Difference between revisions of "Kamp Krusty"

Revision as of 14:15, July 21, 2013

This page is under construction. Please improve the article, or discuss improvements on the talk page.

For the location, see Kamp Krusty (location).

"Kamp Krusty"

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

Kamp Krusty is the sixtieth episode of The Simpsons and the first episode of the fourth season.

Synopsis

Bart and Lisa spend six weeks at Kamp Krusty. However, the camp is not what it seems, as Bart and Lisa quickly find out.

Plot

Act I

Bart dreams of the last day of school before summer vacation, whereby he, his fellow students, and the teaching faculty tear down Springfield Elementary School with chainsaws, flamethrowers, a bulldozer, and a wrecking ball. He is awoken by Homer who informs him that it really is the last day of school, much to Bart's joy.
Shortly after, at the breakfast table, Marge reminds Homer of his promise to the children; If they both get a report card of at least a C average, the two of them can spend their summer at Kamp Krusty, a camp run by Krusty the Clown. While Lisa is certain her report card will be glowing, Bart is less than confident. "Now listen boy," Homer begins, "We have an understanding and you better keep your end of it. I don't think I'd be any kind of a father if you got D's and I let you go to Kamp Krusty."
Later that day, Lisa receives her report card, which contains all As except for a B+ in conduct. She brings this to Miss Hoover's attention and rather forcefully tries to get her to change it.
Meanwhile, across the hall, Bart is prancing back and forth as he waits for Mrs Krabappel to complete his report card. Bart tries to flatter her with compliments but fails to woo her enough to reconsider changing his final grades. She hands him his report card and Bart is horrified to see that he has got a D- in every subject. He explains to her that unless he gets a C average he won't be able to attend Kamp Krusty, to which Krabappel replies, "Have a D-elightful summer!" and chuckles.

Bart and Lisa are excited about being able to spend the summer at Kamp Krusty ("The Krustiest Place On Earth"), a summer camp run by Krusty the Clown, but Homer has said that Bart can only go if he gets at least a C average on his report card. At school, Bart finds that Mrs. Krabappel has given him a D- in each subject. On the bus ride home, he uses a marker to change each grade to an A+. Bart presents the card to his dad, but Homer sees through the ruse ("A+?! You don't think very much of me, do you, boy?"). Homer chides Bart for not faking plausible grades ("You know, a D turns into a B so easily. You just got greedy.") but tells Bart he's letting him go to Kamp Krusty anyway, for two reasons: First, Homer sees no reason to make Bart pay for any of Homer's mistakes, and second, Homer didn't really want Bart at the house all summer.

The kids of Springfield all leave for Kamp Krusty. After they arrive, the camp's director, Mr. Black (who licenses the Krusty brand for his camp) announces that Krusty won't be around for a few weeks, and instead the bullies of Springfield Elementary -- Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney—will be serving as counselors and enforcing order. At Kamp Krusty, the cabins are decrepit and vermin-infested, the lake is too dangerous to swim in, and the kids are fed nothing but Krusty Brand Imitation Gruel ("Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference"). Meanwhile, with the older kids gone, Homer and Marge are having a wonderful summer together. Homer has even grown two extra strands of hair and lost a few pounds. Lisa sends a letter to Marge, describing how the camp's arts and crafts are nothing but sweatshops where the kids are forced to make wallets for export, and hikes have become brutal forced marches, but Marge and Homer think she's exaggerating. Bart clings to the hope that Krusty will come and save the kids. Krusty himself, unaware of any of this, approves more shoddy merchandise bearing his name before heading off to Wimbledon.

Mr. Black announces to the campers that Krusty has finally come, but it's just local drunk Barney Gumble dressed as Krusty. At this, Bart has finally had enough: he leads the campers in rebellion, driving out Mr. Black and the bullies and establishing Camp Bart. Channel 6 newscaster Kent Brockman arrives at the camp to report on the revolt. When Homer watches the live broadcast on TV and learns that the rebel leader is Bart, he instantly loses his newly-grown hair and gains back his weight. Brockman says, upon arriving at the scene, that he has been to Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, and that "without hyperbole, this is a million times worse than all of them put together."

Because of the camp crisis, Krusty is called back from Wimbledon in England and comes to the camp to apologize to the kids, saying he was offered "a dumptruck full of money" in exchange for putting his name on the camp. To make it all up to the campers, he offers to take them to the happiest place on Earth: Tijuana. The kids and Krusty have fun together in Mexico, shown in a montage of pictures over the closing credits.

Act II

Act III

Production

As described in the DVD commentary, the Kamp Krusty script was suggested by James L. Brooks as a possible Simpsons movie. However, due to problems with making the story long enough for an 80-minute film, the idea was dropped.^[1]

References

Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Kamp Krusty".