Saturdays of Thunder

"Saturdays of Thunder"
The Simpsons episode
File:Simpsons 8F07.png
Episode no.	Season 3
Directed by	Jim Reardon
Written by	Ken Levine David Isaacs
Original air dates	November 14, 1991
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"I will not fake rabies."
Couch gag	The couch cushions are missing, and the family fall through into the couch.

"Saturdays of Thunder" is the ninth episode of the The Simpsons' third season. The episode aired on November 14, 1991.

Synopsis

When the local soapbox derby is held in Springfield, Bart has his heart set on first prize. But the catch is that he must build his own Soap Box Racer. Faced with this dilemma, Homer offers to help his son by building him one as a surprise. Unfortunately, Homer's less than adapt building skills brings Bart a very shoddy, rickety piece of junk for a racer (named Li'l Lightnin'). This is especially so in comparison to Martin Prince's personally designed and built space shuttle-like racer, Honor Roller. Unable to gather the courage to tell his father that his racer is terrible, Bart initially attempts to use it in the preliminary match...where he and Martin form an alliance vowing that either must somehow beat bully Nelson Muntz and his very intimidating racer, the Roadkill 2000, armed with every dirty trick in the book.

When the race is underway, Bart can barely reach any kind of noticeable speed with Homer's racer, which eventually falls apart. Meanwhile, Martin's racer fairs quite well...perhaps too well as Martin has difficulty controlling it which eventually causes him to crash. After being injured, Martin finds that he can no longer race and opts for Bart and himself to combine forces by having Bart race Martin's racer. Bart seeing no other way to win agrees, which breaks Homer’s heart. When Bart later apologizes and desires Homer's best wishes, Homer selfishly denounces both Bart and Martin telling Bart to do whatever he wants. Dejected, Bart gets ready to race in the final match with Martin's newly tuned racer. As he does this, Homer thinks to himself about how selfish he's been, realizing that his son needs his support regardless of whose racer he's using and he rushes off to the race. At the starting line, Homer wishes Bart luck and tells him that no matter how the race ends he'll still be proud of him. The race is tough as Nelson pulls every dirty trick in his arsenal, but eventually through his skill Bart comes out on top and the "team" enjoy their victory.

Trivia

• Homer says the line "Thank you, Bill Cosby. You've saved the Simpsons!" Ironically, The Cosby Show, which aired opposite The Simpsons on Thursday nights at 8:00pm, would not last past this television season.

• The space shuttle-shaped soapbox, The Honor Roller reappears as one of Bart's default vehicles in The Simpsons Road Rage and The Simpsons Hit & Run.

Cultural References

• The title is a spoof of the film Days of Thunder.
• Homer reads and quotes Fatherhood by Bill Cosby.

Alternate versions

In the complete version of the episode (first aired on 3 April 1992, and is on the 3rd Season DVD set), there is a scene with Homer watching a videocassette, featuring the "Galloping Gazelle" scene. In the original broadcast, that scene was shortened to make room for Michael Jackson‘s music video for "Black & White".

External links

• Episode Capsule on "Simpsons Archive"