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The PTA Disbands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The PTA Disbands" is the 21st episode of The Simpsons' sixth season. It originally aired on April 16, 1995.
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After a failed attempt at a school field trip, which appears to have caused the apparent abandonment and brutal beating as well as possible death of Üter, Edna Krabappel calls an emergency strike on behalf of the Teachers' Union of Springfield Elementary, to protest Principal Skinner's miserly spending on school supplies and activities.
The various student characters respond to the sudden turn of events in their own ways: Lisa becomes increasingly obsessive in her desire to be graded, Milhouse is forced by his parents to take private tutoring lessons, Jimbo Jones finds himself immersed in the intricacies of daytime soaps, and Bart revels in his newfound afternoon freedom. In particular, Bart does what he can to keep the union and Principal Skinner at odds with each other. The two sides are at an impasse, the union wanting a restoration of funding and Skinner maintaining that even with the spending reductions he has made, government budget cuts have squeezed the school dry.
After some prompting from an exasperated Marge Simpson, the parents of Springfield eventually decide to take matters into their own hands, and recruit volunteers from the community to take over as temporary teachers. This turns out to be even worse for the students than before the strike, especially as Marge becomes Bart's new teacher. Due to her excessive mothering, Bart grudgingly resolves to force the strike negotiations forward. Together with Milhouse, he tricks both Ms. Krabappel and Principal Skinner into entering Skinner's office, which he then locks behind them. After spending several hours trapped together "like prisoners" in their own school, the two are mutually inspired with an idea to create extra revenue for more school spending. Things return to normal with the old teachers in charge, however with the school cloakrooms having been rented to the Springfield Prison. Each classroom now features several full prison cells at the back, which have the added benefit of keeping the more troublesome students in line (although it is clear from the last line that Bart intends to help free Snake Jailbird, who is in the cell directly behind Bart's desk).
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- While at Fort Springfield, the woman speaking to a crowd points to a cannon which is aimed at a guard tower with a man in it. As she explains how delicate the cannon is and that a small jolt could set it off, the school bus hits the cannon, the guard tower is empty and the guard is not shown fleeing.
- The sign on the Shelbyville bus that says Veritas et Scientia is Latin for Truthfulness and Knowledge
- When Lisa screams she's losing her perspicacity the word means she's losing her "Acuteness of mental perception and understanding"
- Despite the title of the episode, at no point does the PTA actually disband. The title was suggested by David Mirkin and was intended to poke fun at the episode writer, Jennifer Crittenden, who thought the most exciting part of the teachers going on strike would be that the PTA might disband.[1] In addition to this, Mirkin added a character to the episode who, on thinking the PTA has disbanded, jumps panicking out of a window. He jumps back in the same window when Ned tells him the PTA has not disbanded.
- Despite the fact that Homer says that striking is not the answer to the teacher's problems, he and the rest of the Power Plant went on strike in the previous episode "Last Exit to Springfield".
- With school cancelled, Lisa ends up channeling all her intelligence into side projects, such as creating a perpetual motion device, a pendulum that Homer says, "just keeps going faster and faster." He eventually makes her destroy the device after berating her that "In this house we will obey the laws of thermodynamics!"
- Üter's death is referenced in "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?" when his parents show up questioning their son's disappearance. (Nevertheless, he manages to make several appearances between these two episodes.)
- As in many episodes, Snake's prisoner id number is "7F20", the production code for the episode in which he first appeared.
- This is one of four episodes in which Vassar College is mentioned.
- The scene in which Uter is left behind at the end of the field trip is based on the death of Rafer Janders, a character played by Richard Harris in the 1978 film The Wild Geese.
- The character at the bank who tells the angry crowd that their money's in "Bill's house, and Fred's house" is based on James Stewart's George Bailey character from It's a Wonderful Life.
- The "that's a paddlin'…" speech by Jasper is a spoof of the "that's a night in the box" speech from Cool Hand Luke.
- The phrase "purple monkey dishwasher" is uttered by Edna Krabappel, after a message originating with Bart is passed down a line of people. The nonsensical nature of the comment is similar to the end product of a game of "Chinese Whispers" (known to US "baby boomers" and later generations as "telephone"), where a story or phrase passed sequentially from one member of a group to another is often grossly distorted once it reaches the intended recipient. The remark itself has achieved a notable amount of pop culture recognition as an inside joke between Simpsons fans. A Purple Monkey Dishwasher zine (Modbury North, S.A. : Purple Monkey Dishwasher, 1996-1999) was even published for a short time.
- ^ David Mirkin (2005), DVD director's commentary for the episode "The PTA Disbands!"
- "The PTA Disbands" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive