Beyond Blunderdome
It originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States on September 26, 1999 and was watched in around 8.1 million homes during the broadcast.
In the episode, the Simpsons are given free tickets to a preview screening of Mel Gibson's new film, a remake of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Gibson guest starred as himself, and Jack Burns voiced a film studio executive named Edward Christian.
Homer test drives (and destroys) a new electric car so that he can get a free gift, which turns out to be—to his disappointment—free tickets to a preview screening of the new Mel Gibson film, a remake of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
The next day, they show the producers the new ending, in which Mr. Smith slaughters not only the President but also every member of the United States Congress in a mindless action movie sequence.
Homer, taking an idea he believes to be from Braveheart, moons the executives along with Gibson so that they will stop their car out of disgust.
Homer and Gibson then attend the film's premiere in Springfield, but at the end the entire audience walks out disgusted, and Jimmy Stewart's granddaughter threatens to sue them.
"Beyond Blunderdome" was written by then-showrunner Mike Scully and directed by Steven Dean Moore, airing as part of the eleventh season of The Simpsons (1999–2000).
[1] Karma Waltonen and Denise Du Vernay analysed the episode and wrote in the book The Simpsons in the Classroom: Embiggening the Learning Experience with the Wisdom of Springfield that "the episode is able to critique the practice of test screening, violence in film, and one of movies' favorite standards – the car chase", calling it "a ridiculous parody of an action-film violence orgy".
[1] The idea for the set piece with electric cars at the beginning of the episode came from Kevin Nealon, who was a friend of former showrunner David Mirkin.
[1] In addition to Gibson, Jack Burns guest starred in the episode, voicing a film studio executive named Edward Christian.
[1] The episode also features John Travolta, in whose private jet Gibson flies to Springfield, but his voice was imitated by Dan Castellaneta.
Marge also briefly expresses disgust when the tour guide mentions an infamous spot involving Hugh Grant prior to her making clear she's referring to the filming of Nine Months, indirectly referencing Grant's scandal involving Divine Brown at Sunset Boulevard.
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 26, 1999, as the premiere of the eleventh season of The Simpsons.
[10] In comparison, the previous season premiere episode, "Lard of the Dance", drew a Nielsen rating of 7.2 points with 7.1 million households watching.
[13] On October 7, 2008, "Beyond Blunderdome" was released on DVD as part of the box set The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season.
Staff members Scully, George Meyer, Ron Hauge, Matt Selman and Moore participated in the DVD audio commentary.
The day after the premiere, Mark Lorando of The Times-Picayune wrote that while it was "not the laugh riot The Simpsons have spoiled us to expect – our appetite for showbiz parodies is waning – the episode did have its moments."
This is the Homer who, in the season opener ['Beyond Blunderdome'], showed Marge's wedding ring to Mel Gibson and stated, 'This is a symbol that as per our marriage, she's my property and I own her.
