Bart of Darkness

"Bart of Darkness" is the first episode of The Simpsons 6th season. It was first broadcast on the Fox network on September 4, 1994. In the episode, Bart Simpson breaks his leg and must stay in his house. He starts spying on his neighbor Ned Flanders' house and starts to think he is a murderer. The episode was written by Dan McGrath and Jim Reardon is the director of the episode. It took more time to make the episode than normal because an earthquake hit while it was being made.

Story 

In a heat wave, Homer buys a swimming pool for his children Bart and Lisa. Many children from their neighborhood come to their house to go in their pool. Bart tries to jump in the pool from his tree house. Nelson makes him miss the jump and Bart breaks his leg from falling. He must wear a cast over the summer. 

The other children do not want to talk to Bart while he is in a cast. He makes himself stay in his room. He gets a telescope and uses it to spy on his neighbors. He hears a scream and sees Ned Flanders burying something. Bart starts to think he has murdered his wife Maude. While this happens, the swimming pool makes Lisa very popular. However, Martin Prince gets a bigger pool and gets all of the children to go to his pool.

Bart sees Ned tell his children Rod and Todd that Maude is "with God" and they will be with her soon. Bart thinks he will murder Rod and Todd too. Bart makes Lisa go to Ned's house while he is not there. Ned comes back and Lisa gets in his attic. Bart goes in Ned's house and sees him walking to the attic with an axe. Bart thinks he will hurt Lisa with it and tells him to stop. Ned sees Bart and Lisa and puts away his axe. When Bart tells Ned that he thinks he murdered Maude, Ned faints.

The Simpson family and the police learn that Maude was actually at a camp for Christians. They also learn that Ned was burying a plant that died because he gave it too much water. The police gets the plant and gets Ned to make the scream Bart heard before. Later, Martin's pool breaks because there were too many children in it.

Production 

"Bart of Darkness" was written by Dan McGrath and Jim Reardon is the director. The episode was suppose to be at the end of the 5th season. However, this and "Lisa's Rival" were being made during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The earthquake hurt the building that animators and producers used to work on episodes. They could not go in the building for three months and had to work in a different building. Producers were given more time to work on the episode. Jim Reardon said the more time helped him put more details in the episode, for example, Bart getting stuck in a chair and him wearing underwear instead of a swimsuit.

At the start of the episode, the town of Springfield is in a heat wave. Part of what the Simpson family does in the heat wave was similar to what the producers would do in a heat wave. McGrath used to go in front of freezers when he was a child. In the episode, there is a truck with a pool in it that goes to the Simpson family's neighborhood. David Mirkin used to have a truck with an amusement ride in it around his neighborhood as a child. Ned Flanders' scream was done by Tress MacNeille instead of his voice actor Harry Shearer. Krusty the Clown does not say Ravi Shankar's name right in the episode. This was not suppose to happen, but Mirkin liked it and wanted to keep it in the episode.

Reception 

Mike Duffy from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the episode shows that The Simpsons was "just as strong and funny as it ever was". Elaine Liner from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times called the episode's writing "crisp" and "hilarious". Liner liked the references to pop culture and enjoyed when it was shown that Maude was at a camp for Christians. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood (authors of I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide) thought it was hilarious to see how Ned Flanders was not actually a murderer. Tim Knight from Reel.com said it was a "terrific" episode to start the 6th season.

References

Other websites 

The Simpsons (season 6) episodes
1994 television episodes