500 Keys
Encyclopedia
"500 Keys" is the twenty-first episode of the twenty-second season
of The Simpsons
. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 15, 2011. It was written by John Frink and directed by Bob Anderson.
gets locked in the car
with the key inside. While searching for the spare keys (which soon proves unnecessary, as Maggie is able to free herself), the Simpsons
discover a collection of keys to every door in Springfield
. Lisa
uses a key to discover a hidden classroom full of props
underneath the school. She is very intrigued about the discovery, so she shares it with Principal Skinner
, but when she brings along the school newspaper, they only find what is supposed to be behind the door, the "Banned Band Books". Later, it becomes apparent that Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers are hiding something when they snatch the key from Lisa. Nonetheless, she has it replicated and returns to the door on her own, and finds the classroom is back; it had been hidden behind a phony set of bookshelves. She also sees a mysterious figure writing "The children are on Bus 23" on the chalkboard. Lisa is determined to solve the mystery of the hidden room.
Meanwhile, Bart
tries causing mayhem with the keys but accidentally does good deeds with them, and ends up with the key to the city. Marge and Maggie find a key for a wind-up toy train
called "The Pooter Toot Express", which makes farting
noises when it moves. The toy gets away from them and they chase it throughout the city. Homer
uses a key to get into the Duff Beer
brewery and goes joyriding in the Duff Blimp.
To get more information about Bus 23, Lisa and Bart ask Nelson
. Nelson explains Bus 23 was a bus full of children that was supposed to drive over a dangerous ice bridge but was never heard from again, as Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers covered up the loss of the children. Lisa tells Bart about the room, and the two ask Homer to fly them to the lake where the ice bridge would be. Lisa falls out of the blimp and into the water, where she sees the submerged Bus 23. However, all the "children" inside it are actually mannequins. Lisa is saved by "The Pooter Toot Express", which knocks over a tree she can grab onto. The mysterious figure is revealed to be Otto
, who is relieved to discover he is not responsible for the death of the children, as he was the driver of Bus 23.
Chalmers and Skinner try to flee to Bolivia
, but are stopped by Bart, who has Skinner's car key. They are forced to explain everything: the school received a lot of money for the purpose of improving its classrooms, but when Skinner cashed it, the money got destroyed in his laundry by his mother. With the help of Groundskeeper Willie
, they made a fake classroom and photographed everything to fool the government, and rented mannequins to pose as students. They put the mannequins on Bus 23 to have Otto return them before having to be charged from the extra day, but the ice bridge gave out and the bus went into the lake. Chalmers and Skinner apologize to Otto for letting him believe he killed a busload of students, and all is forgiven. No further mention of the rental money is made.
The epilogue ends with Otto driving his bus across an icy bridge, believing that his complement is full of mannequins, when he is actually transporting real children. As his bus is close to tipping off the bridge, he comments that perhaps they will fall off slowly like in Inception
; he is wrong and his bus falls into the river.
as Hank Scorpio, a one-time character from the eighth season
episode, "You Only Move Twice
". The chalkboard gag was written to correct the error from the previous episode "Homer Scissorhands
" where guest star Kristen Schaal
's surname was spelled incorrectly as "Schall" in the credits. Schaal eventually thanked the producers for the name correction through Twitter
. The blackboard gag "It's 'Schaal', not 'Schall'" was only seen in the televised version; the version that was streamed on Hulu.com used the blackboard gag, "Guinea pigs should not be used as guinea pigs
."
". Lisa seeks help to solve the mystery from sleuths Nancy Drew
, The Hardy Boys
, and Encyclopedia Brown
. Homer's previous job keys included "Mr. Plow
", "Homer the Smithers
", "Bounty Hunter
", and "NASA Space Shuttle
".
".
The A.V. Club
writer Rowan Kaiser commented that while the episode was "amusing" it "never comes near great stuff" and also called the episode "disposable". He ultimately gave the episode a B.
The Simpsons (season 22)
The Simpsons twenty-second season began airing on Fox on September 26, 2010 and ended on May 22, 2011. The Simpsons was renewed for at least two additional seasons during the twentieth season leading up to this season. The cast is currently signed through the 25th season. On November 11, 2010, the...
of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 15, 2011. It was written by John Frink and directed by Bob Anderson.
Plot
After returning from a vendor that sells returned wedding cakes, MaggieMaggie Simpson
Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James...
gets locked in the car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
with the key inside. While searching for the spare keys (which soon proves unnecessary, as Maggie is able to free herself), the Simpsons
Simpson family
The Simpson family is a family of fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Homer and Marge and their three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town...
discover a collection of keys to every door in Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
. Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
uses a key to discover a hidden classroom full of props
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
underneath the school. She is very intrigued about the discovery, so she shares it with Principal Skinner
Seymour Skinner
Principal W. Seymour Skinner is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Born in Capitol City, he is the principal of Springfield Elementary School...
, but when she brings along the school newspaper, they only find what is supposed to be behind the door, the "Banned Band Books". Later, it becomes apparent that Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers are hiding something when they snatch the key from Lisa. Nonetheless, she has it replicated and returns to the door on her own, and finds the classroom is back; it had been hidden behind a phony set of bookshelves. She also sees a mysterious figure writing "The children are on Bus 23" on the chalkboard. Lisa is determined to solve the mystery of the hidden room.
Meanwhile, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
tries causing mayhem with the keys but accidentally does good deeds with them, and ends up with the key to the city. Marge and Maggie find a key for a wind-up toy train
Toy train
A toy train is a toy that represents a train. It is distinguished from a model train by an emphasis on low cost and durability, rather than scale modeling. A toy train can be as simple as a pull toy that does not even run on track, or it might be operated by clockwork or a battery...
called "The Pooter Toot Express", which makes farting
Flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
noises when it moves. The toy gets away from them and they chase it throughout the city. Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
uses a key to get into the Duff Beer
Duff Beer
Daleside is an independent brewery founded in 1988 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England.-Products:Daleside produce a wide range of beers, including Morocco Ale, a traditional spiced beer based on an Elizabethan recipe; Old Legover, a low abv Old Ale ; Monkey Wrench, a stronger Old Ale; Ripon...
brewery and goes joyriding in the Duff Blimp.
To get more information about Bus 23, Lisa and Bart ask Nelson
Nelson Muntz
Nelson Mandela Muntz is a fictional character and bully from the animated TV series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Nelson was introduced in Season 1's "Bart the General" as a bully but later turned into a friend of Bart Simpson, who is best identified by his signature laugh .-Role...
. Nelson explains Bus 23 was a bus full of children that was supposed to drive over a dangerous ice bridge but was never heard from again, as Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers covered up the loss of the children. Lisa tells Bart about the room, and the two ask Homer to fly them to the lake where the ice bridge would be. Lisa falls out of the blimp and into the water, where she sees the submerged Bus 23. However, all the "children" inside it are actually mannequins. Lisa is saved by "The Pooter Toot Express", which knocks over a tree she can grab onto. The mysterious figure is revealed to be Otto
Otto Mann
Otto Mann is a fictional character on the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the school bus driver for Springfield Elementary School...
, who is relieved to discover he is not responsible for the death of the children, as he was the driver of Bus 23.
Chalmers and Skinner try to flee to Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, but are stopped by Bart, who has Skinner's car key. They are forced to explain everything: the school received a lot of money for the purpose of improving its classrooms, but when Skinner cashed it, the money got destroyed in his laundry by his mother. With the help of Groundskeeper Willie
Groundskeeper Willie
William McDougal, usually referred to as Groundskeeper Willie, is a recurring character on The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He is head groundskeeper at Springfield Elementary School. Willie is a Scottish immigrant, almost feral in nature and immensely proud of his homeland...
, they made a fake classroom and photographed everything to fool the government, and rented mannequins to pose as students. They put the mannequins on Bus 23 to have Otto return them before having to be charged from the extra day, but the ice bridge gave out and the bus went into the lake. Chalmers and Skinner apologize to Otto for letting him believe he killed a busload of students, and all is forgiven. No further mention of the rental money is made.
The epilogue ends with Otto driving his bus across an icy bridge, believing that his complement is full of mannequins, when he is actually transporting real children. As his bus is close to tipping off the bridge, he comments that perhaps they will fall off slowly like in Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
; he is wrong and his bus falls into the river.
Production
The episode features a cameo from Albert BrooksAlbert Brooks
Albert Lawrence Brooks is an American actor, voice actor, writer, comedian and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News...
as Hank Scorpio, a one-time character from the eighth season
The Simpsons (season 8)
The Simpsons eighth season originally aired between October 27, 1996 and May 18, 1997, beginning with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The show runners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
episode, "You Only Move Twice
You Only Move Twice
"You Only Move Twice" is the second episode of The Simpsons eighth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 3, 1996. The episode, based on a story idea by Greg Daniels, has three major concepts: the family moves to a new town; Homer gets a friendly, sympathetic...
". The chalkboard gag was written to correct the error from the previous episode "Homer Scissorhands
Homer Scissorhands
"Homer Scissorhands" is the twentieth episode of the 22nd season of The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 8, 2011. Kristen Schaal guest stars in the episode as Taffy. This major episode sees Milhouse dating Taffy after Lisa rejected his romantic confession...
" where guest star Kristen Schaal
Kristen Schaal
Kristen Schaal is an American actress, writer and comedienne, best known for her role as Mel in the HBO series Flight of the Conchords, as Louise in Bob's Burgers and as a contributor on The Daily Show.-Early life:...
's surname was spelled incorrectly as "Schall" in the credits. Schaal eventually thanked the producers for the name correction through Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. The blackboard gag "It's 'Schaal', not 'Schall'" was only seen in the televised version; the version that was streamed on Hulu.com used the blackboard gag, "Guinea pigs should not be used as guinea pigs
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
."
Cultural references
Lisa finding the hidden room and it being just a bookcase when she shows everyone is possibly a reference to the 1966 film "The Ghost and Mr. ChickenThe Ghost and Mr. Chicken
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is a 1966 American Universal Pictures feature film starring Don Knotts as Luther Heggs, a newspaper typesetter who spends a night in a haunted house, which is located in the fictitious community of Rachel, Kansas...
". Lisa seeks help to solve the mystery from sleuths Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is a fictional young amateur detective in various mystery series for all ages. She was created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate book packaging firm. The character first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published...
, The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional teenage brothers and amateur detectives who appear in various mystery series for children and teens....
, and Encyclopedia Brown
Encyclopedia Brown
Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown is the main character in a long series of children's novels written by Donald J. Sobol since 1963.-Style:...
. Homer's previous job keys included "Mr. Plow
Mr. Plow
"Mr. Plow" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons fourth season, which originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 19, 1992. In the episode, Homer buys a snow plow and starts a business plowing driveways. It is a huge success, and inspired by this, Barney Gumble starts a...
", "Homer the Smithers
Homer the Smithers
"Homer the Smithers" is the 17th episode of The Simpsons seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 25, 1996. In this episode, Smithers takes a vacation and hires Homer to take over as Mr. Burns' assistant...
", "Bounty Hunter
Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes
"Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes" is the season premiere of The Simpsons’ twentieth season, and first aired September 28, 2008. After getting charged for being involved in a fight, Homer meets bail bondsman Lucky Jim and Wolf the Bounty Hunter, who convince Homer to become a bounty hunter. In a...
", and "NASA Space Shuttle
Deep Space Homer
"Deep Space Homer" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons fifth season and first aired on February 24, 1994. The episode was directed by Carlos Baeza and was the only episode of The Simpsons written by David Mirkin, who was also the executive producer at the time...
".
Reception
In its original American broadcast on May 15, 2011, "500 Keys" was viewed by an estimated 6 million households and received a 2.5 rating/7% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 2.5% of all 18–49 years olds, and 7% of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode stayed even in the rating from the previous episode, "Homer ScissorhandsHomer Scissorhands
"Homer Scissorhands" is the twentieth episode of the 22nd season of The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 8, 2011. Kristen Schaal guest stars in the episode as Taffy. This major episode sees Milhouse dating Taffy after Lisa rejected his romantic confession...
".
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
writer Rowan Kaiser commented that while the episode was "amusing" it "never comes near great stuff" and also called the episode "disposable". He ultimately gave the episode a B.