| "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 12 Episode 6 | ||
| Directed by | Mark Kirkland | ||
| Written by | John Swartzwelder | ||
| Production code | CABF02 | ||
| Original air date | December 3, 2000 (2000-12-03) | ||
| Guest appearance | |||
| Episode features | |||
| Chalkboard gag | "I will only provide aurine sample when asked" | ||
| Couch gag | Santa's Little Helper dances on his hind legs likeSnoopy. | ||
| Commentary | Mike Scully Ian Maxtone-Graham Don Payne John Frink Matt Selman Tom Gammill Max Pross Mark Kirkland Joel H. Cohen | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| The Simpsonsseason 12 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
“The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" is the sixth episode of thetwelfth season of the American animated television seriesThe Simpsons. It first aired on theFox network in the United States on December 3, 2000. In the episode,Homer buys a computer and creates his ownwebsite to spread gossip andfake news. However, when Homer starts writing conspiracy theories about flu shots, he is sent to an island where people who know too much are imprisoned.
"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" was written byJohn Swartzwelder and directed byMark Kirkland. The title of the episode is a reference to the 1969 Disney comedy filmThe Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, but the episode isn't related to the film in any other way. The episode's third act features many references to the 1967 science fiction seriesThe Prisoner.
The episode featuresPatrick McGoohan asNumber Six, the main character fromThe Prisoner. In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 9.1 million viewers, finishing in 28th place in the ratings the week it aired. Following its broadcast, the episode received mixed reviews from critics; commentators were divided over the episode's third act.
After finding out that all of the nuclear power plant's staff members had been informed of the plant's closure for maintenance via e-mail,Homer decides to buy acomputer. AfterLisa sets up the computer for him, Homer starts his ownwebpage, which contains copyrighted material from other pages. To avoid getting sued, Homer calls himself "Mr. X". Late at night, unable to sleep until someone visits his page, Homer hears a rumor fromBart started by eitherNelson Muntz orJimbo Jones thatMayor Quimbyspent the street repair fund on a secret swimming pool. He posts this rumor on his page, which is seen by several of Springfield's citizens, and reporters find a luxurious pool along with many scantily dressed women in Quimby's office building.
Homer keeps anonymously investigating and posting more scandals, includingMr. Burns selling uranium to terrorists (resulting in Burns getting arrested by the FBI),Apu selling expired doughnuts as bagels, and various unprofessional acts by the Springfield Police Department (although he overlooksKrusty's admission tovehicular manslaughter). Eventually, Mr. X wins thePulitzer Prize for his journalistic achievements, despite no-one knowing who he is. When he hears that the prize money will be given to starving children, Homer reveals himself as Mr. X. However, this ends up alienating Homer from the rest of the town, as no-one feels comfortable confessing their secrets now that they know he is Mr. X, and his fame soon plummets. To boost his popularity, Homer begins postingoutrageous fake stories on his webpage. Regaining his fame, Homer celebrates by going to aKwik-E-Mart which turns out to be fake, and he ends up being kidnapped.
Homer wakes up on the "Island", a place where the inhabitants are people who have been exiled from society for harboring dangerous secrets. Homer learns from the organization's leader,Number Two, that a story he wrote about flu vaccinations containing a mind-control serum is true; the mind control drug is calibrated to drive people into a frenzy of shopping, which is why flu shots are administered shortly beforeChristmas. While Homer is trapped on the Island, he is replaced by adoppelgänger who looks identical to him but speaks with a thick German accent and wears a dark tie.
Number Six, who is trapped on the Island for inventing the bottomless peanut bag, tells Homer about a makeshift boat he spent thirty-three years making, which Homer steals and escapes the Island with. When he gets home, Homer tries to contact the police through his computer, only for the computer to be hacked remotely by Number Two. Homer is attacked by his doppelgänger but then defeats him by kicking him in the crotch.Marge and the kids are happy that the real Homer has returned, but then a fakeSanta's Little Helper spouts a gas that drugs the entire family. The episode ends with everyone in the family enjoying their strange, new life on the Island. A fake koala shoots gas towards the viewer while Homer and Lisa invite them to the Island.
"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" was written byJohn Swartzwelder and directed byMark Kirkland. It was first broadcast on theFox network in the United States on December 3, 2000.[1] Originally, the episode was about Homer becomingMatt Drudge, the creator and an editor of thenews aggregation website theDrudge Report, of which Swartzwelder is a fan. At that point, the episode was called "Homer the Drudge".[2] The chalkboard gag was written by staff writerDon Payne,[3] and the couch gag was conceived by producer Laurie Biernackie.
The third act of "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" is a pastiche of the 1967 science fiction television seriesThe Prisoner.[1] In order to "get the feel" ofThe Prisoner, the writers watched its opening sequence, which summarizes the story of the series. Kirkland, who had seen a couple of episodes as a child, watched several episodes of the series withThe Simpsons' animators in order to make "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" resemble it. They were also influenced by 1960smodernism and furniture designs from the 1971 science fiction filmA Clockwork Orange.[4]
The episode features American-born actorPatrick McGoohan asNumber Six, the central character inThe Prisoner, which McGoohan played. "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" was the only time McGoohan reprised his role as Number Six.[5] In the DVD commentary for the episode, Payne said that McGoohan was "very funny", and that all the writers wanted to meet him when he came to record his dialogue for the episode.[3]
McGoohan was reportedly very pleased with his role in the episode; when his wife Joan McGoohan, who is areal estate broker, helped staff writerMax Pross buy a house, she told him that Patrick McGoohan was as proud of the episode as anything in his career.[6]
"The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" makes fun of use of the Internet, which was rapidly growing in popularity at the time. "[...] The Internet was just starting to turn into a serious waste of time around this point in history", staff writerMatt Selman said in the episode's DVD commentary.[2] The news website that Homer creates is based on theDrudge Report, a news aggregator created by journalistMatt Drudge. The episode was also written at a time when severalThe Simpsons producers invested in an animated web series' company calledicebox.com, which was co-created by two formerThe Simpsons writers.[7]
Although the title of the episode is a reference to the 1969Disney filmThe Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, the episode itself has "essentially nothing" to do with the film, according to M. Keith Booker in his bookDrawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy.[8] In the episode, the slogan of Homer's webpage is "All the muck that's fit to rake". This is a reference to the American newspaperThe New York Times, whose slogan is "All the News That's Fit to Print". The word "muck" refers tomuckrakers, a term closely associated with reform-oriented journalists who wrote largely for popular magazines after 1900.[9]
The episode's third act, which serves as a parody ofThe Prisoner, features several references to the series. When the secret organization finds out about Homer's discovery, he is taken to a secret location called the "Island". The "Island" is modeled after the "Village", where Number Six is taken inThe Prisoner.[8][10]
While he is in the "Island", Homer is repeatedly gassed by unexpected objects, a reference to the way Number Six would often be gassed inThe Prisoner. "George [Meyer] and I used to laugh a lot about how often [Number Six] would be gassed by unexpected devices in the show", Scully said in the episode's DVD commentary. "And we wanted to cram as many in as we could."[1] While escaping the "Island", Homer is chased by a "big balloon". The balloon is a reference toRover, a floating white ball inThe Prisoner that was created to keep inhabitants in the "Village",[4] which was also featured in the season 9 episode "The Joy of Sect". The music heard in the scene is based onThe Prisoner's theme music.[1]
In its original American broadcast on December 3, 2000, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" received a 9.0 rating, according toNielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 9.1 million viewers. The episode finished in 28th place in the ratings for the week of November 27-December 3, 2000, tying with an episode of thenews magazineDateline NBC and theCBS sitcomThe King of Queens.[11] After the episode was released,The Simpsons' writers created a website called mrxswebpage.com, which was made to resemble Homer's website in the episode.
This was at a time when many television shows created websites to promote episodes;[2] earlier that year, Fox created a website called whatbadgerseat.com in conjunction with theseason premiere, in which badgers played an important role.[3] On August 18, 2009, the episode was released as part of aDVD set calledThe Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season. Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Don Payne, John Frink, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Mark Kirkland and Joel H. Cohen participated in the audio commentary for the episode.[1]
Following its broadcast, "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" received mixed reviews from critics. Giving it a positive review,DVD Talk's Jason Bailey described the episode as a "smart piece of social satire". He especially enjoyed Homer's part in the episode, and found that his incompetence at handling computers is "comedic gold".[12] Casey Burchby, another reviewer for DVD Talk, also enjoyed the social satire in the episode, and although he found the parody ofThe Prisoner "bizarre", he maintained that it was "bold".[13]
Writing forDVD Verdict, Mac MacEntire argued that the episode is "hilarious", provided one has seenThe Prisoner.[14] DNA Smith described the episode as "memorable".[15] The episode is also often considered to be a fan favorite, according to Matt Haigh ofDen of Geek.[16] On the other hand, DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson was less impressed with the episode.
In his review ofThe Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season, Jacobson wrote that he enjoyed the episode's take on "Internet idiocy". He wrote, "Some parts of it feel dated, but the web features even more ill-informed opinions today than it did nine years ago, so much of it remains timeless and on target." However, he was critical of the episode's third act. "The side of the show feels like it was intended to amuse a few fans and it doesn’t show a lot of real cleverness or wit", he wrote. He summarized the episode as being decent, but inconsistent.[17]
