Today’s post is “brought to you by Soylent red and Soylent yellow, high energy vegetable concentrates, and new, delicious, Soylent green. The miracle food of high-energy plankton gathered from the oceans of the world.”
SPOILER ALERT: This post will discuss the ending of the movie Soylent Green so read at the risk of spoilers. Apologies 168sean168!
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?
You know, sometimes this game does things that just make me a happy Wookiee inside and Issue 2 is no exception. It’s all well and good to get new characters and buildings but I’m one of those fuzball’s who loves references to pop culture in my favorite game and cartoon. For Issue 2, this came our way via Soilant Red. A take on the term Soylent Green, I’m thrilled to see this in the game. It’s clever, interesting, and it’s not the first time Soylent Green has ever been mentioned in TSTO. Drew Dabble posted about dialogue concerning it way back in December 2013.
Shout out to Double D for saving this and also a big Wookiee roar of glee for a Futurama reference. Soylent Green figures in their episodes too. While Soylent Green is a different name than Soilent Red, I think it’s pretty clear that one is a parody of the other. Whenever I think of Soylent Green in the the Best. Show. Ever., I reminisce right back to “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie” (S4:E6). Homer finally puts his foot down with a rambunctious Bart and punishes him. Bart is forbidden to see the Itchy & Scrathcy Movie. Homer hopes that his parenting might someday result in Bart getting the chance to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. We even see a potential future where Chief Justice Bart and his old man finally go see the movie. The Aztec Theater has started serving Soylent Green and you can even get it with extra butter. “Mmmmmm… Soylent Green.”
I guess I should take the time to point out that all of this comes from a 1973 science fiction movie of the same name starring Charlton Heston. Here’s a fun synopsis I found on idmb written by a fan (Mystic80):
“A tale of Earth in despair in 2022. Natural food like fruits, vegetables, and meat among others are now extinct. Earth is overpopulated and New York City has 40 million starving, poverty stricken people. The only way they survive is with water rations and eating a mysterious food called Soylent. A detective investigates the murder of the president of the Soylent company. The truth he uncovers is more disturbing than the Earth in turmoil when he learns the secret ingredient of Soylent Green.”
Pop culture has taught most of us what the secret ingredient was. The writers of the Simpsons apparently enjoy this movie because it pops up in episodes. The “Treehouse of Horror V” (S6:E5) segment “Nightmare Cafeteria” is clearly inspired by Soylent Green. Anyone feel like some Uterbrauten or Sloppy Jimbos? The end of “The Old Man and the Lisa” (S8:E21) aka the Lisa Simpson recycling episode is a parody of the ending of the movie as Lisa begs people not to recycle to stop the slurry. The Euthanasia Center in “Million Dollar Abie (S17:E16) is also a spoof of the euthanasia center from the movie although the Simpsons one is never connected to (spoiler alert) making food out of people.
Det. Thorn: Ocean’s dying, plankton’s dying… it’s people. *Soylent Green is made out of people.* They’re making our food out of people. Next thing they’ll be breeding us like cattle for food. You’ve gotta tell them. You’ve gotta tell them!
Hatcher: I promise, Tiger. I promise. I’ll tell the Exchange.
Det. Thorn: You tell everybody. Listen to me, Hatcher. You’ve gotta tell them! Soylent Green is people! We’ve gotta stop them somehow!
Inspirations are all well and good but what about actual appearances? In “Bart to the Future” (S11:E17), we find ourselves viewing Bart’s future courtesy of vision quests with the Chief at Ceaser’s Pow Wow Casino. Thirty years in the future, Bart is a 40-year-old loser with a failing music career and a degree from DeVry who lives with Ralph Wiggum. The future holds delights like holograms, virtual and cyber fudge but it’s the tasty treat that Homer offers Ralph that interests me here.
You know something is common knowledge when even Ralph knows Soylent Green is made from people. (“Oh. Here we go.”) The last appearance is in yet another future episode. When Cyborg Snake is robbing the Kwik-E-Mart in “Holidays of Future Passed” (S23:E9), we see both Soylent Brown stocked on the shelves and a display for Soylent Green… now with 30% more people.
So there you go friends. The inspiration for Soilant Red. I think this is funny and definitely an old movie worth checking out. What I find mild disturbing is that you can actually find food nowadays using the word Soylent. It’s enough to make a fuzzball wonder. What do you think of the movie/event currency/appearances? Have you ever seen it? I discovered while writing this that my oldest hasn’t so I’m definitely looking forward to our next movie night. Sound off in the comments with your thoughts and happy crab juice tapping!
Smell ya later! TTFN… Wookiee out!