Old Yeller Belly
Encyclopedia
"Old Yeller Belly" is the nineteenth episode of the fourteenth season
of The Simpsons
. It aired on May 4, 2003.
and his friends in his treehouse try to eavesdrop
on Lisa
and her friends having a tea party, and the treehouse gets destroyed in the ensuing fight. After they rip up a railroad and then goof off with their spoils, Marge
gets the Amish
to build a new treehouse for Bart. However, because the Amish know little about electricity, Bart's treehouse catches fire, and Homer is trapped inside, unconscious. Homer calls for Santa's Little Helper
to save him, but Santa's Little Helper is too scared. Snowball II does, by clawing at Homer's chest until he wakes up.
Snowball II is worshipped as a hero by Springfield
. The local dog
park is even renamed the "Snowball II Municipal Cat
Park". Homer declares in an interview that "I have no dog!" and kicks Santa's Little Helper out of the house.
Tied up in the yard and thirsty, Santa's Little Helper drinks from a can of beer by balancing it on his nose. Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton takes a photo of it that appears on the front page of the newspaper. This gets the attention of Duff Beer
, who announce that Duffman will be replaced with Santa's Little Helper, as their new mascot, Suds McDuff.
Suds McDuff boosts sales of Duff Beer, and the family's fortunes explode, causing Homer to embrace Suds for his success. However, this prompts Santa's Little Helper's original sleazy owner and racing trainer (from "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
") to visit the Simpsons and prove that he owns the dog by showing the interview footage of Homer disowning Santa's Little Helper. He becomes Suds' new owner and takes the family's fortunes to himself, much to the Simspons' discomfort, including Homer, who then cries remorsefully for saying such a horrible thing on TV.
Figuring that if they can get Duffman to replace Suds as the Duff mascot, they can get their dog back, the Simpsons seek Duffman, who has become an ordinary man named Barry Duffman who helps the less fortunate (by teaching math at a local halfway house). The Simpsons ask him to help the family get Santa's Little Helper back at a Duff Beer-sponsored beach volleyball
event.
At the event, Homer pretends to be drowning, while he is actually floating on a keg of beer. Santa's Little Helper is too cowardly, as Homer predicted, to save him. However, when Duffman goes in to save Homer, a shark
attacks and Duffman refuses to go in, revealing himself to be a coward too. The shark attempts to bite Homer, but it gets drunk by biting the beer keg. The crowd at the beach likes the shark, and Duff Beer announces that the shark — named Duff McShark — will be their new mascot. Santa's Little Helper gladly returns to the Simpson family
.
The Simpsons (season 14)
The fourteenth season of the animated television series The Simpsons was originally broadcast on the Fox network in the United States between November 3, 2002 and May 18, 2003. The show runner for the fourteenth production season was Al Jean, who executive produced 21 of 22 episodes. The other...
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 aired on May 4, 2003.
Plot
BartBart 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...
and his friends in his treehouse try to eavesdrop
Eavesdropping
Eavesdropping is the act of secretly listening to the private conversation of others without their consent, as defined by Black's Law Dictionary...
on 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...
and her friends having a tea party, and the treehouse gets destroyed in the ensuing fight. After they rip up a railroad and then goof off with their spoils, 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...
gets the Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
to build a new treehouse for Bart. However, because the Amish know little about electricity, Bart's treehouse catches fire, and Homer is trapped inside, unconscious. Homer calls for 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...
to save him, but Santa's Little Helper is too scared. Snowball II does, by clawing at Homer's chest until he wakes up.
Snowball II is worshipped as a hero by 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...
. The local 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...
park is even renamed the "Snowball II Municipal Cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
Park". Homer declares in an interview that "I have no dog!" and kicks Santa's Little Helper out of the house.
Tied up in the yard and thirsty, Santa's Little Helper drinks from a can of beer by balancing it on his nose. Springfield Shopper reporter Dave Shutton takes a photo of it that appears on the front page of the newspaper. This gets the attention of Duff Beer
Duff Beer (The Simpsons)
Duff Beer is a fictional brand of beer in the animated series The Simpsons. It is Homer Simpson's beer of choice. It is a parody of stereotypical commercial beer: very cheaply priced, poor-quality, and advertised everywhere...
, who announce that Duffman will be replaced with Santa's Little Helper, as their new mascot, Suds McDuff.
Suds McDuff boosts sales of Duff Beer, and the family's fortunes explode, causing Homer to embrace Suds for his success. However, this prompts Santa's Little Helper's original sleazy owner and racing trainer (from "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", also known as "The Simpsons Christmas Special", is the first full-length episode of The Simpsons to air despite originally being the eighth episode produced for season one. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 17, 1989...
") to visit the Simpsons and prove that he owns the dog by showing the interview footage of Homer disowning Santa's Little Helper. He becomes Suds' new owner and takes the family's fortunes to himself, much to the Simspons' discomfort, including Homer, who then cries remorsefully for saying such a horrible thing on TV.
Figuring that if they can get Duffman to replace Suds as the Duff mascot, they can get their dog back, the Simpsons seek Duffman, who has become an ordinary man named Barry Duffman who helps the less fortunate (by teaching math at a local halfway house). The Simpsons ask him to help the family get Santa's Little Helper back at a Duff Beer-sponsored beach volleyball
Beach volleyball
Beach volleyball, or sand volleyball, is an Olympic team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court divided by a net.Like volleyball, the object of the game is to send the ball over the net in order to ground it on the opponent’s court, and to prevent the same effort by the opponent....
event.
At the event, Homer pretends to be drowning, while he is actually floating on a keg of beer. Santa's Little Helper is too cowardly, as Homer predicted, to save him. However, when Duffman goes in to save Homer, a shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
attacks and Duffman refuses to go in, revealing himself to be a coward too. The shark attempts to bite Homer, but it gets drunk by biting the beer keg. The crowd at the beach likes the shark, and Duff Beer announces that the shark — named Duff McShark — will be their new mascot. Santa's Little Helper gladly returns to the Simpson family
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...
.
Cultural references
- The title refers to the film Old YellerOld YellerOld Yeller is a 1956 children's novel by Fred Gipson, which received a Newbery Honor in 1957. It was illustrated by Carl Burger. The title is taken from the name of the big yellow dog who is the center of the book's story...
, and is also a play on YellowbellyCowardiceCowardice is the perceived failure to demonstrate sufficient mental robustness and courage in the face of a challenge. Under many military codes of justice, cowardice in the face of combat is a crime punishable by death...
. - The song Bart, MilhouseMilhouse Van HoutenMilhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
, MartinMartin PrinceMartin Prince, Jr. is a recurring character in the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by Russi Taylor. Martin is Bart Simpson's classmate, and is Lisa Simpson's rival in intelligence, as well as Nelson Muntz's favorite target for bullying...
, and NelsonNelson MuntzNelson 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...
sing in the treehouse is a parody of the hymn "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah (Lay My Burden Down)Glory, Glory, Hallelujah (Lay My Burden Down)"Glory, Glory" is an American spiritual song, which has been recorded by many artists in a variety of genres, including folk, country, blues, rock, and gospel.-Lyrics:Lyrically, the song has many variations but the best known version of the song "Glory, Glory" (also known as "When I Lay My Burden...
". - When Bart and Homer are stealing railroad ties, the train derails and barrel-spins above them, the style and music imitating the Car Acrobatic Team in the anime Speed RacerSpeed RacerSpeed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, which centered on automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shōnen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha...
. - The faulty electricity equipment starting the treehouse fire is a reference to The Towering InfernoThe Towering InfernoThe Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...
, where a power surge resulting from faulty electricity equipment starts a fire. The film itself was co-produced by 20th Century Fox20th Century FoxTwentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, which also produces The Simpsons. - On being criticized by Lisa for his incorrect blueprints, Homer asks her if Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
had to deal with people like her. - An ice sculptureIce sculptureIce sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative...
of Homer at the grand opening celebration is a parody of The ThinkerThe ThinkerThe Thinker is a bronze and marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin, whose first cast, of 1902, is now in the Musée Rodin in Paris; there are some twenty other original castings as well as various other versions, studies, and posthumous castings. It depicts a man in sober meditation battling with a...
sculpture by Auguste RodinAuguste RodinFrançois-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
. - Suds McDuff is a reference to Spuds MacKenzieSpuds MacKenzieSpuds MacKenzie was a fictional dog character created for use in an advertising campaign marketing Bud Light beer in the late 1980s. The dog first showed up in a Bud Light Super Bowl XXI ad in 1987...
. - When asked if he has always been a "cat person", Homer replies "Yusuf Islam will always be Cat Stevens to me." Homer also comments on his dislike of the BroadwayBroadway theatreBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production CatsCats (musical)Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
, saying "it sucks". - Luigi offers Snowball II lasagnaLasagnaLasagna is a wide and flat type of pasta and possibly one of the oldest shapes. As with most other pasta shapes, the word is generally used in its plural form lasagne in Italy and the U.K. Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions,...
, a reference to GarfieldGarfieldGarfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie...
("Have some lasagna, like the cat in the funny papers, who's notsa so funny"). - After Lisa questions why their dog has human girlfriends in an advertisement, Marge states that "people do crazy things in ads; like eat at Arby'sArby'sArby's is a fast food restaurant chain in the United States and Canada. Roark Capital Group owns 81.5% of the company, with Wendy's Company owning the other 18.5%. It is primarily known for selling roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. The Arby's menu also includes chicken sandwiches, appetizers,...
." - Suds McDuff appears on PyramidPyramid (game show)Pyramid is an American television game show which has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973 and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series...
. - When Rin Tin TinRin Tin TinRin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.-Origins:The first of the line Rin Tin...
bites Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, the latter exclaims, "He bit me right in the axis", a reference to the Axis powersAxis PowersThe Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
of World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. - Duffman is proclaimed a disgrace to the UnitardUnitardA unitard is a skin-tight one-piece garment with long legs and sometimes long sleeves. It differs from a leotard in that a leotard does not have long legs. The garment can be considered to be a combination of a leotard and tights...
. - Duffman hails Duff beer as being "beechwood aged," much like the claim of BudweiserBudweiser (Anheuser-Busch)Budweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
. - Marge accuses the new alleged owner of Santa's Little Helper of exploiting his pets worse than Bob GuccioneBob GuccioneBob Guccione was the founder and publisher of the adult magazine Penthouse. He resigned from his publisher position in November 2003.-Early life:...
, founder of PenthousePenthouse (magazine)Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
. - The headline "Ale of the Pup" alludes to the Tail o' the PupTail O' the PupTail o’ the Pup was an iconic Los Angeles, California hot dog stand actually shaped like a hot dog. Built in 1946, the small, walk-up stand has been noted as a prime example of “mimetic”-type novelty architecture...
, a famous restaurant shaped like a hot dog. - While Homer is on the DuffDuff BeerDaleside 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...
corporate airplane, he orders the pilot to "swing by old HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
and drop in on the OktoberfestOktoberfestOktoberfest, or Wiesn, is a 16–18 day beer festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year. The...
." In reality, Oktoberfest is held in MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. - When the shark has the keg of beer lodged in its jaws, it appears similar to the final scene of JawsJaws (film)Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
; Homer also asks “how that naked young lady made it out alive.”
External links
- "Old Yeller Belly" at The Simpsons.com