Recap / The Simpsons S13 E18 "I Am Furious (Yellow)"

HOMER MAD! HOMER SMASH! GET REVENGE ON WORLD!

Original air date: 4/28/2002

Production code: DABF-13

After being inspired by a cartoonist during Career Day at Springfield Elementary, Bart creates an Internet cartoon based on Homer's anger problems called Angry Dad. Meanwhile, the Comic Book Guy has his hands full when legendary Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee begins harassing him and scaring off his customers.

Tropes:

• Accidental Hero: Bart does everything he can to trip Homer's typically-reliable Hair-Trigger Temper in order to gain new material for his cartoon, which proves challenging as Homer has resolved to get past his anger issues. Bart's eventual success saves Homer's life by giving him an outlet for his suppressed anger, which would otherwise have killed him.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Homer can't help but laugh at the "Bart-Toon" moniker given to the Angry Dad shorts.
• Actually, That's My Assistant: A truly pathetic example when Kirk speaks at career day.
  Kirk: How many of you have gone back to your car and found a flyer on the windshield?
  Nelson: [Visibly bored] Are you the guy that puts them there?
  Kirk: No, I'm his assistant. But one time, he was sick and he let me do it. … I totally messed it up.
• Adam Westing: Stan Lee voices a deranged version of himself.
  "He can't be the Hulk! I'm the Hulk!"
• "Anger Is Healthy" Aesop: After learning that his anger has made him the laughing stock of the town after Bart bases a webcomic on his many outbursts, Homer decides to overcorrect himself by suppressing all of his anger for the rest of his life. Bart forms a prank to set him off but changes his mind, unfortunately, Homer falls victim to the prank and finally loses it and goes on a rampage that somehow results in millions of dollars in damages. Before Marge can punish Bart, Hibbert informs her that Bart had just saved Homer's life by making him angry as his suppressed anger was forming into boils that would have otherwise fatally overwhelmed his system.
• Animation Bump: The scene where Hulk-Homer smashes a fence and roars features more detailed shading and animation than any other scene in the episode.
• Anti-Role Model: Principal Skinner comes to view Geoff Jenkins as this for touting his laissez-faire attitude toward his education and his easy adult lifestyle.
• Artistic License – Law: Somehow, an enraged Homer breaking a fence and punching a parking meter and a telephone polls translates to a million dollars in property damage.
• Art Shift: The Angry Dad web cartoons are produced with digital ink-and-paint (to emulate the look of an online cartoon), while the rest of the episode uses traditional cel animation (save for one shot), and was the last full season of the series to do so.
• Author Avatar: Bart creates a cartoon about his father, like how Matt Groening based The Simpsons on his own family.
• Body Horror: When trying to suppress his anger, boils keep popping out of Homer's neck until a whole bunch of them spring up.
• Bland-Name Product: Betterthantv.com is pretty obviously Newgrounds (back when they were more known for cartoons than games), and Mondo Media.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick:
  Homer: I gave up anger forever. From now on, I'm into candles, soft music, and horse tranquilizer.
• Bring It: Willie vs. Seamus.
  Seamus: I'll turn your groin to puddin'!
  Willie: Aw, you speak like a poet, but you punch like one, too!
• Broken Pedestal: Comic Book Guy is initially starstruck when Stan Lee visits The Android's Dungeon, even being flattered when he insulted him. But once he overstayed his welcome and started harassing his customers, CBG got annoyed by him and was wishing he would leave his store.
• Buffy Speak:
  Homer: I'm a rageaholic. I just can't live without rage-ahol!
• Call-Back:
  • When Homer is suppressing his anger, he starts "diddly"-ing, just like Flanders.
  • When watching an episode of When Dinosaurs Get Drunk where a Stegosaurus wanders into a tar pit, Homer chuckles and says that he's been there.
• Celebrity Paradox: Bart says that John Goodman should play Homer in a movie version of Angry Dad. Goodman provided the voice of Meathook in Season 11's "Take My Wife, Sleaze".
• Cloudcuckoolander: Stan Lee, who refuses to leave Comic Book Guy's store, breaks a toy Batmobile by forcing a The Thing action figure in while honestly believing it's better that way, and genuinely thinks he can transform into The Incredible Hulk.
  Bart: Stan Lee came back?
  Comic Book Guy: Stan Lee never left. And I'm starting to think that his mind is no longer in mint condition.
• Composite Character: Parodied. Bart claims Angry Dad to be a mix of three dads: his dad, Lisa's dad, and a little of Maggie's dad.
  Lisa: No, it's just Dad.
• Epic Fail: Homer tries turning off the TV to avoid watching The Boring World of Niels Bohr with an ice cream sandwich (the ice cream squeezes out and onto the screen; Santa's Little Helper laps it up) and then Homer starts to wonder where the remote is.
• Everybody Has Standards: Bart refuses to rip off Little Dot even if no one else will know or care
• Everything Makes a Mushroom: One Angry Dad short involves him working at the nuclear plant. He decides to press a button, blowing up the cooling towers (again) which form a mushroom cloud. Mr. Burns fires Angry Dad, resulting in his head becoming a mushroom cloud.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Bin Laden in a Blender.
  Lisa: Well, it delivers what it promises.
• Fighting Irish: Willie's enemy, Seamus, is one of the school's speakers. Upon being let go, Seamus immediately blames Willie and gets into a fistfight with him without a second thought.
  Seamus: What?! Oh, this is your doing, Willie! I'll turn your groin to puddin'!
  Willie: Och, ya speak like a poet, but ya punch like one too!
• Follow the Leader: In-universe; after seeing Danger Dog, the Springfield Elementary students are inspired to create their own cartoon characters, including Danger Cat, Trouble Dog, and Danger Dude (who is a dog).
• Funny Background Event: One of the employees at betterthantv.com is seen in the background Xeroxing his butt.
• Gratuitous French: After Danger Dog's witty One-Liner, "Looks like the mayor's barf is worse than his bite!", Nelson contentedly leans back in his seat and utters "Ah, le mot juste!"
• Gross-Out Show: Danger Dog is a Show Within a Show example, with the plot of the episode the kids watch being heavily predicated on the Vomit Indiscretion Shot.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Homer's anger problems inspire Bart to create Angry Dad.
• Halfway Plot Switch: This episode starts out about comic books, then becomes about web cartoons, although the two plots eventually tie back together.
• Hands Go Down: When the creator of the cartoon Danger Dog visits Springfield Elementary, the children are given the chance to ask questions:
  Geoff Jenkins: Any questions?
  Student: What state is Danger Dog set in?
  Geoff: Michigan.
  [All but Bart lower their hands]
• Hulking Out:
  • "HOMER MAD! HOMER SMASH! GET REVENGE ON WORLD!"
  • Stan Lee tries to transform into the Hulk, claiming to have actually done it in the past.
    Stan Lee: He can't be the Hulk! I'm the Hulk! [Rips shirt] Mrrrroaarrr! Come on, damnit, change! Mmmmm!
    Comic Book Guy: Oh, please! You couldn't even change into Bill Bixby!
    Stan Lee: Mmmmm! Aw, forget it. Mm-mmmm! I really did it once!
    Comic Book Guy: [Walking Stan Lee back into the store] Yes, yes. I just wish you had the power to leave my store.
    Stan Lee: [Off-screen] Mmmmmh!
    Comic Book Guy: You almost had it there.
• Hypocritical Humor: One of the repo men cleaning out Betterthantv.com notes that the Dot Com bubble has burst, but this is can only be good news for the repossession industry going forward. Ominously, he then pulls out a lit bill for his cigar.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Bart says he is his own toughest critic, but that his Danger Dog knockoff, Danger Dude (whose main character is nevertheless a dog), is genius.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Bart's voice actor for the Angry Dad Internet cartoons is based on Dan Castellaneta (the voice actor best known for playing Homer Simpson), who gets the job for capturing the spirit of Angry Dad ("Whoo-hoo! When do I get paid?"), but won't be paid until 2012 ("D'oh!").
• The Internet Is for Porn: Thanks proximately to Angry Dad, betterthantv.com is the world's most popular website, excluding porn. Including porn, it's #10,000,000,000,000.
• Kick the Dog: Homer randomly starts punching Snowball II and isn't even aware of it until Marge points it out.
• Kid Has a Point: Bart's "Angry Dad" character humiliates Homer, but—as Lisa points out—is not an unfair characterization of him, causing Homer to look within.
• Kids Punishing Parents: Referenced. Marge lambasts Bart after his prank to get Homer mad ends up causing millions of dollars in damages, but Dr. Hibbert tells her that he actually saved Homer's life because his attempts to repress his anger could have killed him had he not been set off.
  Marge: You mean I shouldn't punish Bart at all?
  Dr. Hibbert: Why, if anything, he should punish you.
  Marge: Huh. Hmm, okay.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • In the scene wherein Bart is inspired to create Angry Dad, Homer catches on fire (and apparently catches Medium Awareness temporarily) and says, "I hope no one's drawing this!"
  • Jimbo congratulates Bart for creating "a timeless comic character" in Angry Dad.
  • As Bart becomes frustrated by Homer not losing his temper (thus denying Bart material for Angry Dad), he says, "Don't make me do a clip show", referring to the last episode, "Gump Roast", which has been, to date, the last Clip Show ever done on the show.
• Magic Pants: Worn by Homer Mad and lampshaded by Bart. Justified in that Homer doesn't actually Hulk Out, he just gets covered in green paint and tears his shirt off.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Stan Lee evaluates Bart's first comic. He says it sets off his stinky sense.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Danger Dog Easter Special has nothing to do with Easter.
• Noodle Incident: According to Skinner, the debate between Willie and Seamus devolved into "ninety minutes of watching a man drink in a bathtub."
• Not So Above It All: Despite criticising Angry Dad, Lisa's still enthusiastic about the idea of a cameo (as "Know-It-All Sister", no less) in the cartoon.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: This moment in an Angry Dad episode:
  Angry Dad: This job sure is easy! Now to press this button!
  [He presses the button, which causes a nuclear meltdown]
  Angry Dad: NOT AGAAAAAIN!
• Political Overcorrectness: Just before introducing Jenkins, Skinner announces that "in a gutless act of political correctness, Pizza Day will now be known as 'Italian-American Sauced Bread Day.'"
• Pun-Based Title: In-universe, The Boring World of Niels Bohr.
• Rage Breaking Point: Homer finally releases his suppressed anger when he falls into a kiddie pool filled with green paint courtesy of the Rube Goldberg Device trap Bart had set up for him (involving cactuses and Maggie’s dirty diapers) when he was running out of material for Angry Dad.
• Ridiculous Repossession: When Betterthantv.com goes bankrupt as the popularity of Angry Dad fades, repo men come and start taking everything that isn't nailed down, including a character's soul patch beard.
• Shout-Out:
  • Bart's latest attempt to drive Homer furious involved green paint and made Homer look like the Hulk.
  • The title is a reference to the 1967 Swedish arthouse film I Am Curious (Yellow).
  • Homer gets angry when one of his favourite shows gets replaced by a documentary about the famous Danish physicist Niels Bohr.
  • Homer breaking out in boils while suppressing his anger is very similar to the "psychoplasmics" in The Brood.
• Show Within a Show: Angry Dad, When Dinosaurs Get Drunk, The Boring World of Niels Bohr, and Danger Dog.
• So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe, this seems to be Comic Book Guy’s opinion of Bart’s Angry Dad comic, considering it worthy of being sold alongside his other merchandise despite the various problems.
• Stalker with a Crush: The Comic Book Guy is this towards Lynda Carter:
  Comic Book Guy: The restraining order says "No-no", but her eyes say "Yes-yes".
• Stealth Insult: Stan Lee reassures Bart that if his efforts writing comics fail, he could simply sell them — in front of Comic Book Guy.
  Comic Book Guy: Stan Lee insulted me! But in Bizarro World, that means he likes me.
• Stylistic Suck: The Angry Dad cartoons are done in the style of amateur Web Animation from the early 2000s.
• Take That!:
  • To the popular dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which burst around the time the episode went into production and aired.
  • Apparently, Danger Dog's mortal enemy is Molly Ringworm.
  • When Bart is trying to come up with ideas for a cartoon, Marge suggests he rips off Little Dot because nobody will know or care.
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: Stan Lee doesn't seem to leave the Android's Dungeon.
  Bart: Stan Lee came back?
  Comic Book Guy: Stan Lee never left. And I'm starting to think his mind is no longer in mint condition.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: Bart draws all his material for Angry Dad directly from life, which causes him to become frustrated when the cartoon causes a Heel Realization in Homer, who then tries to mend his ways.
• We Were Rehearsing a Play: When Marge and Lisa walk in on Homer strangling Bart for making Angry Dad about him, he hastily explains, "We're just rehearsing for Angry Dad: The Motion Picture."
  Bart: How’d you like to be played by John Goodman?
  Homer: [strangles Bart again] That's—so—obvious! It—should—be—Gary Oldman!
• What You Are in the Dark: When Marge suggests Bart rips off Little Dot because nobody will know or care, Bart says he will know.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: A Leaning on the Fourth Wall Self-Parody. When the creator of the cartoon Danger Dog visits Springfield Elementary, the children are given the chance to ask questions. Hundreds of hands go up. The first question is "What state is Danger Dog set in?" "Michigan." All but Bart's immediately goes down again.
• Why Don't You Marry It?: The ending has Bart repeatedly barbing Homer as they're sharing a nice father-son moment, with Homer being torn between fury and gratitude (since the outlet that Bart gave his anger turned out to be the very thing that saved his life). Naturally, Bart's response to Homer telling him he loves him is "If you love me so much, why don't you marry me?"
• Worst News Judgment Ever: One Angry Dad short involves the titular character reading a newspaper with a headline that says "You Suck, Angry Dad".
  Angry Dad: That's opinion, not news!
• You Monster!: Homer yells this at Bart before strangling him from finding out he created Angry Dad.

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