It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge
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| The Simpsons episode | |
| "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" | |
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| Episode no. | 247 |
| Prod. code | BABF18 |
| Orig. Airdate | May 14, 2000 |
| Show Runner(s) | Mike Scully |
| Written by | Larry Doyle |
| Directed by | Steven Dean Moore |
| Chalkboard | "I cannot hire a substitute student." |
| Couch gag | Animators use a paint-by-numbers canvas and color in to reveal the family members. |
| Guest star | Parker Posey as Becky |
| Season 11 September 26, 1999 – May 21, 2000 |
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| List of all Simpsons episodes... | |
"It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" is the twenty-first episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. It aired on May 14, 2000.
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[edit] Synopsis
Each child in Bart’s class is loaned a video camera for a school project to create a movie. Otto drives the school bus to the drive through where his girlfriend, Becky, works. While hoisting a boombox, he blasts Every Rose Has Its Thorn and proposes. She accepts. On Bart’s suggestion, they decide to have the wedding at the Simpson house and sends out flyers. Marge reluctantly agrees, since she still has everything from Apu's wedding. The wedding is a success up until the point when Otto gets a Poison tribute band to play Nothing but a Good Time. Becky admits to Marge that she hates heavy metal music. At the wedding, Marge suggests to Becky that she gives Otto an ultimatum: it's either her or heavy metal. The wedding is called off as Otto drives off in the school bus with the band. The wedding guests then return the wedding gifts.
Becky stays with the Simpson family, due to the fact that Marge ruined another wedding. Marge consoles her, but begins to worry that her family likes Becky more than her. Eventually, she becomes paranoid that Becky is trying to kill her. Becky and the rest of the family meet without Marge at an ice cream parlour. Marge crashes the party and goes berserk, smashing anything in her grasp. She is arrested and declared insane. She escapes from the courtroom and becomes a notorious fugitive and butt of jokes. When she goes to the library to see who Becky really is, she realises that she is insane. Finally, she returns home, only to find Homer tied up in what looks like an S & M tableau, Lisa's arm's and legs stuck to the wall, Maggie stuck in a cage, and Becky holding a knife in her hands. When she is about to "kill" Homer, Marge snatches the knife from her and strangles her. It turns out that Bart is filming a scene in his movie, but Becky admits she was going to kill Marge and steal her family, but she had no shovel. After looking for a good shovel, she called it off. The doctors show up and shoot a dart into Marge's neck, which doesn't take effect. Homer finally shoots a dart into her to make her fall asleep after she orders Homer to do scrubbing and mopping.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title is a parody of the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
- The plot is a parody of the film The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, and even Patty and Selma mention the title at one point.
- The scene where Otto proposes to Becky by radio is a parody of the famous radio scene in the 1988 movie, Say Anything.
- Krusty's interview scene is a spoof of the "Celebrity Interviews" skit on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Also, the Mad Marge Dancers references the Dancing Lance Itos from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
- At one point in the episode, Principal Skinner mentions after giving the students video cameras, to film their own movies, he says he does not want to see "thirty Blair Witch knockoffs", which is a reference to The Blair Witch Project.
- The music played during the Mad Marge Dancers is Aram Ilich Khachaturian's Sabre Dance.
- This marks the first appearance of Otto's parents, who do not approve of Otto's upcoming wedding, though his father was referenced in a previous episode. Otto's father is an officer in the US Navy, with the highest rank of Admiral. This may be a reference to Jim Morrison, whose father was a naval admiral.
- Homer Sings an alteration of David Bowie's song: Changes (Homer: "Ch-ch-ch-changes! Time to change the oil! Changes! Don't want to be an oily man...").
- Bart tries to create a shockumentary-style clip by kicking out the support for the car Homer is working under while at the same time filming and giving a voice-over.
[edit] Trivia
- Otto has made wedding invitations from cigarette papers - "Homer, look, we're invited to Otto's wedding! Ooh, and such delicate tissue paper. [squinting] Eh? Zigzag?"
[edit] External links
- "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" at the Internet Movie Database
