History Recap / TheSimpsonsS7E10TheSimpsons138thEpisodeSpectacular

* ExactWords: The announcer asks which two popular Simpsons characters died in the past year, with the answer being Bleeding Gums Murphy (who did die in season 6's "Round Springfield") and Dr. Marvin Monroe, but it's incorrect because "they were never popular."

* MeetYourEarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Troy [=McClure=] shows the first of the [[Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow Tracey Ullman era]] Simpsons shorts and, after its over, looks confused before quickly saying that [[BlatantLies the Simpsons haven't changed a bit since then.]]

** A subtle one is Troy reading letters from fans, which all seem to be written by renowned doctors and professors. According to the DVD commentary, the joke is that no one with such a successful carreer would actually take time to watch, let alone be interested, in the show.

* SpecialEditionTitle: This episode not only features a ColdOpen featuring Troy McClure setting up the episode's premise, but also an EpisodeTitleCard replacing the actual title screen. It also omits the transition through the "P" in "Simpsons" (since the title uses the marketing logo rather than the usual in-show logo).

* TakeThatUs:

* Actual deleted scenes from several episodes, including Krusty getting cancelled after his arrest for trying to sell a pornographic photo book to minors in "Krusty Gets Kancelled," Homer's head being used as a bowling ball in "The Devil and Homer Simpson," Homer eating food from his mom's undelivered care packages and talking about how he's taking the nuclear plant down from the inside in "Mother Simpson," Apu showing a Bollywood film to The Simpsons in "Homer and Apu," Mr. Burns using a robotic Richard Simmons to scare Homer away in "Burns' Heir," and a montage of alternate scenes made for "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" to keep the real shooter's identity secret until broadcast, presenting everyone from Moe to Tito Puente to Santa's Little Helper as the culprit. This is followed by a complete alternate ending in which Smithers turned out to be the culprit all along (and, according to Troy, the ending was cut because it conflicted with the plot point about the attempted murderer being someone having Simpson family DNA).

* MeetYourEarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Troy [=McClure=] shows the first of the Tracy Ullman era Simpsons shorts and, after its over, looks confused before quickly saying that [[BlatantLies the Simpsons haven't changed a bit since then.]]

* NakedPeopleAreFunny: The end credits showing different scenes of various characters being naked.

** Matt Groening is potrayed as an old, bald, gun-toting maniac who shoots at the camera crew who tries to interview him.

Troy [=McClure=], whom you may remember from such Fox Network specials as ''Alien Nose Job'' and ''Five Fabulous Weeks of The Chevy Chase Show'', opens the program with a look at creator Matt Groening -- who is depicted as a crazed, right-wing Southerner who came up with the Simpsons to pay off his gambling debts -- and clips from the original ''Tracey Ullman Show'' shorts. After that, there's:

* FreezeFrameBonus / UnreadablyFastText: Troy takes time to acknowledge everyone who made ''The Simpsons'' popular... and shows a two second scroll of names that whizz up the screen. [[http://www.simpsonsarchive.com/episodes/3F31.html The names are actual staff members.]]

* Actual deleted scenes from several episodes, including Krusty getting cancelled after his arrest for trying to sell a pornographic photo book to minors in "Krusty Gets Kancelled," Homer's head being used as a bowling ball in "The Devil and Homer Simpson," Homer eating food from his mom's undelivered care packages and talking about how he's taking the nuclear plant down from the inside in "Mother Simpson," Apu showing a Bollywood film to The Simpsons in "Homer and Apu," Mr. Burns using a robotic Richard Simmons to scare Homer away in "Burns' Heir," and a montage of alternate scenes made for "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" to keep the real shooter's identity secret until broadcast, presenting everyone from Moe to Tito Puente to Santa's Little Helper as the culprit. This is followed by a complete alternate ending in which Smithers turned out to be the culprit all along (and, according to Troy, the ending was cut because it conflicted with the plot point about the attempted murderer being someone in the Simpson family DNA).

* TakeThat: There's one to the O.J. Simpson criminal trial's jury, when it's noted that the Smithers-as-culprit ending to "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" could not work because it would require ignoring "all the Simpson [=DNA=] evidence", which was what the jury was accused of doing.

* MilestoneCelebration: Parodied in the episode title.

* BlatantLies: The first trivia question that played before & after commercials say that the cash register says "[=NRA4EVER=]" when Maggie is scanned, while in the actual opening around the time when the episode was aired, it says "$847.63" instead. And in the second trivia question "Which two popular characters have died in the past year?", with the answer being Bleeding Gums Murphy & Dr. Marvin Monroe, but the show says that the fans are "wrong, they were never popular".

* BlatantLies: The two trivia questions that played before & after commercials say that the cash register says "[=NRA4EVER=]" when Maggie is scanned, while in the actual opening around the time when the episode was aired, it says "$847.63" instead. And in the second trivia question "Which two popular characters have died in the past year?", with the answer being Bleeding Gums Murphy & Dr. Marvin Monroe, but the show says that the fans are "wrong, they were never popular".

* BlatantLies: The two trivia questions that played before & after commercials say that the cash register says "[=NRA4EVER=]" when Maggie is scanned, while in the actual opening, it says "$847.63" instead. And in the second trivia question "Which two popular characters have died in the past year?", with the answer being Bleeding Gums Murphy & Dr. Marvin Monroe, but the show says that the fans are "wrong, they were never popular".

* BlatantLies: The two trivia questions that played before & after commercials say that the cash register says "NRA4EVER" when Maggie is scanned, while in the actual opening, it says "$847.63" instead. And in the second trivia question "Which two popular characters have died in the past year?", with the answer being Bleeding Gums Murphy & Dr. Marvin Monroe, but the show says that the fans are "wrong, they were never popular".

* DomesticOnlyCartoon: To date, this is the only episode of the series to be fully animated in America, with no Korean outsourcing involved. This is because there was very little new footage that needed animating, and what little was required was just the outside shot of the Springfield Amphitheater (with the sign gag that the next day's event is an "Alternate Lifestyle Prom"), and all the scenes involving Troy sitting, standing, and talking to the audience.

* DeletedScene: The episode showcases a lot of them -- all of which are real, according to the crew members, and most of which have appeared on deleted scene reels on the DVD or have been talked about in the DVD commentary, such as the James Bond card game scene in "$pringfield (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling"), the Bollywood movie scene in "Homer and Apu," the scenes in "The Devil and Homer Simpson"[[note]]Homer's head being used as a bowling ball by a demon during his stay in Hell, Bart nearly selling his soul for a Formula-One racing car, and Lionel Hutz returning to the house, thinking he lost the case, and revealing that the pizza box he had was empty when Marge tells him that he did win[[/note]], and the robotic Richard Simmons scene.

* MilestoneCelebration: Parodied with the title.

* {{Bollywood}}: Parodied in the "Homer and Apu" deleted scene.

* DeletedScene: The episode showcases a lot of them -- all of which are real, according to the crew members, and most of which have appeared on deleted scene reels on the DVD or have been talked about in the DVD commentary, such as the James Bond card game scene in "$pringfield (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling"), the Bollywood movie scene in "Homer and Apu," the scenes in "The Devil and Homer Simpson"[[note]]Homer's head being used as a bowling ball by a demon during his stay in Hell, Bart nearly selling his soul for a Formula-One racing car, and Lionel Hutz returning to the house, thinking he lost the case, and revealing that the pizza box he had was empty when Marge tells him that he did win[[/note]], and the robotic Richard Simmons scene).
* DomesticOnlyCartoon: To date, this is the only episode of the series to be fully animated in America, with no Korean outsourcing involved. This is because there was very little new footage that needed animating, and what little was required was just Troy [=McClure=] standing (or sitting) still and talking to the audience.

* ArtShift: The purposefully bad drawings of Grampa Simpson and Krusty the Clown.