You Only Move Twice

You Only Move Twice
S08E02 You Only Move Twice

"You Only Move Twice" is the second episode of The Simpsons' eighth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 3, 1996. The episode, based on a story idea by Greg Daniels, has three major concepts: the family moves to a new town; Homer gets a friendly, sympathetic boss; and that boss, unbeknownst to Homer, is a supervillain. Bart, Lisa, and Marge each have individual secondary storylines. It was directed by Mike B. Anderson and written by John Swartzwelder.

The episode title is a reference to the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, and many elements of the episode parody the Bond films, with a character modeled after Bond making a brief appearance. Setting the second and third acts in a new town, Cypress Creek, required the animators to create entirely new layouts and background designs. Albert Brooks, in his fourth appearance on The Simpsons, guest stars as the voice of Hank Scorpio, who is one of the most popular one-time characters in the entire series. The episode was very well received by critics. IGN named "You Only Move Twice" the best episode of the eighth season and Albert Brooks as one of the best guest stars in the history of the show.

The final scene at Globex contains several references to action and James Bond films. The episode title and many references are from the Bond film You Only Live Twice, as well as an allusion to A View to a Kill. A character modeled after Sean Connery's Bond is tackled by Homer and killed after a parody of the laser scene from Goldfinger. Miss Goodthighs from the 1967 James Bond parody Casino Royale makes an appearance in the episode[7] and can be seen attacking a character modeled after U.S. Army general Norman Schwarzkopf. The sign at the elementary school displays "http://www.studynet.edu". Weinstein called it "one of the show's most obviously dated jokes" because the idea of a school having its own website was almost a novelty in 1996. The song at the end of the show, written by Ken Keeler, is a parody of various Bond themes. Keeler originally wrote it to be three seconds longer and sound more like the Goldfinger theme, but the final version was shorter and the lyrics were sped up.[6] The writers wanted the song to be sung by Shirley Bassey, who sang several Bond themes, but they could not get her to record the part.
n its original broadcast, "You Only Move Twice" finished 50th in ratings for the week of October 28 – November 3, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 8.5, equivalent to approximately 8.2 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files.

Hank Scorpio is arguably the most popular Albert Brooks-voiced character. In 2006, Albert Brooks was named the best The Simpsons guest star by IGN, who cited Scorpio as his best role. The Phoenix.com compiled their own list, also placing Brooks in the first position. In his book Planet Simpson, author Chris Turner says Brooks is second only to Phil Hartman among The Simpsons guest stars and that "Brooks brings hilarious satirical seamlessness to Scorpio's paradoxical nature". He also writes that the delivery of Scorpio's final line seals Brooks's place in The Simpsons history. The Simpson family's new street address, 15201 Maple Systems Road, is writer Ken Keeler's favorite street name in the show.

IGN also named the episode the best of the eighth season, saying the episode "is a wonderful example of slowly building up the comedy it's impossible to fathom this one not being very high up on any list of the best Simpsons episodes of all time." Robert Canning gave the episode a "Masterful" score of ten out of ten, saying the episode "may well be the greatest Simpsons episode of all time". Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called it "a tremendous episode" saying it had "some really good moments, most of them involving Bart, Lisa, and Marge's loathing for Cypress Creek. The remedial kids are fab (especially Warren) and Lisa's second chipmunk encounter is inspired. Scorpio is a good character, especially his Christopher Walken-esque killing spree." They also stated that the owl grabbing the chipmunk during Lisa's trip to the forest is one of the all-time greatest sight gags in the show's history.[3] Chris Turner also said that the remedial boy Gordy's line may be "the broadest parody of a Canadian accent in the history of American pop culture". Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star included "You Only Move Twice" on his list of the best episodes of The Simpsons. In his review of The Complete Eighth Season DVD set, Raul Burriel described it as one of the "most clever episodes the series has ever given us" 1pp2p30eccmcv3443