Episode Details:

• Episode Title and Number: "The Call of the Simpsons," Season 1, Episode 7
• Original Air Date: February 18, 1990
• Guest Star: Albert Brooks as Cowboy Bob (his first appearance in The Simpsons!)
  • https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000983/

Episode Summary:

Homer, envious of Ned Flanders' new RV, buys a dilapidated one and takes the family on a disastrous camping trip. The RV is destroyed, they get lost in the woods, Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot, and Maggie is adopted by a family of bears.

Highlights & Observations:

• Couch Gag: The family all piles onto the couch, and nothing extraordinary happens. (A rare instance of a simple couch gag in the early seasons!)
• Chalkboard Gag: "I will not draw naked ladies in class." (Classic Bart!)
• Trivia:
  • Bob's RV Roundup motto _____
  • The Ultimate Behemoth RV has __ deep fryers
  • A _______ was interrupted for the Bigfoot news bulletin!
• Jokes & Gags:
  • Homer to Bart: "Don't try to keep up with the Flanderizes." (Early shade thrown at Ned!)
  • Homer's envy of Ned's income: "How can you afford something like this, Ned? I get your mail once in a while..." (Nosy Homer!)
  • The RV lot scene satirizes how easily some salespeople take advantage of customers.
  • The exploding RV: The first of many times the Simpsons lose everything, only to be back to normal the next week!
  • Homer's dramatic lament: "Of all the fates on heaven and earth, why does this one befall me?"
  • Even after capture, they still think Homer is Bigfoot because he's "stupid and smelly."
• Hidden Gems:
  • The episode title is a reference to the novella The Call of the Wild by Jack London.

Final Thoughts:

• "The Call of the Simpsons" is a classic example of early Simpsons humor, with its over-the-top situations and satirical jabs at consumerism and media sensationalism.
• The episode showcases the family dynamic in a unique way, with each member having their own "wild" experience.

Listener Question/Comment:

• What's your favorite disastrous Simpsons family vacation?

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Homer's silhouette appears next to Alfred Hitchcock's iconic silhouette. He emerges out and warns viewers the following episode may scare certain viewers, especially Christian ones, an announcement mirroring what Marge did in the beginning of "Treehouse of Horror"s I and II. He requests for the television to be turned off before daring viewers, imitating a chicken. The TV screen eventually switches off, however, Homer and Marge can still be heard if not seen. The episode pans to a cemetery and eventually to the Simpsons' house, with the family doing their couch gag as skeletons.

The Simpsons are having a Halloween party, and they tell scary stories. The Halloween costumes include Homer as Julius Caesar, Marge as an ancient Egyptian, most likely Cleopatra, Bart as Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange, Lisa as the Statue of Liberty, Milhouse as Radioactive Man, Martin as Calliope, Nelson as a pirate, Janey as a princess, Wendell as an astronaut, and Lewis as Frankenstein's Monster.

In Treehouse of Horror II, the Simpsons face three terrifying tales:

The Monkey's Paw: Mr. Burns gifts Homer a monkey's paw that grants wishes. Homer wishes for a turkey sandwich, which appears out of thin air, but quickly rots. Lisa wishes for world peace, leading to an alien invasion. Finally, Bart wishes for a million dollars, which arrives as a tax penalty for "Homicide via Monkey's Paw" after Homer is crushed by a falling piano.

The Bart Zone: Bart develops psychic powers, able to control people and objects with his mind. He uses his powers for pranks, turning Homer into a jack-in-the-box and forcing the family to play endless games. Eventually, Bart's powers become uncontrollable, causing chaos in Springfield. He finally wishes for everything to go back to normal.

If I Only Had a Brain: Mr. Burns removes Homer's brain and places it in a robot body to create the ultimate obedient worker. Homer-bot initially enjoys his newfound strength and lack of pain, but soon misses his family and the simple pleasures of life. He escapes Burns' control and wreaks havoc, eventually returning to his human body.

"The first of the annual Halloween spook-fest. In "Bad Dream House", the family move into an old haunted house, are possessed by an evil spirit, and attempt to kill each other. In "Hungry are the Damned", the family's abducted by aliens Kang and Kodos and are fattened up to the extent Lisa questions their motives. In "The Raven", a poem by Edgar Allan Poe is recited with the family as characters."

This is the first episode of The Simpsons to be composed by Alf Clausen, who went on to be the main composer until season 29. The idea behind the episode was to parody EC Comics, James L. Brooks said, "shocking" for a cartoon on network television. He also said this episode's tame compared to later "Treehouse of Horror" episodes.

The idea of Kang and Kodos came from Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky. Kang and Kodos' designs were based off a cover of an EC Comics issue. They were originally designed to be constantly drooling. Initially, creator Matt Groening decided against this to make the animation process easier. However, the animators didn't mind, so the drooling stayed in. The names of Kang and Kodos come from two Star Trek characters. Kang's named after a Klingon captain from the episode "Day of the Dove", and Kodos is named after Kodos the Executioner from the episode "The Conscience of the King".

The episode starts with a sad Lisa staring at herself in the mirror in the bathroom while Homer pounds on the door waiting for his turn. Later in the kitchen before work, Homer searches for his keys, while Bart and Lisa eat breakfast before school. Lisa finds the keys still in the front door. During band practice at school, the band plays terrible while Lisa jams away expertly with her saxophone much to the dislike of the band teacher Mr. Largo. At lunch during a food fight, Lisa does nothing but sit and look sad. During gym class while playing dodgeball, Lisa doesn't move and gets pummeled by dodgeballs, all while looking sad. After school in the living room, Bart and Homer play a boxing video game called redacted.The note's a progress report from Principal Skinner informing Homer and Marge Lisa was too sad to play dodgeball at school. Homer attempts to discover the cause of Lisa's sadness, and Lisa tells Homer she wonders if the world will be any different if she didn't exist. When Homer clearly can't come up with a good quick answer, Marge tells Lisa to take a hot bath, and Homer tells Bart to vacuum the floor. When Lisa's done with her bath, she walks into the living room where Bart's still vacuuming and isn't happy about it. Maggie sits by herself on the couch watching Bart and Lisa. In an effort to see who Maggie likes more, both Bart and Lisa coax her to each other. Instead, Maggie chooses the TV. Later, Homer and Bart are playing Super Slugfest again where Bart easily wins again, and Homer blames the loss on Lisa's loud saxophone playing. Homer goes up to Lisa's room to yell at her. Lisa agrees to just practice on playing the notes without blowing into the saxophone. After Homer leaves the room, Lisa hears a saxophone playing off in the distance outside her window and leaves the house to find the source. Lisa walks through the town at night and discovers a man playing a saxophone alone on a bridge overpass. Back at the Simpson house, everyone's asleep and Marge dreams about her childhood.In the dream, before going out to play her mother tells her to make sure she smiles. Homer also has a dream he's trapped inside the boxing video game with Bart. Bart K.O.'s Homer, and he wakes up screaming from his nightmare. Marge expresses her concern with Lisa's sadness to Homer. MeanwhileLisa's feeling down and it shows. At school she avoids participating in band, lunch, and gym class. Homer and Bart are oblivious, engrossed in their boxing video game, until a note from school alerts them to Lisa's sadness. Lisa confides in Homer that she feels insignificant.

While the family tries to deal with Lisa's melancholy (Bart vacuums, Marge suggests a bath), Lisa sneaks out to find the source of a mysterious saxophone melody. She meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, a fellow blues musician, and they jam together.

Marge, worried about Lisa's disappearance, eventually finds her. Meanwhile, Homer seeks advice on how to beat Bart at their video game. Marge tries to convince Lisa to suppress her sadness to fit in, but ultimately realizes her mistake and encourages Lisa to be herself.

Lisa, feeling accepted, takes her family to The Jazz Hole to hear Bleeding Gums play a song she wrote.

Bart Simpson finds himself in trouble after defending his sister Lisa from the school bully, Nelson Muntz. Lisa had baked cupcakes for her teacher's birthday, but they were snatched away by one of Nelson's cronies. When Bart intervened, he accidentally gave Nelson a bloody nose, making himself the bully's new target.

After school, Bart's attempts to avoid Nelson prove futile. He's cornered and given a severe beating, ending up tossed in a garbage bin. This happens repeatedly, with Bart becoming increasingly weary of the daily pummeling.

At home, Bart confides in his parents. Marge suggests a diplomatic approach, encouraging Bart to talk things out with Nelson. Homer, however, advocates for a more "Simpson-style" solution, involving dirty fighting tactics. Bart tries both approaches, but neither works. Nelson is too powerful and continues his reign of terror.

Desperate, Bart turns to his Grandpa for advice. Grandpa initially suggests standing up to Nelson, but after a demonstration with a stubborn neighbor and a newspaper, he realizes this might not be the best strategy. Instead, he takes Bart to see Herman, a one-armed military antique dealer with a slightly unhinged demeanor.

Herman, with his supposed military expertise, advises Bart to form an army and fight back. Bart rallies the children of Springfield, who are all tired of Nelson's bullying. They undergo rigorous training, including marches, drills, and obstacle courses, preparing for the ultimate showdown.

The day of the battle arrives. Bart confronts Nelson, and just as the bully is about to attack, Bart's army emerges from their hiding places, armed with hundreds of water balloons. A massive water balloon fight ensues, and Nelson, overwhelmed by the sheer number of opponents, is captured.

Bart, now the victorious general, wheels a defeated and tied-up Nelson back to the Simpson home. He hopes Nelson has learned his lesson, but the bully remains defiant. Inside the house, Herman drafts a peace treaty, which both Bart and Nelson sign. Marge, ever the peacemaker, appears with a tray of cupcakes for everyone.

The episode concludes with Bart in a library, reflecting on the events and sharing a message about the gravity of war and conflict.

Homer takes his family to Mr. Burns' company picnic, determined to make a good impression. However, Bart and Lisa misbehave, and Marge gets drunk on punch. During the father-son sack race, Homer tackles Bart to let Mr. Burns win, while Marge leads a drunken song and dance number.

Mr. Burns kicks everyone out, and Homer sees a "perfect" family interacting with their father. He realizes his own family is dysfunctional and tries to get them to act "normal" by forcing them to eat at the dinner table and spying on neighbors.

Desperate, Homer takes the family to Dr. Marvin Monroe's Family Therapy Center. The therapy session goes awry, with the family shocking each other with electric shock chairs. Dr. Monroe kicks them out, giving Homer double his money back. The Simpsons happily use the money to buy a new TV, returning to their old ways.

The Simpsons, Disney, Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel, and MORE have come together once again in the latest Disney Plus short to celebrate The Simpson's Favorite Holiday, Halloween!!! "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," in which Sideshow Bob and many other notorious Disney villains team up for a fun musical! We get a bunch of Easter Eggs, cameos and references!

"In The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer) teams up with the most infamous villains of Disney+ to share the true meaning for the Halloween season. Filled with music, mayhem, and madness, this short from The Simpsons is simply to die for."

Bart's class takes a trip to the nuclear plant where he distracts Homer, causing an accident that gets him fired. Depressed, Homer fails to find a new job and tries to end his life, but his family stops him. On his way to jump off a bridge, he's almost hit by a car and realizes the intersection needs a stop sign. His successful campaign for safety makes him a local hero. He then protests the lack of safety at the plant, leading Mr. Burns to offer him a job as a safety inspector. Homer ultimately refuses to lie about the plant's safety, but Mr. Burns, impressed by his integrity, hires him anyway.

Bart Simpson, a notorious prankster with a disdain for school, finds himself facing an aptitude test. To avoid the dreaded exam, he cunningly swaps his test with that of Martin Prince, the class genius. The result? Bart is declared a gifted child with an IQ of 216 and transferred to a school for the intellectually elite.

Initially, Bart relishes his newfound status, enjoying the lack of rules and the admiration of his parents, particularly Homer, who is overjoyed to have a "genius" son. However, Bart's facade soon begins to crumble as he struggles to keep up with his intellectually advanced classmates. He finds himself lost in discussions about free will and paradoxes, and becomes the laughingstock of the lunchroom when he falls prey to their cunningly uneven trade proposals.

Meanwhile, Bart's old life isn't faring much better. His former friends now see him as a nerd, and his attempts to reconnect with them are met with ridicule. Even his family's efforts to nurture his "genius" with opera visits and film festivals leave him feeling isolated and miserable.

As Bart's charade becomes increasingly difficult to maintain, a mishap in the chemistry lab leads to a meeting with Dr. Pryor, the school counselor. Torn between confessing and disappointing his father, Bart concocts a story about wanting to study "regular" kids, but ultimately decides to come clean.

His confession, however, is met with an unexpected reaction from Homer, who is more concerned with the fact that Bart misspelled "confession" than with the truth about his intelligence. Despite the initial anger, life at the Simpson household eventually returns to its chaotic norm, with Bart back in his rightful place as the mischievous, underachieving son.