The Simpsons - 'The Wizard Of Evergreen Terrace' - Season 10, Episode 2
After realizing half his life is over, Homer decides to become the next Thomas Edison.
While listening to a drive-time radio show, Homer suddenly realizes that his life is half over. When he returns home, he laments that he is halfway to his grave and has yet to accomplish anything meaningful. Marge, Grampa and the children attempt to lift his spirits by reviewing key moments in his life as captured on film. But the film projector malfunctions, causing a disappointed Homer to wonder who invented the device. Lisa informs her father that Thomas Edison invented it many years earlier, along with the light bulb, phonograph and electric car. Intrigued, Homer researches Edison's life to the point of obsession. One night, Homer experiences an epiphany: he will emulate his new hero and become an inventor.
Homer creates a timeline chart which compares Edison's life and accomplishments to his own. He then focuses all his energy on the creation of four new inventions, which he believes are the greatest in the history of mankind. But the gadgets, such as an electric hammer, a make-up gun and a reclining toilet chair, fail to impress his family. When Marge tells Homer that his inventions are downright awful, he again grows depressed and leaves the room.
That night, as Homer sits at the dining room table, lost in thought, he absentmindedly tilts back in his chair. He suddenly loses his balance, but as the chair begins fall, two extra legs swing out from the back, preventing Homer from crashing to the floor. Marge and the children are greatly impressed with the invention, noting how it could prevent serious injury. Stunned, Homer proclaims that he is going to be rich. When Homer retires to the basement, he begins talking to a poster of Thomas Edison that hangs on the wall, thanking the inventor for his inspiration. But Homer notices a similar safety device on the back of Edison's chair. He tells Bart that the safety device seen in the poster may have been a one-of-a-kind prototype. He decides to drive to the Edison museum and destroy the device so he can claim it as his own invention. But when he arrives at the museum, Homer notices a timeline, much like the one that compared his own life to Edison's, hanging on the wall. Edison's timeline compared his life to that of Da Vinci. Homer realizes that Edison also lived in another man's shadow… and that he and Edison are not rivals, after all.
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Source: 20th Century Fox
