text: simpson tide " simpson tide " is the nineteenth episode of the simpsons ' ninth season . it originally aired on the fox network in the united states on march 29 , 1998 . after being fired from the springfield nuclear power plant , homer decides to join the united states navy reserve . the episode was the second and last to be written by joshua sternin and jeffrey ventimilia and was the final episode directed by milton gray . it guest starred rod steiger as captain and bob denver as himself , with one - time the simpsons writer michael carrington making an appearance as the drill sergeant . this was the last episode al jean and mike reiss executive produced together , although jean became show runner again in season 13 . plot while lying on the couch at home , homer sees a recruitment advertisement on television for the naval reserve and decides to enlist . moe , barney , and apu decide to join him . meanwhile , bart purchases an earring , which an outraged homer confiscates . homer and the others are placed on a nuclear submarine . when the captain goes to check on a problem in the torpedo hatch , homer is left in charge . an enemy submarine approaches , and homer gives the order to fire a torpedo . however , the captain is in the torpedo tube and is fired at the other submarine . the other sub fires back at them and homer gives the order to retreat . the submarine ends up in russian waters and is seen by the united states government as an attempt to defect . this event creates a political schism between the usa and russia , leading to the revelation that the soviet union in fact never truly dissolved . nuclear war is anticipated until the us navy drops depth charges on homer 's sub , aiming either to destroy it or force it to surface . the consequent explosion causes a pinhole leak in the submarine 's wall . homer uses bart 's earring to plug the leak and saves the submarine . the vessel surfaces and homer is taken to be court - martialed . homer 's punishment ends up being a mild dishonorable discharge . production " simpson tide " was one of two season nine episodes that was executive produced by al jean and mike reiss , who together were the showrunners for the third and fourth seasons . although jean would later return to run the show the following season , it was the last episode that reiss received an executive producer credit for . joshua sternin and jeffrey ventimilia , the episode writers , were working on jean and reiss 's show the critic at the time , and pitched an episode where homer joins the naval reserve . although the episode is partly based on the film crimson tide , the original episode pitch was made before the film was released . after the release of the film , the writers decided to start incorporating things from the movie in the script . in the original draft , bart sneaked on board the submarine with homer . they were trying to do it " for the comedy of it " , but could not get the draft to work , so it was cut . it was difficult for them to figure out how to get the captain off of the sub and they eventually decided to have him shot out of the torpedo tube , which in the dvd commentary , al jean says that steiger claimed that he really did get stuck in a torpedo tube once . the navy drill instructor , along with the announcer to " exploitation theater " , was voiced by michael carrington , who had written the season four episode " homer 's triple bypass " and previously voiced sideshow raheem . bob denver voices himself in the episode and was directed by mike reiss . rod steiger guest stars as the captain and was directed by al jean . cultural references many parts of the episode , including the title , refer to the 1995 film crimson tide . the captain of the submarine is based on captain frank ramsey , a character in the film who was portrayed by gene hackman . the opening couch gag is a recreation of the rocky and bullwinkle animated bumper seen at the end of each bullwinkle short . the music accompanying it is also adapted from the original music in the bumper . homer mentions that he and his friends joining the navy is similar to the deer hunter , and the russian roulette scene from the film is later parodied . right before the submarine submerges , the song " in the navy " is played and the village people can be seen dancing . homer dreams of being on " the planet of the doughnuts " , which is reminiscent of the film planet of the apes . when aboard the submarine , homer refers to one of the crew members as mr. sulu , a reference to the character in star trek : the original series . bart sings a portion of the song " do the bartman " and ralph wiggum comments that it " is so 1991 " , which was when the song was released . grampa simpson claims that he attacked john f. kennedy on the pt - 109 when kennedy stated " ich bin ein berliner " , leading to grampa mistaking him for a nazi . reception in its original broadcast , " simpson tide " finished 29th in ratings for the week of march 23 – 29 , 1998 , with a nielsen rating of 9 . 2 , equivalent to approximately 9 . 0 million viewing households . it was the second highest - rated show on the fox network that week , following the x - files . michael schiffer , one of the writers of the film crimson tide , is said to have enjoyed this episode . mike reiss considers the sequence where russia returns to being the soviet union to be " the nuttiest the show has ever been " . the authors of the book i can 't believe it 's a bigger and better updated unofficial simpsons guide , warren martyn and adrian wood , called it " a fairly straightforward episode where the biggest laugh comes from homer being able to talk to penguins and bart trying to impress his classmates by doing the bartman . 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