- Itchy And Scratchy Movie
- The Simpsons Wrestling Itchy And Scratchy Hands
- Itchy And Scratchy The Movie
- The Simpsons Wrestling Itchy And Scratchy Throat
'Itchy & Scratchy Land' | |||
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The Simpsons episode | |||
Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 4 (107th overall) | ||
Directed by | Wes Archer | ||
Written by | John Swartzwelder | ||
Production code | 2F01 | ||
Original air date | October 2, 1994 | ||
Episode features | |||
Chalkboard gag | 'I am not the reincarnation of Sammy Davis Jr.'[1] | ||
Couch gag | The family is beamed onto the couch the same way the characters are in the original Star Trek series.[2] | ||
Commentary | Matt Groening David Mirkin Dan Castellaneta Yeardley Smith Wes Archer | ||
Episode chronology | |||
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The Simpsons (season 6) | |||
List of The Simpsons episodes |
'Itchy & Scratchy Land' is the fourth episode of The Simpsons' sixth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 2, 1994.[3] Wanting a perfect family vacation, the Simpson family visits Itchy & Scratchy Land.
There was a special unlockable level in the The Simpsons Wrestling where only Itchy and Scratchy are playable. The characters of Itchy and Scratchy also appear in The Simpsons Game, featured in the level Grand Theft Scratchy in the form of pimps and hoodlums. The Itchy & Scratchy Land is an Itchy and Scratchy theme park. It has parades with robots resembling Itchy and Scratchy which are supposed to be inoffensive and only attack themselves. While on vacation, the Simpsons were attacked by a group of robots, until they used the cameras flashes to short circuit them (the reason flash snaps are not allowed). The Simpsons Wrestling is a fighting video game based on the animated television series The Simpsons.Developed by Big Ape Productions and published by Activision (Electronic Arts in Europe) for the PlayStation, it was first released in Europe in March 2001, followed by North America a month later.
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer.[2]
Plot[edit]
Bart and Lisa want to visit Itchy & Scratchy Land, an amusement park, but Marge has already booked a family vacation to a bird sanctuary. Bart and Lisa persuade their parents to visit the theme park by revealing it has areas for adults, including bars, bowling alleys and a rehab center.
Marge dislikes Itchy & Scratchy Land's violent themes and attractions, but the family's trip goes well until Bart launches a stink bomb into an actor's Itchy suit. After Homer kicks anotherItchy character in the butt, he is arrested by park security and joins Bart in a detention cell. Marge lectures Bart and Homer after they are released from custody.
Despite a park employee assuring the Simpsons they are programmed to only attack each other, the Itchy and Scratchy robots go rogue and start attacking humans. A worker refuses to allow the Simpsons to evacuate aboard a helicopter because of Bart and Homer's misdeeds. The power supply is cut, plunging the park into darkness.
A horde of Itchy and Scratchy robots advances on the Simpsons. While frantically throwing things to repel them, Homer discovers a camera flash short-circuits the robots' systems and immobilizes them. The Simpsons grab dozens of cameras from a gift shop and defeat the entire Itchy & Scratchy army. Employees thank the Simpsons for saving the park. Despite their ordeal, they agree this was their best vacation ever, but Marge insists that none of them ever mention it again.[1][2][3]
Production[edit]
'Itchy & Scratchy Land', written by the entire writing team but credited to John Swartzwelder, was a very difficult episode to produce. It involved creating an entirely new environment, which meant large amounts of writing and all new sets.[4] At the time that the episode was produced, new, more stringent censorship laws had been put in place. As a result, the Fox network tried to stop the writers from including Itchy & Scratchy cartoons in episodes. In response, the writers created this episode, which they decided would be as violent as possible. The network threatened that if the episode was produced, they would cut the Itchy & Scratchy parts out themselves, but relented when showrunner David Mirkin threatened to tell the media. The writers nevertheless promised to try not to overdo the violence.[4]
Although the episode was quite difficult to animate, 'Itchy & Scratchy Land' was 'a dream come true' for the animators, as they enjoyed animating scenes filled with violence.[5]
Itchy And Scratchy Movie
Cultural references[edit]
Much of Itchy & Scratchy Land parodies Disneyland.[4] Euro Itchy & Scratchy Land is a parody of Disneyland Paris, then known as EuroDisney, which at the time was failing.[4] Several scenes, such as the helicopter ride, the logo visible on the helicopter's side, and certain story elements, parody the Michael Crichton book and film Jurassic Park. Other parts of the episode, such as the park's claim to be the 'theme park of the future' and the phrase 'where nothing can possibly go wrong,' as well as the plot of the robots at the park rebelling, are based on another Crichton story, Westworld.[2][4] 'Scratchtasia' is a reference to the Sorcerer's Apprentice segment of the Disney film Fantasia, with several shots and the music parodying it exactly.[4] In addition, the area where the cartoon 'Scratchtasia' is being shown and the documentary it is a part of is reminiscent of the Great Movie Ride pre-show in MGM Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. 'Pinnitchio' is a parody of the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio. Homer and Marge dance at 'T.G.I. McScratchy's 'where it's constantly New Year's Eve'; this is a parody of Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World where every night from 1990 through New Year's Eve 2005 is celebrated as though it were New Year's Eve. Hans Moleman being attacked by predatory birds while in the phone booth is a spoof of the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds.[2]Walt Disney's alleged antisemitism is spoofed in the character of Roger Meyers, Sr. in his cartoon Nazi Supermen Are Our Superiors.[4] The sound made by the vehicle that takes Bart to the detention facility resembles the one made by the ground shuttles carrying the fighter pilots inside the Rebel Base in the 1977 film Star Wars.[6] Marge's Amish flashback recalls Peter Weir's 1985 film Witness.[2]
Reception[edit]
The 'Bort' joke in the episode inspired vanity plates among fans.
In its original broadcast, 'Itchy & Scratchy Land' finished 67th in ratings for the week of September 26 to October 2, 1994, with a Nielsen rating of 9.0, equivalent to approximately 8.6 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Beverly Hills, 90210, The X-Files, and tied with Melrose Place.[7]
The episode placed seventh in a 2003 Entertainment Weekly list of the top 25 episodes of the series, with the authors remarking, 'When the animatronics attack, the showdown between man and machine—okay, Homer and a giant robot mouse—is an uproarious rebuttal to capitalism run amok.'[6]
Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood called it 'an untypical episode, with an especially thin plot', but added that 'anyone that's been to Disneyland will get the point'.[2]
The episode is number six on MSNBC's top ten The Simpsons episodes list, compiled in 2007.[8]
In 2019, Consequence of Sound ranked it number ten on its' list of top 30 Simpsons episodes.[9]
In 2014, The Simpsons writers picked 'Scratchtasia' from this episode as one of their nine favorite 'Itchy & Scratchy' episodes of all time.[10]
The Simpsons Wrestling Itchy And Scratchy Hands
The scene in the gift shop where Bart finds a personalized license plate with the name 'Bort' has become part of popular culture, inspiring vanity plates among fans and souvenirs in The Simpsons-themed stores at Universal Orlando.[11][12] Writer Bill Oakley said he always liked the joke but was surprised it took on a 'legendary status'. Planet Simpson author Chris Turner called the joke 'unmistakably Simpsonian'.[11]
References[edit]
- ^ abGroening, Matt (1997). Richmond, Ray; Coffman, Antonia (eds.). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (1st ed.). New York: HarperPerennial. ISBN978-0-06-095252-5. LCCN98141857. OCLC37796735. OL433519M.
- ^ abcdefgMartyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). 'Itchy & Scratchy & Marge'. BBC. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ ab'Itchy & Scratchy Land'. The Simpsons.com. Archived from the original on 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ abcdefgMirkin, David (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode 'Itchy & Scratchy Land' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^Archer, Wes (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode 'Itchy & Scratchy Land' (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ ab'The Family Dynamic'. Entertainment Weekly. 2003-01-29. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
- ^Elber, Lynn (October 7, 1994). 'NBC strong second to ABC's lead'. Sun-Sentinel. p. 4E.
- ^Enwright, Patrick (2007-07-31). 'D'Oh! The top 10 'Simpsons' episodes ever'. Today.com. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
- ^'The Simpsons' Top 30 Episodes'. Consequence of Sound. 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
- ^'The Simpsons' Writers Pick Their Favorite 'Itchy & Scratchy' Cartoons'. Vulture. 2014-03-26. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
- ^ abSiegel, Alan (October 7, 2014). 'What Real-Life 'Bort' License Plates Tell Us About the Power of The Simpsons'. Slate. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
- ^O'Neal, Sean (July 11, 2013). 'Universal Orlando needs more 'BORT' license plates in the Simpsons gift shop'. The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: 'Itchy & Scratchy Land' |
- 'Itchy & Scratchy Land' at The Simpsons.com
- 'Itchy & Scratchy Land episode capsule'. The Simpsons Archive.
- 'Itchy & Scratchy Land' on IMDb
- 'Itchy & Scratchy Land' at TV.com
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Itchy_%26_Scratchy_Land&oldid=946230411'
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Itchy And Scratchy The Movie
Episode - 7F09The Simpsons Wrestling Itchy And Scratchy Throat
First Aired - 12/20/1990Advertisement:
Marge leads a protest against The Itchy & Scratchy Show after Maggie whacks Homer on the head with a mallet, but viewer interest drops when the Itchy & Scratchy cartoons become Lighter and Softer and Marge gets branded a hypocrite when her anti-TV violence group wants to go after Michaelangelo's David for depicting male frontal nudity but she sees nothing wrong it.
This episode contains examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Homer incorrectly calls David 'Michelangelo's Dave' when Marge takes him to see it at the end of the episode; she ruefully corrects him.
- Actor Allusion: Many people behind The Simpsons were huge fans of The Godfather and director Jim Reardon looked for a way to shoot Roger Meyers Jr. in the eye as a reference to Alex Rocco's character, Moe Greene.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Despite the supposed abuse he suffered due to the show, Homer can't help tittering at Itchy & Scratchy himself.
- Amusing Injuries:
- Most Simpsons characters think of Itchy & Scratchy as a funny, amusing cartoon. Only when Marge actually sits down to watch the episodes she notices what most sane people in Real Life would immediately say: that these graphically violent cartoons are unsuitable for young children.
- Future episodes of Itchy & Scratchy would involve over-the-top violence to the point that Itchy takes Scratchy's tongue and ties it to a rocket going to the moon. Once at the moon, the tongue is tied around said moon and slams into Scratchy's house.
- However, this episode had much saner ultra-violence (after a fashion) such as Itchy kicking an exploding football to Scratchy, Itchy trying to stab Scratchy, and the two whacking each other with baseball bats and aiming progressively larger guns at each other.
Advertisement:
- Armor-Piercing QuestionDr. Marvin Monroe: What do you have to say to all them Marge Simpson wannabes out there who wish to suppress David's doodle?
- Baby See, Baby Do: Maggie copies the antics of Itchy, injuring Homer as a result. In response, Marge forms a group to protest the show for being a bad influence on children, eventually persuading the creators to go in a Lighter and Softer direction. The first non-violent episode of Itchy & Scratchy shown involves Itchy giving Scratchy lemonade, which Maggie copies by giving Homer a lemonade and, as a joke, ominous music plays in the background. Near the end of the episode, when Itchy & Scratchy cartoons go back to being violent, Maggie shoots at a picture of Homer with a plunger gun, imitating the scene where Itchy shoots Scratchy.
- Both Sides Have a Point: The episode very notably doesn't take a side on the issue of whether censorship is good or bad (but it does have the moral of 'Be prepared for consequences, hypocrisy, and opposing viewpoints if you choose to stand up for a cause'). Sure, Roger Meyers is a 'sleaze merchant' who doesn't care if his shows induce kids to hurt themselves and others, but he's just a man trying to entertain others. Sure, SNUH is a bunch of Moral Guardians who want to censor even masterpieces for offending their conservative housewife sensibilities, but they're kind of right in that kids should be exposed to real art and not just pop culture trash.
- Characterization Marches On: Compared to his more jaded, Only in It for the Money characterization in later episodes, Krusty is more genuinely enthusiastic about his job in this episode, to the point he struggles not to pander to the kids in a serious news interview.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- When Marge forbids her children from watching Itchy & Scratchy, Lisa objects that, without the cartoons, they'll grow up to be humorless robots. Bart replies, 'Really? What kind of robots?'
- After one of the show's new episodes features the duo decapitating a nagging squirrel (an obvious caricature of Marge down to the hairstyle), she's furious while Homer just laughs at the 'dumb squirrel' getting what was coming to her.
- Continuity Nod: When Krusty gets Marge's letter, he holds it upside-down, looks at it with a confused look, then throws it away. This is because he is illiterate, as revealed in 'Krusty Gets Busted'.
- Curse Cut Short: A version, with Roger Meyers' letter to Marge.
- Early Installment Weirdness: In the retooled version of their show, Itchy and Scratchy speak with mechanically sped-up voices akin to those of Alvin and the Chipmunks. In later episodes, the few occasions where they had dialogue would have them speaking with more natural-sounding falsetto voices.
- Enemy Mine: Itchy and Scratchy break from their feud to brutalize a nagging blue-haired squirrel (meant to be a Take That! towards Marge and her letter), even happily shaking hands afterwards.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: Marge, while reading Meyers' response to her complaints about Itchy & Scratchy, angrily reveals that he concluded it with the words '..and the horse [you] rode in on.' This expression traditionally starts with the words 'fuck you.'
- Hypocrite: Marge is accused of this when she refuses to support the campaign to get Michelangelo's David banned from Springfield. Her opponents point out that she can hardly demand the banning of one controversial and potentially offensive form of expression because she doesn't approve of it, while refusing to support a campaign to get another controversial and potentially offensive form of expression banned because she does approve of it.
- Jerkass: The chairman of the Itchy & Scratchy franchise, Roger Meyers, Jr., pivots Marge's tirade against the show by responding to her letter with a blunt, vulgar insult.
- Jerkass Ball: Marge can be seen as grabbing this. If she had just kept an eye on Maggie, then she would have stopped her sooner from hitting Homer (or better yet, kept her from watching Itchy & Scratchy, since that show isn't appropriate for a baby). She also bans Bart and Lisa from watching the show (they engage in Loophole Abuse by watching it at their friends' houses) and forces them to participate in her protest rallies, even though, unlike Maggie, they know better than to imitate the show's antics.
- Kent Brockman News: Kent makes no attempt to hide his own viewpoint while hosting a debate on cartoon violence.
- Moral Guardians:
- Parodied almost to the point of deconstruction; Marge protests against cartoon violence, wins her argument by organizing a huge protest rally which forces the animators to make some changes. The newer, nicer episodes of Itchy & Scratchyare so boring that the older kids actually go and play outside. According to the DVD Commentary, the makers intentionally made this appear ridiculously harmonic.
- On top of that, Marge's anti-indecency group want to go after Michelangelo Buonarroti's classic statue David for depicting male frontal nudity. Marge, however, thinks this is art and opposes censoring something that is not violent at all, only harmless nudity. She loses her credibility, Itchy & Scratchy returns to being violent, and Marge despairs over her kids never knowing true art (until Homer says that the schools will eventually force them to learn to come and look at David's 'doodle').
- Never My Fault: It never seems to occur to Marge that she could have prevented Maggie from injuring Homer by simply keeping a closer eye on her (or the fact Maggie shouldn't have been watching something not geared towards babies in the first place). Similarly, while Roger Meyers' response to her letter was vulgar, her letter was condescending and insulting, calling them 'Purveyors of Senseless Violence' and demanding that they tone down the violence in their cartoons without fully explaining the situation.
- Noodle Incident: At some point, Homer tries to avoid work by using an excuse that sounds lamer than 'a baby whacked me on the head with a mallet.' Homer is angry for not being believed.
- Off-Model: When SNUH protests Michelangelo's David going on tour in Springfield, a miscolored Helen Lovejoy and Maude Flanders◊ are standing at the Simpsons' doorstep as they try to summon Marge.
- 'Psycho' Shower Murder Parody and 'Psycho' Strings: Maggie hits Homer with a mallet in an clever parody of this iconic scene.
- Shout-Out:
- Maggie hitting Homer is a shot-for-shot spoof of the shower scene from Psycho.
- Nelson painting the fence with his friends is a reference to Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
- Itchy and Scratchy in their musketeer outfits is a clear reference to the similar Tom and Jerry cartoons set in this time period.
- The scene of the kids playing is a parody of the 'Pastoral Symphony' segment from Fantasia.
- When Marge's group is Waving Signs Around while picketing Meyers' studio, Moe can be seen holding a sign that reads, 'Bring Back Wagon Train'.
- Special Guest: Alex Rocco as Roger Meyers, Jr.
- Status Quo Is God: Come on, you really thought that the changes made to Itchy & Scratchy would stick? (Especially when later episodes show, obviously, that Marge's manifestation did zip in the long run.)
- Take That, Critics!: In-universe. Marge is caricatured as a cranky squirrel that Itchy decapitates by a disgruntled animator. Her reaction makes it clear that she intends to sue the studio if Kent Brockman didn't call in for an interview.Homer: [Chuckles] Take that, you dumb squirrel!
- The Television Talks Back: When Homer and the kids are watching a power tool commercial:TV: It's 67 tools in one! How much would you pay for a machine that can do all this?TV: Oh, don't answer yet!
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: In-universe. The retooled Itchy and Scratchy episodes are boring, educational, and cute, and as a result, everyone except infants hate it. Even Krusty is flabbergasted by the negative reception when he opens his show to find an empty audience.