Oh boy, sweet! That's where I'm a viking!
What's up everybody? Thanks for tuning in. This is the mmm doughnuts podcast. I am your
host Justin Metcalf. Thanks so much for listening. This is a pretty important episode. When I
started doing research on podcasts, I got some information from RSS.com, which is where
I begin everything. It says that most podcasts only last seven episodes. So my goal was to
get to that and still have a plan for more, which is difficult. There's a lot that goes
into making these episodes. I want to make sure that I do it right, so I do a lot of
research. I'm sure I still don't get everything perfectly right, but I'm not perfect, so just
back off. But anyway, this is a really important episode for me. I hit the milestone and I've
got plans for recording several more in the near future. So thanks again for those of
you that have listened. I see analytics so I can see how many downloads I get every day
and where in the world people are. And you're all over the world. You're in Africa, you're
in New Zealand, my good buddy there, and I mean Europe, Asia, all over North America.
Truly I appreciate you listening and I hope that you enjoy it. As always, please feel
free to share your thoughts. Let me know what you think. You can email me at chartandpants.gmail.com
or you can hit me up on Twitter, which is easier. You can find me at mdonuts, that's
three M's, D-O-N-U-T-S, 742. And yeah, let me know your thoughts. I'm going to keep asking
questions because I love the idea of having an open dialogue and an actual discussion
because these episodes were amazing for my childhood and I really love the idea 35 years
later of dissecting them and analyzing them in a really nerdy way. That's exciting for
me. So I hope you enjoy it. So let's go ahead and go into it. You may remember from last
week when we watched or when we did There's No Disgrace Like Home that somebody forgot
to do the trivia questions. My assistant is... Yeah, it's not going to happen this time though.
So today's episode is Bart the General and I will start with the trivia questions and
let's get into it. So question number one, what does Homer use to help Bart dry those
tears? One of the two episodes that Bart cries, we know of anyway, in the first, at least
in the first little while. I think the other one is when he sells his soul and he's praying,
if I remember right. Yeah. TBD for confirmation. Question number two, what is the code of the
schoolyard or the rules that teach a boy to be a man according to Homer Simpson? And the
code of the schoolyard, if you can get any one of the three rules, then you get a point.
But if you get all three of the three rules, you get a point. So kind of grading on the
curve. Yeah, it's fine. Number three, when Bart is marching his troops, you know, when
they're training, how many kids does he have in his squad? All right. Okay, let's get into
it and then let's see how you do at the end of the episode. So like I said, this episode
was called Bart the General. It aired on February 4th, 1990 and there were no guest stars. The
first celebrity guest star, I think I alluded to it last week, it's Tom Jones. And I looked
it up though, just to verify which episode. So we don't get a celebrity guest star until
like the fifth episode of the second season. So, but I'm also as I go through these episodes
and preparing for these podcasts, I'm also rewatching all the episodes just in my free
time, you know, to have in the background and stuff. And I just got to Homer Palooza,
which is at the end of season seven. And it's, it was my favorite episode growing up because
I have always been a huge fan of the Smashing Pumpkins. And it was really cool to watch
it again and see the original band. You know, even Darcy was there, she had a line, she
doesn't tour with the band anymore. It's somewhat of a different lineup. Billy Corgan, big influence
in my life growing up as a Gen Xer. And then of course, James Eha and Jimmy Chamberlain,
they all had lines. It was really cool. And then there's other awesome bands like Cypress
Hill. And it was very cool for me to see that growing up because they were pop culture icons
for my time. And it really brought me back. So I'm looking forward to reviewing that episode
season seven. Let's see one episode a week. So that'll be in like three years. Stay tuned.
I am considering a way to maybe do more of these so that I'm putting out more than one
a week, because I mean, there's enough episodes to be doing this podcast for more than 13
episodes. I don't know if I want to wait that long to get them all out. So just hang in
there. We'll see how far these go. If I you know what, if it gets popular enough and enough
people ask for it, then then I will commit and I will do two episodes a week. How about
that? There. Now I put it on you people. Ha ha. I hope that doesn't backfire. All right.
Brief overview of this episode. This this episode marks the first appearance of the
recurring bully Nelson months. Now this is where we explore themes of bullying and pacifism
and the complexities of conflict resolution. And it's all wrapped in classic Simpson humor.
So this is going to be a good episode. There's also the first appearance of Herman, whose
last name is Herman with two ends, believe it or not. And the original idea with Herman,
he's the guy who owns the like the antique weaponry store in in Springfield. The original
idea with Herman was that every time he was in an episode, he would be he would have a
different excuse or a different story as to how he lost his arm. Why only has one arm
that that was going to be like a running gag. But it in writing, I guess, was abandoned.
The first the first nod to it was a couple of episodes ago when Mrs. Krabopel on the
on the bus says this is Homer's Odyssey. She says that a kid put his arm out the window
and got it knocked off while he was on the bus. And then later in that episode, Herman
says, yeah, I lost it because I put my arm out the window on the bus. So that was the
first inkling of it. And then he mentions it a few more times. And there's one episode
way later in the series where you actually see it get decapitated or removed. Decapitated
is a head. So de-armatated. And it's it's I wish that they had stuck to that. I know
there's a lot of running gags, but I do wish that they had stuck to that more truly. And
we would have had that because it was it was a good bit. I thought. And it also says this
is also the first episode where where Grandpa Simpson is shown. But because again, they
were they were shown out of order. The episode The Simpsons Roasting Whatever Fire, you know,
the first episode, the actual first episode that was aired. Abraham Simpson is is singing
with the family. So he's he's already in an episode again when when we see the first episode
with blah, blah, blah. We have to like really look into it, because does that mean original
writing or according to the air date? So. You know, it's a little convoluted, but at
the end of the day, it's fine. Let's not get our panties in a twist about it. OK, like
if you're already getting a tweet together to tell me that I'm wrong about something,
just relax. OK, still send the tweet, though I'm lonely. This episode, though, it does
it does have a lot of lines for Abraham Simpson, which is cool. Lots of nods to old wartime
movies like Patton. There's even and there's a lot of music and dialogue from Patton. Fox
owned the rights to Patton so they could use it all, which was cool. And of course, growing
up, I had no idea what that was because I hadn't seen Patton. But now I recognize the
themes and the the some of the lines. So but you could also see there's the marching sequence
is a nod to Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. I mean, the marching sequence, it looks like
every other, but they do specifically mention that I believe in the DVD commentary. Somebody
can double check my math on that one, though. The Longest Day from 1962 is also referenced.
And when Bart is talking about the few exceptions to quote, there are no good wars, he he does
say that the exceptions to that are the Revolutionary War, War, World War Two and Star Wars. So
Star Wars is also referenced, which is super cool. Because I'm a nerd. Oh, there's also
a reference to Coolhand Luke, I think in the scene where Bart is looking at Nelson, you
can see him in his sunglasses. Pretty sure. Again, any any really old nerds? Please Gen
X or younger. I'm not interested in hearing from boomers. No offense. Well, yeah, offense.
I just you know, the class in true classic Gen X form. We just don't want to hear your
trash hippie. Now there's always been like this divide between us Gen Xers and and them
dirty old boomers. We hated them before you did before you guys came up with that. OK,
so, you know, shut up. OK, let's start with the gags. You ready? There are none. So this
is this is another episode, just like the very first one that aired where there's not
an intro gag. It starts out with a sense and then instead of going to the school, it just
cut straight to the Simpsons house. So there's and then it just starts in on the episode.
The music kind of calms down and that's it. So there's no chalkboard gag and there's no
couch gag. Whomp, whomp. It's a bummer. So first scene is Homer pulling out the open,
pulling open the oven. Lisa is making cupcakes for Miss Hoover's birthday. And it's it's
cool because the scene it's from the the point of view inside the oven. And you wonder how
did they get the camera in there? Because like there's steam lines from the heat, too.
So like, you know, it was real. It's pretty cool. When Lisa gets to school, Nelson's goon
destroys the cupcakes, takes one of them, you know, destroys the rest of them. Barkets
in a fight with him. And then Nelson picks him up and Bart's flailing around and he he
smacks Nelson and Nelson says, nobody makes me bleed my own blood. What movie is that
from? Extra points if you can tell me what modern movie it's from. Because that also
is a nod. It originally was not from this movie that I'm thinking that you're thinking
with Ben Stiller. Anyway, the the initial fight scene was humorous and indefinitely
happened because of Bart's overconfidence. But I wonder how you think the portrayal of
Nelson ended up being. He's pretty, pretty close to the same character throughout. I
mean, in his first one, he's a lot, you know, he's quieter, but he's still just as dull,
just as big as menacing. I think the only thing that's really missing is his ha ha.
Aside from that, he's still the you know, like the classic bully. And of course, they
end up adding the other bullies like Kearney and Mork and Mindy. I don't remember the other
names, Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph. Anyway, so they add those eventually. And there's plenty
of episodes where all four of them are together. But we'll talk about the idea of bullies more
at that point. But right now, it's just the one. Well, the one main bully and then there's
two little lackeys. So how do you think the portrayal of this quintessential school bully
will be built up? So I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that. Then Bart gets
he gets his butt whooped. He gets a dozen punches in the face and then he rides a garbage
can all the way home. And and then, you know, that's when he ends up running into the bathroom
and crying. And Homer, Homer is in there to encourage him. And that's where a couple of
attribute questions come up. So we'll skip that initially. But in classic Homer fashion,
Homer encourages Bart to fight dirty. And Bart, frustrated, turns to Grandpa Simpson for advice,
which which is where it really starts to take off. But we you know, we see this a lot, this
this contrasting parenting style between Marge and Homer. And that that as it plays out in
this episode, it pretty much remains the same throughout the series. You know, Homer's got
really outlandish and idiotic ideas. And Marge is is far more of like the pacifist and did
just definitely opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of parenting styles, which is interesting
because I've been married 21 years and I know I mean, you're not going to agree on everything.
But when you have polar opposite views on really key things with your parenting, it's
it's not good. Like it's hard. And eventually, the man has to give in. I mean, someone has
to give in and, you know, and cooperate. That's not the right word. I'll compromise, compromise.
Because I mean, you've got to be you got to be on the same page, or at least close to
it. My opinion. So the way I'm seeing this is how did they stay together for 35 years
without aging a day? No, that's not we're not going to talk about that. And still remain
so lovingly close makes you think right. Like if they can make it, you know, maybe some
of us are looking at the strong way. You know what I mean? Something to think about. All
right. How do you feel about Grandpa Simpson's introduction and his initial characterization?
His his view is pretty much the same like the animation colors do change of his wardrobe.
But the rest of his wardrobe, it's exactly the same. Same slippers, pants and long sleeve
shirt with a little bolo tie. Same guy. And the voice is is the same person. It's just
a slightly different tone. So looking at Grandpa Simpson in this episode is pretty much what
we get for the rest of the series. You know, it's pretty close. So, you know, as you analyze
it, as you think about Grandpa Simpson's introduction and his initial characterization, what do
you think? Do you think this is this was the right way to go? I I've always loved Abe Simpson.
I love later in the series when he starts screaming and ranting. And I think he did
pretty well in this one, because you get you get the older like, you know, he fought in
the old wars and stuff. And you get that kind of mentality and dubious nature. So that's
what I think. Let me know what you think. His his recounts of old experiences, though,
are mostly fabricated. And you can tell. And that's something that he does throughout his
entirety of as a character. But he he doesn't stop sharing. I mean, always is sharing some
random story. And then, of course, back in my day was called a sick his stick, you know,
which I think is funny. So he takes Bart into Herman and that's where we meet Herman. And
yeah, so so there you go. That's that's that bit. And then the training montage starts.
There's you know, there's training montages in so many movies. I think one of the most
iconic would definitely be Rocky Balboa's training montage. But montage has always been
a big thing of film, big, big importance, because you can fast forward the story in
a very short time and still tell the whole story. So it's a technique that's been used
in film for a long time. I think they use it pretty well here in The Simpsons. There
are there are sometimes in some episodes and also in like Family Guy where they use a montage
to poke fun at using a montage, which is is clever. I was like those kinds of jokes. So
this one, this was pretty good, though. So Bart gathers an army of neighborhood kids
to fight back. And there's this parody of war movies in the training montage. And there's
visual gags and some pretty good comedic timing. And then there's the battle. So the kids launch
a water balloon assault on Nelson and his thugs. And Nelson eventually is defeated and
forced to surrender. And I wonder if you pick up on this. But it seems to me that Nelson
is a good deal larger in in this first depiction than he is in future episodes. I'm pretty
sure that his size comes down a little bit moving forward. But in this first one, he's
he's quite a bit bigger. So they execute the battle. And it's interesting that they use
the the nonviolent weapons of water balloons and then they win the fight. I think that
was a message that was intentional, because, you know, in the first fight earlier in the
episode, Nelson just walloped Bart, punch him in the face. That was hard to watch. I
don't really love. I don't know. It's ironic, honestly, I can watch itch and scratchy cutting
each other's faces off. But I get bugs me when I see a little 10 year old kid get punched
in the face. It just kind of goes to my it shows my desensitization of of violence. It's
a I think one could argue that my views on it are skewed. So really, it's probably best
to leave this up to y'all. What do you think? How did you feel about that? The the use of
nonviolent weapons, water balloons and how that won the war. The the aftermath is pretty
funny. So they're in, you know, they're in peace talks afterwards. And Herman is drafting
a peace treaty between Bart and Nelson. And then Marge arrives with fresh cupcakes. And
it brings a sense of normalcy, which became a very common theme with these episodes, because
that's how they would close out because you get closure. And then there's that's the end
of the episode. That means the next episode could start, you know, back at the normal,
the same place. They sometimes poke fun at that and intentionally leave an episode without
closure. But for the most part, this is the standard, the standard spiel of a Simpsons
episode. So so that's it. That's the episode. And there's a lot to there's a lot to discuss.
There's the the different types of humor, because there's quite a few there's there's
slapstick humor. And that's historically been, I think, my favorite growing up, but it was
also very, very popular and prominent in the 90s and in the 80s, even more so in the 80s.
That slapstick comedy of you know, like somebody getting hit in the growing with a football.
Then there's also satire, satire became a lot more prominent into the through the 90s
and into the 2000s. And sometimes it takes takes a different kind of intellect to really
get it. Growing up, I know a lot of it was lost on me. But then watching it again later
as a teen or as an adult was, you know, I understood it more. But then there's the word
play, the word play humor and like, obscure references, that kind of stuff I didn't get
until I was much older. I was really dumb growing up. I'm just realizing. Interesting.
Well, anyway, so there's Yeah, there's there's at least those three different types of humor.
And it makes you think, first of all, I mean, I think it was definitely intentional. But
at what stage of our lives did we understand which type of humor? You know what I mean?
Like I'm sharing my experience. I'm telling you, when I was a 10 year old kid watching
this 10 year old bard, I just I thought it was hilarious when Homer would get hit in
the nuts by something. You know, I just die laughing. But if they made an obscure reference
to a movie called Patton from 1970, I didn't get it. I just thought, well, this is different.
You know, I didn't see Patton. But these nods and these this extra emphasis on that type
of humor was was pretty awesome. I think it's what has contributed to the longevity of the
show, in my opinion. So there's also character development, quite dramatic character development
for a lot of different characters, because there's there's there's contributions to
the development of Bart, obviously, he's the main focus of this episode, lots of character
development for him. From the beginning of the episode, as he's trying to defend his
sister and then getting beat up and feeling despair and then getting encouragement from
from his friends or his family. And then, you know, organizing this this neighborhood
anti bully rally or battle. Lots of character development there. We see some with Lisa and
Homer and Marge as well, but also definitely Grandpa. Grandpa Simpson sees a great deal
of character development. And I feel like a lot of the scenes with him kind of set the
stage and help the writers see, yeah, this is where we want to go with with Grandpa Simpson.
Again, like everything else, that's my opinion. What's yours? And I'll tell you how it's wrong.
The the themes were pretty cool. I didn't really like I said, I didn't fully understand
at the time of these themes, the really deep, meaningful ones like the the bullying and
the family dynamics and conflict, conflict resolution and pacifism. I didn't really understand
them for what they were at the time. But now I see the the themes more overtly. So it's
easier for me to identify. So also lots of cultural references. And it's not just the
movies, but sometimes with those movies, they are cultural references because they were
cultural phenomenons like Star Wars was a major pop culture phenomenon. So when there's
there's references to that, or other major movies like Patton was huge, then you know,
that counts as more of a cultural reference than just like a nod to a movie. And there
were several I think I counted seven or eight different references or nods to other movies
like war movies. It was pretty cool. And I think it really all added up to the what became
the legacy of the Simpsons and the lasting impact of their of their show and particularly
this episode and how it how it lasted through the years. So time to engage you listeners.
So let's engage engage with me. What are your favorite moments from Bart the General? Are
you like me and you still it's hard to watch because the animation and you know, the portrayal
of the characters is so vastly different or just outdated? Or you know, do you fully enjoy
every minute of it? And are you the kind of person who wishes all the Simpsons episode
stayed like this? And if you are, you're a psychopath and stop listening to my show.
And I'm just kidding. Yeah, kind of. Do you think the the messages in this episode were
effective and specifically not not the gathering your friends together as a war party and beating
someone up? But the message about pacifism mostly from Marge, do you feel like that was
that was effective? Because one could argue that there's both both ideas are laid out
there and then we see the one come to fruition. One could argue that, you know, I don't know
if I want to get my buddies together and do some training and and go and take out this
bully with violence because he's bigger and scarier than me. So maybe I'll go the route
of pacifism. So some to think about that might have been a little more obscure than some
of my other questions. So I apologize. But lastly, how do you think this episode compares
to other classic Simpsons episodes? In my opinion, I think this episode shows more of
the out of order of how they were placed, because I think there's a big difference between
this and Homer's Odyssey, these two episodes and like the ones later in the season, some
we've already watched. But but others that we're going to see here in the future. I think
there was a vast difference, both in animation and production between the first couple episodes
and the last episodes of the first season. There was a lot of growth and evolution in
the first season. I think in my opinion, like I said, this episode was very clearly one
of the first drawn up episodes. I think it just shows. So engage with me, share your
thoughts, tell me what you think. Find me on social media on X at Donuts 742 and tell
me what you think. Yeah. All right. Don't forget to do your homework. Okay. Tired of
telling you to do just do your freaking homework. It's not hard. What I'm asking you to do is
go open up Disney Plus and watch an episode of The Simpsons. All right. Come on. Next
week is it's a good one. It's Moaning Lisa. It's when we meet Bleeding Gums Murphy. It's
it's a really good, deep, poignant episode. And it's almost entirely focused on Lisa and
her talents. And it's a good episode. So go watch it. Try to get top scores in the trivia
and then tweet about it. Let me know what you what you got. So see ya. Just kidding.
Speaking of trivia, thought I was gonna do it again, huh? Here are the answers. Ready?
Number one, what does Homer use to help Bart dry those tears? It was a blow dryer. This
was the part of slapstick comedy that I was talking about. The scene where he turns on
a blow dryer and then Bart's face is like blown off his skull. That humor killed me
as a kid. It was just so so funny. So stupid. But I've I've done it. I loved it. It was
hilarious. I was a dull kid. Number two, what is the code of the schoolyard or the rules
that teach a boy to be a man according to Homer Simpson? Number one, don't tattle. Number
two, always make fun of those different from you. And number three, never say anything
unless you're sure everyone else feels the exact same way you do. I love these. I never
loved the episodes of The Simpsons where Homer is like last week. Where Homer is like this
really smart character. I'm so glad they developed him this way. He's a much better dummy than
he is an intelligent character. If you got any of those, you get a point. If you got
all three of them, you get still one point. So no cheating. When Bart is marching his
troops, how many kids does he have in his squad? All right. If you know this answer,
for real, I want to know about it. Okay, no cheating. This was a trick question because
in in the first several scenes, there's 12. But towards the end of the montage, as they're
marching and they're doing the you know, they're 16. Yeah, one could argue, well, maybe he
got four more troops during the shut up. You know that it was just a foible of animation.
We both know it. So just just be quiet. So if you got that answer, if you said 12 and
16, and that's a trick question, you have to tell me I have to know because I need to
be able to tell you that you're a filthy liar. So keep you on your toes. Thanks again for
listening. I appreciate it. I'm so glad that you're enjoying these episodes. I love the
Simpsons. I love going through this and and analytically discussing these. I just I geek
out so much for it. So I'd love to hear your feedback. You know how to get to me. Thanks
for listening. I will see you next week.