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'"The Homer They Fall"' is the third episode of ''The Simpsons''
| Contents |
| Plot |
| Production |
| Cultural references |
| Reception |
| References |
| External links |
Plot
A parody of the George Bellows painting ""
The Simpson family visits a high-tech gadget store and Bart buys a gimmicky utility belt from Comic Book Guy. He shows off its features to his classmates until he is chased and beaten by Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney and the belt is stolen. In response, Homer decides to talk with the bullies' fathers at Moe's Tavern, but he is also beaten. Despite the savage three man beating, Homer doesn't fall and Moe is impressed, saying he's seen prize fighters who couldn't take hits that well. Moe, who has already had a failed boxing career himself, decides to help Homer get into boxing. While training, it is discovered that Homer is a weak punisher, and Moe strategizes that he should stand still in the ring and let his opponents tire themselves out and then knock them down with a tap.
Homer does well in his first fights, mostly facing underfed hobo opponents who cannot force Homer to fall. At every match, he follows Moe's advice and starts to gain widespread attention. Moe's former boxing manager, Lucius Sweet visits Moe and announces that the current Heavyweight Champion, Drederick Tatum is being released from prison and is ready for a comeback fight, and Sweet wants Tatum to fight Homer. Moe, despite knowing full well that Tatum is far too powerful, still wants to take his last shot at the big time and schedules Homer to face Tatum for three rounds in "Tatum Vs. Simpson: Payback."
Tatum is paroled and the media begins hyping the fight. With headlines like "Champ to whale on Local Man" and the odds against Homer being a thousand to one, everybody believes that Homer will lose. Even Homer himself visualizes that the only way he could win is if a heart defect fells Tatum before entering the ring. Marge makes Moe promise her that the moment Homer is in any danger, he'll throw in the towel. But after Marge leaves, Moe throws away the towel.
The fight starts and Homer can't withstand Tatum's fearsome barrage and is in danger of being knocked out within six seconds. Homer decides to fight back, but misses. Moe, seeing Homer get destroyed, flees. Tatum completely dominates the fight and after some time, he readies himself to deliver the final blow, but suddenly Moe flies in using the Fan Man's paramotor and carries Homer away.
Outside the arena, Homer thanks Moe for saving him and Tatum shows respect for the love Moe showed for Homer. Sweet declares that Moe will always be a loser and gives him a check for a hundred thousand dollars. Moe starts up the paramotor and flies off into the night.[3][1]
Production
The episode was written by Jonathan Collier, who is a huge boxing fan. Knowing that the people on the internet would "give them grief", the writers went to a lot of effort to explain how Homer would be able to challenge for the Heavyweight Title.[6] A lot of the stuff involving Homer fighting hobos was pitched by John Swartzwelder.[7] Lucius Sweet is a parody of Don King, voiced by Paul Winfield who had previously played King in HBO's 1995 biopic ''Tyson''. In the script, Sweet was described as "A Don King type who looks and sounds exactly like Don King."[8] The similarity is even pointed out by Homer with the line "He is exactly as rich and as famous as Don King." King was asked to guest star, but turned the part down. Drederick Tatum is a parody of Mike Tyson. The name came from George Meyer, who went to high school with a boy named "Drederick Timmins" and Meyer thought it was a cool name. At the time, Tyson was so feared as a boxer and a lot of Tatum's characteristics, such as spending time in prison, are based on him. Homer is named "The Southern Dandy" as a reference to the old-time boxers and wrestlers who had similar nicknames.
In preparation for this episode, Mark Kirkland watched several boxing films and is satisfied with how it turned out. Whenever designing rooms, Kirkland tries to show a bare lightbulb because he feels that it makes things more depressing. In the scene in Moe's office, there is a brief shot of a poster advertising "Szyslak Vs. Oakley" and "Kirkland Vs. Silverman," referring to then-Executive Producer Bill Oakley and ''Simpsons'' directors Mark Kirkland and David Silverman. The scene where Tatum is walking to the ring surrounded by shady characters is based on a real life photo of Tyson.
Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney's fathers make their first and only appearances in the history of the show.[9]
Cultural references
The episode opens with a parody of Bonanza. The montage of Homer fighting various hobos was based on a similar montage in Raging Bull. The music is also a parody of the music, but it is an original composition by Alf Clausen.[10] During the montage, there is a brief parody of the George Bellows painting ". " The "Fan Man" is based on James Miller, a fan famous for parachuting into arenas during big events. Homer's theme song is "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War and Tatum's is "Time 4 Sum Aksion" by Redman. The song heard over the end credits is a rendition of Barbra Streisand's "People," sung by Sally Stevens.
Reception
In response to "Barting Over," which is about skateboarding, Raju Mudhar of the ''Toronto Star'' listed what he thought were "excellent" ''Simpsons'' episodes and scenes also related to sports. He included "The Homer They Fall," writing that Drederick Tatum is "a thinly veiled Mike Tyson parody who's made cameos over the years."[11] Similarly, in 2004 ESPN.com released a list of the Top 100 Simpsons sport moments, ranking the entire episode at #2, saying "Greatest sports introduction ever: In the Tatum fight, Homer is introduced as the Brick Hithouse (and is also known as the Southern Dandy), and his walk-to-the-ring music is 'Why Can't We Be Friends?'" Drederick Tatum was placed at the eighteenth spot on the list. The Simpsons Got Game Greg Collins
Conversely, the authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "the dullest, one-joke episode of the entire series." The episode earned a 7.1/10 on IMDB[12] and an 8.4/10 out on TV.com.[13]
References
1. , , Ray, Richmond, Harper Collins Publishers, 1997, ISBN 0-00063-8898-1
2. The Homer They Fall Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian
3. Episode Capsule at The Simpsons Archive
4. , , Ray, Richmond, Harper Collins Publishers, 1997, ISBN 0-00063-8898-1
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. Raju Mudhar, "Simpsons' sports spoofs simply 'excellent'; Stars like Tyson often lampooned Show celebrating 300th episode," ''Toronto Star'', February 16, 2003, pg. E.03.
12. The Homer They Fall ''IMDB''. Retrieved on February 28, 2007
13. The Homer They Fall ''TV.com''. Retrieved on February 7, 2007
External links
★
★ "The Homer They Fall" at The Simpsons.com
★ "The Homer They Fall" at TV.com
★ "The Homer They Fall" at the Internet Movie Database
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