Two Dozen and One Greyhounds

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Two Dozen and One Greyhounds


image_caption = Lisa with the puppies, who are, at the time, in the process of being sold
episode_no = 123
prod_code = 2F18
airdate = April 9, 1995
writer =
Mike Scully
director =
Bob Anderson
blackboard = "The Good Humor man can only be pushed so far."cite book|last=Richmond |first=Ray|coauthors=Antonia Coffman|title= |year=1997 |publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|id=ISBN 0-00-638898-1|pages=p. 171]
couch_gag = The family chases after the couch and the back wall as it slides down an endless hallway.cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season6/page20.shtml|title=Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
accessdate=2008-03-27|author=Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian |date=2000|publisher=BBC]
guest_star = Frank Welker as Santa's Little Helper, and various dogs
commentary = Matt Groening
David Mirkin
Mike Scully
Bob Anderson
season = 6"Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" is the 20th episode of "The Simpsons"' sixth season.

Plot

The Simpson's dog, Santa's Little Helper, seems to be getting a little too frisky for the family's comfort, and all attempts to tire him out fail. Santa's Little Helper runs off with the family in pursuit. They follow him to the dog-track and find him pursuing a female greyhound racer, named "She's the Fastest". The two quickly fall in love and the dog's owner gives her to the family, noting that once a dog falls in love, they lose their "racing spirit".

Santa's Little Helper and his "girlfriend" share various romantic experiences and one day, to the surprise of the family, she gives birth to 25 puppies. The puppies are named Rover, Fido, Rex, Spot, Rover II, Fido II, Rex II, Cleo, Dave, Jay, Paul, Branford, Dave II, Jay II, Paul II, Branford II, Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Donner, Blitzen, Grumpy II, King, Queenie, Prince, and The Puppy Formerly Known As Prince (note that there are actually 26 names).

Although the puppies seem to be very cute and cuddly, they cause trouble for the entire family; they savage all of Bart's socks, steal Homer's snacks, and (apparently) soil the floor nonstop. Homer and Marge decide to find new homes for the puppies, much to the dismay of Bart and Lisa. They convince Marge to give the puppies one more chance. At the end of a near-perfect dinner party, the puppies pop out of the turkey, horrifying and disgusting the guests.

The next day, the family sets out to find homes for the puppies. However, the puppies do not like to be separated. Marge wonders how they will find someone who is able to care for 25 puppies, when Mr. Burns arrives and offers to let them live in his mansion. The family question his motives, but as they do so Burns and Smithers steal the dogs (when the family's back is turned, literally).

Bart and Lisa manage to track the puppies to Burns's mansion where they spy on him through a window. He seems to be treating the puppies well, giving them a bath as Bart and Lisa arrive. He even picks a puppy who can stand on his hind legs as his favorite, a feat which somehow reminds him of actor Rory Calhoun, and names him "Little Monty". Just as Bart and Lisa think they might have been wrong about Burns, he walks into the next room, loads a gun and sings a musical number, "See My Vest", while demonstrating his wardrobe of fur-featuring clothing to Smithers. He prepares to kill the 24 other puppies to make a tuxedo out of them.

Bart and Lisa sneak in the window and attempt to escape with the puppies down the laundry chute by tossing Bart's socks down and letting the puppies follow (it should be noted that while Bart slides down barefoot and at first when he's walking he's barefoot, but suddenly when he puts Burns' socks along the line, he's wearing shoes, if not socks). However, Burns is waiting for them at the bottom. As Burns is about to kill the dogs, Bart grabs Little Monty from Burns's hands and places him with the other pups, hoping that Burns will not kill the dogs if he can not tell which is Little Monty. However, Burns tells the puppy to stand up and he does. As Burns bends down to pick up Little Monty, Bart sees Mr. Burns's socks on a clothesline. As he reels the socks above the dogs, they see the socks and all of them stand up. Burns can not tell which is Little Monty, so he prepares to shoot them all. However, the standing dogs are too cute for him to kill. He also renounces killing Bart and Lisa as they are standing on their hind legs "like a couple of little Rory Calhouns". Emotionally touched, he resigns himself never again to wear fur or to kill another animal, at least one that can do an amusing trick. He buys them all and raises them as racing dogs. Later, it is learned that the 25 greyhounds all became world class champions, each earning him millions of dollars in winnings. The episode ends with Marge reacting to a shadow of what looks like Homer hanging himself over the loss of the dogs, but Homer is actually batting a light bulb in the basement, as he tells Marge it is the only thing that makes him happy after giving away such valuable dogs, until it smacks him in the head and breaks.

Deleted Scene

The scene where Santa's Little Helper is "mating" with She's The Fastest was originally supposed to be shown in full, but the networks complained. On all Fox network broadcasts, the scene was replaced with a frozen shot of the Simpson family in the stands reacting to it. All other broadcasts in North America (including syndication and the DVD version), however, reframe the original scene to only have Santa's Little Helper shown from the shoulders up as he's mounting She's The Fastest for a few seconds, in such a way that someone could barely tell he'd caught her (except that the background stops moving). Apparently, some TV broadcasts in New Zealand have shown the full scene (which was originally an animatic that was never put to animation until after the episode was broadcast, according to the DVD commentary).

Cultural references

The overarching plot of this episode, as well as its title, was inspired by the Disney animated film "101 Dalmatians" which also deals with a large quantity of puppies which are kidnapped. On the DVD commentary, Matt Groening says that the film helped inspire the show, especially the scene in which the puppies watch TV. This helped inspire the idea of cartoon characters watching TV, which in turn lead to Itchy and Scratchy, Krusty the Clown, and Kent Brockman. Mr. Burns plays the role of Cruella de Vil in this episode. Like Cruella, Mr. Burns steals the puppy for clothing. Unlike Cruella, Mr. Burns wanted to make a tuxedo out of the puppies.

Besides "101 Dalmatians", less prominent references to Disney animated films are made throughout the episode. The song "See My Vest" sung by Montgomery Burns is a parody of "Be Our Guest" sung by Jerry Orbach in the film "Beauty and the Beast". The song is sung entirely by Burns except for one line ("Kill two for matching clogs") which is sung by a female maid. The maid has often been mistaken for a human representation of Mrs. Potts from "Beauty and the Beast"; however, she is actually a parody of Nanny from "101 Dalmatians". The scene in which Santa's Little Helper courts She's the Fastest parodies "Lady and the Tramp"; the two wander behind Luigi's restaurant and are presented with a plate of spaghetti (which, in "The Simpsons", fell on the floor). The dogs unknowingly slurp two ends of the same strand, as in "Lady and the Tramp".As a short joke the dogs named "Prince" and "The Puppy Formerly Known As Prince" are a reference to Prince, who was also referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince".

There is a scene where the greyhounds watch television, similar to the dalmatians of "101 Dalmatians". Instead of watching "What's my Crime?", the greyhounds are watching the short-lived Fox television show "Models, Inc." The clerk performing a human/canine mind-meld is a reference to the Vulcan mind-meld in "Star Trek".

Bart calls Jimbo a "jerkface", hoping that his dogs will save him. However, they can barely stand, and when Jimbo grabs him by the collar, Bart says "I hope I wasn't out of line with that 'jerkface' crack", referencing Get Smart.Fact|date=August 2008

References

External links

*snpp capsule|2F18