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| | 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 together. An irate Homer chases Bart through [[742 Evergreen Terrace|the house]]. | | 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 together. An irate Homer chases Bart through [[742 Evergreen Terrace|the house]]. |
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| − | == Production ==
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| − | The concept for the episode developed from writer [[Jon Vitti]] coming up with a long list of bad things Bart could do and imagining the potential consequences. The only idea that developed into an interesting episode concept was Bart cheating on an IQ test.<ref name="Vitti">{{cite video | people=Vitti, Jon|year=2001|title=The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius"| medium=DVD||publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> This idea was based on an incident from Vitti's childhood when a number of his classmates did not take an intelligence test seriously and suffered poor academic treatment because of it. Because Bart was already obviously unintelligent, Vitti reversed the problem for his episode.<ref name="interview">Jankiewicz, Pat. "Jon Vitti." ''Comic Scene'' #17, February 1991.</ref> Vitti used all his memories of elementary school behavior to produce a draft script of 71 pages, substantially above the required length of about 45 pages. It was Vitti's first script for a 30-minute television program.<ref name="Vitti"/> Bart's use of the phrase "Eat my shorts" was intended to reflect his adoption of catchphrases he had heard on TV; the creative team had told Vitti that he should not come up with original taglines for the character.<ref name="Vitti"/> The scene where the family plays Scrabble was inspired by the 1985 cartoon ''[[The Big Snit]]''.<ref name="Groening">{{cite video | people=Groening, Matt|year=2001|title=The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius"| medium=DVD||publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>
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| − | The episode was the first to feature the series' full title sequence, including the [[chalkboard gag]] and [[couch gag]]. [[Matt Groening]] developed the lengthy sequence in order to cut down on the animation necessary for each episode, but devised the two gags as compensation for the repeated material each week.<ref name="Groening"/> Groening, who had not paid much attention to television since his own childhood, was unaware that title sequences of such length were uncommon by that time.<ref name="Groening"/> As the finished episodes became longer, the production team were reluctant to cut the stories in order to allow for the long title sequence, so shorter versions of it were developed.<ref name="Silverman">{{cite video | people=Silverman, David|year=2001|title=The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius"| medium=DVD||publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>
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| − | Director [[David Silverman]] had difficulty devising a legible Scrabble board for the opening scene that would get across the idea that the Simpsons had only been able to come up with very simple words.<ref name="Silverman"/> The design of Bart's visualization of the math problem was partially inspired by the art of [[Saul Steinberg]]. The increasing appearance of numbers in that sequence derived from Silverman's use of a similar tactic when he had to develop a [[set design]] for the play ''[[The Adding Machine]]''. Each successive scene in the sequence was shorter than the one before it by exactly one [[film frame|frame]].<ref name="Silverman"/> The scene where Bart writes his confession was done as one long take to balance the shorter scenes elsewhere in the episode. It was animated in the United States by [[Dan Haskett]].<ref name="Silverman"/> There were a few problems with the finished animation for the episode. The banana in the opening scene was colored incorrectly, as the [[Korea]]n animators were unfamiliar with the fruit,<ref name="Groening"/> and the final bathtub scene was particularly problematic, including issues with [[lip sync]]. The version in the broadcast episode was the best of several attempts.<ref name="Silverman"/> [[Martin Prince]] and [[Edna Krabappel]] make their first appearances in this episode.<ref name="bbc">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season1/page2.shtml|title=Bart the Genius|accessdate=2007-08-05|author=Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian |date=2000|publisher=BBC}}</ref>
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| − | == Reception and legacy ==
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| − | In a 1991 interview, Jon Vitti described "Bart the Genius" as his favorite among the episodes he had written to that point.<ref name="interview"/> [[James L. Brooks]] mentioned the episode among his favorites, saying that "we did things with animation when that happened that just opened doors for us."<ref>Braun, Kyle. [http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=17581§ionId=2 The Simpsons Movie Interviews]. Ugo.com. Retrieved on August 5, 2007.</ref> The show received mail from viewers complaining that the throwing away of a comic book was an incident of [[censorship]].<ref name="Groening"/> In a DVD review of the first season David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 2.5/5, noting "it's easy to see with this episode why Bart became the figurehead for a few years of class clowns."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wdbgproductions.com/cinerama/reviews/simpsonsseason1.htm|title=The Complete First Season|accessdate=2007-05-07|date=2001-09-25|author=Grelck, David B.|publisher=WDBGProductions}}</ref> Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', strongly praised the episode calling it "superbly written and directed, often a literal child's-eye view of education, the first ''Simpsons'' episode proper is a classic." They went on to say, "these twenty minutes cemented Bart's position as a cultural icon and a hero to all underachievers, and managed a good few kicks at hothouse schools along the way. Especially worthy of note is the sequence where Bart visualises his maths problem, the viewing of which should be a required part of teacher training."<ref name="bbc"/>
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| − | The invented word "Kwyjibo" inspired the creator of the [[Melissa (computer worm)|Melissa worm]].
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| − | == Cultural references ==
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| − | In the opening scene, [[Maggie Simpson|Maggie]] spells EMCSQU with her blocks, a reference to Albert Einstein's mass-energy equivalence equation. A picture of Einstein also appears on the wall of Dr. Pryor's office. At one point Homer erroneously refers to Einstein as the inventor of the [http:///index.php?title=Incandescent_light_bulb&action=edit&redlink=1 light bulb]. Dr. Pryor compares Bart's proposed work among ordinary children to Jane Goodall's study of chimpanzees.<!-- unsupported placeholder type --> Goodall was pleased to be mentioned in the episode, sending the program a letter,[[Maggie Simpson|Maggie]] and Vitti a signed book.[[Maggie Simpson]] Jane Goodall was later featured as a major guest star in the episode "[[Simpson Safari]]". The composer of the opera the family attends is named Boris Csuposki, a reference to animator [[Gabor Csupo]].<!-- unsupported placeholder type --> The opera attended by the family is [http:///index.php?title=Carmen&action=edit&redlink=1 Carmen], by [http:///index.php?title=Georges_Bizet&action=edit&redlink=1 Georges Bizet]; the song Bart mocks is a famous aria called the Toreador Song.[[Simpson Safari]]
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| − | *"Scrabble" The Simpsons are playing it in the beginning.
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| − | *"Albert Einstein" Various references throughout the episode.
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| − | *"Carmen" The Simpsons go to see it.
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| − | *"Gabor Csupo" Look carefully on the poster and you will see the name Boris Csuposki a play on animator Gabor Csupo.
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| − | *"Plato" Appears on bookshelf.
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| − | *"Moby Dick" Appears on bookshelf.
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| − | *"Leonard DaVinci" A book called ''The Life of Leonardo'' appears on the bookshelf.
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| − | == Trivia ==
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| − | === General ===
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| − | There is a picture of Bart on the wall opposite one of Albert Einstein in Dr. Pryor's office.
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| − | After Bart comes home green Homer washes him in Turpentine.
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| − | Homer thinks it was Albert Einstein that invented the light bulb.
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| − | Maggie spells out EMCSQU (or E=MC²) on her building blocks.
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| − | Maggie falls once:
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| − | As Lisa looks up id
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| − | Introductions
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| − | Millhouse has black hair in this episode.
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| − | This is the first episode where Bart uses his soon to be famous catch phrase "Eat My Shorts".
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| − | Hard to See Stuff
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| − | Martin is the train conductor when Bart is told to visualize his IQ problems.
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| − | Principal Skinner devotes an entire file drawer to Bart Simpson.
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| − | Homer makes a cheque of $75, to pay for Bart's defacing of school property, to "Dept. of Education"
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| − | Bart's, but in reality Martin's, IQ is 216.
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| − | Bart wears a pink shirt to his first day of class at the "Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children".
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| − | 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.
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| − | The Simpson attends the opera "Carmen", advertised as "Tonight Only in Russian."
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| − | On the opera poster, the conductor is identified as Boris Csuposki, a play on the name of producer and supervising animation director Gabor Csupo.
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| − | 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.
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| − | Martin and his parents were at the opera.
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| − | == Appearances ==
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| − | ===Characters===
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| − | <gallery>
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| − | File:Lardbutt.JPG|[[Bullfighter]]
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| − | File:Jupiterlunch.JPG|[[Calvin]]
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| − | File:Conductor.jpg|[[Boris Csupowski|Csupowski, Boris]]
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| − | File:Fatlady.JPG|[[Fat Lady]]
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| − | File:Ethan.jpg|[[Ethan Foley|Foley, Ethan]]
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| − | File:Straphoccolihamster.JPG|[[Hamster Number 1]]
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| − | File:Controlhamster.JPG|[[Hamster Number 2]]
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| − | File:Ian.jpg|[[Ian (Bart the Genius)|Ian]]
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| − | File:Edna Krabappel.png|[[Edna Krabappel|Krabappel, Edna]]
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| − | File:Lewis working.jpg|[[Lewis]]
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| − | File:Ms._Mellon.jpg|[[Ms. Mellon|Mellon]]
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| − | File:Martin.jpg|[[Martin|Prince, Martin Junior]]
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| − | File:S02e02 150.jpg|[[J. Loren Pryor|Pryor, J. Loren]]
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| − | File:Richard2.jpg|[[Richard]]
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| − | File:Cecile.jpg|[[Cecile Shapiro|Shapiro, Cecile]]
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| − | File:Bart_Simpson.png|[[Bart Simpson|Simpson, Bartholomew Jojo]]
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| − | File:222px-Homer_Simpson_2006.png|[[Homer|Simpson, Homer Jay]]
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| − | File:Lisa Simpson2.png|[[Lisa|Simpson, Lisa Marie]]
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| − | File:Maggie.png|[[Maggie|Simpson, Margaret]]
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| − | File:Swampland.JPG|[[Singing Girl]]
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| − | File:Sydney.jpg|[[Sydney Swift|Swift, Sydney]]
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| − | File:Seymour Skinner.png|[[Skinner|Tamzarian, Armin]]
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| − | File:Tanya1.jpg|[[Tanya]]
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| − | File:Ticketplease.JPG|[[Ticket Bouncer]]
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| − | File:Milhouse Van Houten.png|[[Milhouse|Van Houten, Milhouse Mussolini]]
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| − | </gallery>
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| − | ===Vehicles===
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| − | <gallery>
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| − | File:722.jpg|[[Pink Sedan]]
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| − | </gallery>
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| − | ===Locations===
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| − | <gallery>
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| − | File:742simphouse.jpg|[[742 Evergreen Terrace]]
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| − | File:Enrichedlearning.jpg|[[Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children]]
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| − | File:SpringfieldElementary3.jpg|[[Springfield Elementary School]]
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| − | File:Opera.JPG|[[Springfield Opera House]]
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| − | </gallery>
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| − | == Credits ==
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| − | * [[Bart the Genius/Credits|Credits]]
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| − | == See also ==
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| − | * [[Bart the Genius Full Synopis]]
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| | == References == | | == References == |
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 together. An irate Homer chases Bart through the house.
"Bart the Genius" at the The Simpsons Archive
