The Seemingly Never-Ending Story
"The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" is the 13th episode of The Simpsons' 17th season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 12, 2006. The episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour). At the 34th Annie Awards, episode writer Ian Maxtone-Graham won the award for "Best Writing in an Animated Television Production."[1] The episode contains many levels of nested storytelling, much like the novel The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende, which the title references.
| "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
 Promotional image featuring the family trapped in a cave. | |
| Episode no. | Season 17 Episode 13 |
| Directed by | Raymond S. Persi |
| Written by | Ian Maxtone-Graham |
| Production code | HABF06 |
| Original air date | March 12, 2006 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| Episode features | |
| Couch gag | The couch (with Marge, Maggie, Bart, and Lisa on it) is delivered to the living room via a conveyor belt and stops in front of the TV. Homer is added on by a mechanical arm and the couch continues onward. |
| Commentary |
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Plot
While visiting a cave at Carl's Dad's Caverns, Homer meddles with a very fragile stalactite, with the result that the whole family ends up in a hidden cavern below the main tour—with Homer stuck in a narrow hole, half in and half out of the cavern. To pass the time while Marge and Bart try to find a way out, Lisa begins to tell a story.
Lisa tells how, the week before, she had been out for a walk when a bighorn sheep inexplicably attacked her. She ran to the nearest shelter, Mr. Burns' house. The animal bursts in, and she and Burns wind up hiding in the attic. There, Lisa finds a photo of Burns as an employee at Moe's, and he tells her the origins of it.
Burns explains that he and Rich Texan were once involved in a scavenger hunt, the winner of which would get all the possessions of the loser. Burns was unable to find the last item on the list — a picture of himself with a smiling child. Every child was terrified of him and Milhouse called him the "boogeyman's grandfather". The Texan won, and Burns explains that he had to earn his fortune all over again by starting at the bottom; but to work his way up to the bottom, he would have to work at Moe's Tavern. While there, he found a hidden letter to be read upon Moe's death, which led to Moe's story of a hidden treasure.
Apparently, the summer before Edna Krabappel was to begin teaching, she and Moe met and fell in love, albeit without her knowing he owned a bar (she hates bar owners). Moe tossed Homer, Barney (who somehow got back inside the tavern), Lenny and Carl out of his tavern before closing it, and when they confronted him about it later he threatened to out the one of them who is gay (unidentified) if they ruined things for him and Edna. Moe then wanted to leave Springfield with her but had no money. He then discovered that Snake (before he became a jailbird, Snake used to be a polite idealistic archaeologist) had discovered a large batch of Mayan coins he was going to donate to the museum. Moe ended up stealing them, embittering Snake and leading him to take revenge against convenience store owners. He was then about to leave town with Edna, but when she went into the school to explain that she was quitting, she saw Bart, who explained to her that he had all-summer detention, and felt he was a lost cause because no one believed in him. Edna declared that the next year, when she was to teach fourth grade, she would help him to succeed, and explained this to Moe, who reacted crazily. It turns out, however, that Bart was actually just distracting Edna while he and Nelson were stealing microscopes and other classroom equipment.
Rather than spending the stolen coins, Moe used them to play his and Edna's song on his jukebox repeatedly. After reading Moe's story, Burns opened the jukebox, took the coins and gave them to the Texan to buy back his possessions, but the Texan demanded that Burns produce a picture of himself with a smiling child before he could get the power plant back (The Texan, he explained, has obsessive-compulsive disorder, thus feeling the need to complete the scavenger hunt). Burns ends his story, explaining to Lisa that he cannot get the plant back.
Just then, the sheep bursts into the attic. Burns gets hurt defending Lisa; however, it turns out that it does not want to kill them — in ITS story (which lasts but a few seconds) it explains that it found Lisa's pearl necklace and was merely trying to return it. Lisa, in gratitude to Burns for his attempted rescue, takes a photo of the two together with her smiling, allowing him to get the plant back from the Texan. This exits to the cave scene.
Just then, Homer breaks free of his trap due to bats chewing on his leg, and suddenly reveals that he had an ulterior motive for bringing the family to the caves. He tells a story, explaining that while in the woods (hiding from babysitting duty), he saw the Texan hide the gold coins in the cave, and brought the family so they could search for the gold to pay for an operation for Bart (the need for which was unknown to Bart, who is now shocked by this... but Homer says that story will have to wait to be heard). Just then, the Texan shows up, and the gold is found — just in time for Moe, Burns and Snake (who also brings his little son) to also appear, and they enter a Mexican standoff. Marge grabs the bag and threatens to drop it down a deep pit if they do not end their standoff. When she discovers the depth of their greed, she drops it — and instantly, everyone realizes how greedy they had been, and go out to volunteer as a way of atoning for their sins, while Burns promises to catch up with them after climbing down to get the gold.
Suddenly, it is revealed that the whole episode has all been a story by Bart (potentially explaining apparent continuity errors), being told to Seymour Skinner as an explanation for why he did not have time to study for a test. The principal finds this ridiculous, but then he looks out the window and sees Edna making out with Moe outside of the school, revealing that Bart was telling the truth. When Moe asks Edna why she forgives him for lying to her, she explains that, at this point, all she really wants is a man with a healthy libido. Unfortunately, it appears Moe cannot even fulfill this very simple requirement, and the Texan obsessively shoots his guns and notes "Moe can't catch a break!"
Reception
Timothy Sexton of Yahoo.com said that The Seemingly Never-Ending Story was "innovative", and "featured the kind of intricate development that you don't get in shows such as Friends, Will & Grace, Ally McBeal or Everybody Loves Raymond". Sexton noted that each of those series won the Best Comedy Emmy award in a year that The Simpsons aired but was not even nominated.[2] Screen Rant called it the best episode of the 17th season.[3]
In 2006, the episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour). The episode beat out the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet", in which Tom Cruise and Scientology are satirized. Al Jean, accepting the award, said: "This is what happens when you don't mock Scientology."[2] At the 34th Annie Awards, episode writer Ian Maxtone-Graham won the award for "Best Writing in an Animated Television Production."[1]
References
- "Legacy: 34th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2006)". Annie Awards. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- Sim, Bernardo (September 22, 2019). "The Simpsons: The Best Episode In Every Season, Ranked". Screen Rant. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
External links
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