"Bart Star" is the sixth episode of the ninth season of the animated television series The Simpsons, which originally aired November 9, 1997.^[2] The title of this episode is a play on Bart Starr. Written by Donick Cary and directed by Dominic Polcino, the episode guest starred Joe Namath, Roy Firestone, and Mike Judge.^[2] The episode sees Homer becoming the coach of a pee-wee football team, where he favors Bart to the other players until Bart quits, causing a grudge between the two. Since the premiere of the episode, the fictional drink "Skittlebrau" Homer requested in the episode has become a point of interest to consumers of alcohol, with many attempting to make their own version.

1 Plot
2 Production
- 2.1 Casting
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Following a Health convention held in Springfield, the children of Springfield are deemed to be overweight. To help them stay in shape, the parents enroll their children into pee-wee football. The coach, Ned Flanders, helps keep the team undefeated, but quits and gives the job to Homer after Homer heckles him from the audience.

Homer initially acts tough towards Bart, but when he is reminded of when he was a child and how his father was hard on him, he decides to be nicer to Bart (and meaner to Grandpa). The next day, he decides to cut many players off the team, and changes the quarterback from Nelson to Bart, causing an uproar in the team. Bart is unable to play the position well, and causes the team to lose a game; the rest of the team threaten to beat up Bart unless he quits.

Bart decides to pretend he is injured so he can stop being the quarterback, but Homer claims that without Bart, the team must forfeit. This causes Bart to become angry and quit the team. Nelson is made the quarterback again and the team wins, but Homer has nobody to celebrate with and becomes lonely. Afterwards, Homer finds Bart and reconciles with him to join the team again. The next day during the final championship game, the score becomes tied when Chief Wiggum comes to arrest Nelson. Bart decides to pretend he is Nelson as he is assuming it is only for a petty crime, despite it actually being for burglary and arson. However, the team finally wins the championship, and the team tries to carry Homer, unsuccessfully, off the field. Joe Namath, who attempted to help Bart practice for football several days earlier, appears to give his final thoughts on the episode, and it ends with Bart's fate being ambiguous as to how he will get out of trouble. The credits show Homer cutting all the people that worked on the episode. He also cutted the shushy person in the Gracie Films part. ^[2]^[3]

[edit] Production

The episode was written by Donick Cary, who obtained inspiration from an experience in high school he had a football coach who had a son on the team.^[4] Similarly, show runner Mike Scully used to be on a soccer team when he was younger, where the coach would give special treatment to his son.^[5]

George Meyer obtained inspiration for the scene towards the beginning of the episode where Rainier Wolfcastle is taunting the kids from an experience he had with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was following behind Schwarzenegger during a hike, and overheard Schwarzenegger taunting his children.^[6] Schwarzenegger's influence was seen in the same scene, as he was appointed to be the chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which he served from 1990–1993.^[7]

The final scene took a long time to be made. The process of making it was considered difficult by the writing staff as they were unable to make a resolution that would end on positive terms for Bart and Homer, and was originally different when it was read at the writing table.^[5]

[edit] Casting

The cast of King of the Hill make a cameo appearance.

Joe Namath, Roy Firestone, and Mike Judge guest starred in the episode. Scully claims that Judge was paid $1,000,000 to appear in the episode, where he voiced the cameo of Hank Hill.^[5] Other King of the Hill characters were present in the scene, although none of them spoke.^[8] Marv Albert was originally going to play Firestone's part as a sports radio host. However, following sexual assault charges that were made against him around the time the episode was in pre-production, he was immediately dropped from the show.^[5]

[edit] Reception

The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought well of the episode, saying, "A fun episode, where you root for Bart and, unusually, Nelson - all the way through. Homer is just too stupid for words, but that's excusable because we finally see Ned Flanders lose it, big time!"^[1] The director of the episode, Dominic Polcino, greatly enjoyed the episode, and claims that it is his favorite episode that he directed.^[9]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). Bart Star. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
^ ^a ^b ^c Gimple, Scott (1999). The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family ...Continued. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 17. ISBN 0-06-098763-4.
^ "Bart Star" The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on November 11, 2007
^ Cary, Donick. (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Scully, Mike. (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ Meyer, George. (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ Castellaneta, Dan. (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ Cartwright, Nancy. (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ Polcino, Dominic. (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.