The Simpsons (TV Series) The Mysterious Voyage of Our Homer (1997) User Reviews

A Very Sweet and Unique Episode,

[lesleyharris30 · 10/10 · 19 August 2014]

El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer is a brilliant Simpsons episode with a very well written storyline and loads of very funny scenes.It is certainly one of the strangest and most memorable episode of the entire series,and that's saying a lot,I loved going on this weird journey with Homer and also the beautiful but strange animation that is used in his hallucinations.Johnny Cash is without a doubt one of my favourite guest appearances on the show,the Coyote was nothing like anything that had been on the series before and the dialogue between him and Homer was priceless. El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer is a very enjoyable Simpsons episode that is a must see for all fans of the series and a season 8 highlight.

Homer begins to doubt Marge is really the person he is meant to be with after a hallucination from a spicy chili.

A cartoon that takes us on a surreal journey

[gizmomogwai · 9/10 · 2 February 2009]

The Mysterious Voyage of Homer is a highlight of season 8 for its surreal animation taking us on a strange journey when Homer eats insanity peppers and finds himself lost in a fantastic land. The things he sees and encounters are mysterious, strange and abstract, but the show still has humour in depicting this hallucination- for example, when Homer kicks the tortoise and in an ironic "mop the floor" joke. Homer then meets his spirit guide, a talking coyote who tells Homer to find his soul mate. The coyote is ideally cast- he's voiced by Johnny Cash who has a great voice. It works for a wise and mysterious character.

Once awake, Homer begins to doubt that Marge is his soul mate and goes looking for someone else who can understand him. This material captures the essence of loneliness. The humour is found when his friends all describe their relations with Homer, with none of them claiming to be Homer's soul mate. Additionally, we get a good joke out of Homer asking his memory for "new information." In the end Homer almost destroys a ship that he hopes will bring him friends, which is slightly disturbing, but he and Marge save the ship and the two decide they really are soul mates. This isn't a shocking conclusion, but getting there was an interesting ride.

Wonderfully unique

[UniqueParticle · 10/10 · 26 June 2020]

Easily among one of my favorite episodes ever! Starts off normal where Marge doesn't want Homer to know about the annual chili cookout and things get bizarre a little after they get there which is my favorite thing about it. So trippy and gives me such glorious vibes!

Johnny Cash-One of the greatest Simpsons guests.

[GayBoi1 · 10/10 · 11 November 2015]

After promising Marge he wouldn't get drunk and embarrass her again, Homer and the family set off to the annual local chili cook-off. While there, Homer eats a number of Chief Wiggum's special hallucinogenic peppers(which was said to be made by inmates at a Guatemalan insane asylum). The peppers leave Homer hallucinating(and Marge thinking he got drunk again)and Homer goes running away. While venturing out into the wilds(which was actually a golf course), Homer meets a talking red fox(voiced by the late, great Johnny Cash)who challenges Homer to find his true soul mate. Upon returning home, Marge scolds Homer making him wonder if Marge is truly his soul mate. After a series of misadventures, Homer arrives at a light house where Marge finds him and Homer then realizes that Marge was his true soul mate all along.

one of the best episodes ever made

[Cinema2kMendoza · 10/10 · 14 September 2021]

This episode not only is trippy, is a classis between the animation style, the plot and how everything works. Is one of the best episodes of the simpsons ever made.

Johnny cash as a coyote.

[lisitsinnick · 9/10 · 19 January 2021]

Yeah, somehow the Simpsons was able to get Johnny cash to voice homers "spirit guide" or a coyote he has a vision of after eating a pepper...best episode ever!

But I need it!

[snoozejonc · 9/10 · 21 December 2022]

The Simpsons attend a chilli cook-off before Homer goes on a hallucinogenic journey of discovery.

This is a very strong episode with great animation and humour.

There are three clear sections to the story and the funniest for me is the build up and events of the cook-off. There are moments in this that still makes me laugh 20+ years later no mater how many times I watch.

From the moment the hallucinations begin the writers' Castaneda tribute is prominent and as good as the visuals are, the humour is not quite as prolific, but it has plenty of memorable moments.

The final part of Homer's journey as he searches for his soulmate is very well written and has decent humour, but by this point in the show, I feel the writers had done his relationship with Marge to death.

For me it's an 8.5/10, but I round upwards.

Does anyone else think the 1/10 review reads like it was written by the Comic Book Guy?

Theater of the Absurd

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 29 July 2022]

First of all, the appearance of Johnny Cash, the great song by Janice Ian, and finally, Short Shorts. That would be enough. But Homer eating those explosive peppers and then going on an LSD like trip was wonderful. He looks for a soul mate. Marge is mad at him, but he is being Homer. He ends up in a convoluted world of apparitions and hallucinations. By the way, nearly all the lighthouses in the world are run by computers.

We like short shorts

[safenoe · 10/10 · 3 April 2022]

One of my favorite episodes in the golden era (the first 10 seasons) of The Simpsons. The ending, "We like short shorts!" is a hilarious ending to a very poignant, moving and surreal episode of one of the best TV series ever (well, the first 10 seasons at least).

"El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer" fails due to its very lame ending...

[Zabon · 1/10 · 10 June 2011]

Story: Marge doesn't want Homer to go to the cookout this year due to Homer's previous embarrassments and humiliating experiences where he acts like a moron... well Homer still goes to the cookout and eats lots of Guatemalan peppers to show off in a Mexican standoff fashion showdown... and this makes him hallucinate and act idiotic in front of others. The effect makes him seem drunk and moronic... and he begins to see a vivid yet insane dream sequence where he encounters a huge snake and accidentally breaks a sun replication... his eyes and hands seem to flow in a flurry of watery mayhem... and Homer follows a turtle to a large pyramid, which he proceeds to climb. He talks to a random coyote that is voiced by Johnny Cash... and the coyote tells him to find his soul mate... and in the rest of the episode... Homer wanders around thinking that Marge isn't his soul mate... but he confirms his soul mate to be Marge... that's about it.

Meaning: I think it has something to do with Homer's soul mate being Marge, even though they don't agree about every single facet of their life... this really sucked for a moral... as it was really simplistic and could have been delivered in a shorter time-frame and displayed much simpler rather than wasting a whole ten minutes to establish... which accounts for about half the episode.

The Coyote: This minor character is fairly limited in its appearance... I didn't care much about it overall... but it is fairly awesome in its design... although physical appearance alone isn't enough to judge the character... Johnny Cash's voice didn't make much difference... the coyote doesn't do much but tell Homer to search for his soul mate... and that idea sucked overall in my opinion.

Overall thoughts: I hate this episode. The first half was fairly understandable... the visions and hallucinations that Homer experiences make the episode's first half interesting and unique. The second half of the episode was idiotic and boring... as well as lame. Hardly anything is established in terms of storyline when it comes to the second half of the episode. Due to the fact that I judge an episode for its entirety... Homer's mystical journey ends after ten minutes... the other ten minutes are spent with the character denying whoever his soul mate is... and finds out that it's the very person he thought it wasn't... as Marge follows him to the light house near the waterfront... it was a really poorly written ending... (for example, in my opinion, the character should have found another person as his soul mate... but still stayed with Marge after realizing that sometimes in life, we can't have things the exact way we want in order to maintain a normal life...) This would have made a better ending as this episode really sucked due to the second half sucking so bad... any young child can figure out that Marge and Homer were going to stay together ANYWAY... the plan is to accomplish more in this time rather than dancing around the plot and showing nothing. The episode sucked very badly... if only it would have ended with a better conclusion or a better premise... something that taught us a lesson or Homer facing some form of a moral dilemma where he would have had to choose between his soul mate and Marge would have made a better script and scenario overall... because this one just plain sucked. I really hate this episode due to the fact that it accomplishes nothing and Homer's journey teaches him nothing. It was so bad... the only good thing about it were the hallucinations Homer undergoes... but to judge an entire episode based on these minor instances would be ludicrous and rather foolish...