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] Plot
Homer and Bart are highly anticipating a trip to the monster truck rally featuring Truck-o-Saurus, a giant robotic dinosaur which ultimately crushes the Simpson family car. The rally's grand finale features a death-defying stunt by "the world's greatest daredevil", Lance Murdock. Despite the fact that the act leaves Murdock badly hurt and hospital-bound, Bart is enamored and dreams of becoming a daredevil.
Bart quickly injures himself during his first skateboard stunt. At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert shows Bart a ward full of children who have been hurt from attempting stunts. Nonetheless, Bart is persistent and continues, 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. Lisa talks Bart into visiting the hospital to see Murdock, hoping that the daredevil will talk him out of the dangerous stunt. Unexpectedly, however, Murdock encourages Bart to continue on his legacy. Bart plans to do it against the wishes of Homer, who insists that it is too dangerous.
Even after a punishment, several orders, and 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 angrily resolves to jump the gorge himself to show Bart what it's like to see a family member needlessly risk their life for no good reason. Bart, not wanting to see his father get injured (or possibly die) on his account, recants his wish to jump the gorge, and promises he will never try to be a daredevil again. He and Homer reconcile, but Homer is still on the skateboard which rolls down and flies over the gorge by itself, with him on board. Although he becomes airborne, Homer loses momentum and plummets into the gorge.
A helicopter winches Homer out, slamming him against the side of the gorge several times in the process before he is loaded into a waiting ambulance. Mere seconds after driving away, however, the ambulance crashes into a tree and the gurney carrying Homer falls out of the back, and Homer once again falls to the floor of the canyon, being hit on the head by the gurney. Homer is eventually taken to the hospital and put in the same ward as Lance Murdock, where he says "You think you've got guts? Try raising my kids!"
[edit] Debut Appearances
Characters making a first appearance in this episode are:
[edit] Legacy
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; it was featured in the 1993 episode "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" and referenced in "Treehouse of Horror XIII". This episode has been referenced so many times that in the season thirteen episode The Blunder Years, when the family is trying to find out why Homer can't stop screaming after Mesmerino hypnotized him, Homer flashes back to his greatest moment: jumping the Springfield Gorge, only to be interrupted by Lisa, who says "Everyone's sick of that memory." This episode was once again referenced in The Simpsons Movie. There is a scene where Bart and Homer jump over Springfield Gorge on a motorcycle and when they land on the other side, the ambulance from this episode can be seen (still stuck against the tree) in the background. It also ranked #18 in the "TV's Funniest Moments" special by the Museum of Television and Radio. 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.
When the Simpsons family drives from Lisa's concert to the monster truck race, Bleedin' Gums Murphy is to be seen in a cab.
[edit] Cultural references
- The Russian wrestler, Rasputin, is named after Grigori Rasputin.
- The Springfield Elementary band plays Franz 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
- Bart appearing at Springfield Gorge in the distance is based on Omar Sharif's entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.
- During the ride on the school bus Otto is humming a tune that sounds very similar to Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix.
- The monster truck at the rally, Truck-o-saurus, is a parody to the famous monster truck, Robosaurus.
- The movie "Jaws" parodied in the way the lion leaps out to attack Captain Lance Murdoch.
- Lance Murdoch is a parody of famous daredevils such as Evel Knievel, and also a reference to Marvel's own comic book character Daredevil, whose fictional civilian name is Matt Murdock.
[edit] External links
