Marge Gamer

"Marge Gamer" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons' eighteenth season, which was originally broadcast on April 22, 2007. It was written by J. Stewart Burns and featured a guest appearance from Brazilian football star Ronaldo. This episode was first broadcast three days after the twenty-year anniversary of the first ever appearance of The Simpsons on television, in the Tracy Ullman short Good Night.

1 Plot
2 Cultural references
3 Reception
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Marge is embarrassed at a Parent-Teacher Association meeting because she does not have an e-mail address, and she decides to buy her own computer. She is quite taken by the Internet, and starts playing a Fantasy MMORPG called "Earthland Realms" after refreshing her e-mail and finding an ad for it. The game has her interacting with practically the whole town of Springfield, including Apu the gem trader, Seymour Skinner the turkey, Moe who looks like a troll but is not, Mrs. Krabappel the enchantress, Snake the Cobra King, Chief Wiggum the pig man, Smithers the Barbarian, Comic Book Guy the fully armored crusader-like warrior, and Sideshow Mel as a creature who looks surprisingly like a Tauren. Suddenly everyone hides and closes the windows of their shops and houses as a knight in black atop a black horse rides into town. Apu grabs Marge and Skinner is flamed by the knight's flame sword. Apu tells Marge that the knight in black is the Shadowknight, the most powerful and deadly character in the game. While off the game, Marge does the laundry and unintentionally hears Bart say "Another senseless killing by the Shadowknight", learning that he is the Shadowknight.

Meanwhile, Homer referees Lisa's soccer game and his subpar skills frustrate Lisa. Then, stung by her criticism, he learns the rules of soccer and becomes a better referee, briefly impressing Lisa. However, Homer gives Lisa a yellow card after Ronaldo points out that Lisa is a "flopper". When she rips up the yellow card, he gives her a red card for bad sportsmanship and throws her out of the game. As a result, Lisa gets mad at him.

Marge goes to the Shadowknight's castle and meets Milhouse, cursed to look like a female servant as a result of an evil spell. In the online game Marge constantly frets about Bart, who goes around causing carnage, and redecorates his "trophy room" with the Hello Kitty expansion pack. Bart smashes all of these decorations with his weapon and accidentally kills Marge's character in his fit of rage.

Homer and Bart go to Moe's Tavern to escape their troubles. Moe gives quality advice to Homer and Bart, prompting them to jokingly ask where the real Moe is. It is revealed that the actual Moe is tied up in a back room. Acting on the fake Moe's advice, Bart makes up for killing his mother's character by reviving her with ⅔ of his life force. While "Elf Marge" tends to the Shadowknight, the other characters raid the castle to take advantage of his weakness and graphically kill him. Homer gives Lisa a BBC and Canal+ documentary about "floppers" and she realizes that she was at fault. Marge refuses to come outside as the rest of the family plays soccer outside with Ronaldo. Feeling sorry for Bart, she becomes the new Shadowknight and avenges Bart by eliminating everyone who participated in killing him, first starting with Moe's character, while bouncing his head like a soccer ball.

[edit] Cultural references

Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" plays during the football brawl Lisa watches on DVD. Other music in the episode includes the Beach Boys' "Surfin' Safari" (as Marge uses the Web), Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Kicks" (as Homer officiates the game) "Adagio for Strings" from the Platoon and "Elephant Man" soundtracks (when Lisa is watching the riots in the DVD) and a segment of John Powell's soundtrack for X-Men 3 (when Bart revives Marge).
"Earthland Realms" is a parody of various MMORPGs, particularly Everquest and World of Warcraft.
The documentary Lisa watches is loosely based on the Hillsborough and Heysel disasters of the 80s.
The computer Marge is using to play the game is an Apple MacBook.
The title of this episode highlights that "Marge" is an anagram of "Gamer"
Marge avenging Bart as the new Shadowknight could be a small reference to Grendel's Mother avenging her son, Grendel in Beowulf.
Ronaldo is shown wearing a Real Madrid kit.
Mr. Smithers is dressed like Conan the Barbarian

[edit] Reception

Adam Finley of TV Squad, "Felt the Homer /Lisa story might have worked better as the main plot, but even that segment of the episode was hindered by a terrible guest voice in soccer player Ronaldo." He went on to say, "[He] hate[s] it when non-actors do guest voices on The Simpsons" and that "bad voice acting becomes much more of a distraction."^[1]