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| "I don't get the reference... was that supposed to be funny?" I said just one review ago. |
The family attends a show about dinosaurs when Lisa notices someone half-in-costume that looks awfully familiar. After chasing the person down, Lisa recognizes the person as the author of her beloved Angelica Button books. As Lisa is confused as to why her favorite author is bothering to dress up as a dinosaur, the woman reveals that she was a model whose picture was taken to set up a fake author for the books, and that the book was actually conceived by publishers who use reader trends and dozens of desperate English majors to develop books that are most likely to sell. Lisa is shocked by the revelation and runs off crying.
Determined to now burn her set of books, Lisa tells Homer about the conspiracy, and Homer comes to realize how profitable it can be. He quickly assembles a team featuring Bart, a pro at cons, Skinner who knows all about preteen trends, Patty who knows all about fantasy novels, Moe who has some publishing experience and Professor Frink the "computer guy". As the group begins to brainstorm they realize they probably shouldn't do yet another dreamy vampire theme as that has already saturated the market so instead they make their story about trolls. The idea gains the praise of a snooping Neil Gaiman who joins the group as an errand boy. Lisa learns of the scheme and, angered, decides to write a book of her own, but constantly procrastinates. By the time Homer's groups finishes the final draft of their book, Lisa still hasn't written anything besides "Chapter 1".
The group goes to a publisher to get the book published, but they've made a critical mistake: they never came up with a fake author to sell the book with. Luckily, Lisa has become so distraught over her failure that she'll do anything to get her name on a book and she happily becomes that which she hated to that end. The group receives a million dollar check, and all is well. The group except Lisa celebrates their victory... until they get an advance copy of the book which reveals that their troll characters and themes have been replaced by vampires. Realizing that while they initially set out for money, they've become so enriched in the world they've developed that they can't deal with it being destroyed by the book publisher. Angered by this, the group tears up their check and decides to take matters into their own hands.
The team sneaks into the publishing area where they plan on swapping the vampire mock up with the original story on a flash drive moments before printing begins. However, they get found out as Lisa ratted the group out to the publisher, desperate to see her name on a book regardless of its content. The publisher gives Lisa the clear to print the material, and all seems lost. However, the next day the group is stunned to find stores being stocked with the troll version of their story: it seems Lisa switched flash drives with Bart while asking for his forgiveness, thus secretly restoring the original tale. The group is happy to see people enjoying their original vision, though Lisa is angered to find that the book has been credited not to her, but to Neil Gaiman, now on some island who revealed that he, too, switched flash drives at some point and is joyous that he can enjoy being credited for another successful book despite not even being literate.
Quick Review
It was hard for me to get into this episode as, and I just spent the last episode lamenting this, most of the episode was set up as one big reference and I hardly found any of it funny though Neil Gaiman did a pretty decent job in his role.
Final Score: 5.7
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