Pretty much every Simpsons fan will agree that the show's best days are well behind it. Blame it on the rehashed storylines, the increased focus on celebrity guest stars or merely the fact that the classic writing staff have gone their separate ways. Any way you slice it, it's telling that our Top 25 Simpsons Episodes countdown didn't include a single episode produced after the year 2000. But even if the show has lost a lot of its bite since the golden years, it still offers some moments of greatness. With the show rapidly approaching the 600 episode mark, it's just a statistical inevitability that some recent episodes will be winners.

The Top 25 Simpsons Episodes

With that in mind, we've decided to showcase the best of The Simpsons ' modern era. These are the episodes that didn't merely settle for rehashing the usual formulas like "Homer gets a new job," "How did Homer and Marge meet?" and "The Simpsons are going to [insert foreign country here]!" Instead, they found ways to break new ground and recapture some of that classic Simpsons magic in the process.A quick note - since our original countdown included picks from Seasons 1 through 11, we limited this countdown to episodes from Season 12 and onward.

"The Debarted"

"The rat stands for obviousness."

It's rare for The Simpsons to devote an entire episode to parodying one movie. But if the show is going to go that route, why not choose an Oscar-winning Martin Scorsese film as its target? That '70s Show's Topher Grace guest-starred as Donnie, a new boy at Springfield Elementary who struck up a friendship with Bart. The twist was that Donnie was actually a rat working with Principal Skinner and Super Nintendo Chalmers to bring down Bart's criminal empire.

This episode got plenty of mileage out of spoofing The Departed, and not just because it poked fun at Scorsese's uncharacteristically blatant use of symbolism. The premise lent itself surprisingly well to a tale of frustrated school workers trying to outwit the craftiest prankster in Springfield. The relationship between Bart and Donnie was handled especially well as Donnie fought to maintain his cover and preserve the one real friendship in his life as a loner.

The subplot offered its own steady dose of comedy, as Homer grew overly attached to his temporary loaner car, even composing a riff on Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart" to showcase his affection.

"Catch 'Em If You Can"

"Beat it, you puck-slapping maple suckers!"

"Take a hike, you Shatner-stealing Mexico touchers!"

Every parent needs a break at some point, especially when one of your children is Bart Simpson. In this episode, Homer and Marge elected to bail on attending Uncle Tyrone's birthday celebration and instead spend a few days soaking up sun in Miami. But when Bart and Lisa caught wind of this ruse, they pursued their wayward parents from one end of the country to the other.

This episode is best remembered for its stylized chase sequence, which paid heavy homage to the opening credits of Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. But in general, the conflict featured a lot of humor as Homer and Marge struggled futilely to avoid their parental responsibilities for a few measly days. Given how so many episodes focus on Homer trying to win back Marge's affection after doing something boneheaded, it's always nice to see a storyline that puts them on the same team.

"Brick Like Me"

"Before the world began, there was only table. Then the great constructor scissored open bag one and dumped out the universe. Then came the time of the great sorting. Color to color, shape to shape, and a pile of just windows and doors. And everything was made of eternal, unchanging acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or in the common tongue, 'plastic.'"

It seemed like LEGO Fever was in the air in early 2014. Hot on the heels of The LEGO Movie, this episode re-imagined Springfield through a blocky lens. Just the sight of the town and its many denizens rendered in three dimensional LEGO shapes was enough of a draw. The fact that the characters were aware they were made of toy bricks and acted accordingly was even better. And to top it off, there was a real, compelling story driving the episode as Homer struggled to uncover the mystery of his transformation from flesh-and-blood to LEGO mini-figure.

In some ways, the fact that "Brick Like Me" arrived so soon after The LEGO Movie did the episode no favors. The storyline, while poignant, was very reminiscent of the film's examination of growing up and the importance of creativity. But to be fair, "Brick Like Me" was in development long before The LEGO Movie hit theaters. And the fact that it was self-aware about these similarities certainly helped.

"The Seemingly Never-Ending Story"

"I've been robbed! I'll take my revenge on society... by which I mean convenience stores. And who would suspect me - Professor Jailbird!"

The classic "22 Short Films About Springfield" ranked pretty high on our original Top 25 list. This episode followed a similar formula in terms of combining a series of short vignettes, but it added an extra wrinkle by tying them all together in a "story within a story within a story" structure. Basically, this was the Simpsons' answer to Inception (only four years before Inception actually hit theaters).

It all started when the Simpson family found themselves trapped in Carl's Dad Caverns (named because they were discovered by Carl's dad) and Lisa began entertaining the hopelessly stuck Homer with a tale of becoming trapped in Mr. Burns' attic. That in turn led to a tale about Burns becoming an employee at Moe's Tavern, which then led to a story about Moe falling in love with Edna Krabappel, which briefly dovetailed into a glimpse of Snake's archaeology exploits. By the end, everyone involved was locked in a Mexican standoff over a bag of ancient Mayan gold. You know how it goes.

None of these tales were especially remarkable on their own, but the way they all tied together into one cohesive meta-story made for a clever and consistently entertaining episode.

"Holidays of Future Passed"

"Sorry, but there's no room at the inn... patient facility."

"Lady, this is Maggie Simpson. She just played a sold-out show in Beijing!"

"A star in the East... let me see... We do have a little room in the manger, I mean, mangier wing."

If you want to feel old, just remind yourself that the far-flung future explored in the Season 6 episode "Lisa's Wedding" is now five years in the past. This Christmas-themed episode followed a similar formula by jumping years into the future to explore the lives of the Simpson clan when Bart, Lisa and Maggie are all grown adults and each struggling with their own parental problems. In this future, Bart was a deadbeat dad trying to reconnect with his sons, Lisa was a high-maintenance mother whose daughter spent 90% of her time plugged into the Ultranet, and Maggie was a world-famous rock star with a baby on the way (appropriately, she still wasn't allowed to actually speak).

Generally the show doesn't find much success in regurgitating old concepts like this, but "Holidays of Future Passed" proved the exception to that rule. There was still a lot of fun to be had in seeing the various ways Springfield evolved over the decades. Not to mention that the message about togetherness (or at least learning to tolerate your family for a few days out of the year) made for a perfectly fitting Christmas episode. If anything, this episode proved to be more cheerful and less cynical than the various other Christmas-themed episodes of year's past ("Simpsons Roasting Over a Open Fire, "Marge Be Not Proud," etc.).