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Don Hertzfeldt couch gag |
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The contents of this article or section are/can be considered non-canon, and exist outside of the main continuity of The Simpsons. |
The Don Hertzfeldt couch gag is the first couch gag of Season 26 and appeared in Clown in the Dumps.
Plot[]
Homer Simpson sits on the couch and has a time-traveling TV remote. He uses it on his own TV (not understanding what it is) and travels back in time to the day the Simpson family first appeared on television. While this happens, he shape-shifts back to the form he was in when he was wearing the Simpsons shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show. After pressing the button a few times, the time fast-forwards as he shape-shifts back to his current self. He unexpectedly travels into the future, where he falls to the ground and starts experiencing a rapid series of strange changes to himself and his environment. He ends up as Homar Sampsan on the date of Septembar 36.4th, 10,535 and episode 164,775.7 of The Sampsons. Now, he is in the form of an octopus-like alien and only says "D'oh" in monotone. Homar calls the rest of his family to meet him in the kitchen cube and floats towards there, where he sees the rest of his family, all transformed into the Sampsan family just like Homar (Marge Simpson is Marj Sampson, Bart Simpson is Brt Sampsan, Lisa Simpson is Leezuh Sampsan, and Maggie Simpson is Maagi Sampsan).
Leezuh is depicted as a one-eyed alien with an emergent mouth and only says, "I am Simpson!". Brt is an alien, depicted as a ball of mush lying on the ground with his head and four arms emerging, and only says, "Don't! Don't have cow, man!". Marj is a giant, blue, puffy alien with her hair mostly as a body with her eyes and mouth. She has two arms and two legs emerging from the body and only says, "All hail the dark lord of the twin moons!". As Brt and Leezuh continue to bicker, Maagi floats down and is an alien, depicted as a ball of mush with eyes and tiny caterpillar legs, complete with her infamous pacifier and hair bow. She then shape-shifts into her alternative form: a weird, gooey alien with an emerged mouth (similar to Leezuh's) and says, "Make purchase of the merchandise!".
A live-action window in the wall starts glowing as Homar realizes that he has memories, and everything starts changing again. Homar's memories take him to the 20.254th episode of The Simpsons, where Homar and Marj are depicted as their heads with connected robot legs, standing out in a beautiful pasture of mountains and pollution clouds. Marj pats Homar's head and says, "Still love you, Homar," to him. He then remembers the 37,211.4th episode, where the family is a bunch of polygonal shapes, saying "We are happy family" in unison. Finally, Homar's memories jump to the 100,411.2nd episode, where Homar and Marj are mutated monsters. Marj says, "I will never forget you," to Homar in an extremely deep voice. Suddenly, Homar is back in the "present" on September 36.4th, 10,535. Homar looks at Marj, who says, "All animals can scream". He then looks to Leezuh and Brt, who continue to shout "I am Simpson" and "Don't have cow, man." Homar, realizing that the family he loved has become unrecognizable over time, sadly says, "D'oh."
- Homer Simpson
- Marge Simpson
- Bart Simpson
- Lisa Simpson
- Maggie Simpson
- Skippy Simpson (Pictured)
- Jiff Simpson (Pictured)
- Homar Sampsan
- Marj Sampson
- Brt Sampsan
- Leezuh Sampsan
- Maagi Sampsan
Trivia[]
- This couch gag was guest animated by Don Hertzfeldt.
- Homer Simpson traveled back in time to April 19, 1987. This is the day when the Simpson family made their first official appearance on television, having appeared in the third episode of season one of The Tracey Ullman Show, in the short Good Night. Homer also deteriorated back into the form of his original self when he did this.
- When Homer traveled back in time to April 19, 1987, the shot of the TV is the same shot used at the end of the Season 2-early Season 20 opening sequence, but is now converted into HD widescreen.
- When Homer was traveling into the future, pictures on the wall behind him has Bart Simpson as an adult, with his two kids Kirk and Picard Simpson from Holidays of Future Passed. Also, Homer's face on every picture while traveling to the future is covered up with sticky notes.
- This is the second time Maggie spoke in a couch gag (in this case, a very deep voice). The first time was in the Past Horrors couch gag.
- The date on the TV at the beginning of the gag, September 28th, 2014, isn't incorrect, like Homer thought, as that is the date the episode aired.
- This is one of the longest couch gags at 1 minute, 58 seconds. Don initially thought Fox would force him to cut it down, but they actually shortened the episode's length to make it fit.
Video[]
Couch Gag from "Clown In The Dumps" THE SIMPSONS ANIMATION on FOX-0