 The episode's couch gag was the work of Academy Award-nominated surrealist animator Don Hertzfeldt, who was recommended to the show by Mike B. Anderson.It depicts Homer using a time-traveling remote control to regress to his original 1987 character model, then accidentally going into a distant future incarnation of the show called "The Sampsans" where he and his family have evolved into grotesque, mindless, catchphrase-spouting mutants.Jean deemed it "crazier than we thought" and "the most insane one we've ever done".