1982 World's Fair - Wod Fir!

It's time for another World's Fair citizens! Today, we bring you this post card from the 1982 World's Fair, in Knoxville, Tennessee. That's right! The Simpsons didn't lie to you.

The theme of the '82 Knoxfair was "Energy Turns the World", which is kiiiind of true, but more realistically, it's just about the only thing in the world that doesn't require energy to turn. But, Kknoxville should get a break, because there wouldn't be much to show at the fair if the theme were "Angular Momentum Started the World Turning and Lack of Friction Keeps it From Stopping."

So, everybody came to Knoxville to talk about energy. In keeping with the theme, the fair created more money then it burned, with a net gain of $57. With that money, The Knoxville World's Fair could buy itself a copy of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 (a big-name release for the '82 holiday season*), a pair of Chuck Taylor All-Stars, AND still have enough money for a bus ride home.

This TV commercial for the fair has all the pew-pew neon tube graphics we have come to expect from 1982, a year in The Decade That Coke Built.

But you probably know the '82 fair from it's cameo on The Simpsons, where Bart, Nelson, Martin and Milhouse rent a car and drive down to Knoxville. Depending on your age, you may NOT know that The Simpsons used to be a really funny, clever show that people watched. I swear I am not making this up. The episode "Bart on the Road" is proof of this, first airing during the approximate golden age of Simpsons funniness. For some reason, you can watch this entire episode online through a portal other than FOX or FaceTube. Weird.

Heh heh heh. The kids on The Simpsons were at their best when the jokes revolved around the thought processes of kids, like Lemon of Troy and this story about the Knoxville Fair. The boys find a prochure about the '82 fair and assume the fair is still going on. Arriving at the fair, the place is falling apart. "Wod fir?", and the fabulous Sun Sphere is being used to store thousands of unsold wigs. The crowning glory is their souvenir purchase of a talking Al Gore doll "You - are - hearing - me - talk." Hah. I need to watch this again over lunch. When's lunch?

*In case you've been paying attention to the insane spiral of world events in the last week, you may not have heard that a team consisting of Xbox and a documentary filmmaker have found the mythical burial site of (allegedly) millions of unsellable copies of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600, generally regarded as the most-rushed, shovel-ware pile of shit video game ever made. Yes, the E.T. dump site is real and there will be a movie made about it. I will totally be there. I think that the cartridges - or, at least the ones not sold on Ebay at an insane profit - should be re-interred in the fabulous Sun Sphere in Knoxville, like so many unsold wigs. Get on that, would you?

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