The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular

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"The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons' seventh season, and is, as the title suggests, the 138th episode. The episode aired on December 3, 1995.

Introduction

Announcer: Live, from the Springfield Civic Auditorium—it's The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular!
(trumpet fanfare; Troy McClure enters)
Troy McClure: Hello, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such Fox network specials as Alien Nose Job and Five Fabulous Weeks of The Chevy Chase Show. Tonight, we're here to honor America's favorite non-prehistoric cartoon family. You'll see long-lost footage, never-before-seen material from your favorite episodes, old favorites you can't see in syndication. (showing clips from previous episodes) So join me, won't you, for The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular.

Opening credits

The normal medium-length credits appear (features only the chalkboard and couch), except it says "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular! - 23% New Footage".

Blackboard

Bart writes "I will only do this once a year."

Couch gag montage

Instead of one couch gag, the episode has a montage of couch gags:

• The family sits on the couch, which turns into a giant brown alien and swallows them whole.
• The family, except for Maggie, race so far off the screen, they go off the film frame.
• The family sits down, followed by the show's secondary and tertiary characters
• A shrunken version of the family sit on the couch
• Santa's Little Helper growls on the couch and scares the family.
• The family sits on the couch and are crushed by the big paper foot from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
• Maggie is the largest, and Homer is the smallest.
• The family runs to the couch in a parody of M. C. Escher's Relativity.
• The family swims to the couch.
• The couch gag is black and white, and the family enters smiling and moving like 1930s cartoon characters.
• The family forms a chorus line, which turns into a large production number.

Plot

Troy McClure hosts this episode, which looks back at the show and also offers never-before-seen outtakes. Also in the episode, many questions fans often ask finally have their answer revealed. It also takes a look at who Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon are. Groening is portrayed as a Southern patriot who wields a gun, is bald, and has an eye patch (he ends up shooting the camera placed in his office for the audience to see him), Brooks is seen as Rich Uncle Pennybags from Monopoly, and Simon's appearance resembles Howard Hughes. It is also revealed that, according to McClure, Homer's original name in The Simpsons was "Captain Wacky".

In the episode, Troy McClure shows clips from The Tracey Ullman Show, including "Good Night", the first short. The episode also offers alternative endings to Part Two of "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", most of which consisted of random characters shooting Mr. Burns, followed by a more elaborate ending where Smithers is revealed to be the assailant. The alternate endings were created to prevent any staff, be it writers, editors, hangers on or even overseas animators, on the Simpsons from spoiling the mystery.

The episode also shows the highly popular deleted scene from "Burns' Heir", where instead of merely shutting the door in Homer's face, Mr. Burns releases the "robotic Richard Simmons", which immediately starts dancing to KC and the Sunshine Band's Shake Your Booty. After a few seconds, Homer runs away screaming. The robot then turns on Mr. Burns. Smithers tries to kill it with a shotgun, but it heals itself as seen in Terminator 2. Shortly after, its "ass" goes into overdrive and starts shaking uncontrollably. Smithers exclaims, "Its ass is gonna blow!" and ushers Mr. Burns and Bart inside. The robot then explodes in a small mushroom cloud and its head lands on the driveway. At the end of the episode, Troy McClure leaves the viewers with what the theatre's audience came to see: hardcore nudity, with a montage of scenes of only bare butts on The Simpsons playing over the end credits, while KC and the Sunshine Band's Shake Your Booty was playing in the background. The Simmons outtake was a real scene that got cut as there are distinctive outlines of the door where the robot comes out on the finished episode. The scene was cut because the writers didn't think it was funny, nor did it do well with a test audience. However, it always gets laughs when shown at college screenings and animation conventions [1]. Because Richard Simmons isn't widely known outside the United States, the Latin American translation changes the name of Simmons to Lorenzo Lamas, son of Fernando Lamas and star of the TV Show "Renegade".

Trivia

• Due to the "picture" of Matt Groening and the subsequent cash register joke, Matt Groening frequently receives mail from several right-wing groups applauding him.
• "Matt Groening" has also Grandpa Simpson's same clothes.
• When the list of people who work on The Simpsons goes by, some people are down more than once (requires freeze frame).

• During the ending credits showing the montage of "hardcore nudity," one of the scenes shown was from the season six episode, "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" where Homer and Marge are naked and kissing in bed before Bart bursts in. According to DVD commentary, the shot of Homer and Marge yelling "Don't turn off the light!" and covering themselves used in the montage was actually a scene that was redone on the episode it appeared in because the animators forgot to cover Marge's lower nudity with the bedspread
• This is the last episode of "The Simpsons" (that isn't a Treehouse of Horror special) directed by David Silverman.