Bart of War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Bart of War" | |
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| Episode no. | 312 |
| Prod. code | EABF16 |
| Orig. Airdate | May 18, 2003 |
| Written by | Marc Wilmore |
| Directed by | Michael Polcino |
| Chalkboard | Sandwiches should not contain sand |
| Couch gag | Giant baby picks up family |
| Guest star | None |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 14 November 3, 2002 – May 18, 2003 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
Bart of War is an episode of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons that aired on May 18, 2003. Unusually, the episode first aired in Australia two weeks earlier than the US premiere, on May 4[citation needed].
[edit] Synopsis
When Marge sees Bart and Milhouse incited to violence after watching an episode of South Park, she tries to turn them onto some good television on the PAX television network. They run out of the room and find themselves outside and bored. After tying a thread to a fly that lands itself inside of the Flanders home, Bart and Milhouse find themselves inside the home, unsupervised. They cause some damage and find Ned's collection of Beatles memorabilia. They drink from cans of a 40-year-old novelty beverage and start to hallucinate, with Bart seeing Milhouse as John Lennon through various stages of his life. Ned and the boys return to their home to find the house "slightly askew," and they flee to their panic room and call the police. The police arrive and capture the boys and Bart pleads that their parents not be called. The parents are called and as part of Bart and Milhouse's punishment, they are sentenced to spending all their times under parent supervision. Bart is also no longer allowed to play with Milhouse, who Marge believes incites Bart into his bad behavior.
Bart joins the "Pre-Teen Braves" and Homer becomes the tribe leader. When Homer fails in his leadership skills, Marge takes over. Marge takes the boys on a nature walk and they meet a Native American who shows them a field that is in need of restoration. The "Pre-Teen Braves" return to the field to begin their clean-up effort, only to discover that the "Cavalry Kids", that Milhouse and his father are members of, have already done the job. The two groups go to war and try to outdo each other in doing good. When the opportunity to become batboys at a Springfield Isotopes game is on the line, the two sides redouble their efforts for their candy sales. The "Pre-Teen Braves" lace the "Cavalry Kids" candy bars with laxatives and believe they are going to win.
Unfortunately for them, the senior citizens, in a need of relief from constipation, buy the "Cavalry Kids" a win. At the Isotopes game, the "Cavalry Kids" are delayed from arriving and the "Pre-Teen Braves" take their place singing their version of the national anthem. The crowd becomes angered by the version of the anthem that is being sung and when the real "Cavalry Kids" arrive, a fight breaks out between everyone in the crowd. When the image of Marge crying is shown on the Jumbotron, the fighting ends and the sweet soothing hymn of the national anthem of Canada is sung by all present. In the end, Bart and Milhouse sum it up by saying that they've learned that: "War is not the answer--except to all of America's problems."
[edit] Trivia
- Ned Flanders has all sorts of Beatles merchandise: dolls, signed posters, Ed Sullivan Show suits, "Learn carpentry with the Beatles" book, lunchboxes, mugs, a yellow submarine, novelty beverages (John Lemon, Orange Harrison, Paul McIcedTea and Mango Starr) and framed album covers, among many others. Bart drinks one of the 40-year-old soda and hallucinates (in reference to the popularity of hallucinogens in the '60s), seeing Milhouse as John Lennon in different stages of his life with corresponding music: 1963 "mop top" with "I Want to Hold Your Hand", 1967 (complete with green Sgt. Pepper outfit) with "Yellow Submarine", 1969 (as seen in "Let It Be") with "Get Back" and 1980 (parodying a scene from his last photo session) with "(Just Like) Starting Over".
- After a nod to The Simpsons appeared on South Park in the episode "Simpsons Already Did It", this show returns the "compliment." Bart makes a comment about the show staying fresh after 43 episodes, but in fact South Park had been going on for twice as long (Similarly, Butters makes a comment about watching all 132 Simpsons episodes twice, when the number was twice that).
- In this Simpsons episode, Kenny McCormick, maybe because he'd died in Kenny Dies and his soul is inside of Cartman, and he was killed in the episode so they're both killed.
- When Bart and Milhouse leave after Marge turns on PAX (now i), it alludes to the fact that almost no one watches the network (see main page for details)
- During the singing of the national anthem of Canada, Marge is seen waving two flags, Canada's and Quebec's, one of Canada's provinces. Quebec is the only province that has had referendums to become its own country, although the referendums were unsuccessful.
- When Lou talks about Eddie sleeping with his ex wife, he may have been referring to his ex wife Amy who was also mentioned in episode EABF03 "The Dad Who Knew Too Little"
On The Many Faces of Homer poster, the one with him in the Indian Chief uniform is advertised as Little Big Mom
[edit] Cultural references
- The title is a play on Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
