Homer Defined
The Simpsons, season 3, episode 5. First aired October 17, 1991. 132 moments of about ten seconds each: open one for its frame, what happens and what's said.
← Bart the Murderer Like Father, Like Clown → The whole episode as text
About the episode
Homer averts a meltdown at the plant by choosing a button with "eeny, meeny, miny, moe," and is celebrated as a hero while privately fearing exposure. When Aristotle Amadopolis invites him to address the Shelbyville plant, another meltdown strikes, and the same blind luck rescues him, giving the world the phrase "pulling a Homer." Meanwhile, Milhouse's mother, Luann Van Houten, keeps him away from Bart until Marge intervenes.
- Written by
- Howard Gewirtz
- Directed by
- Mark Kirkland
- Guest stars
- Jon Lovitz as Aristotle Amadopolis
- Chick Hearn
- Magic Johnson
- Chalkboard gag
I will not squeak chalk.
- Couch gag
- Alien
- Production code
- 8F04
The synopsis is our own. Credits and guest stars from Wikipedia and the Simpsons wiki.
Every moment
-
Bart Simpson stands at a chalkboard in a classroom, chalk in hand, writing repeated lines…
“The Simpsons”
0:00–0:12 -
Homer holds a glowing green rod beside a CAUTION sign while Mr. Burns and Smithers watch from a control…
0:12–0:25 -
A row of students plays wind instruments in a classroom while a heavy older man with grey hair at the sides…
“Ah!”
0:25–0:38 -
Homer stands in a doorway holding a frying pan, and then a green one-eyed monster with horns sits on a brown…
“Ah!”
0:38–0:51 -
Marge sits at the blue-clothed kitchen table sipping coffee over a newspaper while Bart writes with a pencil…
“Here's good news. According to the SciCatching article,”
0:51–1:02 -
Lisa and baby Maggie sit in a kitchen with a newspaper, Lisa holding a spoon over a bowl of cereal…
“Dad, I think this paper is a flimsy hodgepodge of pie graphs, factoids, and Larry King.”
1:02–1:13 -
Bart writes on a card at a blue kitchen table while Lisa sits beside him and claps her hands together
“that everything is just fine. To me bestest bud, Milhouse, happy birthday, Bart.”
1:13–1:25 -
Milhouse and Bart first appear with a white card showing a grinning orange-haired woman in a pink bikini…
“So how about a nice pair of bongos?”
1:25–1:34 -
Milhouse sits on an orange bench holding a green gift box covered in candy canes and dotted with red…
“Oh, Milhouse,”
1:34–1:45 -
Milhouse and Bart sit side by side on an orange couch in a room with a window behind them
“What are you girls talking about? Nothing.”
1:45–1:54 -
Milhouse and Bart stand together in a room, with Milhouse holding a green box of items
“I'll keep one and you keep one. Now, whenever you want to talk to me,”
1:54–2:05 -
Milhouse and Bart stand together in a warm orange room, with Milhouse holding a green box and Bart…
“Jellybean baskets, personalized noisemakers,”
2:05–2:17 -
Bart looks out a bus window at Santa's Little Helper, the brown greyhound with a blue collar, sitting…
“Wow, Brown.”
2:17–2:29 -
Milhouse and Bart sit on a bus with Bart wide-eyed and uneasy, while bus driver Otto headphones and a tan…
“applause to birthday boy Milhouse for his totally bitchin' party on Saturday.”
2:29–2:41 -
Milhouse carries a green lunchbox down the aisle of a yellow Springfield Elementary School bus while Bart…
“Sorry, Bart.”
2:41–2:52 -
Mr. Burns sits in a red wingback chair with his fingers steepled, while Smithers stands beside him…
“Time to pay for your two days of debauchery, you hungover drones.”
2:52–3:06 -
Mr. Burns sits in a red leather chair in a dark suit and black tie while his thin assistant Smithers stands…
“Who the devil is Hercules?”
3:06–3:18 -
A bespectacled man with brown hair and a magenta bow tie stands grinning before a wall of monitors, one…
“May I ask how you spent your weekend? A bit overly familiar, but I'll allow it.”
3:18–3:30 -
Mr. Burns sits in a red armchair while his thin assistant Smithers listens beside him in a room lined…
“Oh! Just give the great unwashed a pair of oversized breasts and a happy ending,”
3:30–3:41 -
Lenny sips coffee at a purple table while Carl laughs and Homer talks animatedly with a raised hand
“Sounds like my kind of flick. And how?”
3:41–3:52 -
Homer Simpson reaches into a pink box of doughnuts at the nuclear plant control panel, picking out and biting…
“Ugh, cherry.”
3:52–4:03 -
Otto steers a yellow Springfield Elementary School bus while Bart sits slumped and glum in a seat…
“Otto, welcome. Eboo, hey, got a bad case of the munchies, man.”
4:03–4:11 -
Apu and Otto stand together at a counter marked CASH with jars of goods behind them
“Otto, welcome. Eboo, hey, got a bad case of the munchies, man.”
4:11–4:21 -
Bart stands in the foreground looking downward outside the Kwik-E-Mart, where Apu and Otto are visible…
“Oh, good thing you warned me. I was on my way to Mexico.”
4:21–4:31 -
Mr. Burns sits in a tall red chair behind his desk and gestures with his hands while his thin assistant…
“Call me old-fashioned, but movies were sexier when the actors kept their clothes on.”
4:31–4:42 -
Mr. Burns gestures with one hand and speaks in a wood-paneled office, while his thin assistant Smithers works…
“Warning, problem in sector 7G. 7G?”
4:42–4:53 -
Mr. Burns stands in a dark suit and black tie by a rain-streaked window, and Homer lies back in a chair…
“Thank you, President Ford.”
4:53–5:05 -
Homer Simpson sits at a control panel in a reactor control room, staring wide-eyed at a gauge labeled CORE…
“Critical what?”
5:05–5:18 -
Homer shouts with his eyes shut at a control panel of colored lights, then stands wide-eyed before the panel…
“It's my problem! We're doomed! Sector 7G is now being isolated.”
5:18–5:25 -
Otto grips the steering wheel and grins while Bart stares wide-eyed at him from the right side of the frame
“Sure you will.”
5:25–5:35 -
A heavy, blue-haired man in a brown suit with a red tie and a moustache leans over a desk toward a startled…
“Margarita, I want you.”
5:35–5:42 -
A heavyset man in a brown suit with blue hair and a moustache and a woman with tall platinum-blonde hair…
“You're fired.”
5:42–5:49 -
Kent Brockman appears on a blue studio backdrop as the moment opens on a "Springfield Action News Bulletin"…
“We interrupt Search for the Sun for the special news bulletin.”
5:49–6:02 -
Maggie sits on the brown couch beside Marge, who has a tall blue beehive and a red bead necklace and is…
“This station has just learned that a serious crisis is in progress at the Springfield”
6:02–6:16 -
A man in a blue shirt, jeans and an orange hard hat flees down a red corridor past a radiation symbol…
“But I can assure you and the public that there's absolutely no danger whatsoever.”
6:16–6:27 -
Mr. Burns stands in a library wearing a yellow robe and holding a blue telephone receiver, while Smithers…
“Things couldn't be more ship-shape. Sir, where's my radiation suit?”
6:27–6:40 -
Marge Simpson and baby Maggie are on a brown couch in front of a pink wall and a window at first…
“Homie, please be all right.”
6:40–6:49 -
Homer slumps forward over the curved pink control console of a dim reactor room, then Marge is seen slumped…
“The, um, the, uh, the... Manual! The manual!”
6:49–6:57 -
Homer Simpson sits in a chair at a pink control panel in a dim, orange-tiled room, holding open a green book…
“Congratulations on your purchase of a Fishinator 1952 Slow Fission Reactor.”
6:57–7:05 -
Homer Simpson stares down at a large blueprint covered in diagrams, its labeled corner reading FISSIONATOR…
“Don't!”
7:05–7:14 -
Mr. Burns stands in a red-upholstered setting in a pale yellow sweater, grimacing and then speaking…
“Oh, hot dog.”
7:14–7:25 -
Grampa sits in a pink jacket on the left of a row of three elderly people, with a bearded old man in a green…
“After the meltdown, we can expect roving bands...”
7:25–7:35 -
Homer Simpson sits in a red-walled room with circular radiation symbols on the walls and reads a large teal…
“I don't understand anything.”
7:35–7:45 -
Marge Simpson kneels on a multicolored rug in the living room with her hands clasped in prayer, her eyes…
“Dear Lord, if you spare this town from becoming a smoking hole in the ground,”
7:45–7:56 -
Marge Simpson stands with her eyes shut and her palms pressed together in prayer, grimacing with clenched…
“I'll try to be a better Christian.”
7:56–8:10 -
Homer Simpson stands at a control room console with a purple edge in the foreground and reacts with wide-eyed…
“One minute to core meltdown. Shut up!”
8:10–8:17 -
Homer Simpson sits at a purple control panel inside a nuclear plant with yellow-and-black radiation signs…
“Okay, okay, think back to your training.”
8:17–8:31 -
Homer Simpson sits at a control panel in a nuclear plant control room lined with radiation warning signs…
“Ooh, it's tied. Simpson! You see which button I'm pushing?”
8:31–8:41 -
Homer stands at a curved control panel covered in colored buttons and lights, pressing buttons and reaching…
“Okay, gotta pick a button, pick a button, pick a button.”
8:41–8:52 -
Mr. Burns sits wrapped in a pale cream hazmat suit with a dark goggle-like visor, while Smithers stands…
“Oh, Smithers, I guess there's nothing left to do but kiss my sorry ass goodbye.”
8:52–8:58 -
A tall, thin man with spiky brown hair, round tinted glasses, a green jacket and a blue bow tie stands before…
“These unfortunate people here will be instantly killed.”
8:58–9:09 -
A woman with a brown bob and round glasses ducks under a desk with her hand on her head, while a stooped man…
“They called me old-fashioned for teaching the duck and cover method.”
9:09–9:22 -
Homer presses buttons on a glowing control panel with his yellow hand, then the scene fades to brown and black
“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”
9:22–9:35 -
Homer Simpson stands at a control panel with wide eyes, staring at a red digital readout that shows 007…
“Danger in 7G neutralized. Have a nice day.”
9:35–9:46 -
Two workers in orange hard hats, one with brown hair and one with grey hair, haul a red sofa-like panel…
“Will I ever see you again? Sure, baby.”
9:46–9:56 -
Grampa sits on a red chair beside a bearded old man with a cane and an elderly woman with lavender hair…
“I'd like to solve the puzzle. Three loins in the fountain.”
9:56–10:09 -
Marge Simpson sits on the couch holding baby Maggie, who has a pacifier and a blue bow, in a living room…
“Yes, we've isolated the problem. Wouldn't you know false alarm?”
10:09–10:15 -
An elderly, frail, stooped man with a hooked nose and white hair at the sides, who is not Mr. Burns here…
“It seems a single wayward crow flew into our warning system.”
10:15–10:25 -
Mr. Burns sits in a red armchair at a long table, first holding a phone to his ear and laughing…
“Well, Ty, smithers, I can still sell him snake oil.”
10:25–10:32 -
Mr. Burns gestures and points toward the right while Smithers stands by the window at the right edge…
“Now bring me a wine spritzer and don't be stingy with the vino.”
10:32–10:40 -
Mr. Burns grins and clasps his hands in the foreground of a wood-paneled room while a thin man with grey hair…
“our next employee of the month.”
10:40–10:51 -
Milhouse sits at a counter eating a dessert topped with whipped cream while Bart leans on the counter…
“Now we're even for your party.”
10:51–11:02 -
Milhouse and Bart are at a school cafeteria table with a lunch tray holding a plate of food and a milk carton
“What's she got against me? She says you're a bad influence.”
11:02–11:12 -
Milhouse talks to a glum Bart, who rests his chin on his hands at a counter by a window in a school room
“I'm really sorry, Bart.”
11:12–11:25 -
Homer sits at a brown cafeteria table in a white shirt, sipping from a cup while Carl stands beside him…
“Simpson's my man.”
11:25–11:35 -
Homer Simpson sits in a break room beside a Cold Drinks machine and a wall clock, first with his arms…
“You just have to read the manual and press the right button.”
11:35–11:47 -
Mr. Burns stands at a microphone on a stage under an "Employee of the Month" banner while a cheering…
“Now, now, that will do.”
11:47–11:57 -
Mr. Burns stands at a microphone on a stage with blue curtains and a partly visible banner, while Smithers…
“this plaque, this discount coupon book, and my own personal thumbs up.”
11:57–12:07 -
Mr. Burns stands at a microphone in front of blue curtains and gestures with one hand while a wall…
“And to ensure your immortality,”
12:07–12:19 -
Homer Simpson stands before a wall of framed portraits of a thin, bow-tied man with glasses…
“Magic Johnson!”
12:19–12:30 -
Homer stands on a stage holding a blue telephone to his ear while Mr. Burns speaks into a microphone…
“I just used our last time out the car and congratulate you on averting that nuclear”
12:30–12:40 -
A Black man in a yellow Lakers jersey talks on a blue corded telephone in a crowded stadium with a Lakers…
“Uh, Magic, what if people think a guy's a hero, but he was really just lucky?”
12:40–12:51 -
Itchy and Scratchy first appear on a title card for The Itchy & Scratchy Show, then the card reads…
12:51–13:01 -
A black cartoon cat with huge round glasses and a bushy black mustache, grinning with fangs bared and puffing…
“He-he-he-he-he-he-he!”
13:01–13:13 -
Bart slumps glumly on a dark brown couch beside Lisa, who wears a pearl necklace and an orange skirt…
“Bart, you're not laughing.”
13:13–13:24 -
Homer Simpson and Marge Simpson are in a pink hallway with a brown arched door, a green doormat, a coat rack…
“Homer, did you go out and buy a 20-pound ham?”
13:24–13:33 -
Lisa in a red skirt and beaded necklace and Maggie in a blue sleeper with a bow stand in a room…
“For heroic competence,”
13:33–13:44 -
Marge stands beside Homer, who is bald with stubble and a white shirt, as she holds up a framed Employee…
“Employee of the Month! Oh, Homer!”
13:44–13:57 -
Homer stands in a pink hallway holding a ham while glaring and pressing a hand to his chest, as Marge…
“Look, I get enough admiration and respect at work.”
13:57–14:08 -
Marge sits at the dinner table in the first frame, holding a knife and fork over a plate of meat and peas…
“Hmm, it's actually more of a honey glaze.”
14:08–14:19 -
Lisa Simpson first stands holding a fork with a bit of food on it in the foreground, then lies on the floor…
“How zen.”
14:19–14:30 -
Bart Simpson in his orange shirt sits reading on his bed in his bedroom, beside a lamp, a pillow and a framed…
“Milhouse to Bart!”
14:30–14:41 -
Bart holds a cream box-shaped toy phone with Krusty the Clown's face and green hair, first raising it…
“Please don't hate me.”
14:41–14:53 -
Homer Simpson stands beside a dark blue car under a purple canopy marked 'mB' with a pink 'Employee…
“Ooh, right next to the boss.”
14:53–15:05 -
Homer is seen in a green car in a crowded parking lot near the nuclear plant's cooling towers, then stands…
“Ah, Simpson, there's someone I want you to meet.”
15:05–15:17 -
Homer is in a library lined with colorful books while a grey-haired man in a white jacket and dark sunglasses…
“Aristotle Lamedopolis, owner of the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Facility.”
15:17–15:27 -
Homer Simpson stands in close-up in front of a dark wood-paneled wall with a round gold ornament…
“Their ine haratu dule what? Yes.”
15:27–15:29 -
Homer Simpson stands at left facing Mr. Burns, a frail, stooped old man in a dark suit with a hooked nose…
“Their ine haratu dule what? Yes.”
15:29–15:37 -
Homer Simpson stands in a library lined with bookshelves beside Mr. Burns, a frail, stooped old man…
“But I really can't tell them anything. Don't cut the false modesty.”
15:37–15:44 -
Mr. Burns wears a dark suit in his library office, gesturing with one hand while two figures in white shirts…
“Well, Smithers, how kind of you to pay us a visit.”
15:44–15:58 -
Bart and Lisa kneel on a rug playing Monopoly while Marge sits on the arm of a brown couch knitting…
“That one's always been a problem.”
15:58–16:10 -
Bart and Maggie sit on a colorful rug playing Monopoly while Marge stands behind the brown couch near a ball…
“Ah, I've won second prize in a beauty contest.”
16:10–16:21 -
Bart kneels on a rug in the living room, first holding out an open box of game pieces toward Marge…
“Don't worry, Mom. There's tons of these things.”
16:21–16:30 -
Bart in his orange shirt stands with his arms folded and a cookie in hand beside baby Maggie in her blue bow…
“It's his mom.”
16:30–16:42 -
Marge Simpson and a woman with a blue bob, red-framed glasses, and an orange dress with a white collar, are…
“We met in the emergency room when the boys drank paint.”
16:42–16:51 -
Marge Simpson sits on a red couch holding a cup of coffee and talking with wide eyes and an open mouth…
“Well, look, I know Bart can be a handful, but I also know what he's like inside.”
16:51–17:03 -
Marge stands on the left beside a red couch while a plump woman with a blue bob, orange-rimmed glasses…
“Of course, it makes him do bad things. Well, Marge, the other day,”
17:03–17:14 -
Marge Simpson appears in close-up against a lavender wall with a brown picture frame and pink surface…
“Well, I can't defend everything he does.”
17:14–17:17 -
Marge and a woman with a blue bob, glasses and a brown top sit side by side on a red couch, each…
“But let's face it, all Bart and Millhouse have as each other.”
17:17–17:24 -
Marge Simpson sits on a red sofa beside a woman with a blue bob, orange-framed glasses, and a brown…
“and in the Christmas pageant, they're always sheep.”
17:24–17:32 -
Marge Simpson peeks through a window at a blue-haired boy in a white shirt and red shorts playing on a seesaw…
“I'll think about it, Marge.”
17:32–17:40 -
Barney stands at the bar holding a foamy beer mug while he talks and gestures, with Lisa, the girl…
“So next time somebody tells you carny folk are good, honest people,”
17:40–17:47 -
Lisa Simpson holds a notepad and pencil and talks with her mouth open as she writes, while at Moe's bar…
“you can spit in their faces for me. I will, Mr.”
17:47–18:00 -
Lisa Simpson and Homer Simpson sit together at a bar, with Lisa at left and Homer leaning on the counter…
“Here you go. One beer, one chocolate milk.”
18:00–18:09 -
Lisa sits at a bar counter beside Homer, a bald heavy man in a white shirt, while Moe leans on the counter…
“The depression effects of alcohol usually don't kick in till closing time.”
18:09–18:20 -
Barney leans on the bar holding a beer mug, while Moe wipes a glass with a towel on the left and Homer…
“I was pretty nervous, so I used a little trick.”
18:20–18:32 -
Bart is on a purple bed in his bedroom with a yellow pillow, a blue wastebasket, and a green alien-like toy…
“Millhouse to burn!”
18:32–18:45 -
Bart and Marge are in the family's bedroom with baby Maggie, who wears a pacifier and a blue bow and kneels…
“Hey, Mom!”
18:45–18:58 -
Marge Simpson stands in a pink hallway beside a framed picture of a rocket, then hugs her son Bart…
“You'll be good.”
18:58–19:10 -
A grey-haired man in dark sunglasses and a white lab coat speaks at a blue podium with an atom emblem…
“As I look out into this sea of smiling faces,”
19:10–19:22 -
A frail, very thin old man with a hooked nose and grey hair at the sides, wearing dark sunglasses and a white…
“Well, you're in for a treat. We have with us today a real man.”
19:22–19:32 -
Homer stands at a blue podium with an atom emblem on a red-curtained stage, holding a sheet of paper…
“Uh, ladies and gentlemen. Gentlemen.”
19:32–19:45 -
Homer stands at a blue podium marked with an atom emblem and a microphone, looking worriedly at a sheet…
“Um, Grace Under Pressure is no...”
19:45–19:56 -
Marge stands beside Homer, a small baby, a curly-haired man and a red-haired woman beneath a ceiling vent…
“Three minutes to meltdown.”
19:56–20:06 -
Homer stands at a control panel beside a thin grey-haired man in a white lab coat and sunglasses, while a row…
“Fifteen seconds to core meltdown. Just do what you did before.”
20:06–20:17 -
Homer stands in the middle of a group that includes Milhouse with blue hair and glasses, Carl…
“Whippy hollard, let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny.”
20:17–20:27 -
An elderly man in a white lab coat and dark sunglasses, with grey hair at the sides, grins and fidgets…
“Thank you, Homer, for saving my plant with that idiotic rhyming.”
20:27–20:37 -
Kent Brockman sits in front of a blue backdrop bearing the 'My Two Cents with Kent Brockman' title card…
“Oh, I don't go on. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”
20:37–20:46 -
A man with a black bowl-cut and a blue suit with a green tie stands at the left of a blue studio wall…
“Now back to Scott Christian with Laugh and a Half.”
20:46–20:56 -
Chief Wiggum stands behind a counter stacked with coins beside a glass penny jar, while a hooded robber…
“It seems the chief had gone to the bank to cash in his penny jar.”
20:56–21:08 -
Kent Brockman holds papers at a desk while a black-haired man in a blue suit and teal tie talks and smiles…
“Just doing my job. Yes, it seems the Chief pulled a Homer Simpson of his own.”
21:08–21:18 -
A brown-haired, thin cartoon man in a pink shirt with a tattoo on his chest, eyes closed and grinning…
“Huh? A pretzel?”
21:18–21:28 -
Moe stands in the foreground near an arena's courtside signs as an orange basketball flies past at the top…
“Magic stops. His feet slip out from under him.”
21:28–21:42 -
Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie sit close together on the brown couch in the pink living room, with Homer…
“Now he belongs to the H's.”
21:42–21:45 -
No regular Simpsons characters appear; this is the opening credits sequence
21:45–21:54 -
No Simpsons characters appear; the scene is a black screen with yellow credit text in the show's font
21:54–22:04 -
The scene is a plain black screen with yellow credit text in the Simpsons title font
22:04–22:14 -
A black closing credits sequence with no people on screen
22:14–22:23 -
A black closing credits sequence with yellow text on a black background
22:23–22:33 -
A black closing credits roll for a Simpsons episode
22:33–22:43 -
No characters appear in this sequence of black title cards with yellow text
22:43–22:52 -
Silhouetted audience members, including a large figure with curly hair in the foreground, sit in a dark…
22:52–23:04
Who's in it
Bart Simpson, Homer Simpson, Lisa Simpson, Marge Simpson, Maggie Simpson, Moe Szyslak, Barney Gumble, Milhouse Van Houten, Krusty the Clown, Principal Skinner, Chief Wiggum, Grampa Simpson, Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Waylon Smithers, Mr. Burns, Otto Mann, Kent Brockman, Jasper Beardsley, Martin Prince, Lewis Clark, Richard, Sideshow Mel, Sherri Mackleberry, Terri Mackleberry, Luann Van Houten, Professor Frink, Comic Book Guy, Itchy, Snake, Becky Shorter, Scratchy, Chuck Berger, Charlie, Yellow Weasel, Coward, Abraham Lincoln, Space Mutants, Lucille Botzcowski, Scott Christian, Margarita, Gerald Ford, Sailor Kid, Aristotle Amadopolis, Avery Devereaux, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson
Everyone who appears in it, from the Simpsons wiki. Every character