HOMR

Plot

The Simpson family attends an animation festival where Homer discovers Animotion, a motion capture technology allowing a real person to control a cartoon character. He invests his life savings in Animotion stock, but two days later the stock plunges and the company goes out of business. At Moe's Tavern, Barney suggests Homer become a human guinea pig to earn money. Homer gets a job at a medical testing center.

During an experiment, doctors find a crayon lodged in Homer's brain from a childhood incident when he stuck sixteen crayons up his nose and sneezed all but one out. They surgically remove the crayon, raising Homer's IQ by fifty points to 105, enabling him to bond with Lisa. His new intelligence leads him to write a thorough report on hazards at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, causing massive layoffs when the plant shuts down. At Moe's, Homer sees an effigy of himself being burned by his former coworkers.

Realizing his life was more enjoyable as an idiot, he begs the doctors to put the crayon back. They refuse but recommend Moe, an unlicensed physician. Moe inserts a crayon into Homer's brain, returning him to his former self. Lisa is saddened but finds a note Homer wrote before the operation expressing that being smart made him appreciate how amazing she is.

Reception

The episode aired on Fox on January 7, 2001, and was viewed in approximately 10.2 million households. With a Nielsen rating of 10.0, it finished 19th in the ratings for the week of January 1–7, 2001, tying a 2001 Sugar Bowl pre-game show on ABC, and was the highest-rated broadcast on Fox that week. On August 18, 2009, it was released on DVD as part of The Simpsons – The Complete Twelfth Season, with an audio commentary featuring Mike B. Anderson, Al Jean, Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross, along with deleted scenes.

The episode received generally positive reviews. In 2009, IGN's Cindy White called it a classic, and in 2003, The Florida Times-Union writer Soyia Ellison named it one of the ten best episodes. In 2007, AOL Television staff listed it at number eighteen on a list of the top twenty best episodes. Nancy Basile of About.com enjoyed the episode in 2005, praising the solid storyline and clever jokes, though she was disappointed Moe was used as the unlicensed physician instead of Dr. Nick.

Jason Bailey of DVD Talk wrote in 2009 that Homer got "hilariously smart." Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide was less positive in 2009, noting a "moderately rehashed feel" and comparing brainy Homer to loquacious Homer from season three's "Bart's Friend Falls in Love." At the 53rd Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode won Outstanding Animated Program. At the 29th Annie Awards, Al Jean received a nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production but lost to Ron Weiner for the Futurama episode "The Luck of the Fryrish."

Did You Know?

• The episode's plot is inspired by Flowers for Algernon and its film adaptation Charly.
• The title "HOMR" is a take on the novel's 1968 film adaptation Charly.