- 'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky
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"'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" is the sixteenth episode of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons that aired March 30, 2003.[1] The title is a punning reference to the line " 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" from the song "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix.
Contents
Plot
The episode begins with Bart being introduced to Declan Desmond (voiced by Eric Idle), a no-nonsense British filmmaker, whose documentaries are hard-hitting and, sometimes, a bit distorted. He shows Bart’s fellow students a clip from one of his documentaries. After the clips are finished, Declan informs the kids that he is now shooting a documentary in Springfield Elementary and wants them all to act as they normally do.
While touring and filming the playground, where Bart is humiliated by Nelson Muntz, Declan is taken by Skinner to a room where Lisa is sitting. The room is decorated nicely and Bach is playing in the background. While talking about herself, Lisa tips over in her chair, and the decorations fall away, revealing the room to be a storage closet. Unamused by the charade, Declan proceeds to belittle Lisa as she goes on about the multiplicity of her interests, insinuating that she could neither be happy nor successful juggling too many hobbies or passions. Though hurt by his criticism, Lisa takes it to heart and resolves to find a singular passion to devote her energies to.
Lisa eventually decides to take up astronomy. She convinces Homer to buy her a telescope, but discovers that light pollution from the city is blocking her view of Venus and Jupiter. After a discussion with Professor Frink, Lisa starts a petition to reduce the city’s light pollution. After gaining enough signatures, Mayor Quimby agrees to turn off the streetlights, leading to a clear view of the stars at which many people from Springfield marvel.
Meanwhile Bart is looking for a way to regain his popularity after being humiliated and after seeing Nelson parading around with stolen car hood ornaments decides to go one better and steal Fat Tony’s hood ornament. On their first attempt Milhouse and Bart are foiled because Quimby has bowed to public pressure to switch the lights back on permanently because of the rising crime.
Lisa (still wanting to see the light pollution reduced) and Bart (still wanting to steal Fat Tony’s Hood ornament) take a now sleep-deprived Homer (due to the constant bright street lights) to the Power plant and overload the generators causing a power outage. They are then confronted by the townfolk about the power outage until Lisa points out a meteor shower that she knew would happen and wanted to see but could not because of the previous light pollution. The town look on in wonderment while Bart sneaks off and successfully steals Fat Tony’s hood ornament.
The show ends with various documentary style clips from Declan’s planned documentary, which Declan ends by saying he is going to Moe's.
Cultural references
- The title is a play on the Jimi Hendrix song "Purple Haze": "Actin' funny, but I don't know why-- 'scuse me while I kiss the sky".
- When Lisa shuts down the power for the last time in the episode, Sideshow Mel says: 'I say we'll tear her limb from limb'; as a reference to the Bob Dylan song 'Bob Dylan's 115th Dream' from the album Bringing It All Back Home.
- The recording from Springfield Museum mentions Rigel VII as a planet, although it is merely a fictional planet originally from the Star Trek universe, and the apparent home of Kang and Kodos from The Simpsons.
- The store where Homer buys Lisa's telescope is called "Teenage Pasteland". This is a parody of the phrase "teenage wasteland" which is a line from (and is often mistaken to be the title of) the The Who song, "Baba O'Riley".
- The music playing when Lisa is in the museum and first develops her inspiration for astronomy is Jupiter from Gustav Holst's The Planets Suite.
- The Krusty Burger documentary's name Do You Want Lies with That? became the tagline for the film version of Fast Food Nation.
- Groundskeeper Willie is revealed to be an Aberdeen F.C. fan.
- Don McLean's song "Vincent" plays during the meteor shower.
- The scene in which the baseball lights explode parodies the home run scene from The Natural, accompanied by the dramatic music.
- While sleep-deprived, Marge yells Saturday Night Live's famous opening catch-phrase, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!".
- In the background of the toy store there is a box that reads Clay D'oh. The item's name is a parody, combining Play-Doh and Homer's annoyed grunt.
- While watching the meteor shower, Marge comments "this is better than a screen saver". This is a reference to the 'Starry Starry Night' module on the 'After Dark' screensaver packs.[citation needed]
- The picture on which the Captain draws Lisa's petition by way of signature is an image of the closing chapter of Moby Dick. It depicts the Pequod being smashed by an upwards lunge from Moby Dick.
- Declan mentions Machiavelli while in the playground.
- Documentarian asks several children, "where do you see yourself in seven years," referring to the Up Series.
- Mayor Quimby's comment about the fading southern belle is an allusion to the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire.
References
- ^ "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky". tv.com. http://www.tv.com/the-simpsons/scuse-me-while-i-miss-the-sky/episode/193390/summary.html. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
External links
- "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" at The Simpsons.com
- "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" at the Internet Movie Database
Categories:- The Simpsons (season 14) episodes
- 2003 television episodes
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