I’m going to miss Homer #1, his irrepressible humor, his insatiable hunger and unquenchable thirst. We’ve gone through so much. And come back for seconds. Free refills and all the shrimp we could eat. Thank science for Professor Frink, until Bart recorded over Homer, he begloibened the day. Homer has had a storied story. He came into this world a kind of magical gorilla, lived as a fat, fat, fat, reckless fat pig, died his way into the future future through a series of surplus wholesale clones, will be downloaded onto a zip drive, turned into a screensaver (bonk, bonk, ooh corner, badonk) and finally transported into a robot who sounds like Kazoo, the alien on The Flintstones. Very fitting. Except Homer’s junk, which comes separately and has to be assembled by hand. The Simpsons is playing it fast and loose with death this season, what with the death of the most beloved person in Springfield, the real-life death of Marcia Wallace, whatever happened to Nelson a few weeks ago and, I swear, Hans Moleman has died at least four times this year. The Simpsons play with the idea of Homer dying a lot. Probably more so after Matt Groening’s father, who Homer is based on, died. It’s a scab he just has to pick. In a past future episode (if this is beginning to sound like the Mad magazine version of the Poseidon Adventure, go down to go up, good), when Lisa tells her mom she’s marrying a Hugh Grant kinda guy, Marge says “I wish your father were here,” no Homer will not have had died in that future, he was out. The Simpsons has prepared us for Homer’s death. But not Abe’s, he’s at Homer’s funerals. Cremo, the crematorium-bot is ever-ready, though. The Simpsons are a resilient family. Marge forever finding the bright spots and the spots she has to clean. She immediately accepts Homer #2. No reservations. A big hug. No mourning period. All fine and no looking back. One good scream ought to do it. And it does. In the future, it will cost Bart a week’s pay to have memories like that erased from his brain at Moving On. The Simpsons know how to cope. Bart copes with his divorce with a string of one night stands, including one where he learns what else Miss Hoover can hoover. Lisa does better than cope. She loves the sickness, while hating the sick, a turn on the love the sinner while hating the sin. But with zombies, there is no sin. Just brains. No breathing, no asthma. And now that Lisa has those vegetarian brains, for Zombie Vegans, or Zegans, meh, she is fulfilled. Thank goodness there’s no cure for zombies. This episode is a bit of a woo-hoo, indeed. “Days of Future Future” is a play on a Moody Blues album, Days of Future Past, that the Moodies recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1967. It marked their emergence from a British blues band harmonizing on “Go Now” to a prog-rock band with hits like “Nights in White Satin” and “Question.” (Great finger crunching chords.) But more importantly they appeared on The Simpsons. But It All Went By So Fast: Krusty-Os made from 10% real food. First Church of Springfield Sign: Homer Simpson Clone Funeral. Previous Donations Honored. Simpson family banner: Welcome Back From The Dead, Dad. The future Bart lives at The Loft at Springfield Elementary. Cretaceous Park, Now Correctly Named. Zombie Rescue Mission: Used Brains, No Stems Please. Adult Skateboards For People Who Used to Be Cool. Moving One: Give Yourself a Present. Escape from the Past. Sign at Swapper Jack’s: Let Our Lettuce Tell You How Fresh It Is. Maggie has a date in the same restaurant that Bart has dinner with his soon-to-used-to-be-ex-wife. Bart Profile at Moving On: Bart J. Simpson, Not Very Smart. Use small words as if to child. Male Age 40, 5’ 7”, Eye Color – Black. Den of Geek Rating: 4.5 Out of 5 Stars Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
