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"Kamp Krusty" is the first episode of The Simpsons' fourth season, which originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1992.[2] During summer vacation, the children of Springfield attend Kamp Krusty, a summer camp run by Krusty the Clown. The camp turns out to be worse than hell, leading to the campers rebelling against the camp director. The episode was written by David M. Stern and directed by Mark Kirkland.[3]
[edit] PlotAfter waking up from a dream about destroying Springfield Elementary School, Bart joins Lisa at the breakfast table, where they excitedly discuss spending the summer at Kamp Krusty, a summer camp run by Krusty the Clown. But Homer has made Bart's visit conditional on him getting at least a C average on his report card. At school, Bart receives a D- in each subject from his teacher, Ms. Krabappel. On the bus ride home, he uses a marker to change each grade to an A+. Bart presents the card to his father, but Homer sees through the ruse and chides Bart for not faking plausible grades ("a D turns into a B so easily. You just got greedy.") But Homer decides to let Bart go to Kamp Krusty anyway because he doesn’t want Bart “hanging around” all summer. A week later, the children of Springfield all leave for Kamp Krusty. Once there, the camp's director, Mr. Black, announces that Krusty will not be coming to the camp for some time. The camp’s counselors are revealed to be Springfield's bullies, Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney. Kamp Krusty quickly turns out to be a nightmare. The cabins are falling apart, the lake is too dangerous to swim in, the kids are fed nothing but Krusty Brand Imitation Gruel (“Nine out of ten orphans can’t tell the difference”), and the "counselors" take them on death marches/hikes. The bullies run the camp with iron fists, forcing the campers to adhere to their improvised traditional camp activities, such as roasting pinecones instead of marshmallows. Meanwhile, Homer and Marge are having a wonderful summer together, with Homer even losing some weight and growing some new hair. Lisa sends a letter home, describing how the kids are forced to make fake Gucci wallets for export to Hong Kong, and how nature hikes have become brutal forced marches, but Marge and Homer think she is exaggerating, and that "she hates it now, but by the time we pick her up, she won't want to leave". Bart survives each day with the unwavering hope that Krusty will come, also repeating the phrase "Krusty's coming, Krusty's coming" and so on. Krusty himself, unaware of any of this, and after personally approving another batch of shoddy, dangerous merchandise, is enjoying himself at Wimbledon. In an attempt to keep the children complacent, Mr. Black announces to the campers that Krusty has finally come, but it's only local drunk Barney Gumble badly dressed as Krusty. Bart finally snaps; he leads the campers in rebellion, driving out Mr. Black and the bullies, and establishing Camp Bart. After news reporter Kent Brockman reports on the revolt Krusty arrives at the camp to apologize to the kids, saying that he was bribed to approve the camp; the stress of seeing the event on TV also causes Homer to lose the hair he grew and immediately regain all his lost weight. To make it up to the children, Krusty takes all the kids to "the happiest place on Earth" Tijuana, Mexico. The episode ends with a montage of the kids having an excellent time.[4][1] [edit] ProductionThe idea that the children should go to a camp run by Krusty was first suggested by David M. Stern. The animators were enthusiastic about making this episode because they had all gone to summer camps as children and thought it would be a fun episode to write for.[5] The writers also thought that "it would be fun if while the kids are gone Homer and Marge find that as the kids are miserable their marriage is better than ever."[6] The layout for Bart and Lisa's cabin was influenced by the director, Mark Kirkland, who as a child went to a Boy Scout camp that had exposed wires and other similar faults.[5] Kirkland was also sure that the character Mr. Black (pictured) was going to reappear later in the series, but he never did. Al Jean commented "I guess that the hydrofoil really got Mr. Black out of the show forever."[6] After he saw the completed episode, James L. Brooks called the writers and suggested that the Kamp Krusty script should be used for a The Simpsons film. However, the episode ran very short, and to make it barely fit the minimum time the Kamp Krusty song had to be lengthened by a number of verses. The episode was also chosen to be the first episode of the season, further complicating matters. As Jean told Brooks, "First of all, if we make it into the movie then we don't have a premiere, and second if we can't make 18 minutes out of this episode how are we supposed to make 80?"[7] This was also the last episode to be animated at Klasky Csupo.[5] [edit] Cultural referencesSome elements of the plot are borrowed from the Allan Sherman song Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh, a song about a kid who went to camp and hated it. The idea for the song sung by the children was from a 60s TV show called Camp Runamuck, which has a theme song that is similar to the Kamp Krusty song.[6][1] The scene where Lisa gives a bottle of whiskey to a man on horseback (payment for delivering a letter) is a reference to Meryl Streep's scene from the film The French Lieutenant's Woman.[8] Some aspects of the episode are references to the film/novel Lord of the Flies (a pig's head on a spear, kids using primitive weapons and wearing war paint and a burning effigy.)[5] The scene where Kearney beats a drum to make the campers work in the sweatshop is taken from the slave galley scene in the 1959 film Ben-Hur.[7] The episode ends with the song "South of the Border". According to the commentary, the song is not sung by Frank Sinatra but by another artist impersonating him.[6] The song played during Bart's dream at the beginning of the episode is "School's Out" by Alice Cooper. [edit] ReceptionWarren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, had mixed views about the episode. They said that it is "A bit baffling to non-Americans unfamiliar with the summer camp system. But top grade stuff nonetheless. Anyone who's worked as a counsellor in such a place can testify to this episode's authenticity."[1] The episode's reference to Ben-Hur was named the 31st greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film's Nathan Ditum.[9] [edit] References
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