Bart the Daredevil
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"Bart the Daredevil" is the eighth episode of The Simpsons' second season. The episode aired on December 6, 1990. It aired with the "Do the Bartman" music video, with airtime cut out for it.
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[edit] Synopsis
When Homer and Bart, at Moe's Tavern and the Simpson home, watch a TV wrestling match, they both see a commercial for a monster truck rally featuring Truck-o-Saurus, and are thrilled that they are going to the one-night-only rally on Saturday night. However, Lisa reminds Homer and Bart that her recital is on Saturday night as well, in which she will be playing her first saxophone solo. Homer and Bart are disappointed, until Marge suggests that they can go to Lisa's recital (which is the first in a series of Saturday night concerts) first, then on to the rally. Homer agrees, and at the recital, Lisa plays a solo, as does Todd Flanders on the violin. Homer then gets so impatient he drags Lisa out during the final notes of the 1812 Overture and drives to the Springfield Speedway to see Truck-o-Saurus. When they arrive, all the parking spots are taken, and Homer accidentally drive onto the Springfield Speedway, where Truck-o-Saurus attacks the family car.
Fortunately, the car's frame is not damaged (although the rest of the car is less than perfect), and for being such good sports, the family gets a half-consumed bottle of Truck-o-Saurus Private Reserve champagne. As the last event at the rally, a surprising guest who appears is "the world's greatest daredevil", Captain Lance Murdoch. Murdoch appears to his most dangerous stunt, in which he leaps over a tank of water filled with sharks, electric eels, piranhas, alligators, and a lion. The audience is too scared to watch and everyone covers their eyes -- except for Bart. He watches as Murdoch makes the jump, and succeeds. But when he shows off after the stunt, he accidentally trips over and falls into the pool. He is rescued and sent to the hospital. After the rally, Bart has his own dreams of becoming a daredevil, and says he wants to be one. "Kids say the stupidest things," muses Homer.
Bart becomes a daredevil but crashes while performing his first stunt, attempting to jump over Marge's station wagon. At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert learns from Bart that he was practicing for a career in defying death. He shows Bart a ward full of children who have been hurt from attempting stunts and decides not to show him the "horrors of the Three Stooges ward". Nonetheless, Bart still becomes a daredevil, jumping over a swimming pool, some animals, and Homer on his hammock. On a class trip to Springfield Gorge, Bart announces that on the coming Saturday he will jump over the gorge on his skateboard. Lisa talks Bart into visiting the hospital to see Murdoch, hoping that the daredevil will talk him out of the dangerous stunt. Unexpectedly, however, Murdoch says that is a good thing. Bart plans to do it against the wishes of Homer, who insists that it's too dangerous.
Even after a "heart-to-heart talk" with Homer, Bart still goes to the gorge and tries to jump it. He is stopped at the last second by Homer, who resolves to jump the gorge himself to show Bart what it's like to see a family member needlessly risking their life. Bart recants his wish to jump the gorge, not wanting to see his father injured. However, Homer finds himself somehow on Bart's skateboard rolling down the ramp toward the jump. Homer becomes airborne but, of course, doesn't quite make the distance and is injured and put on an ambulance via a helicopter. The ambulance immediately rams into a tree, Homer falls into the gorge again, and is eventually taken to the hospital.
At the end of the episode Bart visits the severely injured Homer, who happens to be in the same room as Captain Lance Murdoch. Homer says to Murdoch "You think you've got guts, try raising my kids."
[edit] Trivia
- First appearance of Dr. Hibbert.
- Matt Groening said in an interview that this episode was his favorite Simpsons episode. This would likely explain why footage of this episode is that which is most often used for the series clip shows.
- The scene of Homer plummeting down Springfield Gorge has become one of the most used Simpsons clips ever, to the point in an episode far down the line, many seasons later, Homer is about to flashback on the moment, only to be interrupted by Lisa who says "Everyone's sick of that memory". Fans have voted Homer's plummet as the most "hilarious" moment of Homer ever.
- In the episode, the footage of Homer falling down the cliff shows him falling down on the skateboard, bouncing off the cliff and finally landing at the bottom, where the skateboard lands on his head. After being loaded into the ambulance, it crashes into a tree, and the gurney rolls out, and Homer goes over the cliff again. However, when the clip is shown in So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show, additional footage is seen of Homer bouncing down the cliff once again, and after he lands at the bottom, the gurney lands on his head. This was animated by Film Roman and was not included until after this episode was made (Klasky Csupo did the work back then).
- This is the first time Homer bleeds.
- Werner Von Brawn, one of the wrestlers in the match, became the first boss in the Simpsons arcade game.
- During the wrestling match, the referee counts to four, rather than three.
- The monster truck at the rally, Truck-o-saurus, is a parody to the famous monster truck, Robosaurus.
- In syndication, this episode's opening is taken from Bart's Dog Gets an F, which itself is made of recycled material from previous episodes' openings. This was the only syndicated episode with the full opening until Season 10.
- When The Simpsons are travelling from Lisa's concert to the truck event, it shows them passing Bleeding Gums Murphy in a taxi.
- The crashed ambulance makes a cameo reappearance in the Simpsons movie.
[edit] Cultural references
- The Russian wrestler, Rasputin, is probably named after Grigori Rasputin.
- The Springfield Elementary band plays Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.
- Werner Von Brawn, one of the wrestlers in the match, is probably named after Wernher von Braun
[edit] External links
