# Please Explain a Simpsons Joke

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-a-simpsons-joke/235070>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 18, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-a-simpsons-joke/235070 "2004-03-18T19:37:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-a-simpsons-joke/235070/1 "2004-03-18T19:37:25Z")

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Last night, in the episode when the Simpsons join the Movementarians, Marge escapes the “agricultural complex” and is chased by various things, including a large, opaque, blue bubble. She escapes it, but it seems to get Hans Moleman. What exactly was this thing? The background music seemed to change, so I’m not entirely sure it was just a throwaway joke.

Many thanks for any help I get.

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**Author:** ![AvariceAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/958977/32.png) [@AvariceAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AvariceAngel)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-a-simpsons-joke/235070/2 "2004-03-18T19:48:44Z")

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It was a spoof of “The Prisoner”, a 60’s television series about a secret agent abducted to a strange prison on a private island. The bubble was a means to trap any escapees, and made another appearance on the Simpsons ep where Homer starts his Mr. X website and exposes secrets of Springfield. The bubble is in that one too, IIRC.

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**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-a-simpsons-joke/235070/3 "2004-03-18T19:49:11Z")

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It’s a reference to the TV series “The Prisoner”. Check out [here](http://www.retroweb.com/prisoner.html) for more info.

Actually, I think they used the blobs in one more episode but I can’t recall which one.

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**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-a-simpsons-joke/235070/4 "2004-03-18T19:50:36Z")

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or what **AvariceAngel** said. 🙂

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**Author:** ![AvariceAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/958977/32.png) [@AvariceAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AvariceAngel)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-a-simpsons-joke/235070/5 "2004-03-18T19:50:38Z")

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That last sentence got kind of muddied up; what I meant to say was, “The Prisoner” was highly spoofed in that episode. The bubble made an appearance too, IIRC.

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**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-a-simpsons-joke/235070/6 "2004-03-18T21:31:13Z")

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The guardian of the Village’s name is “Rover”, just for reference. Originally it was planned to be a little car that chased him around, but the weather balloon works far better.