The Simpsons/Whacking Day

Whacking Day
Season 4, Episode 20
Airdate	April 29, 1993
Production Number	9F18
Written by	John Swartzwelder
Directed by	Jeff Lynch
← 4x19 The Front	4x21 → Marge in Chains
The Simpsons — Season Four

Whacking Day is the twentieth episode of the fourth season of The Simpsons, and the seventy-ninth episode overall. Springfield's annual "Whacking Day" comes around shortly after Bart is expelled from school.

Special Guest Star: Barry White (Himself)

Also Starring: Doris Grau (Lunch Lady Doris), Pamela Hayden (Milhouse Van Houten)

Plot Overview

Superintendent Chalmers is about to make a surprise visit at Springfield Elementary, prompting Principal Skinner to trick the school bullies (and Bart) into being locked in the basement under the ruse that they've won mountain bikes. Because Bart is the only one small enough to fit through the vent, he escapes from the locked room with the intent to free the others later. But, instead, Bart takes Willie's unsupervised tractor for a ride and wrecks havoc on both the playground and Chalmers. This incident gets Bart expelled from school.

Bart's expulsion from school also coincides with Whacking Day, a local holiday where the denizens club snakes released into the city. Naturally, Lisa is disgusted by the day celebrating animal cruelty, but their parents are more concerned about Bart not having a school to go to anymore. They try enrolling him in a private Christian school, but the teacher becomes convinced that he's the devil come to corrupt them. Marge decides that the only solution is for her to homeschool him in the garage. She tries to teach Bart all of the necessary subjects and assigns Johnny Tremain as homework. The book is a hit with him and Marge decides to take him on a field trip to Old Springfield Towne.

During the field trip, Bart watches a slide show about Jebediah Springfield, which includes him killing a snake on the first Whacking Day in 1775. But Bart spots a historical inaccuracy in the presentation and questions Springfield killing a snake when he was at Ticonderoga at that time. Bart and Marge are carried out by security before they can cause any more trouble.

Eventually, Whacking Day comes along and Lisa is still trying find a way to stop her father from getting involved in the Whacking Day mob. Barry White gives a speech at the opening ceremonies, but he stops when he discovers what exactly he's speaking at. Bart and Lisa come up with an idea to lure the snakes to their house by amplifying White's deep voice through the ground, along with accompaniment on bass by Lisa. When the mob comes to beat the snakes, Bart tells them that the holiday is a sham originally started as an excuse to beat the Irish. Lisa manages to convince the crowd that snakes are good for the ecosystem in time for Quimby to try and win them over with some pre-whacked snakes.

As a result of Bart's independent learning, Principal Skinner offers to allow him back into school, but suddenly realizes that he left the bullies locked in the basement and races to rescue them with mountain bikes in tow.

Notes

Title Sequence

• Blackboard: "I will return the seeing-eye dog." The last line cuts off at "seein," although the "N" is only half written.
• Couch Gag: The Simpsons family files into the living room and find a stool in place of their chair. They all pile onto the chair and Maggie pops out through the middle of the other four.

Trivia

The Show

• First Appearance: This episode shows the first appearance of Superintendent Chalmers, as well as his consistently antagonistic relationship with Principal Skinner. However, what isn't evident in the first episode is Chalmers' realization that the school is terrible.
• Cut Scene: After Chalmers is hit by the tractor, there was a short bit where Willie and "his lass" surfaced from an intense make-out session. This scene was cut for time.

Behind the Scenes

• Denied Rights: Originally, Grampa was meant to sing "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)" by Marlene Dietrich in his flashback where he posed as a German cabaret singer in World War II. But, the producers couldn't get the rights to the song because, according to the publishing owners, "everybody makes fun of it."

Allusions and References

• Johnny Tremain: The book that Marge assigned Bart as homework was a narrative story detailing Boston in the years prior to the American Revolution. This includes the Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, the ride of Paul Revere and the Battle of Lexington. All of this is told through the eyes of a silversmith apprentice who suffers an industrial accident.

• Oliver Stone: Bart watches an episode of Itchy & Scratchy that was guest directed by Oliver Stone in the style of Stone's movie JFK. JFK was a film that examines the events leading up to and following after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was highly controversial because it implicated a deep conspiracy to kill the president and took liberties with history. The scene shown in the cartoon is a shot-for-shot recreation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby.

• Bob Woodward: The book Bart is reading, "The Truth About Whacking Day," was apparently written by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. Woodward was one of the reporters who had a direct hand in uncovering the Watergate scandal that ended in President Richard Nixon's impeachment and resignation.

Memorable Moments

• In a fantasy sequence, Homer day dreams about "Evil Homer" dancing on "Good Homer's" grave. Evil Homer is just him wearing a red devil costume, shaking maracas and singing "I am Evil Homer!" over and over again.