Another day, another box of stolen pens.— Homer
Another day, another box of stolen pens.— Homer
Send in the Clones: Homer's gets a new hammock, which makes clones of him. The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms: Zombies rise when Springfield bans guns from their town. The Island of Dr. Hibbert: The Simpsons visit Dr. Hibbert's island, inhabited by strange, yet familiar-looking creatures.
When Homer reveals that marrying Marge crushed his dreams of being a rock star, Marge packs him off to Rock 'N Roll Fantasy camp.
There's sibling rivalry as Bart is held back a grade and Lisa is skipped ahead to the same third grade class.
Marge goes in for liposuction to make herself more attractive to Homer, however she mistakenly gets breast implants. Meanwhile, Krusty gets into hot water again when Bart & Milhouse copy a stunt from one of his films.
The Simpsons are temporarily homeless while their house is being fumigated, and so the family take part in a reality TV show where they have to live like it is 1895.
When somebody tries to murder Homer, Chief Wiggum puts none other than Sideshow Bob on the case.
Bart nominates Edna Krebappel for Teacher of the Year, however, Skinner fears that he will lose her. So he asks Bart to sabotage the competition.
Homer realizes that he does not know Lisa very well, and hires a private investigator to find out more about her.
Marge develops agoraphobia after being mugged, and starts weight lifting.
Believing that Ned Flanders' good luck is due to his praying, Homer follows his example. However, he soon gets himself into an injury lawsuit again the Church, and is awarded the deed to the property.
Bart gets emancipated and leaves home after learning that he acted in commercials as a baby but Homer spent all the money. This episode was (incorrectly) billed as the series' 300th.
Lisa becomes a spelling champ, but is asked to lose the final to let a more popular child win. Meanwhile, Homer enjoys a new Krusty Burger special - the Ribwich.
Ned Flanders dates a movie star, who wants more than he will give.
Krusty campaigns to get the flight path for Springfield Airport diverted from directly over the Simpsons' house.
Homer enrolls in an adult education class, ''Successmanship 101'', and subsequently tricks Mr. Burns into letting him take over the nuclear power plant.
Lisa campaigns to reduce light pollution in Springfield when she cannot watch the stars. Meanwhile, Bart attempts to steal the hood ornament from Fat Tony's car after losing his street cred.
Homer finds an old letter from Marge saying that they would never work as a couple. Upset, he leaves home and moves in with two gay guys.
Homer writes a song about how much he hates Flanders. When it is a success, the hype becomes too much for the Simpsons, and so they take a vacation at a ranch, where Lisa develops a crush on a farmhand. Meanwhile, Homer & Bart help the Native Americans get their land back from beavers.
When Santa's Little Helper gets his nose caught in a beer can, he becomes Duff's new mascot. However, this leads to the original owner wanting the dog back.
After Homer's license is revoked, he discovers the joys of walking... until Marge runs him over. Homer begins to think that Marge hates him.
After Bart and Milhouse damage Flanders' house, Bart must be supervised, and joins the ''Pre-Teen Braves''. However, rivalry ensues when Milhouse joins an opposing group, ''The Cavalry Kids''.
When Moe saves Maggie after a car accident, he is dubbed a hero and becomes her babysitter, much to Homer's annoyance.
Season Fourteen (2002-2003) can probably be best described as a rollercoaster of mediocrity. One thing that helped this year's bunch of episodes was a forward leap in animation quality - from the EABF episodes (surprisingly late in the Season due to an increasing number of holdover episodes), the show is now digitally coloured.
However, even this did not make up for some of the tacky plots and joke-scarce scenes. The worst offenders: Marge gets breast implants (mistakenly, thank God) and in a later episode gets addicted to steroids; the family take part in a reality show in an episode full of confused plotting and bad jokes; and the kids try to help nature in the blandest episode to date.
On the flipside, we see Lisa almost win the "Spell-ympics"; Homer take over the power plant; and a Flanders-hating song (penned by who else but Homer?) take Springfield by storm; all of which will be remembered for a long while yet.
This Season marked the show's 300th episode, with Strong Arms of the Ma - although Fox incorrectly promoted Barting Over as this milestone. The billed 300th episode, while not a candidate for "best episode ever" (or even "best of the season"), showed us that there is still life left in this legendary show.
