The Regina Monologues

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The Simpsons episode
"The Regina Monologues"
Promotional artwork for the episode featuring Queen Elizabeth II, JK Rowling, Tony Blair, Evan Marriott, Ian McKellen and Edwina stuffing Homer into a British Mini Cooper car.
Episode no. 317
Prod. code EABF22
Orig. airdate November 23, 2003
Written by John Swartzwelder
Directed by Mark Kirkland
Couch gag The back wall is a Play-Doh Fun Factory press that creates clay figures of the Simpsons.
Guest star(s) Jane Leeves as Edwina
Tony Blair as himself
Evan Marriott as himself
Ian McKellen as himself
J. K. Rowling as herself
Season 15
November 2, 2003 – May 23, 2004
  1. "Treehouse of Horror XIV"
  2. "My Mother the Carjacker"
  3. "The President Wore Pearls"
  4. "The Regina Monologues"
  5. "The Fat and the Furriest"
  6. "Today I Am a Clown"
  7. "'Tis the Fifteenth Season"
  8. "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays"
  9. "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot"
  10. "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife"
  11. "Margical History Tour"
  12. "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
  13. "Smart and Smarter"
  14. "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner"
  15. "Co-Dependent's Day"
  16. "The Wandering Juvie"
  17. "My Big Fat Geek Wedding"
  18. "Catch 'Em if You Can"
  19. "Simple Simpson"
  20. "The Way We Weren't"
  21. "Bart-Mangled Banner"
  22. "Fraudcast News"
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"The Regina Monologues" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season, which originally aired November 23, 2003.[1] It was written by John Swartzwelder, and directed by Mark Kirkland.[2] Guest starring Jane Leeves as Edwina and Tony Blair, Evan Marriott, Sir Ian McKellen and J. K. Rowling as themselves.[1][3] It was the first episode in which the entire family went to Europe, and the first time a head of government guest starred.[4]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Mr Burns withdraws a $1000 bill from an ATM, but he drops it and an updraft carries it away to the Simpsons' house, where it is found by Bart and Milhouse. Marge makes Bart and Homer put up fliers so that the person who lost the bill can reclaim it. No one can describe it correctly so Lisa suggests that they spend the money on a vacation, but then decide against it because Homer always manages to ruin any trip they go on. After realising he can make money from the bill, Bart displays it in a museum in his tree house. Mr. Burns visits and reclaims his money, forcing Bart to close his museum. However, Bart made $3000 from the museum so they decide to spend the money on a vacation for Marge. Grampa suggests they go to London, where he hopes to meet his long-lost love Edwina.

Homer meets Abbie.
Homer meets Abbie.

Upon their arrival in London the family are greeted by Tony Blair. They visit London's tourist attractions, and later meet J.K. Rowling and Ian McKellen. Grampa tries to contact Edwina and Bart and Lisa go on a "sugar rush" after discovering the joys of British chocolate. Homer and Marge rent a Mini Cooper and start to drive around London but get stuck on a roundabout. After driving in circles for hours, Homer decides to break out of it, plows straight through the gates of Buckingham Palace and slams into Queen Elizabeth II's horse drawn carriage.

Homer is put on trial for causing harm to the Queen as well as wrecking her carriage. He calls the Queen an impostor, since her luggage is inscribed "H.R.H." which he believes is short for "Henrietta R. Hippo". The Queen, highly offended, demands that he be executed. He is taken away to the Tower of London to await his execution, where it is planned for his head to be stuck on a pike. The rest of the family call him from outside and Lisa tells him that he can use a secret tunnel that Sir Walter Raleigh built to escape. However, the tunnel leads straight into the Queen's bedroom. Homer pleads with the Queen to find it in her heart to forgive him and she allows him to leave England on the condition that he take Madonna as well. As they prepare to leave, Edwina appears and introduces Grampa to Abbie, who is implied to be Abe's daughter. Abbie looks and sounds just like Homer.

[edit] Production

This is the final episode written by longtime Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. The plot of Homer hitting the Queen's carriage was recycled from a spec script Jean and Reiss wrote for The Golden Girls in which Dorothy Zbornak hit Mother Theresa with her car.[5]

Tony Blair recorded his part for the episode in April 2003,[6] in ten minutes at Downing Street.[7] Blair was sent the script early on in the writing process,[7] and it took eight months of negotiation between Fox and Blair's director of communications Alastair Campbell before Blair could guest star.[8] In the original script, Blair was supposed to welcome the Simpsons to the United Kingdom "with a garland of 'genuine Newcastle coal' and hand [Marge] a complimentary Corgi", but Campbell had them changed,[9] as Blair "made it very clear that he was only interested in doing the show if he could promote tourism in Britain."[8] The show's staff did not know whether Blair would actually record his lines until showrunner Al Jean and his wife were in London promoting the 300th episode of The Simpsons. They received a call stating: "If you go over to Downing Street tomorrow and can promise to get the recording done in 15 minutes, then the Prime Minister will do it." Jean was "so nervous, it was ridiculous" when he meet Blair, an event his cited as "one of the most fantastic moments of his life." Blair was the top choice to guest star in the episode, but the staff did not think they had a chance to get him to appear.[8]

J.K. Rowling recorded her part via satellite from her home in Scotland,[10] and Ian McKellen recorded his over the phone.[7] David Beckham was originally sought to guest star in the episode, but it was deemed that he was not famous enough in the United States and so was not approached.[11] Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs is mentioned by Homer, something which Giggs thought was "brilliant".[12]

[edit] Reception

IGN.com named the episode the best of the fifteenth season, saying that "It may not be the best episode ever, but hell if it isn't a lot of fun", as well as calling it "extremely funny" and a "high point for the past few seasons."[2] Tony Blair received criticism from a number of commentators for his appearance in the episode due to the fact that he recorded his part at the height of the war in Iraq.[4] Sunday Telegraph journalist Jack Roberts noted that it was "not [Blair's] finest hour."[9] The episode was later included on the Around the World in 80 D'ohs DVD.[13]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Blair lined up for Simpsons debut", BBC News, 2003-11-23. Retrieved on 2007-05-02. 
  2. ^ a b Goldman, Eric; Dan Iverson, Brian Zoromski (2006-09-08). The Simpsons: 17 Seasons, 17 Episodes. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  3. ^ The Regina Monologues. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
  4. ^ a b Brian Viner; Kerrie Murphy. "When Ricky Met Homer", The Australian Magazine, 2007-05-27, p. 034. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 
  5. ^ Jean, Al. (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  6. ^ Tony Blair a 'Simpsons' guest star. CNN (2003-11-24). Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  7. ^ a b c Lorraine Thurlow. "The man who finds friends for Homer", The Daily Express, 2004-05-30. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 
  8. ^ a b c Lucy Broadbent. "Homer and Tony – how I set them up", The Telegraph, 2003-12-30. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 
  9. ^ a b Jack Roberts. "Guess who came to dinner", The Sunday Telegraph, 2006-04-16, p. 018. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 
  10. ^ Andy Patrizio. "An Interview With Al Jean", IGN, 2003-08-29. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 
  11. ^ D'oh! The Simpsons say no to Becks!. Newsround (2003-04-10). Retrieved on 2007-04-06.
  12. ^ Matthew Dunn. "Giggs' cartoon caper", The Daily Express, 2006-12-29. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 
  13. ^ Rick Fulton. "Around the World in 80 D'ohs PG", The Daily Record, 2007-05-25. Retrieved on 2008-04-25. 

[edit] External links

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