Season

15

Production Code

EABF21

Episode Number

0

Airdate

02 November 2003

Writer

John Swartzwelder

Director

Steven Dean Moore

Executive Producer

Al Jean

Editor

Jimmy Heenan

Plot REAPER MADNESS: The Grim Reaper enters the Simpson house attempting to take Bart, but the family goes on a Benny Hill-style chase to elude the Grim Reaper, until it manages to pin Bart’s shirt to the wall with his scythe. As the Grim Reaper sentences Bart to an eternity of pain, Homer kills him with a bowling ball, but when he does, he learns that no one can die since the Grim Reaper is dead. The scene then cuts to two examples of a world where no-one can die: Frankie the Squealer being shot by the Springfield Mafia, and Moe hanging himself from the ceiling. On trash day, Marge tells Homer to take the dead Grim Reaper to the curb. Homer does, but steals the robe, inadvertantly turning himself into the new Grim Reaper. He kills many people on God’s list (and sometimes abuses his job, like when he and Bart are seated up high in a game, and Homer kills the people below him to get a better seat) until he is asked to kill Marge. Homer doesn’t want to kill his wife, but he does. He tries to plead to God that he wants to get out of the job, but then he “pulls a fast one” on Him by substituting Patty’s body for Marge. The annoyed deity says: "Hey, this isn't Marge Simpson. It's her fat sister, Selma", and tries to punish Homer with a (presumably lethal) sunbeam but Homer narrowly escapes on his motorcycle, right through a moving train car, prompting God to sigh “I’m too old and too rich for this.” Later, at the Simpson house, Marge, with shorter hair, says “Thanks for not killing me, Homey. Here’s an extra pork chop.” Homer says “Well...I’m gonna not kill you every week.” Everyone laughs.

FRINKENSTEIN: Homer gets a call telling him that he is the winner of the Nobel Prize, until Lisa clears up and learns it’s for Professor Frink (the man calling Homer, when hearing Lisa talk in his native tongue, exclaims “Jumping Jiminy!” with soft Js), who reanimates his father’s corpse in order to have him appear at the ceremony. Unfortunately, the corpse of Frink Sr. goes on a rampage and looks for body parts. At the awards ceremony in Stockholm, Frink Sr. tries to make amends with his son for his recent organ harvest, but when he sees all the brains filled with knowledge, he makes another rampage, through the audience. Only Frink Jr. manages stop his father, but he is still able to hold on to his soul (which talks to him from a box).

STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO GOOF OFF:
Bart and Milhouse (in a parody of the Twilight Zone episode “A Kind of a Stopwatch”) get a stopwatch through an ad in an old comic book magazine that actually allows them to stop time. They have a great “time,” pulling pranks on Springfieldans (such as depantsing Principal Seymour Skinner), and almost get away with it, until they are outsmarted by Mayor Quimby. An angry mob goes after Bart and Milhouse. When they are on their run, Chief Wiggum shoots at them, they stop time, and the watch breaks, causing Bart and Milhouse to be the only two people moving in a world where time has stopped. Although the watch repair manual is easy to follow, it takes the pair 15 years to get the watch repaired and for things to go back to normal. Lisa, curious about the other button on the watch, presses it, instantly warping reality. First her family's bodies are flying. She presses the red button again. Then her family's genders except her own are switched. She presses it again, turning the Simpsons into giant bobble-heads. She then presses it. Now, all Simpsons (except Lisa) have been turned into issues of TV Guide. She presses it. The family is wearing costumes like the Fantastic Four. Lisa presses it once more. She stops where her family is spinning hoops.