Radioactive Man (The Simpsons episode)
When he tires of the long hours required to shoot the film, Milhouse quits the role, forcing the filmmakers to cease production and return to Hollywood.
The episode features cultural references to the 1960s Batman television series, the 1995 film Waterworld, and the song "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers.
Bart and Milhouse are thrilled to learn a film version of their favorite comic book series, Radioactive Man, is being produced in Springfield.
After Bart is rejected for being an inch too short (and his attempts to fake a growth spurt fail), Milhouse is cast as Fallout Boy opposite Rainier Wolfcastle as Radioactive Man despite the fact that he doesn't really want to be an actor at all.
Milhouse's unease turns into disgust over how boring and stupid he finds the moviemaking process, and he disappears right before the filming of the most expensive scene at the Nuclear Power Plant.
Deeming Rooney an unsuitable replacement for Milhouse and because of all the price gouging, the bankrupt producers cancel the film and return to Hollywood, where they are greeted with open arms and are happy to be back "where people treat each other right."
[1][citation needed] Because Waterworld's July 1995 release date happened long after the animation on the episode had been completed, the references to it in this episode are related to the information available about its setting during filming (post-apocalyptic flooded Earth) and budget issues (it was the most expensive film ever made at the time at $175 million estimated).
[7] Moe mentions that "William Faulkner could write an exhaust pipe gag that could really make you think", a reference to the author's time in Hollywood.
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called the episode a "wonderful pastiche" on the Tim Burton Batman films, and added that Milhouse is an obvious candidate for Fallout Boy.
[12] Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict considered the best part of the episode to be when Krusty tries to prove the "range" of different characters he can portray to the casting director.
[15] Total Film's Nathan Ditum ranked Rooney's performance as the eighth-best guest appearance in the show's history, commenting that he is "desperately funny and self-effacing as a parody of his fallen child-star self.
