Little Girl in the Big Ten
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Little Girl in the Big Ten" | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Episode no. | 289 |
| Prod. code | DABF15 |
| Orig. Airdate | May 12, 2002 |
| Show Runner(s) | Al Jean |
| Writer(s) | Jon Vitti |
| Director | Lauren MacMullan |
| Couch gag | The Simpsons enter the living room to find two people making out on the couch. |
| Guest star(s) | Robert Pinsky as himself |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 13 November 6, 2001 – May 22, 2002 |
|
|
|
| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Little Girl in the Big Ten" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons' thirteenth season.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Lisa finds herself unable to do any sports in PE class, taught by Brunella Pummelhorse, and finds herself failing gym. She then signs up to do gymnastics with Coach Lugash (from Children of a Lesser Clod). There, she receives encouragement from the ghost of John F. Kennedy in a dream. That and her large head gives her perfect balance, Lisa passes with flying colors. Lisa also meets two girls and becomes friends with them, but with their fractals and parking permits, it's obvious they are college students. They give Lisa a ride home, and she acts like a college student to keep their friendship. The two girls invite her to a poetry reading by Robert Pinksy soon after.
Meanwhile, Bart gets bitten by an Chinese mosquito that was in his Krusty-saurus toy manufactured in a sweatshop with a communist Krusty logo. To prevent getting others sick, Dr. Hibbert puts Bart in a plastic bubble. Bart has trouble adapting to life in the bubble even though Hibbert emphasized just how "normal" it would feel; he has trouble eating and Homer gives him a bath by filling up the bubble with the hose and rolling Bart around.
Lisa is able to keep up her double life, attending a poetry reading by former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky (voiced by Pinsky himself) at night and attending her second grade class during the day. While going to Springfield University, she is tracked by Milhouse, Martin, and Database. At a lecture about Itchy & Scratchy cartoons, they blow Lisa's cover.
Lisa loses all of her friends her age, thinking they are not "college enough for her". Bart, in the meantime, gets used to his bubble, gets more popular, and also a thing of amusement for Homer. Bart tells Lisa what she should do to get her friends back: she has to pull a prank on Principal Skinner. The next day, Chalmers is dedicating the Seymour Skinner parking annex. While Martin takes pictures of Skinner posing next to a giant chocolate cake in his dress polyester, Bart rolls Lisa (inside his bubble) to the edge of the school's roof. He then pushes her over the edge, splattering the cake all over Skinner. Lisa gets her friends back...while Bart goes crazy after being outside for the first time in days.
[edit] Cultural references
"Bubble Bart" seems to be a reference to the Seinfeld episode "The Bubble Boy", and the film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. When finally Bart throws Lisa in the bubble from the roof this resembles the episode "The Voice", where Kramer throws a bubble filled with oil out of a high window.
The phrase "April is the cruelest month" used for testing the microphone at Cafe Kafka is the opening line from modernist poet T.S. Eliot's poem The Wasteland.
[edit] Goofs
In the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon, Itchy & Scratchy are supposed to be Amish, but Itchy is seen using an electric toaster.
[edit] Quotes
- Communist Krusty: Laziness is counterrevolutionary! Ha ha ha ha! Questions are decadent! Ha ha ha ha! Fast hands mean less whipping!
- Coach Pummlehorse: Faster! Higher! Better!
- (the dedication plaque for Skinner is unveiled. It reads "Seymour Skinner: 1953-2010")
Skinner: Did they have to guess the year of my death?
Chalmers: Can't you be a team player, just for once? - Bart: This baby's made me more popular than ever.
Lenny (on sidewalk): Hey, bubble Bart, lookin' good!
Carl: Call me! - Ralph: Why do people run from me?
(wets his pants) - Nelson: Ha ha!
(Bart continues rolling his bubble, getting taunts from other people)
Nelson (appearing from behind a corner): Ha...(catches his breath, having run all the way around the block) ha! - Dr. Hibbert: While you're infected, you will live a normal life filled with normal social interaction.
Bart: I don't really like how many times you used "normal".
Dr. Hibbert: You'll be living in this bubble. It's clear plastic, so the world can see how normal you are. - Homer: (in a parody of Tubthumping) I take a whiskey drink, I take a chocolate drink, and when I have to pee, I use the kitchen sink! I sing a song that reminds me I'm a urinating guy.
- Marge: College is no place for a young girl, with those quadrangles, and study carrels, and syllabi!
- Marge (after learning that Bart is sick): I knew I should have listened to you when you said you didn't want any ice cream!
Bart: I did want ice cream!
Marge: Well your father ate it all! - Lugash: You girls were all great. Cats back for everyone.
Tina: I had a dog.
Lugash: Is cat now!
