Bart the Genius
| "Bart the Genius" | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |
| File:Bart the Genius.jpg | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 |
| Directed by | David Silverman |
| Written by | Jon Vitti |
| Original air date | January 14, 1990 |
| Episode features | |
| Chalkboard gag | "I will not waste chalk"[1] |
| Couch gag | The family hurries on to the couch, and Bart is flung into the air. He comes down during the shot of the TV.[2] |
| Commentary | Matt Groening James L. Brooks David Silverman Jon Vitti |
"Bart the Genius" is the second episode of The Simpsons' first season, which originally aired on the Fox network on January 14, 1990. It was the first episode written by Jon Vitti. It was also the first ever episode to use the signature title sequence, as well as the first regular episode. The episode features Bart Simpson's experiences of life as a genius after he cheats on an intelligence test. It marks the first use of Bart's catchphrase "Eat my shorts." As the second episode produced, directly after the disastrous animation of "Some Enchanted Evening", the future of the series depended on how the animation turned out on this episode.[3] The animation proved to be more acceptable and production continued.[4]
Plot
The Simpsons play a game of Scrabble to help Bart prepare for an upcoming intelligence test. Bart does not take the game seriously. The next day, Bart spray paints an unflattering portrait of Principal Skinner on a school wall, causing Skinner to sentence him to a meeting with his parents. Bart then attempts to take his intelligence test, but finds it too hard. While Mrs. Krabappel is distracted, he switches tests with class brain Martin Prince. When Homer and Marge arrive for their meeting with Principal Skinner, they are informed that the results of the IQ test show Bart to be a genius.
The episode starts with the Simpson family playing a game of Scrabble in order to help Bart prepare for an intelligence test he will take at school the next day. Not taking the game seriously, Bart lays down all his tiles in the order they were placed on his letter stand. He invents the word "Kwyjibo" explaining it as meaning "a big, dumb, balding North American ape, with no chin..." to which Marge adds, "...and a short temper." At this point, Bart is chased around the house by an enraged Homer, who instantly understands that Bart's explanation of a "Kwyjibo" accurately describes him. School psychologist Dr. J. Loren Pryor recommends Bart be sent to a school for gifted children.
Homer is immensely proud of Bart, and encourages him to do well in his new class. However, Bart is immediately out of his league and his new classmates easily surpass him in intelligence. Realizing this, the kids manipulate Bart to cheat him out of his lunch and humiliate him. When Bart attempts to visit his old friends, they mock him for being too intelligent.
At home, Marge insists that the family attend an opera to nurture Bart's supposed intelligence. Bart mocks the opera, making Homer and Lisa laugh, but irritating Marge. Homer and Bart share a game of catch. The next day at school, Bart's chemistry experiment explodes, landing him in another meeting with Dr. Pryor. Bart says he wants to return to his old class, saying that he wishes to study the behavior of less intelligent children. Dr. Pryor leaves him to write a proposal, but Bart is unable to write a convincing one. He confesses to cheating and is sent back to his old class. That night, Bart confesses to Homer that he is not truly gifted, but says that he hopes he and Homer can remain as close as they have been. Homer is furious, and chases Bart upstairs and into his room in a rage.[1][2]
Production
The concept for the episode developed from writer Jon Vitti coming up with a long list of bad things Bart could do and imagining the potential consequences. The only idea that developed into an interesting episode concept was Bart cheating on an IQ test.[5] This idea was based on an incident from Vitti's childhood when a number of his classmates did not take an intelligence test seriously and suffered poor academic treatment because of it. Because Bart was already obviously unintelligent, Vitti reversed the problem for his episode.[6] Vitti used all his memories of elementary school behavior to produce a draft script of 71 pages, substantially above the required length of about 45 pages. It was Vitti's first script for a 30-minute television program.[5] Bart's use of the phrase "Eat my shorts" was intended to reflect his adoption of catchphrases he had heard on TV; the creative team had told Vitti that he should not come up with original taglines for the character.[5] The scene where the family plays Scrabble was inspired by the 1985 cartoon The Big Snit.[7]
Director David Silverman had difficulty devising a legible Scrabble board for the opening scene that would convey the idea that the Simpsons were only able to devise very simple words.[8] The design of Bart's visualization of the math problem was partially inspired by the art of Saul Steinberg. The increasing appearance of numbers in that sequence derived from Silverman's use of a similar tactic when he had to develop a set design for the play The Adding Machine. Each successive scene in the sequence was shorter than the one before it by exactly one frame.[8] The scene where Bart writes his confession was done as one long take to balance the shorter scenes elsewhere in the episode. It was animated in the United States by Dan Haskett.[8] There were a few problems with the finished animation for the episode. The banana in the opening scene was colored incorrectly, as the Korean animators were unfamiliar with the fruit,[7] and the final bathtub scene was particularly problematic, including issues with lip sync. The version in the broadcast episode was the best of several attempts.[8]
The episode was the first to feature the series' full title sequence, including the chalkboard gag and couch gag. Matt Groening developed the lengthy sequence in order to cut down on the animation necessary for each episode, but devised the two gags as compensation for the repeated material each week.[7] Groening, who had not paid much attention to television since his own childhood, was unaware that title sequences of such length were uncommon by that time.[7] As the finished episodes became longer, the production team were reluctant to cut the stories in order to allow for the long title sequence, so shorter versions of it were developed.[8] The episode also introduced the characters Martin Prince and his parents, Richard, Bart's teacher Edna Krabappel and Dr. J Loren Pryor.[2]
Cultural references
In the opening scene, Maggie spells EMCSQU with her blocks, a reference to Albert Einstein's mass-energy equivalence equation. A picture of Einstein also appears on the wall of Dr. Pryor's office.[1] At one point Homer erroneously refers to Einstein as the inventor of the light bulb. Dr. Pryor compares Bart's proposed work among ordinary children to Jane Goodall's study of chimpanzees.[2] Goodall was pleased to be mentioned in the episode, sending the program a letter,[7] and Vitti an autographed copy of her book.[5] The conductor of the opera the family attends is named Boris Csupowski, a reference to animator Gabor Csupo.[1] The opera attended by the family is Carmen, by French composer Georges Bizet; the song that Bart mocks is a famous aria called the Toreador Song.[1]
Reception and legacy
In a 1991 interview, Jon Vitti described "Bart the Genius" as his favorite among the episodes he wrote to that point.[6] James L. Brooks also mentioned the episode among his favorites, saying that "we did things with animation when that happened that just opened doors for us."[9] The show received mail from viewers complaining that the throwing away of a comic book was an incident of censorship.[7] Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, strongly praised the episode calling it "superbly written and directed, often a literal child's-eye view of education, the first Simpsons episode proper is a classic." They went on to say, "these twenty minutes cemented Bart's position as a cultural icon and a hero to all underachievers, and managed a good few kicks at hothouse schools along the way. Especially worthy of note is the sequence where Bart visualises his maths problem, the viewing of which should be a required part of teacher training."[2] Bart's quote of "Well, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't" has been sampled in the song "Deep, Deep Trouble".
In its original American broadcast, "Bart the Genius" finished 47th place in the weekly ratings for the week of January 8–January 14, 1990 with a Nielsen rating of 12.7. It was the second highest rated show on the Fox Network that week.[10]
The invented word "Kwyjibo" inspired the creator of the Melissa worm.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e Richmond, Ray (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers. p. 18. ISBN 0-00-638898-1.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Bart the Genius". BBC. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Brooks, James L. (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Groening, Matt (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c d e Vitti, Jon (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Jankiewicz, Pat. "Jon Vitti." Comic Scene #17, February 1991.
- ^ a b c d e f Groening, Matt (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c d e Silverman, David (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Braun, Kyle. The Simpsons Movie Interviews. Ugo.com. Retrieved on August 5, 2007.
- ^ Buck, Jerry (January 19, 1990). "ABC's 'Roseanne' takes first place in Nielsen ratings". St. Petersburg Times. p. 5D.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help)
External links
- "Bart the Genius" at The Simpsons.com
- "Bart the Genius episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
- "Bart the Genius" at IMDb
- Template:Tv.com episode