Line #3 Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E13SaddlesoreGalactica


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saddlesore.jpg]]
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3	'''Original air date:''' 2/6/2000 ''(produced in 1999)''
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5	'''Production code:''' BABF-09
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7	Homer and Bart rescue a horse from a cruel sideshow attraction and train it to be a badass on the racetrack, which irks a secret society of jockey elves. Meanwhile, Lisa files a complaint to President UsefulNotes/BillClinton over an unfair judgment at the state fair's Battle of the Bands.
8	----
9	!!Tropes:
10	* AnimalAthleteLoophole: Averted. Homer checks the NFL's rulebook ([[DidntThinkThisThrough after checking how good Duncan is at kicking footballs]]) and notices with disappointment that the rules don't allow animals to play.
11	* AsHimself:
12	** South African horse racing announcer Trevor Denman, who wasn't credited for his appearance, is the announcer for all of Duncan's/Furious D's races. He even uses his real-life CatchPhrase - "''AND AAAAAAAWAY THEY GO!''" - at the start of each race.
13	** Canadian rock band Bachman Turner Overdrive also show up, harassed by Homer into playing several of their classic hits.
14	* AssPull[[invoked]]: Lampshaded InUniverse with the reveal that the jockeys are a secret society of elves. Homer believes for a few seconds that he's hallucinating or that the encounter was a dream. Later on, when he casually says that the jockeys are elves, Marge reacts by saying a BigWhat
15	* AudienceSurrogate: The Comic Book Guy becomes one in this episode, pointing out that it recycles old plots and character traits (such as the Simpsons having a horse and Marge's gambling).
16	* BaitAndSwitch: "That horse better win, or we're taking a trip to the glue factory... and he won't get to come!"
17	* CheatersNeverProsper: Double Subverted. The Ogdenville band cheats by using visual aids, then is stripped of their win by the President.
18	** Subverted by Furious D; he bumps his fellow horses out of the way like he's in a NASCAR race, and is never disqualified.
19	* CouchGag: The family leaps into the room, all dressed in karate uniforms. They chop the couch to pieces while Homer does a spinning kick and clicks on the TV with the remote.
20	* CryptidEpisode: The third act twist is Homer discovering that all of the other horse jockeys in Springfield are members of a secret society of ''elves'' that give him an ultimatum: Duncan must lose the next race or else they'll ''eat his brains''.
21	* CurseCutShort:
22	-->'''Nelson:''' Oh, man, that horse don't take no guff from nobody.
23	-->'''Jimbo:''' Guff?!
24	-->'''Nelson:''' I mean sh— (''Jimbo and Keaney pummel him.'')
25	* DeepFriedWhatever: Apparently Homer will even eat his own shirt if it's deep fried.
26	--->'''Homer:''' See, Marge? I told you they could deep-fry my shirt!\
27	'''Marge:''' I didn't say they couldn't, I said ''you shouldn't''.
28	* DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready:
29	** When the Simpsons are mulling over taking Duncan in or not:
30	--->'''Marge:''' Hmmm. Should the Simpsons get a horse?
31	--->'''Comic Book Guy:''' Excuse me, I believe [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E8LisasPony this family already had a horse]], and the expense forced Homer to work at the Kwik-E-Mart, with hilarious consequences. (''smiles'')
32	--->'''Homer:''' (''pause'') Anybody care what this guy thinks?
33	--->'''Crowd:''' (''angrily'') NO!!
34	--->'''Comic Book Guy:''' (''distraught that no one takes his comments seriously'') Mmmm...
35	** Later:
36	--->'''Marge:''' Okay, Lisa, I've got Furious D across the board, boxed with the three and the eight and wheeled up and down.
37	--->'''Lisa:''' Mom, I think you might be [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E10Springfield developing a gambling problem]].
38	--->'''Comic Book Guy:''' ''(while wearing a "Worst Episode Ever" t-shirt)'' Hey, I'm watching you.
39	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Homer puts Duncan through a tryout as a placekicker...and then checks the rulebook to see if horses can play in the NFL. They can't.
40	* EveryoneChasingYou: Jockey-sized trolls chase after Homer after Homer breaks his promise to throw the horse race so they can win.
41	* HeartBeatsOutOfChest: Parodied and deconstructed. Moe meets a beautiful woman at a horse racing track, and his heart starts beating out of his chest like in the older, wackier [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age of Animation]] cartoons (particularly the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and [[WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons MGM]] cartoons directed by Creator/TexAvery). When he notices this, he identifies this as the symptom of a serious medical problem, and says he has to leave for the hospital.
42	* {{Jerkass}}: The Comic Book Guy, [[DeadpanSnarker in his inimitable fashion]], barges into the events of the episode just to complain [[MetaGuy about how this is a rehash of prior plots]] (which makes sense from a fourth-wall-breaking point of view, but not when it's someone's life. Understandably, Homer leads the surrounding crowd into telling him to get lost). He pops up a second time later implying he is following the Simpsons around just to see if his statement remains true ([[FunTShirt although he already made his mind about that]]).
43	* JerkassHasAPoint:
44	** Lisa is right that the Ogdenville band cheated, though few appear to care. The judge takes no action but abolishing a planned "Good Sports" trophy due to the particularly antagonistic way Lisa expresses this.
45	** Despite doing so in a sarcastic fashion, Comic Book Guy was correct that the last time the family got a horse that the expenses put them through a roof. True to fashion, it happens again.
46	* LaughThemselvesSick: Both Homer and Marge begin rolling on the floor laughing after getting caught up in their own bizarre fantasies.
47	* LogoJoke: This was one of the episodes that repeated characters' lines for the Gracie Films logo.
48	-->'''Comic Book Guy:''' Worst episode ever.
49	* PhonyVeteran: Homer pretends to be a veteran to enter the State Fair without paying for it.
50	* TheSeriesHasLeftReality: Largely considered to be the episode where the Simpsons started to verge on the fantastical with plotlines, what with Homer and Bart discovering all horse jockeys are secretly Elves in disguise as the tipping point of the episode.
51	* SoreLoser: Lisa. It is clear that the other band cheated and Springfield Elementary's band pulled an awesome performance by playing "Living In America", but it still takes her "whining" about her loss all the way up to '''the President of the United States''' in order to find an authority figure that cares about this injustice.
52	* SpoofAesop: UsefulNotes/BillClinton says that if you don't win something, complain until you get it. Marge even points out that that's a lousy lesson...
53	** InUniverse SelfDeprecation: ...which Clinton counters by stating he's a lousy president.
54	* TakeThatAudience: Homer, referring to [[AudienceSurrogate Comic Book Guy]], asks "Anybody care what this guy thinks?", to which everyone responds "NO!".
55	* ThatWasNotADream: After the scene in Jockey Town, Homer is sent back to the surface.
56	-->'''Homer:''' Did that really happen, or was it all just a wonderful dream?\
57	'''Jockey:''' ''[popping up]'' No dream! Lose the race, fat boy!!
58	* UnnecessaryRoughness: Because of Bart's training, Duncan does rough things to win such as getting a hold of a rival horse's jockey with his teeth and tossing him away. He gets to the point that all he needs to keep the other horses from racing is to give them a DeathGlare.
59	* UnsatisfiableCustomer: Homer, [[{{Jerkass}} being Homer]], demands Bachman Turner Overdrive to play the song ''Taking Care of Business'' and skip around the lyrics and even repeat them when he finds them too boring. This gets him dragged away by security.
60	* WeaksauceWeakness: It appears that the evil jockeys are weakened by water. It doesn't kill them, but it does immobilize them long enough to put them in a trash bag.
61	* WorstWhateverEver: Comic Book Guy criticizes the episode, which recycles old plots and character traits ("Excuse me, I believe this family already had a horse", Marge's gambling). As the episode proceeds, he wears a "Worst Episode Ever" shirt. When the credits end at the Gracie Films production logo, he says, "Worst. Episode. Ever."
62	* WouldHurtAChild: The horse jockeys have no qualms about whipping ten-year-old Bart with their riding crops when the boy begins to pass them. This continues until Duncan begins knocking the jockeys off their horses.

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS11E13SaddlesoreGalactica