The Great Louse Detective
Encyclopedia
"The Great Louse Detective" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons
' fourteenth season
. It features Kelsey Grammer
in his eighth appearance as Sideshow Bob
. After this episode, The Simpsons episodes were converting to digital ink and paint
.
is nearly killed when a mysterious person locks him into an incredibly hot steam room with a spanner. This prompts Homer and Marge
to see Chief Wiggum, who suggests that they get someone who can understand a murderer's twisted mind — Sideshow Bob
, who is released from prison, much to Bart's
discomfort. To ensure Bart's safety, Wiggum places a shock bracelet on Bob's ankle to keep his murderous urges at bay when he comes to live at the Simpson house. He asks Homer to list all the people who may want him dead, and decides to follow Homer around to investigate who the killer could be. During their day, they go hang gliding
(Homer wanted to impress him), visit the Kwik-E-Mart
(where Bob and Apu reminisce about their last encounter
) and end up at a repair shop, where Homer chastises the mechanic, Junior.
Later, Homer and Bob go to Moe's Tavern, where a hand, holding a gun, appears at the door and fires at Homer, but it hits and shatters Moe's pickled egg jar. The person gets away in a tow truck. Bob suggests that Homer should stay home and out of sight to be safe, but he is told that he was named the King of the Springfield
Mardi Gras
, in which he must ride on a float for the whole day. Bob discovers that Homer won because someone filled the ballot box with ballots listing Homer's name, but Homer takes part in the parade anyway in hopes of luring out his killer. At the parade, Bob learns that Homer's engine is having a problem due to the repair by the mechanic (the brake line is cut), and draws a correlation between the wrench used to lock Homer in the steam room, the wrenches in the tow truck, a smudge on the spa invitation, and the tow truck driver (Junior). He saves Homer by getting fired out of a cannon, and grabbing Homer with his huge feet slipped under Homer's arm-pits, just before the float hits the swords of the Museum of Swordfish
. Homer and Bob end up giving chase on stilts to the killer, who is also on stilts, who is found out to be, indeed, Junior, Homer's mechanic. He admits his name is Frank Grimes Jr., who blames Homer for his father's death in the episode Homer's Enemy
. The police arrive, and Chief Wiggum places Grimes Jr. under arrest and has Bob tranquilized with a dart.
That night, after Homer puts Bart in bed, Bob, who was hanging to the back of the door, leaps down. Bart tries to get the shock bracelet remote control, but Bob already has it and throws it out of the window (it falls into a bird's nest...), gags Bart with a piece of tape, picks him up and prepares to kill him with a knife, bent on killing him once again. However, Bob realizes he is accustomed to Bart's face
and he can not bring himself to do it. At one point Bart ungags himself and sings the line 'He's grown accustumed to my face,' but when Bob complains, Bart apologises and regags himself. With that, Bob takes his leave and Bart hurriedly shuts his window. At that point, Bob is repeatedly electrocuted with his shock bracelet by two birds who play with the remote on their nest.
's "Black Widower
" (1992), the writers have echoed the premise of Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner
from the 1949-1966 Looney Tunes
cartoons by having Bob unexpectedly insert himself into Bart's life and attempt to kill him. Executive producer Al Jean
has compared Bob's character to that of Wile E. Coyote, noting that both are intelligent, yet always foiled by what they perceive as an inferior intellect. The scene in which Bob is stomped on by multiple elephants and bounces right back up is a reference to the Wile E. Coyote character.
In Planet Simpson, author Chris Turner
writes that Bob is built into a highbrow snob and conservative Republican
so that the writers can continually hit him with a rake and bring him down. He represents high culture
while Krusty, one of his archenemies, represents low culture
, and Bart, stuck in between, always wins out. In the book Leaving Springfield
, David L. G. Arnold comments that Bart is a product of a "mass-culture upbringing" and thus is Bob's enemy.
Bob's intelligence serves him in many ways. During "Cape Feare
", for example, the parole board asks Bob why he has a tattoo that says "Die Bart, Die". Bob replies that it is German for "The Bart, The"; members of the board are impressed by his reasoning. Believing that "nobody who speaks German could be an evil man," they release him. However, his love of high culture is sometimes used against him. In that same episode, Bob agrees to perform the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore in its entirety as a last request for Bart. The tactic stalls Bob long enough for the police to arrest him.
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...
The Simpsons (season 14)
The fourteenth season of the animated television series The Simpsons was originally broadcast on the Fox network in the United States between November 3, 2002 and May 18, 2003. The show runner for the fourteenth production season was Al Jean, who executive produced 21 of 22 episodes. The other...
. It features Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
in his eighth appearance as Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale, a member of...
. After this episode, The Simpsons episodes were converting to digital ink and paint
Paint
Paint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...
.
Plot
When the Simpson family go to a free spa weekend, HomerHomer 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 nearly killed when a mysterious person locks him into an incredibly hot steam room with a spanner. This prompts Homer and 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...
to see Chief Wiggum, who suggests that they get someone who can understand a murderer's twisted mind — Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared briefly in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale, a member of...
, who is released from prison, much to Bart's
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...
discomfort. To ensure Bart's safety, Wiggum places a shock bracelet on Bob's ankle to keep his murderous urges at bay when he comes to live at the Simpson house. He asks Homer to list all the people who may want him dead, and decides to follow Homer around to investigate who the killer could be. During their day, they go hang gliding
Hang gliding
Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider ....
(Homer wanted to impress him), visit the Kwik-E-Mart
Kwik-E-Mart
The Kwik-E-Mart is a fictional chain of convenience stores in the animated television series The Simpsons. It is a parody of American convenience store chains, such as 7-Eleven and Circle K, and represents many myths and stereotypes of them. It is notorious for its high prices and the poor quality...
(where Bob and Apu reminisce about their last encounter
Krusty Gets Busted
"Krusty Gets Busted" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons first season, and originally aired on April 29, 1990. The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky, and directed by Brad Bird. In the episode, Krusty the Clown, a famous TV comedian, is convicted of the armed robbery of the...
) and end up at a repair shop, where Homer chastises the mechanic, Junior.
Later, Homer and Bob go to Moe's Tavern, where a hand, holding a gun, appears at the door and fires at Homer, but it hits and shatters Moe's pickled egg jar. The person gets away in a tow truck. Bob suggests that Homer should stay home and out of sight to be safe, but he is told that he was named the King of the Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
, in which he must ride on a float for the whole day. Bob discovers that Homer won because someone filled the ballot box with ballots listing Homer's name, but Homer takes part in the parade anyway in hopes of luring out his killer. At the parade, Bob learns that Homer's engine is having a problem due to the repair by the mechanic (the brake line is cut), and draws a correlation between the wrench used to lock Homer in the steam room, the wrenches in the tow truck, a smudge on the spa invitation, and the tow truck driver (Junior). He saves Homer by getting fired out of a cannon, and grabbing Homer with his huge feet slipped under Homer's arm-pits, just before the float hits the swords of the Museum of Swordfish
Swordfish
Swordfish , also known as broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory, predatory fish characterized by a long, flat bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfish are elongated, round-bodied, and lose all teeth and scales by adulthood...
. Homer and Bob end up giving chase on stilts to the killer, who is also on stilts, who is found out to be, indeed, Junior, Homer's mechanic. He admits his name is Frank Grimes Jr., who blames Homer for his father's death in the episode Homer's Enemy
Homer's Enemy
"Homer's Enemy" is the twenty-third episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 4, 1997. The episode's plot centers on the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's hiring a new employee named...
. The police arrive, and Chief Wiggum places Grimes Jr. under arrest and has Bob tranquilized with a dart.
That night, after Homer puts Bart in bed, Bob, who was hanging to the back of the door, leaps down. Bart tries to get the shock bracelet remote control, but Bob already has it and throws it out of the window (it falls into a bird's nest...), gags Bart with a piece of tape, picks him up and prepares to kill him with a knife, bent on killing him once again. However, Bob realizes he is accustomed to Bart's face
I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" is a song from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady, with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. It was originally performed by Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins...
and he can not bring himself to do it. At one point Bart ungags himself and sings the line 'He's grown accustumed to my face,' but when Bob complains, Bart apologises and regags himself. With that, Bob takes his leave and Bart hurriedly shuts his window. At that point, Bob is repeatedly electrocuted with his shock bracelet by two birds who play with the remote on their nest.
Theme
Sideshow Bob is a recurring character on The Simpsons. Since season threeThe Simpsons (season 3)
The Simpsons third season originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991 and May 7, 1992. The show runners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt...
's "Black Widower
Black Widower
"Black Widower" is the 21st episode of The Simpsons third season, originally airing on the Fox network in the United States on April 9, 1992. It was written by Jon Vitti, directed by David Silverman, and saw Kelsey Grammer guest star as Sideshow Bob for the second time. In the episode, Sideshow...
" (1992), the writers have echoed the premise of Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
from the 1949-1966 Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
cartoons by having Bob unexpectedly insert himself into Bart's life and attempt to kill him. Executive producer Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
has compared Bob's character to that of Wile E. Coyote, noting that both are intelligent, yet always foiled by what they perceive as an inferior intellect. The scene in which Bob is stomped on by multiple elephants and bounces right back up is a reference to the Wile E. Coyote character.
In Planet Simpson, author Chris Turner
Chris Turner (author)
Chris Turner is a Canadian author. He is the author of Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation, published in 2004...
writes that Bob is built into a highbrow snob and conservative Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
so that the writers can continually hit him with a rake and bring him down. He represents high culture
High culture
High culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture...
while Krusty, one of his archenemies, represents low culture
Low culture
Low culture is a term for some forms of popular culture. Its opposite is high culture. It has been said by culture theorists that both high culture and low culture are subcultures....
, and Bart, stuck in between, always wins out. In the book Leaving Springfield
Leaving Springfield
Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture is a non-fiction compilation work analyzing the effect of the television program The Simpsons on society, edited by John Alberti. The book was published in 2004 by Wayne State University Press...
, David L. G. Arnold comments that Bart is a product of a "mass-culture upbringing" and thus is Bob's enemy.
Bob's intelligence serves him in many ways. During "Cape Feare
Cape 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...
", for example, the parole board asks Bob why he has a tattoo that says "Die Bart, Die". Bob replies that it is German for "The Bart, The"; members of the board are impressed by his reasoning. Believing that "nobody who speaks German could be an evil man," they release him. However, his love of high culture is sometimes used against him. In that same episode, Bob agrees to perform the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore in its entirety as a last request for Bart. The tactic stalls Bob long enough for the police to arrest him.
Production notes
- This is the fourth Simpsons episode to be animated using digital ink and paint (the previous episodes include season seven's "Radioactive ManRadioactive Man (The Simpsons episode)"Radioactive Man" is the second episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1995. The episode sees the film version of the comic book series Radioactive Man set up production in Springfield. Much to Bart's disappointment, the...
," season 12's "Tennis the MenaceTennis the Menace"Tennis the Menace" is the twelfth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 11, 2001. In the episode, the Simpsons build a tennis court in their backyard, but Homer's inferior tennis ability...
," and this season's "Treehouse of Horror XIIITreehouse of Horror XIII"Treehouse of Horror XIII" is the first episode of The Simpsons fourteenth season, as well as the thirteenth Halloween episode. The episode aired on November 3, 2002, three days after Halloween...
"). Starting with this episode, The Simpsons would be regularly animated and colored with digital ink and paint.
External links
- "The Great Louse Detective" at The Simpsons.com