History Recap / TheSimpsonsS7E2RadioactiveMan

* InsaneTrollLogic: The director thinks Springfield must be a great place to film because it doesn't have a fancy ad or correct spelling.[[note]]The ad is simply a small box that says "Flim Springfield."[[/note]]

* ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction: The ''Radioactive Man'' movie was doomed to fail, not only because of the town's ridiculous taxing, but also because of the crew's apparent ineptitude:

** Mulhouse is subjected to an extreme dose of x-rays and comments that he's sitting on a broken bottle, with the director telling him to "use it."

* BlatantLies: After Milhouse runs away, the film's editor claims that he can splice together existing footage so well that the audience won't be able to tell the difference. However, his cut jumps to completely random scenes with no sense of continuity just to fill out a conversation[[note]]Radioactive Man, [[DistressedDude tied up by villains]], asks "We're going to have to break free, are you ready?"; Fallout Boy, sitting in an ordinary house, responds with a monotone "Yes." This is followed by the heroes fighting a completely different set of villains[[/note]]. The director fires him on the spot, and the editor responds [[{{Touche}} "And with good reason!"]]

* HoorayForHollywood: The filmmakers are happy to return to Hollywood after their miserable experience in Springfield, [[JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites and the city is presented as a warm fuzzy place with a rainbow arcing over it]].

Bart and Milhouse are poring over the latest issues of ''Radioactive Man'' (as well as a knock-off comic) at the Android's Dungeon when Comic Book Guy lets them know that the character's about to go Hollywood with a big-budget movie adaptation starring Rainier Wolfcastle in the title role. Already the nerds of the online world (including the three nerds that Homer was friends with on season 5's "Homer Goes to College" and eccentric 1980s pop singer Music/{{Prince}}) are scrounging up rumors about the production, with eyes and ears extending to the boardroom of the movie studio behind the project, who want to make a ''Radioactive Man'' movie that won't be like the campy 1970s TV version [[note]](an episode of which included Creator/PaulLynde as an effeminate scoutmaster villain, Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy fighting Boy Scout mooks, and everyone suddenly dancing to 1960s go-go music at the end)[[/note]]. They need a location to shoot in, and decide on Springfield -- based on its tiny, misspelled ''Variety'' ad, it's obviously a town that doesn't need to toot its own horn.

* ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction: The ''Radioactive Man'' movie was doomed to fail.

* BaitAndSwitch: "Congratulations, Bart Simpson: you're our new Fallout Boy!… That's what I'd be saying to you if you weren't an inch too short. Next!"

* AGoodNameForARockBand: Punk band ''Music/FallOutBoy'' named themselves after Radioactive Man's sidekick in this episode.

As the filmmakers attempt to salvage the production, Bart realizes Milhouse is hiding in the former's treehouse and tries to convince him to go back -- as does Mickey Rooney, who's been sent by the studio to give him a pep talk on child stardom. Milhouse's decision is final, though. And while it would be logical to recast Bart as Fallout Boy, the filmmakers briefly attempt to go forward with ''Rooney'' instead. In the end, the matter proves moot; thanks to Springfield's gouging, the production has run out of money. The filmmakers return to Hollywood to regroup, and are warmly welcomed by a town that treats people right.

* AsYouKnow: A stage hand helpfully points out that Moe had just killed the ''original'' Alfalfa, for the sake of anyone from the future listening into the incident via flashback.

* BrickJoke: At the beginning of the episode, Bart explains to Milhouse that "Radioactive Man has his famous catch phrase, 'Up and at 'em,' with 'at 'em' spelled A-T-O-M in a delicious {{pun}}". Later on, we see that Wolfcastle is completely unable to say the phrase as a pun.

** Wiggum sends out a pack of angry police dogs to find Milhouse, and only realizes afterward there's a good chance they'll kill him when they do.

* HorribleHollywood:
** In Moe's story of how his past as a Little Rascal ended, killing the original Alfalfa didn't give him any lasting consequences because Alfalfa was an orphan belonging to the studio.
** Inverted in the final scene -- the filmmakers are happy to return to Hollywood after their miserable experience in Springfield, [[JustTheIntroductionToTheOpposites and the city is presented as a warm fuzzy place with a rainbow arcing over it]].

* LastSecondWordSwap: Lionel Hutz introduces himself to Milhouse as his agent, lawyer, unauthorized biographer and ''[[BreadEggsMilkSquick drug-dealer]]''... [[BlatantLies keeper-away-er]].

* SerialNumbersFiledOff: ''Radiation Dude'' is an InUniverse example, whose catch phrase is, "Up and let's go!"

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Wiggum sends out a pack of angry police dogs to find Milhouse, and only realizes afterward there's a good chance they'll kill him when they do.

* BaitAndSwitch: "Congratulations, Bart Simpson: you're our new Fallout Boy!… That's what I'd be saying to you if you weren't an inch too short. Next!

* SpecialGuest: Creator/MickeyRooney AsHimself

* DancePartyEnding: The flashback to the '70s Radioactive Man movie ends with all the characters dancing alongside scantily clad women.

* LastSecondWordSwap: Lionel Hutz introduces himself to Milhouse as his agent, lawyer, unauthorized biographer and ''drug-dealer''... [[BlatantLies keeper-away-er]].

* OffModel: This was the first episode to be done in digital ink and paint (back when 90% of animation was still done with cels and traditional ink and paint), so a lot of the color and character designs will look off for those who aren't used to seeing it this way.

Episode - 2F17\\
First Aired - 9/24/1995

Bart and Milhouse are poring over the latest issues of ''Radioactive Man'' at the Android's Dungeon when Comic Book Guy lets them know that the character's about to go Hollywood with a big-budget movie adaptation starring Rainier Wolfcastle in the title role. Already the nerds of the online world (including the three nerds that Homer was friends with on season 5's "Homer Goes to College" and eccentric 1980s pop singer Music/{{Prince}}) are scrounging up rumors about the production, with eyes and ears extending to the boardroom of the movie studio behind the project, who want to make a ''Radioactive Man'' movie that won't be like the campy 1970s TV version [[note]](an episode of which included Creator/PaulLynde as an effeminate scoutmaster villain, Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy fighting Boy Scout mooks, and everyone dancing to 1960s go-go music at the end)[[/note]]. They need a location to shoot in, and decide on Springfield -- based on its tiny, misspelled ''Variety'' ad, it's obviously a town that doesn't need to toot its own horn.

Production commences. Homer allows the crew to use the Simpson house as a filmmaking location and gets to slack off with Teamsters, horses are painted to look like cows, and Wolfcastle's elocution lessons prove to have limited success. But it's Bart who learns that Milhouse is miserable with the day-to-day grind of filmmaking. From there Milhouse literally runs away from the production, ruining the shooting of a key, one-take-only action sequence.

* AGoodNameForARockBand: Punk band, ''Music/FallOutBoy'' named themselves after this episode.

!! This episode contains examples of:

* CallBack

* DownerEnding: Despite Bart and Mickey Rooney's best efforts, Milhouse refuses to continue acting. And thanks to Springfield's price gouging and Mayor Quimby inventing new taxes on the fly to take them for every dime, the film crew runs out of money and the movie is cancelled. Leans more towards BittersweetEnding once the production team comes back to Hollywood and they are treated much better, with the possibility of a quick recovery.

* NonAnswer: When Wiggum unleashes the police department's dogs to find Milhouse, the Van Houtens ask Wiggum if they are going to just find Milhouse or find and ''kill'' Milhouse. Wiggum does second a silent OhCrap for a second before mumbling out gibberish as an answer, which an [[PapaWolf angry Kirk]] points out.

Bart and Milhouse are poring over the latest issues of ''Radioactive Man'' at the Android's Dungeon when Comic Book Guy lets them know that the character's about to go Hollywood with a big-budget movie adaptation starring Rainier Wolfcastle in the title role. Already the nerds of the online world (including eccentric 1980s pop singer Music/{{Prince}}) are scrounging up rumors about the production, with eyes and ears extending to the boardroom of the movie studio behind the project, who want to make a ''Radioactive Man'' movie that won't be like the campy 1970s TV version [[note]](an episode of which included Creator/PaulLynde as an effeminate scoutmaster villain, Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy fighting Boy Scout mooks, and everyone dancing to 1960s go-go music at the end)[[/note]]. They need a location to shoot in, and decide on Springfield -- based on its tiny, misspelled ''Variety'' ad, it's obviously a town that doesn't need to toot its own horn.

* DownerEnding: Despite Bart and Mickey Rooney's best efforts, Milhouse refuses to continue acting. And thanks to Springfield's price gouging and Mayor Quimby inventing new taxes on the fly to take them for every dime, the film crew runs out of money and the movie is cancelled.

* DownerEnding: Despite Bart and Mickey Rooney's best efforts, Milhouse refuses to continue acting. And thanks to Springfield's price gouging and Mayor Quimby inventing new laws on the fly to take them for every dime, the film crew runs out of money and the movie is cancelled.

** The scene from the old ''Radioactive Man'' movie is of course modeled after the Creator/AdamWest ''Series/{{Batman}}'' series, right down to having a SpecialGuest as the villain.[[note]]In this case, Creator/PaulLynde as The Scoutmaster.[[/note]]

* ShoutOut: When Milhouse goes missing, a special effects technician proposes using existing footage of Milhouse to finish his role in the movie. This technique had been fairly recently used in ''Film/TheCrow'' when Brandon Lee died during filming.