HOMR
Encyclopedia
"HOMR" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons
’ twelfth season
, originally aired on January 7, 2001 by the Fox Broadcasting Company
. The episode is the 257th episode overall and the last episode produced for the eleventh season (the BABF production line). In the episode, while working as a human guinea pig (to pay off the family's lost savings after making a bad investment), Homer discovers the root cause of his subnormal intelligence: a crayon that was lodged in his brain ever since he was a child. He decides to have it removed to increase his IQ, but discovers that being smart does not necessarily equal being happy.
The episode was written by current show runner
Al Jean
and directed by supervising director Mike B. Anderson
. The episode received positive reviews from critics, won an Emmy Award
for Outstanding Animated Program
and was nominated for an Annie Award. This is also the last episode in the BABF (season 11) production line.
discovers Animotion, a motion capture
technology that enables a cartoon character to mimic a human's movements. After volunteering to demonstrate this technology, Homer decides that he likes it so much that he invests his life savings in the Animotion stock, despite being warned several times about the risks of stock ownership. Two days later, he finds out that Animotion's stock has plunged and the company has gone out of business. At Moe's Tavern, he tells Barney
and Moe
about his troubles, and Barney suggests that Homer be a human guinea pig.
Homer decides to follow up on Barney's advice, and gets a job at a medical testing center. During one experiment, while commenting on Homer's stupidity, the doctors find a crayon
lodged in Homer's brain from a childhood incident when he stuck sixteen crayons up his nose and was unable to sneeze one of them out. The scientists opt to have the crayon removed and Homer accepts their offer, mistakenly believing that the surgery will "increase his killing power".
Homer survives the operation, and his IQ
goes up from 55 to 105, allowing him to form a bond with his daughter Lisa. Homer's newfound brain
power soon brings him enemies, however, after Homer does a thorough report on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's many hazards, leading to a massive number of layoffs after the plant is shut down until it can be brought up to code.
Homer then goes to Moe's Tavern, only to see an effigy
of himself burning and that he and his improved intelligence are no longer welcome. Wandering around, Homer realizes that despite his new ability to understand the world, his life was a lot more enjoyable when he was a moron, and begs the test center scientists to put the crayon back into his brain. The scientists refuse to do it, but recommend Homer to someone who can: Moe Szyslak.
At his bar, Moe inserts a crayon (which turns out to be Lisa's) into Homer's brain, returning him to the idiot he was before. Lisa, who had required the particular color for a picture she was drawing of Homer, is initially saddened that she and her father would lose the connection they shared, but cheers up when she finds a note written by Homer before the operation, explaining that "while [he's] taking the coward's way out," he now understands what it is like to be smart like Lisa, and how much more he appreciates her because of this.
The episode was written by current show runner
Al Jean
and directed by supervising director Mike B. Anderson
. Jean based the episode's plot on Flowers for Algernon
, a novel which he had read in the 8th grade. While Mike B. Anderson directed the main part of the episode, Paul Weed directed the anime part of the show and the Davey and Goliath
(called "Gravey and Jobriath" in the episode) segment was animated by The Keyono Brothers using stop motion animation. The part where Homer is tested on products is based on experiences from the writers when they were in college they would take product tests for money.
, a novel (and later a film titled Charly
) which Al Jean
read in the 8th grade. The animation festival seen in the first act is a parody on Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation
.The Flintstones
is referenced twice in the episode; the cigarette commercial with Itchy and Scratchy is a parody on cigarette advertisements made by Winston that featured The Flintstones, and Ozmodiar is a parody on The Great Gazoo
, a character from The Flintstones. The scene where Homer walks with neon lights of places for unintelligent people (one being a Disney store) is a reference to The Lost Weekend. While mailing the safety report, Homer can be heard humming the Allegro Moderato from the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, by Johann Sebastian Bach
. Phillip J. Fry from Futurama
is seen in the couch gag.
wrote that "I really enjoyed this episode. The storyline was solid and didn't go off track. I was surprised to find Homer even funnier as a genius. The excessive use of pop cultural references was terrific, too, such as Japanimation, smoking, pipe bombs and planned parenthood, ebay and more that I can't remember. Also, I thought the jokes were clever, just like the old days. The only thing I had trouble swallowing was that Moe is suddenly an unlicensed physician. That was the perfect opportunity for ol' Dr. Nick to pop into the show and they wasted it." Colin Jacobson of the DVD Movie Guide said "I won’t call “HomR” an unoriginal episode, but brainy Homer sure does remind me a lot of loquacious Homer from Season Three’s
"Bart's Friend Falls in Love
". The show has a moderately rehashed feel, so don’t expect a lot of thrills from it. I do like the reveal that a 105 IQ makes one a genius in Springfield." Mac McEntrie of DVD Verdict said the best moment of the episode was The Bill Paxton/Bill Pullman debate. The episode ranked eighteenth on AOL
's Top 20 Best Simpsons Episodes.
The episode won the series a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
, making it the eleventh win for the series. The episode was also nominated for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Television Production at the Annie Awards, but lost to Matt Groening
's other show Futurama
, The Luck of the Fryrish
.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
’ twelfth season
The Simpsons (season 12)
The Simpsons 12th season began on Wednesday, November 1, 2000 with "Treehouse of Horror XI".The season contains four hold over episodes from the season 11 production line. The show runner for the twelfth production was Mike Scully. The season features three episodes that were produced for the...
, originally aired on January 7, 2001 by the Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
. The episode is the 257th episode overall and the last episode produced for the eleventh season (the BABF production line). In the episode, while working as a human guinea pig (to pay off the family's lost savings after making a bad investment), Homer discovers the root cause of his subnormal intelligence: a crayon that was lodged in his brain ever since he was a child. He decides to have it removed to increase his IQ, but discovers that being smart does not necessarily equal being happy.
The episode was written by current show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
and directed by supervising director Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson, sometimes credited as Mikel B. Anderson, is a television director who works on The Simpsons and has directed numerous episodes of the show, and was animated in "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as cadet Anderson. While a college student, he directed the live action feature films...
. The episode received positive reviews from critics, won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Animated Program
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...
and was nominated for an Annie Award. This is also the last episode in the BABF (season 11) production line.
Plot
When the family visits the Sick, Twisted, F***ed-Up Animation Festival, HomerHomer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
discovers Animotion, a motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
technology that enables a cartoon character to mimic a human's movements. After volunteering to demonstrate this technology, Homer decides that he likes it so much that he invests his life savings in the Animotion stock, despite being warned several times about the risks of stock ownership. Two days later, he finds out that Animotion's stock has plunged and the company has gone out of business. At Moe's Tavern, he tells Barney
Barney Gumble
Barnard "Barney" Gumble is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the town drunk and Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for...
and Moe
Moe Szyslak
Momar / Morris "Moe" Szyslak is a fictional character in the American animated television series, The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"...
about his troubles, and Barney suggests that Homer be a human guinea pig.
Homer decides to follow up on Barney's advice, and gets a job at a medical testing center. During one experiment, while commenting on Homer's stupidity, the doctors find a crayon
Crayon
A crayon is a stick of colored wax, charcoal, chalk, or other materials used for writing, coloring, drawing, and other methods of illustration. A crayon made of oiled chalk is called an oil pastel; when made of pigment with a dry binder, it is simply a pastel; both are popular media for color...
lodged in Homer's brain from a childhood incident when he stuck sixteen crayons up his nose and was unable to sneeze one of them out. The scientists opt to have the crayon removed and Homer accepts their offer, mistakenly believing that the surgery will "increase his killing power".
Homer survives the operation, and his IQ
Intelligence quotient
An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence. When modern IQ tests are constructed, the mean score within an age group is set to 100 and the standard deviation to 15...
goes up from 55 to 105, allowing him to form a bond with his daughter Lisa. Homer's newfound brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
power soon brings him enemies, however, after Homer does a thorough report on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's many hazards, leading to a massive number of layoffs after the plant is shut down until it can be brought up to code.
Homer then goes to Moe's Tavern, only to see an effigy
Effigy
An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...
of himself burning and that he and his improved intelligence are no longer welcome. Wandering around, Homer realizes that despite his new ability to understand the world, his life was a lot more enjoyable when he was a moron, and begs the test center scientists to put the crayon back into his brain. The scientists refuse to do it, but recommend Homer to someone who can: Moe Szyslak.
At his bar, Moe inserts a crayon (which turns out to be Lisa's) into Homer's brain, returning him to the idiot he was before. Lisa, who had required the particular color for a picture she was drawing of Homer, is initially saddened that she and her father would lose the connection they shared, but cheers up when she finds a note written by Homer before the operation, explaining that "while [he's] taking the coward's way out," he now understands what it is like to be smart like Lisa, and how much more he appreciates her because of this.
Production
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
and directed by supervising director Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson, sometimes credited as Mikel B. Anderson, is a television director who works on The Simpsons and has directed numerous episodes of the show, and was animated in "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as cadet Anderson. While a college student, he directed the live action feature films...
. Jean based the episode's plot on Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960...
, a novel which he had read in the 8th grade. While Mike B. Anderson directed the main part of the episode, Paul Weed directed the anime part of the show and the Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath
Davey and Goliath is a 1960s stop-motion animated children's Christian television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America , were produced by Art Clokey after the success of his Gumby series.Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking"...
(called "Gravey and Jobriath" in the episode) segment was animated by The Keyono Brothers using stop motion animation. The part where Homer is tested on products is based on experiences from the writers when they were in college they would take product tests for money.
Cultural references
The story is based on Flowers for AlgernonFlowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960...
, a novel (and later a film titled Charly
Charly
Charly is a 1968 American film directed by Ralph Nelson. The drama stars Cliff Robertson , Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney and Dick Van Patten and tells the story of a mentally retarded bakery worker who is the subject of an experiment to increase human intelligence...
) which Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
read in the 8th grade. The animation festival seen in the first act is a parody on Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation
Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation
Spike & Mike's is a collection of short animated films which annually tours theaters, film festivals, and college campuses in North America...
.The Flintstones
The Flintstones
The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
is referenced twice in the episode; the cigarette commercial with Itchy and Scratchy is a parody on cigarette advertisements made by Winston that featured The Flintstones, and Ozmodiar is a parody on The Great Gazoo
The Great Gazoo
The Great Gazoo is a character from The Flintstones animated series. He first appeared on the show on October 29, 1965. The Great Gazoo was voiced by the late Harvey Korman.-Biography:...
, a character from The Flintstones. The scene where Homer walks with neon lights of places for unintelligent people (one being a Disney store) is a reference to The Lost Weekend. While mailing the safety report, Homer can be heard humming the Allegro Moderato from the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
. Phillip J. Fry from Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
is seen in the couch gag.
Reception
The episode received positive reviews from critics. Nancy Basile of About.comAbout.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
wrote that "I really enjoyed this episode. The storyline was solid and didn't go off track. I was surprised to find Homer even funnier as a genius. The excessive use of pop cultural references was terrific, too, such as Japanimation, smoking, pipe bombs and planned parenthood, ebay and more that I can't remember. Also, I thought the jokes were clever, just like the old days. The only thing I had trouble swallowing was that Moe is suddenly an unlicensed physician. That was the perfect opportunity for ol' Dr. Nick to pop into the show and they wasted it." Colin Jacobson of the DVD Movie Guide said "I won’t call “HomR” an unoriginal episode, but brainy Homer sure does remind me a lot of loquacious Homer from Season Three’s
The Simpsons (season 3)
The Simpsons third season originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991 and May 7, 1992. The show runners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt...
"Bart's Friend Falls in Love
Bart's Friend Falls in Love
"Bart's Friend Falls in Love" is the twenty-third episode of The Simpsons third season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 7, 1992. In the episode, Bart's best friend Milhouse falls in love with the new girl in school, Samantha Stankey. Milhouse and Samantha spend...
". The show has a moderately rehashed feel, so don’t expect a lot of thrills from it. I do like the reveal that a 105 IQ makes one a genius in Springfield." Mac McEntrie of DVD Verdict said the best moment of the episode was The Bill Paxton/Bill Pullman debate. The episode ranked eighteenth on AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
's Top 20 Best Simpsons Episodes.
The episode won the series a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...
, making it the eleventh win for the series. The episode was also nominated for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Television Production at the Annie Awards, but lost to Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
's other show Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, The Luck of the Fryrish
The Luck of the Fryrish
"The Luck of the Fryrish" is the fourth episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on March 11, 2001.-Plot:...
.
External links
- "HOMЯ" at The Simpsons.com