The Call of the Simpsons (February 18, 1990).
A near-nude Homer is lost in the wilderness. After bees sting him in the mouth and he falls into some mud, a random photographer in the area mistakes the hollering, mud-caked Homer for Bigfoot. The forest quickly becomes a carnival of souvenir stands, burger shacks, and cardboard cutouts: "Get Your Picture Taken with Bigfoot." Homer is eventually hunted down, tranquilized, and taken to a lab for testing. Upon observation, scientists can't discern if Homer really is Bigfoot, or merely "sub-human." A TV news anchor reports that the photographer "was most impressed by the creature's uncivilized look, its foul language, and most of all, its indescribable stench." After a reporter interviews Marge, a tabloid runs articles with the screaming headlines: "I Married Bigfoot," "Bigfoot's Wife Pleads: 'Call Him Homer,'" and "The Bigfoot Diet: 'Pork Chops Aplenty.'" Here's a
clip.
Mr. Plow (November 19, 1992).
We see a brief outtake from an upcoming Fox TV special, "In Search of Bigfoot," which spoofs the infamous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film. Then we hear the off-camera director yell at the guy in the Bigfoot costume, "Hold it Bob, we can see your wristwatch!" Bob looks down at his watch and exclaims, "Aw, dammit." Here's a foreign-language
clip (I think it's Spanish).
Homer Bad Man (November 27, 1994).
Facing sexual harassment charges, Homer appears on the tabloid TV news show
Rock Bottom. As an aside, he tells the interviewer, "I saw that report you did on Sasquatch. It was fair and even-handed." Homer later asks the interviewer, "Say, can you introduce me to the Sasquatch? I like his style." Sasquatch never appears onscreen, so no images or clips for this one.
The Bart Wants What it Wants (February 17, 2002).
The Simpson family travels to Canada. A bus pulls into a Toronto bus station, and we see a Mountie, a hockey player, Bigfoot, and then the Simpsons themselves disembark. Here's a
clip with some rock soundtrack -- blink and you might miss him.
Spanish Fry (July 13, 2003).
This is actually from an episode of
Futurama, but since that series also came from the mind of
Simpsons creator Matt Groening, close enough. Anyway, the
Futurama gang camps out in Duraflame National Forest. It's a National Bigfoot Preserve, where the park ranger shows them a film short, "Bigfoot: Endangered Mystery." True believer Fry, who calls Bigfoot his hero, is saved by the creature at the end of the episode, just as a space monster is about to chop off Fry's "lower horn." Note that
Futurama's Bigfoot closely resembles
The Simpsons' Barney. Can't find a proper clip, but take a look at
this.
***
Labels: Bigfoot, The Simpsons, TV
Above, the Avalanche replacing Howler the Sasquatch (left) with Bernie the St. Bernard (right). Below, the NHL replacing its classic shield logo (left) with the new one (right)...
Jaromir Jagr's hair...
Stan Lee's The Guardian Project...
Garish goalie masks...
Kevin Smith...
Slap Shot 2, Slap Shot 3, MVP: Most Valuable Primate, The Mighty Ducks, etc...
A certain hockey mom...
Hockey in the desert...
Ice girls...
And, of course, Todd Bertuzzi ending Steve Moore's career...
