Radioactive Man (The Simpsons episode)
"Radioactive Man" | ||
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Couch gag The couch is a fax machine that spews out a piece of paper with the Simpson family in a sitting position. The paper slides back under the couch. | | |
Commentary | Matt Groening David Mirkin Susie Dietter David Silverman | |
"Radioactive Man" is the second episode of the
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Susie Dietter. Mickey Rooney guest starred as himself in the episode. "Radioactive Man" was the first episode of The Simpsons to be digitally colored. The episode features cultural references to the 1960s Batman television series, the 1995 film Waterworld, and the song "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers.
Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from fans and television critics. It acquired a
Plot
Bart and Milhouse are thrilled to learn a film version of their favorite comic book series,
Disappointed at losing the role, Bart remains Milhouse's friend and confidant. Milhouse sours on the long hours and multiple takes required to shoot the film, and disappears during filming of the most expensive scene. Production is suspended while the townspeople search for Milhouse. Bart finds him in his treehouse, where former child star Mickey Rooney unsuccessfully tries to convince Milhouse to finish the film. Deeming Rooney an unsuitable replacement for Milhouse and because of all the price gouging, the bankrupt producers cancel the film and return to Hollywood, where they are greeted with open arms.
Production
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder, and directed by Susie Dietter.[2] When Dietter read through his first script, she did not find it very funny because of all the visual gags. Once the animatic was finished, she thought: "Hey, this is really funny!"[3]
This is the first episode of The Simpsons to be digitally colored. The duties of that task went to USAnimation, who would later work on "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". Digital coloring would not be attempted again until season 12's "Tennis the Menace", and again in season 14's "Treehouse of Horror XIII". The show permanently switched to digital coloring later in that same season, beginning with "The Great Louse Detective".[4]
Mickey Rooney guest starred as himself in the episode.[5] Nancy Cartwright recalls in her autobiography My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy that Rooney recorded his lines with the other actors. Although he was late for the session, she comments that he was "so full of pep" and very enthusiastic about the role.[6]
Cultural references
The Radioactive Man character is based on
In one scene, Comic Book Guy sends a message to other Internet nerds about who will star in the new Radioactive Man film, two of whom are the nerds Homer met in "Homer Goes to College", and one is Prince dressed in a purple suit. The last nerd is Curtis Armstrong, with an appearance resembling his Revenge of the Nerds character Booger. The usenet newsgroup to which he posts the message (alt.nerd.obsessive) is a reference to the alt.tv.simpsons newsgroup.[9][10]
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Radioactive Man" finished 51st in the ratings for the week of September 18 to September 24, 1995. It acquired a
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from fans and television critics.
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called the episode a "wonderful pastiche" on the Tim Burton Batman films, and added that Milhouse is an obvious candidate for Fallout Boy.[1]
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson enjoyed the episode, but he does not consider it a "classic". He said that it offers "more than a few amusing bits", and added that "spoofing the movie business isn't anything new, but the show does it well in this solid program".[12]
Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict considered the best part of the episode to be when Krusty tries to prove the "range" of different characters he can portray to the casting director. The website concluded its review by giving the episode a grade of A−.[13]
Nancy Basile of
Graham Beckwith of The Lantern singled out Rainier Wolfcastle's line "My eyes! The goggles do nothing!" from the episode as one of The Simpsons' "greatest one liners".[15]
Total Film's Nathan Ditum ranked Rooney's performance as the eighth-best guest appearance in the show's history, commenting that he is "desperately funny and self-effacing as a parody of his fallen child-star self."[16]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Radioactive Man". BBC. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
- ^ a b c Richmond & Coffman 1997, p. 182.
- ^ Dietter, Susie (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Radioactive Man" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Silverman, David (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Radioactive Man" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Mirkin, David (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Radioactive Man" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ISBN 0-7868-8600-5.
- ^ Groening, Matt (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Radioactive Man" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ "Faulkner Goes To Hollywood". Springfield Historical Society @ mcgarnagle.com. January 25, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
- ^ Turner 2005, pp. 282–283.
- ^ Tossell, Ivor (August 2, 2007). "Worst. Column. Ever". Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- ^ St. Petersburg Times. September 29, 1995. p. 16. Retrieved on November 30, 2008.
- ^ Jacobson, Colin (January 5, 2006). "The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season (1995)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ Malkowski, Judge (January 16, 2006). "The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
- ^ Basile, Nancy. "20 Most Iconic Episodes of 'The Simpsons'". About.com. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- ^ Beckwith, Graham (May 21, 2007). "'Simpsons' past prime at 400th". The Lantern. Archived from the original on October 7, 2007. Retrieved December 21, 2008.
- ^ Ditum, Nathan (March 29, 2009). "The 20 Best Simpsons Movie-Star Guest Spots". Total Film. GamesRadar. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- Bibliography
External links
- "Radioactive Man" at IMDb
- "Radioactive Man" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive