Certain Songs #2224: The Simpsons - "Stop The Planet of the Apes. I Want to Get Off!" (2024)

Album: Songs in the Key of Springfield
Year: 1996

. . .

Hi, I’m Jim Connelly. You may remember me from such Certain Songs posts as “#1224: Mystery Science Theatre – “Love Song From Mystery Science 3000” or “#1723: R.E.M. – “It’s The End of The World (and I Feel Fine)

In a fantastic Vulture oral history of this episode — Episode 19 of Season 7: “A Fish Called Selma” — we find out that the writers had decided to do a Troy McClure showcase, pairing him up with one Marge’s sisters, Selma.

McClure was voiced by the late, great Phil Hartman, and you might ask whether or not it’s a coincidence that two out of three Certain Songs posts I’ve done on the Simpsons feature Hartman, and the answer is that it is not. Phil Hartman was the actor equivalent of handclaps in songs: he made good things great and great things immortal.

Anyways, the set-up here is that McClure has convinced Selma to marry him in order to revive his career, which had been destroyed by rumours of his unconventional sexuality, which prompts this phone call with his agent, MacArthur Parker — played by Jeff Goldblum:

Mac: “Troy, Mac Parker. Have you heard of… Planet of the Apes?”
Troy: “Uhhhh, the movie or the planet?”
Mac: “The brand-new, multi-million dollar musical! And you are starring…as the human”
Troy: “It’s the part I was born to play, baby!”

“Uhhhh, the movie or the planet?” is another one of those jokes that kills me. Kills me. It’s an amazingly random question that somehow makes complete sense and no sense whatsoever at exactly the same time.

But they’re just ramping up: as showrunner Bill Oakley marvels in that Vulture oral history, the whole thing “was just a visit from joke fairy.” It also helped that in the late 60s long-time Simpsons Musical Director Alf Clausen had written out the arrangements for the musicians who played the original score for Planet of the Apes. Or that he was equally adept in coming with music for orchestral scores and cheesy 80 euro-pop knockoffs.

Because “Stop The Planet of The Apes. I Want to Get Off!” is presented in the episode as a full-blown legitimate theatre musical, we just get excerpts from it, with Clausen’s score deftly changing each time.

One of the long-time running jokes of The Simpsons is that all of the non-humans on the show are smarter than the humans — or at least make better decisions — and one of the fun things about “Stop The Planet of The Apes. I Want to Get Off!” is that it’s set in a world where the non-humans being smarter is absolute canon. And’s that’s the key to the first segment: when the apes realize that this human they’ve captured is different from all of the others. So the first thing we see is when McClure declares “get your paws off me, you dirty ape!” and as all of the apes are marveling that he can talk, McClure goes one further, because he can do more than just talk.

I can SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG

This is followed by a complete non-sequitur: “Dr. Zaius” — a parody of Falco’s 1986 #1 hit single “Rock Me Amadeus,” which along with Nena’s “99 Luftbaloons,” was part of the micro-mini-trend when German language songs became massive U.S. hits — which weaponizes the cheesiest vaudevillian doctor jokes (“Can I play the piano anymore? / Of course you can / Well I couldn’t before”) with the stupidly catchy “Dr. Zaius, Dr. Zaius” chorus. None of this has anything to do this the plot of Planet of the Apes, of course, which makes it that much more funny, especially when the final excerpt takes us back to the end of the film.

SPOILER ALERT!! If you haven’t seen the end of Planet of the Apes, you probably shouldn’t read any further. Actually, you probably shouldn’t read any further anyways. Or have started this at all. Or read anything I’ve ever written, really.

Anyways, in the climax, Troy sings his disdain for his ape overlords.

I hate every ape I see
From Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z
No, you’ll never make a monkey out of me

You guys!! “Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z.” COME ON! That’s like a perfect joke, maybe even better than “the movie or the planet?” even though they’re from totally different ends of the spectrum.

And of course, as the apes point to the ruins of the Statue of Liberty, rising over the backdrop, McClure (accompanied by course a choir of background apes) head towards the grand finale.

Oh, my God, I was wrong,
It was Earth all along.
You finally made a monkey…

(Yes, we finally made made a monkey)

Yes, you finally made a monkey out of meeeeeeeeeee!

At the end, having been fully monkeyized, McClure non sequiturs “I love you, Dr. Zaius”, because at this point, why the hell not!

Unlike “The Monorail Song” or (especially) “The Amendment Song,” it took multiple viewings for me to fully realize the genius of this whole sequence — I mean outside of “the movie or the planet? and “Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z” of course — which might also have taken on more resonance in the wake of Phil Hartman’s death, and the trend of making musicals out of things that were never supposed to be musicals.

Anyways it seems like “Stop The Planet of The Apes! I Want To Get Off.” has become perhaps people’s most favorite of all of Simpsons musical sequences.

Oh and BTW, “A Fish Called Selma” aired one week after “The Day The Violence Died,” just in case you need any more proof as to what kind of insane roll The Simpsons were on in the mid-1990s, despite the fact that the “Simpsons aren’t as good as they used to be” trope was already out there in the wild. (No, seriously, it was.)

“Stop The Planet of The Apes! I Want To Get Off.”

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Certain Songs #2224: The Simpsons - "Stop The Planet of the Apes. I Want to Get Off!" (2024)

FAQs

What is the song closing time on The Simpsons? ›

The song playing during the scene where Homer and Marge are in the sleeping bags is "Closing Time" by Semisonic. The song played when Homer rips the leg of the Beanie Baby is "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve.

What is season 32 episode 11 of The Simpsons a parody of? ›

This episode contains several references to the films of Wes Anderson. The title is a reference to The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Comic Book Guy's backstory has several similarities to the opening of The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) while the locations are modeled after.

When did season 34 episode 6 of The Simpsons come out? ›

"Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" is the sixth episode of the thirty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 734th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 30, 2022.

How long until Simpsons ends? ›

No, The Simpsons will not be ending in 2024. FOX renewed the series for the 2024-25 season.

Was The Simpsons discontinued? ›

The Simpsons is a joint production by Gracie Films and 20th Television. On January 26, 2023, the series was renewed for its 35th and 36th seasons, taking the show through the 2024–25 television season. Both seasons contain a combined total of 51 episodes.

Why is The Simpsons intro so long? ›

Creator Matt Groening developed a lengthy opening sequence for the first season of The Simpsons, in order to cut down on the animation necessary for each episode, but devised the two gags as compensation for the repeated material each week.

Who sings in The Simpsons season 27 episode 14? ›

Production. In an interview in June 2015, executive producer Al Jean said that Kate McKinnon would guest star in an episode as a homeless woman with musician Natalie Maines providing her singing voice.

What season is episode 495 in The Simpsons? ›

"Holidays of Future Passed" is the ninth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 11, 2011.

When was season 9 episode 1 of The Simpsons made? ›

Homer Simpson" is the first episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was originally broadcast on Fox in the United States on September 21, 1997, as the 179th episode of the series.

Was there a Planet of the Apes musical? ›

Troy McClure starring in the musical. Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to Get Off! is a theatrical adaptation of the famous movie Planet of the Apes, starring Troy McClure as Colonel George Taylor. The song Dr Zaius (song) is a parody of the song "Rock Me Amadeus" by Falco.

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