| "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 7 Episode 25 | ||
| Directed by | Mark Kirkland | ||
| Written by | Dan Greaney | ||
| Production code | 3F22 | ||
| Original air date | May 19, 1996 (1996-05-19) | ||
| Guest appearance | |||
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| Episode features | |||
| Couch gag | The couch is afax machine that spews out a piece of paper with theSimpson family in a sitting position. | ||
| Commentary | Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein Dan Greaney Yeardley Smith David Silverman | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Simpsonsseason 7 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Summer of 4 Ft. 2" is the twenty-fifth and final episode of theseventh season of the American animated television series,The Simpsons. It originally aired on theFox network in the United States on May 19, 1996.[1] In the episode, theSimpson family stay inNed Flanders' beach house. Hanging around with a new set of children,Lisa becomes popular, whileBart is left out. Bart tries to sabotage his sister's newfound acceptance, but fails.
The episode was written byDan Greaney and directed byMark Kirkland. The episode guest-starsChristina Ricci. The beach house at Little Pwagmattasquarmsettport the Simpson family stays in is based on then-showrunnerJosh Weinstein's parents' house inNew Hampshire. The episode features cultural references to theGeorge Lucas filmAmerican Graffiti,Pippi Longstocking,The New Yorker characterEustace Tilley, andAlice andThe Hatter fromAlice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from television critics. It acquired aNielsen rating of 8.8, and was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
On the last day of school,Lisa realizes how unpopular she is when nobody signs her yearbook. Her disappointment grows when she sees students lining up to getBart's signature.Ned Flanders offers the Simpsons the use of his beach house for the summer.Marge suggests that Bart bringMilhouse and Lisa invite a friend. Realizing she has no friends, Lisa decides to change her image to gain popularity. She leaves behind hernerdy belongings, since she fears they would make people like her less. At the beach house, Lisa tells Marge she forgot to pack, so she buys new clothes, hoping they will make her lookcool to other children.
Lisa succeeds in making friends by acting detached and hiding her intelligence. Bart grows jealous because Lisa becomes more popular than he is by using some of his own traits and tactics, which fails to win them over. Bart exacts revenge by showing Lisa's yearbook to her new friends, exposing her as a smart overachiever. Lisa runs away in tears. The next day, Bart begins to heckle Lisa at breakfast, and she is angry at him for supposedly ruining her newfound friendships. Later, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Milhouse visit a carnival, where Bart only heckles Lisa more until he finally regrets how low he stooped to ruin her life.
After the carnival, Lisa returns to the beach house to find her friends decorating the Simpsons' car withseashells in her honor (much to Homer's horror). They explain that she does not need to fake being cool because they like her for her true self. To make amends with Lisa, Bart gets her new friends (and Milhouse) to sign her yearbook, which he hands to her as the family drive back to Springfield.
The episode was written byDan Greaney, and directed byMark Kirkland.[1] It was Greaney's second episode onThe Simpsons. The staff of the show wanted to do a summer episode because there was "so much stuff" about summer vacations that they felt had to be covered in an episode.[2]David Silverman, one of the show's animators, particularly liked the episode because he thought it captured the feeling of being on summer vacation.[3]
The area in which the Flanders family's beach house is located is based on theCape Codpeninsula. Many of the writers ofThe Simpsons spent time on Cape Cod so they decided to model the new locations on it.[4] The animators looked at Cape Cod photographs to get inspiration for the episode, and one of the show's background designers, Lance Wilder, grew up in that area.[3] The beach house is based on then-show runnerJosh Weinstein's parents' house inNew Hampshire, which the writers had visited many times. They played several board games when they were there, which gave them the idea to have the Simpson family play theMystery Date board game in the episode.[2] Silverman said that the episode was difficult to animate and direct because it had so many new and detailed backgrounds and completely different locations.[3]
American actressChristina Ricci guest starred in the episode as Erin, one of Lisa's new friends.[2] Ricci was not able to come to the recording studio, so she recorded all of her lines over anISDN line.[2] Weinstein, who was a fan of Ricci, was pleased with her performance.[2]
The episode's title is a parody of the 1971 filmSummer of '42.[2] Lisa has a daydream in which the following fictional characters appear:Pippi Longstocking,The New Yorker characterEustace Tilley, andAlice andThe Hatter fromAlice's Adventures in Wonderland, attempting to entice her back to literature.[5] Lisa referencesGore Vidal and regarded him (or, at least, his books) as one of her only friends. Milhouse compares Lisa's new appearance to the character Blossom from the American television seriesBlossom.[2] TeeJay's ZayMart is a spoof of defunct retailerZayre and parent companyT.J. Maxx.[3] Homer replicates a scene from the 1973 filmAmerican Graffiti when he nonchalantly buys some stereotypically embarrassing products at the store in order to get some illegal fireworks.[2][4] TheMystery Date board game that the family is forced to play is an actualMilton Bradley Company board game from the 1960s. Weinstein recalled playing it as a child and claimed it to be "a very disappointing game to play as a little boy" because of the female target audience.[2] Lisa says she learned the word crustacean fromBaywatch. Also a nod to American Graffiti, TheBeach Boys song, "All Summer Long", plays during the credits.
In its original broadcast, "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" finished forty-second (tied withMelrose Place andMarried... with Children) in the ratings for the week of May 13 to May 19, 1996, with aNielsen rating of 8.8.[6] The episode was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week (tied withMelrose Place andMarried... with Children), followingThe X-Files.[6]
Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book,I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "This episode will strike a chord with anyone that's ever tried to fit in with the crowd [...] Lisa gets to show the many facets of her character, and there's a superb slapstick sequence as Homer tries to dispose of a firework."[5]
Dave Foster of DVD Times praised the episode and said: "The episode is quite simply my favourite Lisa episode regardless of season. From calm to cool and fiercely aggressive, we've rarely seen Lisa so enticing as we do here, and the episode's many elements including the side stories for the other family members culminate in one of the finest this season has to offer."[7]
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson enjoyed the episode and said that he likes how it addresses Bart's resentment of Lisa's popularity. "Granted, it makes [Bart] a little too mean, but it's entertaining", he added. Jacobson went on to say: "Marge gets the best moment again, as I love watching her non-violent approach to the bumper cars."[8]
Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict considered the best parts of the episode to be the scenes that feature Milhouse, particularly his yearbook message to Lisa and the scene with the Mystery Date board game. She concluded her review by giving the episode a grade of A.[9]
Voice actress Yeardley Smith has cited the episode as one of her favoriteSimpsons episodes of all time.[10][11] WhenThe Simpsons began streaming onDisney+ in 2019, formerSimpsons writer and executive producerBill Oakley named the episode as one of the best classic Simpsons episodes to watch on the service.[12] Mark Stock, writing for the websiteThe Manual, chose the episode as one of the 10 best Simpsons episodes.[13]
