Episode 5F11
Written by David S. Cohen
Directed by Pete Michel
Also starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Russi Taylor
Special guest voices: Phil Hartman (as Troy McClure), Jack Ong (as Fisherman), James Earl Jones (uncredited as the Narrator and God)

Premise: While Homer decides to set up his own internet company, the kids at school go on a field trip with Otto. But the bus crashes into the sea and they are swept away to a desert island where they must fight to stay alive.

Features: Kent Brockman, Chief Wiggum, Mrs Wiggum, Skinner, Otto, Milhouse, Martin, Nelson, Sherri and Terri, Lewis, Wendell, Ralph, Ned Flanders, Android's Dungeon Guy.

Couch: The Simpsons are frogs, with Maggie as a tadpole.

Trivia:

• Ned and Maude's company is called Flancrest and they sell rugs over the Net.
• Amongst the names Homer thinks up for his company are CutCo, EdgeCom and InterSlice but at Marge's suggestion he ends up with CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet.
• The Android's Dungeon Guy is downloading naked images of Kate Mulgrew from Star Trek: Voyager when Homer's advert interrupts him.

Homage: The title comes from Das Boot (Wolfgang Peterson, 1981) but, bar the few watery scenes, has little else to do with it. However, the main crux of the adventure on the island is taken from Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook, 1963).

Hi, I'm Troy McClure, you may remember me from: Such biblical epics as David versus Super-Goliath and Suddenly Last Supper. He also stars in an untitled version of Noah's Ark.

Mmmmm: ...memo.

Look out for: Homer naming God as his favourite fictional character and a bizarre appearance from Bill Gates of Microsoft fame. The portrayal herein must surely be libelous, or else Bill Gates has a very good, self-deprecating sense of humour!

Notes: A fantastic episode. Ignore the Internet business side, and wallow in the cleverness of the kids trapped on the island. Bart has never been cleverer, Nelson more menacing, and Milhouse more geekish. Great stuff with a delightful ending that is so witty and obvious, that it's annoying you never imagined they'd get away with it.