Episode 7 - The Call of the Simpsons
27 March 2012
Synopsis: Jealous of Flanders’ RV, Homer buys one for the Simpsons. They head out into the forest and he accidentally drives the RV off a cliff. Homer and Bart head off in search of rescue while Maggie gets adopted by a family of grisly bears. Homer falls naked into mud and is mistaken for Big Foot.
The Good: The story plays nicely on Homer’s confident ignorance. His jealousy of Flanders leads him right into the arms of an unscrupulous car salesman (see Best Joke). Then his poor navigation loses them the RV and his baby. He then foolishly takes honey from a bee hive leading to his eventual capture as “Big Foot.” Along the way there are some nice jokes, such as his attempt to catch a rabbit which succeeds only in flinging the poor creature high over the trees. Or Lisa cheering up Maggie by pointing to “Birdies!” which are actually vultures circling.
The Bad: However this is largely a poor episode. At this stage in season one the show is still grappling with how to present itself. This story falls very much into the classic cartoon clichés category.
So many things happen which are too silly and unrealistic to be funny. The worst part is Maggie being adopted by grisly bears. Not only do they behave that way but they also get ignored by the humans filming the Big Foot story. The joke is that the media crew shoe them away as if they are people but it’s pretty ridiculous. Just as the gathering of scientists not being able to tell if Homer was a human. The joke that Homer is a dumb beast of a man is hammered home with so much conviction that it ruins any credibility in the story. As a result the somewhat fun digs at the media are overshadowed by the silliness. Throw in Homer being attacked by raccoons and driving the RV through a lake and you have some forgettable nonsense going on.
Best Joke: Bob the car salesman’s routine is a classic Simpsons parody from the moment he looks through his window at the gullible Homer and says aloud “Thank you God!” He tries every trick in the book including just lying straight to Homer’s face and putting peer pressure on him to secure the sale.
The Bottom Line: A step into classic cartoon territory and not in a good way.
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