“The Computer Wore Menace Shoes” is the sixth episode of the twelfth season of The Simpsons. The episode title is a play on the 1969 movie, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.
Synopsis
Homer shows up to work, but no one lets him in. Lenny and Carl stop by and tell him the plant is closed for fumigation; everyone else was informed via e-mail. Homer decides to buy a computer. A salesperson, upon hearing Homer only needs something to check his e-mail with, misleads Homer telling him that he needs the best computer, which costs $5,000. Homer is coerced into buying it and taking out a fifth mortgage to pay for it. After he gives up on learning how to use it, Lisa sets up the computer. Homer eventually catches on and starts his own webpage, which contains copyrighted material from other pages. To avoid getting sued, Homer calls himself "Mister X". When no one visits his page, Homer hears a rumor from Bart started by either Nelson Muntz or Jimbo Jones that Mayor Quimby spent the street repair fund on a secret swimming pool. He posts this rumor on his page, which is seen by: Comic Book Guy who was searching for pornography; Principal Skinner, whose mother scolds him as a sissy for not watching pornography; and many others with a computer and Internet access. When a barrage of reporters enters Mayor Quimby's office and indeed finds a luxurious pool along with many scantily dressed women, Mayor Quimby is the subject of a city-wide scandal.
Homer then decides to post more rumors, vowing to keep digging and probing until everyone is in jail. He later uncovers through eavesdropping that Apu is selling week-old doughnuts as bagels and Krusty having run over a man and hidden the body, a police scandal (which has the police racing prisoners and using the electric chair to cook chicken), Miss Springfield using appearance-altering cosmetics, and that Mr. Burns is selling uranium to Middle Eastern terrorists (which gets Mr. Burns arrested). Homer remains anonymous as Mr. X wins the Pulitzer Prize, but when Homer hears the cash reward is going to starving children because no one knows who Mr. X is, he reveals that he is Mr. X. With the whole town aware of Homer’s double identity, no one wants to talk near him and his Internet fame plummets. To boost his popularity, Homer begins posting outrageous stories on his webpage (such as "Italian and Spanish are the same language", "a race living six inches under Denver - being named either 'Morton'", and "Flu vaccinations contain mind-control serum"). With his fame back, Homer celebrates by going to the Kwik-E-Mart...and ends up getting kidnapped.
Homer wakes up on "The Island", a strange Victorian-style community. The inhabitants there are all people who have been exiled from society for harboring dangerous secrets. Homer learns from the organization's leader, Number Two, that one of his outrageous stories, the one about the flu vaccinations containing mind-control serum, was true. While he is trapped, Homer is replaced at home by a doppelganger with a thick German accent (whom the family accepts). Number Six tells Homer about a makeshift boat he spent thirty-three years making, after which Homer ungratefully pushes him down and escapes the island on the boat, popping the Rover that emerges from the water to trap him. When Homer finally gets home, he tries to send out a message to the police through his computer, but is stopped by Number Two taking over the computer and gets caught by his German double. Homer fights his German double and defeats him. The family is happy the real Homer is back, including Santa's Little Helper...who spouts a knock-out gas that drugs the entire family!
The episode ends with the Simpsons back on The Island, enjoying a strange new life there.
The Prisoner
This episode is a tribute to/satire of The Prisoner, a classic 1960s television series starring Patrick McGoohan as Number Six, a secret agent who is kidnapped and sent to "The Village" after he resigns his position. McGoohan guests stars in this episode as the voice of Number Six, who mentions that he has been working on escaping for 33 years (the episode aired just over 33 years after the premiere of The Prisoner).
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