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Difference between revisions of "Simpsons Tall Tales"

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{{Tab}}
 
{{Tab}}
 
{{EpisodePrevNext|Children of a Lesser Clod|Treehouse of Horror XII}}
 
{{EpisodePrevNext|Children of a Lesser Clod|Treehouse of Horror XII}}
{{Noncanon Episode}}
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{{Episode
 
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|image= Simpsons Tall Tales.gif
{{episode
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|number= 269
|image = Simpsons Tall Tales.gif
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|season=12
|Episode Number = 269
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|snumber=21
|productionCode = CABF17
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|prodcode= CABF17
|originalAirdate = May 20, [[2001]]
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|airdate= May 20, [[2001]]
|blackboardText = "I {{w|Floating timeline|should not be twenty-one by now}}"
+
|blackboard= "I {{w|Floating timeline|should not be twenty-one by now}}"
|couchGag = The living room is a subway station: The family get on the next train that arrives.
+
|couchgag= The living room is a subway station: The family get on the next train that arrives.
|Show Runner = [[Mike Scully]]
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|showrunner= [[Mike Scully]]
|Written By = [[John Frink]]<br>[[Don Payne]]<br>[[Bob Bendetson]] <br> [[Matt Selman]]
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|writer= [[John Frink]]<br>[[Don Payne]]<br>[[Bob Bendetson]]<br>[[Matt Selman]]
|Directed By = [[Bob Anderson]]
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|director= [[Bob Anderson]]
 
|DVD features=yes
 
|DVD features=yes
 
}}
 
}}
  
"'''Simpsons Tall Tales'''" is the twenty-first episode of [[season 12]]. It originally aired on May 20, [[2001]]. It was written by [[John Frink]], [[Don Payne]], [[Bob Bendetson]] and [[Matt Selman]]. [[Bob Anderson]] directed the episode.
+
"'''Simpsons Tall Tales'''" is the twenty-first and final episode of [[season 12]] of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and the two-hundred and sixty-ninth episode overall. It originally aired on May 20, [[2001]]. The episode was written by [[John Frink]], [[Don Payne]], [[Bob Bendetson]] and [[Matt Selman]] and directed by [[Bob Anderson]].
  
 
== Synopsis ==
 
== Synopsis ==
{{Desc|The family wins a trip to Delaware, but [[Homer]] refuses to pay the tax on the ticket, so they ride the rails and meet a [[Singing railroad hobo|hobo]] who sings and tells them some tall tales. First is the story of [[Paul Bunyan]], with Homer playing the role of Paul as a giant doofus (a natural role for him). Next is [[Lisa]] as "[[Connie Appleseed]]," who tries to convince the pioneers to eat apples instead of buffalo. The third story isn't really tall, but a Mark Twain-style tale about Tom Sawyer ([[Bart]]) and Huckleberry Finn ([[Nelson]]), who go on the run when Huck won't marry {{ap|Becky|Simpsons Tall Tales}} ([[Lisa]]).}}
+
{{Desc|The family wins a trip to Delaware, but [[Homer]] refuses to pay the tax on the ticket, so they ride the rails and meet a [[Singing railroad hobo|hobo]] who sings and tells them some tall tales. First is the story of [[Paul Bunyan]], with Homer playing the role of Paul. Next is [[Lisa]] as "[[Connie Appleseed]]," who tries to convince the pioneers to eat apples instead of buffalo. The third story isn't really tall, but a Mark Twain-style tale about Tom Sawyer ([[Bart]]) and Huckleberry Finn ([[Nelson]]), who go on the run when Huck won't marry [[Becky Thatcher]] (Lisa).}}
  
 
== Plot ==
 
== Plot ==
 +
After the Simpsons win a trip to [[Delaware]], [[Homer]] refuses to pay a $5 airport tax for his flight. The family jumps onto a freight train and meets a [[singing railroad hobo]] who tells them three tall tales.
 +
 
=== Paul Bunyan ===
 
=== Paul Bunyan ===
After the Simpsons win a trip to [[Delaware]], [[Homer]] refuses to pay a $5 airport tax for his flight. The family jumps onto a freight train and meets a singing, although clearly weird, hobo who tells them three tall tales.
+
[[File:Paul Bunyan Tall Tales.png|thumb|left|Paul Bunyan is confronted by the townspeople.]]
Homer plays [[Paul Bunyan]], starting from birth where his mother afterwards asks for whisky. Years later as a grown giant he is a great burden on local townspeople, as he crushes their houses and consumes all their food (along with anyone near it at the time). Eventually, the townspeople drug him and drag him out of their town. Out of loneliness, he carves a block of stone from the mountains into a blue ox that he calls {{ap|Babe|Simpsons Tall Tales}}, who is rendered alive by an electric shock, similar to lightning, which apparently originated from the {{w|Aurora (astronomy)|northern lights}}. Homer later meets Marge, and though she is initially frightened of him, the two fall in love. When a meteor is soon to hit the town, the townspeople call Paul back to help them. Paul obliges and throws the meteor towards {{w|Chicago}}, starting the {{w|Great Chicago Fire|Great Fire}} there, but not before it hits him in the backside.
+
The hobo tells the tale of [[Paul Bunyan]], who was born to [[Abe Bunyan|Abe]] and [[Mrs. Bunyan]]. Paul Bunyan was extremely large, thanks to a hopped-up pituitary gland. As Paul gets older and larger, the townspeople find him more and more of a burden, due to the fact he ate so much and accidentally crushed everything around him. Eventually, the townspeople got sick of him and decided to get rid of him by giving him a drugged beer before dragging him out of town.
 +
 
 +
Upon waking up, Paul realized that the town didn't want him any more. He got lonely and carved an ox out of a mountain. As he slept next to the ox, a bolt of lightning hit it, bringing it to life. Paul named his Ox {{ap|Babe|Simpsons Tall Tales}} and the two went on adventures together, including fighting [[Rodan]]. Later, Paul saw and fell in love with a woman who he started to date and eventually got married to. Shortly after this, Paul's home town noticed a meteor was coming towards them. They ask Paul for help as he's the only one who can save them. The meteor lands in Paul's butt crack and the pulls it out and throws it at [[Chicago]], causing the {{W|Great Chicago Fire}}, but saving the town.
  
 
=== Connie Appleseed ===
 
=== Connie Appleseed ===
After the hobo has finished his tale, Lisa points out that Paul's size kept varying throughout the story. The hobo simply shrugs her off and asks the family for a sponge bath as compensation. Disgusted, Homer is forced to oblige, as nobody else will do so, but the hobo does not mind anyone seeing his nakedness.
+
[[File:Connie Appleseed Tall Tales.png|thumb|right|The wagon train surrounded by buffalo carcasses.]]
 +
After the hobo finishes his tale, Lisa points out that Paul's size kept varying throughout the story, and that several of the events he described were never in the original story. The hobo simply shrugs her off and asks for a sponge bath, which Homer reluctantly gives to him. The hobo then gives an impression of two people to the family, before making out with himself. He then goes on to tell his next story.
 +
 
 +
He tells the story of [[Connie Appleseed]], an American pioneer. Connie and her family were part of a wagon train. On their journey, the pioneers find buffalo and kill them for food, to Connie's disgust. Connie tells them that they must stop the slaughter before the buffalo go extinct. The pioneers all ignore her and Connie leaves sadly. As she was walking away, Connie heard a voice calling to her, coming from an apple tree. She gathers apples to take back to the pioneers, missing that [[Hans Moleman]] was in a sinkhole behind the tree. When she gets back to the wagon train, [[Homer Bufflekill]] is disgusted that the apples aren't parts of buffalo and Connie tells them to go on without her if they don't switch to apples. The wagon train then leaves her behind.
  
The hobo's second tall tale is loosely based on the legend of {{w|Johnny Appleseed}}, except [[Lisa]] portrays him, and her name is adapted to "[[Connie Appleseed]]". Connie is part of a wagon train, and all of the travelers shoot and eat great numbers Buffalo. Connie who is against the practice, states "If you don't stop this slaughter, you'll wipe out the buffalo." After which they all ridicule her, she is worried that no one is eating a renewable source of food and finds some apples for the pioneers to eat, but they reject them ([[Homer Bufflekill|Homer]] spits them out in disgust when he realizes they are apples and not Buffalo testicles). Eventually, she changes her last name to "Appleseed", and leaves her family to journey across [[America]] and plant apple seeds wherever she goes. Meanwhile, the Simpsons change their surname to "Bufflekill" and they succeed in killing all the buffalo, leaving them with two the others realize they can breed, just as Homer shoots and kills them. As winter rolls by, the travelers start to starve and start to resort to [[wikipedia:cannibalism|cannibalism]], picking Homer as their victim for being the fattest. Just as they are about to cannibalize Homer, Connie returns and offers them apples. They like them, and Homer is spared, even though [[Moe Szyslak]] is seen eating him and asking, "What, so now we're not eating Homer?"
+
After this, Connie wandered the prairie alone, scattering apple seeds as she went. Meanwhile, the pioneers managed to cause the buffalo to go extinct, to Homer's shock. One snowy night after this, the pioneers get ready to resort to cannibalism, choosing to eat Homer as he's the fattest of them. As they get ready to tuck in, Connie shows up with apples for the pioneers to eat instead. The pioneers are happy that they have food and spare Homer, as the pioneers celebrate Connie coming to save them.
 +
 
 +
After the story, the hobo tells the Simpson family about all the good things you can find apples in.
  
 
=== Tom and Huck ===
 
=== Tom and Huck ===
[[File:Simpsonstalltales1.gif|thumb|Bart as Tom and Nelson as Huck]]  
+
[[File:Tom and Huck Tall Tales.png|thumb|left|Tom and Huck are lowered into their coffins.]]
Before the following story begins, [[Lisa]] points out that this isn't actually a tall tale, but simply {{w|Mark Twain}}'s story about [[Tom Sawyer]], and [[Huckleberry Finn]].
+
As the train passes over the [[Mississippi River]], the hobo begins to tell the story of [[Tom Sawyer]] and [[Huckleberry Finn]], which Lisa says isn't a tall tale. He then begins to tell the story.
 +
 
 +
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were painting a fence, when [[Milhouse]] comes along. Tom and Huck bully Milhouse and other kids into painting the fence for them. Huck was playing on the fence whilst they other kids painted, when he fell off. Worried about him, [[Becky Thatcher]] runs over to make sure he's okay, and they hold hands. Upon seeing this, Becky's father, [[Judge Thatcher]], forces the two of them to get married. Since Huck doesn't want to get married, he and Tom escape and raft down the Mississippi River to get away from the angry mob.
 +
 
 +
When Tom and Huck run out of supplies, they stop by a {{ap|99¢ Store|Simpsons Tall Tales}} to get more supplies. When they leave, they find that they're both wanted criminals. The townspeople were hot on their trail too, leaving Tom and Huck to run and raft down the river again. As the two of them try to hide on a ship, they fall into the gambling hall on the boat. After a shootout occurs, they are thrown off the boat where they sink to the bottom of the river, where the townspeople wait for them. The townspeople take them back to town and execute them before lowering their bodies into coffins.
 +
 
 +
After this story, the train arrives in Delaware. As the family departs, the hobo tells them that he told three stories, so they owe him three sponge baths. Homer reluctantly gets back on to give him the extra sponge baths as the train departs again.
 +
 
 +
== Production ==
 +
The opening of the episode and the wraparounds were written by [[Matt Selman]].<ref name="Selman">{{Com|Selman, Matt|Simpsons Tall Tales|Twelfth|(2009).}}</ref> The idea for making an episode based on tall tales was pitched by John Frink and Don Payne.<ref name="Graham">{{Com|Maxtone-Graham, Ian|Simpsons Tall Tales|Twelfth|(2009).}}</ref> The family going to Delaware is a callback to the [[season 11]] episode "[[Behind the Laughter]]". At the end of that episode, the family wins a trip to Delaware. The episode came around after "[[Simpsons Bible Stories]]" was fun to write, so they decided to write different anthology episodes. In the Paul Bunyan segment, the giant pill Moe had was originally supposed to read "Roofie", but it was removed.<ref name="Scully">{{Com|Scully, Mike|Simpsons Tall Tales|Twelfth|(2009).}}</ref> Another scene that changed was that after Paul puts Marge's hair on his ear, it was supposed to come out with earwax on, but they decided against it.<ref name="Anderson">{{Com|Anderson, Bob|Simpsons Tall Tales|Twelfth|(2009).}}</ref>
 +
 
 +
[[Jim Carrey]] was originally to be the voice of the hobo. However, due to scheduling conflicts, this didn't happen, so [[Hank Azaria]] voiced him instead. A lot of the buffalo deaths were done off camera as the producers felt there were too many killed on camera.<ref name="Scully"/> Matt Selman wrote the Tom and Huck segment whilst listening to ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' on tape, to get all the linguo down accurately.<ref name="Selman"/> The ending dialogue of the episode was ad-libbed by [[Dan Castellaneta]] and Hank Azaria.<ref name="Scully"/>
  
Huck is caught holding hands with {{ap|Becky|Simpsons Tall Tales}} ([[Lisa]]) and is {{w|forced marriage|forced to marry}} her by her father ([[Homer]]). During the wedding, Homer points a shotgun at Huck, and at that time it's revealed that this is exactly how Homer and [[Marge]] got married, with [[Abe Simpson]] still pointing his shotgun at Marge. Huck dodges this marriage and goes on the run with Tom, leaving [[Missouri]] for Missoura. However, they are chased by townspeople led by Becky's father and their families. They flee to a river boat, but [[Moe]] throws them overboard into the [[Mississippi River]] and the towspeople catch them. The scene shifts to Tom's and Huck's funeral. Tom and Huck appear to be secretly watching the proceedings from the rafters, until [[Reverend Lovejoy]] orders their bodies lowered into the caskets, revealing that Tom and Huck are actually dead.
+
== Reception ==
 +
As of January [[2020]], the episode has a 7.0 rating on {{W|IMDb}}<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0766139/ IMDb - "Simpsons Tall Tales"]</ref> and a 8.0 rating on {{W|TV.com}}.<ref>[http://www.tv.com/shows/the-simpsons/simpsons-tall-tales-41905/ TV.com - "Simpsons Tall Tales"]</ref>
  
The family arrives in Delaware and disembarks from the train, but the hobo reminds them that they owe him two more sponge baths as compensation. [[Homer]] promises to catch up with them in an hour and volunteers to stay behind to do the dirty work.
+
== References ==
 +
{{Reflist}}
  
 +
{{Images|ep=yes}}
 
{{season 12}}
 
{{season 12}}
  
[[Category:Anthology episodes]]
 
 
[[Category:2001]]
 
[[Category:2001]]
 
[[Category:Season finales]]
 
[[Category:Season finales]]
 +
[[Category:Anthology episodes]]
 
[[Category:Episodes written by John Frink]]
 
[[Category:Episodes written by John Frink]]
 
[[Category:Episodes written by Don Payne]]
 
[[Category:Episodes written by Don Payne]]

Revision as of 08:49, February 1, 2021

Season 12 Episode
268 "Children of a Lesser Clod"
269
"Simpsons Tall Tales"
"Treehouse of Horror XII" 270
"Simpsons Tall Tales"
Simpsons Tall Tales.gif
Episode Information
Episode number: 269
Season number: S12 E21
Production code: CABF17
Original airdate: May 20, 2001
Chalkboard gag: "I should not be twenty-one by now"
Couch gag: The living room is a subway station: The family get on the next train that arrives.
Showrunner: [[Mike Scully]]
Written by: John Frink
Don Payne
Bob Bendetson
Matt Selman
Directed by: Bob Anderson
DVD features



"Simpsons Tall Tales" is the twenty-first and final episode of season 12 of The Simpsons and the two-hundred and sixty-ninth episode overall. It originally aired on May 20, 2001. The episode was written by John Frink, Don Payne, Bob Bendetson and Matt Selman and directed by Bob Anderson.

Synopsis

"The family wins a trip to Delaware, but Homer refuses to pay the tax on the ticket, so they ride the rails and meet a hobo who sings and tells them some tall tales. First is the story of Paul Bunyan, with Homer playing the role of Paul. Next is Lisa as "Connie Appleseed," who tries to convince the pioneers to eat apples instead of buffalo. The third story isn't really tall, but a Mark Twain-style tale about Tom Sawyer (Bart) and Huckleberry Finn (Nelson), who go on the run when Huck won't marry Becky Thatcher (Lisa)."


Plot

After the Simpsons win a trip to Delaware, Homer refuses to pay a $5 airport tax for his flight. The family jumps onto a freight train and meets a singing railroad hobo who tells them three tall tales.

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan is confronted by the townspeople.

The hobo tells the tale of Paul Bunyan, who was born to Abe and Mrs. Bunyan. Paul Bunyan was extremely large, thanks to a hopped-up pituitary gland. As Paul gets older and larger, the townspeople find him more and more of a burden, due to the fact he ate so much and accidentally crushed everything around him. Eventually, the townspeople got sick of him and decided to get rid of him by giving him a drugged beer before dragging him out of town.

Upon waking up, Paul realized that the town didn't want him any more. He got lonely and carved an ox out of a mountain. As he slept next to the ox, a bolt of lightning hit it, bringing it to life. Paul named his Ox Babe and the two went on adventures together, including fighting Rodan. Later, Paul saw and fell in love with a woman who he started to date and eventually got married to. Shortly after this, Paul's home town noticed a meteor was coming towards them. They ask Paul for help as he's the only one who can save them. The meteor lands in Paul's butt crack and the pulls it out and throws it at Chicago, causing the Great Chicago Fire, but saving the town.

Connie Appleseed

The wagon train surrounded by buffalo carcasses.

After the hobo finishes his tale, Lisa points out that Paul's size kept varying throughout the story, and that several of the events he described were never in the original story. The hobo simply shrugs her off and asks for a sponge bath, which Homer reluctantly gives to him. The hobo then gives an impression of two people to the family, before making out with himself. He then goes on to tell his next story.

He tells the story of Connie Appleseed, an American pioneer. Connie and her family were part of a wagon train. On their journey, the pioneers find buffalo and kill them for food, to Connie's disgust. Connie tells them that they must stop the slaughter before the buffalo go extinct. The pioneers all ignore her and Connie leaves sadly. As she was walking away, Connie heard a voice calling to her, coming from an apple tree. She gathers apples to take back to the pioneers, missing that Hans Moleman was in a sinkhole behind the tree. When she gets back to the wagon train, Homer Bufflekill is disgusted that the apples aren't parts of buffalo and Connie tells them to go on without her if they don't switch to apples. The wagon train then leaves her behind.

After this, Connie wandered the prairie alone, scattering apple seeds as she went. Meanwhile, the pioneers managed to cause the buffalo to go extinct, to Homer's shock. One snowy night after this, the pioneers get ready to resort to cannibalism, choosing to eat Homer as he's the fattest of them. As they get ready to tuck in, Connie shows up with apples for the pioneers to eat instead. The pioneers are happy that they have food and spare Homer, as the pioneers celebrate Connie coming to save them.

After the story, the hobo tells the Simpson family about all the good things you can find apples in.

Tom and Huck

Tom and Huck are lowered into their coffins.

As the train passes over the Mississippi River, the hobo begins to tell the story of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, which Lisa says isn't a tall tale. He then begins to tell the story.

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were painting a fence, when Milhouse comes along. Tom and Huck bully Milhouse and other kids into painting the fence for them. Huck was playing on the fence whilst they other kids painted, when he fell off. Worried about him, Becky Thatcher runs over to make sure he's okay, and they hold hands. Upon seeing this, Becky's father, Judge Thatcher, forces the two of them to get married. Since Huck doesn't want to get married, he and Tom escape and raft down the Mississippi River to get away from the angry mob.

When Tom and Huck run out of supplies, they stop by a 99¢ Store to get more supplies. When they leave, they find that they're both wanted criminals. The townspeople were hot on their trail too, leaving Tom and Huck to run and raft down the river again. As the two of them try to hide on a ship, they fall into the gambling hall on the boat. After a shootout occurs, they are thrown off the boat where they sink to the bottom of the river, where the townspeople wait for them. The townspeople take them back to town and execute them before lowering their bodies into coffins.

After this story, the train arrives in Delaware. As the family departs, the hobo tells them that he told three stories, so they owe him three sponge baths. Homer reluctantly gets back on to give him the extra sponge baths as the train departs again.

Production

The opening of the episode and the wraparounds were written by Matt Selman.[1] The idea for making an episode based on tall tales was pitched by John Frink and Don Payne.[2] The family going to Delaware is a callback to the season 11 episode "Behind the Laughter". At the end of that episode, the family wins a trip to Delaware. The episode came around after "Simpsons Bible Stories" was fun to write, so they decided to write different anthology episodes. In the Paul Bunyan segment, the giant pill Moe had was originally supposed to read "Roofie", but it was removed.[3] Another scene that changed was that after Paul puts Marge's hair on his ear, it was supposed to come out with earwax on, but they decided against it.[4]

Jim Carrey was originally to be the voice of the hobo. However, due to scheduling conflicts, this didn't happen, so Hank Azaria voiced him instead. A lot of the buffalo deaths were done off camera as the producers felt there were too many killed on camera.[3] Matt Selman wrote the Tom and Huck segment whilst listening to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer on tape, to get all the linguo down accurately.[1] The ending dialogue of the episode was ad-libbed by Dan Castellaneta and Hank Azaria.[3]

Reception

As of January 2020, the episode has a 7.0 rating on IMDb[5] and a 8.0 rating on TV.com.[6]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Selman, Matt (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season.
  2. Maxtone-Graham, Ian (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Scully, Mike (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season.
  4. Anderson, Bob (2009). Commentary for "Simpsons Tall Tales", in The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season.
  5. IMDb - "Simpsons Tall Tales"
  6. TV.com - "Simpsons Tall Tales"


The Saga of Carl - title screen.png Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Simpsons Tall Tales".
Season 12 Episodes
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