Homer the Great vs. 22 Short Films About Springfield

[stip]

Homer the Great
Homer notices that his colleagues Lenny and Carl are enjoying inexplicable privileges such as free soft drinks, massage chairs, and great parking spots at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He discovers they are part of an ancient secret society known as the Stonecutters. To join, one must either be the son of a Stonecutter or save the life of a Stonecutter. Homer complains about not being let in and reveals to Marge his past experience being excluded from clubs: when he was young, a group of children formed the "No Homers Club" and did not allow him to join, while letting in another boy named Homer Glumplet, claiming that the name allowed for one Homer. While extolling the Stonecutters at the dinner table, he discovers that his father is a member and is admitted.

After the painful and humiliating initiations required to join the Stonecutters, which is made up of many of the male characters on the show, Homer takes great pleasure in the society's secret privileges, such as an underground byway bypassing Springfield's traffic jams, drinking bouts and free rollerblades (in order to get from the parking lot to his workplace faster). During a celebratory rib dinner with his fellow Stonecutters commemorating the society's 1500th anniversary, he unwittingly uses the society’s Hallowed Sacred Parchment as a napkin, tissue and cotton swab, destroying it. He is stripped of his Stonecutter robes and is sentenced to walk home naked dragging the "Stone of Shame." Before he leaves, however, it is discovered that Homer has a birthmark in the shape of the Stonecutter emblem, identifying him as the Chosen One who, it was foretold, would lead the Stonecutters to greatness. The "Stone of Shame" is instantly removed and replaced with the (much larger and heavier) "Stone of Triumph."

Homer is crowned the new leader of the Stonecutters. Initially enjoying himself, Homer soon feels isolated by his power when the other members treat him differently due to his new position, and asks Lisa for advice. She suggests that he ask the Stonecutters to do volunteer work to help the community, which Homer agrees to, and has the Stonecutters use their resources to help with daycare and community upkeep. This angers the Stonecutters, who misinterpret Homer's good intentions as going mad with power. They convene their World Council and consider killing Homer before he supposedly kills anyone for disobeying his commands. Instead, Moe suggests they form a new society, the Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers (once again including a now adult Homer Glumplet).

Homer becomes despondent about losing his secret club and replaces every member with monkeys which he gets drunk and makes act out Civil War battles. Marge consoles him by telling him he is a member of a "very exclusive club", the Simpson family, which she and Homer wear special rings to show loyalty. The family subjects him to some hazing and paddling.

22 Short Films About Springfield

The episode is a series of short skits, each showing a brief slice of life in Springfield after Bart wonders if anything interesting happens to Springfield's citizens:

1. Bart and Milhouse spit and squirt condiments from a highway overpass onto cars, then go to the Kwik-E Mart.
2. There, Apu leaves his shop for four minutes to briefly attend a party at his brother Sanjay's house.
3. Bart gets gum in Lisa's hair without noticing, and Marge tries to get it out by putting a variety of foods on her head.
4. Smithers suffers an allergic reaction to a bee sting while bike riding with Mr. Burns, who makes him pedal the bike to the hospital; however, Mr. Burns is taken inside instead.
5. Dr. Nick comes under criticism from the medical board for his unorthodox medical procedures, called "nonsensical diagnosis", only to treat Abraham Simpson with an electric light socket, saving his career.
6. Moe gets robbed by Snake after Barney gives him $2,000 to pay for a portion of his $14 billion bar tab.
7. "Skinner & The Superintendent": Skinner hosts lunch for Superintendent Chalmers and when his roast is burned, he pretends that the smoke from his oven is steam from the "steamed clams" he is preparing for them. He then attempts to disguise food from the Krusty Burger as his own cooking, emerging from the kitchen carrying hamburgers and insisting that he said that they were having "steamed hams" (apparently local Albany dialect for hamburgers). He then tries to cover up the kitchen being on fire by claiming that it contains an Aurora Borealis. Later, his mother is heard screaming, and a fire engine races to the house.
8. Homer accidentally traps Maggie in a newspaper vending box, and ends up uprooting the box (with Maggie inside) and placing it in her bedroom.
9. Chief Wiggum, Lou and Eddie discuss the similarities and differences between McDonald's and the Krusty Burger, such as the former's Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
10. Bumblebee Man's house is destroyed upon arriving home after a horrible day at work, causing his wife to leave him.
11. Snake runs Wiggum over and the two begin to fight. They roll into Herman's shop, who captures them at gunpoint.
12. Reverend Lovejoy urges his pet Old English Sheepdog to use Ned Flanders' lawn as a toilet.
13. Various townspeople - including Flanders, Groundskeeper Willie, the Sea Captain, Otto, Dr. Hibbert, Sideshow Mel, Lionel Hutz, and Üter - advise Marge and Lisa on how to remove the gum stuck in Lisa's hair.
14. "Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel": Cletus offers Brandine some shoes he found on a telephone line.
15. Milhouse has to use the bathroom in Comic Book Guy's Android's Dungeon and has to purchase a comic book first, but ends up leaving before he can use it. He then goes with his father to Herman's store, where he accidentally knocks Herman out with a flail, saving his father, Snake, and Wiggum.
16. Jake cuts the gum out of Lisa's hair, leaving her with a different hairstyle.
17. Nelson laughs at Lisa's new haircut, at Mrs. Glick tripping and falling head-first into a trash can, and at an extremely tall man in a small VW Beetle car, who gets out and humiliates him to teach him a lesson.
18. Bart and Milhouse conclude that life is interesting in their town after all.
19. Lastly, "The Tomfoolery of Professor John Frink" is almost seen, but the episode ends before Frink can begin his story

[stip]

This is staying open for the duration of the next round

[tragabigzanda]

Watching 22 Short Films right now, in hopes I might be persuaded to change my vote and break the tie.

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I never made this connection before: Bart & Milhouse enter the Kwik-E-Mart for their sugar fix. The last thing we see is them walking past a display of bubble gum. After the Apu story, we move on to Lisa, who gets gum in her hair when Bart skates by and tosses (he's aiming for the trash and unaware of her presence) -- presumably the same gum from the display.

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This might be Dr. Nick Riviera's swan song:

Spoiler: show

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Moe flicking the lights on and off to dissuade Snake from robbing him is hysterical.

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The Skinner/Superintendent Chalmers story is probably the highlight of this episode:

Spoiler: show

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Poor Bumblebee Man.

Spoiler: show

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Anybody know the significance of Snake's "Middlebury" t-shirt?

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All the side characters coming into the Simpsons' kitchen during Lisa's gum debacle is one of the earlier off-the-rails moments outside of the Halloween eps. It's still pretty funny, but I can see how that approach to humor grew completely out of control over the following years.

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The security guard from the Bonestorm episode makes a background appearance during Nelson's walk of shame.

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The ending with Prof. Frink is terrific.

[tragabigzanda]

I'm crashing, I'll try to do Homer the Great tomorrow.

[Jorge]

This might be Dr. Nick Riviera's swan song

What do you mean

[tragabigzanda]

This might be Dr. Nick Riviera's swan song

What do you mean

I just looked up the term and realized I've misunderstood it my whole life. I thought it was like "greatest ever," not "final performance."
Anyway, it's the best scene with Dr. Nick was all I was trying to say.