Reception
In its original broadcast, "Deep Space Homer" finished 32nd in ratings for the week of February 21-27, 1994, with a Nielsen rating of 11.1, equivalent to approximately 10.3 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating Living Single.
NASA loved the episode, and astronaut Edward Lu asked for a copy of it to be sent on a supply ship to the International Space Station. The DVD remains there for astronauts to view. "Deep Space Homer" is MSNBC's fourth favorite episode, citing Homer's realization that Planet of the Apes is set on Earth as "pure genius." Empire magazine named it a "contender for greatest ever episode", and listed it as the third best movie parody in the show. In his book, Planet Simpson, Chris Turner names the episode as being one of his five favorites, saying it is "second to none," despite listing "Last Exit to Springfield" as his favorite episode. He described the long sequence that begins with Homer eating potato chips in the space shuttle and ends with Kent Brockman's dramatic speech as being "simply among the finest comedic moments in the history of television". The Daily Telegraph also named the episode among their ten favorites.
Both Buzz Aldrin and James Taylor received praise for their guest performances. IGN ranked James Taylor as being the twenty-first best guest appearance in the show's history. The Phoenix.com published their own list of "Top 20 guest stars" and Taylor placed eighteenth. Among The Simpsons staff, the episode is a favorite of David Silverman. On the other hand it also contains one of Matt Groening's least favorite jokes, when Homer's face changes into Popeye and Richard Nixon while exposed to G-force.
"Deep Space Homer" is the source of the "Overlord meme", which is lifted from Kent Brockman's line "And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords" and is commonly used on internet forums to express mock submission, usually for the purpose of humor or when a "participant vastly overstates the degree of oppression or social control expected to arise from the topic in question." The term was used by New Scientist magazine, and was referenced on the February 16, 2011 episode of Jeopardy! by Ken Jennings in acknowledgment of the accomplishments of the computer Watson.
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Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)