Episode AABFO6
Written by David M. Stern
Directed by Neil Affleck
Also starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Maggie Roswell, Karl Weidergott
Special guest voices: Marcia Wallace (as Ms Krabappel), The Moody Blues (as themselves)

Premise: Ned Flanders wants to know how Homer can just enjoy life so much and not have any cares. To show Ned how to have a good time, Homer takes his neighbour away for a weekend of drink, debauchery and gambling in Las Vegas. Oh, and they decide to get married. Again.

Features: Mr Burns, Smithers, Carl, Lenny, Moe, Barney, Grampa, Jasper, Kent Brockman, Chief Wiggum, Agnes Skinner, Skinner, Miss Hoover, Groundskeeper Willie, Otto, Milhouse, Rev. Lovejoy, the Flanderses, Mrs van Houten, Android's Dungeon Guy, Captain McCallister, Sideshow Mel, Apu, Spotty Boy, Gil, Cletus.

Couch: A human hand spins the picture, leaving everything a blur of colour.

Trivia:

• Homer and Ned drunkenly gain new wives: Homer marries Amber while Ned gets hitched to Ginger.
• We briefly see the return of Dreaderick Tatum, Ernst and Gunter (this time with trademark white tiger) and Lance Murdock.
• We hear the Moody Blues perform their 1967 hit Nights in White Satin, and hear Deep Purple's 1972 album track Highway Star as the Springfield duo drive to Las Vegas Unsurprisingly, we also get a snatch of Viva Las Vegas, a hit in 1964 for Elvis.
• Homer doesn't know Marge's birthday but knows that Barney and Hitler both share 20 April.
• And the CA number plate on the Android's Dungeon Guy's vehicle is NCC1701, the registration number for the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek.

Homage: When the building explodes at the beginning and everyone runs away, it is reminiscent of both Dante's Peak (Roger Donaldson, 1997) and, particularly Homer driving and the flames behind, Independence Day (Rolan Emmerich, 1996). Outside Rev. Lovejoy's church is this notice that today's sermon will be 'He Knows What You Did Last Summer', clearly inspired by the film I Know What You Did Last Summer (Jim Gillespie, 1997), while passing Homer and Ned - but obviously getting away from the big city - are Dr Gonzo and Raoul from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam, 1998). There's also a snatch of the theme from Mars Attacks (Tim Burton, 1996) as they dash around escaping the city of lights. And the title comes fron the Elvis Presley movie Viva Las Vegas (George Sidney 1964).

Notes for Brits: Don Rickles is a commentator for hockey in America. Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa are well known these days for doing information commercials more than anything else, usually for fashionable clothes.

Look out for: Jasper and Grampa being carjacked.

Notes: One of the fastest paced episodes ever, this moves at breathless speed and is enormous fun with more bizarre moments than you can shake a stick at (a hysterical Joan Rivers is our favourite). Excellent stuff.