"The Simpsons" A Tale of Two Springfields (2000)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Shaun Cashman

Writers:

Matt Groening (creator)
James L. Brooks (developer) ...

TV Series:

"The Simpsons" (1989)

Original Air Date:

5 November 2000 (Season 12, Episode 2)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Plot:

When Homer tries to enter a phone-in competition, he becomes terribly stubborn and angry for Springfield introducing a new dialing code...

Plot Keywords:

Class Warfare | Reference To Woody Woodpecker | Suicide Bomber | Badger | Nuclear Power

Cast

Dan Castellaneta	...	Homer Simpson / Bill / Austin Powers / Willie / Arizona Cardinals representative / Quimby / Krusty / Sideshow Mel (voice)
Julie Kavner	...	Marge Simpson (voice)
Nancy Cartwright	...	Bart Simpson / Todd / Kearney (voice)
Yeardley Smith	...	Lisa Simpson (voice)
Hank Azaria	...	Carl / Phoney / Chief Wiggum / Moe / Bumblebee Man / Apu / Frink / Guard (voice)
Harry Shearer	...	Lenny / Marty / Burns / Hibbert / Jasper / Kent Brockman / Principal Skinner / Smithers / Captain McAllister (voice)
Marcia Wallace	...	Edna Krabappel (voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	Phone Lady / Lindsay Neagle / Socialite / Dolph / Nurse (voice)
Pamela Hayden	...	Jimbo (voice)
Karl Wiedergott	...	Additional Voices (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Gary Coleman	...	Himself (voice)
Roger Daltrey	...	Himself (voice) (as The Who)
John Entwistle	...	Himself (voice) (as The Who)
Paul Townshend	...	Pete Townshend (voice) (as The Who)
Frank Welker	...	Badger (voice)

Runtime:

Argentina:30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

The episode's title spoof the title of Charles Dickens' novel "A Tale of Two Cities".

Quotes:

Homer: Badger my ass, it's probably Milhouse.

Movie Connections:

References This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Soundtrack:

Won't Get Fooled Again

This was a good Season premiere.

Homer is outraged about the new area code change in Springfield, so divides the city into two towns - New Springfield and Old Springfield. He then elects himself as mayor, but everyone soon flees his town.

I'll start with the good stuff. Generally, I liked the plot as it provided many opportunities for laughs. Homer was great in this episode, as was Bart. Good gags were the www.whatbadgerseat.com website (by the way, this is a real website - Fox created it for the show), Bart confusing stoats with corn, Lenny = white, Carl = black written on Homer's hand, the lowbrow expressions ("Oh yeah..." and "Come here a minute"), the whole chloroform thing, the 'Who-huddle', and their guard.

Two things I did not like were the badger ending (what was that all about?), and Homer's skin being ripped off by the badger, which was a tad unrealistic. However, this was counterbalanced with the excellent line, "What am I, a tailor?" Great episode, I hope that the rest of the Season will be like this!