Difference between revisions of "Bart the Daredevil"

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"Ladies and gentlemen, the ten-year old who's brave and bold, when he's not in class, he's risking his ass, the world's greatest daredevil, Bart Simpson!"

―Announcer in Bart's dream

Bart the Daredevil is the eighth episode of Season 2. It aired on December 6, 1990.

Synopsis

Bart attempts to follow in the footsteps of his hero, a daredevil named Captain Lance Murdock. As part of becoming a daredevil himself Bart does increasingly dangerous stunts leading to his final stunt: jumping the Springfield Gorge.

Plot

Homer and Bart are highly anticipating a trip to the monster truck rally featuring Truck-o-Saurus, a giant robotic dinosaur which ultimately crushes the Simpson family car. The rally's grand finale features a death-defying stunt by "the world's greatest daredevil", Lance Murdock. Despite the fact that the act leaves Murdock badly hurt and hospital-bound, Bart is enamored and dreams of becoming a daredevil.

Bart quickly injures himself during his first skateboard stunt. At the hospital, Dr. Hibbert shows Bart a ward full of children who have been hurt from attempting stunts. Nonetheless, Bart is persistent and continues, jumping over a swimming pool, some animals, and Homer on his hammock. On a class trip to Springfield Gorge, Bart announces that on the coming Saturday he will jump over the gorge. Lisa talks Bart into visiting the hospital to see Murdock, hoping that the daredevil will talk him out of the dangerous stunt. Unexpectedly, however, Murdock supports Bart's plan. In hopes to deter him, Lisa tells the family.

Even after a punishment, several orders, and a "heart-to-heart talk" with Homer, Bart still goes to the gorge and tries to jump it but he is stopped at the last second by Homer. Homer angrily resolves to jump the gorge himself to show Bart what it is like to see a family member needlessly risking their life for no reason. Bart, not wanting to see his father injured, recants his wish to jump the gorge. However, Homer finds himself on Bart's skateboard rolling down the ramp toward the jump. Homer becomes airborne but does not quite make the distance and plummets. He is put into an ambulance via a helicopter, which ultimately rams into a tree, sending Homer down the gorge again, and is eventually taken to the hospital in the same room as Lance Murdock, when he says "You think you've got guts? Try raising my kids!"

Production

The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and directed by Wes Archer. The main inspiration for the episode came from the real-life world famous daredevil, Evel Knievel. The writers were huge fans of Knievel and decided to write an episode about stunts with Bart in the spotlight.

Reception

Matt Groening said in an interview that this episode was his favorite Simpsons episode. This would likely explain why footage of this episode is that which is most often used for the series clip shows. The scene of Homer plummeting down Springfield Gorge has become one of the most used Simpsons clips ever; it was featured in the 1993 episode "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" and referenced in "Treehouse of Horror XIII" to the point in an episode far down the line, many seasons later, Homer is about to flash back on the moment, only to be interrupted by Lisa, who says "Everyone's sick of that memory".

This episode was once again referenced in The Simpsons Movie. There is a scene where Bart and Homer jump over Springfield Gorge on a motorcycle and when they land on the other side, the ambulance from this episode can be seen (still stuck against the tree) in the background. It also ranked #18 in the "TV's Funniest Moments" special by the Museum of Television and Radio. In the episode, the footage of Homer falling down the cliff shows him falling down on the skateboard, bouncing off the cliff and finally landing at the bottom, where the skateboard lands on his head. After being loaded into the ambulance, it crashes into a tree, and the gurney rolls out, and Homer goes over the cliff again. However, when the clip is shown in "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show", additional footage is seen of Homer bouncing down the cliff once again, and after he lands at the bottom, the gurney lands on his head.

The premiere of this episode was cut short as the music video for The Simpsons Sing the Blues song Do the Bartman premiered afterwards. The scene cut was Homer falling down the cliff a second time.

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