Lisa the Drama Queen
Encyclopedia
"Lisa the Drama Queen" is the ninth episode of the twentieth season of The Simpsons
. It aired January 25, 2009 and guest starred Emily Blunt
as Juliet. A special version of the end credits theme was performed by Fall Out Boy
, although they do not guest star in the actual episode. This was the final episode in the series to be presented only in standard definition, and is the first regular episode to begin right after the opening credits without a commercial break, with an episode now having four segments. Brian Kelley
returns as a writer after five seasons of being absent from the show. It is a parody of the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures
.
meets an intelligent girl named Juliet Hobbes, who also likes Josh Groban
. The two create a fantasy world that takes them away from reality. They deem the land "Equalia" where they are the queens and everybody is equal. However, Lisa soon becomes distracted in school after becoming obsessed with the imaginary land. After meeting Juliet's family and seeing her disruptive behavior, Marge
thinks Lisa's friend might be troubled, and after she becomes obsessed in their dreamworld, Marge attempts to stop her from seeing Juliet, much against Marge's original idea of trying to get Lisa a best friend.
The next day, Lisa is invited by Juliet to run away to a run-down restaurant where they intend to carry out their plans for "ruling" Equalia, missing her Model UN
meeting in the process, where she was going to represent Azerbaijan
. Martin
contacts Marge and tells her about Lisa's disappearance. Marge immediately goes looking for Lisa, but cannot find her. Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, who use the restaurant as their hideout, find and trap Lisa and Juliet, they tie them up, then (apparently having untied them off-screen) lock them in cages. The girls escape by distracting Kearney with stories about Equalia. Dolph and Jimbo try to destroy the girls' manuscripts about Equalia, but Kearney fights them (even though this is all in his mind where he is a dragon and Dolph and Jimbo are really beating him up), allowing Lisa and Juliet to escape. Later, Lisa tells Juliet that she wants to continue living in the real world and forget about Equalia. Juliet feels disappointed that Lisa feels this way and decides to abandon the friendship, claiming that "the real world is for people who can't imagine anything better" (causing Lisa to conclude that Juliet is crazy).
Two months later, Lisa is back at home and her story about Equallia that she sent in to a publishing company is rejected. Homer
is then prompted to make his own fantasy story, based on his experiences as a father, which goes no further than him re-imagining the family in forms more pleasing to him: Bart
is a hot dog
, Lisa is a starfish, Marge is a bottle of Duff Beer
, and Maggie
is a monster truck
.
and directed by Matthew Nastuk
. It was the first episode Kelley wrote after five seasons of being absent from the show. A special version of the end credits theme was performed by Fall Out Boy
, who were named after a character in the series, but they did not guest star in the actual episode. The episode guest starred Emily Blunt
as Juliet.
This was the last episode in the series to be presented only in standard definition, and is the first regular episode to begin right after the opening credits without a commercial break.
film Heavenly Creatures
, which was in turn based on Pauline Parker
and Juliet Hulme, two friends who together murdered Parker's mother
. The girls initially bonded over their ailments. As their friendship progressed, they formed an elaborate fantasy
life together. They would often sneak out and spend the night acting out stories involving the fictional characters they had created. Lisa and Juliet share a love for American singer Josh Groban
.
As in Heavenly Creatures
, Juliet's father is an academic, in this case the world's foremost John Grisham
scholar. After hosting the Simpsons for dinner, he plays a selection from James Horner
's soundtrack to The Pelican Brief
, "track 3; Researching the Brief." (The track and title do correspond to the Warner Bros.
CD release.)
The film Bridge to Terabithia
is also referenced in the episode. In the scene when the girls visit the folk art museum, a version of Wipeout is played. Peggy's "Probot" sculpture from an episode ("Ceci N'Est Pas Une King of the Hill") of King of the Hill
is one of the first things they see in the museum.
"Lisa the Drama Queen" was watched by 5.75 million viewers during its first airing, which, at that point, was the least watched episode in The Simpsons history.
Since airing, the episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. Erich Asperschlager of TV Verdict wrote: "It’s no secret that The Simpsons isn’t what it used to be. The past few seasons have been hit or miss, but once in a while an episode comes along that reminds me why I’ve kept watching. 'Lisa the Drama Queen' is one of those episodes." Robert Canning of IGN
commented: "It's been argued that Lisa episodes of The Simpsons are basically hit and miss. In my opinion, the boring, unfunny Lisa episodes far outweigh the classic Lisa episodes. 'Lisa the Drama Queen' was one of those episodes that fell into the boring majority. There were a number of reasons for this — too many song montages, for one — but ultimately it boiled down to the uninspired storyline. Worst episode of the Simpsons ever."
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 aired January 25, 2009 and guest starred Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
as Juliet. A special version of the end credits theme was performed by Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
, although they do not guest star in the actual episode. This was the final episode in the series to be presented only in standard definition, and is the first regular episode to begin right after the opening credits without a commercial break, with an episode now having four segments. Brian Kelley
Brian Kelley
Brian Kelley is an American television writer. He has written for Conan O'Brien, SNL, Newsradio, Clerks, Futurama, Joey and The Simpsons.- The Simpsons episodes :He has written the following episodes:...
returns as a writer after five seasons of being absent from the show. It is a parody of the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his wife Fran Walsh, about the notorious 1954 Parker-Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand. Filmed on location in Christchurch, it features Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in their screen debuts...
.
Plot
When Homer forces the kids to take classes in a strict rec center art class, LisaLisa 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...
meets an intelligent girl named Juliet Hobbes, who also likes Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
. The two create a fantasy world that takes them away from reality. They deem the land "Equalia" where they are the queens and everybody is equal. However, Lisa soon becomes distracted in school after becoming obsessed with the imaginary land. After meeting Juliet's family and seeing her disruptive behavior, 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...
thinks Lisa's friend might be troubled, and after she becomes obsessed in their dreamworld, Marge attempts to stop her from seeing Juliet, much against Marge's original idea of trying to get Lisa a best friend.
The next day, Lisa is invited by Juliet to run away to a run-down restaurant where they intend to carry out their plans for "ruling" Equalia, missing her Model UN
Model United Nations
Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....
meeting in the process, where she was going to represent Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. Martin
Martin Prince
Martin Prince, Jr. is a recurring character in the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by Russi Taylor. Martin is Bart Simpson's classmate, and is Lisa Simpson's rival in intelligence, as well as Nelson Muntz's favorite target for bullying...
contacts Marge and tells her about Lisa's disappearance. Marge immediately goes looking for Lisa, but cannot find her. Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, who use the restaurant as their hideout, find and trap Lisa and Juliet, they tie them up, then (apparently having untied them off-screen) lock them in cages. The girls escape by distracting Kearney with stories about Equalia. Dolph and Jimbo try to destroy the girls' manuscripts about Equalia, but Kearney fights them (even though this is all in his mind where he is a dragon and Dolph and Jimbo are really beating him up), allowing Lisa and Juliet to escape. Later, Lisa tells Juliet that she wants to continue living in the real world and forget about Equalia. Juliet feels disappointed that Lisa feels this way and decides to abandon the friendship, claiming that "the real world is for people who can't imagine anything better" (causing Lisa to conclude that Juliet is crazy).
Two months later, Lisa is back at home and her story about Equallia that she sent in to a publishing company is rejected. 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...
is then prompted to make his own fantasy story, based on his experiences as a father, which goes no further than him re-imagining the family in forms more pleasing to him: Bart
Bart 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...
is a hot dog
Hot dog
A hot dog is a sausage served in a sliced bun. It is very often garnished with mustard, ketchup, onions, mayonnaise, relish and/or sauerkraut.-History:...
, Lisa is a starfish, Marge is a bottle of Duff Beer
Duff Beer
Daleside is an independent brewery founded in 1988 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.-Products:Daleside produce a wide range of beers, including Morocco Ale, a traditional spiced beer based on an Elizabethan recipe; Old Legover, a low abv Old Ale ; Monkey Wrench, a stronger Old Ale; Ripon...
, and Maggie
Maggie Simpson
Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James...
is a monster truck
Monster truck
A monster truck is a pickup truck, typically styled after pickup trucks' bodies, modified or purposely built with extremely large wheels and suspension...
.
Production
The episode was written by Brian KelleyBrian Kelley
Brian Kelley is an American television writer. He has written for Conan O'Brien, SNL, Newsradio, Clerks, Futurama, Joey and The Simpsons.- The Simpsons episodes :He has written the following episodes:...
and directed by Matthew Nastuk
Matthew Nastuk
Matthew Nastuk is an animation director on The Simpsons. He started directing during the tenth season, and has since directed over a dozen episodes and continues to direct today.-Season Ten:...
. It was the first episode Kelley wrote after five seasons of being absent from the show. A special version of the end credits theme was performed by Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy
Fall Out Boy is an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, formed in 2001. The band consists of vocalist, guitarist and composer Patrick Stump, bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band released five studio albums from 2003–2008...
, who were named after a character in the series, but they did not guest star in the actual episode. The episode guest starred Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
as Juliet.
This was the last episode in the series to be presented only in standard definition, and is the first regular episode to begin right after the opening credits without a commercial break.
Cultural references
The episode is partially based on the Peter JacksonPeter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
film Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his wife Fran Walsh, about the notorious 1954 Parker-Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand. Filmed on location in Christchurch, it features Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in their screen debuts...
, which was in turn based on Pauline Parker
Pauline Parker
Pauline Yvonne Parker is a woman from Christchurch, New Zealand who, together with her friend Juliet Hulme , murdered her mother, Honora Rieper, on 22 June 1954...
and Juliet Hulme, two friends who together murdered Parker's mother
Parker-Hulme murder
The Parker-Hulme Murder was a murder and subsequent court case that occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1954, achieving notoriety because a mother was murdered by two teenage girls: her daughter and her daughter's best friend...
. The girls initially bonded over their ailments. As their friendship progressed, they formed an elaborate fantasy
Fantasy (psychology)
Fantasy in a psychological sense is broadly used to cover two different senses, conscious and unconscious. In the unconscious sense, it is sometimes spelled "phantasy".-Conscious fantasy:...
life together. They would often sneak out and spend the night acting out stories involving the fictional characters they had created. Lisa and Juliet share a love for American singer Josh Groban
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number-one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in that country...
.
As in Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures
Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 film directed by Peter Jackson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with his wife Fran Walsh, about the notorious 1954 Parker-Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand. Filmed on location in Christchurch, it features Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in their screen debuts...
, Juliet's father is an academic, in this case the world's foremost John Grisham
John Grisham
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
scholar. After hosting the Simpsons for dinner, he plays a selection from James Horner
James Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
's soundtrack to The Pelican Brief
The Pelican Brief
The Pelican Brief is a legal-suspense thriller written by John Grisham in 1992. The hardcover edition was published by Doubleday in that same year. Two paperback editions were published, both by Dell Publishing in 1993...
, "track 3; Researching the Brief." (The track and title do correspond to the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
CD release.)
The film Bridge to Terabithia
Bridge to Terabithia (2007 film)
Bridge to Terabithia is a 2007 fantasy drama film directed by Gábor Csupó and adapted for film by David L. Paterson and Jeff Stockwell. The film is based on the Katherine Paterson novel of the same name, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures in the US. The film stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia...
is also referenced in the episode. In the scene when the girls visit the folk art museum, a version of Wipeout is played. Peggy's "Probot" sculpture from an episode ("Ceci N'Est Pas Une King of the Hill") of King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
is one of the first things they see in the museum.
Reception
Since airing, the episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. Erich Asperschlager of TV Verdict wrote: "It’s no secret that The Simpsons isn’t what it used to be. The past few seasons have been hit or miss, but once in a while an episode comes along that reminds me why I’ve kept watching. 'Lisa the Drama Queen' is one of those episodes." Robert Canning of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
commented: "It's been argued that Lisa episodes of The Simpsons are basically hit and miss. In my opinion, the boring, unfunny Lisa episodes far outweigh the classic Lisa episodes. 'Lisa the Drama Queen' was one of those episodes that fell into the boring majority. There were a number of reasons for this — too many song montages, for one — but ultimately it boiled down to the uninspired storyline. Worst episode of the Simpsons ever."
External links
- "Lisa the Drama Queen" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...