Difference between revisions of "Season 4"

"Stark Raving Dad"

Through a series of misunderstandings, Homer is put into a mental hospital and his roommate is a man who talks and sings like Michael Jackson. Everything is cleared up and Homer is released. However, in all the confusion, everyone has forgotten about Lisa's birthday -- including Bart, who didn't even remember to buy a present. To make it up to her, Bart and Michael write and perform a song for Lisa. She enjoys the song and says it's the best present she ever got.

Lisa wins the local competition of an essay contest, earning the family a trip to Washington, D.C. for the finals. Lisa sees Bob Arnold (her own representative) taking a bribe. Disgusted, she changes her previous uplifting essay into a cynical one denouncing corruption in government in general and Bob Arnold in particular. Her faith in the system is restored when Arnold is arrested and expelled from Congress.

"When Flanders Failed"

Ned Flanders opens the Leftorium, a store specializing in merchandise for left-handed people. Homer thinks it's a stupid idea and secretly wishes for the store to fail and Ned to be humiliated. Homer's wish comes true when business is very slow, and Ned is facing financial ruin and the loss of his house. Homer goes through a change of heart, tells Ned to open the store one more time, and calls every left-handed person he knows to tell them about the Leftorium. They all come to the store the next morning and buy all kinds of left-handed items, and Ned's store is saved.

"Bart the Murderer"

Bart is hired to work in a Mafia bar run by Fat Tony (making his first appearance). Bart is late for work due to having been put in detention by Principal Skinner. Fat Tony announces that he and his men will "meet and greet" Skinner, and shortly after that, Skinner disappears. Both Bart and Fat Tony are accused of Skinner's murder, and at trial Fat Tony tries to pin the murder (and all of his other illegal activities) on Bart. Skinner then re-appears, telling the court that he had an accident at home and was trapped under a pile of newspapers for a week. The case is dismissed and Bart quits his job at Fat Tony's bar.

At the nuclear power plant, Homer prevents a meltdown through sheer luck. He is hailed as a hero, but fears being found out as being only lucky rather than brave or clever. When the truth comes out, the phrase "to pull a Homer" becomes a widely used term meaning "to succeed despite idiocy," and Homer's picture ends up in the dictionary, illustrating the definition. Meanwhile, Bart's and Milhouse's friendship is strained when Mihouse's mother considers Bart to be a bad influence and orders Milhouse to stay away from him.

Krusty the Clown has dinner with the Simpsons, and reveals that he is Jewish, his real name is Herschel Krustofski, and he is estranged from his rabbi father. They parted ways over Krusty's becoming a clown instead of following his father and becoming a rabbi. Bart and Lisa see Krusty becoming depressed, and they take it upon themselves to reunite him with his father. They find Rabbi Krustofski, and after several attempts convince him to meet Krusty on the set of his show, where they reconcile their differences. Krusty introduces his father to the audience, and together they sing a song.

Opening: Marge warns viewers again that the following episode will be even scarier than last years for young viewers. Aware that she will be ignored like the previous Halloween special, she resigns herself.

Prologue: Lisa, Bart, and Homer eat an excessive amount of candy, which Marge warns them that they will get nightmares if they do so. While they ignore her warning, each of the three begin to have them.

Lisa's Nightmare: The Simpsons buys a severed monkey paw from Morocco, which can grant a limited amount of wishes for a particular set of users depending on the amount of fingers out. Maggie, Bart, Lisa and Homer make a wish from it, which most result in unexpected circumstances.

Bart's Nightmare: Bart has an ability to manipulate things by his mind. Everyone is compelled to carry his orders, opinions etc to prevent his potent ability on them.

Homer's Nightmare: In an effort to create the ultimate worker, Mr. Burns transplants Homer's brain into a robot.

Homer loses much of Lisa's appreciation for him after he was unable to give her a required saxophone reed for her role in a talent show on time. After seeing that he had ignored her greatly when she was younger, presuming that had caused her lack of pride in him, she purchases a pony to change her opinion on him and that she likes the type of animal. While she loves Homer as a result and happily keeps the pony named "Princess", he is required to carry another job, a Kwik-E-Mart cashier at graveyard shifts, to pay for Princess's expensive housing. He becomes more and more tired when doing his secondary job, gaining lack of sufficent to no sleep, which prompts Lisa to decide to keep the pony or have her father exhausted.

Trying to be a better father, Homer helps Bart build a soapbox racer. Bart's racer is a flop, but Martin Prince's is the fastest and wins the race. When Martin is hurt, he asks Bart to fill in as driver so that at least one of them can beat Nelson Muntz in the race. This angers Homer, as Bart won't be driving the racer that they built. Homer, however, does some thinking and realizes the experience has brought him closer to Bart and made him a better father, and Bart needs his support regardless of what racer he's driving. Homer goes to the race, wishes Bart luck, and he wins. Bart and Homer then celebrate the victory.

"Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk"

"Burns Sells the Power Plant"*

Rumours of a takeover of a successor to take over the power plant as Mr.Burns wishes to resign to pursue other interests. All but Homer each have received $5,200 for the rise of stocks. Homer, however, sold his stocking for 25¢ and earns $25 dollars, spending it on a beer which he was unaware of the skyrocketed stock. The takeover then unfolds as German Businessmen had paid Burns $100,000,000 for the plant, which worries employees to possibly being fired by Germany's stricter and hard working ethic.

• - An English translation of the original German title.

"I Married Marge"

Jeff Martin

"Radio Bart"

80 - 21

"Black Widower"