The Springfield Files vs. Bart the Daredevil

[stip]

The Springfield Files


Leonard Nimoy begins the episode hosting a show about alien encounters. He talks about an encounter in a town called Springfield.

At Moe's on a Friday night, Homer drinks ten beers, and after insisting he takes a breathalyzer test where Homer reaches "Boris Yeltsin" level, Moe declares that he is drunk and will not let him drive. Homer decides to walk home, but takes a wrong path and ends up in the woods. In a clearing, he sees a glowing thin-boned alien. Although the alien says "Don't be afraid", Homer panics and runs home screaming.

The rest of the family do not believe Homer's story, believing it to be a drunken hallucination, and his attempts to report the alien sighting to the local police are dismissed. Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully of the FBI hear of the sighting and go to investigate. After receiving no results from their psychological tests of him (which involved Homer making a polygraph explode and jogging on a treadmill (which served no purpose other than Scully wanting Homer to lose weight), Homer fails to provide any proof that he actually did see an alien, including bringing the agents to the clearing where he saw the alien, which only succeeds in coming across a lost and confused Grampa. Homer is ridiculed by most of the neighborhood; even Marge refuses to believe in his claims and demands he forget about it, but Bart admits that he does believe what Homer is saying. The next Friday night, the pair camp out in the forest. The alien arrives and promises peace, but Homer scares it away when he accidentally steps on their camp fire and screams in pain. Fortunately, Bart captured the entire incident on tape, and Homer thanks him, cheering for the evidence of the alien in their hands.

Leonard Nimoy tells the viewers goodnight. He is then reminded that the show still has ten minutes left by an off-screen Squeaky Voiced Teen, at which point he runs to his car and leaves. The Squeaky Voiced Teen takes over the narrating duties.

Following the successful capture of the alien's existence, Homer and Bart present it to the media. Although Bart's tape is only three seconds long and is mostly static, everyone in town finally believes Homer, including Marge, who apologizes to Homer for doubting him. Lisa, on the other hand, refuses to believe this and maintains that there should be a more logical explanation. Friday comes again and everyone, including Leonard Nimoy and Agent Scully, goes to the forest. Sure enough, the alien appears again, promising love. The townspeople begin to riot, and charge at the alien. Lisa and Waylon Smithers stop them just in time, showing that the "alien" is actually Mr. Burns. Smithers explains that Burns receives longevity treatment once a week in order to cheat death for a further seven days; this leaves him twisted and disoriented, as well as giving him a soft, high pitched voice as a result of a vocal cord scraping. Back to his normal self, Burns reveals that his green glow is due to many years of working in his nuclear plant, and then renounces his promises of peace and love and instead says that he now intends to bring fear, famine and pestilence, shortly before receiving another booster injection from Dr. Nick. He instantly reverts to his "alien" self; he begins to sing "Good Morning Starshine", with the entire crowd (including Mulder, Scully, and Chewbacca) joining in as the sun rises over the clearing. Squeaky-voiced Teen closes the episode by telling the viewers to watch the skies (he momentarily mispronounced it as skis).

Bart the Daredevil

The Simpsons family attends a monster truck rally featuring Truck-o-Saurus, a giant robotic dinosaur which ultimately crushes the Simpson family car. The rally's grand finale features a death-defying stunt by "the world's greatest daredevil", Lance Murdock. Despite the fact that the act leaves Murdock badly hurt and hospital-bound, Bart is enamored by his performance and dreams of becoming a daredevil. Bart quickly injures himself during his first skateboard stunt by trying to jump over the family car. At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert shows Bart a ward full of children who have been hurt from attempting stunts. Nonetheless, Bart is persistent and continues to pursue his daredevil interest by jumping over a swimming pool and Homer on his hammock. On a class trip to Springfield Gorge, Bart announces that on Saturday, he will jump the gorge on his skateboard. Lisa talks Bart into visiting the hospital to see Murdock, hoping that the daredevil will talk him out of the dangerous stunt. Unexpectedly, however, Murdock encourages Bart to continue on his legacy. Bart plans to do it against the wishes of Homer, who insists that it is too dangerous.

Even after a punishment, several orders, and a "heart-to-heart talk" with Homer, Bart still goes to the gorge and tries to jump it. He is stopped at the last second by Homer, who decides to jump the gorge himself to show Bart what it is like to see a family member needlessly risk their life for no good reason. Bart, not wanting to see his father injured on his account, promises to never jump the gorge and never try to be a daredevil again. However, when Homer goes to hug Bart to make up their misunderstanding, the board rolls down a hill and flies over the gorge, with Homer on board. Although it briefly appears as though Homer will make it safely across, he loses momentum near the middle and plummets to the bottom, progressively becoming severely injured with each fall towards the jagged rocks, and receiving multiple fractures and wounds. A helicopter winches Homer out, slamming his head against the side of the gorge several times in the process before he is loaded into a waiting ambulance, which immediately crashes into a tree as it starts to leave for the hospital. The gurney carrying Homer rolls out of the back, and Homer once again falls to the floor of the canyon. Having arrived at the hospital he is put in the same ward next to Lance Murdock, where he tells him, "You think you've got guts? Try raising my kids!"

[Norah]

Leaning towards Bart the Daredevil but I want to watch The Springfield Files before I commit.

[Simple Torture]

[stip]

I was a big X files fan when Springfield files came out, so it's got a soft spot in my heart

[tragabigzanda]

Bart the Daredevil, easily.

[LoathedVermin72]

BTD is still too early in the series to best a classic like TSF.

[Norah]

BTD is still too early in the series to best a classic like TSF.

[LoathedVermin72]

My feelings on early seasons are well-documented. They're good, but can't compete with the show in its prime.

[Jorge]

Having arrived at the hospital he is put in the same ward next to Lance Murdock, where he tells him, "You think you've got guts? Try raising my kids!"

I forgot Bart the Daredevil concluded with such a lame punchline.

Springfield Files is a ridiculously easy vote for me.

[Norah]

I'm gonna watch Springfield Files today.

[stip]

My feelings on early seasons are well-documented. They're good, but can't compete with the show in its prime.