stalker: the simpsons
Disclaimer: I do not own the Simpsons or it's characters
Chapter 4,
In this very first episode we, the audience, get a small glimpse into Bart's rebellious behavior when he sings in the Christmas medley. I don't know how loudly Bart was singing during this song because you couldn't hear him well at the beginning. None the less, Principal Skinner pulls him out during the song.
I do find it interesting that Bart knows that Santa doesn't exist, but wrotes a letter to him anyways. Personally, I know that in the past, I have written letters to Santa to keep Santa alive for my younger siblings and cousins; but Bart doesn't seem to care if Lisa believes or not. It seems like the only reason he writes a lettwr to Santa,is to give his parents a 'checklist'.
Bart also expressed his love of tattoo's, even though he knows that they last forever. At the mall he easily convinces the artist at The Happy Sailor Tattoo Parlor to give him a tattoo. Bart comes to the conclusion that getting a "mother" tattoo would be a good present for his mother, despite her very clear disapproval of tattoos. Now, I understand that Bart isn't the smartest tool in the shed, but I think this was a simple case of 'wishing for the best conclusion.'
Well, Bart gets most of the tattoo on befote Marge found him, leaving us with the famous 'moth' heart in classic Simpson memorabilia.9
Later with the tattoo gone, Bart is watching TV while his sisters poke his bandage, which hurts him. Watching this scene, I remember how Bart and Lisa have often tangled. And I think it's safe to say that Bart and Lisa can really wail on each other. Granted I realize that this whole 'quit it' scene is probably for the sake of humor, but I am still surprised that Bart didn't even attempt to get physical.
Now, I know that Bart isn't particularly a 'touchy-feely' type of person, but I have noticed that, in the pursuit of getting away from his aunts, Bart will hug Homer or even hide in a tight space with Lisa. You do see a hint of this behavior when Patty and Selma hug and hold Bart and Lisa, ignoring their struggles.
When Bart sees the mall Santa, we see more of Bart's rebellious nature when he dares Milhouse to sit on Santa's lap, but then turns around and accepts a dare to pull off the Santa's beard.
You can clearly see Bart's shock when he realizes that Homer was the mall Santa. But instead of laughing at him, as Bart may do today, he is proud of his father and happy to know that Homer loves them. And when Homer is disappointed by his Santa check, Bart convinces him to try the dog track. Granted, this scene could also be a hint that Bart learns more on TV, then he does in school, but I thought the references were sweet nonetheless.
When, Homer decides to bet on Santa's Little Helper and asks Bart for his support, Bart reluctantly agrees even though he doesn't truely believe.
When Santa's Little Helper loses, you can see the shocked expression of Bart who doesn't believe that TV could betray him. But Bart and Homer spend time outside of the building looking for winning tickets and if they hadn't been there then they wouldn't have rescued Santa's Little Helper.
Bart showed his boredom/annoyance when playing Scrabble with his family. Finally he invents the word 'Kwyjibo' which he defines as 'A big, dumb, balding, North American ape with no chin' Although Marge adds 'And a short temper'. Personally I think that this is a fun word to say, so I am disappointes that they didn't use it more often in the show.
Bart is shown spray painting on the school,which obviously gets him into trouble; but he misspells the word wiener as 'weiner'. Although when Bart gets caught, he looks rathet nervous and even a little scared, despite the fact that he obviously gets in trouble a lot.
It seems to me that in the first season, Bart feels regret for little things whereas down the road he feels pride for larger and more dangerous pranks.
During his aptitude test, you can see Barts imagination at work when Ms. Krabappel tells him to visualize thw problems on the test. He is so drawn into his imagination that he gives a physical response in the form of falling out of his chair. When Ms. Krabappel is distracted, Bart doesn't hesitate to switch tests with Martin. Which in Bart's mind, he probably only does this as payback for Martin ratting Bart out.
When talking to the Psychologist Bart seems to misunderstand him, and was excited to go to a more advanced 'stress-free' school. He is definately milking his intelligence status the morning of his first day, but he quickly realizes that he doesn't seem to belong at this school.
Although, Bart does seem surprised at Homer's affection and Support, starting with a kiss on the forehead, which shows that Homer isn't very affectionate. When Ms. Melon throws away a Radioactive Man comic, Bart is quick to put it in his back pocket.
Also this is the first time we see Radioactive Man, and even though the design of the comic book is very different, the premise is the same. We also see that Bart was eating Krustyo's and has a Krusty lunch box and a picture of Krusty in his room. So even though we, the audience, don't know who Krusty is, we at least know that Bart is a fan of this particular clown.
Setting aside these tiny cameos, we see Bart get bullied by the smart kids. This scene reminds me of a small strip I saw where Springfield Elementary was ruled by the nerds, until they bullied Jimbo Jones so far that he, himself became a bully and started beating up the smart kids. I suppose this special school is what Springfield Elementary use to be until it changed rulers.
At the opera, Bart makes up lyrics, random noises, and makes fun of the performance to help amuse himself and his father.
But Bart really misses his old school and his old friends. So when he sees his old gang, he is shocked to find that they reject him because he is 'smart'.
We see Bart and Homer enjoying a game of catch, which I thought was a sweet scene. Because honestly, the family relationships tend to be either, extremely tight or close gone. But a simple game of catch can be a bonding moment that Bart can always remember; or at least that should be the idea.
Bart explodes his classroom when he was messing with chemicals that he reallt shouldn't have been touching. This explosion turns Bart's skin green for the rest of the episode.
In order to return to his old school, Bart tries to write a proposal for an experiment, but then gives up and decides to finally tell the truth,which does send him back to Springfield Elementary.
When the children go on a field trip, ignoring the insinuation that Bart purposely helped prisoners escape, we learn that Bart and Ottoman are good friends.
And I can't help but notice that Ms. Krabappel specifically said to keep their arms in the bus; but when they past the Springfield Toxic Waste Dump, everyone sticks their hands out the window to wave to the workers.
On their tour of the Nuclear Plant, Bart get Homer's attention, which causes him to crash and get fired. When Homer is in a slump for being unemployed, Bart decides to take advantage of him instead of helping him.
We also see the first 'El Barto' tagged on City Hall. There is a police rendition of what they think El Barto may look like, and I found it funny that the man in the sketch had spiky hair like Bart has.
When Bart becomes impressed by Homer, he calls him a hero, but quickly retracts the statement when questioned. Therefore he can feel pride in his father, but ashamed to show pride, most likely because of his rebel persona.
Mr. Burns keeps cards to remember different families, and he accidently calls Bart 'Brat'. I found this humorous because Matt Groening actually named Simpsons characters afyer his own family. Though he did name the boy Bart because it's an anagram of brat, which fits into his rebellious nature. I suppose that this is a reference to Matt's choice of names, or at the very least, how little Mr. Burns knows about his employees.
This time during the father-son sack race at the company picnic, Bart tries to win instead of letting Mr. Burns win, like he does every year. Now my first reaction is that he did this because he doesn't like to be pushed around, but after thinking this over, I think it's possible that he only did this to be a hell-raiser.
We have already established that Homer and Bart are not affectionate with each other, but Homer doea pay Bart $5 to kiss him. This scene shows that Bart can be bought, which does occasionally show in later seasons, and some of the episodes where they depict the future.
During the aversion therapy, Bart is the firat one to start shocking people, which causes the whole family to go into a shocking frenzy.
When Lisa bakes cupcakes for Ms. Hoover's birthday, Bart wants one and he actually tries to reach into the oven while they are baking to get a cupcake for himself.
Upset at her for not giving him a cupcake, he calls Lisa names, but quickly retracts them and compliments her, trying to charm his way to a cupcake. L
Now comes one of my favorite Bart moments. When one of Nelson's goons steals Lisa's cupcakes, Bart doesn't hesitate to stand up for his little sister. Of course he ends up giving Nelson a nosebleed, which Nelson didn't realize at first; so it makes me wonder how hard Bart hit him.
It's obvious that Bart is scared of Nelson, but isn't willing to violate the code of the schoolyard.
In one of Bart's fantasies, he sees Nelson as this indestructible creature who will definately destory him; and in the second, we see Bart imagining his funeral. But I don't like that he imagines Lisa feeling guilty for not giving him a cupcake right away.
I was impressed at the fact that Bart took twelve punches to the face before he finally went down. It reminds me of this episode where Homer became a boxer and I can't help but wonder if Bart has the same condition as his father.
Bart can be pretty scatter-brained, but he managed to gather and train an army to take down Nelson and his friends. Of course, they do have a moment at the end of this particular episode, of Bart telling people that war is to be taken seriously.
Lisa talks about how a food fight in inevitable in the school cafeteria, and then Bart starts the fight. It makes me wonder if he always starts the fight, or if it's just happen to be him that day.
Bart plays a video boxing game with Homer and he wins so frequently that he plays the announcer to state how good he is and how bad Homer is.
Later Homer talks about how Bart figured out that he could beat Homer at most things at the age of four. This could help explain why Bart has trouble respecting adults and calls most adults by their first name.
When Marge confronts Bart on whether or not he loved Lisa, he implied that he did, without giving a straight out answer. I wonder if this is an early sign that Bart Flandersroblem with commitment. Which, if it is, then it would explain why, in the future episodes I have seen, that Bart has always been single.
To help cheer Lisa up, Bart makes a crank call to Moe, but Lisa didn't laugh, and right before she leaves, you can see a look of worry on Bart's face. There is no doubt that Lisa and Bart can really wail on each other, if desires; But you can also feel the love and care when pride isn't in the way.
Bart shows the same hatred towards the Flanders that Homer does.
In the forest, Bart obviously fears for his safety, and is forced to rely on his father's 'knowledge' of nature.
Which, let's be honest, when you're forced to depend on Homer, you're gonna be pretty scared.
When Homer and Bart run for their lives, they don't run too terribly long before getting tired, which shows how physically active they normally are.
Homer tells Bart to step on a rabbit so that they could eat, and Bart has no problem with this. Now I understand that in a survival situation, one might have to smother a few of their morals or ethically correct ideals in order to stay alive. But, I can also recall two episodes in later seasons, where Bart accidently killed a bird and Bart couldn't/refused to shoot a reindeer. Bart isn't a killer, and I haven't seen anything to indicate that he ever will be.
You do see Bart running to Homer's side when Homer gets hit by a tranquilizer dart, and I kinda like this because he really does sound a tad worried about Homer.
We see Bart sliding down the handrail of the stairs, which we see him do several future episodes. I am noting this behavioral trait so that I am sure to remember it for my Simpson stories.
Even though Marge tries to stop him Bart constantly attempts to bring randlm objects to church for entertainment.
Now I think it's pretty safe to say that people who went to church regularly as a kid, have attempted to bring a toy of whatnot to church at least once. So this scene is pretty relatable to real life people.
Now in Sunday school, we see Bart asking far out questions and getting on the nerves of the poor Sunday school teacher.
It makes me wonder how Bart would act if he went and lived at a religious boarding school. Which may be a story that you find on my profile in the future.
Anyways Bart has no problem with stripping in the hallway, which I guess makes sense because of all the times that Bart moons people; but this could be an indicator that Bart isn't ashamed of his body... Or perhaps at an age where he isn't yet aware of 'faults' within himself.
We see Bart on his skateboard and he shows imprrssive skill until Jimbo distracts him and he rides into a pole.
Now I know that Jimbo Jones and his friends are older then Bart and Nelson, but they all go to the same school, apparently. That means that they have to be 6th graders, right? Who knows, I'll recap on this when I write Jimbo's profile.
My point is that Bart recognizes these bullies and yet has no problem being cocky and insulting them. But this attitude, earns time spent with the group in which they sneak into the Aztec theater and go to the Kwik-e-mart and do cloud-watching. Bary seems to see Jimbo as some sort of idol, or role model,which is clear when you see Bart mimicking his moves. Bart seems to have a lot of Springfield pride and knowledge about Jebediah Springfield so he is reluctant to throw rocks, but does so anyways.
Jimbo is the one who said that he wished that someone would cut Jebediah's head off, and I think that this is an important scene to the episode. Because if Dolph or Kirney had said this, then there is a good chance that Bart would have left the statue alone.
Upset about being laughed out of Jimbo's group, Bart reaches out to Homer for advice. Of course, Homer gives him advice that leads to Bart sawing off the head, but Bart does say that he doesn't like the idea of cutting it off (vaguely).
I kinda like the scene where Bart acts like a ninja, because normally Bart is really wild and crazy, but here he is completely focused and calm.
As soon as Bart learns that the bullies aren't happy, but upset, he instantly feels guilty I.E. hearing the voice of Jebediah in his head.
When Bart tells his family about the head, he doesn't rat out Homer for the advice he gave him. Bart replaces the head and everyone cheers, but I notoced that he didn't glue or weld it back on, so I'm starting to wonder how it stays on the body. Because let's face it, it's not like someone went back to the statue and properly fixed it.
When making Marge a breakfest in bed surprise for her birthday, Bart can apparently cook pancakes, but is shown making quite a mess.
He does buy Marge a tub of French Perfume that apparently doesn't smell good but it was cheap. He also says 'gay paree' which I thought was a little funny because in the second next episode he is sent to live in Paris for three months.
It seems like this is where Bart's intelligence really starts to decline, because he tries to lick the beaters without turning off the mixer. Now I understand that there is a chance that Bart expected Lisa to turn it off before she handed it to him, but uh... This is Bart.
But Bart does seem a bit insulted or distraught at the fact that Homer forgot Marge's birthday.
Bart is in denial when Jacques starts to get between Marge and Homer's marriage. He doesn't get scared until he realizes just how upset Homer is. In his fear he instantly feels the need todo something and he tries to help Homer feel better.
Bart decides to buy a spy cameraand you see his poor piggy bank all taped together, and he smashes it with a hammer to get the money out. In a way it could show how poor the family is because they repaired the bank instead of buying a new one.
Of course, all of my banks have a removable bottom so perhaps I am not the best person to judge this detail.
Since the mailman is a woman, Bart calls her the 'Fe-mailman' which could be his way of showing woman's rights; but since Lisa corrects him by saying 'Female Carrier' it leads me to think that Bart only says this to be funny.
Bart is also very impatient, and I understand that six months is a long time for a 10 year old to wait, but he atarted asking this poor woman for spy camera the day or the day after he sent out for it.
When taking pictures, it seems like Bart is going for a 'gross' factor. But young boys like gross before they like girls... Or for some other boys, but you get my point. This is why he orders the squid plattet which makes him feel nauseous and have to walk around a little.
When he sees Homer dancing with the dancer at the bachelor party, he seems to react to the situation instead of to the dancer herself.
And Bart does stay the same age, but he does like and date girls so you would think that he would freak out for seeing the woman. Of course later in the episode when Homer takes him to several strip clubs, he is impreased by the performances. So perhaps Princess Kashmir simply isn't Bart's cup of tea, or maybe he was to giddy froms spying that he didn't think of her being attractive.
After joining the Future Photographers of America so that he can develop his picture, he makes Milhouse promise to do a whole list of items to avoid making a print of his photo, but he doesn't question Lewis at all.
He does wish Homer luck before he talks to Marge, which Homer appreciates and I thought it was pretty sweet of him. Marge tells Homer that Bart idolizes him, and I suppose I can understand this, but not in the strictest definition.
When Bart meets Princess Kashmir, I noticed that Bart calls her ma'am; using respectful manners instead of saying something insulting or snarky.
He does clear the sapphire lounge when Homer and Marge kiss to get his parents out of the spotlight.
For the most part, we see the Simpsons with two pets; which is the dog, Santa's Little Helper, and the cat Snowball two. But we do occasionally see Bart with a frog, which isn't unusual for a young boy.
We see Bart dropping his stuff everywhere... Which also isn't unusual for a young child, but his mess causes Homer to fall down the stairs and hurt his back. But he does get excited when he finds a cherry bomb, which were apparently banned in the USA in 1966 along with silver tube salutes and M-80's.
Now all firecrackers or ground salutes can only contain five percent of the original powder mixture, thanks to a law passed in 1977. Now considering the fact that most of the fact that most of the 1st season is from 1990, I can understand why he and all of his friends got really excited to see a cherry bomb.
Bart decided to flush the cherry bomb, which caused an explosikn that injured Skinner's mother and gets him 'deported' to France.
Although he is excited at first, he soon learns that the people taking care of him only wantes a new mule to work the Chateau. The only nice thing I can say about the two French men that were watching Bart is that they walked him through the different steps of making wine and made sure he understood what to do. Well that, and they let him read and keep letters that his mother has written to him. He seems very grateful for the letter, but honestly, who wouldn't like a letter from your mother when your miserable.
Bart drinms the glass of antifreeze wine and he doesn't go blind, but he doesn't show any signs of intoxication. I thought the glass looked around ten ounces, which should be enough wine to get a ten year a woozy, because they are smaller and younger than adults. Now I don't know much about the production of wine, other than you gather the wine grapes, you juice it, and ferment it, which they do show this in the episode.
So when Bart drinks the wine and doesn't get drunk, this could either mean that he has a high tolerance for alcohol of the wine hasn't been able to produce enough alcohol to make someone drunk.
When Bart finds a policemen he gets annoyed for trying to ask for help but he can't speak French. At least until he realizes that he is complaining in French and he rats out the two French men he's been staying with. Bart gets a medal and makes the French news for 'his' arrest.
The next scene shows Bart arriving back home, but I can't help but wonder what he did after that arrest. He said he listened to French for the past two months. Hm, oh well.
Bart does bring back souvenirs and present for his family, which Lisa said was his 'first unselfish act'. But I couldn't help but notice that he brought wine which may or may not be some of that Antifreeze wine. If it's not then he was being nice, if it is then he... Well, perhaps he wantes to poison Homer a little. But the wine either doesn't have a label on it, or it doesn't show the labels so you may never know.
Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are watching Krusty the clown, nothing unusual, but you do see them 'interacting' with Krusty in a mob-mentality sort of way.
We have already established that Bart like Krusty, but he says that Krusty is his idol and has based his life on Krusty's teachings. Which could be a detail that adds to Bart's destructive behavior.
Of course, all the children are upset to learn that Krusty is arrested. But Bart has so much of Krusty's merchandise that even in his private santuary, he can't forget about the clown. He is also saddened by the way Krusty looks out of his makeup, and he even begs Homernotto testify against Krusty.
He does get mad at Lisa for watching Slideshow Bob's show, but he does ask for her help in trying to prove Krusty's innocences. Even though Lisa finds details to prove Krusty's innocence, Bart takes it as ber insulting Krusty, and defends him.
He tells Slideshow Bob about the clues he found, and he carefully overrules then until Bary figures out that Krusty was frames by Slideshow Bob.
At the end of this episode, we see Bart in his room with even more Krusty merchandise than before. My first thought was that he made his parents rebuy the items they burned, but it seems more likely that Krusty gave him the merchandise as a thank you for proving his innocence.
Lisa and Bart take money out of Marge's purse to buy lunches at school instead of taking their lunch boxes to School. Bart really shows his hatred for the Happy Little Elves. Which I thought was funny because I'm 80 percent certain that The Happy Little Elves is the Simpson version of The Smurfs, which Bary talks about in the pilot episode.
Bart tries to convince Ms. Botz to put on something else, but Ms. Botz is a tough and scary woman who intimidates Bart. Though when she is gone, Bart watches a few minutes before switching over to regular tv. He puts on the Simpsons version of America's Most Wanted which is called America's Most Armed and Dangerous.
He seems to recognize the show by visual which means that he must have seen the show several times in the past. Bart still gets scared when he watches the show and he holds on to Lisa even though he isn't 'touchy'.
Apparently the Simpsons make their own pickled beets and as Ms. Botz takes a few jars, Bart says 'go ahead take them all'; which seems appropriate since he is going to attempt to knock her out. But it is possible that he said this because he doesn't like pickled beets. Which is a great possibility because we all know how picky kids can be with their food.
After being ties up, Bart keeps talking smack to Ms. Botz, until she duct taped his mouth shut. And although I do enjoy the scene wherw Bart hits his head against the arm of the couch, I suppose having a baby help hom is a tad more amusing, in it of itself.
The children do lure Ms. Botz to them with the sound of Maggie's pacifier, and hitting her over the head. When the light comea on, we see that Bart is the one sucking the pacifier and holding the bat, so that leads me to believe that this whole scam was his idea in the first place. Thoigh was it really necessary for him to suck the pacifier? Maggie, in the first season, seema to be sucking it non-stop, but maybe Bart wanted to suck it. If he did, then that would explain why he didn't spit the item out immediately.
Now the children escape rhe house through the window, and Bart carries Maggie on his back, down the rope latter. Granted I don't know how much Maggie weighs, but Bart is at least strong enough to carry her like that, which could have been difficult. When the children are reporting the babysitter, Marge and Homer return to find her hogtied. So Ms. Botz escape and that is the end of the first season.
Well, this chapter was longet then I expected, but there was a lot of Bart Nd Homer situations in here, so I guess a few other chapters will be about this size as well. I hope you enjoyed this evaluation. And for those of you Bart lovers, don't worry season two of Bart will be out soon enough.