A Tale of Two Springfields

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The Simpsons episode
"A Tale of Two Springfields"

Episode no.	250
Prod. code	BABF20
Orig. Airdate	November 5, 2000
Show Runner(s)	Mike Scully
Written by	John Swartzwelder
Directed by	Shaun Cashman
Chalkboard	"I will not plant subliminAL messaGOREs
Couch gag	Homer sits on a whoopee cushion that Bart has planted.
Guest star	The Who as themselves, except for Pete Townshend (see Trivia below)
Season 12 November 1, 2000 – May 20, 2001
Treehouse of Horror XI A Tale of Two Springfields Insane Clown Poppy Lisa the Tree Hugger Homer vs. Dignity The Computer Wore Menace Shoes The Great Money Caper Skinner's Sense of Snow HOMR Pokey Mom Worst Episode Ever Tennis the Menace Day of the Jackanapes New Kids on the Blecch Hungry, Hungry Homer Bye Bye Nerdie Simpson Safari Trilogy of Error I'm Goin' to Praiseland Children of a Lesser Clod Simpsons Tall Tales
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"A Tale of Two Springfields" is an episode from season twelve of the animated TV series The Simpsons. The title is a spoof of Charles Dickens' classic book, A Tale of Two Cities.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Cultural references
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

While feeding Santa's Little Helper, Bart finds a badger in his doghouse. Bart and Lisa try to get rid of it themselves, but are unsuccessful. After Homer suggests they blow up the doghouse with dynamite, Lisa tells them to call animal control. When Homer calls them, he gets a tri-tone and a recording indicating that he did not enter the correct area code. Marge informs him that the phone company ran out of numbers, so they had to split Springfield into two area codes. One half keeps the old 636 and the Simpsons' half get the new 939. He is outraged that they changed the code so suddenly (even though Lenny and Carl say that they had weeks of advance warnings, including two weeks at area code camp). While at a town meeting, with Homer covered with dynamite, Lindsey Naegle shows a film (starring talking telephone Phony McRing-Ring) that attempts to convince the audience two area codes are better. The whole town agrees with it. However, Homer stands up, reminding them how terrible it was and points out that the original 636 code was kept by the rich side of town. When Homer fails to blow himself up, he leads a rebellion of the poor and goes off to form a new town.

Homer names the town with the new 939 code "New Springfield", while the half of the town with 636 is now called "Olde Springfield". Homer is appointed mayor of New Springfield but shows disrespect for the office by using his sash as a napkin. Rivalry quickly ensues between the two towns. When Olde Springfield insults the inefficiency of his half of town, Homer cuts power to Olde Springfield. Olde Springfield retaliates by hijacking a beer truck and dumping its contents in the river. Homer and New Springfield strike back by cutting off the river into Olde Springfield; however this causes its inhabitants to find gold in the river and buy a bottled water factory. Homer decides to build a giant wall right through town, just like Berlin. When he tells his citizens they don't have enough supplies to get past tomorrow and that a wave of disease will kill the weak, everyone except the Simpsons leave.

Now the mayor of a ghost town, Homer boasts to himself that The Who is coming to their town, when they are actually performing in Olde Springfield. Together, he and Bart are able to get them to perform in New Springfield. When Olde Springfield is waiting for the band, they find them in New Springfield and prepare to riot. Just before a major conflict, The Who suggests they get speed-dial to solve their rivalry. They also agree to play if Springfield tears down the wall, which Pete Townshend ends up destroying by playing a power chord.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

After Homer hears about the change of area code, the badger shows up and Homer goes "Go away! We got bigger problems now." This is a reference to the recurring sudden plot changes in most Simpson episodes.
Pete Townshend declined to supply his voice for the show. He had his brother, Paul Townshend, substitute for him.[1]
In syndication, all of the badger scenes (with the exception of the first) are cut. In fact, the entire episode was heavily cut for syndication. Originally 22 minutes and 11 seconds long, two minutes and 10 seconds were cut, and the episode was expanded 46 seconds to a length of 20:47. This is still about a half-minute shorter than most syndicated versions.
This is the 250th episode of the show.
Area code 636 is actually assigned to suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri^[2]; although this seems to reveal Springfield’s state, the real Springfield, Missouri is in a different area code. Area code 939 is one of two codes used in Puerto Rico.
This episode premiered on terrestrial television in the UK on 5 November 2004, exactly four years after its original US airdate. It was also the first episode shown on Channel 4, which had recently purchased terrestrial rights from BBC Two.
This is the only episode of the Simpsons directed by Shaun Cashman.
When Lisa is trying to find out what badgers eat she goes on whatbadgerseat.com, a real site (whose logo is reminiscent of ask.com) made by the producers of the show.
At the moment when Homer is introduced to the Who, the bands is heard playing the closing chords of what appears to be "The Seeker".
The song played right before the end credits is Won't Get Fooled Again.
The Simpsons' telephone number is given as 939-555-0113. The old area coded number of 636-555-0113 appears to connect to Mr. Burns; however, in Lisa's Date with Density, his phone number was 555-0001.
The "angel skeleton" from Lisa the Skeptic can be seen in the wall dividing the cities.
One of the Simpsons comic books published by Bongo featured a similar plotline in which Springfield is divided over the issue of use and access to a lake.
The phone number for the exterminators is 983-7668 (X-TERM-N-8)

[edit] Cultural references

Homer imagines himself as a mayor, walking down the street in a Western town, wearing a cowboy hat and firing a rifle, in a parody of he opening credit of the Western show, The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors.
When Kent Brockman's newscast shows a picture of Homer and friends on the steps of a home, the layout and poses match the cover of The Who's Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy album.
Todd's woodpecker is a reference the Woody Woodpecker show.
The self-referencing blackboard gag refers to the presidential election which was two days after the episode was aired. A controversy surrounding the election was the supposed use of subliminal messages.
The timing of the episode coincides with Matt Groening's native northwest Oregon splitting into two overlapping area codes (Area code 503 and Area code 971).
Moe's line "That fat, dumb, and bald guy sure plays some real hard ball" is a variation of a lyric in the song "Pinball Wizard" by The Who. The original lyric is "That deaf, dumb, and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball".
While waiting for The Who's concert in Olde Springfield, Principal Skinner seems to be dressed in Mod attire. Edna Krabappel is dressed as a typical groupie.
The last part of the final scene - where the badgers descend upon Springfield - shows one badger, much smaller than the rest, some distance behind the others. This is probably a reference to several similar Looney Tunes cartoons starring Sylvester in which he is originally terrorised by a group of mice, but subsequently develops enough courage to "show them who's boss" and drive them all away. In each of these cartoons, the mice are shown fleeing the house, screaming and squeaking in fear, followed a little later by a baby mouse chattering incoherently in a voice that has been recorded at high speed.
Homer telling the Arizona Cardinals representative to "keep walking" is a reference to how poor the Cardinals franchise has been.