LEMON OF TROY

"'Lemon of Troy'" is the 24th episode of ''The Simpsons''' sixth season, which premiered on the Fox network on May 14, 1995.^[1] It was written by Brent Forrester and directed by Jim Reardon. It explores the town rivalry between the fictional communities of Springfield and Shelbyville. The title of the episode is a play on the name Helen of Troy from Greek mythology.

Contents

Plot

Trivia

Cultural references

Similarities and differences between Springfield and Shelbyville

References

External links

Plot

When Marge catches Bart vandalizing a town sidewalk, she lectures him on the importance of town pride. Afterwards, Bart realizes how wonderful it is living in Springfield. Consequently, however, Bart also becomes more upset with anti-Springfield sentiments coming from the neighboring town of Shelbyville. Grampa explains that this rivalry can be traced back to the establishment of the two towns. This occurred when the founders Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan discovered they had irreconcilable differences regarding their visions for a perfect town, Springfield favouring promotion of chastity and Shelbyville advocating incestuous marriages between cousins.
The next day, Springfield's lemon tree is stolen by children from Shelbyville. Taking his town pride to heart, Bart leads Milhouse, Nelson, Martin, Todd, and Database into Shelbyville. The group splits up and has a few misadventures. Bart goes undercover and infiltrates the kids of Shelbyville by disguising himself. However, he is unable to obtain any information. Eventually they track down the tree to an impound lot.
Back in Springfield Homer, using Flanders' RV, leads the adults to find the children. When the two groups meet, the children convince the adults to help recover the tree. Homer demands the return of the tree, while the owner of the impound lot refuses. Using a plan similar to the Trojan Horse, Bart steers the RV to the ouside of the hospital. The RV is taken to the impound lot after it is found parked outside the hospital. When night falls, the Springfieldians get out of the RV and tie it to the top. They are caught in the middle of this act but manage to escape. The tree, though slightly damaged during the raid, is returned to Springfield.
The children of Springfield celebrate with lemon juice, while those in Shelbyville drink turnip juice.

Trivia

★ According to the DVD episode commentary, Shelby's father, an analogue of Homer, was voiced by Hank Azaria, who based his performance on Walter Matthau. The voice of Homer, Dan Castellaneta, originally based his performance of Homer on Matthau as well.

★ When Bart finds the piece of paper telling him about door 7, it is on a wall. Yet when he picks it up, it is on door VIII (8).

★ In another example of life imitating The Simpsons, the Discovery Channel became the chief sponsor of a professional cycling team in 2005, creating Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team or "Team Discovery Channel".

★ The grass in Springfield and Shelbyville are shaded differently.

★ When Bart tries to fly away with spray paint, he sprays his feet green. Seconds later when he steals a skateboard, the paint disappears for a few seconds.

Cultural references

★ As well as the overall plot structure of the Troy legend, the episode makes several references to specific aspects of it. The method of recovery of the tree is an obvious echo of the Trojan Horse (a fact lost on Homer, who gleefully exclaims that "no one in history has ever done anything ''this'' clever"). In addition, Springfield residents attacking their neighbouring rivals after they steal their prize possession is an obvious reference to the legend, in which the incentive for the Greeks declaring war on their Trojan neighbors is the abduction of their most famous and beautiful woman citizen, Helen.

★ Bart identifies the number seven in Roman numerals by referring to a nonexistent sequel of the Rocky series, ''Rocky VII: Adrian's Revenge''

★ The scene with Bart and his team sitting on a hill above the enemy camp and looking down at the captured tree being circled by kids on bicycles bears a striking resemblance to an early scene in ''.

★ When Milhouse bonds with the Milhouse from Shelbyville, he sobs, "This is what it feels like when doves cry", a slightly paraphrased line from the 1984 Prince song "When Doves Cry".

★ The Springfield Lake catching on fire mirrors what happened to the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio in 1969.

★ Bart attempts to fly using aerosol cans to lift him in the air. This references the TV series ''My Secret Identity'' where the main character uses aerosol cans to levitate.

★ The RV rescue shares similarities with the 1981 Bill Murray comedy ''Stripes''.

Similarities and differences between Springfield and Shelbyville

★ Groundskeeper Willie, the groundskeeper at Springfield Elementary School, is a Scottish male, and the one at Shelbyville Elementary is a Scottish female.

★ The local bar in Shelbyville is Joe's (as opposed to Moe's)

★ The Shelbyvillians' preferred brand of beer is Fudd, which is almost "Duff" backwards. Fudd Beer was first mentioned in the episode, ''Colonel Homer'' when Homer drives off to the country western bar where Lurleen Lumpkin was employed.

★ The Speed-E-Mart is owned by a Korean man, as opposed to the Kwik-E-Mart, which is owned by Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (who is from India).

★ The leader of the gang of Shelbyville kids wears an orange shirt, like Bart, and his father wears a white shirt, like Homer (his hair also bears startling resemblance to that of Homer, before it fell out). His father also appears to have a stupid streak like Homer, as he takes a direct bite out of a lemon.

★ One of the gang members in Shelbyville is named Milhouse, and like the Springfield Milhouse, has blue hair.

References

1. , , Ray, Richmond, Harper Collins Publishers, 1997, ISBN 0-00063-8898-1

External links

★ "Lemon of Troy" at The Simpsons.com

★

★ "Lemon of Troy" at TV.com

★ "Lemon of Troy" at the Internet Movie Database