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Revision as of 00:07, 14 December 2006 by Scorpion0422 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Episode of the 10th season of The Simpsons| "Bart the Mother" | |
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| File:5f22 a.jpg | |
| Episode no. | Season 10 |
| Directed by | Steven Dean Moore |
| Written by | David S. Cohen |
| Original air dates | September 27, 1998 |
| Episode features | |
| Couch gag | Two firemen hold the couch adjust it to catch Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, but Homer falls through the floor. |
| Episode chronology | |
| The Simpsons season 10 | |
| List of episodes | |
Bart the Mother is the third episode of the 10th season of The Simpsons, originally aired on September 27, 1998. The episode is the show's version of the classic episode of The Andy Griffith Show, "Opie the Birdman".
Synopsis
Template:Spoiler When Marge takes the family to the Family Fun Center, she notices that Nelson is acting like an incredible nut, especially when he knocks Milhouse off the track and wins a BB gun. Bart and Nelson attempt to be friends, but Marge insists that she does not want him to be with Nelson. Bart uses Nelson's BB gun anyway, and when he does, he kills a bird, and leaves two eggs behind after the bird dies. Marge is mad that Bart killed an animal, but instead of punishing him, she refuses to have anything to do with his destructive ways. Bart secretly keeps the eggs warm; eventually, they hatch as lizards, which he names "Chirpy Boy" and "Bart Jr."
Bart and Marge take the lizards to the Springfield Birdwatching Society, and when they are there, Principal Skinner, a member of the Society, explains they are Bolivian tree lizards. A Bolivian tree lizard is a type of lizard that steals a bird's eggs and leaves their own eggs to be watched after by the mother bird. Skinner wants the lizards killed by law, because they have killed many bird species. Bart escapes and runs away with the lizards, which later decimate the entire pigeon population of Springfield. Much to Marge's surprise, the rest of the town considered the pigeons to be a nuisance, so they are in fact delighted.
Trivia
- This is the last episode in which Phil Hartman appears, as Troy McClure. Hartman was murdered earlier in 1998, and so the producers dedicated this episode to him.
- The "Bolivian tree lizard" is a fictional species. However, its behavior mirrors the habits of the cuckoo (though the cuckoo does not eat its host).
In this episode Marge does not like Nelson but in a recent episode Sleeping With the Enemy she takes a liking to Nelson
Cultural references
- Homer: (to Marge) "Who am I? Kreskin?" When Marge is puzzling about what Bart might be doing in his tree-house she asks Homer what he thinks, and in a very short quip he mentions Kreskin. George Kresge, better known as "The Amazing Kreskin," (b. January 12, 1935 in Montclair, New Jersey) is a mentalist, popular on North American television in the 1970s and still busy as a live performer. He appears annually on New Years Day on CNN to give his predictions for the upcoming year. Perhaps his best known trick is finding the check for his performance fee, which he instructs his hosts to hide before each show. He has only failed to find the check nine times.
- Nelson (to Bart): "You're an octowussy!" This is a pun on the title of the 1983 James Bond movie Octopussy.
- The episode's title and basic plot – Bart killing a mother bird with his BB gun – are taken from the classic Andy Griffith Show episode "Opie the Birdman" (wherein Opie adopts three baby birds after he kills their mother with a slingshot).
- Inside the arcade of the Family Fun Center, there is a game called "Pack-Rat Returns"; a reference to the arcade game "Peter Packrat".
- When Nelson goes inside to cook lunch on a frying pan after Bart kills the bird, he is seen humming the theme song to the show itself.
Goofs
- When Bart takes out the light bulb, Homer is seen falling down the stairs to the basement. The basement door is located next to the stairs to the second floor of the house. However, in Lisa the Skeptic, we see that Homer tries to stick a skeleton in a closet at the same location.
- When the tree lizards hatch, all the family runs to the nearby table, however, Homer left the refrigerator open, when the camera zooms to him, he is standing infront of the fridge, but the door has been closed.