| 'The Canine Mutiny' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 8 Episode 20 | ||
| Directed by | Dominic Polcino | ||
| Written by | Ron Hauge | ||
| Production code | 4F16 | ||
| Original air date | April 13, 1997 | ||
| Guest appearance(s) | |||
Frank Welker as Laddie | |||
| Episode features | |||
| Chalkboard gag | 'A fire drill does not demand a fire'[1] | ||
| Couch gag | The couch is folded out into a bed with Grampa asleep on it. Grampa can only utter a cry of “Huh?” before The Simpsons fold him into the couch as they sit down as normal.[2] | ||
| Commentary | Josh Weinstein Dominic Polcino George Meyer | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| The Simpsons (season 8) | |||
| List of The Simpsons episodes | |||
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'The Canine Mutiny' is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 13, 1997.[1] It was written by Ron Hauge and directed by Dominic Polcino.[1] Bart fraudulently applies for a credit card and uses it to buy an expensive trained dog called Laddie. It guest stars voice actor Frank Welker as Laddie,[2] a parody of Lassie. The episode's title references the novel The Caine Mutiny.
Plot[edit]
When Bart complains he never gets any mail, Marge gives him the family's junk mail. He completes a credit card application under the name of the family dog, Santa's Little Helper. Bart receives a credit card issued to 'Santos L. Halper' after the company misreads his application. He goes on a spending spree, buying the family expensive gifts from a mail-order catalog: smoked salmon and a radio-frying pan for Marge, a golf shirt for Homer, pep pills for Lisa and several things for himself. Undeterred by its US$1,200 price, Bart orders a purebredcollie. When the dog arrives, Bart learns his name is Laddie and he is trained to perform several tasks. The Simpsons fall in love with the new dog and neglect Santa's Little Helper.
When he fails to pay his credit card bill, Bart gets a call from a debt collection agency demanding payment. When the calls and collection letters persist, he enlists Laddie's help to bury the ill-gotten card. Soon repo men arrive to confiscate his purchases. When a repossessor asks for the $1,200 dog to be returned, Bart identifies Santa's Little Helper as the dog. The greyhound is herded into the truck and he watches sadly as it drives away.
Realizing Santa's Little Helper is gone, the family bonds with Laddie, except for Bart, who fears for Santa's Little Helper's fate. When an exhausted Bart takes Laddie on one of his frequent walks, the collie saves the life of Baby Gerald. At the ceremony honoring Laddie's heroism, Chief Wiggum decides that he would make the perfect police dog. Bart gives him to the Springfield police force and breaks down crying while explaining to his family why they no longer have any dog at all. Homer instructs him to find Santa's Little Helper. Bart eventually learns from Reverend Lovejoy that the dog was given to a parishioner, Mr. Mitchell.
Bart visits Mitchell to beg for his dog back, but he sees that the man is blind because he fails to notice his parrot has died. When Bart hears how the man and Santa's Little Helper have bonded, he grows heartsick and leaves. Later Bart makes a late-night visit to the man's home and retrieves Santa's Little Helper. While trying to escape, he traps himself in a closet after mistaking it for an outside door. Thinking Bart is a burglar, Mitchell gloats that he has called the police. Bart explains that he is just a child and the dog was originally his. Bart and Mitchell call to Santa's Little Helper so he can decide which owner he prefers. After briefly getting distracted by chasing his own tail, Santa's Little Helper chooses Bart. Chief Wiggum arrives with Laddie, who immediately sniffs out a bag of marijuana in Mitchell's pocket. As Bart and Santa's Little Helper head home, more police officers arrive to enjoy the confiscated cannabis.
Production[edit]
The episode uses the full opening sequence because the story ran short.[3] A long sequence was cut from the middle of the episode,[3] with half of the episode being re-written after the animatic had been finished.[4] The main plot of the episode came from an original idea that the family would be issued a credit card in the name 'Hobart Simpson' which Bart would use.[3] An original subplot was that Lisa would become addicted to 'Trucker's Choice' pep pills.[4] Originally, instead of going to the dog park, the family took Laddie to a waterfall, where he performed a series of dives.[4] This idea was scrapped since the script already proved that Laddie was a form of 'superdog'.[5] Likewise, the scene where Laddie rescues Baby Gerald was originally more complicted, but it was cut; the finished episode shows only the aftermath of Laddie's rescue.[3]
Laddie was designed to resemble a real dog.[3] The catalog Bart uses is a combination of the Lillian Vernon catalog and The Sharper Image store.[3] The opening stemmed from the fact that the show had not had a sequence where the family received mail, and the writers wanted to create a joke about the different types of mail addressed to each family member.[3] After Bart's 'dog burning' fantasy, when he hears a ship's horn in the distance, there was originally going to be a faint cry of 'more dogs', but it was deemed taking the joke too far.[3]Hank Azaria ad-libbed the entire sequence during the closing credits in which Chief Wiggum and Lou sing along to 'Jammin'.[3]
Cultural references[edit]
The title is a reference to the novel and filmThe Caine Mutiny. The dog Laddie is a riff on Lassie's name, appearance and uncanny intelligence.[2][3] Marge listens to the song 'You Really Got Me' by The Kinks on her frying pan radio.[2] At the end of the episode, the song 'Jamming' by Bob Marley is played.[2] The design of the Repo Depot is based very loosely on the repossession agency from Repo Man.[3] The address of Mr. Mitchell's house, 57 Mt. Auburn Street, is one of addresses of The Harvard Lampoon.[3] Mr. Mitchell belief's that his dead parrot is still alive is a reference to the 'Dead Parrot' Monty Python sketch.[5]
Reception[edit]
In its original broadcast, 'The Canine Mutiny' finished 43rd in ratings for the week of April 7–13, 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 8.1, equivalent to approximately 7.9 million viewing households. It was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, King of the Hill, and Beverly Hills, 90210.[6]
The episode's ending with Chief Wiggum and Lou singing along to 'Jamming' by Bob Marley is often cited as one of the best endings in the history of the show.[3] The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it 'A sweet episode'.[2] Homer's line 'There, there, shut up boy' is one of Josh Weinstein's favorites.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ abcGroening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia (eds.). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 233. ISBN978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN98141857. OCLC37796735. OL433519M..
- ^ abcdefMartyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). 'The Canine Mutiny'. BBC. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
- ^ abcdefghijklmnWeinstein, Josh (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode 'The Canine Mutiny' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ abcPolcino, Dominic (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode 'The Canine Mutiny' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ abMeyer, George (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode 'The Canine Mutiny' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^Associated Press (April 17, 1997). 'ABC ratings take a record nose dive'. Sun-Sentinel. p. 4E.
External links[edit]
| Wikiquote has quotations related to: 'The Canine Mutiny' |
- 'The Canine Mutiny' at The Simpsons.com
- 'The Canine Mutiny episode capsule'. The Simpsons Archive.
- 'The Canine Mutiny' at TV.com
- 'The Canine Mutiny' on IMDb
| 'Dogtown' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 28 Episode 22 | ||
| Directed by | Steven Dean Moore | ||
| Written by | J. Stewart Burns | ||
| Production code | WABF15 | ||
| Original air date | May 21, 2017 | ||
| Guest appearance(s) | |||
| Episode features | |||
| Chalkboard gag | Thank you for 28 great years... Taylor Swift | ||
| Couch gag | The family climbs a snowy mountaintop, with their couch and TV carried up by the Sherpas from 'King of the Hill'. They are frozen and shattered by Maggie with an icepick. | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| The Simpsons (season 28) | |||
| List of The Simpsons episodes | |||
'Dogtown' is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the twenty-eighth season of the animated television series The Simpsons, and the 618th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on May 21, 2017 and the United Kingdom on Sky 1 on May 26, 2017.
This was the last of The Simpsons to be scored by composer Alf Clausen, who had scored the show since 1990 before being fired in August 2017.
Plot[edit]
Simpsons Skateboarding Dog
Homer is driving in his usual manner and style (ineptly and recklessly) when he carelessly drives into an alleyway, with no room to maneuver and faulty brakes, where Santa's Little Helper and the now-homeless Gil are eating out of trash cans. Homer is horrified by the notion of hitting a sweet and lovable dog, so he slams into Gil instead, who ends up with a serious neck injury and plans to sue the Simpsons for everything they've got.
The jury accepts the defense argument that dogs are not only as good as humans, but better in many ways, and they dismiss Gil's case. Mayor Quimby decides to ride the pro-pooch sentiment by instituting measures that cater to canines and punish humans who do such things, like round up strays and even run animal medicine places like the poor Dr. Budgie, who gets arrested and put into shackles.
Dr. Budgie's plea for Springfield to realize that the dogs will soon notice that humans have advocated their alpha status and turn on the citizens is not taken seriously until it actually happens. Even Santa's Little Helper joins the feral dog pack, as the town hides from the now-vicious dogs, and a town meeting leads to the community begging their most broken-down citizen to help them: Gil. Gil is ready to face down his fellow street creatures, but it is Marge who steps up, and after finding out the leader of the dog pack is a vicious chihuahua named Taquito, kicks Taquito clear out of their showdown park and becomes the new alpha of Springfield.
All of the dogs return to their homes and families, from Ned's Boz and Mr. Burns' hounds, to Lisa and Bart's joyous reunion with Santa's Little Helper.
In the final scene, Gil thinks he is found a new friend in a weakened Taquito who licks Gil's hand and barks happily. Gil does not realize the Chihuahua is only being friendly so he can get a taste for Gil before the poor ex-salesman finally dies and Taquito eats his corpse.
Reception[edit]
Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C+ stating, 'As far as bare bones go, why not? Again, silly and high-concept can work if the jokes are good enough, especially if an episode manages to ground the silliness in some sort of character work. Failing that, a bold stab at self-reflexive meta-comedy can also power things along. But here, the jokes aren’t good enough to sustain the premise, the character elements are perfunctory and sparse, and, as has been the case for a few years in a row now, the season finale has seemed less like an attempt to go out with a bang, and more like an afterthought.'[1]
Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 4/5 stars stating, 'Dogtown' panders to puppy love and yet somehow manages to mangle the mutts into a mangy mess of mischievous mayhem. Who doesn’t love cute puppies, playing piano, getting their snouts stuck in pickle jars or scratching their butts along the concrete to clean their fire hydrant debris? Cats will get their day, but doggies are adorable. They are instant memes, man’s best friend, blind people’s eyes and the saviors of drunken arctic explorers.'[2]
'Dogtown' scored a 0.9 rating with a 4 share and was watched by 2.14 million people, making The Simpsons the second most watched show on Fox that night.[3]
References[edit]
- ^Perkins, Dennis (2017-05-21). ''Dogtown' · The Simpsons · TV Review The Simpsons goes to the dogs in a high concept season 28 finale · TV Club · The A.V. Club'. Avclub.com. Retrieved 2017-05-27.
- ^Tony Sokol (2017-05-21). 'The Simpsons Season 28 Episode 22 Review: Dogtown'. Denofgeek.com. Retrieved 2017-05-27.
- ^Porter, Rick (May 21, 2017). 'TV Ratings Sunday: Billboard Awards stumble, 'Simpsons' and 'Family Guy' finales also down'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
External links[edit]
- 'Dogtown' on IMDb
- 'Dogtown' at TV.com
Simpsons Skater Dog Food
