The episode was originally pitched by long time writer George Meyer during Season 3. The staff felt it was too odd for the show (and that there were a lot of visual effects that they wouldn't have been able to pull off during the show's third season), but showrunners Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein and Mike Scully chose to use it.
The title is a Spanish phrase, followed by its English translation in parentheses ("Jomer" being a phonetic Spanish translation of "Homer"). However, "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer" literally means "The Mysterious Voyage of our Homer". "Viaje" meanwhile, indeed means and is a cognate of "Voyage", but unlike the English word it is used (non-frivolously) in mundane contexts (e.g., "my voyage to work") and would most often be more naturally translated as "journey". The version shown on Disney+ uses the English translation.
Most of the chili pepper sequence was animated completely by David Silverman, who wanted it to look just right and didn't want to risk sending it to Korea.
This episode's commentary on the season 8 DVD set was the first commentary to include children (Josh Weinstein's children, Simon and Molly appear on the track, often asking questions about certain scenes).
This is the first episode to air in 1997.
Previous Episode References[]
Selma's Choice, Last Exit to Springfield, and Homer Loves Flanders: A Simpson family member (Lisa/Marge/Homer) gets high after ingesting something (the toxic water on The Little Land of Duff ride/dentist's gas/the water that Shelbyville spiked after Springfield burned down their city hall/the Guatemalan insanity peppers) and goes on a 1960s style drug trip.
The War of the Simpsons: Marge is mad at Homer for drinking and making a fool of himself in front of others.
Bart of Darkness: Springfield and chili (the man driving the chili and hot ginger ale truck after the ice cream man announces that he's all out of ice cream/Springfield has a chili cookoff).
The Last Temptation of Homer: Homer worries that he and Marge aren't compatible lovers and fears someone else may be his soulmate.
Bart After Dark and Bart's Girlfriend: Captain McAllister is an incompetent sea captain (crashes a ship [both on "El Viaje..." and "Bart After Dark"]/points the lighthouse in the wrong direction and comments on how much he hates the sea).
Treehouse of Horror VI (Homer3): Homer enters a strange new world that's either partially or wholly computer-generated.
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (part two): Chief Wiggum drinks warm cream and finds himself in the strange dreamworld from Twin Peaks.
Lisa's Pony: Homer drives while sleep-deprived and sees the world as a spoof of Little Nemo in Slumberland.
Homer and Apu: Apu once worked 24 hours straight and went so insane, he thought he was a hummingbird.
Bart Gets an Elephant: Homer refuses to heed the "Use Only in a Well-Ventilated Area" warning and breathes in so much cleanser that he thinks the cleaning mascots are attacking him.
Team Homer: Mr. Burns being so trashed on ether that he thinks Homer is Poppin' Fresh (the Pillsbury Doughboy) and gives him $500, then thinks Hans Moleman is the Lucky Charms leprechaun and drills a hole in his head.
Cultural references[]
There are many similarities in the appearance of the dog guide to the coyote from Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan. In the book, after Carlos ingests peyote he plays in the desert with a wild coyote, which may or may not be a hallucination.
There are also allusions in the episode to the works of Richard Bach, whose works often focus on the concept of "soulmates" and typically involve quests led by spirit guides. At the end of the episode, the Sea Captain refers directly to Bach's most famous book, by exclaiming, "Arr! Jonathan Livingston Seagull!"
Ned Flanders's nonsensical talk includes the words "Gabba Gabba Hey" which is a reference to The Ramones.
Mrs. Krabappel sounds like Miss Othmar from the screen adaptations of the comic strip Peanuts.
The train heading towards Homer is a reference to the opening titles of the series Soul Train.
When Bart and Lisa see Homer's silhouette projected into the sky, Bart wonders whether it's Homer and Lisa says, "Either that, or Batman's really let himself go," referencing the Bat-Signal as well as Batman himself.
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: Referenced when Marge and Homer are in the lighthouse discussing their differences. Homer says to Marge, "It's like you're from Venus ..." and Marge replies, "And you're from Mars."
"At Seventeen" by Janis Ian plays in the background as Homer walks through the town of Springfield looking for his soulmate after he wakes up from his chili vision.
"Short Shorts " by The Royal Teens plays at the end of the episode (and over the credits) after Lenny (while holding a pair of hot pants), yells into the crowd: "Hey, who likes short shorts?"
Goofs[]
Ralph with oval-shaped eyes and a misshaped head
When Ralph warns Homer on drinking candle wax, his head is misshaped and his eyes are oval-shaped, in contrast to their usual round appearance. But when he tells Otto he (Homer) needs some help a few cuts later, his head and eyes are back to normal. According to The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary, this is due Ralph warning Homer about coating his mouth with hot wax being added in at the last minute and had to be drawn quickly.
Ralph with eyes and head back to normal
After eating the chili, Homer only wipes wax from the outside of his mouth, yet he is able to speak clearly showing that the wax in the inside of his mouth is also gone.
Homer would have severely burned his mouth from coating it with hot wax (in fact, a FOX censor's note told writers to make Homer coating his mouth with hot wax look painful so as to discourage more impressionable viewers from imitating the stunt).
Once Homer is freaking out and starting to hallucinate after eating a few Guatemalan Insanity Peppers, There are two Jaspers, one in a tent stall when running away from Flanders and another Jasper right beside Homer when he passes out (all within seconds).
In one frame where Marge turned towards Homer to yell at him for saying "Soulmate" to him, she is shown to have sharp teeth but then in a close up, her teeth are normal.
Production Notes[]
The final draft for this episode was published on December 7, 1995.[1]
