Fat Man and Little Boy (The Simpsons)

"Fat Man and Little Boy" is the fifth episode of sixteenth season of The Simpsons and the last episode of 2004.

Plot

After attacking Lisa with spitballs, Bart finds out his last baby tooth is loose. After some failed attempts in getting it out, Bart's tooth comes out when Marge forces a drawer open. Bart puts his tooth under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy and in the morning, he finds a note saying the Tooth Fairy made a donation in his name to the United Way. He soon begins to realize that he is not a child anymore. After deciding that his childhood is over, Bart puts his toys into a small boat and sets it on fire, a proper "Viking funeral".

Lisa tells Bart that she writes things when she feels depressed. Bart does so and begins writing things on his T-Shirts that become popular. When Milhouse wants one of his shirts, Bart decides to go into business of making T-Shirts. His business is a success until the police confiscate his shirts because he has no license. Bart takes his shirts to a retailer's show in order to get a license, but his display is destroyed by Krusty the Clown's massive stand. While leaving, Bart is run over by Goose Gladwell, a Willy Wonka-type salesman who sells weird items. He looks at Bart's shirts and decides to sell them in most of his 20 stores which are in 30 states. The shirts are fast sellers and Goose gives Bart enough money to support the Simpson family income. The family structure is soon reversed when Homer gets fired by Mr. Burns (thanks to wearing one of Bart's T-shirts) and asks Bart for $200 to pay the $100 bill for their dinner in a restaurant and for breaking some bathroom fixtures there.

While watching a documentary about lions by Declan Desmond (voiced by Eric Idle), Homer decides to nurture Lisa after thinking Bart has replaced him. They quickly bond as Homer plays Malibu Stacey with her (while simultaneously managing to attack Ned Flanders). In Lisa's room, Homer sees her entry for the science fair, which is a history of nuclear physics and a scale model of the first nuclear reactor. However, Martin shows them his project, a child-like robot. With Lisa sure to lose, Homer decides to help her by stealing some plutonium from the power plant and building a small working Class II plutonium fission reactor. After showing it to Lisa, she is shocked and asks Marge to tell Homer to get rid of it. At Goose's store, Bart learns that Goose sold the rights to The Walt Disney Company to make his shirts into movies, but Bart will get nothing. He runs into Homer after leaving Goose and this angers Homer. In Goose's shop, Homer threatens to detonate his nuclear reactor and destroy the whole tri-city area if Goose does not give Bart what he deserves. Goose does so and Homer uses his leverage to get himself some novelty items as well. Bart thanks Homer for straightening things out.

Cultural references

• The episode is named after the two nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan during World War II, codenamed Fat Man and Little Boy. The title may also have been intended to have the double-meaning of Homer as the fat man and Bart as the little boy.
• The sequence where Bart fires spitballs at Lisa is similar to the Omaha beach scene in Saving Private Ryan.
• As Bart goes through his childhood toys, he mentions several popular toys/games, with parodied names: "Spirogram" (Spirograph), "Sketch-N-Etch" (Etch A Sketch), "Ravenous Ravenous Rhinos" (Hungry Hungry Hippos), "Duopoly" (Monopoly), "Parchoosey" (Parcheesi), "Humor Putty" (Silly Putty), and "Sock 'Em Knock 'Em Cyborgs" (Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots).
• Bart using his writing on his shirt is a clear reference to The Yellow Kid, an early comic strip about a boy who does almost the same thing.
• Goose Gladwell's car has a face similar to British children's TV series character Brum.
• Bart's line "Leave me alone. This expresses my rage at the machine", is referencing American rock band Rage Against the Machine.
• Martin Prince is referring to the poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick when he is leaving with his robot.
• The Sea Captain recites the end of the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost as Bart burns his toys.
• Moe asks Bart if he has any shirts depicting "Calvin peeing on Hobbes". This is a reference to the illegal T-shirts and car decals of Calvin (from the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes) urinating on various objects, usually logos of companies or sports teams. The strip's creator, Bill Watterson, fought hard to keep his characters from being merchandised, leading to a large black-market industry of unauthorized reproductions of his work.
• One of Bart's T-shirt slogans reads "Body by Oreo". This references the milk slogan "Body by Milk".[1]
• Two of Krusty's T-shirts depict Itchy and Scratchy as other fictitious characters: Austin Powers and SpongeBob SquarePants. Also, they depict controversial people in American culture, such as "Osama bin Scratchy" (Osama bin Laden).
• Declan Desmond's wildlife narration style resembles that of David Attenborough's.
• Songs used:
  • "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas
  • "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred
  • "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited
  • "The Pink Panther Theme"

Trivia

The title name is same as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy on Spongebob Squarepants.

External links

• "Fat Man and Little Boy" at the Internet Movie Database