"Homers odyssey" was produced before the episode "Simpsons roasting on open fire" was produced but they aired the latter first. I read they did it that way because the Simpsons producers had just finished production and become ready to air the first show right before Christmas 1989, and they decided viewers would like it better if they showed the Christmas episode a few days before Christmas and "Homers odyssey" a couple weeks later rather than vice versa.
This is the first of many episodes where Homer gets fired and then gets his job back at end of episode (I like the episode of that theme a couple seasons later where the Germans take over the plant and fire Homer). This is the only episode where Homer is not already safety inspector at the plant, and starts the episode as technical supervisor, or supervising technician which both Homer and Mr. Burns gets mixed up (and I like the way Burns says it near the end of the ep, "Simpson, I don't want you to come back as technical supervisor or supervising technician or whatever the hell you used to be, I want you to come back in charge of safety"). And that was right after Homer's successful crusade with omitting safety signs all over Springfeild (we see a string of newspaper headlines over Homer's new crusade, and I liked the last headline, "Enough already Simpson!"). Homer crashes his little go cart into a pipe when looking up and seeing Bart and his class on a feildtrip to the plant (and embarrassing Bart). The floor supervisor that fires Homer for his careless accident (Sherry and Terri's dad) is not seen again in later episodes. This was one of the first season's episodes where many familiar Simpsons characters haven't been introduced to the show yet. Carl is Homer's floor supervisor in future episodes, but even that wasn't completely continuous, sometimes Carl was seen more as Homer's co worker along with Lenny. Smithers more often stood in as floor supervisor along with being Burns' lifelong assistant (and secret gay crush but that joke didn't get underway until a few seasons later after the first one). Also commonly pointed out about Smithers having darker skin in this episode, which I read was a mistake by the writers. Smithers conducts Bart's class fieldtrip tour of the plant, and shows the cartoon on nuclear safety, which is the first of many similar styled cartoon presentations for varied events in the series.
This is a good classic episode, and it got quite poignant with Homer's depression increasing as his length of unemployment grows longer, which is common with unemployed people in real life, the longer one is unemployed, the worse depression can get. We get the first Duff commercial, the first school bus ride with carsick Wendel and the other kids' hyjinks and Mrs. Krabappel and the first apearance of Otto (only doing a weak impression of the type of character he will become). And I liked the montage of Homer getting doors slamming in his face while unsuccessfully job hunting. Notice how the first door slammed is an executive office, then a less fancy office, all the way down to a drive through window getting slammed shut. Talk about starting your search at the top and then having to progress down.
It gets a bit dark during the part when Homer smashes Bart's piggy bank, then immediately regrets how low he's now stooped just for a beer to take the edge off his unemployment depression, and then Homer's suicide attempt where he walks a boulder to the river (which is heavy with Homer groaning "nothing is easy"). We also see the Winfield neighbors, one of the earliest characters to leave the show. Their comment to seeing Homer walking with the boulder to jump into the river is hardly with much concern or sympathy. I liked that ray of light Homer sees on the bridge in front of Marge when he decides not to jump and suddenly realizes he found a new purpose. And I liked the town meeting scene (the El Barto picture), and then Homer's sign crusade which eventually gets him a whole crowd on his side who then protests the plant. The cartoon picture quality is a little rougher around the edges and more underdeveloped here than when the series continues on, especially when looking at the people in the crowd outside the plant. I'm sure you can see what I mean.
This is the first of many episodes where Homer gets fired and then gets his job back at end of episode (I like the episode of that theme a couple seasons later where the Germans take over the plant and fire Homer). This is the only episode where Homer is not already safety inspector at the plant, and starts the episode as technical supervisor, or supervising technician which both Homer and Mr. Burns gets mixed up (and I like the way Burns says it near the end of the ep, "Simpson, I don't want you to come back as technical supervisor or supervising technician or whatever the hell you used to be, I want you to come back in charge of safety"). And that was right after Homer's successful crusade with omitting safety signs all over Springfeild (we see a string of newspaper headlines over Homer's new crusade, and I liked the last headline, "Enough already Simpson!"). Homer crashes his little go cart into a pipe when looking up and seeing Bart and his class on a feildtrip to the plant (and embarrassing Bart). The floor supervisor that fires Homer for his careless accident (Sherry and Terri's dad) is not seen again in later episodes. This was one of the first season's episodes where many familiar Simpsons characters haven't been introduced to the show yet. Carl is Homer's floor supervisor in future episodes, but even that wasn't completely continuous, sometimes Carl was seen more as Homer's co worker along with Lenny. Smithers more often stood in as floor supervisor along with being Burns' lifelong assistant (and secret gay crush but that joke didn't get underway until a few seasons later after the first one). Also commonly pointed out about Smithers having darker skin in this episode, which I read was a mistake by the writers. Smithers conducts Bart's class fieldtrip tour of the plant, and shows the cartoon on nuclear safety, which is the first of many similar styled cartoon presentations for varied events in the series.
This is a good classic episode, and it got quite poignant with Homer's depression increasing as his length of unemployment grows longer, which is common with unemployed people in real life, the longer one is unemployed, the worse depression can get. We get the first Duff commercial, the first school bus ride with carsick Wendel and the other kids' hyjinks and Mrs. Krabappel and the first apearance of Otto (only doing a weak impression of the type of character he will become). And I liked the montage of Homer getting doors slamming in his face while unsuccessfully job hunting. Notice how the first door slammed is an executive office, then a less fancy office, all the way down to a drive through window getting slammed shut. Talk about starting your search at the top and then having to progress down.
It gets a bit dark during the part when Homer smashes Bart's piggy bank, then immediately regrets how low he's now stooped just for a beer to take the edge off his unemployment depression, and then Homer's suicide attempt where he walks a boulder to the river (which is heavy with Homer groaning "nothing is easy"). We also see the Winfield neighbors, one of the earliest characters to leave the show. Their comment to seeing Homer walking with the boulder to jump into the river is hardly with much concern or sympathy. I liked that ray of light Homer sees on the bridge in front of Marge when he decides not to jump and suddenly realizes he found a new purpose. And I liked the town meeting scene (the El Barto picture), and then Homer's sign crusade which eventually gets him a whole crowd on his side who then protests the plant. The cartoon picture quality is a little rougher around the edges and more underdeveloped here than when the series continues on, especially when looking at the people in the crowd outside the plant. I'm sure you can see what I mean.