Saturdays of Thunder

"Saturdays of Thunder" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons' third season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 14, 1991. In the episode, Homer realizes he knows little about Bart and strives to be a better father. When he learns Bart is competing in a Soap Box Derby, Homer helps him make a racer. Bart drives Martin's far superior racer instead, hurting Homer's feelings. Homer eventually realizes he must be a good father by supporting Bart.

"Saturdays of Thunder"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 9
Directed byJim Reardon
Written byKen Levine & David Isaacs
Production code8F07
Original air dateNovember 14, 1991
Guest appearance(s)
Episode features
Chalkboard gag"I will not fake rabies"
Couch gagThe family falls through the couch because the cushions are missing.
CommentaryMatt Groening
Al Jean
Mike Reiss
Ken Levine
Jim Reardon
David Silverman

The episode was written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs, and directed by Jim Reardon. American actors Larry McKay and Phil Hartman voiced guest appearances as a television announcer and Troy McClure respectively. "Saturdays of Thunder" features cultural references to films such as Ben-Hur, Lethal Weapon, and Days of Thunder.

Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics, who praised its sports theme. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 14.9, and was the highest-rated show on Fox the week it aired.

Plot

Marge makes Homer take a fatherhood quiz and discovers he knows next to nothing about his son. After a pep talk at the National Fatherhood Institute, Homer offers to help Bart build his own Soap Box Derby racer. At the qualifying race, Bart and Martin form an alliance vowing to beat bully Nelson and his intimidating racer, the Roadkill 2000.

Using Homer's racer, Bart chokes and fails to cross the finish line after Nelson uses dirty tricks to beat him. Martin wins the race but loses control of his aerodynamically advanced racer and crashes. Unable to compete after being injured, Martin allows Bart to drive his car in the next race. Homer feels betrayed by Bart's choice to drive Martin's racer instead of his. When Bart tries to apologize to him, Homer denounces his son and Martin and peevishly tells Bart to do as he pleases.

Marge reminds Homer that she has defended him in the past, but his recent actions prove he is a bad father. As Bart prepares for the final match with Martin's newly tuned racer, Homer realizes his selfishness and rushes to the race. At the starting line, Homer wishes Bart luck and tells him he will still be proud of him no matter who wins. The race is tough as Nelson uses every dirty trick in his arsenal, but Bart uses his skill to finish first and his team enjoys victory.

Production
Executive producer Sam Simon found a real fatherhood test that served as the inspiration for the episode's subplot.

The episode was written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs, and directed by Jim Reardon. The inspiration for it originated from a line in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge", a previous episode in which Marge bans Bart and Lisa from watching their favorite cartoon, The Itchy & Scratchy Show, and Bart tells Lisa "Let's go finish our soap box racers."[1] Actor Phil Hartman made his fourth guest appearance on The Simpsons in this episode as the voice of celebrity Troy McClure. The character appears at the beginning of the episode in I Can't Believe They Invented It!, a television show that Homer watches. Larry McKay guest starred as the television announcer at the Soap Box Derby.[1]

The idea for the subplot of Homer's parenting originated from a real fatherhood test executive producer Sam Simon found and brought to the Simpsons studio.[1] Levine later commented on writing the episode, "At the time David and I were writing this, my son, Matt, was about Bart's age. [...] So for me there was a certain amount of guilt associated, like 'Do I know my son's hobby? Do I know my son's best friend?' etc."[2] The scene in which Bart welds on his racer resulted in an argument between the staff and Fox's censors, who were concerned that children would imitate Bart and misuse welding tools. The staff was able to convince them that very few children can even access welding tools.[1]

Cultural references

"Saturdays of Thunder" features a number of references to popular culture. The title of the episode is itself a play on the film Days of Thunder, starring American actor Tom Cruise.[3] The song used at the end of the episode is "Wind Beneath My Wings", a song by Bette Midler. While Homer is watching television at the beginning of the episode, Marge and her sisters, Patty and Selma, go through a catalog of different hairstyles; Patty tells her sisters that she wants Mary Tyler Moore's hairstyle, referencing the American actress known for her roles in television sitcoms.[2] When Marge and her sisters head to the beauty parlor, Homer promises Marge he will take Lisa to the video store. When they arrive at the store, Homer watches a clip from the latest McBain film that sees McBain's partner being brutally shot in the chest, a reference to a similar scene in the film Lethal Weapon. McBain's partner is black, a reference to the fact that Dirty Harry's partner is black in the film Sudden Impact.[1]

When Homer calls the National Fatherhood Institute, he is put on hold and Harry Chapin's song "Cat's in the Cradle" plays in the telephone while he waits.[2] Cast member Harry Shearer based the voice of Dave, the director of the Fatherhood Institute, on actor Mason Adams.[1] At the institute, Dave gives Homer a copy of the book Fatherhood by American actor Bill Cosby. In a subsequent episode, "Dog of Death", Homer throws the book into the fireplace as replacement for wood.[1] When Homer and Bart build the soapbox racer, Mac Davis's song "Watching Scotty Grow", sung by Bobby Goldsboro, plays in the background.[3] The whipping and spikes coming out of Nelson's racer are a reference to the chariot race in the film Ben-Hur.[1][4] The idea of Nelson's racer being "armed with every dirty trick in the book" was based on the 1973 Soap Box Derby World Championship scandal, when a 14-year-old boy was stripped of his title two days after winning the national race for cheating.[5] During the final race, Homer stands up in the crowd to cheer on Bart and his body is silhouetted against the sun, a reference to a scene in the film The Natural.[1] The theme song from The Natural plays in the scene.[6]

Reception

"Saturdays of Thunder" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 14, 1991. It received high ratings due to the fact that it was immediately followed by the premiere of the music video for Michael Jackson's song "Black or White".[2] In its original American broadcast, the episode finished 26th in the ratings for the week of November 11–17, 1991, with a Nielsen rating of 14.9, equivalent to approximately 13.7 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week.[7]

This image depicts a race similar to the ones featured in the episode, which was praised for its sports theme. Some critics, however, thought the Soap Box Derby plotline had limited modern day appeal because few practice the sport any more.[8]

Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Niel Harvey of The Roanoke Times called it a "classic bit of Simpsonia,"[9] and the Daily Record said it is "definitely one not to miss".[10] The Orlando Sentinel's Gregory Hardy named it the sixth best episode of the show with a sports theme.[11] Michael Coulter of The Age commented that "Saturdays of Thunder" is "one of the many excellent" The Simpsons episodes to feature a sporting theme. He went on to say: "A 'classic' Simpsons, insofar as it boasts a plot, rather than a sequence of surreal pop-culture parodies".[12]

The episode's parody of Ben-Hur, however, was named the eighth greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film's Nathan Ditum.[13] Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict looked unfavorably on the episode, writing that it "has a premise—Bart builds a soapbox racer—that frankly has very limited modern day appeal. We can't really get into the whole Martin/Nelson/Bart race dynamic and today, soapbox derby has been technologized all out of proportion to the point where very few, if any, practice it. With such a narrow target, many of the jokes just don't work." Gibron preferred the subplot of Homer's attempts to become a better father.[8]

Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed was more positive about the episode, commenting that the episode's emphasis is on Homer's parenting, like many other season three episodes, and "contrary to popular opinion, Homer is actually a good father who tries to do good by his children." He thought the racing sequences featured "good animation and direction", but considered the highlight of the episode to be the clip from the film McBain that Homer watches in the video store. Meyers rated the episode a 4 (of 5).[14]

DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson, who listed the episode as one of his favorites from season three, said that "on the surface, 'Saturdays of Thunder' essentially just rehashes" the theme of the previous episode, "Lisa's Pony", in which Homer tries to be a better father for Lisa. Jacobson commented that "Saturdays of Thunder", however, "simply seems funnier than 'Lisa's Pony'. The soapbox derby elements provide lots of great gags. [It] offers a great episode."[15] Like Meyers, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide thought the highlight of the episode was the McBain video.[4]

References
  1. Jean, Al (2003). The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Saturdays of Thunder" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  2. Levine, Ken (2003). The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Saturdays of Thunder" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  3. Reardon, Jim (2003). The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Saturdays of Thunder" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  4. Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Saturdays of Thunder". BBC. Archived from the original on March 12, 2005. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
  5. Reiss, Mike (2003). The Simpsons season 3 DVD commentary for the episode "Saturdays of Thunder" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  6. Groening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia (eds.). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN 98141857. OCLC 37796735. OL 433519M..
  7. Associated Press (November 20, 1991). "Nielsen Ratings /Nov. 11-17". Press-Telegram. p. C5.
  8. Gibron, Bill (December 15, 2003). "The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  9. Harvey, Niel (2003-09-04). "'The Simpsons' Is A Consistent Slam Dunk". The Roanoke Times. p. 8.
  10. "Movie Choice". Daily Record. March 9, 2001.
  11. Hardy, Gregory (February 16, 2003). "Hitting 300 - For Sporting Comedy, 'The Simpsons' Always Score". Orlando Sentinel. p. C17.
  12. Coulter, Michael (November 10, 2005). "Sport - Friday". The Age. p. 18.
  13. Ditum, Nathan (2009-06-06). "The 50 Greatest Simpsons Movie References". Total Film. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
  14. Meyers, Nate (June 23, 2004). "The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season". Digitally Obsessed. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  15. Jacobson, Colin (August 21, 2003). "The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season (1991)". DVD Movie Guide. Retrieved 2009-08-05.

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