Hey Homer, have you had some work done?
“The Simpsons” patriarch and the rest of the gang have been reimagined as Legos for this Sunday’s milestone 550th episode, where everything in Springfield is made entirely of the iconic plastic bricks.
The episode (8 p.m. on Fox) was two years in the making — and went into production long before “The Lego Movie” was on anyone’s radar.
“I was nervous about the movie, that it was going to be too similar or redundant,” says executive producer Matt Selman, who notes some common themes between the movie and the episode. “On watching both of them, I feel it’s a complementary story and they kind of go hand in hand rather than being contradictory.”
In the episode, titled “Brick Like Me,” Homer discovers he can actually have fun playing with daughter Lisa when the two build Legos together, which transports him to a land of toys. But when his brick reality begins to crumble, he must decide whether to trade his perfect plastic life for the messiness of the real world.
Along the way, the episode is chockablock full of Lego jokes that will delight fans of the toy, from the age guidelines on the boxes (“We all know those are a conservative estimate,” says one character) to the physicality of the environment (windows are stick-on decals).
“The way anything can be built from Legos is always amazing, and I think that comes through in the episode,” says executive producer Al Jean.
The “Simpsons” animators worked closely with Lego on the 3-D computer generation to make sure the bricks were as technically correct as possible — a two-year labor of love for the producers and writers, who consider themselves lifelong fans of the toy blocks.
“[Writer] Brian Kelley and I both have young children now who are obviously huge Lego fans,” Selman says. “For us to rediscover Lego through them was also an impetus for the episode.”
The Fox cartoon is already renewed for next season — its 26th — which producers teased: It will see a “Simpsons”/“Futurama” crossover; the annual “Treehouse of Horror” special will be Stanley Kubrick parodies; and an episode originally pitched by Judd Apatow 25 years ago will have Homer get hypnotized into believing he’s 10 years old and Bart’s best friend.
Though producers say they’re amazed at reaching the 550-episode milestone, they never feel like they’re running out of story, even after 25 seasons.
“Lassie” is 588 [episodes], so we’re gunning for them,” Jean says.
Adds Selman, “We’re taking that dead dog down.”