The Monkey Suit
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "The Monkey Suit" | |
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| Episode no. | 377 |
| Prod. code | HABF14 |
| Orig. Airdate | May 14, 2006 |
| Written by | J. Stewart Burns |
| Directed by | Raymond S. Persi |
| Chalkboard | "Je ne parle pas français" (I don't speak French) |
| Couch gag | Progressively older family portraits. |
| Guest star | Melanie Griffith as herself and Larry Hagman as Wallace Brady |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 17 September 11, 2005 – May 21, 2006 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"The Monkey Suit" is the 21st episode of The Simpsons seventeenth season that originally aired on May 14, 2006.
[edit] Synopsis
Bart watches a TV program featuring a well-endowed female vampire, Booberella. When he hears her say that summer's almost over, he panics, since he has not yet finished doing the things he wanted to do in summer. The first on his to-do list is to win a baseball game, which he does by hitting a home run and, during the celebration, chomping down on a pizza while running around it. The next item on the agenda is to appear in a Summer Stock Play, which he accomplishes by appearing in Grease 2, skidding across the stage at the end (with Fonzie-like hair) and shouting "Sit on it, Springfield!". Later he watches a summer blockbuster (a Men In Black sequel) and then finishes his list by having a summer romance by kissing a girl (and in the process, helping her complete her to-do list of kissing 100 boys).
At home, Bart feels satisfied of completing his to-do-list and Homer congratulates him, thus completing his summer task of feigning interest in Bart in his own to-do-list. Unfortunately for the two of them, it's Lisa's turn to finish her to-do list, which requires the whole family to go to the museum to see a Yarn exhibit. But the guys are pleasantly surprised to see that the Yarn exhibit has been cancelled and replaced by a "History of Weapons" exhibit. They run inside only to see a long queue ahead of them. Seeing Ned Flanders and his boys at the head of the queue, the Simpsons cut in front of them, thanking Ned for allowing them in front. When the rest of the people in the queue hear this, they too start cutting ahead of Ned, finally leaving him and his kids at the end of the queue.
The Simpsons go in and have a blast, especially with Homer firing at a bulletproof vest... while wearing it. Finally, they leave and see the Flanders still waiting outside. They are denied entry, as it's closing time for the Weapons exhibit. So they decide to check out the evolution exhibit. Ned is horrified to hear that humans evolved from apes and that the creation account in Genesis is characterized as a "myth". Covering his kids' eyes, he drags them out.
He meets up with the church council, which includes Reverend Lovejoy, Helen Lovejoy and Sideshow Mel, to suggest promotion of Creationism. This sounds good to Lovejoy as it might help him regain his patrons, most of who have left his church for a nearby church (with vibrating chairs). The next day, Ned and Lovejoy blackmail Principal Skinner into introducing Creationism in the school. When Lisa questions this move, the kids are shown a movie likening Creationism to Heavenly Gospel and Darwinism to a spawn of Satan. Lisa is annoyed by the change and brings up the topic at home. Homer claims to be very open-minded, although he can't digest the sight of peas and onions mixed together.
At the next town meeting, Lisa asks everyone to make a choice between Creationism and Darwinism, as there is only one truth. So the townspeople vote for... Creationism, much to her chagrin. Teaching or learning Darwinism and Evolution are now made illegal. So Lisa decides to start holding secret classes for people interested in Evolution. However, just as the first lesson is about to begin, she is arrested by Chief Wiggum, "for the teaching of non-Biblical science".
She is brought to trial, which is dubbed "Lisa Simpson v. God". Representing her is Clarice Drummond, a despised ACLU lawyer from New York City, while on God's (i.e., Ned's) side is Wallace Brady, a beloved overweight southern lawyer. The trial does not go smoothly for Lisa, as Professor Frink (called by Clarice) gives ambiguous answers regarding God's existence, while a creationist scientist (with a degree in "Truthology" from "Christian Tech") says that Evolution cannot be real, as there is no proof of a "Missing Link" (depicted in a picture as a savage hominid, holding a rock over his head).
At home, Lisa is dejected and Marge decides to help her out. So she starts reading Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species" and gets pretty much engrossed in it. Meanwhile, Bart has an idea of how to help Lisa. He introduces Milhouse disguised as Lisa, but when Lisa shoots down that idea, he removes another mask, revealing himself to be actually Nelson. Music from The Saint TV series plays as screen fades out in the form of jigsaw puzzle pieces.
Finally, when the trial resumes, Marge tells Lisa that she can help her. While Ned is being cross-examined by Clarice, Marge gives Homer a cold beer. Homer, ecstatic at getting a beer, tries to open it unsuccessfully. Trying to twist the cap off doesn't work, so he starts biting it. The more he tries, the more primitive he gets. Finally, Ned loses his cool and calls him "a big monkey-faced gorilla". Clarice then asks Ned to compare the picture of the "Missing Link" and Homer shaking the beer over his head. Ned concedes defeat and the case is dismissed. Homer finally manages to open the beer by breaking the bottle with Judge Snyder's gavel, only to find it was, after all, a twist top. Ned walks off sadly, but Lisa explains that she is all right with his beliefs, but considers that science and church should never mix together, a point which Ned agrees upon. He decides to take Lisa and the kids out for ice cream, however Rod tells him to "Cram it, you God-wad!" and reveals himself to be actually Nelson. Again, music from The Saint TV series plays as the screen puzzle-fades to black.
[edit] Trivia
- Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders go to Principal Skinner to ask him to teach an alternative to Darwinian Evolution. Skinner replies, "You mean like Lamarckian Evolution?" Lamarckian evolution is a theory put forward by the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck, based on heritability of acquired characteristics, the once widely accepted idea that an organism can acquire characteristics during its lifetime and pass them on to its offspring.
- The chalkboard gag has Bart writing in French ("Je ne parle pas français"--I do not speak French). He actually learned French in the episode "The Crepes of Wrath", and would have a hard time writing it if he did not.
- The opening of this episode is the alternate opening of episode EABF07 "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" from season 14. Written and animated in 2002, this explains the now-outdated Men In Black gag. (the sequel was released the previous summer) Observant fans will remember Bart's summer romance appearing in a promo advertising EABF07 back in 2003.
- The to-do lists in this episode:
Bart's completed to-do list:
*Win Baseball game
*Appear in Summer stock play
*See Summer blockbuster
*Have a Summer Romance
Grampa's To-Do list (2 out of 9):
*Sleep with Esther Williams
*Be first white man in Negro League
The Girl that Bart had a summer romance with completed TO-DO list:
*Kiss 100 boys
Homer's completed To-Do list:
*Check out that new store
*Find, destroy Atlantis
*Fake interest in son - The Simpsons' "rival", Family Guy, aired an episode that same night entitled Untitled Griffin Family History, which briefly mentioned the conflict between evolution and creationism (namely in the state of Kansas). Both episodes aired during the weekend of the opening of the controversial religious conspiracy movie, The Da Vinci Code.
- While other educational institutions house a "multi-purpose room", Springfield Elementary contains a "single-purpose room". The room's specific purpose was not stated.
[edit] Cultural references
- This is an obvious spoof of the Scopes trial. In addition, the lawyers Clarice Drummond and Wallace Brady are parodies of Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. Their names were changed to Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit the Wind, the play which dramatized the trial.
- The scene where Bart wins a baseball game parodies The Natural and The Bad News Bears.
- Bart appears in a stage adaptation of Grease 2, in which he confusedly quotes Fonzie.
- The unmaskings and the puzzle-piece fade-outs are a reference to The Saint TV series.
- The summer blockbuster Bart watches is a parody of Men in Black.
- The song played in the "Myth of Creation" diorama is "What a Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers.
- The blackboard at Lisa's evolution seminar features the phrase "Viva la Evolución", a pun of the revolutionary call "Viva la Revolución".
- The character appearing on the TV show at the beginning of the episode, first seen in "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can", is a parody of television personalities Vampira and/or Elvira.
