The Bart of War

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"The Bart of War" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the

At the Isotopes game, in another attempt to defeat the Cavalry Kids, Bart and Homer divert them away from the stadium with a fake "free VIP parking" sign, and the Pre-Teen Braves then disguise themselves as their enemies before singing their own version of "The Star-Spangled Banner". The crowd becomes angered by this, and when the real Cavalry Kids arrive, a fight breaks out between everyone. Marge, appalled by this, breaks down, and when this is shown on the Jumbotron, the fighting stops and the Sea Captain suggests that everyone should sing a sweet, soothing hymn like Canada's national anthem instead of a "hymn to war" like "The Star-Spangled Banner". Everyone present sings "O Canada" to Marge and joins hands to form a maple leaf on the baseball field. Bart and Milhouse then agree that war is not the answer — "except to all of America's problems."

Cultural references

• The title is a play on Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
• At the start of the episode, Bart and Milhouse are seen watching South Park, as a response to the episode "Simpsons Already Did It".
• Milhouse mentions he feels like luge silver medalist Barbara Niedernhuber while riding Flanders' video cart.
• When the police catch Bart and Milhouse, Chief Wiggum says "It looks like a bunch of kids are taking the "
  Lou tells a disgruntled Wiggum that this is a Monkees
  song rather than a Beatles one.
• Chief Wiggum questions the correct spelling of NSYNC, an American boy band.
• The Native American refers to the book and 1992 hit movie The Last of the Mohicans.
• While the Cavalry Kids and the Pre-Teen Braves compete, the song "One Tin Soldier" is heard in the soundtrack.
• While the townspeople sing "O Canada", Marge is shown holding both the Canadian flag and the provincial flag of Quebec, referring to the two official languages of Canada. The Simpsons airs in Quebec, with the English voices dubbed in Québécois French.
• Nelson thinking he is seeing his father in random things and saying "Papa?" while solemn violin music plays, is a reference to the film An American Tail.

Beatles references

• The artifact which reads "I'm fixing a hole...in my drywall!" is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Beatles song "
  Fixing A Hole
  ".
• The four flavors of "Beatles Soda" that Bart and Milhouse drink are "John Lemon", "Paul McIcedTea", "Orange Harrison" and "Mango Starr". The drinks that Bart and Milhouse drink are those of the two Beatles that had died.
• After seeing Milhouse as Lennon, Bart speaks the words "Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye", a direct quote from the Beatles song "I Am the Walrus".
• When Bart and Milhouse try to escape but are soon caught, they are hiding in a cut-out model of the Yellow Submarine; this is preceded by dramatic incidental music similar to that used in the film.
• When Homer questions Ned's Beatles collection, Ned says they were bigger than Jesus. This is reference to John Lennon's controversial 1966 quote about the Beatles.
• Homer refers to Michael Jackson having bought the rights to the Beatles' library of music.
• The
  The End
  ", both by the Beatles.

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to "The Bart of War".

• "The Bart of War" at
  IMDb