Difference between revisions of "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"

Revision as of 14:22, December 22, 2009

"Dude, Where's My Ranch?"

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

Plot

When the family does Christmas carols, they sing songs, until they reach the Blue-Haired Lawyer's house. He tells the family that they can't sing Christmas carols, unless they pay a royalty. In response, Homer makes the lyrics for his own Christmas carol. Later, Ned Flanders comes in and tries to help Homer, until Homer kicks him out. Homer finds new inspiration in an anti-Flanders song, Everybody Hates Ned Flanders. He plays the song at Moe's Tavern, and when David Byrne comes in, he likes the song so much, that he wants to produce and record the song. "Everybody Hates Ned Flanders" becomes so popular that even William Shatner does a cover of it. This leads to mass publicity, which annoys the Simpsons, who want to avoid it. They find a brochure for a dude ranch, the Lazy I Ranch, and go there.

The family arrives at the Lazy I Ranch, owned by the Rich Texan, who tells Lisa that the ranch was built on cruelty to animals and oppression of indigenous people, which annoys her. It makes her want to leave, until she meets a cowhand, named Luke Stetson, who shares her views on the ranch. The Family meet a man called Cookie who shows them round and sets out some dinner. Homer and Bart also have their own adventure when they meet a tribe of Native Americans who want a dam removed so they can reclaim their land. They are confronted by beavers, but manage to battle them back, destroy the dam, and give the land back to the Native Americans. Meanwhile, Lisa thinks that Luke is off-limits, because she overhears him on the phone, promising a first dance to a girl, named Clara. When Lisa encounters her, she tricks her into going the wrong way. At the dance, Lisa finds out that Clara is Luke's sister. It's up to Lisa, Bart, and some surprising heroes to save Clara. It was a success, although Lisa was disappointed on Bart for destroying the beaver dam. However, when Lisa comes clean, Luke is offended and they separate. Meanwhile Homer asks Marge what has happed since they went into the car.Marge points to a grave to give an example that Cookie had died the previous Night. As the Simpsons return to Springfield, they hear a self-deprecating cover version of the Andrea True Connection song "More, More, More", (entitled "Moe, Moe, Moe"), on the radio, sung by Moe and produced by David Byrne (who Moe kidnaps earlier in the episode), and turn around to spend another week at the ranch.

Errors

• Flanders is never spelt correctly during the song.
• This episode was featured on The Simpsons Christmas Vol. 2 DVD but it has nothing to do with Christmas except for the scene in the beginning where The Simpsons are singing carols.
• The sound of the footsteps when Clara is running across the log does not match her actual footsteps.

Trivia

• Rabbi Hyman Krustofski makes an appearance in this episode voiced by Dan Castellaneta.

Cultural References

• "Dude, Where's My Car" The title of the episode parodies the famous movie.
• "Misery" When Moe picks up David Byrne after he is badly injured Byrne asks Moe to take him to the hospital and then Moe skips it and Byrne asks why Moe missed it and Moe replies "have you ever seen the movie Misery?". The movie Misery is about a writer who is hurt in a blizzard and is taken in by a crazed fan of his work.
• "More, More, More" The song the Moe Syzslak Connection at the end is at the tune of this connection song.
• When Bart ropes Homer around the neck to save him from the beavers, it's a spoof of the scene in Back to the Future Part III when Marty is roped by the hands.