Barting Over
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Simpsons episode | |
| "Barting Over" | |
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| Episode no. | 302 |
| Prod. code | EABF05 |
| Orig. Airdate | February 16, 2003 |
| Show Runner(s) | Al Jean |
| Writer(s) | Andrew Kreisberg |
| Director(s) | Matthew Nastuk |
| Chalkboard | "I will not" (Bart destroys the chalkboard with an axe) |
| Couch gag | The family and living room are made of gingerbread; Homer takes a bite out of Bart's head |
| Guest star(s) | Tony Hawk, Blink 182 and Jane Kaczmarek as Judge Constance Harm |
| SNPP capsule | |
| Season 14 November 3, 2002 – May 18, 2003 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
Barting Over is an episode of The Simpsons advertised by FOX to be the 300th episode of the show. It aired on February 16, 2003.
The episode is actually episode number 302 of the series. Episode 300 of The Simpsons is Strong Arms of The Ma, which aired February 2, 2003, two weeks earlier.
It is not known really why FOX advertised this episode as the 300th; it could be because this was the 300th episode produced. In the episode, Marge wonders how many times Homer did something crazy and Lisa says it's 300. Marge then says she thought it was 302, indicating that the producers probably knew this was the 302nd episode.
[edit] Synopsis
The episode begins with Lisa being honoured at the Kennedy Centre. Her arrival is announced by (Mr.Cronkite), Lisa says thank you and he does backflips off the stage. Lisa begins her speech, but is woken up by Marge vacuuming. Marge decides that the Simpsons should clean out the garage. As they clean out the garage, Bart finds a box full of videotapes, one of which is labeled "Homer and Marge get Dirty". He invites Lisa to watch the videos. The "Dirty" movie turns out to be Homer and Marge carving out pumpkins and making a mess of it. Lisa finds a tape labelled "Bart sad". They watch it and see an episode of Perfect Strangers. During the commercial break, they see a commercial in which a much-younger Bart acts as "Baby Stinkbreath". Lisa realises the label is actually "Bart's Ad". The commercial is for a breath-freshening device for toddlers. Lisa and Maggie tease Bart about it.
Bart confronts his parents about the ad and asks where all the money, which they made for that ad, went. Homer tells him that he used it to buy back incriminating photos of Homer dropping Bart from a balcony, a reference to Michael Jackson holding his own baby over a balcony. Bart gets mad and even attacks Homer, but Marge stops him. Bart yells that he is sick of being ill-treated at Homer's hands. Homer taunts him, saying that he will be staying with them till he is 18, so he has no choice. If that weren't bad enough, Homer said, "and when you're 17, I'm going to know the end is near, so I'm going to work you like a dog".
The next day, Bart speaks to Milhouse, who tells him that when his mom wants to screw up his dad's life, she calls a lawyer. So Bart takes the advice and goes to a law-firm named "Luvum and Burnham", Family Law. He meets the Blue-Haired Lawyer there, and tells him that he wants a "divorce' from his family. He takes the case.
The next day, after dinner, the Blue Haired Lawyer comes to the Simpson residence to serve Homer with a subpoena, and a plate of crispy bacon, just so that Homer will open the door. When Homer and Marge see that Bart is suing them, they are shocked. Bart declares that he wants to be emancipated. He tells Marge that she has been cool with him, but he has to get away from Homer.
At the trial, BHL makes a strong case for Bart, by proving that Homer swindled Bart (using a doll with its pockets turned out) and that Homer has anger-management issues, citing his continual shouting of "Why you little...!". Finally, Judge Constance Harm delivers the verdict - Bart is emancipated. Homer has to pay Bart half his salary until he can pay off all the money he took from Bart. The next day, Bart, fully packed, prepares to leave. He tells Lisa that he will be staying in a loft somewhere downtown. He gives her a heart-shaped Indian burn to remember him by. Marge pleads with him not to go, but he tells her he has to. He gets in the taxi and pulls away. Homer runs after him shouting, but finally stops and starts crying in the middle of the street. Later, road cones and a "Man Sobbing" sign are put around him as he sobs into the night.
Bart moves into his loft, which seems quite dark and scary, considering it is in downtown. He gets frightened by a rat and runs to the elevator. Though he presses the "down" button, the elevator goes up. Just when he thinks he's going to die, the elevator door opens into a massive apartment owned by skateboard legend Tony Hawk. A big skateboarding party is going on there, with blink-182 supplying the music. Tony greets Bart and welcomes him to the party. Bart no longer feels afraid, now that he is with like-minded people, who like skateboarding, partying and rock music. Bart becomes the envy of all his friends, when Tony himself drops Bart to school the next day.
At home, Marge pours orange juice for the rest of the family and accidentally pours some on the table where Bart's glass would be. Lisa informs them that they are allowed to meet Bart the next day. Marge requests Homer to apologize to Bart and ask him to come home. Homer agrees. The next day, the family goes to meet Bart and see him living it up, with a giant sofa and flat-screen TV, among others. Homer gets a bit mad because Bart is enjoying life with his money. Later, as they have lunch, Homer apologizes to Bart and requests him to come home. Bart accepts the apology, but tells them that he is going on Tony Hawk's Skewed Tour.
At the Skewed Tour, Tony Hawk and other skateboarders do their thing. Homer meets up with Tony and pleads with him to pretend to lose to him (Homer), so that he can make Bart proud of him again. Tony reluctantly agrees and gives Homer a modified skateboard, which does all the stuntwork. Later, Homer challenges Tony to a skateboard match and does a good job, thanks to the skateboard. Tony, unhappy about being showed up by Homer, decides to "take out the thrash". They duel with their skateboards in mid-air, and Tony falls to the ground. Homer speaks to Bart and finally promises Bart that he will never ill-treat him again. Lindsay Naegle approaches Homer and tells him that she likes his style and asks him to star in a commercial. Homer accepts so that he can give the money to Bart. Now Homer is embarrassed when he watched the cartoon, but Bart told him that nobody will remember after 50 years. Fifty years later, Homer is dead, and an old retired Nelson laughs at his grave and coughs.
[edit] Trivia
- It was really The Offspring that was supporting Tony Hawk on the Huck Jam tour, but the writers of the episode would rather have blink-182 in the episode because they were more popular at the time.[citation needed]
- The song that blink-182 is playing is All The Small Things, interestingly the drummer of blink-182 resembles former band mate Scott Raynor rather than the current drummer Travis Barker.
- This episode marks the second time that Nelson has laughed at Homer's grave, the first instance being in "Homer vs. Dignity".
- In the San Francisco Bay Area, the public train system is called BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), and thus "Barting Over" is a local colloquialism meaning "to go (usually to the city) on the Bart train."
- Tony Hawk has stated that guest-staring on The Simpsons was one of his biggest achievements as "it's such a measure of pop culture status, especially when you play as yourself."[citation needed]
- While advertised by Fox as the 300th episode, it was actually the 302nd to be aired. (Strong Arms of the Ma) which aired two weeks prior was the 300th episode.
[edit] Cultural references
- The scene in which Tony Hawk falls to earth from his skateboard at the end of the episode could possibly be a homage to the James Bond film GoldenEye, as it is remarkably similar to the way Alec Trevelyan falls to his death at the end of the movie.
- When Bart is watching his commercial, he comments on the fact he has never been in a commercial before. He then pulls out a Butterfinger bar and eats it. This relates to the fact that he and other Simpsons characters have been in Butterfingers commercials in the past.
- The way that Homer and Tony Hawk fought with their skateboards is a parody of the fights in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-type martial arts movies, and is also reminiscient of Dragonball Z.
- The line "Of all the sites on all the web, I had to click onto his." is a reference to Casablanca (film).
- The scene with Abe Simpson getting his Intravenous and catheter switched is similar to what happened to Joseph Heller's Catch 22 character Soldier in white.
