fbpx
Wikipedia

Bart the General

January 01, 1970

"Bart the General" is the fifth episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 4, 1990.[2][1] In the episode, Bart Simpson enlists Grampa's help to battle local bully Nelson Muntz. Bart unites the neighborhood children against Nelson and defeats him. The episode was directed by David Silverman and was the first to be written by John Swartzwelder.[2]

"Bart the General"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 5
Directed byDavid Silverman
Written byJohn Swartzwelder
Production code7G05[1]
Original air dateFebruary 4, 1990 (1990-02-04)
Episode features
CommentaryMatt Groening
James L. Brooks
David Silverman
Episode chronology
← Previous
"There's No Disgrace Like Home" 		Next →
"Moaning Lisa"
The Simpsons season 1
List of episodes

Plot edit

Bart gets into a fight with Nelson Muntz, the school bully, after Nelson's friends stomp on a box of cupcakes that Lisa baked for Miss Hoover's birthday party. Nelson beats up Bart after school and warns him to expect the same pummeling the next day. Marge encourages Bart to reason with Nelson, but Homer urges him to bend the rules and fight dirty. Bart follows Homer's advice and gets beaten up again. He turns to the toughest member of the Simpson family, Grampa, who introduces him to Herman, the crazed one-armed proprietor of an army surplus store called Herman's Military Antiques. After Herman teaches him military tactics, Bart declares war on Nelson and his gang of bullies.

Bart enlists all of Nelson's other victims — nearly all of his friends and classmates — and trains them for combat. With Herman commanding from Bart's tree house, Bart leads his forces into battle by ambushing Nelson and his minions. They commence saturation bombing with water balloons, forcing Nelson's thugs to surrender and Nelson to be taken prisoner, who threatens to beat up Bart as soon as he is untied. Herman drafts an armistice that states that Nelson will retain his honorary position and name but not hold any actual power. After Bart and Nelson sign the treaty, Marge serves cupcakes and peace prevails.

During the epilogue, Bart tells the audience that contrary to the events of the episode, war is neither glamorous nor fun, and states that there are no winners and very few good wars. He also advises that the audience visit their local library for more information about war.

Cast edit

Production edit

 
Harry Shearer based the voice of Herman, a character introduced in this episode, on that of George H. W. Bush.

This episode was running too long to use the normal opening sequence and therefore did not feature a chalkboard gag or a couch gag. Instead, it just cut to an image of the Simpson house.[4] David Silverman was the director and was somewhat stressed, because he was doing storyboards for this episode while also directing "Bart the Genius".[4] Originally, he had planned to use the song "War" by Edwin Starr in the episode. The plans were dropped when they decided the song did not really fit the story.[4] John Swartzwelder wrote the episode, his first on the show. The episode had problems with the censors, who did not want the characters to say "family jewels" on prime time television.[5] The producers ignored the notes and "family jewels" remained in the episode. This act of attempted censorship was reflected in the part where Grampa Simpson writes a letter complaining of how sexualized television has become and gives a list of words he never wants to hear on television again, one of which is the phrase "family jewels".

Two new characters were introduced in this episode. The first, Nelson Muntz, remains a frequently used recurring character.[6] Voice actress Dana Hill was originally assigned to play Nelson and was present at the table read, but not at the recording session (for unknown reasons). Nancy Cartwright was then assigned the role.[7] The second character, Herman, has been used far less.[6] The design of Herman, with the exception of his missing arm, was inspired by writer John Swartzwelder. His voice, as performed by Harry Shearer, was partly inspired by George H. W. Bush.[5] The original idea for Herman was for him to have a differing story for the loss of his arm with every appearance.[5]

Cultural references edit

The episode featured several references to war films. Several lines of dialogue, Bart slapping one of his soldiers for "being a disgrace", and the music was lifted directly from the 1970 film Patton, composed by Jerry Goldsmith. Fox owned the rights to this film, so it was no problem to use the soundtrack.[5] The marching sequence[6] and the silhouettes of the children climbing the jungle gym against the setting sun are a nod to Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film Full Metal Jacket. The Longest Day from 1962 is also referenced.[4] The episode parodies the famous sailor kissing a girl in Times Square photograph taken on V-J Day, where a random boy in a sailor suit kisses Lisa, before she slaps him in the face. Bart concludes the episode by saying the only "good wars" are the American Revolution, World War II, and the Star Wars trilogy.[8]

Reception edit

In its original American broadcast, "Bart the General" finished 31st place in the weekly ratings for the week of January 29 – February 4, 1990 with a Nielsen rating of 14.3. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week.[9]

Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, said: "Some good lines and setpieces aside – we love Bart's fantasy of death at Nelson's hands – this episode nevertheless feels a bit unsure of itself, particularly towards the end."[6] In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck rated the episode a 3 (of 5) and called it "another episode that helped to propel Bart's popularity into the stratosphere ..."[10]

Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that the episode "remains a primitive example of The Simpsons, but it's a reasonably amusing and entertaining experience", adding that the episode "lacks the subtlety and cleverness found on later episodes, but it was onto something".[11] Matt Groening notes on the commentary track that he finds it strange how controversial this episode seemed at the time of its release. Today, they would go a lot further and to him this episode now seems harmless.[5] The episode's reference to Full Metal Jacket was named the eleventh greatest film reference in the history of the show by Nathan Ditum of Total Film.[12]

Use in scientific research edit

"Bart the General" and Seinfeld's "The Tape" were used in a Dartmouth College experiment to study brain activity in relation to humorous moments in television shows. The results were published in a 2004 issue of the academic journal Neurolmage. The researchers noted, "During moments of humor detection, significant [brain] activation was noted in the left posterior middle temporal gyrus ... and left inferior frontal gyrus."[13]

Home media edit

The episode was released first on home video in the United Kingdom, as part of a VHS release titled The Simpsons Collection; the episode was paired with season one episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home".[14] It was released in the US on the VHS release The Best of The Simpsons, Vol. 2 (1997), paired with "Moaning Lisa".[15] It was later re-released in the US in a collector's edition boxed set of the first three volumes of The Best of The Simpsons collections.[16] It was re-released in the UK as part of a VHS boxed set of the complete first season, in November 1999.[17] The episode's debut on the DVD format was as a part of The Simpsons season one DVD set, which was released on September 25, 2001. Groening, Brooks, and Silverman participated in the DVD's audio commentary.[18] A digital edition of the series' first season, including the episode, was published December 20, 2010 in the United States through Amazon Video and iTunes.[19]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Groening 2010, p. 33.
  2. ^ a b Groening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia (eds.). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN 98141857. OCLC 37796735. OL 433519M..
  3. ^ "The Simpsons: Bart the Genius: Full Cast & Crew". IMDb. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Silverman, David (2001). The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the General" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  5. ^ a b c d e Groening, Matt (2001). The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the General" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  6. ^ a b c d Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Bart the General". BBC. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
  7. ^ Cartwright, Nancy (2000). My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy. New York City: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-8600-5.
  8. ^ Chernoff, Scott (July 24, 2007). . Star Wars.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
  9. ^ "'ROSEANNE' GRABS EARLY SWEEPS LEAD". Orlando Sentinel. Associated Press. February 8, 1990. p. E8.
  10. ^ Grelck, David B. (September 25, 2001). . WDBGProductions. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  11. ^ Colin Jacobson. "The Simpsons: The Complete First Season (1990)". DVD Movie Guide. from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2008.
  12. ^ Ditum, Nathan (June 6, 2009). "The 50 Greatest Simpsons Movie References". GamesRadar. from the original on June 22, 2009. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  13. ^ qtd. in Keay Davidson. "So these scientists go into a lab to see what's funny ... [and] find gender differences in how humor affects the brain." San Francisco Chronicle. November 21, 2005. A1.
  14. ^ "The Simpsons - Bart the General (1989)". Amazon UK. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  15. ^ The Best of The Simpsons, Vol. 1 - Bart the General/ Moaning Lisa. Amazon.com. ASIN 6304561857.
  16. ^ The Best of The Simpsons, Boxed Set 1. Amazon.com. ASIN 6304561873.
  17. ^ "The Simpsons - Season 1 Box Set [VHS]". Amazon UK. November 29, 1999. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  18. ^ . TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
  19. ^ "The Simpsons Season 1 - Amazon Video". Amazon. Retrieved April 21, 2011.

Bibliography edit

External links edit

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Bart the General.

January 01, 1970
bart, general, fifth, episode, american, animated, television, series, simpsons, originally, aired, united, states, february, 1990, episode, bart, simpson, enlists, grampa, help, battle, local, bully, nelson, muntz, bart, unites, neighborhood, children, agains. Bart the General is the fifth episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 4 1990 2 1 In the episode Bart Simpson enlists Grampa s help to battle local bully Nelson Muntz Bart unites the neighborhood children against Nelson and defeats him The episode was directed by David Silverman and was the first to be written by John Swartzwelder 2 Bart the General The Simpsons episodeEpisode no Season 1Episode 5Directed byDavid SilvermanWritten byJohn SwartzwelderProduction code7G05 1 Original air dateFebruary 4 1990 1990 02 04 Episode featuresCommentaryMatt GroeningJames L BrooksDavid SilvermanEpisode chronology Previous There s No Disgrace Like Home Next Moaning Lisa The Simpsonsseason 1List of episodes Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Cultural references 5 Reception 5 1 Use in scientific research 6 Home media 7 References 7 1 Bibliography 8 External linksPlot editBart gets into a fight with Nelson Muntz the school bully after Nelson s friends stomp on a box of cupcakes that Lisa baked for Miss Hoover s birthday party Nelson beats up Bart after school and warns him to expect the same pummeling the next day Marge encourages Bart to reason with Nelson but Homer urges him to bend the rules and fight dirty Bart follows Homer s advice and gets beaten up again He turns to the toughest member of the Simpson family Grampa who introduces him to Herman the crazed one armed proprietor of an army surplus store called Herman s Military Antiques After Herman teaches him military tactics Bart declares war on Nelson and his gang of bullies Bart enlists all of Nelson s other victims nearly all of his friends and classmates and trains them for combat With Herman commanding from Bart s tree house Bart leads his forces into battle by ambushing Nelson and his minions They commence saturation bombing with water balloons forcing Nelson s thugs to surrender and Nelson to be taken prisoner who threatens to beat up Bart as soon as he is untied Herman drafts an armistice that states that Nelson will retain his honorary position and name but not hold any actual power After Bart and Nelson sign the treaty Marge serves cupcakes and peace prevails During the epilogue Bart tells the audience that contrary to the events of the episode war is neither glamorous nor fun and states that there are no winners and very few good wars He also advises that the audience visit their local library for more information about war Cast editDan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson and Grampa Simpson Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson and Receptionist Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson Nelson Muntz and Lewis Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson Harry Shearer as Otto Principal Seymour Skinner Jasper and Herman Susan Blu as Weasel 1 Jo Ann Harris as Weasel 2 Richard and Lewis Pamela Hayden as Milhouse Van Houten and Boy 3 Production edit nbsp Harry Shearer based the voice of Herman a character introduced in this episode on that of George H W Bush This episode was running too long to use the normal opening sequence and therefore did not feature a chalkboard gag or a couch gag Instead it just cut to an image of the Simpson house 4 David Silverman was the director and was somewhat stressed because he was doing storyboards for this episode while also directing Bart the Genius 4 Originally he had planned to use the song War by Edwin Starr in the episode The plans were dropped when they decided the song did not really fit the story 4 John Swartzwelder wrote the episode his first on the show The episode had problems with the censors who did not want the characters to say family jewels on prime time television 5 The producers ignored the notes and family jewels remained in the episode This act of attempted censorship was reflected in the part where Grampa Simpson writes a letter complaining of how sexualized television has become and gives a list of words he never wants to hear on television again one of which is the phrase family jewels Two new characters were introduced in this episode The first Nelson Muntz remains a frequently used recurring character 6 Voice actress Dana Hill was originally assigned to play Nelson and was present at the table read but not at the recording session for unknown reasons Nancy Cartwright was then assigned the role 7 The second character Herman has been used far less 6 The design of Herman with the exception of his missing arm was inspired by writer John Swartzwelder His voice as performed by Harry Shearer was partly inspired by George H W Bush 5 The original idea for Herman was for him to have a differing story for the loss of his arm with every appearance 5 Cultural references editThe episode featured several references to war films Several lines of dialogue Bart slapping one of his soldiers for being a disgrace and the music was lifted directly from the 1970 film Patton composed by Jerry Goldsmith Fox owned the rights to this film so it was no problem to use the soundtrack 5 The marching sequence 6 and the silhouettes of the children climbing the jungle gym against the setting sun are a nod to Stanley Kubrick s 1987 film Full Metal Jacket The Longest Day from 1962 is also referenced 4 The episode parodies the famous sailor kissing a girl in Times Square photograph taken on V J Day where a random boy in a sailor suit kisses Lisa before she slaps him in the face Bart concludes the episode by saying the only good wars are the American Revolution World War II and the Star Wars trilogy 8 Reception editIn its original American broadcast Bart the General finished 31st place in the weekly ratings for the week of January 29 February 4 1990 with a Nielsen rating of 14 3 It was the highest rated show on Fox that week 9 Since airing the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics The authors of the book I Can t Believe It s a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood said Some good lines and setpieces aside we love Bart s fantasy of death at Nelson s hands this episode nevertheless feels a bit unsure of itself particularly towards the end 6 In a DVD review of the first season David B Grelck rated the episode a 3 of 5 and called it another episode that helped to propel Bart s popularity into the stratosphere 10 Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that the episode remains a primitive example of The Simpsons but it s a reasonably amusing and entertaining experience adding that the episode lacks the subtlety and cleverness found on later episodes but it was onto something 11 Matt Groening notes on the commentary track that he finds it strange how controversial this episode seemed at the time of its release Today they would go a lot further and to him this episode now seems harmless 5 The episode s reference to Full Metal Jacket was named the eleventh greatest film reference in the history of the show by Nathan Ditum of Total Film 12 Use in scientific research edit Bart the General and Seinfeld s The Tape were used in a Dartmouth College experiment to study brain activity in relation to humorous moments in television shows The results were published in a 2004 issue of the academic journal Neurolmage The researchers noted During moments of humor detection significant brain activation was noted in the left posterior middle temporal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus 13 Home media editThe episode was released first on home video in the United Kingdom as part of a VHS release titled The Simpsons Collection the episode was paired with season one episode There s No Disgrace Like Home 14 It was released in the US on the VHS release The Best of The Simpsons Vol 2 1997 paired with Moaning Lisa 15 It was later re released in the US in a collector s edition boxed set of the first three volumes of The Best of The Simpsons collections 16 It was re released in the UK as part of a VHS boxed set of the complete first season in November 1999 17 The episode s debut on the DVD format was as a part of The Simpsons season one DVD set which was released on September 25 2001 Groening Brooks and Silverman participated in the DVD s audio commentary 18 A digital edition of the series first season including the episode was published December 20 2010 in the United States through Amazon Video and iTunes 19 References edit a b Groening 2010 p 33 a b Groening Matt 1997 Richmond Ray Coffman Antonia eds The Simpsons A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family 1st ed New York HarperPerennial p 21 ISBN 978 0 06 095252 5 LCCN 98141857 OCLC 37796735 OL 433519M The Simpsons Bart the Genius Full Cast amp Crew IMDb Retrieved January 24 2023 a b c d Silverman David 2001 The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode Bart the General DVD 20th Century Fox a b c d e Groening Matt 2001 The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode Bart the General DVD 20th Century Fox a b c d Martyn Warren Wood Adrian 2000 Bart the General BBC Retrieved January 14 2008 Cartwright Nancy 2000 My Life as a 10 Year Old Boy New York City Hyperion ISBN 0 7868 8600 5 Chernoff Scott July 24 2007 I Bent My Wookiee Celebrating the Star Wars Simpsons Connection Star Wars com Archived from the original on July 24 2011 Retrieved August 28 2011 ROSEANNE GRABS EARLY SWEEPS LEAD Orlando Sentinel Associated Press February 8 1990 p E8 Grelck David B September 25 2001 The Complete First Season WDBGProductions Archived from the original on February 2 2009 Retrieved September 15 2011 Colin Jacobson The Simpsons The Complete First Season 1990 DVD Movie Guide Archived from the original on August 21 2008 Retrieved August 29 2008 Ditum Nathan June 6 2009 The 50 Greatest Simpsons Movie References GamesRadar Archived from the original on June 22 2009 Retrieved November 23 2021 qtd in Keay Davidson So these scientists go into a lab to see what s funny and find gender differences in how humor affects the brain San Francisco Chronicle November 21 2005 A1 The Simpsons Bart the General 1989 Amazon UK Retrieved April 21 2011 The Best of The Simpsons Vol 1 Bart the General Moaning Lisa Amazon com ASIN 6304561857 The Best of The Simpsons Boxed Set 1 Amazon com ASIN 6304561873 The Simpsons Season 1 Box Set VHS Amazon UK November 29 1999 Retrieved April 21 2011 The Simpsons The Complete 1st Season TVShowsOnDVD com Archived from the original on May 25 2011 Retrieved April 21 2011 The Simpsons Season 1 Amazon Video Amazon Retrieved April 21 2011 Bibliography edit Groening Matt October 28 2010 Richmond Ray Gimple Scott M McCann Jessie L Seghers Christine Bates James W eds Simpsons World The Ultimate Episode Guide Seasons 1 20 1st ed HarperCollins ISBN 9780061711282 External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Bart the General nbsp The Simpsons portal Bart the General episode capsule The Simpsons Archive Bart the General at IMDb nbsp Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bart the General amp oldid 1219518010, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.