History Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty

!!Plot Summary

One of the series' most iconic episodes, notable for being one of three episodes considered for the plot of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', as well as being the last episode animated by Klasky-Csupo (in production order), it revolves around the Simpson kids spending their vacation at the namesake Kamp Krusty, but the promise of a fun time turns out to be quite far from the truth...

It later received an ImmediateSequel in the 28th season called "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS28E15KampKrustier Kamp Krustier]]", in which Homer's sexual frustration following the kids' return from camp leads to him becoming more productive at work, while the trauma experienced at camp catches up to Bart and Lisa.

* OhCrap: The expression on the kids' face when they meet the [[BarbaricBully counselors]].

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Hoover gives Lisa a B-Plus in Conduct just for the sheer hell of it (she tells Lisa that she needs a splotch on her record), when it's obvious that Lisa deserved an "A" if not an "A-Plus". Lisa's [[PowerBornOfMadness resulting nervous breakdown]] gives her enough gripping strength to ''nearly break Hoover's arm''.

-->'''Bart:''' Alright, that's ''it''. I've been scorched by Krusty before. I got a rapid heartbeat from his Krusty brand vitamins, my Krusty Kalculator didn't have a 7 or an 8, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Krusty's autobiography was self-serving, with many glaring omissions]]. But this time, ''he's gone '''too far!''''' WE WANT KRUSTY!

* EnemyEatsYourLunch: Kearney eats the jellybean cookies Marge sent to Bart and Lisa, then he tells Lisa they "suck".

* FelonyMisdemeanor: The bully counselors consider one of the campers a troublemaker just for ''coughing''.

** Mr. Black and the bullies perform a non-stop barrage of this with their flat-out inhumane management of the Kamp.

** Krusty had a show called President Clown, and his co-star on that show robbed a liquor store.

* NotHyperbole: Kent Brockman says, without hyperbole, that the Kamp Krusty revolt is a million times worse than the conflicts he's reported on in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

* RageBreakingPoint: Mr. Black trying to pass off Barney as Krusty, in lieu of dinner, is what finally pushes Bart into action and revolt.

* AnAesop: Don't sell your name to something that you know nothing about. Not only could it bring you bad publicity, but it also could hurt those you care about.

One of the series' most iconic episodes, notable for being one of three episodes considered for the plot of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', as well as being the last episode animated by Klasky-Csupo (in production order), it revolves around the Simpson kids spending their vacation at the namesake Kamp Krusty, but the promise of a fun time turns out to be quite fra from the truth...

One of the series' most iconic episodes, notable for being one of three episodes considered for the plot of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', as well as being the last episode animated by Klasky-Csupo (in production order). It later received an ImmediateSequel in the 28th season called "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS28E15KampKrustier Kamp Krustier]]", in which Homer's sexual frustration following the kids' return from camp leads to him becoming more productive at work, while the trauma experienced at camp catches up to Bart and Lisa.

* BadBoss: Mr. Black does very little work, instead relying on the services of the school bullies Jimbo Jones, Dolph, and Kearney, who run the "Kamp Krusty" with an iron fist, to "crush their spirits".

Eventually, likely to get more work out of the kids, Mr. Black hires Barney Gumble to come dress up as Krusty for the kids. But with their spirits completely broken, all they can do is blindly wonder why "Krusty" is acting "so funny". However, Bart -- who had staked his entire sanity on Krusty's arrival -- finally snaps and leads a revolution to overthrow the camp ''Lord of the Flies'' style. Mr. Black and the counselors hightail it and the kids seize full control of the camp. This makes news, and Homer loses his newly grown hair and regains the weight he lost when he sees Bart is the leader. Because of the camp crisis, Krusty is called back from England and comes to the camp. After learning from Bart what he and the other children went through because of him, he genuinely apologizes to the kids, claiming that Mr. Black offered him a huge sum of money for the trademark rights. To make it up to them, he takes the kids on a trip to the "happiest place on Earth" -- Tijuana, Mexico. They have a wonderful time there.

But when the kids arrive, Krusty is nowhere to be found. It turns out, the ''real'' owner of the camp is a man named Mr. Black (voiced by Creator/HarryShearer), who merely bought the rights to use Krusty's name and image for the camp to attract kids and the clown has no actual association with the camp. But this is not all, as the marketing turned out to be false advertising. Instead of a fun and big budgeted summer camp, the titular Kamp Krusty is a low-budget, unsafe dystopia-like one, whose only purpose (save for making wallets in arts and crafts to sell) is to torture kids. Making matters worse, their counselors are none other than the bullies Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney! The cabins are vermin-infested, cold and locked tight from the outside at night, the lakes too dangerous to swim in, the kids roast pinecones instead of marshmallows, they're forced into sweatshop labor (for example, making fake wallets for export to Hong Kong), their nature hikes end in disaster, the infirmary staff members are more interested in smoking than tending to injured campers, they're fed nothing but ''imitation'' gruel ("9 out of 10 orphans can't tell the difference") which sometimes has living animals inside of it, they do not get to write any letters to their parents for obvious reasons, their presents from home are taken, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking they are forced to sing a song praising the camp]]. Mr. Black and the bullies on the other hand enjoy a life of luxury while the kids suffer miserably.

* FMinusMinus: Bart gets a full hand of F- grades...[[FiveSecondForeshadowing in the dream intro]], where in real life [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he more plausibly gets all Ds]].

But when the kids arrive, Krusty is nowhere to be found. It turns out, the ''real'' owner of the camp is a man named Mr. Black (voiced by Creator/HarryShearer), who merely bought the rights to use Krusty's name and image for the camp to attract kids and the clown has no actual association with the camp. But this is not all, as the marketing turned out to be false advertising. Instead of a fun and big budgeted summer camp, the titular Kamp Krusty is a low-budget, unsafe dystopia-like one, whose only purpose (save for making wallets in arts and crafts to sell) is to torture kids. Making matters worse, their counselors are none other than the bullies Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney! The cabins are vermin-infested, cold and locked tight from the outside at night, the lakes too dangerous to swim in, the kids roast pinecones instead of marshmallows, they're forced into sweatshop labor (for example, making fake wallets for export to Hong Kong), their nature hikes end in disaster, the infirmary staff members are more interested in smoking than tending to injured campers, they're fed nothing but gruel (''imitation'' gruel "9 out of 10 orphans can't tell the difference") which sometimes has living animals inside of it, they do not get to write any letters to their parents for obvious reasons, their presents from home are taken, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking they are forced to sing a song praising the camp]]. Mr. Black and the bullies on the other hand enjoy a life of luxury while the kids suffer miserably.

However, despite all the aforementioned horrors the kids are put through, Mr. Black manages to keep them largely complacent on the [[TheCakeIsALie false pretense that he is only temporarily assuming Krusty's role as camp manager, and that Krusty will be coming in a few weeks.]] However, it soon becomes apparent to everyone except Bart that this is not the case, and it's officially confirmed [[DramaticIrony (to the audience at least)]], by showing him on a trip to UsefulNotes/{{London}}, unaware of the camp's true nature. Lisa manages to sneak a letter to Marge and Homer, warning them about the camp, but they just think she's exaggerating because she's homesick, and it looks as though all is lost for the unhappy campers.

* OffModel:
** Ralph Wiggum looks skinny and misshapen during the scene of Lisa handing out care packages and mail to the campers. His movements also seem [[AnimationBump cartoonier than usual]] as well. This can be justified in two ways: (a) Ralph was in the fat camp and his skinny, misshapen look is from lost weight, or (b) the animators (either overseas or domestic) screwed up and didn't have time to change it.
** Krusty's face, when he reacts to Bart telling him how awful the camp was, as seen in the image at the top of this page.

* DisneyOwnsThisTrope[=/=]TradeSnark: The final lines of Kamp Krusty's song.