Brother's Little Helper
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"Brother's Little Helper" is the second episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. It aired on October 3, 1999. The title refers to an early Rolling Stones song, titled "Mother's Little Helper"; the song is about pill abuse.
Synopsis
When Principal Skinner has a fire safety day at school, Ned Flanders catches on fire, but he cannot be extinguished because Bart has pulled a prank with the fire hose. Homer and Marge pay a visit to the school, which has diagnosed Bart with Attention Deficit Disorder and Skinner suggests that he be put on a medication called "Focusyn", a fictitious drug whose name is apparently a pun on Focalin. It makes Bart behave better.
However, the drug does have some side effects: After Bart takes it, Homer and Marge realize that he has gone paranoid. Bart rants that Major League Baseball is spying on people's thoughts through the use of their satellites. Homer and Marge try to stop Bart from taking Focusyn, but he refuses to do so, and, instead, overdoses heavily. After taking the pills, he goes to a military base and steals an army tank. At first, his goal appears to be the destruction of Springfield Elementary, but instead he shoots down a satellite, which crashes nearby, revealing that it had indeed been spying for Major League Baseball. Mark McGwire then arrives at the crash site, distracts the assembled crowd from the truth of Bart's allegations by offering to hit a few balls, and recovers the satellite's records (with the traditional Simpsons "Yoink!"). He gives Homer a signed baseball bat with a spy camera in it. In the end, Marge puts Bart on the hopefully safer Ritalin.
Trivia
- Marge standing in front of the tank is a reference to Tank Man.
- The Fire Safety Day slogan, "Learn, Baby, Learn", is a spoof of "Burn, Baby, Burn"
- The people seen at the movies at Showgirls are: Superintendent Chalmers, Apu, Grampa, Dr. Hibbert, Snake, Kirk Van Houten, Moe, Captain McCallister, Dr. Nick Riviera, Nelson, Lenny, and Krusty.
- The readouts in the viewfinger of the MLB spy-bat as it studies the Simpsons: 2 (male symbol), Snack preference: All; 3 (female symbol); Squalor index: 97.
- The clowns seen jumping out of Krusty's car are Noodles, Seesaw, Oopsie, Flopsweat, Hoohaw, Jitters, and Sir Widebottom.
- One of the soldiers showering at Fort Fragg has a T-shirt that reads, "I Went to the Persian Gulf and All I Got was this Lousy Syndrome.
Quotes
- Ralph Wiggum: And I want a bike, and a monkey, and a friend for the monkey.
Hosey the Bear: You're not going to start any fires, are you?
Ralph Wiggum: At my house, we call them "uh-ohs".
- Fire can be our servant, whether it's toasting s'mores or raining down on Charlie.
- (The curtains open, revealing a hippie "crash pad" Ned and Maude Flanders enter on a motorcycle, dressed as hippies.)
Ned: Ha-ho. What a great pot party!
Maude: Wasn't it man?
Ned: Now for a regular cigarette to make the night complete. (He lights a cigarette and coughs.) Oh, a-heh-heh, Man, thats good.
Maude: Mad Dog, I've been thinking. Maybe we should get another smoke detector in case that one trips out on us.
Ned: Ah ho-ho-ho! Why bother, baby. One smoke detector's enough for Mad Dog. Now let's the sack. (They go to bed and Ned light his pants on fire with the cigarette)
Ned: Whoa! Check it out! Mad Dog's on fire!
Maude: Stop, drop, and roll, man!
Ned: Ha, ha, ha! That's for Clydes, baby. A little fire can't hurt you.
(The curtains close. Apu walks onstage and addresses the audience.)
Apu: But Mad Dog was wrong. The fire burned through the night and cost him the use of his pants. Which just goes to show you..
(Ned runs out from behind the curtain, his pants still on fire.)
Ned: Aah! Sorry to break character, but these stunt pants are getting pretty toasty!
Maude: Uh, roll, Neddie, roll.
(The children laugh.)
Ned: I's not working! It just spreads the flame!
- Skinner: I'm afraid I'll have to expel your son. (Marge gasps) Unless you are willing to try a radical, untested, potentially dangerous...
Homer: Candy bar!?
Skinner: No. It's a new drug called Focusyn.
Marge: A drug? I know Bart can be rambunctious, but he's not some hyperactive monster.
(Bart appears outside the window, dressed a s a cheerleader.)
Bart:Gimme an "F"! Gimme an "art"!
Skinner: Good lord! He's gotten into the pep closet.
Homer: I'd say he's coming out of the pep closet.
- Bart: I don't wanna take drugs.
Homer:Sure you do. All your favourite stars have used drugs. Brett Butler, Tim Allen...
Marge: Tommy Lee...
Homer: Andy Dick...
Bart: He's just flamboyant.
Homer:Yeah, and I'm a size four.
- Todd: Does Mr. Simpson have a demon, Daddy?
Ned: Looks like it. Run and get Daddy's exorcism tongs.
Rod and Todd: Yay!
- Homer: I tell you, the kid's a wonder. He organized all the lawsuits against me into one class action.
Lenny: That's gotta save all kinds of travel time.
Homer: You know it.
- Homer: .. Wait, I'll make it say 'What's the matter with you?' in Turkish!
Organiser: Neyin var? Derdin ne?
Homer: And look, a cheese grater!
- Bart (teaching a Navajo boy): And why did Humpty Dumpty fall off the wall?
Navajo boy: Because he took his eyes off the prize?
Bart: Exactly. You stay on the ball, you stay on the wall.
- Marge: Bart's so well-behaved now. Maybe you and I can have a night out.
Homer: Ooh! Lets go to the park! My ten-year ban ended yesterday.
Marge: I was thinking of something a little more...adult.
(She whispers in Homer's ear.)
Homer: Oh, Marge!
Marge: And then afterwards...(She whispers again.)
Homer: Hee-hee, hee-hee! Really? With butterscotch on it?
Marge: I think you misheard me.
- Marge: I understand the electrodes, but why does he have to be on a treadmill?
Pharm Team Man: Oh, that was his idea. He said he felt fat.
- Homer: So I gave up tap for jazz, and I've never regretted it.
- Comic Book Guy: Egad! A maniac cutting a swath of destruction! This is a job for the Green Lantern, Thundra, or possibleeee....Ghost Rider.
Otto: What about Superman?
Comic Book Guy (dismissively): Oh, please.
- Homer:(on seeing Marge in front of Bart's tank) My god is she brave. Standing up to that freaked-out junkie.
Lisa: Dad, that junkie is your son!
Homer: Why don't you just tell everybody!?
- Bart: (after hijacking the tank and driving it right up to Marge) Thanks for comin' out Mom.
Marge: And thank you for stopping the tank.
Bart: It ran out of gas.
- (Bart points the tanks turret at the school.)
Prin. Skinner: Gasp! Good Lord! He's going to fire!
Jimbo: All right! Scud the school, dude!
Krabappel (without enthusiasm): No. Stop. Think of the children.
(Bart moves the turret toward the church.)
Reverend Lovejoy: Not the church! Jesus lives there!
(Bart moves the turret to aim at a frame shop.)
Homer: The frame store! You monster!
(Bart points the turret up in the air.)
Sideshow Mel: Not the sky! That's where clouds are born!
- Chief Wiggum: That's the end of your Looney Tune, Drugs Bunny. You're under arrest for astro-vandalism.
Moe: And may god help you if that thing carried the Spice Channel.
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