The Simpsons/Bart the Genius

Bart the Genius
Season 1, Episode 2
Airdate	January 14, 1990
Production Number	7G02
Written by	John Vitti
Directed by	David Silverman
← 1x01 Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire	1x03 → Homer's Odyssey
The Simpsons — Season One

Bart the Genius is the second episode of the first season of The Simpsons, and the second episode overall.

Aired a month after a holiday special, this – the first "official" episode of a show that has, to date, run more than three decades – set the template of what was to come, the story of a dysfunctional family and a satirical look at the human condition.

This episode also expands on the character of 10-year-old oldest son Bart, and establishes several traits that would be the basis for the series' most memorable episodes: An underachiever who is more interested in causing trouble and whose conscience always gets him into even more trouble. Here, he creates a situation with fellow student Martin Prince, whom he dislikes and is envious of. When the class is asked to take an intelligence test, Bart – unknown to Martin, his teacher or his principal – switches the test, but he does not anticipate that he will be declared a genius and sent to a special school for gifted children.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

The first scene opens with the family seated around a table playing a game of Scrabble. Bart is disinterested, but Marge encourages him, suggesting that he could improve his thinking and vocabulary skills and reminding him that his class will be taking an intelligence test at school. At one point, Bart draws tiles that gives him, in order, tiles with the letters K, W, Y, J, I, B and O on his rack. When pressed to come up with a word that fits the game's rules, a frustrated Bart, unable to think of a suitable word, places the tiles in the order they appeared on his rack on the board. Homer presses him to define the word or lose his turn, to which Bart explains "KWYJIBO" is "a big, dumb balding North American ape!" ... angering Homer when he realizes it's an insult about him.

At school, Principal Skinner punishes Bart for spray-painting one of the outside walls of Springfield Elementary School, Bart getting caught (literally red-handed) thanks to Martin Prince, a fellow student that Bart dislikes because he is envious of his abilities and academic skills, which he (Bart) does not have. Back in class, Mrs. Krabappel, with whom she shares a mutual dislike with Bart, distributes the intelligence tests and explains how to take the test.

Bart is quickly overwhelmed by the test and, when he sees Martin effortlessly answering the test, he decides that some revenge is in order. After Martin finishes early and Mrs. Krabappel is momentarily distracted, Bart gets ahold of Martin's answer sheet and changes the name to "Bart Simpson," before filling out his own answer sheet with random answers and writing the name "Martin Prince" on top.

Later, when Homer and Marge are called to the school in response to Bart's earlier vandalism incident, school psychiatrist Dr. Pryor comes in with some amazing news about Bart: He has an IQ of 216, making him a genius.

Bart is called in for a session and asked about school and his academic skills, with Bart putting little thought into direct questions on whether he is frustrated in class and would benefit from a different learning environment. Skinner suspects something is amiss and wants to make Bart take the test again, but when Pryor suggests enrolling him at a school for gifted students, the principal realizes he will no longer have to deal with Bart and immediately changes his mind.

At the new school, the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children, there are no rules, no homework and nothing to stifle intellectual creativity, and Bart seems interested.

But when Bart arrives at the Enriched Learning Center and sees the students are speaking in foreign languages, palindromes and backwards, are engaged in college-level scientific experiments and so forth, he realizes the predicament that he's gotten himself into. But before he can back out, the teacher immediately ushers Bart to a rug, where she begins leading the students in an advanced philosophical discussion on free will. Bart, having no idea what anyone is talking about, can't give an appropriate answer when pressed to contribute. The other students quickly realize Bart doesn't belong there and exploit his weak math skills by tricking him out of his lunch.

That night, the family goes to the opera, but Bart is quickly bored, just wanting to go home.

The next day, Bart tries to talk to his old friends at Springfield Elementary, but they shun him. Back at the Enriched Learning Center, Bart causes a major accident in the science lab when he mixes acids and bases.

After the chemistry incident, there is a new meeting about Bart back at Springfield Elementary. When Pryor asks Bart about what wants to do, he suggests he go back to his old school but undercover, so as to "study" his old friends. Pryor, who by now knows the truth about the tests being switched, suggests to Bart he write a proposal on how he would do the study. After Pryor and Skinner leave the room to talk about how to deal with Bart, Bart – after some hem-hawing and trying to write a coherent introductory statement to his "proposal" – realizes he's been found out and is forced to admit the truth.

Presumably re-enrolled at Springfield Elementary, Bart and Homer discuss the events of the past few days and says the experience has made him closer to his father than ever before. Homer refuses to accept the explanation and flies into a rage, chasing Bart to his room before trying to break in.

Notes

Title Sequence

• First episode to feature the traditional Simpsons title sequence, though it does have some noticable diffrences that were changed later.
• Blackboard: I will not waste chalk.
• Couch Gag: Bart is popped upwards out of frame, and doesn't come back down.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

A child character's academic dishonesty – here, Bart switching tests with another student without anyone's knowledge – leads to unanticipated consequences and a situation he doesn't belong (Bart being sent to a school for the academically gifted) and doesn't know how to get himself out of. Even though there were clear signs that Bart had committed academic dishonesty, nobody is willing to help him get out of his mess – his parents are too stupid to notice, and both Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel are relieved to be rid of the chronically troublemaking Bart – until Bart confesses what he had done.

However, nothing changes after his confession. Bart is not made to apologize, and neither is he enrolled in remedial classes nor made to retake the test (even if a less overwhelming one), undergo psychiatric counseling, etc.; he is simply sent back to his class and his principal and overworked teacher are left to deal with him the best they can.

Characters

• Bart Simpson: "... and who the hell are you?" The template for Bart, at least early in the run, is that of the classic academic underachiever, someone who the last thing that he's interested in is school. It is clear he does not want to take the intelligence test, and when made to take the test he is clearly overwhelmed by the questions asked. His poor academic skills would frame several other episodes, such as Season 2's "Bart Gets an F," where he is easily distracted and far more interested in video games, comic books and killer gorilla movies on TV than school.
• Martin Prince: The most intelligent student in Mrs. Krabappel's class, and the best-behaved to the point where he's become teacher's pet. Bart is envious of Martin's abilities. Tensions would cool between the two later in the series, but here, Bart and Martin disliked each other.

Trivia

The Show

As was the case for many Season 1 episodes, "Bart the Genius" is mainly a character development episode, setting the template for future episodes. Bart is cast as the troublemaker, Martin as the boastful genius, Mrs. Krabappel as the overworked teacher who is often harried by Bart's troublemaking, Principal Skinner as the principal forever having to deal with Bart, and Homer the dimwitted father who – while he loves Bart – is often frustrated by his misbehavior and running out of patience to deal with his issues.

Allusions and References

• The Cosby Show: The scene where Homer refuses to accept Bart's sentiment about how the events of the episode made them closer than before is akin to the climatic scene in the legendary sitcom's pilot episode, where Theo wants his father, Cliff, to accept his academic underachievement but Cliff refuses to do so. Both end with threats of violence, with Homer chasing Bart through the house, compared to Cliff famously declaring to Theo, "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!"
• Homer: The literary collection at the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children includes several volumes written by the ancient Greek poet, including The Iliad and Odyssey ... a sly reference to Simpsons' patriarch Homer.
• Jane Goodall: Bart's last-ditch attempt to bluff his way out of his predicament by pretending to "study" ordinary children at Springfield Elementary is a reference to an actual (and legitimate) study of chimpanzees by the primatologist and anthropologist.
• Standardized tests: The math portion of the aptitude test the class takes has wordy (and often poorly-worded) questions containing irrelevant information, as many standardized tests of the era did. The "travelers from different directions and at different speeds, at which point do they meet" was a common line of questioning of the time.

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