Bart-Mangled Banner

Last updated

"Bart-Mangled Banner"
The Simpsons episode
Bart-Mangled Banner.png
Bart accidentally mooning the flag
Episode no.Season 15
Episode 21
Directed by Steven Dean Moore
Written by John Frink
Production codeFABF17
Original air dateMay 16, 2004 (2004-05-16)
Episode features
Couch gag The couch is replaced by a giant microwave. Someone puts a tray inside and presses a button. The Simpsons rise from the tray as it cooks.
CommentaryAl Jean
John Frink
Matt Selman
Don Payne
Dana Gould
Michael Price
Tom Gammill
Max Pross
Steven Dean Moore
Episode chronology
 Previous
"The Way We Weren't"
Next 
"Fraudcast News"
The Simpsons (season 15)
List of episodes

"Bart-Mangled Banner" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons . It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 16, 2004.

Contents

Plot

Homer and Marge take the kids to get their shots. Just before Dr. Hibbert is about to inject Bart, he escapes. After a chase through town, Hibbert finally outsmarts Bart, by having Barney (as well as Moe) wear a latex mask, and finally injects him. However, the shot causes Bart's earholes to swell shut as a side effect, making him temporarily deaf and Hibbert also tricks Homer into signing a malpractice waiver. Marge wants Bart to stay home from school; however, Bart wants to play in the donkey basketball game.

While at the Springfield Elementary School donkey basketball game, Bart taunts a donkey with a carrot, unaware that the school is reciting the national anthem. After he places the carrot in his shorts, the donkey takes it and literally eats Bart's shorts. While Bart is bent over to keep his privates covered with his shirt, the US flag is put up behind him and a photo is taken, which results in the crowd assuming that Bart is mooning the US flag. Shortly afterwards, the Springfield Shopper takes the story and completely turns it around, making it seem as if Bart had deliberately mooned the flag. Marge tries to tell Skinner that Bart was deaf at the time; however, because of Bart's history of similar pranks, Skinner is not convinced. Bart and his family soon are hated by all of Springfield.

The Simpsons are later asked to appear on a talk show and tell their side of the story. Homer advises Marge to not take it too far. However, due to the several misunderstandings, the host declares that Springfield hates the US. The US then turns their back on Springfield (though there is widespread celebration in praise of Springfield in the Middle East), so Mayor Quimby frantically decides to change the name of Springfield to "Libertyville." Everything in town is quickly patriotized; the traffic light colors are changed to red, white, and blue, and everything costs $17.76. [1] While at church, Lisa speaks her opinion about patriotism, and the Simpsons are arrested by SWAT, in violation of the "Government Knows Best Act."

The Simpsons are taken to the "Ronald Reagan Re-education Center", a prison which houses Michael Moore, the Dixie Chicks, Elmo, Al Franken, and Bill Clinton, as well as a man who moans "My only crime was driving a van full of explosives in from Canada!". Marge feels bad that she took it too far after Homer warned her not to. With some help from the last-registered Democrat, the Simpsons escape the prison (in a parody of the escape scene from The Blues Brothers), but realize that the re-education center is actually Alcatraz Prison. [1] While they are swimming to land (choosing to swim to Oakland instead of San Francisco because they "aren't made of money"), they are picked up by a French freighter and are brought to France. They are well adjusted, but still miss the United States, mainly because it is where all their stuff is. They then move back to the US dressed as 19th century immigrants from Europe where Homer speaks of plans of integration into the United States.

Cultural references

Previous episode references

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayor Quimby</span> Fictional character from The Simpsons franchise

Mayor Joseph Fitzgerald O'Malley Fitzpatrick O'Donnell The Edge "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed "Diamond Joe", is a recurring character from the animated sitcom television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in the episode "Bart Gets an 'F'". Quimby is the mayor of Springfield, and is a composite parody of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and certain other members of the Kennedy family who have entered politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dr. Hibbert</span> Fictional character and singer from The Simpsons franchise

Dr. Julius Michael Hibbert, M.D. is a recurring character on the television animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is Springfield's most prominent medical professional. Although he has a kind and warm persona, he is also often characterized as greedy and lacking in empathy. His signature character trait is his often-inappropriate chuckling, which is generally cued by misfortune rather than something genuinely amusing. The character was voiced from his 1990 debut by Simpsons regular Harry Shearer, and since a recasting of all of the show's non-white characters, by Kevin Michael Richardson from 2021.

"Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" is the fourteenth episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 9, 2003. In this episode, the Simpsons' home becomes uninhabitable because of airplane noise. Krusty is elected to Congress and eventually has a bill passed to change the flight path.

"Treehouse of Horror III" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 29, 1992. The third annual Treehouse of Horror episode, it features segments in which Homer buys Bart an evil talking doll, Homer is a giant ape which is captured by Mr. Burns in a parody of the 1933 version of King Kong, and Bart and Lisa inadvertently cause zombies to attack Springfield.

"Treehouse of Horror VII" is the first episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 27, 1996. In the seventh annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Bart discovers his long-lost twin, Lisa grows a colony of small beings, and Kang and Kodos impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in order to win the 1996 presidential election. It was written by Ken Keeler, Dan Greaney, and David X. Cohen, and directed by Mike B. Anderson. Phil Hartman provided the voice of Bill Clinton. This is the first Treehouse of Horror episode to be a season premiere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XI</span> 1st episode of the 12th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XI" is the first episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, the 249th episode overall, and the eleventh Halloween episode. The episode features "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad", "Scary Tales Can Come True" and "Night of the Dolphin" and was written by Rob LaZebnik, John Frink and Don Payne and Carolyn Omine and directed by Matthew Nastuk.

"Whacking Day" is the twentieth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 29, 1993. The episode revolves around the fictional holiday "Whacking Day", celebrated annually, in which the citizens of Springfield drive snakes into the town square, then fatally club them. After Bart is expelled from school as punishment for injuring Superintendent Chalmers, he applies the knowledge he gains from Marge's homeschooling to help Lisa expose the fraudulent and cruel nature of the holiday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simple Simpson</span> 19th episode of the 15th season of The Simpsons

"Simple Simpson" is the nineteenth episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 2, 2004 and was the final episode to be directed by Jim Reardon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XIII</span> 1st episode of the 14th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror 13" is the first episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the thirteenth Treehouse of Horror episode. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 3, 2002, three days after Halloween. It is the second Halloween episode to have a zombie related segment, and the last Halloween to have three separate writers credited for writing three stories. It is also the first Halloween episode to be titled Treehouse of Horror in the opening credits, as all prior Halloween episodes were referred to as The Simpsons Halloween Special. It is the first of these episodes not to have a Roman numeral used in its opening title.

Politics is a common theme in the animated sitcom The Simpsons, and this phenomenon has had some crossover with real American politics. The local politics of the fictional town Springfield feature prominently in many episodes, and character archetypes represent different political concepts within a community. The show satirizes ideas across the political spectrum, though overall it is described as having left-wing and anti-establishment bias. Politicians have been caricatured in many episodes of The Simpsons, including an episode following President George H. W. Bush in response to his public criticism of the show. References to the show also feature in real-world politics. The Simpsons addresses contemporary issues including substance abuse, the economy, education, environmentalism, gun politics, health politics, LGBT rights, immigration, and criminal justice. Episodes of the show have also caused international political dispute for its portrayal of foreign countries.

"Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays" is the eighth episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 4, 2004. After Lindsay Naegle forms an anti-children group, Marge fights back with a group led with Mr. Burns' power. It was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Bob Anderson.

"This Little Wiggy" is the eighteenth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 22, 1998. It was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Neil Affleck. The episode sees Ralph Wiggum becoming friends with Bart. Phil Hartman guest stars as recurring character Troy McClure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XVI</span> 4th episode of the 17th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XVI" is the fourth episode of the seventeenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 6, 2005. In the sixteenth annual Treehouse of Horror, the Simpsons replace Bart with a robot son after Bart falls into a coma, Homer and various other characters find themselves on a reality show where Mr. Burns hunts humans for sport, and costumed Springfieldians become whatever they are wearing, thanks to a witch who was disqualified from a Halloween costume contest.

"Marge in Chains" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 6, 1993. In the episode, Marge is arrested for shoplifting after forgetting to pay for an item at the Kwik-E-Mart. The family hires attorney Lionel Hutz to defend her at trial, but she is found guilty and sentenced to 30 days in prison. Homer and the rest of the family have trouble coping without Marge.

"Sideshow Bob Roberts" is the fifth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 9, 1994. Kelsey Grammer returns in his fourth major appearance as Sideshow Bob, who, in this episode, wins the Springfield mayoral election through electoral fraud to get revenge on Bart. The episode received a favorable reception in the media, including a positive mention in I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide and Green Bay Press-Gazette. A review in Press & Sun-Bulletin placed the episode as the seventh best of the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marge Gamer</span> 17th episode of the 18th season of The Simpsons

"Marge Gamer" is the seventeenth episode of the eighteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 22, 2007. It was written by J. Stewart Burns and featured a guest appearance from Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Homer of Seville</span> 2nd episode of the 19th season of The Simpsons

"Homer of Seville", also known as "The Homer of Seville", is the second episode of the nineteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 30, 2007. In the episode, Homer gains an operatic ability to sing following an accident, and becomes a professional and famous opera star. While running from a mob of crazed fans, he is saved by Julia, a beautiful and dangerous stalker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papa Don't Leech</span> 16th episode of the 19th season of The Simpsons

"Papa Don't Leech" is the sixteenth episode of the nineteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired in the United States on April 13, 2008 on the Fox network. It features the return of Lurleen Lumpkin from the third season episode "Colonel Homer", after an absence of sixteen years. The Dixie Chicks also appear as themselves. The episode was written by Reid Harrison and directed by Chris Clements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XX</span> 4th episode of the 21st season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XX" is the fourth episode of the twenty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Mike B. Anderson and Matthew Schofield and was written by Daniel Chun. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 18, 2009.

References

  1. 1 2 Kane, Astrid (January 27, 2023). "Five Times The Simpsons Told Big Tech: 'Eat My Shorts!'". The San Francisco Standard . Retrieved February 4, 2024.