mr. Plow." Homer's business succeeds, but he ends up facing competition as Barney starts his own rival snowplow business, the "Plow King." Barney creates a winning advertising jingle (with Linda Ronstadt's help) and steals all of Homer's customers. The business competition puts a strain on Homer's and Barney's friendship, but they manage to resolve their conflict -- just in time for the spring thaw. | ||||||
| 100px | 91 - 10 | "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)" | December 16,1993 | Wes Archer | Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein | 1F08 |
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Marge tells the story of how the Simpson family moved to their house when Bart was a toddler and Marge was pregnant with Lisa. Homer was frustrated with Bart because he said all kinds of words, but not "Daddy" -- instead, he called Homer by his first name. (Bart's first words had been "Ay, caramba!" when he walked in on Homer and Marge in the bedroom.) When Lisa was born, Bart took an instant dislike to her, but she won his heart when she learned to talk and her first word was "Bart." She quickly said several other words, but not "Daddy," to Homer's continued frustration. Back in the present, Marge finishes her story, and Bart and Lisa start arguing. Homer then puts Maggie to bed and says to her, "The sooner kids talk, the sooner they talk back. I hope you never say a word." After Homer leaves, Maggie takes her pacifier out of her mouth and, unheard by anyone else, says her own first word: "Daddy." | ||||||
| 100px | 92 - 11 | January 6, 1994 | Jim Reardon | John Swartzwelder | 1F09 | |
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The effects of years of unhealthy eating combined with work-related stress finally catch up to Homer, and he has a heart attack. He needs a triple bypass, but the family can't afford the $40,000 that Dr. Hibbert says it will cost. The family seek help from cut-rate doctor Nick Riviera, who says he'll do the operation for $129.95. Homer chooses the cheaper operation. During the surgery, Dr. Nick doesn't know what to do next because the critical part of the instructional video he had watched to prepare was taped over. With some help from Lisa, Nick succeeds in finishing the operation and Homer makes a full recovery. | ||||||
| 100px | 93 - 12 | February 3, 1994 | Susie Dietter |
John Swartzwelder |
1F11 | |
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Mr. Burns is fined three million dollars for illegally dumping nuclear waste, and a town meeting is held to decide how to spend the money. The people are about to adopt Marge's idea to repair Main Street, when a smooth-talking stranger named Lyle Lanley shows up and convinces them to buy a monorail, even though the town has no need for one. Suspicious, Marge travels to other towns that bought Lanley's monorails and learns that Lanley is a con man and his monorails are all dangerous due to shoddy materials. Marge then quickly returns to Springfield, but is too late to stop the monorail from opening. The monorail's brakes fail and it speeds out of control. Fortunately, monorail conductor Homer manages to stop the train with an improvised anchor, saving the passengers. | ||||||
| 100px | 94 - 13 | February 10, 1994 | Mark Kirkland | Greg Daniels | 1F10 | |
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Marge's, Patty's, and Selma's Aunt Gladys passes away, and in her video will, Gladys admonishes Patty and Selma to raise families rather than die alone as she did. Selma takes the advice to heart, investigating and discarding several possibilities for having a child. Meanwhile, Homer gets food poisoning from eating a rotten sandwich, and it looks like a planned family trip to Duff Gardens will be postponed again (the first postponement was for Aunt Gladys's funeral). Marge asks Selma to take Bart and Lisa, and she agrees. At Duff Gardens, the kids get into all kinds of trouble, causing Selma to think twice about having a child. As a substitute, she adopts Gladys's pet iguana, Jub-Jub, who had orginally been willed to Selma's, Patty's, and Marge's mother Jacqueline. | ||||||
| 100px | 95 - 14 | "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" | February 17, 1994 | Jeffrey Lynch | Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein | 1F12 |
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Fed up with Homer's neglect, Bart signs up with "BIgger Brothers," a mentor program, and is matched with a hip, cool, and caring young man named Tom. Homer finds out, and for revenge he joins Bigger Brothers as a mentor and is matched with an orphan boy named Pepe. When Homer and Tom finally meet, they get into a fight, Homer and Bart reconcile, and Tom takes Pepe under his wing. Meanwhile, Lisa struggles with an addiction to the 900-number hotline of a young celebrity named Corey, running up huge phone bills until she is caught and kicks her habit. | ||||||
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96 - 15 | "Deep Space Homer" | February 24, 1994 | Carlos Baeza | David Mirkin | 1F13 |
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When Ralph doesn't get any cards for Valentine's Day, Lisa feels sorry for him and gives him a card to cheer him up. Ralph misinterprets the gesture and falls in love with Lisa, relentlessly pursuing her to the point of getting the two of them cast as George and Martha Washington in the Presidents' Day Pageant. Eventually, Lisa tells Ralph (on live TV) that she was never interested in him and only gave him the card out of pity. Ralph is humiliated and heartbroken, but he gives a brilliant performance as George Washington, moving the audience (and Lisa) to tears. After the play, Ralph and Lisa agree to be friends. | ||||||
| 100px | 97 - 16 | "Homer Loves Flanders" | March 17, 1994 | Wes Archer | David Richardson | 1F14 |
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Homer is arrested for drunk driving, and his license is revoked and he is ordered to attend traffic school and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Marge persuades Homer to give up beer for a month, and the experience of living without beer gives him a whole new outlook on life. When the month is up, Homer is tempted to start drinking again, but passes up beer at Moe's Tavern in favor of bicycling with Marge. Meanwhile, Bart destroys Lisa's science fair project, a large genetically engineered tomato, and she replaces it with a project that compares the intelligence of Bart and a hamster. | ||||||
| 100px | 98 - 17 | "Bart Gets an Elephant" | March 31, 1994 | Jim Reardon | John Swartzwelder | 1F15 |
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Springfield Nuclear Power Plant announces its intention to cancel the dental plan, and the Simpsons have just learned that Lisa needs braces. Homer realizes that he needs the plan to pay for Lisa's braces, and almost before he knows it, he finds himself leading the power plant employees' union in a strike to win back the dental plan. Lisa, meantime, is forced to wear cheap, but large and outdated, braces that look hideous. In spite of Homer's bumbling, Mr. Burns is convinced that Homer is a master negotiator, and a long standoff ensures, during which the plant uses tactics such as shutting off power to the entire town. Burns finally agrees to bring back the dental plan on the condition that Homer step down as union leader. Homer eagerly agrees and Lisa gets her new braces. | ||||||
| 100px | 99 - 18 | "Burns' Heir" | April 14, 1994 | Mark Kirkland | Jace Richdale | 1F16 |
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For an April Fool's Day prank on Homer, Bart shakes a can of Duff Beer in a paint shaker, then leaves the beer in the refrigerator for Homer to find. When Homer opens the beer, the resulting explosion blows the roof off the house and puts Homer into a coma. During his coma, the family reminisce by way of clips from previous episodes. Homer shows some signs of life during the stories, but when Bart confesses to the shaken beer prank, Homer immediately wakes up and begins strangling Bart. The rest of the family are glad to see that Homer has recovered. | ||||||
| 100px | 100 - 19 | "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" | April 28, 1994 | Bob Anderson | Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein | 1F18 |
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Disappointed with the quality of a recent Itchy & Scratchy episode, Bart and Lisa write one of their own and submit it to Roger Meyers, CEO of the cartoon's studio. Meyers immediately rejects the script because Bart and Lisa are too young, so they re-submit it under Grampa's name. This time it is accepted, and Grampa finds himself with a new job as an Itchy & Scratchy writer, with Bart and Lisa doing the creative work while Grampa gets the credit. The front falls through, however, when Grampa's writing wins him an award, he sees the cartoon for the first time, and in his acceptance speech he denounces violence in cartoons. Meanwhile, Homer and Marge attend their high school reunion and learn that Homer never officially graduated because he failed a science class. | ||||||
| 100px | 101 - 20 | "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" | May 5, 1994 | Jeffrey Lynch | John Swartzwelder | 1F19 |
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It's time for Whacking Day, a Springfield holiday where snakes are driven to the town square and beaten to death, a tradition dating back to town founder Jebediah Springfield. Lisa speaks out against the violence, but no one listens. Bart, who has become a serious student since being expelled from Springfield Elementary, discovers that Jebediah couldn't have started Whacking Day and suggests that Lisa enlist the help of Barry White and his smooth bass singing voice to lure the snakes to the Simpson home where they'll be safe. The plan succeeds and Bart tells the town the truth about Whacking Day: It was actually invented in the 1920s as an excuse to beat up the Irish. The townspeople renounce the holiday, and Principal Skinner allows Bart to return to school. | ||||||
| 100px |
102 - 21 |
May 12, 1994 | Wes Archer | Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein | 1F21 | |
| Marge accidentally takes an item from the Kwik-E-Mart without paying, and is sentenced to thirty days in prison for shoplifting. Her absence is felt at home, as the house turns into a total mess. Marge's absence also impacts the entire town, as without her marshmallow squares, a bake sale fails to raise enough money for the Springfield Parks Commission to buy a statue of Abraham Lincoln. Instead, the Commission gets a statue of Jimmy Carter, but the townspeople dislike it and a riot breaks out. To restore order, Mayor Quimby orders Marge to be released early, and everyone welcomes her back. | ||||||
| 100px | 103 - 22 | "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" | May 19, 1994 | Carlos Baeza | Greg Daniels | 1F20 |
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A new children's TV program, featuring a ventroloquist's dummy named Gabbo and airing opposite the Krusty the Clown show, is an instant success. Krusty's show, meanwhile, declines in ratings and popularity and is soon cancelled. Bart and Lisa are uninmpressed with Gabbo and manage to record him on a live TV camera insulting the children of Springfield, creating a scandal which decreases Gabbo's popularity. Bart and Lisa then convince several of Krusty's celebrity friends (Bette Midler, Johnny Carson, Luke Perry, Hugh Hefner and the Red Hot Chili Peppers) to take part in a special comeback program for Krusty. The Krusty Comeback Special is very successful, and Krusty's show returns to the air. | ||||||
