The Computer Wore Menace Shoes
Encyclopedia
“The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” is the sixth episode of The Simpsons
' twelfth season
. It first aired on the Fox network
in the United States
on December 3, 2000. In the episode, Homer buys a computer and creates his own website to spread gossip. However, when Homer starts writing conspiracy theories about flu shots, he gets sent to an island where people who know too much are imprisoned.
"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" was written by John Swartzwelder
and directed by Mark Kirkland
. The episode was originally called "Homer the Drudge" and would be about Homer becoming news editor Matt Drudge
. The current title of the episode is a reference to the 1969 film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
, but the episode is not related to the film in any other way. The episode's third act features many references to the 1967 science fiction series The Prisoner
.
The episode features American-born actor Patrick McGoohan
as Number Six
, the main character from The Prisoner. In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 9.1 million viewers, finishing in 28th place in the ratings the week it aired. Following its broadcast, the episode received mixed reviews from critics; commentators were divided over the episode's third act.
decides to buy a computer
. After he gives up on learning how to use it, Lisa
sets up the computer. Homer eventually catches on and starts his own webpage, which contains copyrighted material from other pages. To avoid getting sued, Homer calls himself "Mister X". Late at night, unable to sleep until someone visits his page, Homer hears a rumor from Bart
started by either Nelson Muntz
or Jimbo Jones that Mayor Quimby
spent the street repair fund
on a secret swimming pool. He posts this rumor on his page, which is seen by several of Springfield's citizens. Mayor Quimby is the subject of a city-wide scandal when a barrage of reporters find a luxurious pool along with many scantily dressed women in Quimby's office. Homer keeps his anonymity while posting more rumors. Eventually, Mr. X wins the Pulitzer Prize
for his journalistic achievements, despite nobody knowing who he is. When he hears that the prize money will be given to starving children, Homer reveals that he is Mr. X. With the whole town aware of Homer’s double identity
, no one wants to talk near him and his Internet fame plummets. To boost his popularity, Homer begins posting outrageous stories on his webpage. His fame back, Homer celebrates by going to the Kwik-E-Mart
and ends up getting kidnapped.
Homer wakes up on the "Island", a place where the inhabitants are people who have been exiled from society for harboring dangerous secrets. Homer learns from the organization's leader, Number Two
, that a story he wrote about flu vaccinations containing mind-control serum was true. The mind control drug is calibrated to drive people into a frenzy of shopping, which is why flu shots are administered shortly before Christmas
. While he is trapped, Homer is replaced at home by a doppelganger with a thick German accent. Number Six
tells Homer about a makeshift boat he spent thirty-three years making, which Homer steals and escapes the "Island" with, popping the Rover
that emerges from the water to trap him. When he gets home, Homer tries to send out a message to the police through his computer, but is stopped by Number Two taking over the computer and is caught by his doppelganger. Homer fights his double and defeats him by kicking him in the crotch. The family
is happy the real Homer is back and Santa's Little Helper
spouts a gas that drugs the entire family. The episode ends with everyone in the family enjoying their strange, new life on the "Island".
and directed by Mark Kirkland
. It was first broadcast on the Fox network
in the United States
on December 3, 2000. Originally, the episode was about Homer becoming Matt Drudge
, the creator and an editor of the news aggregation website the Drudge Report
, which Swarzwelder is a fan of. At that point, the episode was called "Homer the Drudge". The chalkboard gag was written by staff writer Don Payne, and the couch gag was conceived by producer Laurie Biernackie. Because it was accidentally commissioned without his approval, the animators had to apologize to Scully. When he looked at the couch gag however, he was pleased with it and ordered the animators to "go with it". At one point in the episode, Homer wins a Pulitzer Prize for his achievements in journalism. According to Kirkland, none of the animators knew what the prize looked like and had to do some research in order to make it accurate.
The third act of "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" serves as a parody of the 1967 science fiction television series The Prisoner
. In order "get the feel" of The Prisoner, the writers watched its opening sequence, which summarizes the story of the series. Kirkland, who had seen a couple of episodes as a child, watched several episodes of the series with The Simpsons' animators in order to make "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" resemble it. They were also influenced by 1960's modernism
and furniture designs from the 1971 science fiction film A Clockwork Orange
. The episode features American-born actor Patrick McGoohan
as Number Six
, the central character in The Prisoner, which McGoohan created. Aside from The Prisoner, McGoohan did not do a lot of television work, and "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" was the only time he reprised his role as Number Six. In the DVD commentary for the episode, Payne said that McGoohan was "very funny", and that all the writers wanted to meet him when he came to record his dialogue for the episode. McGoohan was reportedly very pleased with his role in the episode; when his wife Joan McGoohan, who is a real estate broker
, helped staff writer Max Pross buy a house, she told him that Patrick McGoohan was as proud of the episode as anything in his career.
said in the episode's DVD commentary. The episode was also written at a time when several The Simpsons producers invested in an animated web series' company called icebox.com
, which was co-created by two former The Simpsons writers. Although the title of the episode is a reference to the 1969 Disney film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
, the episode itself has "essentially nothing" to do with the film, according to M. Keith Booker in his book Drawn to television: prime-time animation from the Flintstones to Family guy. In the episode, the slogan of Homer's webpage is "All the muck that's fit to rake". This is a reference to the American newspaper The New York Times
, whose slogan is "All the News That's Fit to Print". The word "muck" refers to muckrakers, a term closely associated with reform-oriented journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines after 1900.
The episode's third act, which serves as a parody of The Prisoner, features several references to the series. When the secret organization find out about Homer's discovery, he is taken to a secret location called the "Island". The "Island" is modeled after the "Village
", where Number Six is taken in The Prisoner. While he is in the "Island", Homer is repeatedly gassed by unexpected objects, a reference to the way Number Six would often be gassed in The Prisoner. "George [Meyer] and I used to laugh a lot about how often [Number Six] would be gassed by unexpected devices in the show", Scully said in the episode's DVD commentary. "And we wanted to cram as many in as we could." While escaping the "Island", Homer is chased by a "big balloon". The balloon is a reference to Rover
, a floating white ball in The Prisoner that was created to keep inhabitants in the "Village", which was also featured in the season 9 episode The Joy of Sect
. The music heard in the scene is based on The Prisoner' s theme music.
, translating to approximately 9.1 million viewers. The episode finished in 28th place in the ratings for the week of November 27-December 3, 2000, tying with an episode of the news magazine Dateline NBC
and the CBS
sitcom The King of Queens
. After the episode was released, The Simpsons' writers created a website called mrxswebpage.com, which was made to resemble Homer's website in the episode. This was at a time when many television shows created websites to promote episodes; earlier that year, Fox created a website called whatbadgerseat.com in conjunction with the season premiere
, in which badgers played an important role. On August 18, 2009, the episode was released as part of a DVD
set called The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season. Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Don Payne, John Frink, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Mark Kirkland and Joel H. Cohen participated in the audio commentary for the episode.
Following its broadcast, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" received mixed reviews from critics. Giving it a positive review, DVD Talk
's Jason Bailey described the episode as a "smart piece of social satire". He especially enjoyed Homer's part in the episode, and found that his incompetence at handling computers is "comedic gold". Casey Burchby, another reviewer for DVD Talk, also enjoyed the social satire in the episode, and although he found the parody of The Prisoner "bizarre", he maintained that it was "bold". Writing for DVD Verdict
, Mac MacEntire argued that the episode is "hilarious", provided one has seen The Prisoner. DNA Smith described the episode as "memorable". The episode is also often considered to be a fan favorite, according to Matt Haigh of Den of Geek. On the other hand, DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson was less impressed with the episode. In his review of The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season, Jacobson wrote that he enjoyed the episode's take on "Internet idiocy". He wrote, "Some parts of it feel dated, but the web features even more ill-informed opinions today than it did nine years ago, so much of it remains timeless and on target." However, he was critical of the episode's third act. "The side of the show feels like it was intended to amuse a few fans and it doesn’t show a lot of real cleverness or wit", he wrote. He summarized the episode as being decent, but inconsistent. The Tonawanda News
' s Paul Lane considers "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" to be the worst episode of the series. He was especially critical of the ending, which he found incomprehensible. "Why an island? Why are they happy? How’d they get back? Horrible, HORRIBLE writing", he wrote.
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...
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...
. It first aired on the Fox network
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...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on December 3, 2000. In the episode, Homer buys a computer and creates his own website to spread gossip. However, when Homer starts writing conspiracy theories about flu shots, he gets sent to an island where people who know too much are imprisoned.
"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" was written by John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and directed by Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland is an American director. He has directed 69 episodes, from 1990-present, of The Simpsons, more than any other person.-Career:...
. The episode was originally called "Homer the Drudge" and would be about Homer becoming news editor Matt Drudge
Matt Drudge
Matthew Nathan Drudge is the American creator and editor of the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website. Drudge is self-described as being conservative and populist. Drudge has also authored a book and hosted a radio show and a television show.-Early years:Matthew Drudge was raised in Takoma...
. The current title of the episode is a reference to the 1969 film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a Disney film from 1969, starring Alan Hewitt, Kurt Russell, Frank Webb, and Joe Flynn. It is released by Buena Vista Distribution Company....
, but the episode is not related to the film in any other way. The episode's third act features many references to the 1967 science fiction series The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
.
The episode features American-born actor Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
as Number Six
Number Six (The Prisoner)
Number Six is the central fictional character in the 1960s television series The Prisoner, played by Patrick McGoohan. In the AMC remake, the character is played by Jim Caviezel, renamed "Six"....
, the main character from The Prisoner. In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 9.1 million viewers, finishing in 28th place in the ratings the week it aired. Following its broadcast, the episode received mixed reviews from critics; commentators were divided over the episode's third act.
Plot
After finding out that all of the nuclear plant's staff members had been informed of the plant's maintenance via e-mail, 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...
decides to buy a computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
. After he gives up on learning how to use it, Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
sets up the computer. Homer eventually catches on and starts his own webpage, which contains copyrighted material from other pages. To avoid getting sued, Homer calls himself "Mister X". Late at night, unable to sleep until someone visits his page, Homer hears a rumor from Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
started by either Nelson Muntz
Nelson Muntz
Nelson Mandela Muntz is a fictional character and bully from the animated TV series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Nelson was introduced in Season 1's "Bart the General" as a bully but later turned into a friend of Bart Simpson, who is best identified by his signature laugh .-Role...
or Jimbo Jones that Mayor Quimby
Joe Quimby
Mayor Joseph "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed "Diamond Joe," is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in the episode "Bart Gets an F". A member of the Democratic Party, Quimby is the mayor of Springfield, and is a...
spent the street repair fund
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
on a secret swimming pool. He posts this rumor on his page, which is seen by several of Springfield's citizens. Mayor Quimby is the subject of a city-wide scandal when a barrage of reporters find a luxurious pool along with many scantily dressed women in Quimby's office. Homer keeps his anonymity while posting more rumors. Eventually, Mr. X wins the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for his journalistic achievements, despite nobody knowing who he is. When he hears that the prize money will be given to starving children, Homer reveals that he is Mr. X. With the whole town aware of Homer’s double identity
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
, no one wants to talk near him and his Internet fame plummets. To boost his popularity, Homer begins posting outrageous stories on his webpage. His fame back, Homer celebrates by going to the Kwik-E-Mart
Kwik-E-Mart
The Kwik-E-Mart is a fictional chain of convenience stores in the animated television series The Simpsons. It is a parody of American convenience store chains, such as 7-Eleven and Circle K, and represents many myths and stereotypes of them. It is notorious for its high prices and the poor quality...
and ends up getting kidnapped.
Homer wakes up on the "Island", a place where the inhabitants are people who have been exiled from society for harboring dangerous secrets. Homer learns from the organization's leader, Number Two
Number Two (The Prisoner)
Number Two was the title of the chief administrator of The Village in the 1967-68 British television series The Prisoner. More than 17 different actors appeared as holders of the office during the 17-episode series .The first...
, that a story he wrote about flu vaccinations containing mind-control serum was true. The mind control drug is calibrated to drive people into a frenzy of shopping, which is why flu shots are administered shortly before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
. While he is trapped, Homer is replaced at home by a doppelganger with a thick German accent. Number Six
Number Six (The Prisoner)
Number Six is the central fictional character in the 1960s television series The Prisoner, played by Patrick McGoohan. In the AMC remake, the character is played by Jim Caviezel, renamed "Six"....
tells Homer about a makeshift boat he spent thirty-three years making, which Homer steals and escapes the "Island" with, popping the Rover
Rover (The Prisoner)
Rover is a fictional entity from the 1967 British television program The Prisoner, and was an integral part of the way 'prisoners' were kept within The Village. It was depicted as a floating white ball that could coerce, and, if necessary, disable inhabitants of The Village, primarily Number Six...
that emerges from the water to trap him. When he gets home, Homer tries to send out a message to the police through his computer, but is stopped by Number Two taking over the computer and is caught by his doppelganger. Homer fights his double and defeats him by kicking him in the crotch. The family
Simpson family
The Simpson family is a family of fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Homer and Marge and their three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town...
is happy the real Homer is back and Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons...
spouts a gas that drugs the entire family. The episode ends with everyone in the family enjoying their strange, new life on the "Island".
Production
"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" was written by John SwartzwelderJohn Swartzwelder
John Swartzwelder is an American comedy writer and novelist, best known for his work on the animated television series The Simpsons, as well as a number of novels. He is credited with writing the largest number of Simpsons episodes by a large margin...
and directed by Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland is an American director. He has directed 69 episodes, from 1990-present, of The Simpsons, more than any other person.-Career:...
. It was first broadcast on the Fox network
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...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on December 3, 2000. Originally, the episode was about Homer becoming Matt Drudge
Matt Drudge
Matthew Nathan Drudge is the American creator and editor of the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website. Drudge is self-described as being conservative and populist. Drudge has also authored a book and hosted a radio show and a television show.-Early years:Matthew Drudge was raised in Takoma...
, the creator and an editor of the news aggregation website the Drudge Report
Drudge Report
The Drudge Report is a news aggregation website. Run by Matt Drudge with the help of Joseph Curl and Charles Hurt, the site consists mainly of links to stories from the United States and international mainstream media about politics, entertainment, and current events as well as links to many...
, which Swarzwelder is a fan of. At that point, the episode was called "Homer the Drudge". The chalkboard gag was written by staff writer Don Payne, and the couch gag was conceived by producer Laurie Biernackie. Because it was accidentally commissioned without his approval, the animators had to apologize to Scully. When he looked at the couch gag however, he was pleased with it and ordered the animators to "go with it". At one point in the episode, Homer wins a Pulitzer Prize for his achievements in journalism. According to Kirkland, none of the animators knew what the prize looked like and had to do some research in order to make it accurate.
The third act of "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" serves as a parody of the 1967 science fiction television series The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
. In order "get the feel" of The Prisoner, the writers watched its opening sequence, which summarizes the story of the series. Kirkland, who had seen a couple of episodes as a child, watched several episodes of the series with The Simpsons
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
and furniture designs from the 1971 science fiction film A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
. The episode features American-born actor Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
as Number Six
Number Six (The Prisoner)
Number Six is the central fictional character in the 1960s television series The Prisoner, played by Patrick McGoohan. In the AMC remake, the character is played by Jim Caviezel, renamed "Six"....
, the central character in The Prisoner, which McGoohan created. Aside from The Prisoner, McGoohan did not do a lot of television work, and "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" was the only time he reprised his role as Number Six. In the DVD commentary for the episode, Payne said that McGoohan was "very funny", and that all the writers wanted to meet him when he came to record his dialogue for the episode. McGoohan was reportedly very pleased with his role in the episode; when his wife Joan McGoohan, who is a real estate broker
Real estate broker
A real estate broker, real estate agent or realtor is a party who acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate/real property and attempts to find sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy...
, helped staff writer Max Pross buy a house, she told him that Patrick McGoohan was as proud of the episode as anything in his career.
Cultural references
"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" makes fun of use of the Internet, which was rapidly growing in popularity at the time. "[...] The Internet was just starting to turn into a serious waste of time around this point in history", staff writer Matt SelmanMatt Selman
Matthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
said in the episode's DVD commentary. The episode was also written at a time when several The Simpsons producers invested in an animated web series' company called icebox.com
Icebox.com
icebox.com is a web television animation company founded in 1999 by Jonathan Collier, Howard Gordon, Rob LaZebnik, Scott Rupp and Tal Vigderson. The founders stated that the company was created to capitalize on the inherent "freedom of the medium" which they felt stifled creativity of writers due...
, which was co-created by two former The Simpsons writers. Although the title of the episode is a reference to the 1969 Disney film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes is a Disney film from 1969, starring Alan Hewitt, Kurt Russell, Frank Webb, and Joe Flynn. It is released by Buena Vista Distribution Company....
, the episode itself has "essentially nothing" to do with the film, according to M. Keith Booker in his book Drawn to television: prime-time animation from the Flintstones to Family guy. In the episode, the slogan of Homer's webpage is "All the muck that's fit to rake". This is a reference to the American newspaper The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, whose slogan is "All the News That's Fit to Print". The word "muck" refers to muckrakers, a term closely associated with reform-oriented journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines after 1900.
The episode's third act, which serves as a parody of The Prisoner, features several references to the series. When the secret organization find out about Homer's discovery, he is taken to a secret location called the "Island". The "Island" is modeled after the "Village
The Village (The Prisoner)
The Village is the fictional setting of the 1960s UK television series The Prisoner where the main character, Number Six, is held with other former spies and operatives...
", where Number Six is taken in The Prisoner. While he is in the "Island", Homer is repeatedly gassed by unexpected objects, a reference to the way Number Six would often be gassed in The Prisoner. "George [Meyer] and I used to laugh a lot about how often [Number Six] would be gassed by unexpected devices in the show", Scully said in the episode's DVD commentary. "And we wanted to cram as many in as we could." While escaping the "Island", Homer is chased by a "big balloon". The balloon is a reference to Rover
Rover (The Prisoner)
Rover is a fictional entity from the 1967 British television program The Prisoner, and was an integral part of the way 'prisoners' were kept within The Village. It was depicted as a floating white ball that could coerce, and, if necessary, disable inhabitants of The Village, primarily Number Six...
, a floating white ball in The Prisoner that was created to keep inhabitants in the "Village", which was also featured in the season 9 episode The Joy of Sect
The Joy of Sect
"The Joy of Sect" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons ninth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 8, 1998. In the episode, a cult called the "Movementarians" takes over Springfield, and Homer and the rest of the Simpson family become members...
. The music heard in the scene is based on The Prisoner
Release and reception
In its original American broadcast on December 3, 2000, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" received a 9.0 rating, according to Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, translating to approximately 9.1 million viewers. The episode finished in 28th place in the ratings for the week of November 27-December 3, 2000, tying with an episode of the news magazine Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
and the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
sitcom The King of Queens
The King of Queens
The King of Queens is an American sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007.This show was produced by Hanley Productions and CBS Productions , CBS Paramount Television ,and CBS Television Studios in association with Columbia TriStar Television , and Sony Pictures...
. After the episode was released, The Simpsons
A Tale of Two Springfields
"A Tale of Two Springfields" is the second episode from season twelve of the animated TV series The Simpsons and is the 250th episode of the series overall in both broadcast and production order. The episode originally premiered November 5, 2000 on Fox Broadcasting Company.The episode was written...
, in which badgers played an important role. On August 18, 2009, the episode was released as part of a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set called The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season. Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Don Payne, John Frink, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Mark Kirkland and Joel H. Cohen participated in the audio commentary for the episode.
Following its broadcast, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" received mixed reviews from critics. Giving it a positive review, DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
's Jason Bailey described the episode as a "smart piece of social satire". He especially enjoyed Homer's part in the episode, and found that his incompetence at handling computers is "comedic gold". Casey Burchby, another reviewer for DVD Talk, also enjoyed the social satire in the episode, and although he found the parody of The Prisoner "bizarre", he maintained that it was "bold". Writing for DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict is a judicial themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. Current editor in chief is Michael Stailey, who also reviews for Rotten Tomatoes...
, Mac MacEntire argued that the episode is "hilarious", provided one has seen The Prisoner. DNA Smith described the episode as "memorable". The episode is also often considered to be a fan favorite, according to Matt Haigh of Den of Geek. On the other hand, DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson was less impressed with the episode. In his review of The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season, Jacobson wrote that he enjoyed the episode's take on "Internet idiocy". He wrote, "Some parts of it feel dated, but the web features even more ill-informed opinions today than it did nine years ago, so much of it remains timeless and on target." However, he was critical of the episode's third act. "The side of the show feels like it was intended to amuse a few fans and it doesn’t show a lot of real cleverness or wit", he wrote. He summarized the episode as being decent, but inconsistent. The Tonawanda News
Tonawanda News
The Tonawanda News is a six-day morning daily newspaper published Tuesday through Sunday in North Tonawanda, New York, USA, part of Niagara County, and also covering Tonawanda and Kenmore in Erie County....
External links
- "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" at The Simpsons.com
- Mr. X’s website