Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie

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Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
Season 4 Episode 6
Production Code	9F03
Original Airdate	November 3, 1992
Written By	John Swartzwelder
Directed By	Rich Moore
Show Runners	Al Jean & Mike Reiss
Special Guests
Blackboard Text	"I will not bury the new kid."[1]

"Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" is the sixth episode of the fourth season and first aired on November 3 1992.

Plot

Marge and Homer go to Parent Night at Springfield Elementary School and Ms. Krabappel tells them that Bart needs more discipline, saying that Bart could become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Marge and Homer return home, where Bart had been wreaking havoc and had broken Grampa's teeth. Bart is sent up to his room without dinner, but eventually Homer breaks and brings him some food. Bart continues to get in trouble, and Homer doesn't enforce any of the punishments he gives out. Marge scolds Homer and he agrees that the next time he punishes Bart, he'll make it stick. Meanwhile, it is announced that there will be an Itchy & Scratchy Movie and in anticipation, Bart buys himself a ticket. Later on, Bart is left to babysit for Maggie and he neglects to watch her and she escapes and takes Homer's car for a drive. Homer angrily blames Bart and punishes him by forbidding him to go see The Itchy & Scratchy Movie. Bart begs to be given a different punishment but Homer refuses.

After the movie's release, Bart becomes jealous of everyone who has been able to see the Movie. After a while, Marge and Lisa beg Homer to change his mind, saying that Bart has been very well behaved. However, Homer refuses to change his mind, saying that if he sticks with the punishment, Bart could become a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Eventually, the Movie closes and Bart tells Homer that he won, to which Homer replies by saying that they both won.

In a flashforward to forty years into the future, Bart, now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Homer are walking down the street and discover that the movie is back in theaters. Homer decides that Bart has learned his lesson and the two watch the movie together.

Production

This episode, like many other Itchy & Scratchy themed episodes, was written by John Swartzwelder, although the plot was originally pitched by Sam Simon During the table read of the script, the first act received many laughs, but the second act got little positive reaction, leading Al Jean to believe that the script would require a huge rewrite, although the third act also received a positive reaction. For The Itchy & Scratchy Movie shown at the end of the episode, Mike Reiss felt that it should top all other Itchy & Scratchy cartoons in terms of violence, and John Swartzwelder wrote the "most disturbing, horrible sequence", none of which was used.

This was the first episode that Rich Moore directed at Film Roman. The shot of the Korean animation studio really angered the Korean animators and Greg Vanzo, the overseas director, was really insulted and almost sent the scene back. Whilst drawing the Steamboat Itchy sequence, the animators jokingly referred to it as "Steamboat Lawsuit". David Silverman explained that he did not know "why [they] weren't sued because there's a shot right out of Steamboat Willie in [the episode].

The episode features the first appearance of Bumblebee Man, who is a caricature of "El Chapulín Colorado" ("The Red Grasshopper"), a character created and portrayed by Mexican television comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños (aka "Chespirito"), and his show consists of simple skits, often involving heavy slapstick. According to the producers whenever they watched Telemundo, this character was always "on", and then they created Bumblebee Man, who is also always "on".

Cultural references

The opening Star Trek film is a parody of how old the crew of the original Star Trek cast looked in the later movies.^[2] The 1928 "Itchy & Scratchy" short "Steamboat Itchy" is a spoof of the 1928 Disney short, Steamboat Willie, the debut of Mickey Mouse.^[3] Lisa's line about Michael Jackson and Dustin Hoffman appearing anonymously in The Itchy & Scratchy Movie is a reference to the fact that both had made guest appearances on The Simpsons using fake names in "Stark Raving Dad" and "Lisa's Substitute", respectively.^[4] Homer is seen listening to "Yummy Yummy Yummy" by The Ohio Express instead of watching the moon landing.^[3] In the flashforward sequence, Homer says "Mmmmm ... solyent green", a reference to the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green.

Reception

During the fourth season, The Simpsons usually aired on a Thursday, but "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" aired on a Tuesday because the executives at Fox had wanted to air an episode during the 1992 presidential election results because they felt it would mean increased ratings.

Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide called it a "superb episode", especially "[Homer]'s suggestion for punishing Bart's misbehaviour is to give him a present, and his trick for avoiding jury duty is 'to say you're prejudiced against all races'." "Steamboat Itchy" is one of Matt Groening's favorite moments in the history of the show.

External links

• "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" at The Simpsons.com
• "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" at TV.com