Bonfire of the Manatees
Encyclopedia
"Bonfire of the Manatees" is the first episode of The Simpsons
' seventeenth season
. It originally aired on September 11, 2005, making it the first Simpsons season premiere to air in September — since the eleventh season
opened with "Beyond Blunderdome
" on September 26, 1999. It is also the most recent episode accredited to Dan Greaney
; however, he returned in the season 21
episode "Judge Me Tender
", with Allen Glazier.
gets into trouble with the local mob over football
gambling
debts. As compensation, Fat Tony
wants to use the Simpson
home for shooting the adult film Lemony Lick-It's A Series of Horny Events, with the participation of Carl and Lenny. Homer gets Marge
and the kids to leave the house by sending them off to "Santa's Village". Marge and the kids return home to find the production is still underway. Marge, outraged by Homer's latest bit of idiocy, leaves. Homer, home alone with the kids, tries to figure out what to do next.
Just as Marge is about ready to reconcile with Homer (though she flatly expresses that she is not interested in his gift of Kwik-E-Mart
chocolate
s, half of which have test marks), she encounters Dr. Caleb Thorn, a good-looking scientist with a passion for saving the endangered manatee
. Homer and the kids go on a quest to find Marge and they stop and stay with their "country cousins" (their dog
is Santa's Little Helper
's brother). Meanwhile, Marge is finding herself while helping to save manatees, while there Caleb helps Marge realise that Homer is still the man she fell in love with and the problem is that she still expects him to change.
Homer decides to win Marge back by saving a herd of manatees from a gang of abusing jet skiers. The gang initially agreed to go, but return after they hearing Homer calling them 'rubes'. He attempts to organize the manatees to battle the gang, but they all flee. However, the gang is dispersed when Homer's country cousin shows up with a notarized court order to have all jet skiers vacate the waters at once. Despite Homer's failure, Marge is impressed by his efforts to save the manatees and declares she is taking home "the real endangered species": "a devoted husband". The family decides to take a mini-vacation and Homer gets a manatee
sent to the power plant to fill in for his job for the next few days. When the manatee is about to die of dehydration
, Mr. Burns
and Smithers
help him by washing him like a car, which the manatee actually enjoys.
. Al Jean
suggested the idea of the family rescuing manatees, and while it was rejected for the film, it was adapted into the script for the episode.
named Alec Baldwin
's role as Caleb Thorn as the first of 16 great guest stars on The Simpsons.
The episode had 11.1 million viewers and was the most watched show on FOX that night in front of Family Guy
(9.72 million).
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...
The Simpsons (season 17)
The Simpsons' seventeenth season originally aired between September 2005 and May 2006, beginning on Sunday, September 11, 2005. It broke Fox's tradition of pushing its shows' season premieres back to November to accommodate the Major League Baseball games airing on the network during September...
. It originally aired on September 11, 2005, making it the first Simpsons season premiere to air in September — since the eleventh season
The Simpsons (season 11)
The Simpsons 11th season originally aired between September 1999 and May 2000, beginning on Sunday, September 26, 1999, with "Beyond Blunderdome". The show runner for the 11th production season was Mike Scully...
opened with "Beyond Blunderdome
Beyond Blunderdome
"Beyond Blunderdome" is the 11th season premiere of The Simpsons, and the last episode produced for the tenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 26, 1999. Homer test drives an electric car because it will get him a gift. The gift is that Homer and Marge get...
" on September 26, 1999. It is also the most recent episode accredited to Dan Greaney
Dan Greaney
Daniel "Dan" Greaney is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons. He was hired during the show's seventh season after writing the first draft of the episode "King-Size Homer", but left after season eleven...
; however, he returned in the season 21
The Simpsons (season 21)
The Simpsons twenty-first season aired on Fox from September 27, 2009 to May 23, 2010. It was the first of two seasons that the show was renewed for by Fox, and also the first season of the show to air entirely in high definition....
episode "Judge Me Tender
Judge Me Tender
"Judge Me Tender" is the twenty-third episode and season finale of The Simpsons twenty-first season. It is the 464th episode for the series and originally premiered in the United States on May 23, 2010, on Fox Broadcasting Company. In the episode, Moe discovers his talent for judging in...
", with Allen Glazier.
Plot
HomerHomer 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...
gets into trouble with the local mob over football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
debts. As compensation, Fat Tony
Fat Tony
Marion Anthony "Fat Tony" D'Amico is a recurring character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Joe Mantegna and first appeared in the third season episode "Bart the Murderer"...
wants to use the Simpson
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...
home for shooting the adult film Lemony Lick-It's A Series of Horny Events, with the participation of Carl and Lenny. Homer gets Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and the kids to leave the house by sending them off to "Santa's Village". Marge and the kids return home to find the production is still underway. Marge, outraged by Homer's latest bit of idiocy, leaves. Homer, home alone with the kids, tries to figure out what to do next.
Just as Marge is about ready to reconcile with Homer (though she flatly expresses that she is not interested in his gift of Kwik-E-Mart
Kwik-E-Mart
The Kwik-E-Mart is a fictional chain of convenience stores in the animated television series The Simpsons. It is a parody of American convenience store chains, such as 7-Eleven and Circle K, and represents many myths and stereotypes of them. It is notorious for its high prices and the poor quality...
chocolate
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
s, half of which have test marks), she encounters Dr. Caleb Thorn, a good-looking scientist with a passion for saving the endangered manatee
Manatee
Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows...
. Homer and the kids go on a quest to find Marge and they stop and stay with their "country cousins" (their dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
is Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons...
's brother). Meanwhile, Marge is finding herself while helping to save manatees, while there Caleb helps Marge realise that Homer is still the man she fell in love with and the problem is that she still expects him to change.
Homer decides to win Marge back by saving a herd of manatees from a gang of abusing jet skiers. The gang initially agreed to go, but return after they hearing Homer calling them 'rubes'. He attempts to organize the manatees to battle the gang, but they all flee. However, the gang is dispersed when Homer's country cousin shows up with a notarized court order to have all jet skiers vacate the waters at once. Despite Homer's failure, Marge is impressed by his efforts to save the manatees and declares she is taking home "the real endangered species": "a devoted husband". The family decides to take a mini-vacation and Homer gets a manatee
Manatee
Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows...
sent to the power plant to fill in for his job for the next few days. When the manatee is about to die of dehydration
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
, Mr. Burns
Montgomery Burns
Charles Montgomery "Monty" Burns, usually referred to as Mr. Burns, is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer and previously Christopher Collins. Burns is the evil owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and is Homer...
and Smithers
Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers, Jr., usually referred to as Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. Smithers first appeared in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", although he could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open...
help him by washing him like a car, which the manatee actually enjoys.
Production
The idea for the episode was pitched in 2003 during the writers' idea sessions for The Simpsons MovieThe Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...
. Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
suggested the idea of the family rescuing manatees, and while it was rejected for the film, it was adapted into the script for the episode.
Reception
On May 11, 2008, Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
named Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
's role as Caleb Thorn as the first of 16 great guest stars on The Simpsons.
The episode had 11.1 million viewers and was the most watched show on FOX that night in front of Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
(9.72 million).