Eden's Crush

"Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming"
The Simpsons episode
File:Gleamingbob.JPG
Episode no.	Season 7
Directed by	Dominic Polcino
Written by	Spike Feresten
Original air dates	November 26, 1995
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"Wedgies are unhealthy for children and other living things"
Couch gag	The Simpsons are a family of sea monkeys and swim to a couch made of clam shells to stare at an open treasure chest.
Commentary	Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein Dominic Polcino

"Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. The title is a reference to the 1977 film Twilight's Last Gleaming, which featured a similar plot about nuclear blackmail.

Plot

At Springwood Minimum Security Prison, Sideshow Bob is disturbed when he hears the other inmates laughing at the inane antics of Krusty the Klown's TV show. The embittered ex-TV star begins to defame that and other 'trash TV' shows, all of which he sees as "mindless drivel". While on work duty at a local Air Force Base (which is being cleaned for an annual air show), the quality of television programming eats at Bob's mind, and he hatches a plan.

While everyone in town is waiting for the air show to begin, Bob impersonates an Air Force colonel in order to gain access to a restricted area of the hangar, where he finds a 10-megaton nuclear weapon. The show begins, but the signal on the giant-screen television is interrupted by Sideshow Bob. Bob announces that life would be better without television and so he threatens to detonate the nuclear bomb unless Springfield gives in to his demand to shut down all television broadcasts. He admits that it is ironic using the screen to give the message.

Upon hearing the announcement, everyone flees the airfield in panic except for Bart and Lisa, who get separated from their parents during the crowd's mad rush to evacuate. National Guardsmen frantically search the base for Sideshow Bob to no avail, and all out of options, Mayor Quimby decides to give in to Bob's ultimatum — despite Krusty's objections. In accordance with Bob's demands, TV transmitters are destroyed and studios hastily plan farewell programs. Bob, who was televising his demands from a stolen Duff Blimp, gleefully celebrates the success of his plan.

Krusty, determined not to give in, takes refuge in a civil defense shed. After turning on the transmitter, he heavily improvises a show, which he claims will run "8... no, 12" hours-a-day. Bob finds out about this and becomes outraged - "Not even a mere atom bomb can fell the Chattering Cyclops!" (Television)

Bart and Lisa find their way into the cockpit of the Duff Blimp, where Bob, having lost his patience, tries to detonate the bomb. However, the bomb turns out to be a dud and does not blow up. The police eventually find Bob, thanks to Lisa, who uses the controls inside the blimp to print a message on its giant electronic ticker outside. When Chief Wiggum tries to arrest Bob, Bob deflates the blimp and "kidnaps" Bart. Once there, he steals the original Wright Brothers aircraft, which had been an exhibit at the air show. He then reveals to Bart that he plans to crash the plane into the civil defense shed where Krusty is hiding. However, the plane ends up merely bouncing harmlessly off the shack's roof. The authorities quickly tackle Bob and take him into custody.

Production

In producing this episode, Kelsey Grammer required several takes to complete the line regarding Chuck Yeager's Acura when his character was impersonating Col. Hap Hapablap, because he found it difficult to contain his laughter.

The episode was due to air on BBC Two on 14 September 2001, but was replaced with another due to its perceived insensitivity towards the then-recent September 11^th attacks (Sideshow Bob plans to kill Krusty by crashing the Wright Brothers plane into his shack).

Cultural references

File:Simpsons Doctor Who.jpg

The Doctor in his fourth incarnation while appearing on this episode.

• The slopstacle shown on the Krusty the Clown Show is similar to the Sundae Slide that appeared in some episodes of the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare. Additionally, Nickelodeon came under fire in 1989, for using canned food donations for Double Dare's slopstacle course, similar to what Krusty does.

• When Bob accidentally breaks his church in a bottle, he says "My dear abbey", a reference to the advice column, Dear Abby.

• When Bob is berating the TV network responsible for Krusty the Clown, he encounters another prisoner who angrily declares "that's enough now. I own 60% of that network." The man looks and sounds almost exactly like Fox Network owner Rupert Murdoch. He later says "I suppose you don't like tabloid newspapers either", a reference to Murdochs News Corporation's numerous tabloid holdings.

• The Colonel describes the "British-made Harrier Jump Jet" as the pride of the United States Air Force. It actually serves with the USMC as well as the RAF and others and the AV-8B model was re-designed and built by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing).

• A number of scenes in this episode parody those of films involving nuclear scares. One such film is the 1964 Cold War thriller Fail-Safe by Sidney Lumet: At the beginning of the third act of the episode, we see scenes of everyday life across Springfield, and one by one, with a "zooming" sound effect, they all freeze-frame in anticipation of the (supposedly) imminent nuclear blast; Such was the ending of Fail-Safe. One of the scenes before the supposed nuclear blast shows Maggie picking flowers in a field, with the camera zooming into her eye, and then the minuscule blast occurs. This is a parody of the infamous and controversial Daisy ad in the 1964 U.S. presidential election campaign.

• There were also several references to Dr. Strangelove: The underground compound resembles the War Room from the film, and Professor Frink parodies the title character; The tune that Sideshow Bob whistles while preparing the bomb is "We'll Meet Again," as sung by Vera Lynn at the end of the film; Also, Krusty's line that "the survivors would envy the dead" is similar to a line spoken by one of the generals in the War Room in reference to living in a post-apocalyptic world. When Mayor Quimby is talking to the general, Dr. Frink is in the background dressed as Dr. Strangelove.

• Tom Baker arrives in character as the Doctor (from Doctor Who), as part of a delegation of "esteemed TV representatives". Other representatives include Krusty the Clown, Bumblebee Man, Kent Brockman and Steve Urkel. The "High Flight" sonnet quoted by the purportedly American Air Force general is actually more affiliated with the Royal Canadian Air Force. It is a similar jab to the British-made Harrier joke.

• Col. Leslie "Hap" Hapablap (voiced by R. Lee Ermey) says, "What is your major malfunction?" to Sideshow Bob, which is a line delivered by Ermey's character in another Stanley Kubrick war movie, Full Metal Jacket. Col. Hapablap also exclaims, "What in the World According to Garp?", which is a reference to the famous John Irving novel and film adaptation, "The World According to Garp".

• Sideshow Bob laments hearing the The Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane" at the airshow. Later, the song plays during the Harrier flyby. It is also plays during the last boss battle in The Simpsons Game.

• While searching for Sideshow Bob, one of the soldiers checks inside a Hangar numbered 18, which has an alien in it. This is a reference to the 1980 movie Hangar 18 and possibly the heavy metal song "Hangar 18" by Megadeth.

Legacy

The scene where Milhouse is in a jet pretending to fire missiles at his parents because he's upset with them, said show runner Bill Oakley, is where they got the idea to have Milhouse's parents' marriage be in trouble. They would divorce the following season in "A Milhouse Divided," although they remarry in season nineteen's "Little Orphan Millie."

External links

• "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.