throwaway moments that became episodes/major plot points

[Dark Homer]

lisa wants a pony
simpsons roasting on an open fire

lisa's pony

future lisa mentions being vegetarian
lisa's wedding

lisa the vegetarian

[Nelson walks off, sees his face in a mirror]
Nelson: Ha ha! Hey -- that hurts. No wonder no one came to my birthday party.
Radioactive Man

The Haw-hawed Couple

Mrs. Krabappel: Bart has been guilty of the following atrocities: Synthesizing a laxative from peas and carrots. Replacing my birth-control pills with Tic-Tacs.
itchy & scratchy: the movie

O Brother, Where Bart Thou?


ADD MORE PLEASE

[cinco]

Homer's Odyssey (the appearance of the three-eyed fish as a quick joke about the consequences of radioactive waste)

Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish (a whole episode dedicated to the three-eyed fish)

[Spiff]

Prosecutor: Betting slips, indicating that you've lost substantial sums of money on sports gambling.
Krusty Gets Busted

Homie the Clown

[Cash Kerouac]

Kids excuse themselves to work on soapbox derby racers.

Itchy and Scratchy and Marge

Saturdays of Thunder

[Nauru-1]

"How 'bout a crazy wedding, where something happens and do do do do?"

Gump Roast

Rome-old and Juli-eh

Now I haven't actually seen the latter episode so I can't for sure how perfect the example is, but I think it applies here.

[Charlie]

It's almost spot on. While Gump Roast shows Grampa marrying both Patty and Selma, he only marries Selma in Rome-old (obviously because in between these episodes there was the whole Patty being gay thing).

[qwertyuio]

Speaking of that...

"There goes the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality."

Treehouse Of Horror III (Clown Without Pity)

There's Something About Marrying

[Wavy Gravy]

Artie: Did you hear? I'm filthy rich!
Homer: I bet you'd give it all up for one night with Marge!
Artie: I would.

The Front

Half-Decent Proposal

[Dark Homer]

Homer's Odyssey (the appearance of the three-eyed fish as a quick joke about the consequences of radioactive waste)

Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish (a whole episode dedicated to the three-eyed fish)

I never noticed that before now

[My name Is Guy Igcognito]

treehouse of horror XVIII: theres a joke about willie getting his head chopped off my a transforming tractor.....



Treehouse of horror XIX: the whole segment is based on transformers

[zartok-35]

Does this work?



It tries, but it crashes and burns on the runway.

[Charlie]

They're from the same episode, so it doesn't really count...

[Haoie]

The Simpsons are going to ______!

And now they've been everywhere.

[Charlie]

Except Antarctica!

"The Simpsons are going to Antarctica... next year!"

[Spiff]

From "The Front": "I'm gonna write that sitcom about the sassy robot."

[Miss Diko]

Bart:"...what about Principal Skinner?"
Edna:"Let's just say his mommy won't let him out to play"

Bart the Lover



Grade School Confidential

It's the only one I could really think of at the moment...

[Nauru-1]

Homer: "The Simpsons are going to Delaware!"
Lisa: "I want to see Wilmington!"
Bart: "I want to visit a screen door factory!"

Behind the Laughter

Simpson Tall Tales

[The Sovereign]

Principal Skinner not being the REAL Principle Skinner



















oh, wait...

[Dark Homer]

Bart:"...what about Principal Skinner?"
Edna:"Let's just say his mommy won't let him out to play"

Bart the Lover



Grade School Confidential

It's the only one I could really think of at the moment...

that's a good one

[Ray Jay Jonah]

Does this work?



It tries, but it crashes and burns on the runway.

what ep?

[Disgruntled Goat]

"How 'bout a crazy wedding, where something happens and do do do do?"

Gump Roast

Rome-old and Juli-eh

Now I haven't actually seen the latter episode so I can't for sure how perfect the example is, but I think it applies here.

There was also the Spin-off Showcase (I think - or maybe 138th Spectacular) where Troy McClure says next season will contain "Wedding after wedding after wedding".

Homer: "The Simpsons are going to Delaware!"
Lisa: "I want to see Wilmington!"
Bart: "I want to visit a screen door factory!"

Behind the Laughter

Simpson Tall Tales

Wasn't that joke put into Behind the Laughter because they had already written/animated it for the later episode?

[Charlie]

what ep?

They're both from Judge Me Tender, the Season 21 finale.

Wasn't that joke put into Behind the Laughter because they had already written/animated it for the later episode?

I haven't listened to the commentary in quite a while so they probably say it in there, I think they planned for it to be used in a future episode but the fact that Simpsons Tall Tales aired pretty much exactly a year later (both being season finales and all), I don't think it would have necessarily been written into that episode at the time (especially considering they're both later episodes in two different production runs).

[Ram27]

Blackboard: "Five days is not too long to wait for a gun"

Secrets of a Successful Marriage

The Cartridge Family

[zartok-35]

They're from the same episode, so it doesn't really count...

But isn't it a throw away moment that tries to become a major plot point in the same episode? How major of a plot point it actually is depends on your personal impression, I suppose.

[The Sovereign]

it wasn't that major, it was like the C story

[Diversity Pumpkin]

But isn't it a throw away moment that tries to become a major plot point in the same episode? How major of a plot point it actually is depends on your personal impression, I suppose.

I haven't seen the episode, but it's called foreshadowing.

[Ray Jay Jonah]

Someone posted something about Homer teasing Ned and saying Maude died.
The Springfield Connection

[Little Nellie Kelly]

Someone posted something about Homer teasing Ned and saying Maude died.
The Springfield Connection

Best one so far.

[Ray Jay Jonah]

Why thank you.

[Diversity Pumpkin]

.........