The Simpsons (animation)/Awesome

• The couch gag for the episode "To Surveil, With Love"? If you don't know, the Simpsons cast do a lip dub to Kesha's song "Tik Tok".
• What about Bart in "Cape Feare" managing to stay alive by goading Bob into singing the entire HMS Pinafore until they got to Springfield? Let me repeat that... Someone singing every single role, including the female ones, of a 2-plus-hour play, at the bequest of his most hated enemy, just so he can be handed over to the police yet again? And it has a CMOA from a highly incompetent cop?
• Another one came from resident sarcasm dispenser Jeff Albertson/Comic Book Guy:

"Ooo, a sarcasm detector! That's a real useful invention!" (sarcasm detector explodes)

• The entire ending of "Who Shot Mr. Burns Part One"

Mr. Burns: Who here has the guts to stop me?

• • Also:

Hibbert: Well, I couldn't possibly solve this mystery. Can you? *Points at viewer, but then it's revealed that he's actually pointing at Wiggum* Wiggum: Yeah, I'll give it a shot, I mean, you know, it's my job, right?

• Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers would indeed be a great Sitcom pair, most notably in 22 Short Films About Springfield:

[Superintendant Chalmers sees Principal Skinner's kitchen on fire.] Superintendant Chalmers: Good Lord, what is happening in there?!? Principal Skinner: Aurora Borealis? Superintendant Chalmers: Aurora Borealis?!? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen? Principal Skinner: ...Yes. Superintendant Chalmers: May I see it? Principal Skinner: No.

• Homer getting fed up with his father in "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy"

Grampa: If I hadn't taken that stupid tonic 38 years ago, you'd have never been born and I'd have been happy. You were an accident! Homer: (stomps on brake) Get out. Abe: (Legitimately regretful) I'm sorry I said that. Homer: OUT. Abe: (nervously gets out) I'm going to get out now, and I hope you'll find it in your heart not to dri-- (The car peels away, leaving Grandpa alone)

• As seen in the above picture, Homer strangling Bart in Father Knows Worst. Homer mistakingly swallows a flaming stick believing it was a shish kebab, prompting Bart to trick him into drinking lighter fluid. Homer then proceeds to choke Bart and breathe fire at the same time. Granted, he never suceeds at incinerating Bart, but it's amazing.

Homer: BURN, BARTY!!!! BURN!!!!

• MISTAAH SPARKLE!!!
• Homer used to be so eloquent, right when it mattered.
  • "Fear of Flying":

Lisa: Did you know that the Chinese use the same word for "crisis" as they do for "opportunity"? Homer: Yes! Crisatunity! You're right. I've been wasting my life away in that dump for years. That's it! I'm going to find a new bar to drink in, and I'm going to get drunker than I've ever been in my entire life! Bart! Where's my wallet? Bart: (pulling it from his pocket) Right here, Dad! Homer: Thank you!

Homer: Come on, Marge, I want to shake off the dust of this one-horse town. I want to explore the world. I want to watch TV in a different time zone. I want to visit strange, exotic malls. I'm sick of eating hoagies. I want a grinder, a sub, a foot-long hero! I want to live, Marge! Won't you let me live? Won't you please?!

• • Homer and Apu

Homer: You're...selling what, now? Apu: I am selling only the concept of karmic realignment. Homer: You can't sell that! Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos. (slams the door in Apu's face) Apu: He's got me there.

• • "Bart of Darkness":

Lisa: Dad, as you know, we've been swimming, and we've developed a taste for it. We both agree that getting our own pool is the only way to go. Now before you respond, you must understand that your refusal would result in months and months of... Bart and Lisa: Can we have a pool Dad? Can we have a pool Dad? Can we have a pool Dad? Can we have a pool Dad? Can we have a pool Dad? Bart: Can we -- (Lisa motions him to stop) Homer: I understand. Let us celebrate our new arrangement with the adding of chocolate to milk.

• And then there's Apu.

Skinner: I finally have time to do what I've always wanted: write the great American novel. Mine is about a futuristic amusement park where dinosaurs are brought to life through advanced cloning techniques. I call it "Billy and the Cloneasaurus." Apu: Oh, you have got to be kidding sir. First you think of an idea that has already been done. Then you give it a title that nobody could possibly like. Didn't you think this through... [later] ...was on the bestseller list for eighteen months! Every magazine cover had... [later] ...most popular movies of all time, sir! What were you thinking?! I mean, thank you, come again.

• Flanders has a handful of candidate moments, like when he rips off his shirt to reveal an Adonis-like physique, or when God personally and immediately answers his prayers... but more than anything else, it has to be when he finally loses his cool and epically chews out half the population of Springfield, especially when Lisa tries to throw in her two cents:

Do I hear the sound of butting in? It's gotta be little Lisa Simpson, Springfield's answer to a question NO ONE ASKED!!!

• • Another moment is when he overpowers the douchebag who's been bullying Homer and makes him literally beg for mercy
  • My favorite is the bowling episode. Flanders knocks down nine pins and Homer immediately starts laughing at him. Flanders simply looks up to the sky and says, "It's me, Ned." The last pin falls over and a nearby ball dispenser shocks Homer.
• Don't forget when everyone at the Candy Convention chases after Homer and Marge, who has trouble running with her stuffed trenchcoat. Homer stops at the exit, kicks a Buzz Cola machine to get a can of pop, rips the tab off with his teeth, rips open a packet of Pop Rox, and puts the packet over the can and shakes it. "See you in hell, candy boys!" he calls, lobbing it into the crowd. They all stop to watch as Homer continues to run in slow motion, the glass of the doors shattering behind him with the force of the fiery blast.

Bart: That lemon tree's a part of our town, and as kids, the backbone of our economy. We'll get it back, or choke their rivers with our dead!

• Simple Simpson. Homer's various battle cries ("It's cobblerin' time!" being the most prominent and IMHO the best), Lisa's nonchalant proof, and most of all the final dramatic pose on the roof, when Bart joins him with the most perfect in-context sidekick name there could have been.
• The end of "Lisa's Substitute" was specifically designed as one for Homer. After his insensitivity causes Lisa to call him a baboon and run to her room, he talks to her and lets her know it's okay to feel sad about Mr. Bergstrom leaving, and cheers her up by acting like a monkey. Then he checks on Bart, who's upset about losing the class president election, and makes him feel better too by talking about how the job is just a lot of extra work with no benefits. Then he hears Maggie who's crying because she lost her pacifier, so he puts in back in her mouth. Then he asks Marge to come to bed, declaring "I'm on the biggest roll of my life!"

Sleep well, Maggie. Ah, three for three.

• Grandpa saving Bart from drowing and then royally beating the crap out of Mr. Burns
• Skinner gets one in the episode "Lisa the Beauty Queen". The Springfield Elementary school carnival ("The Happiest Place On Earth") is in full swing, when Seymour is confronted by the Blue Haired Lawyer flanked by two large goons. The lawyer threatens to sue Skinner for the use of the phrase "The Happiest Place on Earth". Skinner proceeds to inform them that it is a VERY bad idea to make a ex Green Beret angry and then proceeds to take down the BHL and one of the goons with a well-timed finger jab and kick to the chest. As the second goon flees in terror, Skinner picks up the BHL's briefcases and tosses it at the thug, knocking him out. And to top it off..

Skinner: Copyright...expired.

• The Boy Who Knew Too Much. The finest point being: Bart saws through the rope support of a bridge after crossing it, and it falls into the water. Bart thinks that Skinner can no longer track him. Cue Skinner walking underwater to the other side, without breaking stride, the music restarting as his head rises from the water.

Bart: He's like some kind of...non-giving-up...school...guy!

• YMMV, but in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie", Homer punishes Bart...and actually sticks to it!
  • And if the ending of that episode is to be believed, Homer stuck to it for decades!
• From "The Boys Of Bummer": Marge calling out THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD after they harass poor Bart to no end for dropping the baseball that cost the town the Little League Championship, and after Marge tells them that their slogan of "Meanest City in America" is true, the townspeople apologize to Bart and restage the game for him.
• Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish". The speech Abe gives to Mr. Burns at the end...no, the entire last 3-4 minutes are one long Crowning Moment for Abe.
  • "I ain't gonna kill you. That'd be cowardly - Monty-Burns-cowardly. I just wanna watch you squirm!"
  • His epic speech dismissing Burns from the Flying Hellfish and proving he's very much still a Badass.

Grandpa: There is one thing we don't stand for in the U.S. Army and that's trying to kill your commanding officer! You're out of my unit! You're out of the tontine! And that means the paintings are mine! Private, You. Are. Dismissed!

• • It's only a one time character, but it should still count:

Nurse: Our residents -- *BANG* -- are trying -- *BANG* -- to nap!

• • • There's a trope for that.
• How did Homer's Big Damn Heroes moment from The Movie not get in here? After a movie's worth of horrifically stupid mistakes and Jerkass moves that got Springfield enclosed in a giant impenetrable dome and caused his family to leave him, he has an epiphany, walks back home from Alaska, and finally RIDES A MOTORCYCLE UP THE SIDES OF THE GIANT DOME with Bart in order to toss out the super-powerful bomb that's about to destroy all of Springfield, and in the process, causes the bomb to shatter the nigh-impenetrable dome that's trapped Springfield throughout the entire movie, saving everyone and completely making up for everything that he's done. Wow.
  • You forgot Martin. When he thinks the dome is about to collapse, he walks up to Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph and says the following:

Martin: "I've been taking your crap all my life!" (produces a 4x4 and knocks all of them out in one blow) "Wow, that felt good! No wonder you guys do that!"

• • And also Lisa's epic retaliation for 20+ years of bratty brother.

Bart: *sing-song* Lisa's got a boyfriend! That she'll never see agai-*punched*

• • The Precision F-Strike at the end of The Movie coming from the absolute last person you'd ever expect to hear swear in The Simpsons

Marge: SOMEBODY THROW THE GODDAMN BOMB!

• • Don't forget Maggie beaning Russ Cargale with a rock to save Bart and Homer!
  • Let's not forget that Homer and Bart finally jumped Springfield Gorge on the motorcycle.
• Marge beating up the man, Godfather style, who had robbed her a few weeks ago in "Strong Arms of the Ma".

"You've just been MARGEinalized!"

• Bart's CMOA came during his rivalry with Sideshow Bob, at least in the early seasons. The episode "Black Widower" particularly demonstrates this. While no one else even suspects Bob of anything, Bart determines Bob's rather clever plan to kill Selma by allowing a gas leak and then letting her smoking habit finish her. My favorite scene is where Bob re-enters the room, expecting a dead Selma, only for him to find Bart sitting there and say "Hello, Bob." It was perfect.
  • Another great Bart moment comes at the end of the episode "Burns' Heir" where he is faced with the choice of firing Homer or being disowned by Mr. Burns. He takes a third option and fires Mr. Burns himself, and then proceeds to use Burns' own Trap Door against him.

Mr. Burns: What?! Fire me?! That does it: you can never be my son! Bart: A little to the left. Mr. Burns: Huh? Oh, very well. [moves] You can never be my- [Bart pulls a lever; Burns falls through a trap door] EEEEEE!

• We all may love Homer S., but there's a good reason Frank Grimes is, according to Word of God, one of the writers' favorite characters and his one-shot episode among their favorites.

What I'm saying, Simpson, is that you are an idiot. You coast through life, you do as little as possible, and you leech off hard-working people like me! If you'd have been born in any other country besides America, you'd have starved to death long ago! You're a fraud, a total fraud! (Slams the front door, then comes back in and looks at the rest of the family) It was nice meeting you. Much as any Homer fan hates (or perhaps loves) to admit it, Grimes was dead-on there.

• In the first season, Marge is tempted into an affair with a lothario bowling instructor, but on her way to the instructor's house she chooses to visit Homer at work instead, to the tune of "Up Where We Belong." Homer then picks her up and carries her outside, announcing to the whole plant in so many words that he's walking out on his job to have sex. You could also make this one for the people behind the show, with the way the episode brazenly challenged the kinds of stories an American cartoon series could have, while still being reasonably family friendly.
• When it becomes clear that the botched movie adaptation of Comic Book Guy's comic book, Everyman, is going to (deservedly) bomb at the box office, the executives try to persuade him to use his online fan-following to make it successful. In defiance of not only a lucrative movie deal, but the obligatory cynical "punchline" itself, Comic Book Guy responds on his blog:

Comic Book Guy: Everyman: The Motion Picture is the culmination of a life-long dream, and I was one of the few who saw that dream realized on screen last night. If there is one fault to find with this $200 million production, it is that this is the WORST - MOVIE - EVER!

• In the episode, The Great Wife Hope, Marge is fighting an MMA promoter to try and get him to go out of business, and things are going badly for her. This is of course until he lays a hand on Bart, and is about to beat the stuffing out of him:

Marge: That's..My..Son! Followed closely by this exchange: Marge: Tap out, don't make me break your arm Promoter: Lady why don't you break out the lipstick and kiss my ass!

• The Plow King lives!
• "Bart the Daredevil" is mostly remembered for its Crowning Moment of Funny ending, but the moment preceding it is pure CMOA and Tear Jerker combined as Homer shows that he's willing to die to stop Bart from throwing his life away.

Homer: Bart, I tried ordering you, I tried punishing you, and God help me, I even tried reasoning with you, and now the only thing left to do is to jump the gorge myself. Bart: But why? Homer: Because then you'll know what it's like to see a family member stupidly risking his life for no good reason! Bart: But you'll never make it! Homer: Don't you think I know that? Goodbye, son.

• I forget who, one of the writers I think, but someone made the comment in the 20th Anniversary retrospective that the internet reviews and comments about The Simpsons weren't as funny as they used to be, and he doesn't read them anymore. Even being the exact kind of person he was making fun of, I found that to be a damn funny Take That.
• In the episode where Bart pulls a prank on the whole town by making them think a little boy named Timmy was trapped in the town well, the townsfolk come up with all kinds of ridiculous schemes to get him out. When Bart himself falls down the well, and the townsfolk refuse to help him out of anger at being tricked, Homer decides that enough is enough when Bart starts to cry at his predicament.

Homer: That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more! I'm going to get you out of there myself! (As he starts digging, Groundskeeper Willie sees what he's doing) Willie: Now why didn't I think of that?! (retrieves his own shovel) Agnes...we've got work to do! (rips his shirt and overalls off)

• • Eventually, more and more people come out to help, including Sting, until Bart is finally rescued.
    • Oh they thought of it. They just did not WANT to help Bart out, seeing as how he pranked the town. Disproportionate Retribution, sure, but this is SPRINGFIELD we are talking about.
      • Actually, it's highly likely that they didn't think of it, otherwise they would have done so long before they found out that Bart was pranking them.
  • Speaking of Papa Wolf moments and Popeye references, there was also the time when Homer had to rescue Marge from a demolition derby, using beer instead of spinach. Too bad the donkey couldn't hold its liquor.
• The whole show, really. Before it came around, both sitcoms and animated series were somewhat limited in what they could do. It challenged censorship, not just by being a Gross-Out Show or by throwing around lots of swears and tawdry innuendo, but by showing that a Dysfunctional Family can still be a happy one. Every sitcom or primetime animated series that came after it owes it a huge debt.
• Lisa has a minor one when she utterly pwns the Comic Book Guy. Everyone is waiting in line to purchase a new copy of the book series starring the Captain Ersatz, gender-flipped Harry Potter. Comic Book Guy criticizes Lisa's costume, in his usual "better-than-thou" manner, concluding with an insincere "Nice try though." Lisa's response?

Lisa: *smiles* "I based my costume on the books, not the movies."

• • Comic Book Guy is laughed at by everyone in the line as he walks off in shame.
• Marge single handedly destroying Mr. Burns' gubernatorial campaign in 'Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish.':

"Lisa, you're learning many valuable lessons tonight. and one of them is to always give your mother the benefit of the doubt."

• We can't forget Homer's fist fight with former President Bush in the sewer. High point of Homer's offense: after flattening Bush, he runs up the wall of the (circular) sewer to the top and lets gravity drop him on his target.
  • Major CMOA for Bush as well:

(Bush pulls a strand of garrote wire out of his watch) Here's something we learned in CIA!

• When Marge doesn't help Lisa with her state costume for a school contest because of her gambling addiction, Homer goes all Papa Wolf for his daughter and bursts into the casino, scolds Marge, and gets her to admit she has a problem. Don't worry. Lisa's costume still won the contest.
• From Season 21 episode 18, Chief of Hearts, Homer and Chief Wiggum are trapped in a trunk by the Springfield Mafia and are on their way to be executed:

Homer: We're not gonna get whacked. Because you're Chief Clancey Wiggum and you're gonna figure a way out of this. Chief Wiggum: You have that much faith in me? Homer: No. Faith is what you have in things that don't exist. Your awesomeness is real!

• The Raiders of the Lost Ark parody from way back, with Bart as Indy stealing Homer's change jar, and Homer as both an angry native and a big fat boulder. Here's a Link.
• In the flashback episode about Bart's birth, Homer arrives at the hospital flush from getting a job against all odds, and finally tells off Patty and Selma: "No, YOU listen! This is my wife, and this is my kid, and I'm paying for this delivery, so if you're going to stay here you'd better show me some respect!"
• Groundskeeper Willie rescuing Bart from a freaking Alaskan timber wolf - and telling it not to feel bad for losing once it's worn out.
• The time Homer kicked an entire biker gang's ass in order to rescue Marge (though she didn't need rescuing THAT bad, and was even teaching them about not always using violence). Not only did he walk into a biker bar three times despite getting knocked out every time to learn where she was - when he finds them, he leaps out of the bushes, kicks everyone's ass until the gang's leader challenges him to go one-on-one in the Circle of Death. Not only do they have an epic chain-fight, it culminates in both of them LIFTING THEIR MOTORCYCLES OVER THEIR HEADS AND FENCING WITH THEM. And Homer WINS, knocking over the guy and lifting the motorcycle with a "Give me back my wife!" And THEN, when he's gotten Marge back - he freaking goes back to the bar and steals their beer keg. That. is. AWESOME.
• Principal Skinner and Supeintendent Chalmers each get one for tricking a group of underachivers into a bus to Capital City on test day by telling them that they were exempt from the test. Chalmers gets his own by tricking Skinner into chaproning by himself.
• In Dog Of Death, after Burns straps Bart's gentle pet dog to a chair, sets up a machine that holds the dog's eyes open, and forces the dog to watch several images of animal abuse to, as Burns himself put it, turn the dog into "a vicious, soulless killer..." and after Burns sends said dog after Bart, the dog's memories of good times with Bart prompt him to lick Bart's face instead of attacking him. When the other dogs come after Bart, said pet dog growls at the other dogs and scares them off, only to proceed to lick Bart's face AGAIN. Burns' attempt at breaking the dog's spirit yields, if any change in the dog at all, a result of the dog taking a level in badass, while still no longer being on Burns' side in the long run.
  • And a killer A Clockwork Orange parody, to boot.
• The climactic scene at the end of the movie, where Homer rides the Springfield dome on the motorcycle to get rid of a bomb that's about to blow the town up, and the resulting Stepping Stones in the Sky ride that immediately followed.

"I'm risking my life to save people I hate for reasons I don't understand!"

• Bart got another one in a recent episode, "How Munched Is That Birdy In The Window?" where an ostrich attacks him and he strangles it with his bare hands. Even though he didn't kill it, he still knocked it out for a long period of time.
• McBain completing his Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Senator Mendoza in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" (Link).

Mendoza: Excellent. With McBain out of the way, nothing can stop us. Any more new business? McBain: (bursting out of the table) Only your death.

• Maggie leading the other babies stuck in a hellish Ayn Rand inspired daycare center into a rebellion to get their pacifiers back, all to the theme from The Great Escape.
• The entire guest appearance of Stephen Hawking. Not only did they actually get him in the studio rather than just using a voice simulator themselves, but he delivers a killer "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the MENSA members, before revealing his Disability Superpower souped-up wheelchair. "Time for this hawk to fly!"
• From the moment Burns stops begging the Germans for his plant back until the end of the episode, practically everything he does is a moment of awesome, but in particular after they threaten him that "Germans aren't all smiles and sunshine":

Mr. Burns (sarcastic): Ooh the Germans are mad at me. I'm so scared, oooh the Germans! The Germans are going to get me, don't let the Germans come after me, they're so big and strong! Protect me from the Germans!

• Maybe just in light of her Character Derailment / Flanderization, but Homer calling Lisa a Know-Nothing Know-It-All in "Lisa the Vegetarian."
• In "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily"

Ned: "...My name's Ned Flanders, and I'm here every week -- rain or shine!"

• Bart taking out the bullies using CIA skills in the Season 23 opener.
• In Bart Stops to Smell The Roosevelts, Skinner standing up for himself to Chalmers. After all the crap Skinners has gone through from Chalmers, it felt good to see him grow a Spine.
• The time Lisa, smart Bart, and Barry White saved all the snakes on Whacking Day with music.
• How did ANYONE spend all this time without mentioning Bette Midler's cameo in Krusty Gets Kancelled? Bart and Lisa find her singlehandedly cleaning up a highway, because "we're Americans. We deserve clean highways." Snake drives by and tosses a can out the window. Bette chases after him on foot, jumps onto the car, and tosses it back in. The car then crashes off-screen as Bette continues her conversation with Bart and Lisa, deciding to appear in Krusty's reunion special. Then, another drive tosses a can onto the road.

Bette Midler: It's time to take out the trash. (Throws the can at the car. It makes impact, and the car starts to swerve off the road) Driver: I'll get you for this, Midler! (Car goes off a cliff, crashes into a mountain, and explodes)

• In Holidays Of Future Passed, we see Future!Apu getting attacked by cyborg Snake at the Kwik-E-Mart. Of course, this time, Apu has his adult octuplets with rifles to back him up.
  • Maggie's a Rock Star!
• Does any one remember that episode where Reverend Lovejoy was doubting at his fate, causing him to leave Springfield? Marge Simpson takes the roll of Lovejoy, but Ned Flanders is chased away by the bullies Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney. Eventually Flanders is hiding in the Baboon pend of the Springfield Zoo, and it's even seems that they will kill him, and then Lovejoy drives on with the Train from Heaven!

Lovejoy: Baboons to the left of me. Baboons to the right. The speeding locomotive tore through a sea of inhuman fangs. A pair of the great apes rose up at me but BAM! BAM! I sent them flying like two hairy footballs. A third came screaming at me! And that's when I got angry. Homer: Now that's religion.

• Dueling saxophones in Lisa's Rival.
• In Homer the Heretic, Apu has to leave his nephew in charge of Kwik-E-Mart, with Dolph, Jimbo, and Kerney saying they won't do anything while Apu's gone. The nephew, who has to be at least three or four, pulls out a shotgun and cocks it. The bullies are left slack-jawed.
• In "The Boys of Bummer", has Marge tearing all of Springfield a new one for driving Bart to near-death. It's pretty much the only thing that makes that abomination of an episode watchable.
• The mere fact that the show managed to get 500 EPISODES.
• The couch gag in episode 500. If you haven't seen it, every single couch gag is shown together, eventually forming a giant '500'.
• Homer bowling a 300.
• The Couch Gag takeoff of the opening credits to Game of Thrones, complete with the show's actual music.
• The absolutely EPIC battle between the kids (Bart, Lisa, and Nelson) and the A.S.S. (American Shipping Services) in Rome-old and Juli-eh. It's absolutely over the top and ridiculous, invoking a What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome? reaction. And for whatever reason, one of the A.S.S. members rode on a freaking dragon and nothing is mentioned of it. Complete with the awesome music playing in the background, this was one of the most over the top, epic, but hilarious moments in the series.
• "Large Marge" cumulated with Marge flashing a huge group of people to save Homer and Bart.
• On "A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again", the Simpsons are kicked off the cruise to Antarctica thanks to Bart's shenanigans. They have finally visited every continent!
  • The cruise: the vacation that so many of us dream of.
• Homer's unexpectedly great performance as Jesus in Springfield's production of The Passion of the Christ.
• In Marge Vs. The Monorail, Homer uses his quick wits to save the day in one of the series' most intense climaxes.

Homer: Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?