Marge Gamer
From Simpsons Wiki
"Marge Gamer" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons' eighteenth season, which originally aired April 22, 2007. It was written by J. Stewart Burns and featured a guest appearance from Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo. This episode first aired three days after the twenty-year anniversary of the first ever appearance of The Simpsons on television, in the Tracy Ullman short Good Night.
Contents |
Plot
Marge is ridiculed at a Parent-Teacher Association meeting for not having an e-mail address, and she decides to buy her own computer. She is quite taken by the Internet, and starts playing a role-playing fantasy game called "Earthland Realms" after refreshing her e-mail and finding an ad for it. The game has her interacting with practically the whole town of Springfield, including Apu the gem trader, Skinner the turkey, Moe who looks like a troll but isn't, and others. Suddenly everyone hides, closes windows of houses and we see a knight in black atop a black horse. Apu grabs Marge and we see Skinner getting flamed by the knight's flame sword. Apu tells Marge that the knight in black is the Shadowknight, the most powerful and deadly character in the game. Marge does the laundry and unintentionally hears Bart say "Another senseless killing by the Shadowknight", learning that he is the Shadowknight.
Meanwhile, Homer referees Lisa's soccer game and his subpar skills frustrate Lisa. Then, stung by her criticism, he learns the rules of soccer and becomes a better referee, briefly impressing Lisa. However, Homer gives Lisa a yellow card after Ronaldo points out that Lisa is a "flopper", then a red card for bad sportsmanship when she rips the yellow card, but when Lisa claims she hates Homer, she is taken out of the game. As a result, Lisa gets mad at him.
Marge goes to the Shadowknight's castle and meets Milhouse the male cursed to look like a female servant, who got turned by a spell. In the online game Marge constantly frets about Bart, who goes around causing carnage, and redecorates his "trophy room" with the Hello Kitty expansion pack. Bart smashes all of these decorations with his weapon and accidentally kills Marge's character in his fit of rage.
Homer and Bart go to Moe's Tavern to escape their troubles. Moe gives quality advice to Homer and Bart, prompting them to jokingly ask where the real Moe is. It is revealed that the actual Moe is tied up behind the bar. Acting on the fake Moe's advice, Bart makes up for killing his mother's character by reviving her with 2/3rds of his character's health. While Elf Marge tends to the Shadowknight, the other characters raid the castle to take advantage of his weakness and graphically kill him. Homer gives Lisa a BBC documentary about "floppers" and she realizes that she was at fault. Marge refuses to come outside as the rest of the family plays soccer outside with Ronaldo. Feeling sorry for Bart, she becomes the new Shadowknight and avenges Bart by eliminating everyone who participated in killing him, first starting with Moe's character, while bouncing his head like a soccer ball. "Why am I paying $14.95 a month for this?"
Cultural references
- Homer headbutts a linesman just as Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final. Then he rips off his shirt like Brandi Chastain did in the 1999 Women's World Cup Final.
- Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" plays during the soccer brawl Lisa watches on DVD. Other music in the episode includes the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari" (as Marge uses the Web), Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Kicks" (as Homer officiates the soccer game) and "Phoenix Rises" from the X-Men: The Last Stand soundtrack (when Bart revives Marge in the game).
- "Earthland Realms" is a parody of MMORPGs, particularly Everquest (with some references to the now more popular World of Warcraft), which itself may actually be more of a parody of Warcraft, as one of the playable races Marge scrolls over is an Orc.
- The Shadowknight's death might be a parody of the Black Knight's death from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"--in particular, both his arms are chopped off and spurt ichor, and a scene later he's rendered just a bloody torso.
- Homer apparently worked briefly for Foot Locker, though it's just mentioned, not seen.
- When Marge searches for herself on google, the links that come up are all references to other episodes, the first link makes reference to her being a folk artist, the second link is an alumni directory for the camp she attended as a child, and the third link is for springfield realty, where she worked briefly.
Trivia
- This episode implies that Marge had never had a computer, but she had had a computer in three earlier episodes, in Bart Has Two Mommies, Flanders gave her a computer.
- Marge is an anagram for gamer.
- One of the girls playing soccer against Lisa's team is Jessica Lovejoy who first appeared in Bart's Girlfriend.
- Another of the girls is Sophie, who revealed herself to be Krusty's daughter in Insane Clown Poppy.
- When Marge Googles her own name, the hits include Marge's job as a real estate salesperson and a folk art creator. Another hit says Marge Simpson was the Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee from 1972-78. Coincidentally, Tennessee has a city called Springfield.
- There is a continuity error in the final scene, the first shot is of the family minus Marge playing soccer with Ronaldo watching them; Ronaldo is wearing his Brazilian national team uniform of green and blue. When he approaches Homer later in the scene, he is wearing his white Real Madrid uniform.
- Marge discovers on the Internet that she has the same birthday as Randy Quaid whose birthday is October 1st. This is the third reference to Marge's birthday in the past two seasons, one of which indicated February and another that indicated May.
- The website for "Your House From Space" is still www.google.com but after Marge goes out it changes into a different website
- Each Springfieldian's Earthland Realms character:
- Marge: Female Elf (Cleric, changes at the end of the episode into a warrior)
- Bart: Shadow Knight
- Apu: Shop owner
- Mrs. Krabappel: Female Elf enchantress
- Moe: Bartender Troll
- Skinner: A cockatrice
- Wiggum: A pig-man
- Milhouse: A servant
- Dr. Nick: Pixie
- Mr. Burns: A praying mantis
- Jimbo: Knight
- Kearney: Elf warrior
- Dolph: Cyclops warrior
- Nelson: flying head monster
- Snake: Cobra King
- Sideshow Mel: Male Tauren
- Smithers: Human Barbarian (that resembles Conan The Barbarian)
- Comic Bookstore Guy: Viking-like human
- Dewey Largo, music teacher: A Faun
- Patty & Selma: A two-headed dragon
- Moe previously played a troll in the "Treehouse of Horror" segment, "Scary Tales Can Come True".