Lemon of Troy
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Lemon of Troy" | |
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| The lemon tree. | |
| Episode no. | 127 |
| Prod. code | 2F22 |
| Orig. Airdate | May 14, 1995 |
| Written by | Brent Forrester |
| Directed by | Jim Reardon |
| Chalkboard | "The First Amendment does not cover burping." |
| Couch gag | The family is in black and white and wear Mickey Mouse gloves. |
| DVD commentary by | Matt Groening David Mirkin Jim Reardon Greg Daniels David S. Cohen David Silverman |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 6 September 4, 1994 – May 21, 1995 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"Lemon of Troy" is the 24th episode of The Simpsons' sixth season. It explores the town rivalry between the fictional communities of Springfield and Shelbyville. The title of the episode is a play on the name Helen of Troy from Greek mythology, and the episode bears some clear parallels to the Troy legend. In addition to the obvious echo of the Trojan Horse in the method of recovery of the tree, the basic outline of the plot - Springfield attacking their neighbouring rivals after they steal their prize possession - is an obvious reference to the legend, in which the incentive for the Greeks declaring war on their neighbours Troy is their theft of their most famous and beautiful woman citizen, Helen.
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[edit] Synopsis
When Marge catches Bart vandalizing a town sidewalk, she lectures him on the importance of town pride. Afterwards, Bart realizes how wonderful living in Springfield truly is, due to its fishing, "good friends, lots of lemons, and numerous angel sightings." Consequently, however, Bart also becomes more upset with anti-Springfield sentiments coming from the neighboring town of Shelbyville, especially from the bully Shelby. As it turns out, this rivalry can be traced back to both towns' establishment, as founders Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan discovered they had irreconcilable differences regarding their visions for a perfect town, Jebediah favouring promotion of chastity and Shelbyville advocating incestuous marriages between cousins.
In modern times, Shelby and his followers steal Springfield's lemon tree, striking at what Bart feels is one of the town's hearts. Now seeing war with Shelbyville as a matter of civic virtue, Bart leads Milhouse, Nelson, Martin, Todd, and Database in an incursion of the rival town. The group splits up and has a few misadventures. Martin shakes down a kid for information but is confronted by a larger kid, and Nelson must save him, albeit hesitantly (as Martin is perhaps Nelson's most common target of bullying). Milhouse meets his double and the two have an oddly emotional moment of understanding. Finally, Bart goes behind enemy lines and infiltrates the ranks of the Shelbyville kids by disguising himself, which eventually leads to his discovery and a long chase. Eventually they track down the tree to an impound lot, but at this point they are discovered by their angry fathers. The children convince their fathers of the importance of recovering the tree, and they join forces to take it back. Homer demands to Shelby's father to give back the tree, but it was no use. They are caught in the middle of the act to steal the tree in the night, but manage to escape, albeit with significant damages to the tree. The episode ends with the Springfield children drinking lemonade (with extra sugar) while the Shelbyville children are stuck with turnip juice.
[edit] Trivia
- According to the DVD episode commentary, Shelby's father, an analogue of Homer, was voiced by Hank Azaria, who based his performance on Walter Matthau. The voice of Homer, Dan Castellaneta, originally based his performance of Homer on Matthau as well.
- When Bart finds the piece of paper telling him about door 7, it is on a wall. But when he picks it up, it is on door VIII (8).
[edit] Cultural references
- When Milhouse bonds with the Milhouse from Shelbyville, he sobs, "This is what it feels like when doves cry", a slightly paraphrased line from Prince's 1984 hit song, "When Doves Cry", which was in his musical movie, "Purple Rain".
- The Springfield Lake catching on fire mirrors what happened to the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio in 1969.
- Bart identifies the number seven in Roman numerals by referring to a nonexistent sequel of the Rocky series, Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge. (Note that the series ended with the sixth installment, Rocky Balboa, in 2006.)
- There are several possible nods to The A-Team, including Bart leading his men on a mission of mercy, Bart's disguise (similar to George Peppard's many disguises in that series), and his make-shift method of escape, another element often used in that show.
[edit] Similarities between Springfield and Shelbyville
- The local elementary school's groundskeeper is Scottish, though the groundskeeper at Shelbyville Elementary is female.
- The local bar in Shelbyville is Joe's (as opposed to Moe's)
- The Shelbyvillians' preferred brand of beer is Fudd, which is "Duff" with the D's and F's switched. Fudd Beer was first mentioned in the episode, Colonel Homer.
- The Speed-E-Mart is owned by an East-Asian American, as opposed to the Kwik-E-Mart, which is owned by a South-Asian (Indian) American.
- The leader of the gang of Shelbyville kids wears an orange shirt, like Bart, and his father wears a white shirt, like Homer (his hair also bears startling resemblance to that of Homer, before it fell out). His father also appears to have a stupid streak like Homer because he takes a direct bite out of a lemon.
- One of the gang members in Shelbyville is named Milhouse and, like the Springfield Milhouse, has blue hair.
[edit] External links
- "Lemon of Troy" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
