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| "The following tale of alien encounters is true, and by true I mean false. It's all lies, but they're entertaining lies, and in the end isn't that the real truth? The answer is no." |
Leonard Nimoy introduces this episode's tale: its Friday, evidenced by several gags that prove as such. Homer goes to the bar that night and gets drunk on some dog-infused beer. Too drunk to drive, Homer decides to walk home, but gets lost along the way stumbling into a forested area. Freaked out by several scary occurrences, Homer stumbles and sees a strange glowing creature, perhaps an alien, bringing love. The act causes Homer to run away in terror.
Homer tries to tell his tale to others, but nobody will believe him. News of Homer's story reaches the FBI, where Agents Mulder & Scully (of The X-Files show that FOX had been airing at the time) decide to investigate further. However, Homer isn't able to identify the alien amongst the ones the FBI have in stock, and an attempt to locate the alien in the forest only yields Grampa, so the two Agents give up, leaving Homer back where he started in terms of credibility. That night, Bart reveals that he believes Homer's story, because Homer is "so damn sure" he saw an alien. Rejuvenated, Homer decides to go back to the forest next Friday to see it again. He and Bart camp out that night, and indeed see the alien again. Though Homer botches a greeting by stepping in the campfire, forcing the alien to flee, Bart is able to videotape it, giving the two the proof they need. Nimoy concludes the tale there, but the episode still has 10 minutes to go. Ol' Spock finds someway to run from his obligation anyway.
Some time later, footage of the alien is sold (or given, probably given) to the news, and that it'll likely reappear on Friday night again. The forested area has a huge turnout that night, and indeed the alien pops up once more. However, given Springfield's mob mentality, they advance to attack the alien. Just then, Lisa (who had been skeptical the entire episode), reveals the true identity of the 'alien': Mr. Burns. Smithers arrives on the scene to explain that, every Friday night, Burns undergoes a series of treatments - including severe chiropractic procedures, painkillers, and a vocal scraping - that leave Burns twisted, disoriented, and well-meaning. The glow is attributed to Burns' years working at the nuclear plant. Just as Burns comes down from his painkiller high, Dr. Nick gives Burns a booster shot, renewing his ecstasy and leads the town in a joyous song.
Quick Review
Its odd that nobody gives this episode flack for crossing over with the X-Files while A Star is Burns is criticised for being a crossover of a different show. Was it because the X-Files was popular and therefore crossing over with it was okay? Odder yet was that this episode was guest-written by Al Jean & Mike Reiss, who wrote The Critic, the show crossed over from A Star is Burns. To find little criticism for this episode after the criticism that occurred for the other episode seems rather odd to me. Odd.
As for the episode itself, well, it actually ends up being one of the best episodes in the series, oddly enough. Leonard Nimoy's appearance was well done, the Friday night gags were great, and the references to X-Files and other alien-related things were good as well. The story behind the 'alien' was hilarious, particularly Dr. Nick's line "the best part was when he gave me my money". In all, a superb episode, another shining moment in what has been an excellent season thus far.
Final Score: 10
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