Difference between revisions of "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere"

Revision as of 19:39, December 22, 2009

"We're on the Road to D'ohwhere"

Episode Information Showrunner: [[{{{showrunner}}}]]

We're on the Road to D'ohwhere is the eleventh episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons.

Synopsis

When Bart finds the Principal Skinner's key to the steam tunnels while Skinner admires his new car, Bart and Milhouse fool around in the tunnels and trigger a massive escape of steam that first explodes the school heaters, rots the band's instruments, and causes frogs for dissection to come alive and attack the students, along with rotting the whole school. Skinner proposes that Bart be sent off to Upward Bound behavioral modification camp. Meanwhile, Moe announces that all of his frequent barflies will be going to Las Vegas, courtesy of him. Homer takes Bart to the airport to send him to the camp in northwest Oregon (preferably flying to Portland). But then he discovers that Bart is on the no-flight list and needs to be driven to the camp, thus excluding him from Moe's Vegas trip. After driving to a roadside diner, Bart escapes, and Homer nearly drives off a cliff.

Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa have a yard sale. It is a total flop until Otto discovers that Marge is also selling the family's expired prescription drugs. Marge makes lots of money selling prescription drugs; Chief Wiggum arrests her and puts her in jail.

Homer gets Bart to the camp, but, after a moral dilemma, he decides to pick up Bart and take Bart to Vegas with him. In Vegas, Homer gets in a fight with a pit boss, loses track of Bart, and is thrown in Nevada State Prison. The episode ends with Lisa receiving phone messages from both her parents, asking for bail money. She sighs, telling Maggie that she will get a job tomorrow.

Trivia

• When Homer refers to Oregon as "the birthplace of Matt Groening," he mispronounces the show creator's last name as "Gro-ning," a spoof on the common error. The Simpsons show creator's last name is correctly pronounced "Gray-ning."
• This episode disproves the common fan theory that Springfield is in Oregon because Homer must drive to Oregon from Springfield's location.
• Birch Barlow (the show's parody of Rush Limbaugh) can be seen at Marge's "garage sale" buying drugs, a parody of Limbaugh's drug addiction.
• Myra, Principal Skinner's secretary, makes her first appearance in this episode. Her voice sounds similar to the late Doris Grau who voiced Lunch Lady Doris
• Serious Homer is dressed in Homer's conductor uniform from "Marge vs. the Monorail".
• Further, the rings circling Fun Homer are a parody of the energy cage rings that encircled General Zod and his two minions at the beginning of Superman II.

• On the Simpsons' website; the simpsons.com it stated that this episode aired on the same date but originally in 2005. This has since been corrected.
• Homer says during a conversation with Bart: "I'm 38 years old, driving a crappy car, with a son who doesn't respect me, and I'm one Snickers pie away from losing my foot to diabetes." This unusually dark statement was arguably out of character for The Simpsons and Homer, who usually takes a happy-go-lucky approach to life and who shies away from serious discussion with his son. Also, Homer has usually been identified as 39 years old in recent episodes.
• Skinner's car is seen as a pre-owned Toyota Camry, which Skinner quotes that 1995 was a fine year for Camrys, even though his spent three years in a lake which he says while admiring it in the school parking lot. It's never seen again after the episode, according to the episode guide it says that the steam leak destroyed it with the school.

Cultural References

• We're on the Road to D'ohwhere is a take on the Talking Heads song Road to Nowhere. It may also refer to the famous series of Bob Hope/Bing Crosby Road to... movies, which have been spoofed twice by Family Guy. This is at least the third time that the Talking Heads have been referenced by the Simpsons, not including "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
• The song the band class plays is "Louie, Louie".
• The song Flanders sings is the chorus from the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.
• Intellectual Homer, who has been killed by Serious Homer, has written on the floor in his own blood "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". This is the famous statement of Ernst Haeckel's recapitulation theory about the similarity of the embryonic development of organisms to its evolutionary history. Ironically, it has been debunked as a scientific principle. Presumably, Intellectual Homer wrote this before it was debunked, a testement to how long he had been dead.

Quotes

• Homer: D'OHHHHHH! (after hearing that Bart can only travel to Oregon via car)
  (D'oh echoes to Moe's)
  Carl: Oh, dang, Homer ain't comin'.
  Nelson: Haw, haw!
  Carl: And Nelson saw something funny! audio clip
• Homer: Did you know that in Massachusetts it's legal for a guy to marry his son?
• Lisa: Well Maggie, I always knew it would someday boil down to just you and me; I'll look for work in the morning.
• Pilot (over PA): Welcome to Atlanta. Please keep your seat belt on until we've come to a complete stop.
  Bart: No one tells Bart Simpson what to do! (unbuckles seat belt, which sets off an alarm)
  Pilot (over PA): Thanks a lot, Row 33 C! Now we have to fly back to Minneapolis and I'm very tired!
  (everyone groans as the plane makes a U-turn and takes off again)
• Waylon Smithers: How much for this estrogen?
  Marge: But that's a female replacement hormone.
  Smithers: Uh-huh, it's for a friend who's trapped in the body of another friend.
• Homer: I'll have the smiley face breakfast special. Uhh, but could you add a bacon nose? Plus bacon hair, bacon mustache, five o'clock shadow made of bacon bits and a bacon body.
  Waitress: How about I just shove a pig down your throat?
  (Homer looks excited)
  Waitress: I was kidding.
  Homer: Fine, but the bacon man lives in a bacon house!
  Waitress: No he doesn't! audio clip
• (inside Homer's head)
  Fun Homer: Aw, Come on, Serious Homer, lemme out! We can get a monkey drunk and push him down the stairs!
  Serious Homer: (whacks Fun Homer with his gun) I'll kill you, the way I killed Intellectual Homer!
• Milhouse: Wow, the valve room. Now we can leave without touching a valve. What a story that will be!
• Skinner: To help show the seriousness of Bart's offense, Superintendent Chalmers will be joining by video link.
  Chalmers: And joining me by video link, State Comptroller Atkins.
  Atkins: Can we move this along? I'm attending an important conference here in Scottsdale.
  Chalmers: You're in Scottsdale? I'm in Scottsdale! The Hilton. Room 381.
  Atkins: Get out! I'm in 502! Hey, do you guys have any ice buckets down there?
  Chalmers: No, we've been using shower caps. (Skinner turns off the TV) Skinner!
  Homer: (Homer and Bart laugh) You made that TV show really mad.
• Carl: But why you being so generous? You're usually so stingy and rat like.
  Moe: Yeah well you remember that time I tried to hang myself and the rope broke? Well, I sued the rope company and I got a huge settlement...and a new rope!
• (Homer's car is just hanging over a cliff)
  Bart: If I help you, what are you gonna do to me?
  Homer: Shower you with love, because this experience has taught me just how precious you are. (Bart pushes the car down) I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOUR WHOLE FAMILY!! (Bart moves the car up, threatening to send Homer over the cliff) Kidding, I'm kidding. We can do that; we have a special friendship. (car down) I'M GONNA DOUBLE KILL YOU!! THEN I'M GONNA BURY YOU IN A SHALLOW GRAVE!! THEN I'LL DIG YOU UP AND KILL YOU AGAIN!! THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF A SHALLOW GRAVE!! (car up) You sweet little angel, I'm (car down) GONNA RIP YOUR HEAD OFF AND SPIT (car up) down your adorable little neck, (car down) because I WANNA SMASH YOUR LITTLE STUPID HEAD!! (car up) I love you; we'll go on a fishing trip. (car down) BUT FIRST, I'M GONNA PUT YOU ON A SAW MILL AND PUNCH YOUR LITTLE FACE OUT!! THAT'S WHAT I'M GONNA DO!! audio clip
• Jimbo: Uh, I'm here for the, um...yard sale.
  Marge: But that was yesterday.
  Jimbo: Oh right, "yard sale".
  Marge: What are you talking about?
  Jimbo: Can I buy some pills?
  Marge: Well, maybe someone else can help you, because I'm not a drug grocer. (closes door, then hears knocking) Oh, I'm out of drugs! See how much money I've made! (sees Chief Wiggum at the door) (gasp) Chief Wiggum! Uh, are you still with the police department?
  Wiggum: Save it, Ma Peddle!
  Lou: "Ma Peddle"?
  Wiggum: It's a reference to Ma Kettle, the popular movie character from the '40s.
  Lou: If you have to explain it, it's not good, Chief.
• Bart: Oh, my God! My Dad had a long talk with me about this, but you never believe it until you see it! The cafeteria loading dock! We're having pizza tomorrow.
  Milhouse: I'm gonna have a light breakfast.
• Ralph (after steam engulfs the band room): I have two kinds of wet in my pants.
• Bart (to the restaurant owner): Hey Stavros, there's one guy in bathroom trying to escape without paying.
  Stavros: What? No one escapes here from Stavros!
  Homer: Why you little!... I'm stuck! Somebody's hitting my ass with a thing!
  Stavros: That's a frying pan!
  Homer: Leave your ass, Homer. Leave your ass.

Broadcasting Information

USA/Canada

• 1st Airdate: Sunday, January 29, 2006
• 2nd Airdate: Sunday, May 7, 2006
• 3rd Airdate: Sunday, August 6, 2006

UK

• 1st Airdate: Sunday, February 26, 2006
• 2nd Airdate: Friday, March 3, 2006 (Encore Screening)
• 3rd Airdate: Sunday, April 23, 2006
• 4th Airdate: Tuesday, June 27, 2006
• 5th Airdate: Tuesday, August 8, 2006
• 6th Airdate: Sunday, August 27, 2006

Australia

• 1st Airdate: Tuesday, June 20, 2006