Welcome to part two, the top ten episodes of all time. In case you missed part one, it contained episodes #25-11 on the top 25 countdown. Also, don't forget to check out The 10 Worst Episodes From the 8 Best Seasons of The Simpsons and The 13 Best Episodes That Aren't the 25 Best Episodes of The Simpsons in case you missed them. Now enough with the shameless promotion, let's bring on the top 10!
10. The Joy of Sect - Season 9: This is the perfect parody of a religious cult, especially by insisting that the residents of Springfield
are free to go at any time, but then making escape nearly impossible. Homer's unknowing resistance to the Movementarians sets the stage for
a number of great jokes, most notably the Movementarians singing the Batman theme song, inserting the word "leader" instead of "Batman".
The use of alleged hoverbikes to free Bart and Lisa is one of my favourite gags in the episode. "Who do you love?" "Hoverbikes!"
9. Homer at the Bat - Season 3: Considering the high salaries that professional athletes make, it's very impressive that by the third
season of the show they somehow were able to get nine major league players. It turns out that not all of the players they wound up
with starring in the episode were the original choices for their position, but it's an impressive feat nonetheless.
It's amazing how the writers are able to juggle a starting lineup's worth of guest stars effectively and still fit in a great story.
Mr. Burns also has some of his best lines in this episode, including "The only way we can lose is if our nine ringers befall nine separate
misfortunes. That will never happen. Three misfortunes? That's possible. Seven misfortunes? There's an outside chance. But nine misfortunes? I'd like to see that!"
8. The Last Temptation of Krust - Season 9: Another episode featuring multiple guest stars and a song written for the episode. In fact, the fake advertisement for the Canyonero is the highlight of this episode, as great as the rest of it is. Krusty's attempt at retiring leads to the best line of the episode when a reporter asks him, "But Krusty, why now? Why not twenty years ago?". Krusty's George Carlin style act is priceless as well, and Jay Leno gives an excellent performance, despite the show having multiple jokes at his expense.
7. Deep Space Homer - Season 5: This episode has received a lot of praise, and apparently NASA sent a copy of this episode to the International Space Station so that astronauts can view it. The episode is full of classic moments, be it when Homer wins thanks to the two greatest words in the english language, "de fault", during the press conference when Homer realizes that "Planet of the Apes" took place on our planet, Kent Brockman's reaction to our new insect overlords, the unnecessary praise received by the inanimate carbon rod, or when the space shuttle is plummeting back to earth and Buzz Aldrin and Race Banyon hum a patriotic song while Homer sings the Golden Grahams jingle. And like most of the best episodes, this one also had a musical guest: former president James Taylor.
6. Kamp Krusty - Season 4: This episode begins with one of the best dream sequences ever, followed by unnecessary violence when Homer hits Bart to prove it's not a dream. We also get to see some of Homer's ridiculous parenting style and Bart's total lack of respect for him. The hellhole that is Kamp Krusty is the perfect setting for the bullies to be their brutal camp counselors, under the evil supervision of Krusty's "bestest friend in the whole world", Mr. Black.
5. Bart After Dark - Season 8: The B story in this episode with Marge, Lisa, and Maggie going to help clean up an oil spill isn't one of my favourites,
but it's a nice parody of celebrities and their attention whoring. The main story, however, is one of the best ever. Every part of
the episode regarding the burlesque house is absolutely perfect from Bart's interactions with Grampa and Skinner to the uptight reaction
of Marge, the Flanders, and the Lovejoys. This is also another episode featuring a great song, followed by a hilarious attempt by Marge
to counter with her own song. Sadly, they have yet to do an episode involving the bordello that Grampa and Jasper mention.
4. Homer the Great - Season 6: "Sure is a nice secret society we had once." Patrick Stewart was the perfect choice to play Number 1 in this blatant but hilarious parody of the Masons.
The song about the Stonecutters, the twist of Homer being the chosen one, and the story of the "No Homers" club are all absolute classics.
This episode also featured a very random joke, similar to the cut-away scenes that Family Guy receives so much criticism for. When Lenny
claims that eggs haven't been proven to raise the levels of bad cholesterol, Homer comments "Those creeps from the egg counsel got to you
too!" and chases off a walking egg. The Simpsons used to have plenty of random jokes like this, like when the FBI chases Milhouse after
Bart got his face on America's most wanted. "Now let's all get drunk and play ping-pong!"
3. Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment - Season 8: This is indeed the most clever thing that Homer ever does. Rex Banner is one of the the best single episode characters they've ever had. It has a number of quality sights gags, such as the sophisticated men who want the mint julep and everyone raising their beer classes behind Rex Banner's back . This episode also features what may be the single greatest line in the twenty year run of The Simpsons: "To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."
2. 30 Minutes over Tokyo - Season 10: How many Japanese stereotypes can you fit in one 22 minute episode of the Simpsons? How about all of them. Add in George Takei, and that's all you need for one of the best episodes ever. If you look closely, there's even a cameo by Mr. Sparkle!
What, you didn't think I was going to put the #1 episode on the same page as these so that you could just scroll down and accidentally see the pictures before you finished reading all the other ones, did you? Well here you go, it's the greatest episode of "The Simpsons" of all time!
I've got a movie for ya, a fridge too far!
© 2009 by Dr. Jeebus