Where Did THAT Come From – C.H.U.M.

Hey hey friends… Thanksgiving gave me a week from the tedium of college so I’m back for a moment with a couple origin posts from the Cyber Monday Deal. 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?

So Gil popped on by with another one of his “deals” and this one probably made a lot of people either nostalgic for or cringing about the SciFi Event from this year. I mean, jeesh, another ro-butt? I’m in the excitement camp on this deal for 175 donuts. I figured since I had a bit of time I didn’t have to dedicate to school work that I’d write a couple posts for the new items. Bunny Foo Foo has been holding down the fort for origin stories but I do truly love writing these for all of you. I know new stuff might make a few of you wonder just where the heck it all comes from. Well no fears friends, that’s where this walking carpet comes in handy. For this round, we’ll be looking at C.H.U.M. aka the Childlike Humanoid Urban Muchacho. (Note: I’m dispensing with the periods in the acronym from now on as it annoys me.)

“Fat Man and Little Boy” (S16:E5)

Bart loses his last baby tooth and gets a grown-up present making him long for the halcyon days of his youth. He bids his childhood goodbye with a good ol’ Viking funeral. Bart starts wearing home-made shirts with funny messages on them like “Life Ends at Ten”, “Bored in the USA”, “This Shirt Sucks”, “Everything Sucks”, “Sucking Sucks”, and “Wake Me When It’s Recess”. It makes me laugh since this site has had its own t-shirt sales. What makes me laugh the most though is after Marge sees Bart’s shirt that says “Adults Suck, Then You Are One,” she replies with “I like t-shirts with a nice joke, like Support Our Troops.” Keep Springfield Weird indeed.

Of course, we’re not in this episode for funny shirts or who or who doesn’t have a permit to sell them, we want to find CHUM and Think Globally while Farting Locally. Towards the end of the episode. Lisa is showing Homer her entry for the school science fair when who should show up outside her window to brag about his own project but Martin Prince and CHUM.

I just love CHUM telling Martin not to hold his hand because it’s creepy. This feeds right in to the next appearance in “Future-Drama” (S16:E15). I guess Season 16 was one for making fun of Martin using a robot. This episode shows the teenage years of Bart and Lisa and at their prom, we see Martin and CHUM again. Poor Martin took his muchacho to the dance. They’re not that great of pals though considering CHUM does not want to travel with Martin. I guess being his dancing date is enough.

We also see later in a video that Bart is watching of the prom that CHUM did some break dancing while there AND blew up. Maybe he thought the dancing was supposed to break him? Maybe it was his escape plan?

In “Dial “N” for Nerder” (S19:E14), the episode revolves around the death of Martin Prince. After everyone thinks he’s gone (have no fear, his elastic underwear came through in a clinch to save him from certain doom), a sweet memorial is held at Springfield Elementary. During the photo montage set to the Sarah McLachlan song that was all the rage during my senior year of high school, we see an image of CHUM and Martin pulled from his first appearance.

For anyone fearing that CHUM was never rebuilt, “Gorgeous Grampa” (S24:E14) should dispel those worries.. sort of. This entire episode revolves around Grampa reliving the days when he was a professional wrestling heel. Bart thinks Grampa’s return to the ring is cool and joins his paterfamilias as Beautiful Bart. The problem is that Bart is acting like a villainous heel all the time as evidenced by the photo of what Bart did to CHUM when Martin brought him to show and tell.

The poor robot. He lives an existence where he’s not terribly fond of his creator. Actually sounds familiar. Martin most likely rebuilt his metal friend (the fact that he needs one is sort of sad) and for our next appearance, we’re headed back to the future like Marty and to “Days of Future Future” (S25:E18). When Bart’s ex-wife Jenda is suddenly single after her alien boyfriend leaves her, Bart and her romance is sort of rekindled. They go to dinner at the Gilded Truffle and we see a lot of other patrons in the restaurant including a grown up Martin and CHUM who seem to have finally found some romance. I won’t discuss how this conflicts with Lisa’s future view of Marsha Princess in a different future episode involving Christmas but I’ll scratch it off to the future being far from certain. It’s why these episodes are non-canon.

The last blip of CHUM comes our way in “What to Expect When Bart’s Expecting” (S25:E19). In Bart’s new art class, he isn’t too thrilled about being forced to be artistic by Miss Evelyn Trunch. He’s tired of his art sending him to therapists. I wouldn’t be too happy about painting Willie naked either.

During the scene where we find out Bart got his art teacher pregnant (yes that really happens in this episode but it’s not what it sounds like), Martin show a pointillism painting he did with none other than CHUM.

So there you go friends. The origin for CHUM. Anyone besides me think of the CHUDs when they read his name or feel bad for Martin Prince? What do you think of the new robot? Have a complicated relationship with your creator? Did you splurge on the deal? Sound off in the comments and happy classy tapping friends. I’m off to schoolwork and more Simpsons Marathon watching.

TTFN… Wookiee out!