Okay, lets start with a qualifier. For most crossovers I assume a two way street. That means if Agent Mulder from the X-Files can make an appearance on, say, Millennium, then the characters from Millennium can also appear on The X-Files. They inhabit the same reality. There are two exceptions to this. One would be when a show is a spin off of a variety show or an anthology type series. Taking one of the shows at hand, The Simpsons is a good example of a spin off from a variety show. It started as a recurring feature on The Tracey Ullman Show, a show which was made up of nothing but stand alone skits. So the whole "common reality" thing just doesn't apply. As for anthology shows, Happy Days, for instance, came from Love, American Style which was an anthology that told lots of separate stories. It didn't have a clear consistent "world" to connect to in the first place.

   The other exception to this would be crossovers with cartoon shows. These I view as a sort of one way street. Sure the Stephens family from Bewitched can appear on The Flintstones but to go the other way just makes no freaking sense. I view cartoon shows as having their own similar but different reality from the shows they cross with. The Flintstones can cross over with other shows and that means, say, a version of Samantha Stephens exists in their world but it is not the same Samantha or the same reality as Bewitched is set in. Short of a magical spell being cast, Fred is not coming over to dinner on Bewitched.

   All that to get to one of FOX TV's coolest crossovers. The Simpsons and The X-Files were both a couple of FOX's biggest hits. And at the time of the crossover they aired back to back on Sunday night. Someone got the idea in their head to cross these shows over.

   The Simpsons was a cartoon about a yellow colored dysfunctional family living in the town of Springfield, in an unidentified state. The X-Files was the story of F.B.I. agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigating strange paranormal cases. The crossover had Mulder and Scully coming to Springfield to investigate an alien sighting Homer Simpson had reported. In the end, it turned out that the "alien" was actually Springfield's richest, oldest and meanest citizen Montgomery Burns wandering around after receiving treatments to prolong his life. He glowed from a radiation treatment, had his eyes dialated, was wearing a medical gown and was out of his mind on drugs. End result - pseudo alien.

   This simple plot description doesn't do the show justice but its all I can really say. The rest of the episode consists largely of so many tons of funny gags that I couldn't list them all and even if I did it wouldn't capture how well they worked. One of the funniest though had to be Moe the bartender and the killer whale. Hearing that the F.B.I. is coming to town, Moe worries that they are investigating people selling endangered species. It turns out Moe has a killer whale in his store room he is black marketing. Later he is seen running with the whale on his back trying to hide it. The funniest part was the sound the whale made. Here is what I think happened. I think they had someone make killer whale-ish noises for the show so they would have something for the soundtrack until they found the real sound to dub in. Only I think the crappy killer whale noise was so funny that they decided to just leave it in. You have to hear it to appreciate it.

Other Simpsons Crossover Links
The Simpsons and Cheers
The Simpsons and The Critic
The Simpsons and The Flintstones
The Simpsons and Futurama
The Simpsons and King Of The Hill
The Simpsons and The Tracey Ullman Show
The Simpsons and 24

Other X-Files Crossover Links
The X-Files and COPS
The X-Files and Homicide: Life On The Street
The X-Files and Law And Order: Special Victims Unit
The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen
The X-Files and Millennium
The X-Files and Picket Fences
The X-Files and Strange Luck

Links To Simpson Web Sites
New Springfield: It's a helluva town!
The Simpsons Emporium


Click here to return to main Crossover List

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