>Homer, I'm your guardian angel. I've assumed the form of someone you'd recognize and revere: Sir Isaac Newton
Is this supposed to be a reference to something? I love this joke but it's so specific and inscrutable that it feels like i've been missing something
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Homer is so dumb that he doesn't recognize actually important people.
That's the joke.
COLONEL KLINK!
I think op is talking about the scene itself, having a guardian angel in the form of an historical figure.
I've never seen it in a movie or tv show either.
HOMER-R-R-R
It's just a plot device to keep the episode moving.
COLONEL KLINK! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!
In the kids movie "The Sandlot" a kid is visited by a guardian angel who takes the form of Babe Ruth.
but this is all within his mind
so the dormant smart personality knows Newton and tries to use him, but the dominant stupid personality doesn't know him
>DEEPEST LORE
It's not a specific reference that I'm aware of, but the movie A Matter of Life and Death (1946) features a similarly-dressed character (Conductor 71, in life a French aristocrat) who is supposed to act as a guide for spirits in the "other world". As the first user points out, the real joke is that Isaac Newton basically founded modern physics, so any qualified nuclear technician (in theory) should recognize him. Visual callbacks and cues like that are often the result of half-remembered films, or of spitballing ideas based on famous scenes to try and re-make them in a way that works better for your script.
The Simpsons scene on the whole is much more It's A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol than anything else, both of which are frequently pastiche'd (and I think even then had been referenced several times by the Simpsons) than A Matter of Life and Death.
"Guardian Angel" was actually a popular genre of movie in the 1940s, on both sides of the Atlantic (prior to the dominance of Hollywood, the UK actually exported so many films from the 1930s onward that even today, the US lags behind in terms of exports). So it's possible that they're referring to something I've never even seen; but then it could just as easily be a once-famous episode of some long-cancelled show, too. Aside from A Matter of Life and Death, there was (arguably, if you know your theology) Heaven Can Wait, Here Comes Mr. Jordan (based on the unrelated, earlier play, Heaven Can Wait), and the sequel, Down to Earth, I Married an Angel, A Guy Named Joe, Angel on My Shoulder, It's a Wonderful Life, The Bishop's Wife, and Angels in the Outfield. There were others, too.
Mmm no earlier episodes established that there's a god, while later episodes indicate that the power of prayer is real (Flanders to God, Flanders to God).
>the real joke is that Isaac Newton basically founded modern physics, so any qualified nuclear technician (in theory) should recognize him
Damn, that's a good one
It was a setup for the Colonel Klink joke
Hee hee... did you know Hogan had tunnels all over your camp?
This was pretty nice and informative.
>A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Top kino
Is angels in the outfield good?
It's a joke about how lowbrow Homer is. He has no fucking clue who Issac Newton is but immediately recognizes Colonel Klink.
Do you enjoy extensive baseball plays featuring real baseball stars of the 1940s, stretching out an otherwise unremarkable plot?
Heh heh, did you know Kinch had a radio in the coffee pot?
great post
"half-remembered films" like you said is very important to consider for might-be-references in shows before the advent of streaming digital video.
if they're doing, let's say, a Jaws parody in a show from that era, it's unlikely they actually went and doublechecked the source material to make sure their reference is correct. the only ways they are going to have footage of Jaws easily onhand is if they own a VHS copy of the movie. besides that they are going off of what they remember from whenever they last saw the movie, be it in the theatre, on VHS or even just happening to run on TV on some night.
(it's why people were so impressed with movie reference jokes back then)
One of my favorite gags in the show.
Not unless I'm Ken Burns, which I am not.
...
He di-i-id?
>tfw no one believes you when you tell them Hogan's Heroes was a legitimately funny show
Do I just have the brain of a dad? Am I retarded?
MmmMM!
They haven't watched it.
Simpsons never ceases to amaze
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