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"Bart the General" is the fifth full length episode of The Simpsons. The episode deals with Bart's troubles with the school bully, Nelson Muntz.

Plot

Lisa bakes a batch of cupcakes for her teacher and Bart demands one. She says no, and Bart calls her a butt kisser, to which Homer replies "Bart! You're saying butt kisser like it's a bad thing. You see how it works boy, a cupcake here, a good grade there". Lisa protests and says she gets good grades because she is smart and studies hard, which Homer brushes off as nonsense as nobody works hard. After a hearty apology on the school bus, Lisa gives Bart the cupcake she dropped on the floor when the bus jolted, and he eats it none the wiser. When they get off the bus, Lisa's cupcakes are snatched by one of Nelson Muntz' cronies, when she was going to offer her friend Jamie one, who, after Bart asks for them back, stomps on them. Bart jumps at the rug-rat and tries to subdue him, but to no effect. Nelson shows up and holds Bart up by the scruff of his neck, questioning his bravery. Bart persists to struggle and accidentally hits Nelson on the nose. One of his cronies notices some blood on his nose, which he replies "Nah, happens all the time, somebody else's blood splatters on me... hey wait, you're right! You made me bleed my own blood!". Nervously, Bart attempts to shrug it all off, but he does not get out of it that easily. After school, Nelson beats Bart to a bloody pulp and dumps him into a trash can, which he then rolls down a hill, stopping at his front door.

At home, Bart goes into the bathtub and Homer comes in, blasting a hair dryer into his face to dry his tears. Bart tells Homer and Marge about the bully, and Homer advises Bart to fight dirty, while Marge suggests that he tell Principal Skinner. Homer then complains that it would "violate the code of the schoolyard" which are "rules that teach a boy how to be a man," including to "always make fun of those who are different from you." Homer pressures Bart to fight, while Marge suggests reasoning with Nelson. Bart chooses Homer's advice, and he has Bart face a punching bag. Disapproving of Bart's fighting skills, Homer jumps on top of the bag and shakes it around in an attempt to beat it up, going as far as biting a piece off, while Bart looks on, disgusted. Homer then reassures Bart that he should "fight dirty," saying that it is okay every now and then, and suggesting that Bart try "the family jewels". Bart confronts Nelson and at first throws mud in his eyes which enrages Nelson. Bart tries to fight but is once again, mauled by Nelson while Homer, in Bart's head, looks on, confused as to how Nelson stopped Bart from performing "the family jewel". This time, he turns to the toughest member of the Simpson family, Grampa Simpson, as suggested by Lisa.

Grampa introduces Bart to Herman, a crazed veteran who runs an army surplus store. Herman declares war on Nelson and instructs Bart on a full-assault strategy, while Bart considers Herman crazy (when Grampa reassures him that he is crazier than real-life General Patton and there is no way Bart can lose with Herman's ideas). Bart gathers other kids from school who have been traumatized by Nelson and enlists them as troops. After a long and tedious training program, the troops go marching one by one. Cornering Nelson and his thugs, they commence firing intense numbers of water balloons. Terrorized, the thugs surrender. Nelson is taken prisoner, but he threatens to kill Bart as soon as he is released, and Bart will have to untie him sometime. So afterwards, Herman drafts an armistice, which Bart and Nelson agree to sign. Marge enters with cupcakes, and peace prevails. The episode ends with a disclaimer Bart gives about reasons of why wars (with the exceptions of the American Revolution, World War II, & the Star Wars Trilogy) are never justified.

First appearances

Characters making a first appearance in this episode are:

• Nelson Muntz
• Herman
• Miss Hoover (mentioned)
• Old Jewish Man

Trivia

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (June 2007)

• Also Starring Susan Blu as one of Nelson's weasels.
• This is the first episode we see Bart cry. Homer then proceeds to dry his tears with a hairdryer.
• This is the first episode we see Springfield Retirement Castle, the retirement home where Grampa Simpson lives.
• Maggie appears only in the last scene after the armistice is signed and burlaps after eating a cupcake. Maggie appears when Bart imagines his funeral; Marge is carrying her when passing by on Bart's coffin.
• Grampa's list of words he does not want to hear on television again:
  1. Bra
  2. Horny
  3. Family Jewels (which Homer said earlier in this episode when he tells Bart where to hit Nelson)
• Milhouse is currently reintroduced with blue hair as opposed to black hair in "Bart the Genius".
• In the Czech-dubbed version Herman is portrayed as a Neo-Nazi, greeting Bart with the words "Sieg Heil, mein Junge" and claiming that he lost his arm while hailing from a bus.
• Bart and his army use a classic Pincer's movement to attack Nelson. "It can't fail against a ten-year-old!"
• In the United Kingdom, this was one of the first episodes released on video cassette in the early 1990s (on a tape paired with There's No Disgrace Like Home), and thus was many viewers' introduction to the series (especially in the days before the series was shown on terrestrial television). A second tape featuring Call of the Simpsons and Bart the Genius was released at the same time.
• In Bart's first dream sequence, he throws 10 knives at Nelson, and shoots at him 98 times.

• This is one of three episodes in the first season that does not have a couch gag. Instead, it cuts from the exterior shot of Springfield Elementary to the Simpsons' house. The same opening, with the house at a different angle, is used in Life on the Fast Lane.
• Bart recruits 104 soldiers (including himself)

Cultural references

• Alfred Eisenstaedt's V–J day in Times Square, a photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in New York's Times Square - One of Bart's "soldiers" grabs Lisa and passionately kisses her, the moment preserved on film. The pose of both the boy and Lisa are identical to this famous photograph. However, Lisa slaps the boy and tells him to knock it off.
• Nuremberg trials - The cronies' comments, "We were only following orders," effectively summarize those of Adolf Hitler's former Nazi leaders during the trials.
• ABC Afterschool Special and CBS Schoolbreak Special - Bart's post-episode speech, where he warns about the dangers of war and recommends further reading on the topic, pays homage to those "after school specials."
  • According to Bart, "there are no good wars, with the following exceptions: The American Revolution, World War II, and the Star Wars Trilogy."

Wars

• Italy in World War II - Earlier on Nelson's cronies follow him loyally, but when they are surrounded, they give up to Bart's army. In World War II, Italy was originally a loyal ally to Germany, and followed Mussolini, however when the Allies made advances, the Italian military surrendered to the Allies and betrayed Mussolini and declared war on Germany.
• Herman uses a declaration of war from the Franco-Prussian War and changes "Otto von Bismarck" to read "Bart Simpson" and changes "Napoleon III" to read "Nelson Muntz."

Films

Several war movies are parodied or homaged in various scenes throughout the episode:

• Full Metal Jacket - The scene where the "trainees" do pull-ups and other exercises on a jungle-gym-type structure as the sun sets in the background.
• The Longest Day - The shot of the GI helmet resting on its top while Nelson and his goons try to escape
• Patton - Several lines of dialogue, Bart slapping one of his soldiers (for "being a disgrace") and the music are lifted directly from the movie. "The key to Springfield has always been Elm Street. The Greeks knew it, the Carthaginians knew it, now you know it."
• Stripes - Herman running up and jabbing the training dolls with his bayonet, just like in the movie.

Peace treaties

Various peace treaties (and events surrounding them) are referenced in the armistice between Bart and Nelson:

• "Nelson recognizes Bart's right to exist" – Taken from the treaty of Versailles ending the Franco-Prussian War, in which France was forced to acknowledge the new German Empire and renounce their claims on German territory.
• "Nelson is never again to raise his fists in anger" – Germany and Japan having to eliminate their offensive armies; and Japanese Emperor Hirohito being forced to renounce his claims of being the arahitogami (or, living god).
• Nelson "agreeing" to sign the armistice – similar to Germany signing the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.

Previous episodes

Bart asks Herman whether he lost his arm in the war, to which Herman warns Bart, "Next time your teacher tells you to keep your arm inside the bus window, you do it!" Two episodes earlier, in "Homer's Odyssey", Mrs. Krabappel tells the children to keep their arms in the bus and says, "We all know the tragic story of the young man who stuck his arm out the window and had it ripped off by a big truck coming in the other direction." However the audio commentary stated that it was supposed to be a running gag that Herman would explain his missing arm differently each time. This, however, was not continued.

Bart's "daydreams" about Nelson

Prior to his confrontation with Nelson, Bart has two "daydreams" where he worries about a potentially brutal outcome. Those daydreams are as follows:

First daydream

Bart is walking down the hall when Nelson begins chasing him. Bart attempts to use various means to ward off the fast-growing Nelson - knives, a spray of sub machine gun bullets, etc. - all of them failing to faze the bully. Eventually, Nelson grows into a Goliath-like terror and corners Bart. (Nelson would later play Goliath II in Season 10's "Simpsons Bible Stories".) Nelson easily picks up Bart, shouts out, "Lunchtime!" and swallows him whole.

Second daydream

Later, Bart - Nelson having reminded Bart that he expects him for his after-school beating - envisions his funeral. Bart's entire class, his friends, Principal Skinner and his family take their turns at the casket, saying their goodbyes. Skinner remarks the nurse "did a wonderful job" reconstructing his face after his fatal run-in with Nelson (implying the fight was particularly brutal). Homer gleefully celebrates his "day of mourning" until Marge corrects him, while Lisa tearfully places a cupcake "ever so lovingly" on Bart's head and wishes she had handled her earlier run-in with Nelson differently. Nelson oafishly grabs the cupcake, punches the corpse (one for the road) and walks off.

Use in scientific research

"Bart the General" and Seinfeld's "The Tape" were used in a Dartmouth University experiment to study brain activity in relation to humorous moments in television shows. The results were published in a 2004 issue of the journal Neurolmage. The researchers noted, "During moments of humor detection, significant activation was noted in the left posterior middle temporal gyrus ... and left inferior frontal gyrus".

Notes

1. qtd. in Keay Davidson. "So these scientists go into a lab to see what's funny ... - They find gender differences in how humor affects brain". San Francisco Chronicle. November 21, 2005. A1.

External links

• "Bart the General episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
• "Bart the General" at IMDb

• Articles with trivia sections from June 2007
• The Simpsons episodes, season 1