29 Years Ago Today, The Simpsons Aired A 10/10 Episode That Featured Its Best One-Off Character

The Simpsons aired one of its most memorable episodes in the series’ history 29 years ago today, and it happened to feature a character that fans still want to see return to this day. The Simpsons is currently working through towards Season 40 of its run with FOX in the next few years, and that means there is still plenty of opportunity to tell all sorts of fun new stories with the same characters we’ve been watching all this time. But there are still a few one-off characters that have yet to return either, and there’s one in particular that would be very fun to see.

29 years ago today, on November 3, 1996, The Simpsons aired “You Only Move Twice,” one of the most memorable classic episodes in the series’ history. This episode introduced fans to Hank Scorpio (voiced by Albert Brooks, who is still providing major guest voice spots to this day), a notorious supervillain who essentially took over the world before never being seen again. But to this day, fans are hoping to see Scorpio making a comeback in a future episode or story.

Hank Scorpio Is Still The Simpsons Best One-Off Character

As the second episode of The Simpsons Season 8, “You Only Move Twice” was the start of a much wackier season of episodes than what might have come before. The episode sees Homer approached by a mystery company with a new position that would give him much more money, but also move his family to a new house in a wild new location. It turns out his boss is Hank Scorpio, a smooth talking person who really comes to rely and trust in Homer to get their mysterious project going. Then the episode steadily reveals who Scorpio really is.

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The Simpsons makes a fun move that continues to reveal more of what Scorpio’s actually doing the more Homer interacts with him. The You Only Live Twice inspired title then starts to make a ton of sense as Scorpio essentially becomes a villain with his own James Bond stand in (that Homer helps to ultimately catch and kill). The exaggerated nature of his villainy gets even more prominent by the episode’s end, but all Homer cares about is the fact that his family is not happy with their current lives. Deciding to move back to Springfield, he and Scorpio end up separating on fairly good terms.

Why Scorpio Should Come Back

The final shot of Scorpio’s story in the episode reveals that he was successful in taking over the east coast, and even gifts Homer ownership of the Denver Broncos (despite Homer being a Dallas Cowboys fan). But then he’s just never seen or really referred to on screen again. Scorpio was reportedly going to return in The Simpsons Movie in one of the early versions of the film’s script, but was ultimately replaced by Russ Cargill (who Albert Brooks provided the voice for as well).

This seems to indicate that Scorpio is still a prominent figure even with The Simpsons team despite only appearing in one episode, but he made such an impact that it’s hard to believe that he never showed up again in the 30 plus year history of the animated franchise thus far. But at the same tine, he’s such a good piece that could be played at pretty much any time given the right opportunity.

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