Saddlesore Galactica
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"Saddlesore Galactica" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons' eleventh season. The episode aired on February 6, 2000.
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Plot
Mr. Largo is helping the Springfield Elementary School band prepare for their big performance at the state fair. After a suggestion by Lisa that they are doing the same old song, they perform a different song which is James Brown's "Living in America". They perform the song, but lose to Ogdenville Elementary School, who perform "Stars and Stripes Forever" using red, white and blue glowsticks to form a flag, which was against the rules as the competition forbid use of visual aids. Meanwhile, Homer enjoys Bachman-Turner Overdrive. After they win, Lisa accuses Ogdenville of cheating, later writing a letter to President Clinton. At the fair, Homer and Bart see a horse named Duncan being forcefully made to dive from a diving board. Chief Wiggum claims that this is a case of extreme animal cruelty and asks whether Duncan's owner has a permit for said crime. After the man flees, Wiggum announces that someone can either adopt Duncan or let him go to the dog food factory. Bart asks Homer to take Duncan home, Marge ponders about the idea and the Comic Book Guy points out that (in the episode "Lisa's Pony") the family already had a horse, which forced Homer to work extremely long night shifts at Apu's store. Regardless of what he says, they take Duncan home and, just as they did in the past, struggle to pay for his needs. It costs them $500 a week to keep him, but Homer and Bart try to think of a way that Duncan can make money to help offset the costs of keeping him.
Duncan makes an excellent placekicker, but NFL league rules forbid horses from competing. After Homer denounces the rules, Bart discovers that Duncan is fast and suggests that he should be train to be a racehorse. Homer enters Duncan at Springfield Downs, with Bart (in pajamas) as the jockey. They lose as Duncan refuses to leave the stall until the last minute. Homer and Bart find a new strategy for Duncan to win, by making him into a Dennis Rodman look-alike, renaming him "Furious D", complete with a leather jacket, a new multi-coloured mane and a nose ring. He intimidates the other horses by headbutting several of them, and he and Bart win the race. They go on to win a series of races until Homer discovers the secret lair of the losing jockeys. They reveal themselves to be magical elf-like creatures who want him to quit the upcoming race. They threaten to eat his brain if he doesn't comply. At the Springfield Derby, Duncan surprisingly wins the race, and the furious jockeys chase after Bart and Homer. Marge and Lisa foil the jockeys by spraying them with water. President Clinton comes to see Lisa at home and presents her with a plaque, saying that Ogdenville were wrong to use glowsticks and that Springfield Elementary's band are the true champions. He also gives Lisa a moral lesson "If things don't go your way, just keep complaining until your dreams come true" Marge complains that this is a lousy lesson, to which the President replies "hey, I'm a pretty lousy President".
Cultural references
- The episode title references Battlestar Galactica.
- The episode stars the band Bachman-Turner Overdrive and refers to a band with initials ELP, possibly Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
- In the recital, the Springfield elementary school band played James Brown's "Living in America". Bart said about Lisa "she's a sax machine", referring to her saxophone, but sounds like "Sex Machine", another of James Brown's songs.
- The band practice scene featured a young character who both resembled and talked much like Frank Sinatra.
- The elf-jockeys living near the chocolate cascade are a parody of the Oompa-Loompa from the book (and films) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
- The sequence in which the jockeys tell Homer to lose the race is similar to the dream sequence in Fiddler On The Roof.
- The song playing in the background during the montage of Furious D winning is reminiscent of "The Distance" by Cake.
- After Furious D had just won another race, Homer notes that he has more trophies than the Pope and Wayne Gretzky combined.
- The name "Furious D" is a possible reference to rock band Tenacious D, as noted in The Simpsons Beyond Forever.
- Homer says he fought at La Choy, Chun King, and Margaret Cho in Vietnam. La Choy and Chun King are actually American brands of Chinese food, and Margaret Cho is a comedienne.
Criticism
Some Simpsons fans have an extremely low opinion of "Saddlesore Galactica". The episode contains numerous meta-humor and self-referential jokes. Examples of this include the blatant recycling of themes and ideas from earlier episodes (which is pointed out repeatedly by Comic Book Guy, who incidentally is also wearing a "worst episode ever" t-shirt), the plot twists (such as the jockeys being magical elf creatures), and the over-the-top caricaturing of the main characters (such as Lisa taking up an issue and protesting against it). This has led some to be believe that it is in fact a joke and a parody of various fan criticisms of the show, which many fans considered to be insulting towards them. [1]