Marge vs. the Monorail
|
|||||||||
|
|
|
- "Well, sir, there's nothing on earth like a genuine, bona-fide, electrified, six-car monorail."
- ―Lyle Lanley
"Marge vs. the Monorail"
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Episode Information
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
"Marge vs. the Monorail" is the twelfth episode of broadcast season 4 of The Simpsons and the seventy-first episode overall. It originally aired on January 14, 1993. The episode was written by Conan O'Brien and directed by Rich Moore. It guest stars Phil Hartman as Lyle Lanley and Leonard Nimoy as himself.
Synopsis[edit]
- "After collecting a $3 million fine from Mr. Burns for illegal disposal of nuclear waste, Springfield is convinced by a smooth-talking stranger named Lyle Lanley to spend the money on a needless monorail, with Homer serving as the conductor."
Plot[edit]
As Homer leaves work for the day, Lenny and Carl finish sealing off a barrel of toxic waste. As they discuss what happens to the waste barrels, Mr. Burns and Smithers take the waste to the Springfield Park to illegally dispose of it. However, they are caught by Agent Malone with the Environmental Protection Agency. At the trial, Burns is sentenced to pay a fine of $3 million. A town meeting is then called to discuss what to do with the money. Marge suggests using it to fix up Main Street, which has become cracked and broken from drivers using tire chains and carrying too much weight. While the townspeople get behind this idea, Lyle Lanley interrupts the meeting to suggest they instead use the money to build the Springfield Monorail, which he convinces them to do through song.
Marge is against the Monorail because she thinks the money would be better spent on fixing Main Street. However, the rest of the townspeople are excited about it. To drum up even more support, Lanley goes to Springfield Elementary to talk about the Monorail, where he manages to win even Lisa over by complimenting her and sidestepping her question. That evening, a televised commercial airs to advertise the position of Monorail conductor. Homer decides to try out for the job, saying that it's his lifelong dream, to Marge's annoyance.
While Homer attends the Lanley Institute of Monorail Conducting, construction on the Monorail begins, overseen by Barney. At the end of the course, Lanley randomly selects Homer to become the Monorail conductor. Homer shows the family around the train, and Marge becomes increasingly worried about how safe the Monorail is. She goes to see Lyle Lanley and finds his notebook, which has a drawing of the Monorail on fire as he flees with the money. Marge drives to North Haverbrook to find out what happened to the Monorail there. In town, Marge meets Sebastian Cobb, the man who worked as the engineer for the North Haverbrook Monorail. Cobb tells Marge that Lanley cut corners everywhere with the Monorail, which caused it to crash and be destroyed.
Back in Springfield, the Springfield Monorail is prepared for its maiden voyage, with many celebrities, including Leonard Nimoy, arriving to ride it. Before it sets off, Lanley leaves with the money to escape to Tahiti. Marge and Sebastian Cobb then arrive minutes too late as the Monorail sets off. As it runs, the brakes fail and the Monorail picks up speed. Chief Wiggum and Mayor Quimby argue over who should take control of the situation while Marge and Cobb try to find a solution. Meanwhile, Lanley's flight has a layover in North Haverbrook, where he is confronted by an angry mob. Cobb tells Homer he needs to find an anchor to stop the Monorail. Homer steals a rope from a cowboy and ties it around the M from the "Monorail" text on the side of the train. The makeshift anchor catches in a Donuts shop, bringing the train to a stop.
Leonard Nimoy takes credit for saving the day while Marge says the Monorail is the only folly Springfield ever embarks on—except for the Popsicle Stick Skyscraper, the 50ft Magnifying Glass, and the Escalator to Nowhere.
Production[edit]
Conan O'Brien pitched the idea for "Marge vs. the Monorail" to showrunners Al Jean and Mike Reiss. However, they thought that James L. Brooks would find the idea too crazy, so they asked him to pitch some other ideas first. When "Marge vs. the Monorail" was pitched to Brooks, he loved it.[1] Brooks liked the other two ideas that O'Brien pitched, but he "laughed really hard" at "Marge vs. the Monorail", which surprised O'Brien because he didn't think Brooks would like it. O'Brien came up with the idea when he saw a sign for a monorail while leaving work, and he thought "what's more wasteful than a monorail?" So, he thought it would be funny if Springfield had a monorail.[2]
Leonard Nimoy's role was originally written for George Takei. However, Takei told them that he wouldn't do it because he was on the San Francisco Board of Transportation and he didn't want to make fun of monorails. They managed to get Nimoy for the role instead.[2] Before Nimoy signed on for the episode, rewrites of the script were made in an attempt to get Takei to agree to the role.[3]
The episode originally came in very short, so they "did every trick in the book" to get the episode to full length.[3] At the end of the episode, when Leonard Nimoy disappears in a Star Trek-style teleportation, O'Brien said he remembered one of the producers saying that it would never get through because impossible things can't happen in the show.[2]
Reception[edit]
In its original US airing, "Marge vs. the Monorail" was watched by 23 million households,[4] which gave it a Nielsen rating of 13.7.[5]
"Marge vs. the Monorail" is frequently included in lists of best episodes of the show. A 1998 article by TV Guide titled "A Dozen Doozies" included the episode as the seventh entry on the list.[6] A 2003 list by Entertainment Weekly titled "The Family Dynamic" named "Marge vs. the Monorail" the fourth best episode of the show.[7] A 2006 article by IGN named the episode the best episode of season 4.[8] A 2007 article by Vanity Fair named the episode the third funniest episode of the show.[9] A 2010 article by The Times named the episode the ninth best episode of the show.[10] A 2019 article by Entertainment.ie named "Marge vs. the Monorail" among the top ten best episodes of the show.[11] A 2019 article by The Guardian named it as one of the best five episodes of the show.[12] A 2019 list by Time had "experts" pick it as one of the top ten best episodes of all time.[13] A 2019 list by Consequence named it the second best episode of the show.[14]
A 2020 "flashback review" of the episode by Robert Canning of IGN said that "Marge vs. the Monorail" "is by far one of the most loved episodes of The Simpsons and can safely be called a classic by any fan." Canning also said, "there's nothing in this half-hour that doesn't work, and no matter how many times I watch this episode, it never, ever gets old."[15] A 2007 article by Emily St. James of Slant Magazine called the episode "maybe the show’s funniest."[16]
Leonard Nimoy's role in the episode also received praise. A 2010 article by IGN of the Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances ranked the actor at #11 for his roles in "Marge vs. the Monorail" and "The Springfield Files".[17] Nathan Ditum of Total Film named Nimoy the 13th best guest star of the show.[18]
Not all reception to the episode has been positive. The Monorail Society claimed that the episode "employs an association fallacy to attack and discredit monorail technology."[19] Responding to this, Simpsons creator Matt Groening said, "I don't know what to say, I'm sorry," and that "Monorails are great."[20]
As of July 2025, "Marge vs. the Monorail" has a 9.1 rating on IMDb.[21]
In other languages[edit]
|
References[edit]
- Jump up ↑ Jean, Al (2004). Commentary for "Marge vs. the Monorail", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season.
- ↑ Jump up to: 2.0 2.1 2.2 O'Brien, Conan (2004). Commentary for "Marge vs. the Monorail", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season.
- ↑ Jump up to: 3.0 3.1 Reiss, Mike (2004). Commentary for "Marge vs. the Monorail", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season.
- Jump up ↑ Brian Donlon. "ABC gets a Thursday night boost", USA Today, p. 03.D.
- Jump up ↑ "Nielsen Ratings /Jan. 11–17", Long Beach Press-Telegram, p. C5.
- Jump up ↑ The Simpsons Archive - "A Dozen Doozies"
- Jump up ↑ Entertainment Weekly - "The Family Dynamic" (archived on Wayback Machine)
- Jump up ↑ IGN - "The Simpsons: 17 Seasons, 17 Episodes" (archived on Wayback Machine)
- Jump up ↑ Vanity Fair - "Springfield’s Best"
- Jump up ↑ The Times - "The 10 best Simpsons episodes ever"
- Jump up ↑ Entertainment.ie - "The 10 greatest 'The Simpsons' episodes of all time"
- Jump up ↑ The Guardian - "The Simpsons: the five greatest episodes in the iconic show's history"
- Jump up ↑ Time - "We Asked Experts for 10 of Their Most Memorable Simpsons Episodes of All Time"
- Jump up ↑ Consequence - "The Simpsons’ Top 30 Episodes"
- Jump up ↑ IGN - "The Simpsons Flashback: 'Marge vs. the Monorail' Review"
- Jump up ↑ Slant Magazine - "5 for the Day: The Simpsons"
- Jump up ↑ IGN - "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances"
- Jump up ↑ Total Film - "The 20 Best Simpsons Movie-Star Guest Spots"
- Jump up ↑ The Monorail Society - "Marge vs. the Monorail"
- Jump up ↑ BBC News - "The Simpsons creator Matt Groening on equality, memes and monorails"
- Jump up ↑ IMDb - "Marge vs. the Monorail"
|
Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Marge vs. the Monorail". |
