Simpson Tide

"Simpson Tide"
The Simpsons episode
File:The Simpsons 3G04.png
Episode no.	Season 9
Directed by	Milton Gray
Written by	Joshua Sternin Jeffrey Ventimilia
Original air dates	March 29, 1998
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"My butt does not deserve a website"
Couch gag	A parody of Rocky & Bullwinkle
Commentary	Al Jean Mike Reiss

"Simpson Tide" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons' ninth season. The episode first aired on March 29, 1998. The episode title puns on the film Crimson Tide. Guest starring Rod Steiger as Captain Tenille, Bob Denver as himself and Michael Carrington as the Drill Sargeant. This was the last episode Al Jean and Mike Reiss show-ran together, although both would return in season 13 with Jean as show runner and Reiss as producer

Plot

Homer, Lenny and Carl all want a doughnut, but only one is left. Homer thinks up a solution: he places the donut in the reactor core in an attempt to make it huge. Within ten minutes, the power plant is on fire and Homer is fired.

After seeing a recruitment ad on TV, Homer decides to make a difference and enlist in "America's seventeenth line of defense, right between the Mississippi National Guard and the League of Women Voters," the Naval Reserve. Moe, Barney, and Apu decide to join him.

Meanwhile, Bart is impressed when Milhouse gets an earring. As earrings become a fad, Bart gets his ear pierced, much to Homer's outrage.

Soon after Homer and the others graduate, they are subjected to the annual war games. Bart and Homer argue about the earring as Homer prepares to board the submarine. Homer mentions that he got his ears pierced when he was ten, but angrily said that it's completely different. Bart bitterly gives the earring to Homer, who then boards on the submarine after this.

When the captain of Homer's vessel, Cpt. Tenille, goes to check on a problem in the torpedo hatch, Homer is left in charge. At this point, an enemy submarine approaches Homer's, and Homer immediately responds by giving the order to fire a torpedo. Unfortunately, as Cpt. Tenille is in the torpedo hatch, he is fired at the other submarine. The other sub fires back at them, and Homer gives the order to retreat.

Homer fails to find his way back to Springfield, and ends up going entirely the wrong way, ending up in Russian waters. This is interpreted by the United States government as an attempt to hi-jack the sub, and the media brands Homer a traitor. This event creates a political schism between the USA and Russia; the Russian government reveals that the Soviet Union still exists, and that its fall was merely a ruse. As such, the diplomat switches his name plate to "Soviet Union" mode, and curious changes occur in Russia. Tanks emerge from within floats depicting teddy bears in a parade in front of the Kremlin, goosestepping troops parade, the Berlin Wall reappears from nowhere (still with guards and dogs on it) and Lenin returns from the dead, saying "Must... crush... capitalism!" It is not stated in the episode that Homer and the crew actually land in Russia, but during a broadcast when Kent Brockman speaks about Homer and the Crew in Russian waters, there is a picture of Homer standing in Red Square with an Ushanka on his head, wears a geat fur coat (a stereotype of how Russian people love fur coats), and holds a bottle in one hand that says "Vodka" With his arms crossed while he does the Kossak Dance (to which Lisa responds "I told him that photo would come back to haunt him.")

Nuclear war is anticipated until the US Navy drops depth charges on the sub, aiming either to destroy it or force it to surface. The consequent explosion causes a pinhole leak in the submarine's wall. The crew all believe their situation is fatal until Homer remembers the earring he took from Bart. He uses it to plug the leak and saves the submarine.

The vessel surfaces and after Homer explains that it's his first day, he is taken to be prosecuted; however, he is let off the hook because all of the officers at his hearing are under indictment for various offenses. Homer receives a dishonorable discharge and forgives Bart, as the earring saved his life. Homer gives it back to Bart.

Cultural references

• Many parts of this episode refer to the 1995 film Crimson Tide and the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October, including the episode title, the story taking place in a nuclear submarine, and Homer's meeting with the naval court.
• Homer's dream is reminiscent of the film The Planet of the Apes.
• Grampa Simpson attacked John F. Kennedy on the PT 109 when Kennedy states "Ich bin ein Berliner" (one of Kennedy's famous quotes) and Grampa mistakes him for a Nazi.
• The Russian roulette scene parodies a similar scene from The Deer Hunter.
• The opening couch gag is a perfect recreation of the old Rocky and Bullwinkle animated bumper seen at the end of each Bullwinkle short. In the Simpsons version, we see clouds with thunder and lightning, and then silhouettes of the Simpsons family run back and forth on a cliff that is collapsing. Next, the family falls headfirst through a prepice in the gorge. Then we see the outline of the Simpson family form piece-by-piece, floating through a mosiac of colors. Finally, under a red happy sun, pink daisies sprout out of the ground and the Simpsons family sprouts out from the dirt, too. Bart spits out a clod of dirt with a flower in it. The music accompanying the Simpson remake is also adapted from the original music in the Rocky and Bullwinkle bumper.
• Homer's Commanding Officer is Captain Tennille, a reference to the musical duo Captain and Tennille
• Right before the submarine submerges, the song In the Navy is played and the Village People can be seen dancing.
• As Homer prepares to depart, he places a picture of Marge modeling above his bed, a reference to 1940's pin up girl Betty Grable's infamous 'peek-a-boo' pose. At the same time, Barney pins up the same picture, with Homer as the model.
• When Homer is surrounded by other ships and stopped, his explanation that it was his "first day" followed by the unusual noise made by the penguin legion is similar to a scene in the film Brazil.
• Homer refers to one of the crew members as Sulu from Star Trek.
• Apu claims his religion strictly prohibits military service. However, in previous episodes he states he is a Hindu. Hinduism has no such restrictions on military service, as India and Nepal are both nations with armed forces and a large Hindu population.
• This is not Homer's first experience with military service. In Two Dozen and One Greyhounds, it is revealed he served in the US Army before the series timeline. However, this is the first time on the show Homer is shown in the armed forces.

External links

• "Simpson Tide episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.