Dog of Death
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"Dog of Death" is the 19th episode of The Simpsons' third season.
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[edit] Synopsis
Springfield is "in the grip of lottery fever" with a $130 million jackpot and, as a result, an ailing Santa's Little Helper is ignored.
Once he is discovered to be sick, the family rushes him to the hospital to undergo an emergency operation. Homer is saddened to tell Bart and Lisa that they just can't afford the $750 for the operation, but seeing how much everyone (including himself) loves the dog, he resolves to find a way to pay for it.
To save up the money, everyone must give up their small luxuries. Among other things, Homer has to give up beer, Marge has to forgo her weekly lottery ticket, Bart has to have his hair cut for free at Springfield Barber College, Lisa has to forgo the 4th edition of Encyclopedia Generica (Copernicus to Elephantiasis), and Maggie's clothes have to last a little longer.
Things begin to fall apart after it is found that Marge's regular numbers would have won $40,000, and the family begin to resent the dog for forcing them to lose out on the things they enjoy, as Homer is reduced to singing at Moe's, Lisa has to do a report on Copernicus, Maggie's clothes rip and Bart suffers from an awful haircut.
After the family say bad things to the dog, it is the final straw. Santa's Little Helper runs away from home and goes off in an adventure, only to be adopted by Mr. Burns, who trains him to become one of his vicious attack hounds. After a long brainwashing process, which is that the dog watches a movie totally consisting of people being abusive to dogs, and Santa's Little Helper being trained by attacking Smithers who is in a protection suit, Santa's Little Helper in turn becomes a bloodthirsty killer.
The family started to feel sorry for hating the dog and Bart deicided to bring him back. When Bart goes to Burns's mansion to retrieve his dog, Santa's Little Helper (along with other vicious dogs) tries to attack him but remembers all the good times they had and snaps out of his brainwashed state. After that, the other vicious dogs tried to attack Bart, but Santa's Little Helper growled at them to leave Bart alone. The dog then returns to the family who started loving him again.
The episode ends with a disclaimer: "No dogs were harmed in the filming of this episode. A cat got sick and somebody shot a duck, but that's it."
[edit] Trivia
- When Homer thought he was going to win the jackpot, he dreamt of using it to become the biggest man in the world and become covered in gold (14-carat gold). Later, he imagines becoming "king Homer" after overthrowing Mr. Burns.
- The veterinarian bears a striking resemblance to Vince Edwards, who played Ben Casey on the 1960s drama of the same name.
- The photos Marge doesn't want the public to see are: Homer kicking Santa's Little Helper, Homer strangling Santa's Little Helper, Santa's Little Helper biting Homer, Santa's Little Helper burying Homer, and Santa's Little Helper knocking Homer out as if they were in a boxing match.
- The bad things the family says to SLH are: Homer tells the dog that he's lousy and that he hates him, Marge yells at him (while sewing Maggie's clothes), Lisa is busy reading a "third-rate biography" of Copernicus she found at the bus station and Bart simply tells him that he is a "dumb dog".
- The name of the hamster that dies is Hamster, we know this because the E.K.G. says Hamster in the same place that Santa's Little Helper's E.K.G. says his own name.
- The old attack dog Mr. Burns has is named Crippler.
- Homer is angry at Bart for being 10 because the first winning lottery number is 17. Homer put Bart's age, 10, as one of his lottery numbers. Had Bart been 17, he would have put 17 as a number and received a closer chance to winning.
- Miss Hoover's hair color is blue in this episode.
- On the map part, when he gets picked up, the road the car travels down is called 'Michael Jackson Expressway', a reference to Stark Raving Dad.
- Unlike in Lisa's Pony, you can't hear Homer when the rest of his family sits on him in the couch gag.
- The footage of Homer throwing The Lottery in the fireplace was recycled in Another Simpsons Clip Show, when he threw The Bridges of Madison County in.
- The video used by Mr. Burns to train Santa's Little Helper, includes "footage" of the Hindenburg disaster.
- As in Bart Wars: The Simpsons Strike Back featurette ("The Making Of Bart Wars"), Marge asking Bart "Bart, you're going to have to get a free haircut at the barbershop" is actually a reference to "Bart, you'll have to give up your Jedi mind control lessons."
- Ned Flanders is seen wearing his Assasin running shoes from the episode Bart's Dog Gets an F.
- The poster on the wall when Homer puts the lost pet notice up is the 'Have you seen my body?' poster from Bart the Murderer.
[edit] Cultural references
- Lisa corrects Homer, indicating Nixon's dog was named Checkers.
- Among the books that end up in the Simpson's fireplace are The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (which ironically enough, is about a society where books are burned), Fatherhood by Bill Cosby and a book entitled "Canine Surgery". Fatherhood was heavily referenced in the episode "Saturdays of Thunder" earlier this season.
- The scene in which Monty Burns and Smithers brainwash Santa's little helper is a parody of Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, complete with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".
- This episode contains numerous references to facts or rumors about Michael Jackson; for example, one of the highways is called the "Michael Jackson Expressway" (referencing "Stark Raving Dad"), Kent Brockman's butler telling Kent that his pet llama bit Ted Kennedy, and Mr. Burns is sleeping in an iron lung as part of his longevity treatment.
[edit] External links
- "Dog of Death" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
