HOMR
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"HOMR" (written as "HOMЯ") is the ninth episode of the twelfth season of The Simpsons. It aired on January 7, 2001, and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. This is also the last episode in the BABF (season 11) production line.
At one word, two syllables (four if one spells out the title instead of pronounces it as a word), and four letters, this episode has the shortest title in the show's history (as of 2009).
[edit] Plot
When the family visits the Sick, Twisted, F***ed-Up Animation Festival[1], Homer discovers Animotion, a motion capture technology that enables a cartoon character to mimic a human's movements. After volunteering to demonstrate this technology, Homer decides that he likes it so much that he invests his life savings in the Animotion stock, despite being warned several times about the risks of stock ownership. The next day at the Nuclear Plant, Homer checks the progress of his stock, satisfied that the Animotion stock went up (and really satisfied that the FOX Network's stock is down eight points). The next day, while watching the news, he finds that Animotion's stock has plunged and the company has gone out of business; furthermore, he was the sole stockholder in Animotion. Homer announces the situation to his family, but attempts to overshadow the issue with Lisa's "hogging of the maple syrup." This doesn't work, as Marge eventually realizes what has been said. Homer makes a pathetic attempt to redeem himself by explaining that he still had enough money to buy a shoddy cowbell from eBay, which promptly shatters in his hand. At the bar, he tells Barney and Moe about his troubles, and Barney suggests that Homer be a human guinea pig, which is how Barney earns so much money, despite being his hideous, perpetually drunken self.
Homer decides to follow up on Barney's advice, and gets a job at a medical testing centre. Homer goes through a multitude of tests and experiments, one of which (an intended appetite suppressant) made him temporarily blind. During one experiment, while commenting on Homer's stupidity, the doctors find a crayon lodged in Homer's brain from a childhood incident when he stuck sixteen crayons up his nose and was unable to sneeze one of them out. The crayon has been the cause of his life-long stupidity (contradicting or adding on to other possible reasons behind Homer's stupidity, including drinking alcohol, genetics, and the coma that resulted from Bart's April Fool's Day prank). When even Homer wonders how no one ever found the crayon lodged in his head before, Dr. Hibbert feebly points out that his hand was always (carelessly) positioned so that his thumb covered the crayon every time Homer had a head X-ray taken, so it was never noticed until now. The scientists opt to have the crayon removed, unsure of whether Homer will experience an increase in intelligence, or end up being killed by the experimental operation. Mistakenly believing that it will "increase his killing power," Homer accepts the idea to have the surgery.
After the crayon is removed, Homer survives, and his IQ goes up from 55 to 105, which allows him to form a bond with Lisa now that he's smarter. With Homer's newly impressive intellect, he completes Rubik's cubes, laughs subtly at intellectual jokes, listens to classical music, creates a codpiece for his nuclear plant coworker, Carl, fools the Springfield Elementary audience into getting back at Nelson for the cruel things he has done to them — via usage of his trademark laughter against him — and mathematically (albeit accidentally, while working on a flat tax proposal) proves that there is no God, much to Flanders' disappointment. Homer's newfound brain power soon brings him enemies, however, after Homer does a thorough report on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's many hazards, leading to a massive number of layoffs after the plant is shut down until it can be brought up to code.
Homer then goes to Moe's Tavern, only to see an effigy of himself burning and that he and his improved intelligence are no longer welcome; then to the Aztec Theatre to see a romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts, Richard Gere and Bill Pullman, but is thrown out for pointing out how clichéd and predictable the film is. Wandering around, Homer sees several clubs designated to the effect of "Idiots Only" (including "Smart People Not Welcome", "Dum-Dum Club", "Lunkheads: A Place for Drooling" and Disney Store), and realizes that despite his new ability to understand the world, his life was a lot more enjoyable when he was a moron, and begs the test centre scientists, whom he claims "do nothing but play God,", citing their creation of a half parrot, half octopus "Octoparrot", though they insist otherwise, to put the crayon back into his brain. The scientists refuse to do it, but recommend Homer to someone who can: Moe Szyslak (who, according to his business card, is an unlicensed surgeon).
At his bar, Moe slowly inserts a crayon (which turns out to be Lisa's) into Homer's brain, through his nose as had originally been done, returning him to the idiot he was before. Lisa, who had required the particular colour for a picture she was drawing of Homer, in a university graduation costume with a book, is initially saddened that her father would do such a thing and lose the connection they shared, but cheers up when she finds a note written by Homer (before the operation), explaining that "while I'm taking the coward's way out," he now understands what it is like to be smart like Lisa, and how much more he appreciates her because of this.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: "HOMЯ" |
- "HOMR" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "HOMЯ" at the Internet Movie Database
