"The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" is the tenth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on December 3, 1995. As the title suggests, it is the 138th episode and the third clip show episode of The Simpsons, after "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" and "Another Simpsons Clip Show".
While the "138th Episode Spectacular" compiles sequences from episodes throughout the entire series like the previous two, it also shows clips from the original Simpsons shorts from The Tracey Ullman Show and other previously unaired material. Like the Halloween specials, the episode is considered non-canon and falls outside of the show's regular continuity.
The "138th Episode Spectacular" was written by Jon Vitti and directed by David Silverman, and is a parody of the common practice among live-action series to produce clip shows.
It has received positive reviews, and was one of the most watched episodes of the seventh season, with a Nielsen rating of 9.5.
Synopsis Troy McClure hosts the episode, which highlights individual scenes and sequences from throughout the series and offers never-before-seen outtakes. McClure starts the episode by showing a brief presentation of how The Simpsons series was conceived by Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon, with incorrect renderings of each person (such as portraying Groening as a one-eyed NRA supporter who shoots at the camera upon being revealed). He goes on to present some clips of the original shorts that aired on The Tracey Ullman Show. McClure then responds to questions from fictional fan mail by showing clips that contain the answers. At times, he deliberately does not answer the fan question, asks misleading questions to the audience, or provides trivia that is untrue.
Throughout the episode, McClure presents deleted scenes from several episodes and reveals that alternate endings to part two of "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" were created to prevent the staff on The Simpsons from spoiling the mystery. Troy McClure ends the episode by showing a montage of The Simpsons characters naked, set to the KC and the Sunshine Band song "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty".
Production
As the title suggests, "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" is the 138th episode of The Simpsons, although it is the 155th episode when placed in production order. It is the third The Simpsons clip show, after "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" and "Another Simpsons Clip Show". It was written by Jon Vitti, who used the pseudonym "Penny Wise" in the closing credits because he did not want to be credited for writing a clip show. The episode was directed by David Silverman, who also did not want to be credited, and used the pseudonym "Pound Foolish" in the closing credits.
During the early years of the show, Fox network officials forced the staff of The Simpsons to produce clip shows in order to save money. Originally, the producers were ordered to produce four clip shows per season in order to meet episode limits imposed by the network. Fox network officials reasoned that clip shows could be produced at half the cost of a normal episode, but syndication rights could be sold at full price. The staff, however, felt such a large number of clip shows would alienate fans of the series.
Former showrunner Bill Oakley thought the episode was one of the better clip shows of The Simpsons, because it had more original and interesting material than the others. Oakley enjoyed showing deleted scenes from previous episodes and the Simpsons shorts, and particularly enjoyed the montage of couch gags at the beginning of the episode. The staff tried to entertain themselves while producing the clip show, and Oakley said by having the only actor be Phil Hartman as Troy McClure, it was "guaranteed to be fun". Hartman's lines in this episode were recorded during the sessions for "A Fish Called Selma", which also aired during Season 7.
A lot of the humor in the episode comes from the show's staff mocking themselves and their own work. Troy McClure is shown put off after watching "Good Night", the very first short produced for The Simpsons, and falls asleep while deleted scenes from various episodes are being played. At one point, supposed early designs of Grampa Simpson and Krusty the Clown are shown, which were a "satirical jab at the primitiveness of the [actual] early drawings". Animator David Silverman got defensive over the joke, explaining that the crude drawings were due to a lack of time for proper animation during that era. The fan mail segment showed letters supposedly sent in by distinguished professors and diplomats; Oakley said the joke was that no one of their pedigrees would actually watch the series, let alone write to the staff.
The show's producers are also depicted as animated characters in this episode. Creator Matt Groening is shown as a "radical right-wing" conservative and active gun user who supports the National Rifle Association, which is a deliberate subversion of the political stance most of the staff actually have. Despite having already left the show by the time this episode was made, a portrait of former producer Sam Simon was drawn by Simon himself after he did not like the original joke for him, which was a "No Photo Available" disclaimer.
One of the clips shown in the episode comes from the season four episode "Marge Gets a Job", in which Smithers has a dream that he is sleeping and Mr. Burns flies through a window into his room. The sequence shows Burns flying towards a happy-looking Smithers. The original clip went on for a few seconds longer, but had to be trimmed down in order to remove portions that showed "Mr. Burns land[ing] in a particular position on Smithers' anatomy". There were also issues with "the lump in his bed", which the animators said they had drawn as his knee, but the censors had mistakenly believed was an erection.
A deleted scene from the season five episode "Burns' Heir" is also shown, in which a robotic Richard Simmons dances outside Burns's mansion to the 1976 song "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty". It was cut from "Burns' Heir" because the writers did not think it was funny, nor did it do well with a test audience, although Oakley thought the animation was terrific. To the production staff's surprise, the scene would make the audience "erupt with laughter" when screened at animation conventions and college presentations, so they decided to insert it in this episode.
The montage of nude scenes over the ending credits includes the original animation of Homer and Marge snuggling from "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy", which was reanimated in that episode after Fox censors thought it was too explicit.
Due to the amount of interest in the ending of the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" episode, David Mirkin wrote several "terrible endings" and recorded several alternate endings with Harry Shearer serving as the only voice actor. Mirkin's original intention was to fool the production staff and also leak the endings to various media outlets; much to his surprise, Mirkin failed to successfully fool the staff. Several endings were animated that showed various characters, such as Barney, Moe, and Apu, shooting Mr. Burns, and were presented as part of this episode.
This is the second episode of the series to utilize digital ink and paint, after "Radioactive Man" earlier in the season. The technique is employed for the Troy McClure segments.
The series wouldn't experiment with digital animation again until season 12's "Tennis the Menace", before switching to digital animation in season 14 ("Treehouse of Horror XIII" as a test run, and then permanently switching with "The Great Louse Detective").
Referenced clips During the opening credits the episode is advertised as having "twenty-three percent new footage", while the rest are clips taken from previous episodes. The five shorts used in this episode are "Good Night" and "Bathtime", which were featured in their entirety, and portions of "The Perfect Crime", "Space Patrol", and "World War III". Some parts of the episode contain montages of only a few seconds-long clips, such as those referring to Homer's increased stupidity ("Blood Feud", "Flaming Moe's", "Marge vs. the Monorail", "Deep Space Homer", and "Treehouse of Horror V"),Ott, p. 85 or those suggesting Smithers' homosexuality ("Rosebud", "Dog of Death", "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", and "Marge Gets a Job").Ott, p. 86 Episode name (in order of appearance)SeasonClip description"Good Night" shorts Homer and Marge tuck the kids into bed."The Perfect Crime" shorts Maggie reveals the thief of Marge's cookies, Bart."Space Patrol" shorts Bart, Lisa, and Maggie play Space Patrol."World War III" shorts Saying that it is World War III, Homer tests how long it takes his family to get into the bomb shelter."Bathtime" shorts Homer tries to force Bart to take a bath.Montage sequence 2–6 Homer gets more and more stupid each season.Montage sequence 3–5 Waylon Smithers fantasizes about Mr. Burns.Montage sequence 4, 5 & 7 Various deleted scenes from previous episodes."Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part II)" 7 Unaired alternate ending in which Waylon Smithers is revealed to have shot Mr. Burns.Montage sequenceThe referenced clips are from the episodes "Mr. Plow", "Bart of Darkness", "Rosebud", 'Round Springfield", "Bart's Girlfriend", "Homie the Clown", "Bart vs. Australia", "Homer Badman", "Lisa's First Word", "Brush with Greatness", "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy", "And Maggie Makes Three", "Treehouse of Horror III", "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", "Homer the Great", "Like Father, Like Clown", "I Love Lisa", "The Call of the Simpsons", and "Colonel Homer". 1–6 "Hardcore nudity" in The Simpsons.
Cultural references The entire setup of Troy McClure presenting the episode is a parody of the practice by live-action series to produce clip shows in general, by celebrating a completely arbitrary milestone and by making exaggerated use of the conventions of traditional highlights shows, such as a grand introduction and relentlessly showbizzy host.