The Call of the Simpsons

The Call of the Simpsons was the seventh non short Simpsons episode released on television. The episode deals with The Simpsons' family vacation in their new RV.

Warning: wikipedia contains spoilers

Synopsis In this episode, Ned Flanders arrives outside the Simpsons' house while Bart is mowing the lawn and Homer is watering the flowers; Ned has recently bought a new RV. Bart is awed; Homer is jealous, and goes to the RV lot to buy a bigger and better one for his family. His credit rating[?] is bad and the RV salesman, played by Albert Brooks, refuses to sell him the one he wants. Instead Homer buys an old used RV, smaller and with some kind of plant growing out of its front grille.

The Simpsons go on vacation; Homer takes a side road to get away from the traffic, and quickly they are driving offroad, through a forest and over a river. Homer speeds along and asks if they think he should stop; when they all shout yes, he brakes just at the edge of a deep gorge. The RV teeters on the edge and falls when Homer, the last of the family, gets out. It explodes and burns at the bottom of the gorge. The family is left without food, extra clothing, or shelter; Homer excuses himself to vent his despair near the gorge (echoing it back to his family), then goes to find a place to set up camp.

Marge and Lisa stay to wait for Homer and Bart to return, Maggie follows them. They hear her sucking her pacifier and mistake it for a snake, running through the woods, falling off a cliff into a river, and being carried away. Homer comes to a riverbank and experiences a fit of grief thinking he's killed his son. Bart is on the opposite bank and calls out to him. They're both naked and Homer tells him how to clothe himself with mud and ferns.

Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa have dramatically improved the shelter Homer left, and Maggie is accosted by a raging bear. The bear calms when Maggie offers it a spare pacifier. The bear takes Maggie to its cave, warns the other bears not to harm her, and goes to a family's campground, where it steals their baby bottle, some toys, and a lantern from them as they sit there unaware of the bear.

Homer and Bart find a bees' nest, which Homer punches into for its honey; then he spits out bees and runs screaming from the swarm. He crashes through undergrowth, scaring off the deer that a camper was videotaping, then falls into the muddy river. The man runs away and the footage shows up on the news in a report on Bigfoot.

The forest is filled with people coming to the Bigfoot tourist attraction. Marge and Lisa are discovered by a park ranger; Marge is interviewed by the news; the bears arrive with Maggie but are shooed away so they won't interrupt the interview. Bart and Homer wander into a cave falling a smell they find appetizing; they meet the bears and are almost mauled but Maggie intervenes. The three leave the cave, Homer walking backwards and trying to placate the bears.

Maggie, Bart, and Homer wander into a clearing filled with people hoping to catch a glimpse of Bigfoot; Homer is captured and taken for scientific study. Eventually he is released, though scientists are in disagreement about whether he is an intelligent beast or a dim-witted human.

Memorable Quotes

• Tabloid headline: "Bigfoot's wife pleads 'call him Homer!'"

Parodies