We're on the Road to D'ohwhere
Encyclopedia
We're on the Road to D'ohwhere is the eleventh episode of the seventeenth season of The Simpsons
. It first aired in the USA on January 29, 2006 on FOX
.
and Milhouse
trigger a massive escape of steam that destroys the school. Although Milhouse is free to go, Principal Skinner
proposes that Bart be sent off to "Upward Bound", a behavioral modification camp
for troublemaking children. Meanwhile, Moe
announces that he is treating Homer
, Lenny, Carl and Barney
with renting a minivan and taking them on a trip to Las Vegas
, after a failed suicide attempt
led to him suing the rope company that made a faulty noose and earning a hefty settlement. While Homer is near the Moe's Tavern, the luggage is packed and loaded into minivan, that has a label "Vegas or bust" (which Lenny changes to the partially risque "Vegas For Busts"). Homer tells that he is taking Bart to the airport and them coming to go to Vegas. Bart begs Homer to take him to Vegas and then Bart will teach Homer how to cheat. Homer refuses, because he has his own system: he will not tell Marge
how much he lost in a game. Homer then takes Bart to the airport to send him to the camp in northwest Oregon
(flying by way of Portland
). However, at the airport, it is discovered that Bart is on the No Fly List
after an incident in Atlanta where Bart unbuckled his seat belt before the plane could come to a complete stop. Homer decides to drive him to the camp instead, but is annoyed at having to miss the Vegas trip with Moe and his bar buddies.
During the ride, Homer angrily blames Bart for missing his Vegas trip. While they are stopped at a roadside diner, Bart pretends to respect Homer in order to escape; his plan works and he heads off home. However, he then reluctantly rescues Homer from almost driving off of a cliff and they are soon back on the road, this time with Bart chained and duct-taped in his seat, Homer now not able to trust his son. Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa
have a yard sale. It is initially a total failure until Otto
discovers that Marge is selling the family's expired prescription drug
s. Although reluctant, Marge soon makes lots of money selling prescription drugs, but Chief Wiggum eventually discovers the scheme and arrests her. Homer gets Bart to the camp, and leaves him there as Bart sadly watches Homer drive away. As he drives to Las Vegas, Homer begins to feel guilty, and decides to bring Bart back. Meanwhile, Bart is thoroughly enjoying his stay at the camp, and begins to realize he doesn't have to feel good by doing pranks, until he sees Homer run down a horse with his car, who leaves with Homer to go to Las Vegas, in return to wash off the horse's blood off the car.
Lisa returns home from school and gets two phone messages: one from Marge begging Lisa for bail money
and another from Homer, who made it to Vegas, but ended up in prison for fighting with a pit boss and losing track of Bart. Rather than take immediate action, Lisa tells Maggie that she anticipated the day when the two of them would be the only members of the Simpson family left to fend for themselves. As she walks off, Lisa adds that she'll look for a job in the morning.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. It first aired in the USA on January 29, 2006 on FOX
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
.
Plot
While messing around in the school’s steam tunnels, BartBart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Milhouse
Milhouse Van Houten
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
trigger a massive escape of steam that destroys the school. Although Milhouse is free to go, Principal Skinner
Seymour Skinner
Principal W. Seymour Skinner is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Born in Capitol City, he is the principal of Springfield Elementary School...
proposes that Bart be sent off to "Upward Bound", a behavioral modification camp
Behavior modification facility
A behavior modification facility is a residential educational and treatment institution enrolling adolescents who are perceived as displaying antisocial behavior, in an attempt to alter their conduct. As of 2008 there were about 650 nongovernmental, residential programs in the United States...
for troublemaking children. Meanwhile, Moe
Moe Szyslak
Momar / Morris "Moe" Szyslak is a fictional character in the American animated television series, The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"...
announces that he is treating Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, Lenny, Carl and Barney
Barney Gumble
Barnard "Barney" Gumble is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the town drunk and Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for...
with renting a minivan and taking them on a trip to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, after a failed suicide attempt
Failed suicide attempt
Failed suicide attempts comprise a large portion of suicide attempts. Some are regarded as not true attempts at all, but rather parasuicide. The usual attempt may be a wish to affect another person by the behaviour. Consequently, it occurs in a social context and may represent a request for help....
led to him suing the rope company that made a faulty noose and earning a hefty settlement. While Homer is near the Moe's Tavern, the luggage is packed and loaded into minivan, that has a label "Vegas or bust" (which Lenny changes to the partially risque "Vegas For Busts"). Homer tells that he is taking Bart to the airport and them coming to go to Vegas. Bart begs Homer to take him to Vegas and then Bart will teach Homer how to cheat. Homer refuses, because he has his own system: he will not tell Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
how much he lost in a game. Homer then takes Bart to the airport to send him to the camp in northwest Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
(flying by way of Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
). However, at the airport, it is discovered that Bart is on the No Fly List
No Fly List
The No Fly List is a list, created and maintained by the United States government's Terrorist Screening Center , of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the United States. The list has also been used to divert away from U.S. airspace aircraft not...
after an incident in Atlanta where Bart unbuckled his seat belt before the plane could come to a complete stop. Homer decides to drive him to the camp instead, but is annoyed at having to miss the Vegas trip with Moe and his bar buddies.
During the ride, Homer angrily blames Bart for missing his Vegas trip. While they are stopped at a roadside diner, Bart pretends to respect Homer in order to escape; his plan works and he heads off home. However, he then reluctantly rescues Homer from almost driving off of a cliff and they are soon back on the road, this time with Bart chained and duct-taped in his seat, Homer now not able to trust his son. Meanwhile, Marge and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
have a yard sale. It is initially a total failure until Otto
Otto Mann
Otto Mann is a fictional character on the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the school bus driver for Springfield Elementary School...
discovers that Marge is selling the family's expired prescription drug
Prescription drug
A prescription medication is a licensed medicine that is regulated by legislation to require a medical prescription before it can be obtained. The term is used to distinguish it from over-the-counter drugs which can be obtained without a prescription...
s. Although reluctant, Marge soon makes lots of money selling prescription drugs, but Chief Wiggum eventually discovers the scheme and arrests her. Homer gets Bart to the camp, and leaves him there as Bart sadly watches Homer drive away. As he drives to Las Vegas, Homer begins to feel guilty, and decides to bring Bart back. Meanwhile, Bart is thoroughly enjoying his stay at the camp, and begins to realize he doesn't have to feel good by doing pranks, until he sees Homer run down a horse with his car, who leaves with Homer to go to Las Vegas, in return to wash off the horse's blood off the car.
Lisa returns home from school and gets two phone messages: one from Marge begging Lisa for bail money
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
and another from Homer, who made it to Vegas, but ended up in prison for fighting with a pit boss and losing track of Bart. Rather than take immediate action, Lisa tells Maggie that she anticipated the day when the two of them would be the only members of the Simpson family left to fend for themselves. As she walks off, Lisa adds that she'll look for a job in the morning.
Cultural references
- Chief Wiggum calls Marge "Ma Peddle" in reference to Ma Kettle - he then has to explain the reference to Lou, even though in the season five episode "Cape FeareCape Feare"Cape Feare" is the second episode of the fifth season of American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 1993, and has since been featured on DVD and VHS releases...
," Wiggum referenced Ma Kettle without Lou questioning it. - The song the band class plays is "Louie LouieLouie Louie"Louie Louie" is an American rock 'n' roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of versions recorded by different artists...
". - The song Flanders sings is the final chorus of "Joseph's Coat" from the hit Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
, though repeated more often than in the actual show. - Birch Barlow (the right-wing radio talk show host modeled after Rush LimbaughRush LimbaughRush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
) appears as a customer at Marge's prescription drug-laden "yard sale". - "Intellectual Homer", who has been killed by "Serious Homer", has written on the floor in his own blood "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". This is the famous statement of Ernst HaeckelErnst HaeckelThe "European War" became known as "The Great War", and it was not until 1920, in the book "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles à Court Repington, that the term "First World War" was used as the official name for the conflict.-Research:...
's recapitulation theoryRecapitulation theoryThe theory of recapitulation, also called the biogenetic law or embryological parallelism—and often expressed as "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"—is a disproven hypothesis that in developing from embryo to adult, animals go through stages resembling or representing successive stages...
about the similarity of the embryonic development of organisms to its evolutionary history. "Fun Homer" is imprisoned in the "phantom zone", as seen in DC Comics. - When Homer drives into the house on the side of the street, it says "Birthplace of Matt GroeningMatt GroeningMatthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
," the show's creator. Binky, from Life in HellLife in HellLife in Hell is a weekly comic strip by Matt Groening. The strip features anthropomorphic rabbits and a pair of gay lovers. Groening uses these characters to explore a wide range of topics about love, sex, work, and death...
, is seen on the sign. - The scene of mayhem following Bart turning one of the valves in the steam room, is reminiscent -but not necessarily a reference to- a similar scene in the 1980s film Goonies. However, the similarities end once the 'camera' leaves the steam room.