Difference between revisions of "Brother from the Same Planet"
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| − | + | {{Infobox Simpsons episode | |
| + | | episode_name = Brother from the Same Planet | ||
| + | | episode_no = 73 | ||
| + | | prod_code = 9F12 | ||
| + | | airdate = [[February 11]], [[1993]] | ||
| + | | show runner = [[Al Jean]] & [[Mike Reiss]] | ||
| + | | writer = [[Jon Vitti]] | ||
| + | | director = [[Jeffrey Lynch]] | ||
| + | | blackboard = "The Principal's toupee is not a frisbee" | couch_gag = The rear wall rotates taking the family to another room and leaving an empty couch behind. | ||
| + | | guest_star = [[Phil Hartman]] as Tom | ||
| + | | image = [[Image:Brother from the same planet.jpg|200px]] | ||
| + | | image_caption = [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] in an awkward and presumably painful position, after the fight | ||
| + | | commentary = [[Matt Groening]]<BR>[[Al Jean]]<BR>[[Mike Reiss]]<BR>[[Jon Vitti]]<BR>[[Jeffrey Lynch]] | ||
| + | | season = 4 | ||
| + | }} | ||
| − | + | "'''Brother from the Same Planet'''" is the fourteenth episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' from the fourth season. The episode's title is a play on [[John Sayles]]' [[film|movie]] ''[[The Brother from Another Planet]]''. The Simpsons has also spoofed this title with the episode title "[[Brother from Another Series]]". | |
| − | |||
| − | + | The plot of this episode is similar to a Ren and Stimpy cartoon produced around the same time and vice versa. Dan Castellaneta provided the voices of Ren and Stimpy in this sequence instead of [[Billy West]]. Incidentally, [[Rough Draft Studios]] does the animation for both that show and ''[[The Simpsons]]''. | |
| − | + | According to the DVD commentary for this episode, the role of Tom was written with [[Tom Cruise]] in mind. However, after being repeatedly turned down by Cruise, the producers went with [[Phil Hartman]]. | |
| − | + | ==Plot== | |
| + | After playing [[football (soccer)|soccer]], [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] waits for [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] to pick him up. At the Simpson residence, Marge reminds Homer to go and get Bart on her way out the door--Homer says "I'm on my way", but unknown to Marge he is saying this because he is watching ''[[Wheel of Fortune]]'' and the exposed letters spell out "I'M ON MY WA*". Homer was so focused on the game show that he didn't hear what Marge said, and he forgets to pick up Bart. Bart is left alone as a storm approaches. Many occurrences at home remind Homer that he was meant to do something, but he cannot recall what. When Homer finally remembers after a dream about seeing Bart's [[skeleton]] on a soccer field, he rushes out to pick up Bart (who is very angry) and tries to put the issue behind them. But Bart is not buying. | ||
| + | When they return home, Bart watches [[television|TV]] when a [[television commercial|commercial]] for a mentor program called Bigger Brothers comes up. This gives him an idea and he goes to the Bigger Brothers Agency disguising himself with accent as a brave young boy whose father left him six years ago. Afterwards, Bart is assigned a big brother called Tom whom Bart first meets when he comes to school to pick Bart up by letting him ride on the back of his [[motorcycle]]. Later on, Bart and Tom meet up for Tomato Day at the Springfield Stadium (the purpose of the tomatoes is revealed when a recruiter for the Springfield [[communism|Communist]] Party is introduced on the field before the start of the game; he is pelted with tomatoes before he can begin his speech, and remarks that it is at least better than "Dart Day"). Afterwards, they go to lift weights and watch ''[[The Ren & Stimpy Show|Ren and Stimpy]]''. Eventually, Homer finds out about Bart's Bigger Brother and angrily confronts him about the issue. Homer decides to go to the Bigger Brothers Agency to get revenge by being assigned a replacement son. There, he is assigned the child Pepe (whom he calls [[Pepsi]] for a brief period). Homer shows Pepe the garage door, "a wonder of modern technology" and then the two look at the stars together. | ||
| − | {{ | + | Meanwhile back at the Simpsons household, [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] finds a $378.53 phone bill for calls made to the [[The two Coreys|Corey]] hotline. Because of this, Marge headed up to talk to [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] who is hiding in her room, as the entrance is decorated with a Corey poster. Marge tells Lisa that she understands what Lisa is going through and that when she was a girl she had a crush on [[Bobby Sherman]]. This revelation causes Lisa to laugh uproariously. Even so, in the end Lisa promises her mother "...you'll never be billed for another call." However, Lisa continues to make calls to the hotline from such places as [[Doctor Hibbert]]'s office and from a phone at Springfield Elementary. After [[Principal Skinner]] catches her calling the hotline, he calls Marge. In Skinner's office, Marge suggests that Lisa try to go until 12 o'clock that evening without calling the hotline; if she can do so, she will have conquered her addiction. Lisa is eventually able to make it after a struggle. |
| − | {{ | + | |
| − | [[Category: | + | Elsewhere, Homer takes Pepe to Marine World to attend Big Brothers Day. Tom also takes Bart there. After Homer runs into Bart, Tom tells Bart not to talk to strangers and begins to lead him away from Homer. Homer states that he is Bart's father. As Bart has told Tom many false stories of Homer being a terrible parent, Tom halts and asks Homer with barely-restrained anger "His father, the ''drunken gambler?''" Homer instinctively and cheerfully replies "That's right, and who might you be?" Tom punches Homer in the face, beginning a brawl between the two men that rages across Springfield. In the end, Homer ends up in a stretcher and Bart--who feels guilty for indirectly causing the fight--gets ready to ride with him to the hospital. Tom is left without a child to take care of and Pepe without a Big Brother. Seeing this, Bart makes an obvious conclusion, telling them that Tom should become Pepe's big brother. Tom and Pepe agree and start hanging out with each other. Afterwards, Bart and Homer reconcile and the episode ends with them sitting on the couch, Homer teaching Bart how to fight dirty (like he did with Tom). |
| − | [[ | + | |
| + | == Cultural references == | ||
| + | *The [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system|R-rated]] movie Bart's friends are so excited about seeing is [[Barton Fink]], a [[1991]] [[drama]] about a struggling [[screenwriter]] in the [[1940s]], which presumably is far from what they would hope to see. A later episode, "[[Bart the Fink]]", would take its title from that film, which, like ''The Simpsons'', is produced by [[20th Century Fox]]. | ||
| + | *Milhouse writes "Trab pu kcip" on the wall, which is "Pick up Bart" backwards, a reference to Danny Torrance writing "redrum" which is "murder" backwards, in ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]''. | ||
| + | *The woman that Bart mistakes for Homer in an ironic touch sings "[[I Am Woman]]". | ||
| + | *While Bart is stuck in the storm waiting for Homer, a nun is lifted up by the wind, a reference to the [[television program|TV series]] ''[[The Flying Nun]]''. | ||
| + | *The grapefruit scene is a reference of the [[James Cagney]] movie, ''[[The Public Enemy]]''. | ||
| + | *When Bart tells himself "[[Eye of the Tiger]], Bart" he is making a reference to what [[Rocky Balboa|Rocky]] says to himself in ''[[Rocky III]]''. | ||
| + | *When Homer tells Bart "You've been flouncing around with that floozy of a bigger brother of yours, haven't you? Haven't you!" he is making a reference to ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' when [[Richard Burton]] accuses his wife of [[adultery]]. | ||
| + | *Skinner makes a reference to the movie ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' when he says "Oh... there's mother now." This is the first time Skinner has been portrayed as a [[Norman Bates]]-like character. | ||
| + | *At one point, Bart tells Homer that he would fake the excitement he would have when Homer pushed him on the swing and demonstrates it, to Homer's horror. This is a reference to the infamous fake orgasm scene in ''[[When Harry Met Sally]]''. | ||
| + | *A section of the fight between Homer and Tom parodies the introduction to [[Street Fighter II]]. | ||
| + | *At one point, Bart watches "Tuesday Night Live", which is a parody of NBC's ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. At a commercial break, Bart comments that he misses [[Joe Piscopo]], who was a castmember on the show from 1980 to 1984. Krusty appears on a sketch called "The Big Ear Family", which could be a reference to either the [[Coneheads]] or the Widettes; The Coneheads being a family of aliens with large cone-shaped heads, and the Widettes being a family of people with abnormally-large rear ends. According to DVD commentary, the entire part where Krusty is on Tuesday Night Live was Jon Vitti's way of criticizing ''Saturday Night Live'' at the time of the episode, which was being criticized for having overlong sketches with thin joke premises (and criticisms of this kind for SNL continue to this day), which explains Krusty's line about The Big Ear Family sketch going on for twelve more minutes, even though the joke's punchline was well established. The sequence originally had a longer version of the Tuesday Night Live band playing into the commercial break, but cut it because he didn't want to come off as being bitter (Vitti, along with writing this episode of The Simpsons, was a writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' during the 1985-1986 season along with fellow Simpson writers, [[George Meyer]] and [[John Swartzwelder]]). | ||
| + | *The fight between Homer and Tom mirrors a fight at the end of [[The Quiet Man]], a [[John Wayne]] movie. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==External links== | ||
| + | {{wikiquote|The_Simpsons#Brother_from_the_Same_Planet_.5B4.14.5D|"Brother from the Same Planet"}} | ||
| + | {{portal|The Simpsons}} | ||
| + | *{{snpp capsule|9F12}} | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Category:The Simpsons episodes, season 4]] | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[es:Brother from the Same Planet]] | ||
Revision as of 16:06, December 4, 2007
Template:Infobox Simpsons episode
"Brother from the Same Planet" is the fourteenth episode of The Simpsons from the fourth season. The episode's title is a play on John Sayles' movie The Brother from Another Planet. The Simpsons has also spoofed this title with the episode title "Brother from Another Series".
The plot of this episode is similar to a Ren and Stimpy cartoon produced around the same time and vice versa. Dan Castellaneta provided the voices of Ren and Stimpy in this sequence instead of Billy West. Incidentally, Rough Draft Studios does the animation for both that show and The Simpsons.
According to the DVD commentary for this episode, the role of Tom was written with Tom Cruise in mind. However, after being repeatedly turned down by Cruise, the producers went with Phil Hartman.
Plot
After playing soccer, Bart waits for Homer to pick him up. At the Simpson residence, Marge reminds Homer to go and get Bart on her way out the door--Homer says "I'm on my way", but unknown to Marge he is saying this because he is watching Wheel of Fortune and the exposed letters spell out "I'M ON MY WA*". Homer was so focused on the game show that he didn't hear what Marge said, and he forgets to pick up Bart. Bart is left alone as a storm approaches. Many occurrences at home remind Homer that he was meant to do something, but he cannot recall what. When Homer finally remembers after a dream about seeing Bart's skeleton on a soccer field, he rushes out to pick up Bart (who is very angry) and tries to put the issue behind them. But Bart is not buying.
When they return home, Bart watches TV when a commercial for a mentor program called Bigger Brothers comes up. This gives him an idea and he goes to the Bigger Brothers Agency disguising himself with accent as a brave young boy whose father left him six years ago. Afterwards, Bart is assigned a big brother called Tom whom Bart first meets when he comes to school to pick Bart up by letting him ride on the back of his motorcycle. Later on, Bart and Tom meet up for Tomato Day at the Springfield Stadium (the purpose of the tomatoes is revealed when a recruiter for the Springfield Communist Party is introduced on the field before the start of the game; he is pelted with tomatoes before he can begin his speech, and remarks that it is at least better than "Dart Day"). Afterwards, they go to lift weights and watch Ren and Stimpy. Eventually, Homer finds out about Bart's Bigger Brother and angrily confronts him about the issue. Homer decides to go to the Bigger Brothers Agency to get revenge by being assigned a replacement son. There, he is assigned the child Pepe (whom he calls Pepsi for a brief period). Homer shows Pepe the garage door, "a wonder of modern technology" and then the two look at the stars together.
Meanwhile back at the Simpsons household, Marge finds a $378.53 phone bill for calls made to the Corey hotline. Because of this, Marge headed up to talk to Lisa who is hiding in her room, as the entrance is decorated with a Corey poster. Marge tells Lisa that she understands what Lisa is going through and that when she was a girl she had a crush on Bobby Sherman. This revelation causes Lisa to laugh uproariously. Even so, in the end Lisa promises her mother "...you'll never be billed for another call." However, Lisa continues to make calls to the hotline from such places as Doctor Hibbert's office and from a phone at Springfield Elementary. After Principal Skinner catches her calling the hotline, he calls Marge. In Skinner's office, Marge suggests that Lisa try to go until 12 o'clock that evening without calling the hotline; if she can do so, she will have conquered her addiction. Lisa is eventually able to make it after a struggle.
Elsewhere, Homer takes Pepe to Marine World to attend Big Brothers Day. Tom also takes Bart there. After Homer runs into Bart, Tom tells Bart not to talk to strangers and begins to lead him away from Homer. Homer states that he is Bart's father. As Bart has told Tom many false stories of Homer being a terrible parent, Tom halts and asks Homer with barely-restrained anger "His father, the drunken gambler?" Homer instinctively and cheerfully replies "That's right, and who might you be?" Tom punches Homer in the face, beginning a brawl between the two men that rages across Springfield. In the end, Homer ends up in a stretcher and Bart--who feels guilty for indirectly causing the fight--gets ready to ride with him to the hospital. Tom is left without a child to take care of and Pepe without a Big Brother. Seeing this, Bart makes an obvious conclusion, telling them that Tom should become Pepe's big brother. Tom and Pepe agree and start hanging out with each other. Afterwards, Bart and Homer reconcile and the episode ends with them sitting on the couch, Homer teaching Bart how to fight dirty (like he did with Tom).
Cultural references
- The R-rated movie Bart's friends are so excited about seeing is Barton Fink, a 1991 drama about a struggling screenwriter in the 1940s, which presumably is far from what they would hope to see. A later episode, "Bart the Fink", would take its title from that film, which, like The Simpsons, is produced by 20th Century Fox.
- Milhouse writes "Trab pu kcip" on the wall, which is "Pick up Bart" backwards, a reference to Danny Torrance writing "redrum" which is "murder" backwards, in The Shining.
- The woman that Bart mistakes for Homer in an ironic touch sings "I Am Woman".
- While Bart is stuck in the storm waiting for Homer, a nun is lifted up by the wind, a reference to the TV series The Flying Nun.
- The grapefruit scene is a reference of the James Cagney movie, The Public Enemy.
- When Bart tells himself "Eye of the Tiger, Bart" he is making a reference to what Rocky says to himself in Rocky III.
- When Homer tells Bart "You've been flouncing around with that floozy of a bigger brother of yours, haven't you? Haven't you!" he is making a reference to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? when Richard Burton accuses his wife of adultery.
- Skinner makes a reference to the movie Psycho when he says "Oh... there's mother now." This is the first time Skinner has been portrayed as a Norman Bates-like character.
- At one point, Bart tells Homer that he would fake the excitement he would have when Homer pushed him on the swing and demonstrates it, to Homer's horror. This is a reference to the infamous fake orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally.
- A section of the fight between Homer and Tom parodies the introduction to Street Fighter II.
- At one point, Bart watches "Tuesday Night Live", which is a parody of NBC's Saturday Night Live. At a commercial break, Bart comments that he misses Joe Piscopo, who was a castmember on the show from 1980 to 1984. Krusty appears on a sketch called "The Big Ear Family", which could be a reference to either the Coneheads or the Widettes; The Coneheads being a family of aliens with large cone-shaped heads, and the Widettes being a family of people with abnormally-large rear ends. According to DVD commentary, the entire part where Krusty is on Tuesday Night Live was Jon Vitti's way of criticizing Saturday Night Live at the time of the episode, which was being criticized for having overlong sketches with thin joke premises (and criticisms of this kind for SNL continue to this day), which explains Krusty's line about The Big Ear Family sketch going on for twelve more minutes, even though the joke's punchline was well established. The sequence originally had a longer version of the Tuesday Night Live band playing into the commercial break, but cut it because he didn't want to come off as being bitter (Vitti, along with writing this episode of The Simpsons, was a writer on Saturday Night Live during the 1985-1986 season along with fellow Simpson writers, George Meyer and John Swartzwelder).
- The fight between Homer and Tom mirrors a fight at the end of The Quiet Man, a John Wayne movie.
