My relationship with the Simpsons is a long and rather pleasant one. At the time the first episode appeared on FOX, I was old enough to enjoy it, and I was old enough to know that I’d be a hardcore “Simpsons” fans for a very long time. And that prophecy was not premature. After “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” I fell in love with the animated sitcom, and learned to enjoy it in syndication, watching each episode at least ninety times. I also tuned in to the rip offs. Does anyone else remember “Capital Critters,” “Fish Police,” and “Family Dog”? Just me, then? Okay.
Since I’m an eternal fan of the series, I thought I’d count down my ten favorite episodes of the series. There are plenty of episodes I kept out, but tough decisions aside, these are some notable episodes that stuck with me for a long time.
10. The Springfield Files
1997
Season Eight
What do you do when you have a huge hit but completely opposite genre series like “The Simpsons” playing alongside “The X-Files” on the same network garnering very much critical acclaim and loyal fan bases? Why, you put them together of course! Though it’s yet another episode guest starring Leonard Nimoy, “The Springfield Files” is a sprawling spoof of “The X-Files” that also properly pays homage to the series’ absurdities. There’s also the hilarious performances from Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny who are laugh out loud hysterical, yet never fall out of character once, incidentally.
This episode is one of my favorites solely because of the still riotous scene of Homer re-enacting his night at the bar before sighting an alien, and, Homer being Homer, gets piss drunk while hitting on Scully. There’s also the subsequent investigation which involves a great line-up scene with Alf, Marvin the Martian, Chewbacca, Gort, and Kang/Kodos. The inevitable explanation for the alien sighting was a bit on the empty side, but much of that was undercut by the fun musical number in the climax, and the great epilogue where Nimoy runs off the screen prematurely and drives off.
Scully and Mulder of course are equally spoofed as they’re led on a complete wild goose chase, Mulder has a full photo of himself in a speedo whenever he flashes his FBI identification, his almost endless monologue about the mysteries of the universe or “The unsolved mysteries of unsolved mysteries!”, and he basically shows more interest in the alien sighting over a shipment of drugs and illegal weapons. “Well, I hardly think the FBI is concerned with matters like that!”