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The Telltale Head
The Simpsons Season 01, Episode 08
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Sadly this episode begins with what I think is the first reused couch gag; Bart flying up in the air and landing in front of the TV. Boo-urns.
I think the writers were just trying to mess with the censors as this line shows up a few times "When I was your age, I pulled a few boners." I don't remember this word ever being used this way during my childhood. Pretty hilarious though. Maybe a throwback to some of these old Batman comics.
The animal in the Jebediah statue looks more like a kangaroo than a bear. Although it's equally unlikely he would be able to kill a kangaroo with his bare hands.
I never went to religious school of any type, but I'm pretty sure that this is how I imagined it. "The ventriloquist goes to heaven, but the dummy does not."
Space Mutants IV looks awesome. I'm not sure why but I remember this scene slightly differently, with the girl in the car taking her top off (audience only sees from behind) Maybe that was just my pervy teenage imagination though. Here we meet Kearny, Jimbo, and Dolph and get some insight into Bart's relative innocence - still thinks stealing is wrong. The scene in the Kwik-E-Mart makes me feel sorry for stealing caramels from CVS when I was in middle school. Also, if it's a five-finger discount, why do they only have four fingers!
"Sure would cheese everybody off." is an awesome line referring to stealing the head off Jebediah.
Glad Homer puts popularity in perspective for Bart. "A boy without mischief is like a bowling ball without a liquid center."
Used to love how the writers riffed off the Telltale Heart, but was not aware at the time this was the name of the episode. Wiggum's voice is not yet porcine.
Choice quotes: "A beer please and make sure there's a head on it.", "That was just cloud talk."
Jedediah has the same voice used for god in later episodes and we get our first indication that Smithers is gay.
CONCLUSION
Overall I like this episode for it's message about peer pressure. It's also nice to see the sense of community in Springfield while the mob is chasing Bart, and their commiseration about the loss of the head. Uncharacteristically the mob actually listens to the Simpsons, but I guess in later episodes they've grown tired of that.
THIS EPISODE'S RATINGS
  4/5 donuts from Statler
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RATINGS LEGEND
= LAME
= BAD
= MEH
= GOOD
= CLASSIC
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PLOT SUMMARY FROM WIKIPEDIA
Homer and Bart are chased through the streets of Springfield by an angry mob while carrying the head of the statue of their town founder, Jebediah Springfield. Surrounded by the surly crowd, Bart pleads for understanding and relates the events of the previous day. The tale begins when Bart sneaks a radio into church which is quickly caught by Marge. Homer who is still in the car listening to the football game decides to sneak the radio himself and manages to embarrass Marge when he loudly celebrates his team winning in the middle of the sermon. Afterwards, Bart borrows $5 from Homer and sneaks away to see Space Mutants IV at the local movie theater. On his way to the movie he runs into a gang of troublemakers. One of them, Jimbo, invites Bart to sneak into the movies with him and his buddies.
Later, as the boys throw rocks at Jebediah's statue and watch clouds, Jimbo wishes someone would cut off the statue's head. When Bart tries to defend the town's hero, Jimbo and the boys laugh at him and say "I thought you were cool." Later during the night Bart sneaks out of the house and saws the statue's head off.
The next day, all of Springfield grieves the horrible deed done on the town founder. Bart finds Jimbo and his pals and discovers they are as distraught as everyone else. Jimbo tells Bart that the decapitating was just cloud talk and they hope to meet the one who did this, so they can break every bone in his body. Feeling scared, Bart decides not to tell. Feeling remorse, Bart returns home and confesses to his family. As Homer, who also feels more than a little responsible for this incident, takes Bart to place the head back on the statue, they are confronted by the angry mob. Bart tells the crowd that his act has united the town and taught people to appreciate their heritage. The townspeople agree, the head is placed back onto the statue, and Bart is forgiven.
Accessed from Wikipedia on Feb. 20, 2010