From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Simpsons episode
"Missionary: Impossible"
Episode no.	241
Prod. code	BABF11
Orig. Airdate	February 20, 2000
Show Runner(s)	Mike Scully
Writer(s)	Ron Hauge
Director(s)	Steven Dean Moore
Chalkboard	"A belch is not an oral report."
Couch gag	The family waits for a subway car on Evergreen Terrace, and boards the car.
Guest star(s)	Betty White as herself
SNPP capsule
Season 11 September 26, 1999 – May 21, 2000
Beyond Blunderdome Brother's Little Helper Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner? Treehouse of Horror X E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt) Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder Eight Misbehavin' Take My Wife, Sleaze Grift of the Magi Little Big Mom Faith Off The Mansion Family Saddlesore Galactica Alone Again, Natura-Diddily Missionary: Impossible Pygmoelian Bart to the Future Days of Wine and D'oh'ses Kill the Alligator and Run Last Tap Dance in Springfield It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge Behind the Laughter
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"Missionary: Impossible" is the fifteenth episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. It aired on February 20, 2000.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cultural references 3 Quotes 4 External links

In an attempt to end a pledge drive which interrupts a favorite show of his on PBS, a British sitcom entitled Do Shut Up, Homer pledges $10,000 to the network. Homer is applauded for saving the network. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Homer does not have the money, prompting pledge drive host Betty White and a mob of characters and personalities from various PBS shows to go after him. Luckily, Reverend Lovejoy saves Homer after he hides in the church, putting him in a bag disguised as a bag of children's letters to God on a cargo plane to the South Pacific, where he will become a missionary in "Micro-atia." Homer arrives on the island and he meets such people as Qtoktok, Ak, and a native girl who looks and sounds so much like Lisa that he names "Lisa Jr.", teaching them about religion. He calls back to Marge in Springfield, and he makes Bart the "man of the house". Bart replaces Homer at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and Mr. Burns criticizes Homer's record and pokes Bart with a stick. The natives are noble savages who are ignorant of and unspoiled by civilization—until the arrival of Homer. He builds a new casino, the Lucky Savage, which introduces competition and violence to the island. After the failure of the casino, Homer builds a chapel in penance, but he and Lisa Jr. ring the bell extremely loudly, causing an earthquake that releases a river of lava. The chapel sinks into the lava, causing Homer and Lisa Jr. to cling together. When the two are about to meet their end, the scene changes to another pledge drive, this time for the Fox Network. Various Fox show personalities are manning the phones, joined by a cranky Rupert Murdoch and hosted again by Betty White, who entreats the viewers to help keep "crude, low-brow programming" on the air. Bart calls in and pledges a $10,000 donation. Murdoch remarks that Bart Simpson has saved his network, to which he replies: "Wouldn't be the first time."

• The title of the episode is in reference to the American television series Mission: Impossible.
• Phone operators at the Fox Network fundraising drive include Fox show characters Mulder and Scully (from The X-Files), Hank Hill (King of the Hill), Rupert Murdoch (television tycoon), Bender from Matt Groening's Futurama, Thurgood Stubbs from The PJs, and Dylan McKay from Beverly Hills, 90210.
• Heard in the background of Do Shut Up is the Sex Pistols classic song "No Feelings".
• Briefly seen after the PBS ident on the Simpsons' TV is a representation of the famous 1968-1989 Thames Television ident, the ITV London Weekday franchise holder from 1968 to 1992.
• Somewhat oddly, Do Shut Up is described by the PBS presenter as Britain's longest running show with only seven episodes. Britain actually has the longest running sitcom in the entire world with Last of the Summer Wine which has been running since 1973 and has now racked up 240 episodes. Although this does mock the number of episodes per season in English Television. Fawlty Towers, for example, has only twelve episodes. It should be noted that, as of March 12, 2007, The Simpsons has aired 393 versus Last of the Summer Wine's 240.
• When Marge is trying to communicate with Homer through the radio, she references the first line of Pink Floyd's famous song "Comfortably Numb", saying "Hello, is there anybody in there?"
• When Homer is asked by Ak about which religion is the correct one, Homer says, "Well, not the Unitarians. If that's the one true faith I'll eat my hat!" Creator Matt Groening is an Agnostic Unitarian Universalist.
• Many PBS characters chase Homer, such as the Do Shut Up cast, Yo-Yo Ma, Mr. Rogers, the Teletubbies, and Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and Elmo from Sesame Street.
• Homer mentions The Flintstones when using a pelican to mix cement; he is also wearing a hat made of a tortoise shell.
• When Betty White refers to "low-brow" programming during the Fox pledge drive sequence, the Family Guy logo is cleary visible on the TV screen before she shuts it off. After it's December 26, 1999 airing of Da Boom, the show was taken off FOX's permanent schedule, but returned on March 7, 2000 (two weeks after this Simpsons epside aired) to air the rest of the second season before being cancelled.

• Mister Rogers: " It's a beautiful day to kick your ass!"

• Homer: "Save me, Jebus!"

• Betty White: "Homer, you don't have ten thousand dollars, do you?
• Homer: "No ma'am."
• Betty White: "And you thought you could just stab your problems away?"
• Homer: "Yes ma'am...sorry ma'am."

• "Missionary: Impossible" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
• "Missionary: Impossible" at the Internet Movie Database