When you’ve been around for close to 30 years like The Simpsons, you’re bound to repeat yourself a time or four dozen. The trick is to find new and interesting variations on old themes. This season’s “The Town,” for instance, was the umpteenth episode built around very region-specific jokes when the Simpsons visit a new place, but the jokes were so good — and the story about everyone finding true happiness in New England so emotionally rich — that the familiar structure didn’t matter.
Last night’s episode, “Kamp Krustier,” was the show repeating itself in a different way: as a direct sequel to the classic season four premiere “Kamp Krusty,” even bringing back the original episode’s writer, David M. Stern, for his first credited Simpsons script since season 10.
“Kamp Krustier” wasn’t as funny as “Kamp Krusty” — and lacked a cameo by Krusty’s pal Mr. Black — but like a lot of the better latter-era Simpsons episodes, it went deeper emotionally than the show usually did in its glory years, letting Bart and Lisa grapple with the emotional trauma of what the camp put them through. And its Homer and Marge subplot was an amusing mirror of what they went through in the original episode: there, the kids’ absence supercharged their sex life (and even regrew a hair on Homer’s head), where here the kids’ return leaves Homer so sexually frustrated that he finally starts paying attention at work, putting his brain (presented as a long-dormant factory filled with miniature Homers) to work like never before.
The show has brought back characters plenty of times in the past, like periodic episodes with Sideshow Bob, or Uncie Herb, or Homer’s mom, but direct sequels to the plots of past episodes — and certainly one that aired almost 25 years ago — are more rare. But there’s money in the banana stand more to be mined here, as my old pal Daniel Fienberg noted:
https://twitter.com/TheFienPrint/status/838838979357093888
Here are three other vintage Simpsons episodes I wouldn’t mind seeing “Kamp Krustier”-style sequels to:
“You Only Move Twice”: Not only is Hank Scorpio the best of Albert Brooks’ many Simpsons characters, but the Bond villain of him lends itself to the occasional sequel. Why not a riff on Goldfinger or Casino Royale or The Spy Who Loved Me? Or, for that matter, why not an episode dealing with the fact that, thanks to Scorpio, Homer used to own the Denver Broncos?
“Homer at the Bat”: It’s not like the power plant softball team disbanded after they won the big game thanks to Daryl Strawberry’s nine home runs and Homer being hit by a pitch on the final play. Mr. Burns might need to bring in ringers again, whether he just reunites the original nine (now with steroid jokes for Jose Canseco, Mattingly and Scioscia as rival managers, and Ozzie Smith having somehow escaped the Springfield Mystery Spot) or recruits a squad of contemporary players. Tell me you wouldn’t enjoy what The Simpsons writers could do with Bryce Harper or Jose Bautista.
When I asked Fienberg whether he’d prefer new players or the original team, he split the difference, suggesting the following:
They initially set out to do it with a new team and, in a callback to ‘Moneybart,’ they put Lisa in charge of the roster. Unfortunately, her team of high OPS players lacks in tangibles and they fall apart one week before the championship, forcing Homer to travel the country rounding up his original teammates in time for the big game.
They’re shocked, however, that the rival power plant was able to pay to keep the original team together, because money salved all their wounds, but in the game between star power and old school character, the classic players win, thanks to Roger Clemens’ steroid use.
The episode also includes Curt Schilling tearing into Lisa’s team on talk radio. He calls her one of the egghead nerds who is ruining baseball. In the championship game, Steve Sax hits a foul ball that hits Curt Schilling in the head, killing him. “Just add it to his rap sheet,” Chief Wiggum laughs. And the episode ends with the title card, “Curt Schilling was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99% of the vote.”
Call it “The World According to VORP.”
“The City of New York vs Homer Simpson”: One of my favorite episodes disappeared from syndication for years because a large chunk of it took place at the foot of the World Trade Center, but Homer’s fear and loathing of the Big Apple left so much more to be explored, especially given all the changes to the city over the last 20 years. And maybe this time, Homer actually gets to see Flushing Meadows for himself.
So those are three sequels I’d like to see. What are some of yours? Do you want to finally find out how Moe saved the kids at the end of “Das Bus”? Should Homer return to Hullabalooza? Fire away, and don’t forget your rasta hat:
https://frinkiac.com/gif/S07E24/578093/581263.gif