Where Did THAT Come From – Chili Cook-off Stuff

In our silly lil game, we sometimes see things pop in that we have no clue as to their Origin. They seem familiar, but we just can’t pinpoint from where. So that is why we decided to make a fun lil reminder out of it. To let you know just Where did THAT Come From?

Woohoo! A chili cook-off in TSTO that sum of thought might be headed our way based on a spicy hint in the Wild West Event!

“The merciless peppers of Quetzlzacatenango grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum.”

That wasn’t the hint but it certainly is how Wiggum describes the chili peppers. It seems funny to me to be breaking down an episode after seven (jeesh… seven?) people pointed out the origin episode to Sandra when she asked. Are these seven applications for my job? Is it worth writing about an episode that the seven (count em, seven) people who probably read my posts (okay, there’s maybe more) already watched? Well, the answer is yes even if one of them is right about a robot someday doing my job. And yes Lone Ranger, I think you’re right that robots would need a Wookiee. C-3PO sure did on Bespin. I just really want to read Orqid’s college thesis about the Space Coyote now but my job is to write origin posts. This mini-event came with a good amount of new free stuff, and the obligatory donut options. Thankfully, most of it is all from the same episode so this WDTCF will sort of be an episode recap of sorts as I show images of all the new stuff in the Best. Show. Ever. I know a lot of you are probably familiar with this amazing episode but pictures are always fun, right? Let’s pop in a spicy pepper and take a trip to find the Pro Shop, Space Coyote, Five Alarm Chili, Insanity Cauldron, Insanity Peppers, A Little Bit of Lenny, King Chili Tent, and the tortoises Homer kicks in insanity mode.

“El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)” (S8:E9)

This isn’t the first time we’ve written about Guatemalan Insanity Peppers. The E.A.R.L. friendship prize comes from the same episode and Bunny wrote about it here. I also mentioned these peppers way back in September 2013 in a post about insanity.

This is one of those episodes that has a truncated intro which sets you up to know it’s going to be a good one chock full of stuff. Homer is reading the paper in the morning (lots of crud about the world, the arts, and religion) but someone has cut part of it out. Don’t blame Marge. She just needed the scissors she has “to gussy up these curtains.”

The phone rings and its Lenny but Marge runs the vacuum to obscure whatever the big, annual thing Lenny is trying to tell Homer about is. Marge is smoking all of a sudden and Homer goes to get fresh air. “What’s that smell? Onions… chili powder… cumin… juicy ground chuck! It’s chili! Oh my God I’m missing the chili cook-off!” Marge has been trying to hide it from her hubby because every time he goes he “gets drunk as a poet on payday.” Last year Homer got drunk and ended up in the cotton candy machine and went parading around as a pink, pink cloud. Jeez, I agree with Homer. “Everything looks bad if you remember it.”  ALso fun to see a Squidport item from TSTO and Krustyland in the episode.

Homer starts putting on his fancy cowboy boots and Marge agrees to let him go provided he promises to not drink any beer. The deal is struck and they’re off to the event.

The first item we see at the cook-off is A Little Bit of Lenny. He’s selling spice racks mainly but marge is surprised that one has “eight spices, hmmmm, some must be doubled.”

There’s line dancing and fun. Homer meanwhile is ready to taste some chili. At the end of the row is the first glimpse of the King Chili Tent. Otto and Apu also have tents.

Am I alone in wishing we could have also gotten Nelson Muntz, Mr. Burns and Frink’s tents as prizes?

Homer is known as “the dude with the fire-proof stomach.” People gasp as he prepares to taste test the goods. His first stop is Firehouse Ned’s Five Alarm Chili. Homer only counts two alarms though and Flanders agrees the chili is two and a half tops. It’s not like Ned to lie so TSTO turning him into Devil Ned makes sense to me.

Moe’s Chili Bar on the other hand only has “a bland timid entry suitable perhaps for patients recovering from surgery.” Here’s another tent I would have liked.

Wiggum is ready to take down “the Pope of Chili Town.” He has some sort of concoction prepared in his giant glowing cauldron.

Wiggum added insanity peppers this year!  Homer pulls a pepper out but just one touch to his tongue causes immense pain. Seems Homer has met his match. Ice cream won’t touch the heat on his tongue and beer is off limits.

Homer is drinking water to quench the fire and strangely, Ralph Wiggum is around to warn Homer about drinking a candle. Ralph may have smarts in this episode but Homer uses the candle wax to coat his tongue and reclaim his chili crown. He can’t have people thinking he’s a chili wuss.  Homer returns to the King Chili Tent and starts to eat peppers. By my count (we don’t actually see Homer eat each but there’s sound effects) he eats seven. Homer is successful but starts to not feel so good. Everything is looking super trippy and Homer runs off through a fence and into the sunset.

Homer’s hallucination sequence is so beautiful to me. Keep in mind this was early in the Simpsons run (pre-HD) and the feats the animators came up with are quite impressive. Homer just hopes he didn’t “brain his damage.”

He tries to spell out HELP in his trance but one of the rocks is a turtle. Okay, actually a tortoise. Homer goes to follow it but it is way too slow (like Bart screen slow). An impatient Homer just punts the tortoise instead.

The tortoise leads him to a Mesoamerican pyramidal structure in his dream world. Homer goes to climb it but it grows to a much more monumental size.

At the top, other than a Marge who always has her back to him is none other than the Space Coyote (voiced by legend Johnny Cash). He is Homer’s spirit guide to lead him beyond “the mind chattering away with a thousand different thoughts.” “Clarity is the path to inner peace.” Homer needs more possessions, including a computer and while he thinks on that… Space Coyote bites his leg. “Sorry, I am a coyote.”

To make himself complete, Homer must find his soul mate. His “kindred spirit. The one with whom you share an unspoken bond. A profound mystical understanding.” Homer is sure that this is Marge but Space Coyote leaves him with an inquisitive “Is it?” and leaps away.  Homer is hit by a ghost train and wakes up on a golf course. He convinces himself that the desert was just a sand trap and “that crazy pyramid was just the Pro Shop.”

Homer returns home to an irate Marge. She thinks he got drunk and humiliated her, breaking his promise. She doesn’t believe he went to a fantasy world froma different mind-altering source. Maybe she isn’t his soul mate? The search for his soulmate results in him wandering, trying to get advice from a furniture salesman, talking to his chum (Barney), crony (Lenny), acquaintance (Carl), comic sympathizer (Sam), compadre (Bumblebee Man), associate (Kerney), contemporary (Hibbert), and well-wisher (Moe since he doesn’t wish him any specific harm) at Moe’s, and then ending up in the E.A.R.L. lighthouse. He’s a “lonely, insignificant speck on a has-been planet orbited by a cold, indifferent sun.” Spoiler alert: It all ends well and Marge IS his soul mate. Also, the Sea Captain likes short shorts aka hot pants.

So there you go friends. The origins of a bunch of new things in our games. A fun mini-event inspired by one of the best episodes you could ask for that was really just to prove how great Homer and Marge are for each other. What do you think of the new stuff? Do you wish we’d gotten more from the episode? Is it one that you also love? Sound off in the comments and I wish you all the insanity you could ask for. I think that’s a good thing. Happy tapping and all that goodness.

TTFN… Wookiee out!