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Encyclopedia > Marge vs. the Monorail
The Simpsons episode
"Marge vs. the Monorail"
Promotional artwork for "Marge vs. the Monorail".
Episode no. 71
Prod. code 9F10
Orig. airdate January 14, 1993[1]
Show runner(s) Al Jean & Mike Reiss
Written by Conan O'Brien[2]
Directed by Rich Moore[2]
Chalkboard "I will not eat things for money"[3]
Couch gag The show's entire cast joins the family in front of the couch.[2]
Guest star Phil Hartman as Lyle Lanley[2]
Leonard Nimoy as himself[1]
DVD
commentary		 Matt Groening
Al Jean
Mike Reiss
Rich Moore
David Silverman
Conan O'Brien (Easter Egg)
Season 4
September 24, 1992 – May 13, 1993
  1. Kamp Krusty
  2. A Streetcar Named Marge
  3. Homer the Heretic
  4. Lisa the Beauty Queen
  5. Treehouse of Horror III
  6. Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
  7. Marge Gets a Job
  8. New Kid on the Block
  9. Mr. Plow
  10. Lisa's First Word
  11. Homer's Triple Bypass
  12. Marge vs. the Monorail
  13. Selma's Choice
  14. Brother from the Same Planet
  15. I Love Lisa
  16. Duffless
  17. Last Exit to Springfield
  18. So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show
  19. The Front
  20. Whacking Day
  21. Marge in Chains
  22. Krusty Gets Kancelled
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"Marge vs. the Monorail" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons' fourth season and originally aired on January 14, 1993. The plot focuses around the town of Springfield buying a monorail from a conman and Marge's dislike of the purchase. It was written by Conan O'Brien and directed by Rich Moore. Leonard Nimoy guest stars as himself and Phil Hartman guest stars as Lyle Lanley. Simpsons redirects here. ... Image File history File links 9f10. ... January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Al Jean is a TV comedy writer most known for his work on The Simpsons. ... Mike Reiss is an American TV comedy writer. ... The Simpsons writing staff in season 13, including current show runner Al Jean (fourth from left in middle row) and previous show runners Mike Scully (first from left in back row), David Mirkin (sixth from left in back row), and Mike Reiss (fourth from left in back row). ... Conan Christopher OBrien (born April 18, 1963)[2] is an Emmy-winning American television personality best known as host of NBCs late-night talk/variety show Late Night with Conan OBrien. ... The three people are caricatures of (left to right) Rich Moore, Wes Archer and David Silverman[1] The following is a list of directors who have worked on the Fox animated television series The Simpsons. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... Bart writes The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with Hail Satan The chalkboard gag is a running visual joke that occurs during the opening credits of many episodes of The Simpsons. ... The couch gag is a running visual joke in the opening credits of the animated television series The Simpsons. ... (left to right) Elvis Costello, Tom Petty, Keith Richards, Homer, Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz and Brian Setzer guest starred in the heavily promoted season 14 episode How I Spent My Strummer Vacation. This is a list of guest stars who appeared on The Simpsons. ... Phil Hartman (born as Philip Edward Hartmann) (September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was an Emmy-winning Canadian/American graphic artist, writer, actor, voice artist, and comedian. ... Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. ... The Simpsons DVD season boxsets have been released since 2001 in different regions all over the world. ... Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954[2] in Portland, Oregon;[3] his family name is pronounced ) is an Emmy Award-winning American cartoonist and the creator of The Simpsons,[4] Futurama and the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. ... Al Jean is a TV comedy writer most known for his work on The Simpsons. ... Mike Reiss is an American TV comedy writer. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... David Silverman (b. ... Conan Christopher OBrien (born April 18, 1963)[2] is an Emmy-winning American television personality best known as host of NBCs late-night talk/variety show Late Night with Conan OBrien. ... The Simpsons Season 4 DVD. The Simpsons 4th season (September 1992 - May 1993) began on September 24, 1992. ... September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (134th in leap years). ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Kamp Krusty is the first episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... A Streetcar Named Marge is the second episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Homer the Heretic is the third episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Lisa the Beauty Queen is the 4th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Treehouse of Horror III is the fifth episode of The Simpsons fourth season, and the third Simpsons Halloween episode. ... Marge Gets a Job is the 7th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... New Kid on the Block is the 8th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Mr. ... Lisas First Word is the 10th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Homers Triple Bypass is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Selmas Choice is the 13th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Brother from the Same Planet is an episode of The Simpsons from the fourth season. ... I Love Lisa is an episode from the fourth season of The Simpsons, in which the dim-witted and socially-awkward Ralph Wiggum plays a prominent role. ... Duffless is the 16th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Last Exit to Springfield is the 17th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... The Front is the 19th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Richard Nixon on Whacking Day Whacking Day is the 20th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Marge in Chains is the 21st episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... Krusty Gets Kancelled is the final episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... The following is an episode list for the Fox animated television series The Simpsons. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... The Simpsons Season 4 DVD. The Simpsons 4th season (September 1992 - May 1993) began on September 24, 1992. ... January 14 is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Conan Christopher OBrien (born April 18, 1963)[2] is an Emmy-winning American television personality best known as host of NBCs late-night talk/variety show Late Night with Conan OBrien. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. ... Phil Hartman (born as Philip Edward Hartmann) (September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998) was an Emmy-winning Canadian/American graphic artist, writer, actor, voice artist, and comedian. ... This list is of one-time fictional characters from the American animated television comedy series The Simpsons. ...

Contents

Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. (The status of spoiler warnings is being discussed at this Request for Comment.)

After being caught dumping nuclear waste in the city park, Mr. Burns is fined three million dollars. A town meeting is immediately held so that the citizens can decide what to spend the money on and Marge suggests using it to fix up Main Street, which is in a bad condition. The town shows enthusiasm for this idea and is about to vote for it when suddenly a whistle is heard and a smooth stranger named Lyle Lanley suggests that the town buys a new monorail. He leads them in a song, which convinces the town to buy the monorail. Marjorie Marge Simpson (née Bouvier) is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons and is voiced by Julie Kavner. ... This list is of one-time fictional characters from the American animated television comedy series The Simpsons. ...


Marge is unhappy with the town's purchase, believing that they should have fixed Main Street and that the monorail is unsafe. While watching TV, Homer sees an advertisement that suggests he become a monorail conductor and Homer, claiming it to be a lifelong dream, immediately agrees. After an intensive three week course, Homer is named the monorail conductor. Still feeling uneasy about the monorail, Marge decides to visit Lyle Lanley and discovers a notebook that reveals Lanley’s true intentions. Marge immediately drives to North Haverbrook, which Lanley mentioned was a previous purchaser of one of his monorails, and meets Sebastian Cobb, who explains that Lanley cut costs everywhere and that the entire thing is a scam. This list of fictional places on The Simpsons includes towns, cities, states and other locations created for the television series The Simpsons. ...


At the maiden voyage of the monorail, the entire town has come out, including Leonard Nimoy. Lanley grabs his money and jumps in a taxi, which takes him to the airport. The monorail takes off just before Marge and Cobb arrive. At first things run smoothly, but the cords malfunction, causing the monorail to accelerate dangerously. Nobody can figure out how to stop the monorail and although a Solar eclipse briefly halts it, the eclipse ends and the monorail takes off. Meanwhile, Lanley’s flight makes a brief unscheduled stop in North Haverbrook, where Lanley is immediately attacked by a group of locals. Back in Springfield, Cobb tells Homer that in order to stop the train, he needs to find an anchor. Homer grabs the giant “M” from the side of the Monorail and uses it as an anchor. Eventually, it latches onto a giant doughnut, stopping the monorail and saving its passengers.[1][4][5][3] Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. ... Photo taken during the 1999 eclipse. ...

Spoilers end here.

Production

An escalator to nowhere. The three people are caricatures of (left to right) Rich Moore, Wes Archer and David Silverman
An escalator to nowhere. The three people are caricatures of (left to right) Rich Moore, Wes Archer and David Silverman[6]

Conan O'Brien first pitched this episode at a story retreat. He first pitched the idea to Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who said the episode was a little crazy and thought he should pitch some other stuff first. Conan first pitched an episode where Lisa had a rival and an episode where Marge gets a job at the Plant and Burns falls in love with her. Both went over well and then he pitched this episode, which James L. Brooks absolutely loved.[7] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... Wesley Wes Archer (born November 26, 1961) is a television animation director. ... David Silverman (b. ... Lisas Rival is the second episode of The Simpsons sixth season. ... Marge Gets a Job is the 7th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... James L. Brooks James L. Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American producer, writer, and film director. ...


Casting

Leonard Nimoy was originally considered for the role as the celebrity at the maiden voyage of the monorail, but the writing staff did not think he would accept, because William Shatner had previously turned the show down. Instead, George Takei was asked to guest star as he had done the show once before. After demanding several script changes,[8] Takei declined, saying he did not want to make fun of public transportation as he was a member of the board of directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District. As a result, the staff went to Nimoy, who accepted.[7] William Shatner (born on March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor who gained fame for his starring role as Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the USS Enterprise in the television show Star Trek from 1966 to 1969 and in seven of the subsequent movies. ... George Hosato Takei (IPA: ) (b. ... The Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD) was the public sector transportation planning body and transit service provider for Southern California ...


Cultural references

The episode starts with a tribute song to The Flintstones as Homer heads home from work and crashes his car.[2] The episode is a partial spoof of The Music Man, with "The Monorail Song" strongly resembling the Music Man's "Trouble".[2] When Mr. Burns is brought into the court room, he is restrained in the same way as Hannibal Lecter in the film The Silence of the Lambs.[2] Homer's Monorail conductor uniform is based on uniforms from Star Wars.[6] The cast of The Flintstones, from left to right: Betty, Barney, Fred, Wilma and Dino. ... The Music Man is a 1962 film starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 Academy Award-winning film directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. ... Opening logo to the Star Wars films Star Wars is an epic science fantasy saga and fictional universe created by writer/producer/director George Lucas during the late 1970s. ...


Reception

Marge discovers a family of Opossums in the Monorail, leading to Homer saying "I call the big one Bitey."
Marge discovers a family of Opossums in the Monorail, leading to Homer saying "I call the big one Bitey."

This episode is quite often rated as being among the top Simpsons episodes. In 2003, Entertainment Weekly released a list of its Top 25 episodes, ranking this episode at Number 4, saying "the episode has arguably the highest throwaway-gag-per-minute ratio of any Simpsons, and all of them are laugh-out-loud funny."[9] In his book "Planet Simpson", Chris Turner named the episode as being one of his five favorites.[10] The Quindecim, a college newspaper, made their own top 25, naming "Marge vs. the Monorail" as the second greatest episode of the series.[11] In 2006, IGN.com named the episode the best of the fourth season.[12] The BBC website says "An unsurpassed episode. It's hard to know where to start dishing out the praise - Leonard Nimoy's guest appearance, the Monorail song, Marge's narration, the truck full of popcorn..."[2] The episode earned an 8.5/10 on IMDB,[13] and a 9.3/10 out on TV.com.[12] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This article or section should be merged with Virginia_opossum The word opossum (usually pronounced without the leading O, or with only a very slight schwa) refers either to the Virginia Opossum in particular, or more generally to any of the other marsupials of magnorder Ameridelphia. ... Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ... Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation or Planet Simpson is a book about The Simpsons which examines its satirical humour and its impact on pop culture. ... IGN is the oldest and most visited general gaming website, and runs one of the most popular forums on the Internet. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) [1] is an online database of information about actors, movies, television shows, television stars and video games. ... TV.com is a website belonging to the CNET Games and Entertainment family of websites. ...


Leonard Nimoy's appearance as himself has been praised as being one of the funniest Simpsons guest appearances ever.[8] In a list of the 25 greatest guest voices on the show, released September 5, 2006, IGN.com ranked Leonard Nimoy at 11th.[14] He would later voice himself in season 8's "The Springfield Files" IGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games. ... The Simpsons Season 8 DVD Digipak. ... The Springfield Files is the tenth episode of The Simpsons eighth season, which originally aired January 12, 1997. ...


Conan O'Brien has said this is his favorite Simpsons episode.[15] Homer's lines "I call the big one Bitey" and "doughnuts, is there anything they can't do?" are among Matt Groening's favorite Simpsons lines.[16] Conan Christopher OBrien (born April 18, 1963)[2] is an Emmy-winning American television personality best known as host of NBCs late-night talk/variety show Late Night with Conan OBrien. ...


References

  1. ^ a b c "Marge vs. the Monorail" The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on February 14, 2007
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Marge vs. the Monorail BBC.co.uk. Retrieved on February 14, 2007
  3. ^ a b Martyn, Warren; Adrian Wood (2000). I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0495-2. 
  4. ^ Episode Capsule at The Simpsons Archive
  5. ^ Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 173. ISBN 0-00063-8898-1. 
  6. ^ a b Moore, Rich. (2004). The Simpsons season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Marge vs. the Monorail" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  7. ^ a b Jean, Al. (2004). The Simpsons season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Marge vs. the Monorail" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  8. ^ a b Reiss, Mike. (2004). The Simpsons season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Marge vs. the Monorail" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  9. ^ The Family Dynamic EW.com. Retrieved on February 13, 2007
  10. ^ Turner, Chris. Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation. ISBN 0-679-31318-4. 
  11. ^ Culp, Sarah (2003-02-17). The Simpsons' Top 25 Episodes. The Quindecim. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  12. ^ a b The Simpsons: 17 Seasons, 17 Episodes IGN.com. Retrieved on February 14, 2007
  13. ^ Marge vs. the Monorail IMDB. Retrieved on February 13, 2007
  14. ^ Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances IGN.com
  15. ^ O'Brien, Conan. (2004). The Simpsons season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Marge vs. the Monorail" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  16. ^ Groening, Matt. (2004). The Simpsons season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Marge vs. the Monorail" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.

February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... February 10 is the 41st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ... February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the CE era. ...

External links

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