Bart the Genius

"Bart the Genius" is the second episode of The Simpsons' first season, which originally aired on the Fox network on January 14, 1990. It was the first episode written by Jon Vitti and the first directed by David Silverman. It was also the first ever episode to use an intro. The episodes features Bart Simpson's experiences of life as a genius after he cheats on an intelligence test. It marks the first use of Bart's catchphrase "Eat my shorts." As the second episode produced, directly after the disastrous animation of "Some Enchanted Evening," the future of the series depended on how the animation turned out on this episode.^[3] The animation proved to be more acceptable, and the show went forward.^[4]

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Cultural references
4 Reception and legacy
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

The episode starts with the Simpson family playing a game of Scrabble in order to help Bart prepare for an intelligence test he will take at school the next day. Not taking the game seriously, Bart lays down all his tiles in no particular order, inventing the word "Kwyjibo". He is subsequently mocked by Lisa for being unintelligent and he calls Lisa a jerk and chased out of the house by an enraged Homer.

At school the next day, intelligent classmate Martin Prince reports Bart to Principal Seymour Skinner for vandalizing a school wall. Later, Bart, having trouble with the intelligence test, switches tests with Martin. At a meeting with Bart's parents after school that day to discuss his behavior, psychiatrist Dr. J. Loren Pryor identifies Bart as a genius based on the test results. Homer, Marge, and Skinner are all surprised by this, but all are pleased to enroll Bart in a school for gifted children. Only Lisa refuses to believe that Bart is a genius.

At the new school, Bart is intimidated by the other students, who are studying confusing advanced topics, do not share his interests, and are suspicious and disdainful of him. They use their greater knowledge of different systems of measurement to trick Bart out of his lunch. Homer is newly appreciative of Bart and shows unusual interest in spending time with him. The two bond over their shared disdain for an opera that Marge forces the family to attend. After Bart visits his old school, where he is rejected by his friends for being so smart, he prepares to confess his cheating to his father, but holds off at the opportunity to play catch with Homer.

After Bart's science project explodes, he tells Dr. Pryor that he would like to return to his old school, to study the behavior of average children. After a frustrating attempt to write up a proposal for this experiment, he confesses that he cheated on the test. At home that evening, Homer helps Bart bathe and Bart tells him the truth. He adds that he has enjoyed the past few weeks, because he and Homer are closer than ever. Homer is again furious, and he chases a naked Bart upstairs. Marge and Lisa observe, with Lisa casually noting, "I think Bart's stupid again."^[2]^[1]

[edit] Production

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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[5] 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.^[5] The scene where the family plays Scrabble was inspired by the 1985 cartoon The Big Snit.^[7]

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.^[8] 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 frame.^[8] 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.^[8] There were a few problems with the finished animation for the episode. The banana in the opening scene was colored incorrectly, as the Korean animators were unfamiliar with the fruit,^[7] 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.^[8]

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.^[7] 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.^[7] 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.^[8] The episode also introduced the characters Martin Prince and Edna Krabappel.^[2]

[edit] Cultural references

In the opening scene, 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.^[1] At one point Homer erroneously refers to Einstein as the inventor of the light bulb. Dr. Pryor compares Bart's proposed work among ordinary children to Jane Goodall's study of chimpanzees.^[2] Goodall was pleased to be mentioned in the episode, sending the program a letter,^[7] and Vitti a signed book.^[5] The composer of the opera the family attends is named Boris Csuposki, a reference to animator Gabor Csupo.^[1] The opera attended by the family is Carmen, by Georges Bizet; the song Bart mocks is a famous aria called the Toreador Song.^[1]

[edit] Reception and legacy

In a 1991 interview, Jon Vitti described "Bart the Genius" as his favorite among the episodes he had written to that point.^[6] 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."^[9] The show received mail from viewers complaining that the throwing away of a comic book was an incident of censorship.^[7] 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."^[10] 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."^[2]

The invented word "Kwyjibo" inspired the creator of the Melissa worm.^[5]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 18. ISBN 0-00-638898-1.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). Bart the Genius. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
^ Brooks, James L.. (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ Groening, Matt. (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Vitti, Jon. (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ ^a ^b Jankiewicz, Pat. "Jon Vitti." Comic Scene #17, February 1991.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Groening, Matt. (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Silverman, David. (2001). The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart the Genius" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ Braun, Kyle. The Simpsons Movie Interviews. Ugo.com. Retrieved on August 5, 2007.
^ Grelck, David B. (2001-09-25). The Complete First Season. WDBGProductions. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.