Bart the Genius
"Bart the Genius"
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Episode Information
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Bart the Genius was the second non short episode of The Simpsons released on television.
In this episode, Bart is caught vandalising school property with a crude spray-painting of Principal Skinner and then swaps IQ tests with Martin and is declared a genius.
Contents
Synopsis
Faced with the prospect of flunking an intelligence test, Bart switches exams with brainy Martin Prince. When school psychologist Dr. Pryor studies the results, he identifies Bart as a genius, to the delight of Homer and Marge, who enroll Bart in a new school.
On his first day at the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children, Bart feels out of place among other students with advanced academic skills. At home, however, he enjoys the newfound attention Homer shows him. Hoping to stimulate her son with a little culture, Marge buys the family opera tickets.
Ostracized by his genius classmates, Bart visits his old school, where he is rejected by his friends and labeled a "poindexter." When Bart's science project explodes and nearly destroys his new school, he confesses to Dr. Pryor that Martin Prince is the real genius. Bart returns home and tells Homer that he switched tests, and although it was a stupid thing to do, he is glad that they are now closer togeher. An irate Homer chases Bart through the house.
Trivia
Strange Stuff
- Maggie spells out EMCSQU (or E=MC²) on her building blocks.
Introductions
- Millhouse has black hair in this episode.
- This is the first episode where Bart uses his soon to be famous catch phrase "Eat My Shorts".
Hard to See Stuff
- Martin is the train conductor when Bart is told to visualize his IQ problems.
- Principal Skinner devotes an entire file drawer to Bart Simpson.
- Homer makes a cheque of $75, to pay for Bart's defacing of school property, to "Dept. of Education"
- Bart's, but in reality Martin's, IQ is 216.
- Bart wears a pink shirt to his first day of class at the "Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children".
- Books on the shelf in Bart's new advanced school classroom include Crime & Punishment, Babylonian Myths, Paradise Lost, Moby-Dick, Plato, Dante's Inferno,The Illiad, Plato, Design of Computers (remember this is 1990), Astrophysics, Wana by Emile Zona, Puskin, Shakespeare I-XV,Quantum Mechanics, and the Life of Leonardo.
- The Simpson attends the opera "Carmen", advertised as "Tonight Only in Russian."
- On the opera poster, the conductor is identified as Boris Csuposki, a play on the name of producer and supervising animation director Gabor Csupo.
- After he is dubbed a genius, Bart's Principal Skinner graffiti likeness and word balloon is framed and labeled as a work of art entitled "The Principal" by Bart Simpson.
- There is a picture of Bart on the wall opposite one of Albert Einstein in Dr. Pryor's office.
- After Bart comes home green Homer washes him in Turpentine.
- Homer thinks it was Albert Einstein that invented the light bulb.
Errors
- Millhouse has black hair in this episode.
- Marcia Wallace's name is misspelled "Masha" in the closing credits.
- Martin's last name is Prace when Bart changes the name on the IQ tests. He then writes Martin Prince on his own paper and hands it in.
Cultural References
- "Scrabble" The Simpsons are playing it in the beginning.
- "Albert Einstein" Various references throughout the episode.
- "Carmen" The Simpsons go to see it.
- "Gabor Csupo" Look carefully on the poster and you will see the name Boris Csuposki a play on animator Gabor Csupo.
- "Plato" Appears on bookshelf.
- "Moby Dick" Appears on bookshelf.
- "Leonard DaVinci" A book called The Life of Leonardo appears on the bookshelf.
