Lisa's Pony

"Lisa's Pony"
The Simpsons episode
File:Simpsons 8F06.png
Episode no.	Season 3
Directed by	Carlos Baeza
Written by	Al Jean & Mike Reiss
Original air dates	November 7, 1991
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"'Bart Bucks' are not legal tender."
Couch gag	Homer gets there first and lies down. The rest of the family arrive and sit on him. Homer flails his arms.

"Lisa's Pony" is the eight episode of the The Simpsons' third season. The episode aired on November 7, 1991.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler Lisa requires a reed for her saxophone because there is a talent show that evening. After calling Marge, Flanders, Patty and Selma and "the nice man who caught the snake in our basement", she finally calls Homer at work. Homer agrees but goes into Moe's before the music shop, which is right next door. The shop closes in 5 minutes. Homer, thinking he has enough time to drink the beer, enters Moe's. He walks out with 15 seconds to spare but is too late as the shop is closed. Dejected, he goes back to Moe's where the shop owner is enjoying a drink. Moe helps Homer convince the man to re-open his store. Homer, who barely remembers what he is suppose to pick up for Lisa, purchases the reed and heads for the school. He arrives just in time to hear Lisa humiliate herself by butchering the song she chose to play.

To make Lisa love him again, Homer takes out a shifty loan from Burns. He purchases a pony for Lisa. In order to pay for all the care it requires, Homer takes a second job working for Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart. Homer becomes exhausted after trying to work both jobs. Finally, Marge admits to the kids that their father has been working two jobs to pay for the pony. Making a heart-wrenching decision, Lisa agrees to give up the pony, allowing Homer to go back to solely working his regular job.

Trivia

• Apu can be seen sleeping with Princess Kashmir (the bachelor party stripper from Homer's Night Out).
• Ralph Wiggum appears in his post season 1 look (as he looks for the rest of the series in other words), however he speaks with his old voice which is highly reminicent of Nelson Muntz. Avid viewers may find this quite humorous as this deeper, more boyish voice is a stark contrast to the high pitched tone which became the characters' standard voice after this point.
• The woman at the horse stables is obviously modeled after Katharine Hepburn.

Cultural References

• The song playing when Homer falls asleep in his car is Golden Slumbers from The Beatles' Abbey Road album.
• The scene in which Lisa first awakes with the Pony in her bed is an homage to the scene in Part 1 of The Godfather, in which a movie producer awakens to discover the head of his favourite horse removed and placed in his bed. The musical chords used in the episode are the same, but shortened.

Quotes

• Marge: You sound like you're going to buy a pony. Promise me you won't.
  Homer: Mmm.
  Marge: What was that? Was that a yes or a no?
  Homer: Buh.
  Marge: Those aren't even words!
  Homer: Snuh.
  Marge growls and shuts the light off. Homer grins.
• Homer: Well, you know, we're always buying Maggie vaccinations for diseases she doesn't even have.
  
• Lisa: All the years I have lobbied to be treated like an adult have blown up in my face."
  
• Lisa: There is a big dumb animal I love even more than that horse.
  Homer: Oh no! What is it - a hippopotamus?
  Lisa: Noooo... I mean you, you big dummy.

• Homer: By day the pony will roam free around the streets and by night, he'll nestle snugly between the cars in the garage.
  Lisa: Dad, no!
  Marge: That's illegal!
  Homer: That's for the courts to decide!

• Homer Simpson:(figuring out how to pay the stablewoman for a horse) Uh, I'll give you a check.(hands it to the stablewoman)

Stablewoman:Mr. Simpson,this check is dated January 1st,2054.
Homer Simpson:Is that bad?

External links

• Episode Capsule on "Simpsons Archive"