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"Simpsons Bible Stories" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons' tenth season. It aired on April 4, 1999.
It is the second non-"Treehouse of Horror" episode to be made up of multiple unique segments, the first was in The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase.
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Plot
It is a scorching hot Easter at church, and no one is interested in Reverend Lovejoy's sermons. When the collection plate is passed round, Homer puts in a chocolate Easter bunny that he found in the dumpster, enraging Reverend Lovejoy, calling it a wicked idol, and provoking him to read the Bible from the beginning. The Simpsons all fall asleep.
Marge's Dream
Marge dreams that she and Homer are Adam and Eve. They peacefully live in the Garden of Eden until a snake (the jailbird Snake Jailbird plays the snake in the dream) tempts Adam into eating dozens of apples from the forbidden tree. He persuades Eve to try one when God (Ned Flanders) witnesses her sin. Even though Homer ate the most, God only caught Eve eating the apples, therefore Eve is banished from the Garden of Eden. Adam is unwilling to come clean, but misses Eve and thinks of a way of getting her back in by digging a tunnel with the help of some of the animals. God's unicorn, named Gary, becomes exhausted from the digging and dies just before Flanders/God catches Adam trying to smuggle Eve back into the Garden. The death of the unicorn enrages Him further, and He expels them both from the Garden of Eden.
Lisa's Dream
Lisa imagines she and all the other Springfield Elementary students are Hebrews in ancient Egypt, with the Pharaoh (Principal Skinner) making them build a pyramid. Only Moses (Milhouse) can liberate the Hebrews. When Bart defaces the Pharaoh's sarcophagus, supposedly incited by the burning bush, he gets the other students punished. Lisa helps Milhouse produce plagues to scare the Pharaoh into freeing the Israelites, but they fail. This in turn gets Lisa and Milhouse thrown in a Pyramid prison. When they escape, Milhouse gathers all the students and they attempt to leave. When they reach the sea, Lisa has an idea to get across: They simultaneously flush all the Egyptians' toilets to drain the sea. As they cross, the Pharaoh and his guards follow, but the water fills the sea back up and swallows them. They enjoy splashing each other, and then return to the shore. Pleased that they have escaped, Milhouse asks Lisa what the future holds for the Israelites, but Lisa disappoints Milhouse when she says that they have to wander the desert for forty years. Milhouse then asks if it's going to be smooth sailing for the Jews after that. Rather than disappoint Milhouse again with news of the ongoing anti-Semitism that will plague the Jews for many years, she distracts the crowd by sending them to search for manna.
Homer's Dream
Homer pictures himself as King Solomon. Lenny and Carl fight over ownership of a pie. King Solomon cuts it in half, sentences Lenny and Carl to death, and then eats the pie. King Solomon then presides over a civil case between Jesus Christ and Checker Chariot, but Homer's dream is cut short when Bart wakes him up, complaining that he is sitting on his arm.
Bart's Dream
The last story is an action-packed one where Bart sees himself as King David, who kills Goliath, but has not won the war yet: Nelson is Goliath II, Goliath's son. Goliath II has killed Methuselah (Grampa), David's oldest friend. In retaliation, David challenges Goliath II, but having no stones to sling at him, David loses and is catapulted from the city. David then meets Ralph, a shepherd, who claims he can kill Goliath II. Ralph dies, which enrages David even more. He then trains to try and slay Goliath. Having to climb up the enormous Tower of Babel beforehand, David manages to kill Goliath by throwing a lit lantern down his throat. Goliath is surprisingly still alive, but is quickly killed by Ralph's gravestone, hurled by Ralph himself, who also had not died. Much to his shock, David is sent to jail as the townspeople claim that Goliath was the best King they ever had, building roads, libraries and hospitals.
Ending Sequence
As the family wakes up, they find themselves alone in the church. Upon exiting they realize that the Apocalypse has come; fire rains from a red sky, and the Four Horsemen ride past. The Flanders ascend into Heaven, but The Simpsons do not (Lisa almost does, but Homer grabs her by the leg and pulls her back down). Instead, the Simpsons descend via a staircase into Hell, where Homer follows the scent of barbecue, which he complains has no hot dogs, German potato salad, and coleslaw with pineapple in it. The episode ends with Homer screaming in agony as Highway To Hell by AC/DC plays over the credits.
Cultural references
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This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (January 2008) |
- In the Moses segment, Chief Wiggum resembles Edward G. Robinson's character from The Ten Commandments. In the David and Goliath segment, he again appears, and says "Where's your Messiah now?" like in Homer Loves Flanders from season 5.
- The scene where Marge/Eve is making tools is similar to a scene in the Dawn of Man sequence from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Nelson/Goliath falling off the tower parodies the way King Kong falls off the Empire State Building in the 1933 film.
- While Lisa and Moses/Milhouse are in the pyramid-prison room with the moving spike walls, the Orb of Isis is also in the room, which was featured in an earlier episode, Lost Our Lisa.
- As the Simpsons go into Hell, the AC/DC song "Highway to Hell" is playing.
- As Bart/David trains to fight Nelson/Goliath, the Sammy Hagar's song "Winner Takes It All" is playing.
- Santa's Little Helper talks and calls Bart "Davey", a reference to the show Davey and Goliath.
- When Bart is attempting to infiltrate the tower, Nelson is heard belching and discards the remains of his meal, which consists of the skeleton of a whale. Bart is mournful as he sees the skeleton of Jonah, who was a friend of his and died inside the whale. In the Bible, Jonah did not die inside the whale, but it was instead sent by God as an unconventional transport to the city of Nineveh; though Bart does say "Oh Jonah, you died the same way you lived, inside of a whale."
- When Bart believes that he has won the battle after the explosion, Nelson rises from the tower with devilish hair and ominous music plays in the background. This is a reference to the Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria scene from the Disney film "Fantasia".[citation needed]
- Goliath challenges Bart to attack with "Let's Get It On" - catchphrase of well-known mixed martial arts referee "Big" John McCarthy.
External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: "Simpsons Bible Stories" |
- "Simpsons Bible Stories" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "Simpsons Bible Stories" at the Internet Movie Database
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