The funniest joke in this episode is the subtle one about Homer's IQ being just 105, which is just above average, yet is enough to make him vastly more intelligent than almost the whole town.
@@TVIDS123 Well, it could be, right? Like I think the SD is like 15 points or something, so 105 could in the worst case mean he has actually an IQ of 95 or in the best case he has an IQ of 120. Or is that wrong?
Also that would mean Homer's IQ is 55, which is at the point of extreme disability. Then again, "Homer's Enemy" claims that Lisa has an IQ of 156, so I think the Simpsons writers just don't know or care about how IQ works.
@@Jpdt19 My theory is that the simpson's gene makes them incompetent, extreme risk takers and maybe have a low ability to concentrate, not stupid, The underlying intellect is right there but they can't use it. It is like most collage professors, increadably smart in one thing but out side of there specialty they are borderline R*****D.
I like that Homer's supposed to have been fairly smart BEFORE the crayon got in there and yet he did put multiple crayons up his own nose several times
@@kickaboi12 that is true. But I'm not a genius and I never tried to shove anything up my nose as a kid. But maybe that's because I'm not a genius! I don't think I ever even had the idea to do something like that. Maybe he was curious! Thinking outside the box.
@Lopiop Sanchez What did I say that was wrong, also I was having fun because that was the story of the episode being about him having a crayon in his brain
It’s not wrong… it’s just extremely obvious. It’s like this “Timmy decides to wear a blue shirt so it matches the colour of the sky” And you be like “Yes because the sky is blue!”
I don't think the scientists were complaining about his stupidity because he couldn't beat a rat at reflexes or speed. They thought he was an idiot, because he brought a rat and started testing his reflexes when that wasn't even asked of him.
Rats have much faster reflexes than humans and experiences time much slower than we do, so they experience time on a much slower timespan. So it's really not that surprising that the rats is faster. Although it would be impressive or at least unusual for a random rat to just press buttons without training.
No it is a test if intelligence, he should have just have covered all three buttons and then push them on his on time, the rat would be able to do nothing.
yep although he wasn't taking an intelligence test Barney recommended he make some extra money by being a lab rat so I guess this was standard testing procedure or him to test out the device
This episode was kinda sad, because we all found out that people hated Homer even more when he was smarter. Generally i think that only one who appreciated Homer's higher intelligence was Lisa.
Looking back, it bugs me how they handled this. The problem wasn't him being "smart". It was that he was being smug and not respecting, listening to, or giving higher importance the feelings of others or friendship. Logic and reason are important but they're not everything.
I mean, increasing your IQ by 50 points would also increase your killing power. As you're better at knowing how to kill someone and adapting to their defence strategies... XD
@@DivineWindSerpent "Considering the general purpose of said novels" You say that as if the intended audience of her books aren't children and young adults. You might have several epiphanies if you try reading Terry Pratchett. But you'll have to stop huffing your own farts first.
@@DivineWindSerpenti guess its because inteligent people are tasked or attempt to execute much greater or important deeds, which making a mistake in those fields have greater consequences. you wouldnt ask your average joe to come up with a new form of using nuclear energy, or to discover the cure of a disease, but you ask the scientist thats been studying for years said subject and supposedly was proving good aptitude in the area. however regardless of how skilled a person is, theyre not perfect and they may commit a mistake.
They portray him as genius in this episode i doubt IQ of 105 is genius level. But who knows realy, there are different types of smart, someone can have IQ of 90 or less and be street/life smart and succesfull.
@@janodefenua4603 the joke is that the other citizens are implied to have lower IQ scores. Homer is barely above average yet everyone around him in an idiot in comparison.
Byproduct, the rat is a reference Flowers for Algernon which in both The Simpson and that book the main character gives up their intelligence for their main love interests.
Let's have a bit of brain fun and examine Homer's damage. If you look at the side diagram, he appears to have no temporal lobe and maybe even the crayon is pushing it upward against the bottom-front of his skull but the 20 degree angle view proves this wrong. When you compare the 20 degree angle and the profile x-ray, Homer has a crayon stuck in the right hemisphere of his frontal lobe in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The right prefrontal cortex is responsible for coordinating declarative memory for use in speech, but more importantly, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is responsible for socially aware inhibition, self examination & social conformity. When the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is hypoactive, it allows another region of the brain to become hyperactive called the medial prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for improvised creativity. This could explain why Homer is talented at playing instruments but makes constantly poor executive decisions, this could be why Homer thinks playing music is easy when he gets his bass guitar. Only odd thing is that Homer became even more socially inept after the crayon was removed.
@@RandomGuy-sm5by Crayon simply blocks connections in his brain, as it didn't cause him internal bleeding. If remove it, neurons connect in normal way.
When Homer says his IQ was raised 50 points, his original IQ is canonically 59 (I think) so that would mean his IQ would be 109, which is slightly above average
Dr. Hibbert’s explanation of why he never noticed always bugged me for a few reasons, the biggest being that most of Homer’s head x-rays have been up on display on a light board whenever they show up.
I feel like if a kid tried to stuff a crayon up the nose they would feel pain and receive feedback and stop doing it. But obviously this was just funny
It's called being a young boy. We do stupid things, but we do stupider things when we're young. Even those of us who get good grades. Honestly, it's a wonder any of us make to adulthood.
No, this was a extremely bad episode. What's the moral message here? Being stupid is good? Being stupid makes you happy? Hold back your true strength just to blend in with idiots, rather than hang out with other intelligent people? What a terrible advice. Would you give that advise to your children? I know a lot of smart persons who are happy and stupid persons who are very unhappy. So it isn't even true. Him being stupid on purpose, rather than being a good role model for Lisa isn't heartwarming at all.. The letter from Homer basically sais: „You’re are amazing, but I still prefer not being like you.“ that’s nothing but empty words. And also it absolutely ruins Homers character. It was always funny to see Homer trying to be smart and fail miserably. Homer being stupid on purpose isn't funny at all. That episode is a good example that modern Simpsons suck. It all went downhill after season 10.
@@Shadow25720 While I would agree that the overall message of the episode is "do what makes you happy, as intelligence does not equate happiness." I would also say that the moral of the episode can in fact be turned on it's head to mean that Homer cares more about his moronic friends that don't respect him for simply being who he is, rather than his own daughter's opinion of him and continued happiness with a now more intelligent father that can now relate with his daughter and vice versa. Homer makes a completely selfish choice at the end, which completely breaks Lisa's heart. At the same time, Lisa is made to feel like the tyrant for not allowing Homer to be happy. I guess you could argue that this case is simply complicated, as so much of human emotion and values. Who is in the right here? I'd say Lisa still is, though she also more or less thinks only of her own gain in this intance. However, I'd still say Homer has a duty towards his family first, and could very easily find happiness as an intelligent man, if he just knew where to look, and learned to respect himself and disrespect those that disrespect him out of jealousy. Ultimately, the ending is a bit "bittersweet", though I consider it much more bitter than sweet. Homer gets to be happy again, and Lisa begrudgingly accepts her reality. It's a cruel but neccesary twist in order to maintain the status quo. That said, this was still a good episode overall, and you can't say the humor was bad, even if the end message was a bit hit or miss.
@@RedFloyd469 "do what makes you happy, as intelligence does not equate happiness." That would be the message of old Simpsons. Old Homer often realized that he’s stupid, especially when his actions had consequences and he tried to improve himself. Yes, he often failed in stupidest way possible, wich was hilariously funny, but in the end he always found a solution and became a better version of himself. And that was a great message: No matter how dumb you are are, if you give your best and believe in yourself you can still be an awesome person. In Lisas case, she also had her struggles, but it was never because of her intelligence, but more because she rarly had anyone with her level of intelligence she could have a meaningful conversation, or no listend to her, when she knew it better. But in the end she always appreciated her intelligence as a gift, despite it’s downsides. So old Simpsons was inspirational to both dumb and intelligent. Now the message is „being dumb is good, being intelligent is bad“. And it defiantly is the message, Lisa even drew a diagram, so that even the most supid people get it. And the worst thing about that ist that the brain is like a muscle, it needs to be trained to function properly. So when you give the poeple the mindset that intelligence is bad, they stop training it, wich makes the whole society dumber. I remember the episode "Lisas Substitute" where Lisa got a new substitute teacher and she was very happy because now she finally had someone on her level and then she was sad when he had to leave. Then the Substitute teacher gave her a letter which said: „You are Lisa Simpson.“ and she was happy again. It wasn’t even necessary to explain it to the audience, we all knew that meaning was basically „just believe in yourself.“ That was actually heartwarming. In this episode the letter from Homer basically sais: „You’re are amazing, but I still prefer not being like you.“ that’s nothing but empty words. In the original episode Lisa at least knew that there's someone out there on here level who appreciates her for who she is. Here Homer doesn’t even remember what he wrote. And also this episode has the worst life advises possible: -Try to enforce happiness -have meta emotions (feeling bad about feeling bad, which makes you feel even more bad) -care much what others think -have toxic friends who make fun of you when you are worse in something then them and who are jealous when you are better in something then them, and then badmouth your accomplishments. -have no backbone give in on social pressure -don’t try to be the best version of yourself. -Spend a lot of time with people dumber than you -Dimm you own light, just to fit in with stupid people That’s a guide to unhappiness. I was once like you, I also tried to find a deeper meaning behind the new Simpsons, but then I realized there’s none. Old Simpsons are like the Mona Lisa, while modern Simpsons are like the Mona Lisa redrawn by Ralph.
@@Shadow25720Seems like I stumbled into a very intelligent conversation. Now before there’s anything left to say I just wanted to let you know that as a person who just started watching the Simpson’s I couldn’t agree more with this argument. Old Simpson’s is better and I’m glad that I took the time to read this. God bless you stranger 🙏🏾
2:03 Homer's reply becomes so much funnier once you remember in an early season they were all watching a trivia show and the question comes up, "The capitol of North Dakota is named after this German ruler?" And Homer blurts out, "HITLER!"
Funny thing is, even with the crayon removed, homer is still only as smart as the average person. He had an IQ of 55 before, so 55 plus the 50 points he gained would be 105 IQ which is about average intelligence.
I'm not sure Homer's intellect would have increased that much when they removed the crayon from his brain given that he couldn't have that smart to have shoved all those crayons up his nose.
Dr. Hibert showing up is so that the writers don't get called out for continuity errors by guys like the "Genius at Work" guy that watches Itchy & Scratchy cartoons that Homer roasted.
I remember when I was 7 and I got a cheap, dollar store bargain bin grade plastic toy pool set... Well, in my infinite childhood boredom, I stuck one of those tiny billiard balls quite snugly in my nose, when I thought "well shit, what if it gets stuck?" So I covered my opposite nostril with my finger, inhaled through my mouth, and blew out my nose, and that little BB shot across my room and dresser from 3/4th the way up there inside the mucus caverns
The sad thing is the Homer Simpson who stuck a crayon back up his nose and into his brain isn’t the Homer I grew up with. The old Homer knew how to make hard decisions for his family, especially for Lisa, and I think S1-8 Homer would have found a way to be brave for his daughter.
