Das Bus

"Das Bus" is the fourteenth episode of Season 9.
==Synopsis==
Springfield Elementary's Model U.N. participants (including Bart and Lisa) wind up stranded on an island when their bus goes off a bridge. Meanwhile, Homer tries to start an Internet company — even though he has no business plan, no computer, and no knowledge of the Internet.
== Full Story ==
The Simpsons watch a movie that lasts the entire night (Marge does tell the kids to go to bed although the kids and Homer convince her to stay up a little later) and once it's over the kids have to go to school, while Homer calls in sick. That day the Springfield Elementary School Model United Nations Club is meeting before a field trip to the real UN. In preparation for their trip each member chose a country and then researched its accomplishments, culture and exports. While some are more prepared than others, some are just making fun of others or goofing around, this results in a fight until Principal Skinner puts a stop to it reminding the students this is supposed to be like the real UN. The next day the kids leave for their weekend field trip with the parents saying good bye. On the bus, Bart, Nelson, Ralph and Milhouse are playing a game by rolling fruit to the front. Bart rolls an apple, Nelson rolls an orange and Ralph unsuccessfully rolls a banana. The race is on with the others cheering, suddenly Milhouse rolls a grapefruit that gets stuck under the brakes. When Otto attempts to press down on the pedal, he squishes the fruit, and juice squirts into his face, causing his eyes to burn, loses control and drives the bus off a bridge into the water.
Otto leaves the kids behind in an attempt to swim for help but gets washed away by the current. It's later revealed Otto is picked up by Chinese fishermen. Otto is excited, thinking they will help him rescue the kids, but they actually plan to use him for slave labor below deck. Meanwhile, all the students manage to swim to a nearby tropical island. Soon an argument breaks out over whose fault it is that they are stranded on a deserted island. The twins blame Lisa for this mess since starting the club was her idea but Lisa said that Martin seconded the notion. Nelson says that they shouldn't blame each other as they all know this is all Milhouse's fault. Either Terri or Sherri agrees & tells Milhouse that him & his stupid grapefruit almost got them killed. As all the kids are yelling at each other, Bart blows on a large conch shell and tries to tell the gang that being stranded on an island is just like TV where life is easy and cocktails are plentiful, comparing it to The Swiss Family Robinson, only with more cursing. They imagine the island is like a home with houses, roads, lots of food and even monkeys who become their butlers. Bart ends the fantasy by saying the monkey butlers will tell them stories every night. Everyone is excited about this and gets to work. Reality soon sets in when the island is found to be largely barren and the kids lack survival skills. Without much food found on the island, terribly built shelters and no adult supervision, the group relys on snack food retrieved from the sunken bus by Bart. He uses Milhouse's inhaler as an oxygen tube and retrieves the cooler on the bus. Once the cooler is back on land, the kids stuff themselves but Lisa puts a stop to it by taking away the remaining snacks and putting it back in the cooler telling them they need to save some food to survive until they are rescued. They awaken the next morning to find the snacks all gone. Suspecting Milhouse because of his pot-belly, sleeping position and nacho cheese breath, the students put him on trial and he blames the loss on a mysterious island "monster".
During the trial held by the students, there is insufficient evidence to prove Milhouse ate all the food. Because of this, Bart, acting as judge, acquits Milhouse. The other students are not happy with this verdict especially since they think Bart only acquitted Milhouse because they are friends and act like savages, attempting to kill Milhouse. Lisa tries to stop the violence, but gets pushed by Nelson. Bart, angered by this, tells everyone to leave Lisa alone. The other students paint themselves with war paint and end up chasing Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse. After cornering the trio into a cave, Lisa manages to stop all this by reminding everyone why they were out here in the first place (Model U.N.). Suddenly a wild boar scares all the kids out of the cave it is revealed that the boar was Milhouse's "monster". They make it outside where they notice one of the boar's tusks has an empty bag of chips, revealing that it was the actual culprit who ate all the snacks. Nelson apologized to Milhouse for the misunderstanding mistake they made, Milhouse reveals that he only took "two sandwiches and a bag of Doritos" but left the rest of the food to the others. Lisa soon discovers that the boar has been living on slime from the rocks all over the island which means they have food again. The kids however kill the boar and eat it (except Lisa, who adheres to her vegetarianism and licks slime from a rock instead). The episode finishes with a comically obvious deus ex machina ending, narrated by James Earl Jones:
:So the children learned how to function as a society,
:and eventually they were rescued by, oh, let's say... Moe.
Back at home, Homer discovers that Ned Flanders has his own home-based Internet business, Flancrest Enterprises. Homer complains to Marge that everyone except the Simpson family are getting rich off the Internet, and he wants a piece of the action, despite knowing nothing about it. He launches his own dot-com company, Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net, which is later bought out by Bill Gates and his henchmen. Unfortunately, Gates' "buying out" procedure is having his goons destroy Homer's office and break all of his possessions, stating he didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks.
==Behind the Laughter==
===Cultural references===
Most of the episode's plot is loosely based on the 1954 book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, namely a group of kids trapped on an island. The title comes from the 1981 film Das Boot, although it would be "Der Bus" in German. When the kids are squabbling in the classroom, Principal Skinner restores order by banging his shoe on the desk, parodying the shoe-banging incident by Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev at the United Nations in 1960.
When escaping from the other kids, Bart, Lisa and Milhouse have to swing across a gap on a vine; Milhouse goes across first, but refuses to throw the vine back in a reference to the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), where the same thing happens to Indiana Jones. Ralph's painted face is similar to that of KISS member Peter Criss.
=== Production ===
A deleted scene had Homer buying anti-stress instruments. He uses them all and gets stressed. According to Mike Scully, this scene was regrettably deleted due to the episode being too long.
=== Reception ===
In a 2006 article in USA Today, "Das Bus" was highlighted among the six best episodes of The Simpsons season 9, along with others including "Trash of the Titans", "The Last Temptation of Krust", "The Cartridge Family", "Dumbbell Indemnity" and "The Joy of Sect".
== Citations ==
fr:Les Petits Sauvages
pl:Das Bus
pt:O ônibus
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