Maximum Homerdrive
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Maximum Homerdrive" | |
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| Episode no. | 220 |
| Prod. code | AABF13 |
| Orig. Airdate | March 28, 1999 |
| Show Runner(s) | Mike Scully |
| Written by | John Swartzwelder |
| Directed by | Swinton O. Scott III |
| Chalkboard | "It does not suck to be you" |
| Couch gag | The family enters, with the sizes reversed, Homer being the smallest and Maggie the largest. |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 10 August 23, 1998 – May 16, 1999 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Maximum Homerdrive" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons' tenth season. The episode aired on March 28, 1999. The episode's title parodies Stephen King's 1986 movie, Maximum Overdrive, which featured an appearance from Yeardley Smith before she voiced Lisa. This episode aired before the premiere of Futurama.
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[edit] Synopsis
Lisa announces that she is going to protest a new steakhouse which allows its customers to kill their own steak, which is called "The Slaughter House". The rest of her family eats there, and Homer enters a challenge with a friendly truck driver named Red Barclay. The challenge Homer and Red enter revolves around who will eat the "Sirloin A Lot", a 16-pound steak. Homer loses the challenge to Red, who dies immediately after winning. Homer then decides to finish Red's last delivery and brings Bart along with him, leaving the rest of the family behind. Lamenting that Homer and Bart always get to go on exciting adventures, Marge says, "Maybe it's time we took a walk on the wild side." However, she, Lisa and Maggie end up going to a doorbell store to buy a doorbell that they install themselves, which plays The Carpenters's song, "(They Long to Be) Close to You". Lisa wants to press the doorbell, but Marge insists that they should let visitors do the ringing first. Unfortunately, they barely get any visitors, and they never get to ring for various reasons (Milhouse is trying to sell birdseeds, but is attacked by birds; some Jehovah's Witnesses were about to ring the doorbell when they reconsider their careers). Marge desperately tries to order garlic bread from Luigi's to get someone to ring the doorbell, but unfortunately, the delivery man perfers to knock on the door and leaves when he hears that Marge is not interested in the garlic bread. Finally, Lisa gets fed up and rings the doorbell herself. However, the new doorbell starts to malfunction, playing over and over again.
Meanwhile, Homer goes to get something that will keep him awake overnight. He takes an entire bottle of pep pills, followed by a bottle of sleeping pills. In the truck, he alternates between being hyper to being drowsy until he finally falls asleep at the wheel, almost heading off a cliff. The next morning, he awakes to discover a secret: the truck drove by itself with its Navitron Autodrive system. He talks it over with other drivers, who inform him that he should not mention anything about the truck driving by itself. The truck's Autodrive system also helps keep itself safe. To demonstrate the system, Homer and Bart go out on the hood. A passing bus notices this, and Homer outright tells them about the autodrive system and its nature as a secret scam. Another truck driver notices this and informs the other truckers about the situation. Back in Springfield, Marge tries to cut the wires to the doorbell, but discovers that Homer had once again traded his tools for M&M's. She decides to just pull the wires out, but this causes the doorbell to speed up and amplify itself, disturbing the neighborhood. Meanwhile, Homer and Bart are enjoying themselves until an angry mob of truckers get in a showdown with Homer, and he survives without the help of the Autodrive system, which had ejected itself from the truck. Homer and Bart finish the shipment by taking it to Atlanta, but there is no way for them to get home until they take a freight train full of napalm back to Springfield. Back at the Simpson house, the doorbell's tune grows so annoying that Chief Wiggum is about to resort to shooting it until the doorbell store's mascot, Senor Ding-Dong, uses his whip to silence the noise from the doorbell. Everyone in Springfield is thankful for him, and Senor Ding-Dong attempts to drive away, but instead sits there at the curb, asking for jumper cables.
[edit] Trivia
- The trucker CB code list consists of:
- (10-33) Actual bear in air.
- (10-34) Can't unchain wallet.
- (10-35) Hot enough for ya?
- (10-36) Ghost truck on highway.
- (10-37) Ask me about my grandchildren.
- (10-38) Outsider blabbing about auto-drive system.
- (10-39) I love you gay buddy.
- (10-40) Taxes due.
[edit] Cultural references
- The episode title is a reference to the Stephen King movie Maximum Overdrive, based on his short story "Trucks." The film features Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson).
- The movie Homer and Bart watch at the drive-in is a play on the 1989 movie The Thing that Ate Everybody starring Dan Castellaneta.
- Homer is revealed to have sold his family's tools in exchange for M&M's. According to Marge, this isn't the first time.
- This episode is one of two episodes (the other being "Fraudcast News") featuring the song "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. Closed captioning reveals that "Dancing Queen" by ABBA was supposed to be played instead.
- The Carpenters' song, "Close to You", was played back in the episode, "The Way We Was", when Homer first met Marge.
- There really is a restaurant in Amarillo, Texas called the Big Texan that has a contest for eating a 72 oz (4.5 lb, 2.04 kg) steak dinner.
- The truck's built-in device said, "I'm afraid I can't let you do this, Red!", spoofing the line spoken by HAL in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
[edit] External links
- "Maximum Homerdrive" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "Maximum Homerdrive" at the Internet Movie Database
