[1F18] Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song
Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Written by Bill Oakley & Josh
Song Weinstein
Directed by Bob Anderson
===============================================================================
Production code: 1F18 Original airdate in N.A.: 27-Apr-94
Capsule revision F, 21-Jul-96
Title sequence
Blackboard :- I will not celebrate meaningless milestones.
I will not celebrate meaningless mi/ at cutoff.
Lisa's Solo:- None due to shortened intro.
Couch :- The family run in and sit on the couch, which is missing
its middle cushion. When the FOX logo appears in the
corner of the screen, Homer jumps up, rips it off, and
stomps on it angrily.
Did you notice...
... Skinner sweating as he talked on the phone?
... Ned's parents were beatniks living in Greenwich Village, New
York?
Dave Hall:
... the tiny feet on young Homer's T-Shirt? (cf. 9F14)
... Marge wears a red strapped dress in the film?
... Homer's cake only has six candles? (Is that for dog or Homer
years? :>)
... Homer doesn't follow the tradition of first blowing out the
candles and then opening his gifts?
... Homer only receives one gift?
... Homer actually tried to put his beard out with his hands?
... Abe isn't wearing slippers in the film?
... compared to the other kids, Bart's geode is puny?
... even without eyes, Bart's "pet box" knew when and where to
follow him?
... Martin isn't impressed with SLH?
... SLH's exposed eyelid when Nelson petted him?
... the sadness in every kid's face but Martin's when Bart took SLH
away?
... the glee on Lunch lady Doris's face as she inhales the flavor of
her "horse" soup? And that her apron isn't even soiled?
... Willy doesn't want anyone in the way when he lands on the
ground?
... Willy's butt imprint on the superintendent?
... Ned's several diplomas hanging on the walls of the Principal's
office?
... it sounds like Skinner only owns one pair of underwear?
... Bart shoving peanut butter cups into his mouth, wrappers and
all?
... how far the crab flies? (cf. 7G09)
... the picture behind Skinner and Bart at in the restaurant?
... Wendell chasing after someone's underwear?
... the mouse hole in Ned's flashback?
... the thick-glasses-wearing armed guard at Fort Springfield
doesn't stop Bart?
... Homer only appears at breakfast and in Bart's bedroom?
... who filmed those OFF private moments?
Tony Hill:
... nobody notices the box walked? (Perhaps the class was
desensitized from its visit to the box factory.)
... the frequent appearance of clocks in this episode?
... the school heating system uses technology similar to that for
tracking objects at Mount Splashmore?
... Willie leaves a greasemark on the Superintendent?
... the sun sets on a line with the shoreline? How can this be if
Springfield is near the Atlantic?
... Skinner calls his CO "Colonel," yet officers only address their
subordinates by rank?
Vaughn Jett:
... the clock in the background advances 10 minutes during Little
Bart's five-second potty scene?
... the drink flavors behind the counter in the Kwik-E-Mart are
"RED" and "GREEN"?
... the "plan" Bart comes up with to get Flanders fired doesn't
actually involve any action on Bart's or Homer's part?
... the flag in Skinner's bedroom has 27 stars?
Matthew Kurth:
... the calendar is on April in Bart's class?
... OFF's doormat has fake plastic flowers on it?
Don Del Grande:
... Maggie smiles when she stamps the floor; the others are angry?
... both Mrs. Krabappel and Miss Hoover smoke?
... there appears to be a folded flag on his dresser (the kind of
folded flag the family gets after a military funeral)?
... in the "free-for-all" at the school, Janey is running in Mrs.
Krabappel's classroom, but she's in Miss Hoover's class?
... Ned's mother's name is Mona?
Adam Mottershead:
... the MP at the gate is looking _right at_ Bart, letting him
through, despite the "secret project" at the base?
Voice credits
- Starring
- Dan Castellaneta (Willy, Homer)
- Julie Kavner (Marge)
- Nancy Cartwright (Bart, Ralph)
- Yeardley Smith (Lisa)
- Hank Azaria (Wiggum, Chalmers, Leopold, Apu, Luigi, colonel,
Recruit 2)
- Harry Shearer (Skinner, Flanders, Recruit 1, Ned's Dad)
- Special Guest Voice
- Marcia Wallace (Mrs. Krabappel)
- Also Starring
- Doris Grau (lunch lady Doris)
- Pamela Hayden (Milhouse, Kearney, Jimbo)
- Tress Macneille (Skinner's mother)
- Maggie Roswell (Miss Hoover)
- Russi Taylor (Martin, Sherri)
- Frank Welker (Santa's Little Helper)
Movie (and other) references
+ 1971 film "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" {et}
- episode title
+ "The Wonder Years"
- watching the home movie, and the music
+ "Alien" {aw}
- When Skinner sees the display with the two glowing dots, one
stationary and the other approaching the first. Also, when
Greased Willy turned around and was confronted by SLH (like Dallas
in the film).
+ "Aliens" {aw}
- When Skinner stood on the furniture and lifted up the grate plate
in order to stick his head inside the tunnel. One of the Marines
in Aliens did that very thing.
+ "Alien^3" {aw}
- The occasional glimpse of SLH as it zipped by the end of a tunnel
looked very much like the "golden alien" from the film.
+ "Lady and the Tramp" {mk}
- scene in restaurant
+ Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket"
- Skinner's attire, and shots of him running with his troops
Previous episode references
- [7F14] SLH chews a newspaper & eats a cookie {dh}
- [8F16] Lunch lady Doris' odd choice of meat {dh}
- [9F18] Superintendent Chalmers returns
- [9F21] Skinner says "One question remains"
- [1F16] Bart, "He thinks he's people!" (cf. Mrs. Krabappel, "It thinks
it's people!")
Freeze frame fun
- Number of stamps on the Fox logo: 3 from Homer, 3 from Marge, 2 from
Bart, ~3 from Lisa, 2 from Maggie. {dh}
- Homer circles the room five times when his beard was on fire. {dh}
- Things on Lisa's desk: {mk}
- trilobyte
- petrified wood
- bran muffin
- geode
- Time on clock when Bart showed SLH: 10:22. {dh}
- "Assorted Horse Parts - NOW with More Testicles" {mk}
- Seymour's detergents: {mk}
- Tide
- Cheer
- Bold
- Biz
- Fab
- All
- Gain
- Wisk
- Skinner's apron: "Principals do it 9 months a year" {mk}
- Some classroom antics: {dh}
- Richard and some other kid swing from the ceiling lights.
- Wendell on top of an over turned desk, tossing paper airplanes
about.
- Nelson ripping up school books.
- Sherri and Terri writing on the blackboard.
- Janey running out of Bart's classroom.
- Someone placed Martin in a cage and hung him from the ceiling.
- Shirtless Milhouse rubbing ketchup on himself.
- Sign at Ft. Springfield: "Fort Springfield, Proud Home Of Secret
Civilian Mail-Opening Project". {mk}
Animation, continuity, and other goofs
The logo is one frame behind Homer's arm movements (for example, when
Homer throws the logo down, it remains suspended in mid-air for one
frame). {ddg}
When Maggie goes back to the couch, she goes through Homer's right leg.
{ddg}
The water spray doesn't actually get Homer wet. (It's only afterwards
we briefly see water streaming down his head.) {dh}
Young Homer's car seems to roll out of the driveway, yet the water
stream from the hose seems to follow a different course. {dh}
Bart is playing the old home movies on their _green_ refrigerator, in a
*lighted* kitchen. The image should have a high green tint, and should
be very faint in that kind of light. {mk}
The projector cord appears to stop short of dangling over the edge of
the kitchen table. {dh}
When Homer's birthday book falls, it should be upside down. {dh}
It would be a little hard for Bart to see the film with his back to the
fridge. (This is corrected in the next scene, though.) {dh}
How could Homer afford a Super-8 *sound* movie camera? (Matthew Kurth
{mk})
Marge pulls her potato out of thin air. (Or did she pull it out of her
hair? cf. 7G08) {dh}
Lisa gets her books for school, yet she doesn't carry them onto the
school bus. {dh}
Bart's geode switches hands when he arrives on the bus. {dh}
Kids switch places on the school bus. Also note Nelson and one of the
purple-haired twins vanish. {dh}
Bart's geode disappears. {dh}
The ruler on the blackboard ledge changes size. {dh}
The number of Martin's cookies changes. {dh}
Martin's cookies don't appear on Ms. Krabappel until needed. {dh}
Once again, Martin's pens are missing from his pocket in some scenes.
{dh}
Aren't geodes metamorphic, not of volcanic origin as Martin (IQ 216)
described? {th}
Mrs. Hoover's classroom clock depicts ~9:21, yet Bart presents SLH to
his classroom at 10:22. {dh}
Skinner's microphone doesn't seem to have an on/off button. {dh}
Skinner's soiled look disappears in several scenes. {dh}
Overhead air ducts disappears in some scenes. {dh}
The windows depict the gymnasium to be a self-contained building, so
there shouldn't be any air ducts overhead. {dh}
The exit doors shouldn't open in; in fact we could see the crash bars
the whole time. {th}
It seems the store policy sign and "Cash" place mat are missing from the
Kwik-E-Mart. {dh}
Just what is Leopold's job? {ddg}
The tape reels were both full, reprising an error from "Bart Gets An
Elephant." {th}
Bart pulls his drink glass out of thin air. {dh}
The windows of the Springfield Laundromat change size. {dh}
Bart doesn't actually walk into the Laundromat. {dh}
The street drain disappears from front of the Laundromat. {dh}
In 8F03, Skinner lives by himself. {dh}
Skinner's hair looks much darker at night. {ddg}
In the picture from Vietnam, Skinner's uniform doesn't have any rank
insignia, which should rate him as an E-1 (the lowest level of private,
although back in 1969, an E-2 had no insignia either -- note a Private
First Class, or "PFC", is an E-3); his current rank is E-7 (Sergeant
First Class -- "three up, two down", although there shouldn't be a
circle in the middle). {ddg}
Reviews
Tony Fafoglia: All in all an enjoyable episode not a great one. B+.
Could it be a self referential tribute to their 1st season perhaps!
Dan Saltzstein: Well, the new one was hilarious. I remember watching
the old one when it was on originally. Let's not beat around the
bush. It sucked. The new more satirical edge the show was
developed is much more clever. It was fun to watch, but not funny
at all. Did any else watch it in a room full of people? No laughs
at all.
Tony Hill: This episode had a lively, lilting plot with plenty of funny
scenes. Skinner and Bart together was a delightful story twist.
The Italian restaurant scenes added a touch of whimsy. SSSBAS is
good enough for a B.
Matthew Kurth: I expected the 100th Episode to be a celebration.
Instead, we had a funeral. The script had no meaning, no depth, no
punch, and no respect for good taste. Bart and Seymour becoming
fast friends was totally unbelievable. What wasn't cringeworthy in
this one was merely mediocre. Pathetic and worthless. Only Santa's
Little Helper and Willie as the "greased Scotsman" saved it. 4/10.
Tom Parker: My 7 year old sat up half way through and said: "Dad, it's
just not funny tonight." Better fire the new writers and hire the
old ones back, the Simpsons are in _real_ trouble and living on past
glories. Pains me to write it.
Don Del Grande: C...It started out as if it was shooting for "best
episode of the season" (certainly the couch opening rates among the
best), but after Skinner got fired, it just died. The detergent bit
in the laundromat had all the makings of a rake scene with different
colored rakes. And the ending was just "let's get Flanders out and
Skinner in - Flanders is out - Skinner is in - roll the credits".
Ron Carter: [D+] All the 100th episode hype and this is what we get? A
hackneyed setup that leads to a warm and fuzzy "moral" ending? Only
redemption came from Willie, great as always; on the downside,
everything else.
Yours Truly: Sort of fun, to be sure. Nice blackboard _and_ couch gag
(more evidence that "they _do_ read this group"). I thought
Skinner's character was developed well here -- a big plus, almost
hearkening back to Bart's development in "Bart Gets an F". Ned as
principal, though? I give it a C.
Comments and other observations
The Springfield Elementary gymnasium
Matthew Kurth says, "The gym in Springfield Elementary is woefully
outdated -- the scoreboard doesn't have a clock, there are no three-
point lines on the floor, and the overhead lights are reminiscent of
lights installed in 1950s gyms."
Joey Heatherton and Sebastian Cabot
Tony Hill writes, "Joey Heatherton was an actor/singer, the daughter of
comedian/ ventriloquist Ray Heatherton. Later, she became a
frequent guest on game shows. Sebastian Cabot was a bearded British
actor, although the explorer of the same name may have had a beard
as well."
Quotes and Scene Summary
[Syndication cuts are marked in curly braces "{}" and are courtesy of
Ricardo Lafaurie and Frederic Briere.]
The scene opens a la "Wonder Years" with "With a Little Help from My
Friends" being covered in the background. A young Homer washes his
muscle car with his fairly new girlfriend Marge. He grins at the camera
as Marge turns the hose on him, dousing him. Homer has neglected to put
the parking brake on in his car, it would seem: it rolls off the
driveway and onto the street.
In the next shot, it is Homer's birthday. As Abe and Marge watch,
bearded Homer opens Marge's present -- a book about beards. Delighted,
he shows it to the camera, then leans forward to blow out the candles on
his cake. But his beard catches fire, and he runs back and forth in a
panic while Marge worries and Abe laughs.
[Bart watches a home movie of Homer's birthday]
Bart: [laughs] They're going to eat this up at Show and Tell.
Marge: I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with the idea of your
classmates laughing at our family's private moments. How
would you like it if, twenty years from now, people were
laughing at things _you_ did?
Bart: Not likely. Come on, have a sense of humor about yourself!
[the movie turns to baby Bart, naked, sitting on the
toilet]
Young Bart: I'm a big boy today.
-- Maybe Mom _was_ right, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Lisa laughs, and Bart sees reason. He looks around for something else
to take to school, and Marge suggests a largish potato. "Mom, you're
always trying to give me potatoes. What is it with you?" Marge
explains, "I just think they're neat." Bart runs up to Lisa's room.
Bart: I need something for Show and Tell.
Lisa: Just take one of my geodes.
[Bart stares blankly]
The rocks on my desk.
[Bart goes over, picks up something]
No, that's a trilobyte.
[Bart picks up something else]
That's petrified wood.
[Bart picks up something else]
Bart, that's a bran muffin!
-- No petrified birds, however, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss
Song"
Otto honks the bus horn outside, and Bart and Lisa walk out to it. As
Bart steps on the bus with his geode in hand, he notices everyone else
has brought geodes, including Martin, who says, "Greetings, fellow
geodologist!" Bart groans, steps off the bus, and looks around for
something else to take. His eye falls on Santa's Little Helper; he
tears the dog away from chewing up the morning paper.
In class, {it is Nelson's turn at Show and Tell.}
Nelson: {The ingredients were: fresh pureed tomatoes, water, salt, and
sodium benzoate used to retard spoilage. Once again, if I'm
not mistaken, this can contained tomato paste.}
Edna: {Thank you, Nelson. I look forward to seeing it again next
week.} Bart, you're up.
[Bart walks up as a cardboard box follows him]
Bart: Boys and girls, Mrs. Krabappel, I come before you today to
solve a riddle that has plagued mankind for centuries: What
has four legs and ticks?
Milhouse: A walking clock?
Nelson: A walking clock!
Martin: I'd wager he has some variety of walking clock in that box!
Edna: Bart, is it a walking clock?
Bart: [mystified] What? No, it's my dog.
-- That was my next guess, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Everyone gasps with delight.
Edna: [looking at SLH] Oh, he is a gem! Here boy. [kisses] Would
you like these cookies Martin made for me?
Martin: My raisin roundies!
Bart: My dog's name is Santa's Little Helper. One time he crawled
under the house and when he came out he was covered with ants.
Then he ran into a church and drank all the holy water.
Everyone: Wow!
-- Amazing but true, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Mrs. Krabappel thanks Bart: "Great job!" Everyone cheers as he walks
off. "I knew the dog before he came to class," brags Milhouse.
Martin walks up, places his geode on the floor, and narrates
histrionically.
Martin: Kaboom! That, the sound of the thunderous volcanic explosion
that gives birth to the magnificent geode, one of nature's
most --
Nelson: You're doing it wrong. You gotta pet him hard so he can feel
it.
[he demonstrates; SLH sneezes]
Sherri: Look, look, look! The doggie sneezed.
Edna: Hah! It thinks it's people.
Willy: [on the other side of the door] Hey, poochie! Here, poochie,
poochie, poochie!
Martin: Ahem. My geode must be acknowledged!
Edna: [angrily] Oh, brother. All right, back to Show and Tell!
Bart, why don't you put the doggie away.
Everyone: Aw.
-- Short attention spans, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Bart leads SLH to a closet and shuts the door on him.
Later, SLH awakes to smell something good coming from the vent. Lunch
lady Doris' soup that day is particularly redolent, no doubt due to
extra helping of horse testicles she's added to it. "More testicles
mean more iron!" she exclaims. SLH can't resist, and he paws the vent
open and crawls inside. He crawls past the grade two room.
Ralph: Um, Miss Hoover? There's a dog in the vent.
Hoover: Ralph, remember the time you said Snagglepuss was outside?
Ralph: He was going to the bathroom.
-- The boy who cried "dog", "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Principal Skinner is on the phone in his office to the superintendent.
Skinner: [on the phone] I know Weinstein's parents were upset, uh,
superintendent, but, but -- but I was _sure_ it was a phony
excuse. I mean, it sounds so made up: "yom kip pur". [laughs
sheepishly]
Willy: [bursting in] Sir, you've got to come quick! There's a dog
running around in the air ducts.
Skinner: I understand. [over PA] Children, this is Principal Skinner.
Remain calm. There is a dog in the vents.
[In Bart's class, everyone cheers and gallavants]
-- That's not what he asked you to do, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's
Baadasssss Song"
Willy pushes Skinner's desk over to the corner of the room for Skinner
to stand on. He removes the vent cover and sticks his head into the
vent. SLH licks his face happily and wanders off.
Skinner: Willy, go into the vent and get him.
Willy: What? Have you gone waxy in your peaster? I cannot fit in
tha' wee vent, you croquet-playing mint muncher.
Skinner: Grease yourself up and go in, you...you guff-speaking work-
slacker.
Willy: Ooh, good comeback.
-- Indeed, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Willy approaches lunch lady Doris and asks her if they have any grease.
When she replies in the affirmative, he strips his shirt off and asks to
be greased up.
It really is a tight squeeze for him in the ventilation system. He sees
a flash of brown cross the T junction at the end of the shaft in front
of him; behind him, at the other end, he sees another flash of brown
shortly after. Skinner monitors Willy's and SLH's flashing dot on a
radar screen. "Good Lord, it's coming up right behind him!"
Although SLH has no malevolent intentions. He simply licks Willy's foot
repeatedly, but Willy is ticklish and begin laughing hysterically.
Several children are standing just under where he laughs, and they toss
books and other things at the vent, denting the metal. Willy implores
them to stop.
Skinner rushes out and orders everyone back to their room. "Uh oh.
Whenever I get this upset, I get hiccups! (hic) Oh, right on cue..." he
moans, and everyone points and laughs.
Willy, meanwhile, has managed to orient himself so that he faces SLH,
who runs away from him. But the wily Scotsman manages to catch up and
snag the stray mutt.
Willy: There's nary an animal alive that can outrun a greased Scotsman.
Now, out we go --
[pushes vent cover out; the cover hits the gymnasium floor far
below. The vent begins to pull from the roof]
Urg...'tis more dizzying than the belfry at St. Caliga
Glenwalgens.
-- Willy catches Santa's Little Helper, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's
Baadasssss Song"
The fire department is called in to try to rescue the trapped pair.
Chief Wiggum arrives, greeting the basketball-playing Eddie and Lou
with, "That's nice work, boys." Mrs. Krabappel sees superintendent
Chalmers arriving and takes great glee in pointing this out to the still
hiccuping Skinner.
Chalmers: [voice rising] Skinner...!
Skinner: Superintendent Chalmers! You didn't have to come all the way
down here. Everything's under control.
[fireman falls off ladder, which smashes the gym window]
Chalemers: Oh, I have had it, I have _had_ it with this school, Skinner!
The low test scores, class after class of ugly, ugly children
--
Skinner: Oh, now I really think the children's appearance --
Chalmers: Seymour, you are in very, _very_ big trouble.
[SLH falls into his arms]
Why, looking into this lovable mutt's eyes just melts my
heart. Seymour, all is forgiven.
Willy: [yells] Make way for Willy! [lands on Chalmers] I said "Make
way for Willy," you bloated gasbag.
Chalmers: Seymour...
Skinner: Hmm?
Chalmers: You're fired!
[Bart gasps]
Skinner: I'm sorry, did...did you just call me a liar?
Chalmers: No, I said you were fired.
Skinner: Oh. That's much worse.
-- In some ways, yes, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
[End of Act One. Time: 7:40]
Next morning at breakfast, everyone but Bart eats their food noisily.
Bart: I thought I'd be jumping for joy the day Skinner got fired. Now
all I have is this weird hot feeling in the back of my head.
Lisa: That's guilt. You feel guilty because your stunt wound up costing
a man his job.
Bart: I guess it is guilt.
[scratches his head; a small spider bites him repeatedly there]
-- The poisonous fangs of guilt, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss
Song"
Homer: {Whoa, whoa, whoa -- let me get this straight. They let
everybody out of school early just because _you_ brought a dog?}
Bart: {Well, yeah, but --}
Homer: {Well, I'm off to work. [picks up SLH]}
Marge: {The dog has had enough excitement.}
Homer: {But Marge, dogs can _never_ have enough excitement. Look:
[swings SLH around] whee! Whee! Heh heh. Whee!
[giving in] All right, all right. I won't take the dog.
[grabs Maggie] Come here!
[Marge grabs her back]
[Homer moans]}
-- "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
At Springfield Elementary, Chalmers has called an assembly.
Chalmers: Boys and girls, because of Mr. Skinner's sudden departure,
I've had to appoint a new principal. Leopold?
[hulking Leopold stands, and everyone gasps in fear]
Leopold: All right, you little punks: pick up your freakin' ears,
because I'm only going to be saying this once. From now on,
things are going to be _very_, _very_ different around here --
[everyone gasps]
-- with your new principal Ned Flanders!
[everyone claps]
Ned: Well, tippety-top of the A.M. to every-good-body here. As
chairman of the PTA, I am de-diddley-lighted to take over here
and I think I can put the "pal" back in "principal".
[everyone laughs]
Chalmers: Heh heh, yeah. And I'll put the "super" back in
"superintendent".
[one person coughs]
It's the same exact joke. What gives, Leo?
-- It's because you're bald, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Ned: Now, I know everybody's eager to get back to class --
Edna: Hah!
Ned: -- but I thought it might break the ice if we had a little Q &
A!
Kearney: [to Jimbo] Dude, ask a question or we'll have to go back to
class!
Jimbo: [stands up] Um...
Ned: Yeah. you!
Jimbo: Uh, yeah, uh, I was wondering, do you, er, what's your policy
on, uh, lunch?
Ned: Well, let me just say I want to put the "stew" back in
"students".
[everyone laughs]
Chalmers: {It's just a damn popularity contest with you kids! [walks
off]}
Leopold: {Now look what you've done, you little freaks!}
-- The sensitive side of the superintendent, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's
Baadasssss Song"
At the Kwik-E-Mart, Apu chides Bart for abusing the self-serve ice cream
dispenser and making a foot-high cone. Milhouse spies a familiar face
in one of the aisles.
Milhouse: Bart, look! It's Principal Skinner. And I think he's gone
crazy -- he's not wearing a suit or tie or anything!
Bart: [approaches him] Principal Skinner? Um, I'm real sorry about
my dog getting you fired, and biting you, and then getting it
on with your leg.
Skinner: Well...maybe it was for the best. Now I...I finally have time
to do what I've always wanted: write the great American novel.
Mine is about a futuristic amusement park where dinosaurs are
brought to life through advanced cloning techniques. I call
it "Billy and the Cloneasaurus."
Apu: Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding sir. First you think of an
idea that has already been done. Then you give it a title
that nobody could possibly like. Didn't you think this
through...
[later]...was on the bestseller list for eighteen months!
Every magazine cover had...
[later]...most popular movies of all time, sir! What were
you thinking?! [realizing] I mean, thank you, come again.
-- Remembering his role, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
At Springfield Elementary, Principal Flanders berates Bart.
Ned: Bart, I've barely been here a good solid week, and you've been
sent to my office eleven times. And now that I have peanut butter
cups, you seem to be getting in trouble every hour.
Bart: [through a full mouth] Must have been a coincidence.
Ned: Uh, anyhoo, Bart, you're going to have to be punished. This isn't
some sort of clubhouse.
[Bart holds up an empty glass and rattles it]
Oh, sorry: were you drinking Slice or Yoo Hoo?
-- Lousy irony!, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Principal Skinner is in the laundromat, trying to pick a detergent from
the vending machine.
Skinner: Let's see: Tide...Cheer...Bold...Biz...Fab...All...Gain...Wisk.
I believe today I will try...Bold.
[Bart skateboards by] Bart! How are you? How's school?
Bart: Um...it's a lot of fun. [pause] Well, it was good to see you
--
Skinner: It was? Well then we should get together again. Say, er,
Saturday at my house. You know where I live?
Bart: Er, no...
[flashback to Bart knocking on a door and running]
Skinner: [answers door, looks down] Hmm. A flaming bag, eh? Well,
these new Italian loafers will make short work of it. [stomps
on it]
[back to the present]
Bart: Er, I'm kind of busy on Saturday.
[Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney run by. Jimbo darts in]
Skinner: Hey!
Jimbo: [taunts] We got Skinner's underpants! And there's nothing you
can do about it, Mr. Ex-Principal.
Skinner: That's not true. I can buy a new pair! [checks his wallet] No
I can't. I needed those, I really did.
-- Unemployed, unemployable, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Bart relents and decides to visit Skinner after all. He knocks on
Skinner's door, and is greeted by Skinner's mother. "Oh, you must be
Seymour's friend. He's up in his room. Don't touch the wallpaper," she
cautions.
Bart opens Skinner's bedroom door to find him conducting a recording of
Beethoven's fifth.
Skinner: Bart! Heh heh, welcome. Can I offer you a Diet Caffeine-Free
Dr. Pepper or an individual fruit cocktail cup?
Bart: Uh, I'll pass. Hey, what's this? [points to photo]
Skinner: Oh, that's my old unit from Vietnam. I was their sergeant,
they were my loyal troops.
[photo shows Skinner saluting and his men scowling at him]
That photo was taken shortly before I was shot in the back --
which was very strange because it was during a Bob Hope show.
I was trying to get Joey Heatherton to put on some pants, for
God's sake.
Mother: [from downstairs] Seymour, your friend Bart is here.
Skinner: I know, Mother!
Mother: Seymour, do you want me to tell you when it's 7:30?
Skinner: No, Mother!
-- It's 7:30...now!, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Seymour and Bart go out to the backyard where Skinner, donning a
"Principals do it 9 months a year" apron, barbeques some hot dogs.
Skinner: [laughing hard] Ned Flanders actually eliminated detention and
put the whole school on the honor system?
Bart: [laughs] Yeah. And the teachers are afraid to leave the
faculty lounge! [laughs]
Skinner: [chuckles] Oh, ho ho, that place must be falling apart. Oh,
mercy. [quietly] Nobody's mentioned me, have they?
Bart: Er, I thought I heard someone say your name in the cafeteria,
but they might have been saying "skim milk".
-- Lousy homonyms!, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Skinner and Bart go to the seashoe at sunset. Skinner spies a shell and
listens for the ocean in it, only to be rewarded by having a crab latch
onto his ear. Bart obligingly bats it away with a stick.
On another occasion, Skinner takes Bart to a restaurant.
Skinner: I thought you might like this restaurant, Bart. They'll make a
pizza pie with the topping of your choice!
Chef: Hey, Seymour-ah. You wanna your usual-ah table?
Skinner: No, no, Luigi. I'd like one with two seats. I'll be dining
with a friend tonight.
Chef: Hey, good for you, huh? [goes into the kitchen]
Skinner: Hmm, it's real nice here.
Chef: Hey, Salvatore, guess who's here-ah? Mister Kookalamanza, and-
ah some real ugly kid-ah.
-- If that's real nice..., "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Skinner's prediction was right: Bart's school has degenerated
considerably since Skinner was there. The grade fours run about with
nary an Edna in sight. Nelson tears up a book, Wendell climbs on a
podium, and Martin is suspended above the class in a cage. Paper
airplanes and garbage fly through the air.
Milhouse: [squirting ketchup on his stomach] This is great! Not only am
I not learning, I'm forgetting stuff I used to know, heh. And
it's all thanks to you, Bart.
Bart: Yeah, great.
Milhouse: What's the matter?
Bart: Don't you see, Milhouse? We've gone too far. We need Skinner
back.
Martin: My water dish is empty...
-- Your points being?, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
One night, the ex-principal walks past the school and thinks back. A
little girl tells him, "I learned to read because of you, Principal
Skinner". Martin says, "Sir, I baked you these raisin roundies." Ralph
says, "Sir, I got carsick in your office." Sobbing, Skinner walks away.
Bart pays another visit to Seymour's house. His mother greets him and
hands Bart a note in which Skinner writes, "Bart, your friendship during
this difficult time will not be forgotten. However, I've decided to
return to the only thing besides school that has ever given my life
meaning. I have re-enlisted in the United States Army. Sincerely,
Sergeant Seymour Skinner." {Depressed, Bart goes to Luigi's
restaurant.}
Bart: {Table for one.}
Chef: {Oh, you miss you friend, huh? Don't-ah you worry, my cook can
surely cheer you up-ah.
[enters kitchen] Hey Salvatore, give-ah the ugly kid a plate of
the red-ah crap-ah!}
-- Stereotypical Italian sympathy, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss
Song"
[End of Act Two. Time: 16:04]
At Fort Springfield, Sgt. Skinner, resplendent in his uniform, walks
along with a colonel.
Colonel: It's good to have another combat veteran around here. I
myself received a number of medals for, um, securing that
Montgomery Ward in Kuwait City?
Skinner: Hmm, yes, colonel. Now I understand it will be my duty to
mold the new recruits into a well-disciplined, highly-trained
infantry unit.
Colonel: Sure, I, I guess. Here they come! [a bus arrives]
Recruit 1: Hey, where do I get my grenades at?
Recruit 2: They don't have them group toilets here no more, do they?
-- Highly potty-trained, anyway, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss
Song"
Marge and Homer sir Principal Flanders' office.
Marge: Ned, Homer and I are a little concerned with the way the
school's being run.
Homer: [mouth full of peanut butter cups] Yes. Deeply concerned.
Ned: I may go a little easy on the old hickory-dickory stick, but
that's just because my dad was hard on me when I was a boy.
[flashback to New York City; a young Ned spills some ink]
Young Ned: Whoopsie doodle.
Ned's Dad: Oh, man! Ned spelled ink all over my poems. He's a real
flat tire, I mean a cube, man. He's putting us on the train
to Squaresville, Mona!
-- Ned, the product of beatniks?, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss
Song"
At Fort Springfield, Seymour runs alongside his company while they chant
army songs.
Men: [jogging]
"I knew a woman in Paris, France,
Had a big hole in her underpants" --
Skinner: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Where did you pick up that filth?
Recruit: We heard Sergeant Clarke's company singing it, Sir!
Skinner: Yes, well there will be no smut in my company. You're in this
man's army to learn!
Men: [jogging]
"I don't know, but I've been told
The parthenon is mighty old."
Skinner: How old?
Men: We don't know.
Skinner: That's real good, but needs improvement.
-- Important knowledge for _anyone_, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss
Song"
Bart sits on the couch and sighs at a photo Seymour sent him from the
Fort.
[Bart sighs at photo of Skinner]
Lisa: Wow, I never thought Principal Skinner could become any more of a
square, but there's the proof.
Bart: It's weird, Lis: I miss him as a friend, but I miss him even more
as an enemy.
Lisa: I think you need Skinner, Bart. Everybody needs a nemesis.
Sherlock Holmes had his Dr. Moriarty, Mountain Dew has its Mellow
Yellow, even Maggie has that baby with the one eyebrow.
[Maggie scowls out the window as said baby goes by in a baby
buggy]
-- "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Skinner stands next to his recruits who practice with mortars, watching
through binoculars the spots where their bombs land. Bart rides over a
hill in Skinner's field of vision.
Skinner: Man on the range! Change your trajectories!
[the recruits strain to comply]
[scene change to Apu and Sanjay at the Kwik-E-Mart]
Apu: Sixteen brand new gas pumps. At last we can compete with the
Gas-N-Gulp.
[they look up as whistling is heard overhead]
-- _Could_ have competed, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
At Fort Springfield, a giant red "K" lands upright in the ground behind
Bart and Seymour.
Bart: If there was some way to get rid of Flanders, would you want to
come back?
Skinner: Ehh, I must admit, I do miss the school. And frankly, the army
isn't _quite_ as I remembered it --
[some recruits drive by in a tank. One moons Skinner, another
swears at him, another tosses a beer can at him]
Actually, it's _exactly_ as I remembered it.
-- The more things change..., "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Skinner: I do want to come back, but it doesn't sound like Flanders is
going to get fired.
Bart: Oh, I think I could get him fired. I got you fired, didn't I?
[laughs]
Skinner: [unimpressed] Yes.
-- A painful memory, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Skinner points out that their friendship will have to end if Skinner
comes back as principal -- unless Bart becomes a good student. Bart
doesn't think that's likely, and Skinner agrees, but says, "We'll always
have the laundromat."
Bart has invited Skinner over to discuss the plans for Ned's
dishonorable discharge.
[Skinner walks in, sees Homer]
Skinner: What's _he_ doing here?
Bart: Well once he found out we were going to get Ned Flanders
fired, he _insisted_ on helping.
Homer: That is true.
Bart: Here's the plan: once Chalmers comes for his next inspection
and sees how crappy the school has gotten, he'll fire Ned on
the spot.
Skinner: Er, one question remains: how do I get out of the army?
Bart: No problemo. Just make a pass at your commanding officer!
Skinner: Done and done. And I mean done.
Marge: [outside] What's going on in there?
Everyone: Nothing...
-- No, really, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
In Bart's classroom, Martin does someone's ironing in his suspended cage
while singing, "Toreador en garde..." Bart shows Chalmers the deplorable
state the school has fallen into.
Bart: Come on, Chalmie, you fired Skinner for less than this.
Chalmers: Yeah, I did, but...Skinner really bugged me! Besides, the way
America's public schools are sliding, they'll all be this way
in a few months. I say, lay back and enjoy it! It's a hell
of a toboggan ride.
Ned: [over PA] Well, cockly-doodly-doo, little buddies. Let's
thank the Lord for another beautiful school day.
Chalmers: Thank the Lor -- thank the Lord? That sounded like a prayer.
A prayer. A prayer in a public school! God has no place
within these walls, just like facts have no place within
organized religion. Simpson, you get your wish: Flanders is
history!
[scene change to Willy cleaning graffiti off the lockers]
Ned: Well, I really enjoyed my time here, Superintendent. May the
Lord bless and keep you.
Chalmers: Yeah, take it outside, God-boy.
Ned: Okily dokily.
Skinner: Dirksen, tuck in your shirt. Jaffee, spit out that gum!
Leopold: You really think it's a good idea to give that _freak_ his job
back?
Chalmers: Aw, he seems to know the students' names.
-- A compelling reason, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song"
Bart and Skinner stand alone in the hall. "So...I guess we're enemies
again," observes Bart. Skinner agrees, and thanks Bart. The two of
them hug, and as Skinner walks away, Bart chuckling at the "KICK ME"
sign on his back. Skinner turns back to laugh at the "TEACH ME" sign on
Bart's back. "Oh, Mercy," he grins.
[End of Act Three. Time: 21:05]
Contributors
{dh} Dave Hall
{th} Tony Hill
{mk} Matthew Kurth
{et} Emru Townsend
{aw} Al Wesolowsky
===============================================================================
This episode summary is Copyright 1996 by James A. Cherry. Not to be
redistributed in a public forum without permission. (The quotes
themselves, of course, remain the property of The Simpsons, and the
reproduced articles remain the property of the original authors. I'm
just taking credit for the compilation.)