Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!

"Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	Season 18
Directed by	Matthew Faughnan
Written by	John Frink
Original air dates	May 13, 2007
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"Pearls are not oyster barf."
Couch gag	The family comes in and sits on the couch. A second family comes and also sits on the couch. Then multiple families come in, and the house overfills with all of them.

"Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!" is the 20th episode of The Simpsons' eighteenth season, which originally aired May 13 2007. It was written by John Frink and directed by Matthew Faughnan. Stephen Hawking guest starred as himself. This episode mark's Police Officer Sergeant Lou's largest role.

Plot

Homer, excited about going to Oktoberfest, is disappointed when he discovers that Marge has tricked him and the kids into going to a Harvest Festival which allows no alcohol. While attempting to leave, Homer accidentally leads the family into a cornfield maze. When the whole family except for Homer manages to find their way out, Santa's Little Helper is called upon by Bart to find Homer. Santa's Little Helper manages to sniff out Homer and drag him out of the maze. Santa’s Little Helper becomes a hero for the first time and the Simpsons, persuaded by Chief Wiggum, enroll him in the Springfield Animal Police Academy, where he’s teamed with Lou, foiling crimes.

Once Santa's Little Helper catches Snake Jailbird, Snake is taken to court, but he is freed when Judge Synder finds out that Santa's Little Helper has violated one of the police codes. This makes the dog jaded, and he returns home growling. As he enters the house Bart surprises him. In response, Santa’s Little Helper bites Bart's left leg and Bart begins to cry. The Simpsons send the dog away to live with Lou.

At Lou's apartment, Santa's Little Helper feels awkward around Lou's girlfriend's dog, a rather beautiful poodle. It grows more awkward as Lou and his girlfriend Charquelle decide to match the dogs together. Santa's Little Helper, whose seldom had girlfriends (he's only had "She's The Fastest" and he impregnated "Rosa Barks"), whines and attempts to hide behind Lou.

As a replacement, Marge buys Bart a huge pet python, which he names "Strangles" (against his mother's advice). Bart takes Strangles to show and tell at school, where Strangles escapes into a school lab and unintentionally knocks over chemicals, causing a toxic cloud. Everyone exits the school except for Bart.

Lou, knowing Santa's Little Helper was missing Bart greatly, let him go and allowed him to rush into the school to save him. Both Santa's Little Helper and Strangles are there to save him, but Bart chooses to be rescued by Santa's Little Helper instead of Strangles. Bart and Santa's Little Helper make amends and Santa's Little Helper goes back to living with the Simpsons. Strangles, feeling remorseful for Bart, lets him go, promising that he will be there for him. The snake becomes adopted by Groundskeeper Willie, who places him in the fire hose coil.

Cultural references

• The episode's title is a reference to the movie Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!.
• Lisa uses the Tremaux's Algorithm to solve the maze, referring to a real-life maze solving method.
• The song played when Santa's Little Helper looks for Homer in the maze is Korn's "Freak on a Leash". The scene follows Santa's Little Helper's path; the video for "Freak on a Leash" follows the path of a bullet.
• Stephen Hawking is seen in a corn maze, saying "This maze is too hard for me." He then flies off in the helicopter attachment.
• During a conversation with Eddie and Lou, Police Chief Wiggum talks about how he misses the McDonald's Shamrock Shake.
• At the end of the episode Groundskeeper Willie says "That'll do, Snake. That'll do." This is a reference to the line "That'll do, pig. That'll do." from the film Babe.
• The theme music from the movie Patton is heard during the animal training scenes.
• The theme music from the television show S.W.A.T. is also heard during the animal training scenes.
• When Bart imagines Santa's little helper as a police dog, its appearance is very similar to the Robocop.
• The plot of the episode is similar to the Family Guy episode: The Thin White Line, in which Brian becomes a police dog.
• Bart's idea of 'burning the corn' is similar to the ending of the movie Children of the Corn
• When Santa's Little Helper becomes a police dog is a reference to the Austrian crime series Inspector Rex.
• When Strangles try to eat the computer, a paper clip shows up on the screen and it says "You are trying to eat me. Need help?" The paper clip is a parody of clippy on Microsoft Word.

Casting

A promotional image for the episode, featuring Rudy Giuliani as a Simpsons character.

Rudy Giuliani was originally announced in the official press release as appearing in this episode. As a result, several images of him recording his part as well as a promotional image of him in Simpsonized form, were released. However in the end, he was not included in the final version of the episode. [1] According to executive producer James L. Brooks in an interview with Charlie Rose, the show was not allowed to use Giuliani's appearance because he had become a presidential candidate.

Giuliani's absence marks the second time during season eighteen that a guest was announced in the official press release but did not appear in the final episode. For the episode Homerazzi, Harry Hamlin and Peter Wolf were announced as guest stars but neither appeared. However, in the Australian showing of the episode (screened on 24 July 2007), a scene with Rudy Giuliani was included giving a commencement address at the police academy.