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"A Tale of Two Springfields" is the second episode from season twelve of the animated TV series The Simpsons and is the 250th episode of the series (in both broadcast and production order). The episode title is a play on the novel, A Tale of Two Cities.
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Plot
While feeding Santa's Little Helper, Bart finds a badger in his doghouse. Bart and Lisa try to get rid of it themselves, but are unsuccessful. After Homer suggests they blow up the doghouse with dynamite, Lisa tells them to call animal control. When Homer calls them, he gets a tri-tone and a recording indicating that he did not enter the correct area code. Marge informs him that the phone company ran out of numbers, so they had to split Springfield into two area codes. One half keeps the old 636 and the Simpsons' half get the new 939. He is outraged that they changed the code so suddenly (even though Lenny and Carl say that they had weeks of advance warnings, including two weeks at area code camp). While at a town meeting, with Homer wearing a suicide belt, Lindsay Naegle shows a film (starring talking telephone Phony McRingRing) that attempts to convince the audience two area codes are better. The whole town agrees with it. However, Homer stands up, reminding them how terrible it was and points out that the original 636 code was kept by the rich side of town. When Homer fails to blow himself up, he leads a rebellion of the poor and goes off to form a new town. Homer names the town with the new 939 code "New Springfield". Homer is appointed mayor of New Springfield but shows disrespect for the office by using his sash as a napkin. Rivalry quickly ensues between the two towns. When Olde Springfield insults the inefficiency of his half of town, Homer cuts power to Olde Springfield. Olde Springfield retaliates by hijacking a beer truck and dumping its contents in the river. Homer and New Springfield strike back by cutting off the river into Olde Springfield; however this causes its inhabitants to find gold in the river and buy the Evian bottled water factory. Homer decides to build a giant wall right through town, just like Berlin. Three days later, the mob completes a wall made of garbage that goes right through town. When Homer tells his people that they do not have enough supplies to get past tomorrow and that a wave of disease will kill the weak (afterwards, they'll be forced to eat certain breeds of dogs), everyone except the Simpsons leave.
Now the mayor of a ghost town, Homer boasts to himself that The Who is coming to their town, when they are actually performing in Olde Springfield. Together, he and Bart are able to get them to perform in New Springfield. When Springfield is waiting for the band, they find them in New Springfield and prepare to riot. Just before a major conflict, The Who suggests they get speed-dial to solve their rivalry. They also agree to play if Springfield tears down the wall, which Pete Townshend destroys by playing the famous outro to "Won't Get Fooled Again". Unknown to the city, however, all the badgers reunited and are prepared to attack Springfield.
Production
Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Paul Townshend (brother of Who guitarist Pete) provided guest voices for the characters in the episode. "I knew they didn't do a lot of cartoon work. But I really wanted to meet them, so it was worth a shot," Scully said. After a number of calls were made by the show's casting director in Los Angeles to the Who's managers in London, the group agreed to appear on the show. The animated versions of the band members included Daltrey in his trademark tight T shirt and long curls, even though Daltrey cut the curls in the mid 1980s. "I wanted to go with the look of the band that's frozen in everyone's minds. No one ages on the show anyway," Scully said. The Who recorded their lines in England, but still weighed in on script details. Scully said: "If you look closely at the animation, you'll see a familiar drummer. That would be the addition of an animated Keith Moon, who died in 1978. The guys agreed that having Keith in it was a great idea. Why not?"[1]
References
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Simpsons#A Tale of Two Springfields |
- "A Tale of Two Springfields" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "A Tale of Two Springfields" at the Internet Movie Database
- Whatbadgerseat.com A spoof site created after the episode.
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