Lisa's Pony

The episode is modeled after the novel The Yearling; a boy receives a deer, but his family has to work harder as the deer destroys the farm. When the father can not work anymore, the boy must give up the deer.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Debut appearances
4 In Later Episodes
5 Cultural references
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Lisa requires a reed for her saxophone because there is a talent show that evening. After calling Marge, Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, Patty and Selma and "the nice man who caught the snake in our basement", she finally calls Homer at work. Homer agrees but goes into Moe's before the music shop, which is right next door. The shop closes in 5 minutes. Homer, thinking he has enough time to drink the beer, enters Moe's. He walks out with 15 seconds to spare but is too late as the shop is closed. Dejected, he goes back to Moe's where the shop owner is enjoying a drink. Moe helps Homer convince the man to re-open his store. Homer, who barely remembers what he is supposed to pick up for Lisa, purchases the reed and heads for the school. Unfortunately he is still late. He arrives just in time to hear Lisa humiliate herself by butchering the song she chose to play.

To make Lisa love him again, Homer decides to purchase a pony. However, the ponies range from $5,000 to $500,000. To afford the pony, he applies for a loan through the Power Plant Credit Union. Mr. Burns personally reviews the loan, and approves it only after determining that Homer does not intend to eat the pony and has no knowledge of the "state's stringent usury laws."

In order to pay for all the care it requires, in addition to the high interest rate charged by Mr. Burns, Homer takes a second job working for Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart. Homer becomes more and more exhausted after trying to work both jobs. Finally, Marge admits to the kids that their father has been working two jobs to pay for the pony. After watching a meek, sleep-deprived Homer being bullied by his own son at the Kwik-E-Mart, Lisa sadly agrees to give up the pony, allowing Homer to go back to solely working his regular job. Lisa tells Homer that there's a "big dumb animal" she loves even more than her horse, that being Homer himself.

[edit] Production

There is a scene recycled from Bart's Dog Gets an F when we see Lisa lying on the couch with the mumps as she says on the phone to Homer "I just called to say I love you, Dad!". This was added in deliberately to see if any fans were alert^{[citation needed]}. Some realized this joke, but most did not notice^{[citation needed]}. Ralph Wiggum is seen, drawn as he is now, having previously been drawn differently. However, he speaks in Nelson's voice.

[edit] Debut appearances

Characters making a first appearance in this episode are:

Lunchlady Doris

[edit] In Later Episodes

The season eleven episode Saddlesore Galactica revisits the idea of the Simpsons adopting a horse as a pet, with the Comic Book Guy pointing out that The Simpsons have already done it (by stating the plot of this episode) as a metajoke about Simpsons fans (particularly those on alt.tv.simpsons) accusing the show of recycling old plots for new episodes to keep the show alive.

[edit] Cultural references

The episode starts off with a Dawn of Man sequence spoofing the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Part of the song playing when Homer falls asleep in his car is "Golden Slumbers" from The Beatles' Abbey Road album, though much of the beginning is based on part of Bohuslav Martinu's Sonata No. 3. In syndication, the song is replaced with a dream-like guitar piece due to copyright laws. The original music remains in the DVD.

The scene in which Lisa first awakes with the pony in her bed is an obvious homage to the famous scene of Part I of The Godfather, in which a movie producer awakens to discover the head of his favorite horse removed and placed in his bed. The musical chords used in the episode are the same, but shortened.

Millicent, the woman at the horse stables, is modeled after Katharine Hepburn.

When Lisa first rides Princess, the theme song from The Magnificent Seven can be heard.

Mr. Burns asks Homer if he is acquainted with the state's usury laws - state laws which limit the interest rate a lender can charge a borrower. From his reaction to Homer not knowing about them, or even knowing the meaning of the word "usury", Mr. Burns is likely charging Homer an illegal amount of interest on his loan. Although Mr. Burns has an interesting way of loansharking, when Homer asks about collateral, Burns replies that "Homer's spirit is collateral" then gives a diabolical laugh. This is likely a reference to the hellish nature of Mr. Burns and that he is trying to somehow claim Homer's soul should he not repay.

As he quits, Homer's line "You can take this job and restaff it" resembles the hook lyric "You Can Take This Job and Shove It" from a song by David Allen Coe.

The boy before Lisa in the talent show sings the Chuck Berry song "My Ding-A-Ling" before being stopped by Principal Skinner, who angrily exclaims, "This act is over!"

In a flashback we see Homer watching the tv serial Fantasy Island instead of paying attention to Lisa.