Stop or My Dog Will Shoot
Encyclopedia
"Stop or My Dog Will Shoot!" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons
' eighteenth season
and first aired May 13, 2007. When Santa's Little Helper rescues a lost Homer, he becomes a local hero and the Simpsons decide to enroll him in Police Dog Academy, where he is teamed with Lou and they become a crime-busting duo. Bart's excitement quickly vanishes after an incident with a jaded Santa's Little Helper, so to appease Bart's depression after the loss of his dog, Marge agrees to buy him a huge pet snake, which causes a life-threatening situation at Bart and Lisa's school. It was written by John Frink
and directed by Matthew Faughnan
. Friend of the show Stephen Hawking
makes his third guest appearance on the show as himself, while Maurice LaMarche
does the voice of the Horn Stuffer. Rudy Giuliani
makes a guest voice appearance as himself, although not in the original airing. The episode was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award
.
, excited about going to Oktoberfest
, is disappointed when he discovers that Marge
has tricked him and the kids into going to a Harvest Festival which allows no alcohol. While attempting to leave, Homer accidentally leads the family into a cornfield maze
. Lisa crafts an escape plan with Tremaux's Algorithm, a real life maze-solving method, but Homer is left behind.
Santa's Little Helper
is called upon by Bart
to find Homer. The dog manages to sniff out Homer and drag him out of the maze. Santa’s Little Helper becomes a hero and the Simpsons, persuaded by Chief Wiggum, enroll him in the Springfield Animal Police Academy, where he’s teamed with Lou, managing to help fight crime in Springfield.
Santa's Little Helper catches Snake Jailbird who is taken to court, but freed on a technicality. This makes Santa's Little Helper jaded, and when he returns home, he bites Bart. The Simpsons send the dog away to live with Lou. As a replacement, Marge buys Bart a huge pet python, which he names Strangles, Bart takes Strangles to show and tell
at school, where Strangles escapes into a school lab and unintentionally knocks over beakers of ethanol
and nitric acid
, mixing both substances and creating a toxic cloud.
Bart, being the only person still stranded in school trying to find Strangles, collapses from the smoke, (remarking "It smells like some chemicals cut one" ). Both Santa's Little Helper and Strangles arrive to save Bart, who chooses his faithful dog to save him. Santa's Little Helper goes back to living with the Simpsons. Groundskeeper Willie
adopts Strangles, and places him in the fire hose coil.
Rudy Giuliani
was originally announced in the official press release as appearing in this episode. As a result, several images of him recording his part as well as a promotional image of him in Simpsonized form, were released. However, his appearance was not included in the final version of the episode. According to executive producer James L. Brooks
in an interview with Charlie Rose
, the show was not allowed to use Giuliani's appearance because he had become a presidential candidate. Giuliani's absence marks the second time during the eighteenth season that a guest was announced in the official press release but did not appear in the final episode. For the episode "Homerazzi
", Harry Hamlin
and Peter Wolf
were announced as guest stars but neither appeared.
However, Giuliani's appearance is present in the syndicated version of the episode where he gives the commencement address at the police animal academy graduation ceremony. His speech to the trained animals includes a large amount of condescending "animal talk" such as talking about their fluffy tails and stomachs. He also said they should get a treat, prompting Homer to wish someone had said that on his graduation day.
describes the episode as "average", and was only a build up to next week's 400th episode. He does, however, say the episode had bright bits, including Stephen Hawking
's appearance. Adam Finley of TV Squad quotes the episode "fell flat halfway through the middle act, and all of the third". This episode was nominated for a WGA Award in 2007, but lost to "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II
", another episode this season.
flights.
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 18)
The Simpsons 18th season aired from September 10, 2006 to May 20, 2007. The season contained seven hold-over episodes from the season 17 production line. Al Jean served as the Showrunner, a position he has held since the thirteenth season....
and first aired May 13, 2007. When Santa's Little Helper rescues a lost Homer, he becomes a local hero and the Simpsons decide to enroll him in Police Dog Academy, where he is teamed with Lou and they become a crime-busting duo. Bart's excitement quickly vanishes after an incident with a jaded Santa's Little Helper, so to appease Bart's depression after the loss of his dog, Marge agrees to buy him a huge pet snake, which causes a life-threatening situation at Bart and Lisa's school. It was written by John Frink
John Frink
John Frink is an American television writer and producer. He has written several episodes of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, many of which he co-wrote with his former writing partner Don Payne. Frink and Payne started their career in television writing for the short-lived sitcom Hope...
and directed by Matthew Faughnan
Matthew Faughnan
Matthew Faughnan is an animation director with The Simpsons and has directed five episodes. Prior to that, he was an assistant director with the show and won an Emmy award in 2003 for "Three Gays of the Condo".-Season 18:Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!...
. Friend of the show Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
makes his third guest appearance on the show as himself, while Maurice LaMarche
Maurice LaMarche
Maurice LaMarche is an Emmy Award winning Canadian-American voice actor and former stand up comedian. He is best known for his voicework in Futurama as Kif Kroker, as Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters, Verminous Skumm and Duke Nukem in Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Big Bob Pataki in Hey...
does the voice of the Horn Stuffer. Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
makes a guest voice appearance as himself, although not in the original airing. The episode was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
.
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...
, excited about going to Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest, 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...
, is disappointed when he discovers that 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...
has tricked him and the kids into going to a Harvest Festival which allows no alcohol. While attempting to leave, Homer accidentally leads the family into a cornfield maze
Corn maze
A corn maze or maize maze is a maze cut out of a corn field. They have become popular tourist attractions in North America, and a way for farms to create tourist income. Many are based on artistic designs such as characters from movies. Corn mazes appear in many different designs. Some mazes are...
. Lisa crafts an escape plan with Tremaux's Algorithm, a real life maze-solving method, but Homer is left behind.
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...
is called upon by 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...
to find Homer. The dog manages to sniff out Homer and drag him out of the maze. Santa’s Little Helper becomes a hero and the Simpsons, persuaded by Chief Wiggum, enroll him in the Springfield Animal Police Academy, where he’s teamed with Lou, managing to help fight crime in Springfield.
Santa's Little Helper catches Snake Jailbird who is taken to court, but freed on a technicality. This makes Santa's Little Helper jaded, and when he returns home, he bites Bart. The Simpsons send the dog away to live with Lou. As a replacement, Marge buys Bart a huge pet python, which he names Strangles, Bart takes Strangles to show and tell
Show and tell (education)
Show and tell is the process of showing an audience something and telling them about it, predominantly in North America and also popular in Australia. It is usually done in a classroom as an early elementary school technique for teaching young children the skills of public speaking...
at school, where Strangles escapes into a school lab and unintentionally knocks over beakers of ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
and nitric acid
Nitric acid
Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
, mixing both substances and creating a toxic cloud.
Bart, being the only person still stranded in school trying to find Strangles, collapses from the smoke, (remarking "It smells like some chemicals cut one" ). Both Santa's Little Helper and Strangles arrive to save Bart, who chooses his faithful dog to save him. Santa's Little Helper goes back to living with the Simpsons. 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...
adopts Strangles, and places him in the fire hose coil.
Production
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
was originally announced in the official press release as appearing in this episode. As a result, several images of him recording his part as well as a promotional image of him in Simpsonized form, were released. However, his appearance was not included in the final version of the episode. According to executive producer James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...
in an interview with Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993...
, the show was not allowed to use Giuliani's appearance because he had become a presidential candidate. Giuliani's absence marks the second time during the eighteenth season that a guest was announced in the official press release but did not appear in the final episode. For the episode "Homerazzi
Homerazzi
"Homerazzi" is the sixteenth episode of the eighteenth season of The Simpsons, which was originally broadcast on March 25, 2007. It was written by J. Stewart Burns, directed by Matthew Nastuk, and guest starred J.K. Simmons as the tabloid editor, Betty White as Herself, and Jon Lovitz as Enrico...
", Harry Hamlin
Harry Hamlin
Harry Robinson Hamlin is an American film and television actor, known for his role as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film Clash of the Titans, and as Michael Kuzak in the legal drama series L.A...
and Peter Wolf
Peter Wolf
Peter Wolf is an American Rhythm and Blues, Soul and Rock and Roll musician, best known as the lead vocalist for the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983; and for a successful musical solo career to date with writing partner Will Jennings.- Life and career :Wolf was born in the Bronx, New York...
were announced as guest stars but neither appeared.
However, Giuliani's appearance is present in the syndicated version of the episode where he gives the commencement address at the police animal academy graduation ceremony. His speech to the trained animals includes a large amount of condescending "animal talk" such as talking about their fluffy tails and stomachs. He also said they should get a treat, prompting Homer to wish someone had said that on his graduation day.
Cultural references
- The title is a reference to Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
- In Bart's vision, Santa's Little Helper becomes a dog version of RoboCopRoboCopRoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
and shoots down a math book, Jason VoorheesJason VoorheesJason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. He first appeared in Friday the 13th , as the son of camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S...
and PinheadPinhead (Hellraiser)Pinhead is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series. Created by Clive Barker and portrayed by Doug Bradley, Pinhead is a prominent figure in the series, mostly featured as the main antagonist....
(from HellraiserHellraiserHellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...
). - The song played when Santa's Little Helper looks for Homer in the maze is KornKornKorn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
's "Freak on a LeashFreak on a Leash"Freak on a Leash" is a song by the American nu metal band Korn, featured on the group's 1998 studio album Follow the Leader. Prior to the album's release, Korn had an instrumental section of the song, described as a "noisy guitar break." The section was taken out of the song after their fans...
". - The song played when Martin presented his show & tell is The Great Gates of Kiev by MussorgskyMussorgskyMussorgsky can refer to:*The Mussorgsky family of Russian nobility;*Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer belonging to that family.*Mussorgsky , a 1950 Soviet film about the composer...
, from Pictures At An Exhibition. - The themes for Police Academy and Miami ViceMiami ViceMiami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
are heard. - The music playing over the scene where Santa's Little Helper, along with the other animals, are in training is from the 1975-1976 television series S.W.A.T.(by Rhythm Heritage).
- When showing an example of "violent imagery" to let off his stress, Chief Wiggum shows a sweater with a picture of Big BirdBig BirdBig Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
putting ElmoElmoElmo is a Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is a furry red monster and currently hosts the last full 15 minute segment on Sesame Street, Elmo's World, which is aimed at toddlers. His puppeteer, Kevin Clash, uses falsetto to produce his voice...
on a circular saw. - Clippy, the Microsoft WordMicrosoft WordMicrosoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
icon appears on the computer at school, when Strangles tries to eat it (it even says "You look like you're trying to eat me. Need some help?"). - Lou tells Santa's Little Helper that police worker isn't like it was in Air Bud V: The Long Arm of the Paw, a parody of Disney's Air Bud series.
- At the end, Groundskeeper Willie's last words to Strangles ("That'll do, snake. That'll do") parody the last words in the movie BabeBabe (film)Babe is a 1995 Australian-American film directed by Chris Noonan. It is an adaptation of the 1983 novel The Sheep-Pig, also known as Babe: The Gallant Pig in the United States, by Dick King-Smith and tells the story of a pig who wants to be a sheepdog...
. - The scene where Strangles knocks over the chemicals is reminiscent of a scene from the movie Frogs.
Reception
Robert Canning of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
describes the episode as "average", and was only a build up to next week's 400th episode. He does, however, say the episode had bright bits, including Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
's appearance. Adam Finley of TV Squad quotes the episode "fell flat halfway through the middle act, and all of the third". This episode was nominated for a WGA Award in 2007, but lost to "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II
Kill Gil, Volumes I & II
"Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons eighteenth season which originally aired on December 17, 2006. This episode won a Writers Guild of America Award for best animation. The title of this episode is a reference to Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2. This episode aired exactly 17 years...
", another episode this season.
Other Apperarances
During the spring season, this episode was shown on inbound Monarch AirlinesMonarch Airlines
Monarch Airlines, often shortened to and trading as Monarch, is a British charter and scheduled airline based at London Luton Airport in Luton. It is one of the United Kingdom's largest charter airlines, operating to Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, India and Africa, serving mainly leisure...
flights.