AlthoughThe Simpsonshas taken inspiration from many unexpected sources, season 36’s darkest episode riffed on a real-life tragedy.The Simpsonsseason 36 cannot be accused of resting on its laurels, despite the show’s record-setting longevity.The Simpsonshas been on the air for 36 years and has aired over 770 episodes, but the show’s latest outing feels like its most interesting, innovative effort in years. Only time will tell ifThe Simpsonsseason 37can keep this streak alive but, for now, season 36’s early episodes speak for themselves. Most outings feature some form of interesting experimentation.
How The Simpsons Latest Holiday Special Reimagines Three Classic Christmas Cartoons
The Simpsons season 36’s Christmas special features nods to A Charlie Brown Christmas, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and Rankin/Bass specials.
The Simpsonsseason 36’s premiere was an inventive, meta “Series finale” that finally revealed thereal reason the Simpsons never age, while episode 3, ”Desperately Seeking Lisa,” made the daring decision to drop the rest of the family and focus entirely on Lisa. Episode 8, “Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes,” adapted three short stories by genre legend Ray Bradbury and, despite airing in late November, was one of the show’s best horror anthologies in years. This spirit of narrative experimentation extended into season 36, episode 12, “The Man Who Flew Too Much.”
The Simpsons Season 36 Episode 12 Is Based On The Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 Tragedy
Homer, Ned, Barney, Moe, Carl, and A New Character Were Trapped On An Isolated Mountain
As wild as it may sound,the plot of “The Man Who Flew Too Much” is clearly based on the real-life Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 tragedy. Previously immortalized onscreen in 1993’sAlive!and 2023’sThe Society of the Snow, the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 tragedy or “Miracle of the Andes” began in October 1972. A flight carrying 45 passengers, including 19 players from the Old Christians Club rugby union team, crashed into an isolated mountainside. Twelve on board died during the crash, while many more perished in the days that followed due to freezing temperatures and injuries.
In the 72 days that followed, the remaining survivors suffered from exposure, starvation, and the impact of an avalanche that buried much of the plane. The survivors were forced to eat the remains of their fellow passengers to live and two of them eventually set out on a seemingly doomed trek across the mountain range toward civilization. Miraculously, these starving, injured passengers traveled over 50 kilometers of harsh terrain and found help, eventually resulting in the rescue of the remaining 14 survivors. Bizarrely, “The Man Who Flew Too Much” borrows many details from this harrowing story.
The Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 Tragedy Inspired Two Movies
Alive! and Society of the Snow Were Based On The Real-Life Events
“The Man Who Flew Too Much” sees Homer’s bowling team aircraft forced to endure freezing temperatures and a hopeless trek back to civilization after their aircraft crashes while en route to a game. The plot shares many obvious parallels to the real-life event, with the characters even considering cannibalism as a means of survival. WhileThe Simpsons' death rulesmeans that none of the characters stranded by the crash die for good, they do endure many of the hardships faced by the survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. The episode may have been inspired by earlier screen versions of the story.
Inevitably, The Simpsons episode offers a lighter, sillier retelling of the events, but “The Man Who Flew Too Much” manages to avoid feeling tasteless.
The Simpsons’ version of “The Miracle of the Andes” is reminiscent ofAlive!, with both re-tellings changing the number of victims and mentioning the differing faiths of the survivors. In “The Man Who Flew Too Much,” Homer struggles with feeling like Ned is his moral superior while Ned has a hard time hiding his own self-interested decisions from God. Inevitably,The Simpsonsepisode offers a lighter, sillier retelling of the events, but “The Man Who Flew Too Much” manages to avoid feeling tasteless in its nods to “The Miracle of the Andes.” The episode’s inspiration is, undeniably, unexpected.
The Simpsons Season 36’s Darkest Story Was Surprisingly Successful
The Audacious Plot Mostly Worked Despite Its Profoundly Unfunny Source Material
However, despite how profoundly unfunny the events of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 tragedy were,“The Man Who Flew Too Much” doesn’t feel exploitative. LikeThe Simpsonsseason 36’s Christmas special, the episode delves into Homer and Ned’s divergent worldviews and offers both characters moments of self-reflection that they are rarely afforded in such a zany series. As a result, the episode’s unlikely inspiration doesn’t feel like it is treated with undue levity.
“The Man Who Flew Too Much” uses this inspiration to spin a storyline that feels fresh, emotionally engaging, and poignant
Rick and Morty’s Emmy-award-winning season 4, episode 8, “The Vat of Acid Episode,” featured a lengthy silent sequence that adapted “The Miracle of the Andes” into a dialogue-free love story where Morty survived a similar tragedy and fell in love with a fellow survivor. Like that exceptional sequence, “The Man Who Flew Too Much” uses this inspiration to spin a storyline that feels fresh, emotionally engaging, and poignant. As such,The Simpsonsstoryline justifies its macabre inspiration, despite how unexpected the source material may be.
