Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming

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The Simpsons episode
"Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming"
Sideshow Bob leaves with Bart to attempt a kamikaze mission against Krusty the Clown.
Episode no. 137
Prod. code 3F08
Orig. airdate November 26, 1995
Show runner(s) Bill Oakley

Josh Weinstein

Written by Spike Feresten
Directed by Dominic Polcino
Chalkboard "Wedgies are unhealthy for children and other living things"
Couch gag The Simpsons are a family of sea monkeys and swim to a couch made of clam shells to stare at an open treasure chest.
Guest star(s) Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob
R. Lee Ermey as Col. Leslie "Hap" Hapablap
DVD
commentary
Bill Oakley
Josh Weinstein
Dominic Polcino
Season 7
September 17, 1995May 19, 1996
  1. "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)"
  2. "Radioactive Man"
  3. "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily"
  4. "Bart Sells His Soul"
  5. "Lisa the Vegetarian"
  6. "Treehouse of Horror VI"
  7. "King-Size Homer"
  8. "Mother Simpson"
  9. "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming"
  10. "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"
  11. "Marge Be Not Proud"
  12. "Team Homer"
  13. "Two Bad Neighbors"
  14. "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield"
  15. "Bart the Fink"
  16. "Lisa the Iconoclast"
  17. "Homer the Smithers"
  18. "The Day the Violence Died"
  19. "A Fish Called Selma"
  20. "Bart on the Road"
  21. "22 Short Films About Springfield"
  22. "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'"
  23. "Much Apu About Nothing"
  24. "Homerpalooza"
  25. "Summer of 4 Ft. 2"
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. The title is a reference to the 1977 film Twilight's Last Gleaming, which featured a similar plot about nuclear blackmail.

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Plot

At Springwood Minimum Security Prison, Sideshow Bob is disturbed when he hears the other inmates laughing at the inane antics of Krusty the Klown's TV show. The embittered ex-TV star begins to defame that and other 'trash TV' shows, all of which he sees as "mindless drivel". While on work duty at a local Air Force Base (which is being cleaned for an annual air show), the quality of television programming eats at Bob's mind, and he hatches a plan.

While everyone in town is waiting for the air show to begin, Bob impersonates an Air Force colonel in order to gain access to a restricted area of the hangar, where he finds a 10-megaton nuclear weapon. The show begins, but the signal on the giant-screen television is interrupted by Sideshow Bob. Bob announces that life would be better without television and so he threatens to detonate the nuclear bomb unless Springfield gives in to his demand to shut down all television broadcasts.

Upon hearing the announcement, everyone flees the airfield in panic except for Bart and Lisa, who get separated from their parents during the crowd's mad rush to evacuate. National Guardsmen frantically search the base for Sideshow Bob to no avail, and all out of options, Mayor Quimby decides to give in to Bob's ultimatum — despite Krusty's objections. In accordance with Bob's demands, TV transmitters are destroyed and studios hastily plan farewell programs. Bob, who was televising his demands from a stolen Duff Blimp, gleefully celebrates the success of his plan.

Krusty, determined not to give in, takes refuge in a civil defense shed. After turning on the transmitter, he heavily improvises a show, which he claims will run "8... no, 12" hours-a-day. Bob finds out about this and becomes outraged - "Not even a mere atom bomb can fell the Chattering Cyclops!" (Television)

Bart and Lisa find their way into the cockpit of the Duff Blimp, where Bob, having lost his patience, tries to detonate the bomb. However, the bomb turns out to be a dud and does not blow up. The police eventually find Bob, thanks to Lisa, who uses the controls inside the blimp to print a message on its giant electronic ticker outside. When Chief Wiggum tries to arrest Bob, Bob deflates the blimp and takes Bart hostage. Once there, he steals the original Wright Brothers aircraft, which had been an exhibit at the air show. He then reveals to Bart that he plans to crash the plane into the civil defense shed where Krusty is hiding. However, the plane ends up merely bouncing harmlessly off the shack's roof. The authorities quickly tackle Bob and take him into custody.

[edit] Production

In producing this episode, Kelsey Grammer required several takes to complete the line regarding Chuck Yeager's Acura when his character was impersonating Col. Hap Hapablap, because he found it difficult to contain his laughter.[1]

The episode was due to air on BBC Two on 14 September 2001, but was replaced with another due to its perceived insensitivity towards the then-recent September 11th attacks (Sideshow Bob plans to kill Krusty by crashing the Wright Brothers plane into his shack).[citation needed]

[edit] Cultural references

Doctor Who in his fourth incarnation while appearing on this episode.
Doctor Who in his fourth incarnation while appearing on this episode.
  • The slopstacle shown on the Krusty the Clown Show is similar to the Sundae Slide that appeared in some episodes of the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare. Additionally, Nickelodeon came under fire in 1989, for using canned food donations for Double Dare's slopstacle course, similar to what Krusty does.
  • When Bob is berating the TV network responsible for Krusty the Clown, he encounters another prisoner who angrily declares "that's enough now. I own 60% of that network." The man looks and sounds almost exactly like Fox Network owner Rupert Murdoch. He later says "I suppose you don't like tabloid newspapers either", a reference to Murdochs News Corporation's numerous tabloid holdings.
  • A number of scenes in this episode parody those of films involving nuclear scares. One such film is the 1964 Cold War thriller Fail-Safe by Sidney Lumet: At the beginning of the third act of the episode, we see scenes of everyday life across Springfield, and one by one, with a "zooming" sound effect, they all freeze-frame in anticipation of the (supposedly) imminent nuclear blast; Such was the ending of Fail-Safe. One of the scenes before the supposed nuclear blast shows Maggie picking flowers in a field, with the camera zooming into her eye, and then the minuscule blast occurs. This is a parody of the infamous and controversial Daisy ad in the 1964 U.S. presidential election campaign.
  • There were also several references to Dr. Strangelove: The underground compound resembles the War Room from the film, and Professor Frink parodies the title character; The tune that Sideshow Bob whistles while preparing the bomb is "We'll Meet Again," as sung by Vera Lynn at the end of the film; Also, Krusty's line that "the survivors would envy the dead" is similar to a line spoken by one of the generals in the War Room in reference to living in a post-apocalyptic world. When Mayor Quimby is talking to the general in the background in Dr. Frink is dressed as Dr. Strangelove.
  • While searching for Sideshow Bob, one of the soldiers checks inside a Hangar numbered 18, which has an alien in it. This is a reference to the 1980 movie Hangar 18.

[edit] Legacy

When Kent Brockman gives his farewell broadcast to the television audience, he states one of the events that brought him closer the audience was a story about dogs mistakenly issued major credit cards. This was later used in 8th season episode The Canine Mutiny

[edit] References

  1. ^ As told in the commentary of The Simpsons Season 7 DVD.

[edit] External links

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