Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore
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Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore is the seventeenth episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons, guest-starring Richard Dean Anderson. It aired on April 9, 2006 across North America.
Plot
Homer learns that the nuclear power plant is being shut down and outsourced to India. After Homer is sent to train the new employees, he becomes power hungry in his new position of authority. Meanwhile, Selma and Patty meet their Hollywood heartthrob, MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson), only to find that he is totally uninterested in MacGyver.Meanwhile, Homer realizes to his horror that he has come to India (which he previously mistook for Indiana and Illinois, simultaneously). After a brief standoff with a sacred cow, Homer looks for a relative of Apu, who should be around here somewhere. After randomly asking people, he ("Finally!") gets the right man on the second try.
Back in Springfield, Patty and Selma kidnap Richard Dean Anderson from his Stargate SG-1 convention and tie him to a chair. From there, he manages to escape... only to discover that he loves escaping, and starts having Patty and Selma put him through increasingly complex MacGyver-esque kidnapping trials.
In India, Homer is coming to love the concept of outsourcing. With "help" from a book Marge gave him to read on the plane trip, The Cereal is the Prize, Homer is able to spur to natives into a working frenzy. Or so it appears; actually they assume that if they cheer, they will be allowed to go back to work. Homer, Smithers and Mr. Burns get a positive (if inaccurate) impression from this, and Homer is put in total charge of the power plant while Mr. Burns takes time off to have fun floating down the Ganges. Homer, left in charge of a slightly-overgrown nuclear power plant on a river in the middle of nowhere, appraises the Hindu dieties and decides he might be a god.
Soon, Mr. Burns and the rest of the Simpson family return to the plant, only to find that Homer is ruling the plant like Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now. Horrified, Marge tells the plant workers that Homer is not a god. They cheerfully explain that they know, and are worshipping him instead for the American workplace routines he has installed, like coffee breaks. Mr. Burns, enraged, fires everyone and decides to move the plant back to Springfield. This makes the workers ecstatic due to the various firing clauses Homer has written into their contracts. The episode ends with the Simpsons, Lenny, Carl, Patty, Selma, Richard Dean Anderson and Mr. Smithers joining native dancers in a musical party in the plant, for which the audio continues into the credits.
Trivia
- The title is a nod to the film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Interestingly, when this episode was named, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang hadn't been released to theatres yet. "Mr. Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang" was also the name given to James Bond in Japan, as well as being a nickname dubbed by an Italian journalist in 1962. The title was later recorded as a song by Dionne Warwick, intended to be included in the Bond film, Thunderball (1965), but was omitted from the final cut in favour of Tom Jones' Thunderball.
- Richard Dean Anderson is a huge fan of The Simpsons often referencing them in the television show Stargate SG-1 in which he played the part of Brigadier General Jack O'Neill. Anderson also played the titular role of MacGyver which is the favourite television show of Patty and Selma.
- *Interestingly, in the Stargate SG-1 episode Citizen Joe, Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson and many other characters in The Simpsons, guest starred as the titular character.
- Ling Bouvier, the adopted Chinese daughter of Selma who premiered in Goo Goo Gai Pan, made her second appearance in the series in a brief scene where Patty and Selma open the door to the room containing MacGyver to reveal him missing. (Ling was being held by Selma during the scene.)
- Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer, wrote this episode along with his wife, Deb Lacusta.
- Anderson has never publicly badmouthed his MacGyver persona, although some actors have, in their later years, shown contempt for the roles of their youth. William Conrad, for example, once referred to his role in Cannon as "crap" in a People interview.
- This is not the first time Homer has been to India, he first went to India with Apu to get his job at the Kwik-E-Mart back in "Homer and Apu".
Goofs
- Before the movie plays, Lenny is sitting in the far back row. When Burns announces that the plant is being outsourced, he is a few rows down and surrounded by several workers.
- When Lenny and Carl arrive in India, Carl is wearing a white polo shirt. Later, when he opens the tiger door, he is wearing his regular clothing.
Quotes
- Homer steps off the plane and sees where he is
Homer: This isn't India! Where's the University of Notre Dame and the Indy 500 and Wrigley Field and Dodger Dogs?!
Indian Woman: You ignorant American! You have confused India with Indiana, Indiana with Illinois, and the Cubs with the Dodgers!
Homer: I took a job on the other side of the world?! (groans as the camera pulls to a satellite's view of India) I hate this subcontinent! - Richard Dean Anderson: (after being kidnapped) You won't get away with this! People will know I'm missing! There's a liquor store I go to every morning!
- Selma (forcing Richard Dean Anderson to write an autograph on her breasts): Write "help me" all you want! No one will ever see it! (sinister laugh)
- Lenny (sitting in the back row of the plant's auditorium): I wouldn't sit too close if I were you. It's bad for your eyes. (camera pulls out, revealing a vat of nuclear waste behind Lenny, which glows through his skeleton)
- Homer: (sweetly) Oh, Marge. I've never been less angry to receive a book.
Marge: (touched) Aw. - Homer: All right, book, I didn't read you and you didn't read me...
- Homer: (contemplating a mosaic of Hindu gods) Let's see, you got the Elephant Man, Johnny Six Arms, Papa Smurf... You know, maybe I am one of these guys. If only I had some sort of proof. (Opens soda bottle, then looks at cap and gasps) I won a free soda! I AM A GOD!
- Richard Dean Anderson (finding Selma's XXXL bra during an escape): A-bra, Kada-bra!
- Lenny (arriving in India): We're worried about Homer. He sent us this weird card.
(shows card. On the cover, it says "Come celebrate my promotion..." On the next page, it says "...TO GOD!" The camera then shows a hand-written note saying "My cell phone number will be the same.")
Guard (points to two doors): One of these doors leads to Homer Simpson. The other leads to a Bengal tiger. Choose wisely.
(Lenny opens one door, which has a tiger; he closes the door. Carl opens the other door, which has a tiger; he closes the door)
Carl: Both these doors have tigers!
Guard: One of these tigers is named "Homer Simpson". - Lenny: Ya know Moe, that sign is powered by non-American workers.
Moe: So? The beer is German and the TV is Japanese.
Carl: You got anything here made in America?
Moe (angrily gets out shotgun): This! (cocks the gun, but the back explodes in his face) Oh God! Backfire! - Selma: MacGyver's back and not just at 2:00 am on the USA Network!
- Richard Dean Anderson: That show was just a paycheck to me, nothing more.
- Patty: Richard Dean Anderson just pissed off the wrong two Richard Dean Anderson fans!
- Mr. Burns: Before we begin the movie, I would like to hold a moment of silence to remember the workers who gave their lives to...
Homer: Movie! Movie! Movie! - Richard Dean Anderson: Did somebody mention my names?
- Richard Dean Anderson: I want you to put through another escape. But this time, don't make it so easy!
Patty: Okay. (hits Richard Dean Anderson's head with a hammer) Is that too much?
Selma: Not for MacGyver! (hits him with the hammer) - Comic Book Guy: Richard Dean Anderson, of the four "Star" franchises: Wars, Trek, Gate, and Search, "Gate" is easily in my top three! Richard Dean Anderson: I get that a lot.
- Comic Book Guy: What in the name of Steve Ditko?!
- Comic Book Guy (after Richard is kidnapped): He's gone!
Doug: There must be a Stargate in this room!
Benjamin: Let us find it!
Comic Book Guy: Wait! I have some even more exciting news! I have heard that there is a girl in this room!
Squeaky Voiced Teen: Let us find her!
(the nerds close in on Willie)
Willie: This isn't a dress! It's a kilt! And I'm not a girl!
Squeaky Voiced Teen: You're the closest we'll ever get! - Richard Dean Anderson (dressed as MacGyver): Hey, ladies! Guess who made MacGyver burgers? MacGyver!
Selma: But we didn't have any ground beef.
Richard Dean Anderson: True. But you did have Slim Jims, a cheese grater, and rubber bands to hold it all together! - Bart: So, Mr. Burns, you're saying my dad has gone insane, thinks he's a god, and has sealed himself in the plant, cutting off all touch with the outside world?
Smithers: Sir, I told you Simpson would be a bad choice to run the plant.
Mr. Burns: You know, Smithers, "I told you so" has a brother. His name is, "Shut the hell up"! - Marge: You are not a god!
Homer: I am a god!
Marge: Then when's my birthday?
Homer: Uh, Janu...Febu...Mar...
Marge: It's May!
Homer: Right. May fir...sec...thir... - Richard Dean Anderson: I've come up with another escape. I want you to tie me up and lock me in the trunk of your car, under the pier at low tide. All I need are these everyday objects — a toothpick, some liquor, a gun with no bullets, bullets, and three of my MacGyver writers.
Selma: Okay. Maybe we can do it during lunch.
Richard Dean Anderson (childishly): Now! - Richard Dean Anderson (as he's being kidnapped): Watch the face! I need that for acting!
- Homer (reading the book): "Fried eggs are as important to business as bacon."
Worker 1 (subtitled from Hindi): What's he talking about?
Female Worker (subtitled from Hindi): Fried eggs? I have a degree in physics from M.I.T.
Worker 2 (subtitled from Hindi): Maybe if we cheer, he'll let us go back to work! - (Burns, Smithers, and the Simpsons arrive at the Indian power plant, with the workers chanting something)
Marge: Should we take our stuff or are we coming back on the same boat?
Burns: Same boat, but take it anyway. I'm renting the boat to a Dixieland booze cruise.
(they disembark as an Indian Dixie Land band gets on the boat) - Burns: The man's a genius! We don't need to be here to help him.
Homer: You mean you're giving me absolute power!?
Smithers: Sir, doesn't that corrupt?
Burns: Absolutely...not! - Richard Dean Anderson: MacGyver, AWAY!
- Homer: Well, I'm just glad I'm not a god anymore. Let's go home. How's Chief Wiggum?
Marge: He was gravely wounded in a bank shooting.
Homer: Yeah, he's funny. - Homer: I was playing Carnac with my bodyguard...
(Homer removes the turban from his Sikh bodyguard, and places it on his own head. He then places an envelope to his head)
Homer (in Johnny Carson voice): Hin...du
(Homer rips open the envelope, blows into it, removes the card inside and reads...)
Homer (in Johnny Carson voice): The moisture that collects on my Hin!
Cultural References
- Homer pretends a cardboard cutout of Mac Tonight is a thermostat repairman and also leaves it to look after the kids.
- Burns mentions being served dinner in a "scooped-out monkey's head", a reference to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
- Homer refers to Brahma, a Hindu god as "Papa Smurf", Ganesh as "The Elephant Man" and Vishnu as "Johnny Sixarms".
- The boat ride at this episode's climax parodies Apocalypse Now, itself based on Heart of Darkness.
- The song that plays as the Simpsons sail through India is "The End" by The Doors, which was also used in the film Apocalypse Now. It was previously used in Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder when Homer contemplates suicide.
- The song that plays at the end of the episode is Pal Bhar Ke Liye by Kishore Kumar, a famous Bollywood playback singer from the 1970s. The song is from the Bollywood movie Johnny Mera Naam. Simpsons creator Matt Groening is said to be a fan of Bollywood movies.
- The conversation about choosing a door which may contain a tiger references the short story The Lady or the Tiger, in which a young man must choose a door, knowing it will either house a beautiful lady who is NOT the woman he fell in love with, or a man-eating tiger.
Broadcasting Information
USA/Canada UK- 1st Airdate: Sunday, May 21, 2006
- 2nd Airdate: Friday, May 26, 2006 (Encore Screening)
- 3rd Airdate: Monday, August 7, 2006
- 4th Airdate: Wednesday, August 30, 2006
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