Best Simpsons Episode - Ever!

[Rob McCow]

'The Simpsons' has been going 20 years this year and there have been an obscene and ludicrous number of episode (around 450ish).

The BBC have picked their favourite 10: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8449416.stm but obviously not all of these are correct. And there are some horrible ommissions too!

So is the one with the Dental Plan and Homer negotiating with Mr Burns really the best ever episode? Or can you top it? Which Simpsons episode do you think is the best ever?

And which is the stinkiest, most stupid, unfunny episode they've ever done?

[Si Hunt]

My personal favourite is "Colonel Homer", where Homer manages a country star called Lurlin Lumpkin and almost falls in love with her. It's incredibly poignant and true as Homer can't quite go through with his infidelity as he keeps thinking of Marge, plus it's a proper musical peppered with genuinely great songs (like Lurleen's "Don't Look Up My Skirt Unless You Mean It" and "Your Wife Don't Understand You But I Do"). My only regret is that they didn't get Dolly in to voice Lurleen, surely the part she was SUPPOSED to guest on. She later appeared in an episode about American Football, but this would have been the perfect one for her.

Si.

[SiHart]

Despite having seen it a lot down the years, I really like The Stonecutters episode. It's really funny and like all the best episodes has a point to make too- this time that getting what you want doesn't always bring happiness with it.

But I think the one I've laughed out loud most to was the one where George Bush snr moves in across the road. I adore that episode!

Si xx

[Alex]

My personal favourite is "Colonel Homer", where Homer manages a country star called Lurlin Lumpkin and almost falls in love with her. It's incredibly poignant and true as Homer can't quite go through with his infidelity as he keeps thinking of Marge, plus it's a proper musical peppered with genuinely great songs (like Lurleen's "Don't Look Up My Skirt Unless You Mean It" and "Your Wife Don't Understand You But I Do"). My only regret is that they didn't get Dolly in to voice Lurleen, surely the part she was SUPPOSED to guest on. She later appeared in an episode about American Football, but this would have been the perfect one for her.

Si.

Ooh, good choice, that would definitely make my top 5, it's an episode that manages to be very heartwarming yet very funny at the same time.

My favourite is the episode where Homer gives up on religion just so that he doesn't have to go to Church on Sunday morning's anymore, I love his simple happiness as events unfold, and even the slightly preachy message when he's saved from the fire at the end doesn't spoil it for me (and the part where Ned throws him on to a mattress in the garden, only for him to bounce back in to the house has to be one of my favourite slapstick moments ever).

There are countless other great episodes though, and I love The Simpsons, it's such a shame that they've continued to this day where the quality is so varied (there's still the odd good new episode, but quite a few hideous ones as well).

The worst episode? Hmmm, Lisa's Angel, where she finds the fossilised remains of an angel where a shopping mall is to be constructed is pretty bad, and there was a recent one which was even more awful, but I'll have to have a think about that and come back to the thread...

[MinaHarker]

Despite having seen it a lot down the years, I really like The Stonecutters episode. It's really funny and like all the best episodes has a point to make too- this time that getting what you want doesn't always bring happiness with it.

But I think the one I've laughed out loud most to was the one where George Bush snr moves in across the road. I adore that episode!

Si xx

Those are my favourites too!

[Llordllama]

Much as I love it (and as my Wife will attest to my zen like ability to quote every episode 2 seconds ahead while in a neighbouring room) I'm getting increasingly fed up with the celeb stuffed episodes (like the tennis one) where the jokes and the voices just make well for dullness.

On the other hand picking a favourite - oh so hard to pick just one, but Homer's Phobia is one definite classic. Good use of a celeb guest voice and plot!

[Captain Tancredi]

The Christmas episode where Lisa becomes a Buddhist is good as well- it's a slight retread of 'Lisa the Vegetarian' but with the slight difference that when Lisa turns up at the Buddhist temple, Lenny and Carl are there meditating, so it's really positive about the idea that just because somebody chooses a different path in life it doesn't mean that Lisa is any less part of the family.

And then of course there's 'The Springfield Files'...

[Dino]

I'm not sure if I've seen "The Monkey Suit" as this show hasn't got the same hold on me as it used to? I do prefer and respect it for the massive impact it had on television cartoons being commissioned, but I'd be lying if I said I thought it was better than King of the Hill, South Park and even AdultSwim's Metalocalypse which would probably not have been given the go ahead if not for the success of The Simpsons 20 years ago?

I'd rather have 20 years of American Dad but remember the time I thought this was the best cartoon made! My favorite was "The Computer Menace Worn Tennis Shoes" or whatever it was called that guest starred Patrick McGoohan and I also love the one where Homer became bodyguard to Mark Hamill.
I seem to favour the Homer stories over the Lisa and Bart storylines and although it was funnier than the Simpsons once, Family Guy has declined in quality in less time than the Simpsons were accused of declining?
So it looks like The Simpsons got the last laugh!
Happy birthday now how many stories had Springfield under martial law?

[Andrew Curnow]

My favourite is also the first one I ever saw - it's the Cape Fear episode (which I see is mentioned on the Beeb's list). There are so many lovely moments in it, not least of which is the faux-credits for The Thompsons, and also the "do you wanna see my new chainsaw and hockeymask". Although it's never quite as funny on repeat viewing, the first time I saw the classic scene with the rakes I thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen - and Sideshow Bob's recital of the entire score of HMS Pinafore at the end is just inspired.

Bubbling under, the Brazil episode ("Carnival", "With 100% chance of passion", etc), the one where we find out what happened to Smither's Dad (I love Chief Wiggum's "I'm a bit of a crimebuff" line), the one where Homer is almost killed in the electric chair until it turns out to be a TV show, and The Be-Sharps.

[Rob McCow]

I loved the Be-Sharps. Though the name was less funny each time I heard it. That'll be this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer's_Barbershop_Quartet
Which interestingly is the one right before Cape Feare: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Feare

My fave episode is probably the Vegas one - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$pringfield_(Or,_How_I_Learned_to_Stop_Worrying_an d_Love_Legalized_Gambling)

It's not the most heartwarming or intelligent episode ever. Instead it's the first real foray into continuity busting surrealism. There's so much going on and so much of it is funny, yet the episode remains focused. In later episodes the plotting would tend to go off in whatever direction they fancied, but here it's tight and everything revolves around the casino.

And it features Mr Burns going insane and telling Smithers to get into a miniature plane - at gunpoint.

[Llordllama]

"We'll take the Sproose Moose!"

[WhiteCrowNZ]

There have been many great episodes, it's so hard to think of one as a clear favourite. I could have done without the stream of UK celebs who stood in line for the kind of painfully embarassing Simpsons in London episode. I mean Tony Blair yuck. Although it wasn't as clearly xenophobic as when Friends visited the UK (oh how I hate that episode).

[Andrew Curnow]

I've just been reminded of another great episode - the one where Arty Ziff (sp?) comes back rich trying to 'woo' Marge (bit like Indecent Proposal). The end bit always makes me laugh, and in fact Zel just needs to sing, "I am watching you through a camera" for me to start giggling.

I've just heard the Eurythmics original which jogged my memory!

[SiHart]

I was just thinking of the one where Homer goes to work for Hank Scorpio this morning. That's a very fine episode indeed- especially as Homer remains unaware of whats really going on all the way through the episode.

Si xx

[Jon Masters]

I'm not an afficianado, and have only seen episodes which have aired on C4, but my favourites would include:

The one where Homer gets the Mafia to help Marge's pretzel baking company

The one where prohibition comes back and Homer runs drink through the bowling alley.

The one with Sideshow Bob and his brother with the hydroelectric dam scam

The one where Mr Burns kidnaps all the puppies to make them into clothes ("See....my.....vest, see my vest " )

The one where Milhouse becomes Fallout Boy for the movie

The one Si mentioned with Scorpio

The one where Homer is on the jury and wants to prolong it to get free hotel goodies

See how I knew all the titles too

[Andrew Curnow]

Oh yes, See My Vest! That's superb (and so damn catchy). Me & Zel also like "Max Power - the name that you mustn't touch" from... from whichever episode that is!!

[Dino]

[QUOTE=Jon Masters;226320]
The one where Mr Burns kidnaps all the puppies to make them into clothes ("See....my.....vest, see my vest " )
QUOTE]

Me & Zel also like "Max Power - the name that you mustn't touch" from... from whichever episode that is!!

And isn't it sad "Spider Pig" isn't a patch on those two songs?

Yvan Eht Nioj!
Yvannn Ehtt Niojjjj!
"Otto where are you going?"
"Oh I dunno man, I'm gonna join the Navy! Yvan Eht Nioj!"
I and also loved the Navy officiers psycho hippie beating fantasy he started muttering to himeself!
But again, no idea what episode this is?

[Jon Masters]

Slightly but as our cub Christmas party was based on the Simpsons , I went trawling the intersuperhighway and came across this site.

Download them now and hum them as you enjoy again and again on your mp3-stacking system thingy !!

[Andrew Curnow]

"Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart" is another classic ("Hey, he lied to us through song - I hate when people do that").

It's probably a sign of how much a part of life The Simpsons has become here, and how good it's been, that I keep remembering little bits that either always make me laugh, or which have even passed into our everyday conversation. So, for example, we regularly say "Keep sliding" (Homer's reply to the psychiatrist who says she operates on a sliding scale) here at Curnow Towers if we're ever negotiating. And similarly, to express disappointment, we often say "Oh Fat Tony."

And just one more 'thing that always makes me laugh' - the episode where Homer enrols in Clown College, and at the end both he (disguised as Krusty) and Krusty are cornered by the Mafia, because Krusty owes them money. The bit that makes me laugh is the very end, where the Mafia Don gets his money from Krusty, and then gives him his change ("and your change, we thank you"). It's just such a lovely wholesome image, an honest Mafiosa!

[MinaHarker]

Yvan Eht Nioj!
Yvannn Ehtt Niojjjj!
"Otto where are you going?"
"Oh I dunno man, I'm gonna join the Navy! Yvan Eht Nioj!"
I and also loved the Navy officiers psycho hippie beating fantasy he started muttering to himeself!
But again, no idea what episode this is?

"We have a three-pronged attack. Subliminal, liminal and superliminal."

"What's superliminal?"

"Hey you! Join the Navy!!!"

[MinaHarker]

Oh and I love Duffman!

[Andrew Curnow]

Oh yeah!

Yet another 'thing that makes me laugh' (sorry) came back to me today. It's in the one where Marge & her friend go a bit Thelma & Louisy - and specifically, when Wiggum starts to give chase. He puts a tape into the car radio, how brilliant is that!!

[Martin Penny]

Most of Season 4/5/6 is gold, but I think 5 is where all my favourite episodes were.

'Cape Feare' probably stands to be my all time favourite.

[cullsoft]

I was just thinking of the one where Homer goes to work for Hank Scorpio this morning. That's a very fine episode indeed- especially as Homer remains unaware of whats really going on all the way through the episode.

Si xx

Oh yes - I recently rewatched that when I got the season 8 DVD set, and it's delightful to see Scorpio as much the upbeat, enthusiastic and contemporary "treat your workers right" sort of boss, as well as the psychotic super-villain Homer's completely oblivious of. Best moment has to be the "Mister Bont" scene!

Another of my favourites is in the same series - "Hurricane Neddy", where Ned snaps, flips out at everyone and admits himself to a mental hospital. As well as being funny for all the things that go wrong (such as his new house - "Come on in! It's your master bedroom!"), it's one of those episodes which does a great job of getting under a character's skin and exploring what makes them tick.

However, I'd have to say that my absolute favourite would be "Deep Space Homer" - the zaniness of the plot and the cultural sci-fi/space launch references really build it up, as well as how all that Homer's trying to do is get some respect... and the twist at the end just as you think he's earned it! Buzz Aldrin also does a great job in his guest appearance - "Second comes right after first!" is one of my favourite lines. I have to admit that whilst it's one of those plots that seem to do these days (and I'm usually condescening of as being "too zany"), it came at the sort of time where it didn't feel out of place or overdone.