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Krusty Gets Busted
Some Enchanted Evening
Bart Gets an "F"

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Trivia[]

  • This episode was the first episode of the show to be produced, yet last to air in the first season, due to many coloring and animation mistakes that plagued the episode. Matt Groening once said that he would have cancelled the show if this episode's animation wasn't cleaned up.
  • Marge was the 1st person to speak in the original, 1989 prototype version of this episode, thus making her the 1st person to speak in the whole entire series if one were to go by production order.
  • List of animation problems in the episode's original workprint:
    • Rubbery and cartoon-like animation movement.
    • Sloppily done backgrounds with plain coloring.
    • Choppy and inferior character designs that often go noticeably off-model.
  • The scene where Mrs. Botz threatens Bart an unknown punishment if he doesn't watch The Happy Little Elves on the tape is widely considered to be the smoothest animation in all of The Simpsons.
  • This is the last and final episode for a load of things:
    • This is the last episode to be aired that was produced before Santa's Little Helper was a member of The Simpsons.
    • This is the last episode that would use the original version of the intro that was introduced in Bart the Genius, the episode that was made immediately after this episode. There would be a new one in the next episode and season that would stay in use on the show until the 2009 episodes of the 20th season.
    • This is the final aired episode to feature alot of gradient backgrounds. After this episode, all backgrounds are mostly solid with the exception of sunsets, day and night.
    • This, in airing order, is the final time Dan Castellaneta ever voiced Homer in a Walter Matthau impersonation regularly. Dan Castellaneta had a hard time doing the impersonation due to it not having enough power and straining his throat, and thus his finalized voice for Homer (which is a more dimwitted, robust voice tone) would be put to permanent use beginning with the next episode. Although, there are sometimes when Dan using the Walter Matthau impersonation is heard again, like whenever he voice the Tracey Ullman incarnation of Homer, or when he actually voices Homer with this very briefly (Like in "The Caper Chase" and "At Long Last Leave").
    • This is the last episode for Moe's Tavern to be in it's original Season 1 design before it was changed to what we see nowadays.
  • Penny Marshall (the voice of Mrs. Botz) had a long history of working with Simpsons co-producer James L. Brooks. before her Simpsons guest appearance, which included Brooks' one season show Friends and Lovers, as well as guest appearances on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi.
  • Lucille Botzcowski was later seen as a Calmwood Mental Hospital patient on the Season 8 episode, "Hurricane Neddy".
  • The song Homer is humming when getting ready for his date is Patricia by Perez Prado.
  • According to the DVD commentary, the original takes had Christopher Collins providing Moe's voice. However, when Hank Azaria came into the show, the made him redub all of Moe's lines, one of the reasons is possibly due to how hard Christopher was to handle on the team or staff.
    • Also, in the original attempt, the Happy Little Elves was more of a subverted kids show; this is the case as in the original workprint or cut, a bear rips and tear off the head of 1 elf, & drinks up it's blood. This did not go well with the writing staff, so they had it cut and reanimated, like the rest of the aired TV episode.
  • Although this episode had to undergo some immense reanimation, the episode's new footage is unusually stiff and composed compared to the standards of Season 1, or all of the older seasons in general. The character's movements are roughly choppy, barely using frames to move (there are even some shots where they only use 1 single frame to move at all), and tons of shots repeat/reuse the same movement frames for additional movement (like when Bart is being scolded by Homer (who at this point thinks that Bart tormented yet another babysitter) after the policemen and authorities arrive). You could sort of see this as "ironic", as the poor animation-quality and writing was what caused this episode to be reanimated in the 1st place, though this must have been OK with the producers in their opinions, since they wanted The Simpsons to be a more or less grounded, realistic type of cartoon show.
    • There's a possibility that the reason this episode was so stiff is probably because when AKOM, in South Korea, was reanimating this episode, they likely especially wanted this episode to be 100% exactly in the style that the creators envisioned for the show (again, realistic, stiff, grounded) because this episode was originally bouncy and cartoony in rubbery character movement and was very bad enough, so they tried to draw things as drastically differently from the original poorly received workprint and script as possible and compare it to the old cut to be sure they are not making any more mistakes.

Goofs[]

MoeOne

Moe with black hair

  • As mentioned above and on the main page, this episode originally came back from South Korea with very poor animation-quality, and as such, 3 quarters (or 70%) of it had to be re-shot and redone. As a result, the animation in the final episode is pretty inconsistent and erratic, as not only the character designs switch between finalized, and realistic looking like they looked by the end of Season 1 and crude, and rubbery-looking (Like when Homer tries to find flowers for Marge, when Homer is overhearing Marvin Monroe and Marge over the radio, when Bart and Lisa start running away from the Mrs. Botz, and when Mrs. Botz tells Bart to watch the tape or she'll do something to him), but the backgrounds can also switch between the solid-colored backgrounds used for the rest of the show and gradient style backgrounds that were used for the next 2 episodes produced directly right after this one (Like in Marvin Monroe's scenes, during Marge's line "Precious, I think I hear the doorbell!", during Bart's line "Oh, the Elves, the Elves!!!", and the shot of Mrs. Botz angrily holding a rope as Bart and Lisa scream).
  • Homer's middle name is revealed to be James. However, his middle name is Jay in Season 10's "D'oh-in' in the Wind".
  • Since 30% of the rough 1st screening animation was untouched, there are numerous continuity errors around the episode caused by the shifts between the reused footage of the original 1st screening animation and the replacement animation/retakes. Here are as follows:
    • In the scene where Bart is first shown sitting tied up on the couch, Ms. Botz walks in carrying a tied-up Lisa in her arms and drops her on the sofa alongside Bart. You can clearly see at this point that the rope Ms. Botz has used to bind Lisa is wound around her entire body from her neck right down to her ankles. When Maggie comes downstairs a couple of shots later and unties them, the section of rope tying Lisa's legs together at the knees has disappeared completely.
    • The interior of the Simpsons' household repetitively keeps on changing in between shots. 1 quick example being the appearance of the lipstick stain on the door for no explanation, even though the original early scene featuring Marge accidentally kissing the door in the foyer is replaced.
    • Additionally, the furniture of the Simpsons' Household keeps on dissappearing and reappearing. Notice when during the scene Bart and Lisa were looking at The Happy Little Elves, then Bart, annoyed, can't deal with it any longer and decides to get up and switch the said program out with America's Most Armed and Dangerous, almost all of the interior of the living room, minus the TV and the desk drawer where the telephone is on, is nowhere in sight when the camera changes to show Bart almost at the TV getting ready to take the tape out.
    • When Homer arrives at the front door step in the rain, the candy box and rose in his hands switch places between cuts.
    • While Bart and Lisa are watching "America's Most Armed and Dangerous", the telephone is red, but when Ms. Botz is disabling one of the phones, it is now blue.
    • The door of the master bedroom opens inwards, yet the door opens outwards when Ms. Botz leaves the room after ransacking it.
    • As they watch the Happy Little Elves and America's Most Armed and Dangerous, intercutting scenes depict Bart and Lisa's feet as either dangling or not dangling over the couch cushions.
  • The rose that Homer gives to Marge appears worse for wear when he arrives home, yet it appears pristine later when Marge is holding it.
  • Moe and Barney have black & yellow hair respectively in this episode, instead of their usual gray & brown hair. This is, however, a regular element in Season 1.
  • Some lines in this episode may have been re-recorded as the episode was being re-animated. As a result, Homer's voice in this episode is also pretty erratic, as it seems to switch between his current, more robust voice that was in use ever since late-Season 1 (Like when Homer is talking to Moe at his bar, when Homer is looking for flowers for Marge, or when he is talking to Bart when he was shaving his beard), and his Walter Matthau-themed voice that was used during The Tracey Ullman Show and earlier in Season 1 (Like when he tries to figure out ways to say "I love you" to Marge, his lines "Hello? This is Mr.. Sam-son." and "No! I said Samson! Not Simpson!", and when he comes back home, unties Mrs. Botz and pays her off).
  • The end credits state this episode was produced in 1990, when in actuality it was produced in 1989 as the first episode of the show because of production order. The same mistake was made in other Season 1 episodes like "Bart the Genius" and "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", and the errors have not been fixed ever since.
  • Homer's hand grabs the carton of milk during the opening scene at the table right before Bart notices the box of donuts, but when we go back to a wide shot of the family at breakfast Homer is continuing to eat and there is no sign of the milk carton anywhere.
  • The time on the grandfather clock behind Marge as she waits angrily for Homer to come home constantly changes. It shows about 8:37 P. M. when the kids ask her for dinner, about 8:32 P. M. when we see it just before she angrily remembers Dr. Monroe's advice, and around 6:48 P. M. as she furiously imagines Homer and his vices.
  • When Bart inserts the Happy Little Elves VHS tape into the VCR, he shoves it in the player upside down.
  • Somehow, The Simpsons' pets, namely Snowball II & Santa's Little Helper, don't appear in this episode, even though they were introduced in Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, which is the earlier aired episode that replaced this episode as the show's pilot episode. Justified, though, since this was the 1st episode produced of the show (the aforementioned episode was instead the 8th 1 produced).
Shorts: Season 3 Season 1 References/Trivia Season 2
Simpsons Roasting on an Open FireBart the GeniusHomer's OdysseyThere's No Disgrace Like HomeBart the GeneralMoaning LisaThe Call of the SimpsonsThe Telltale HeadLife on the Fast LaneHomer's Night OutThe Crepes of WrathKrusty Gets BustedSome Enchanted Evening
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