Lisa's Sax

] This is the last episode in which Doris Grau has a speaking role as Lunchlady Doris, although this episode aired nearly two years after her death. It would also mark the final time the character would speak until Season 18's "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" when she was voiced by Tress MacNeille. [cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0003039/filmoseries#tt0096697|title=Lunchlady Doris (Character)|accessdate=2007-11-20|publisher=Internet Movie Database]

Cultural references

While telling Bart and Lisa about 1990, Homer says "The Tracey Ullman Show" was entertaining America with...crudely-drawn filler material". This is a reference to The Simpsons' debut as "bumpers" airing before and after the show's commercials. The song "Those Were the Days" parodies the opening credits of the television show "All in the Family". When Lisa's saxophone gets run over, one of the people who runs over it is a man on a tricycle, who promptly falls over. This is a reference the show "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In". At the beginning of the flashback, the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin can be heard. In the flashback, Dr. Hibbert fashioned his hair and attire like Mr. T in "The A-Team". Homer can be seen watching "Twin Peaks" and The Giant is then shown waltzing with a white horse. Al Jean bears a stiking resemblance to the kid who eats worms, on the commentary track he explains that he used to eat worms as a kid and this was a joke Mike Reiss had put in. In King Toot's music store, when Homer buys Lisa her first saxophone there is a guitar in the background that is similar to Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstrat" guitar. The song that plays when Lisa gets her new sax is Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty.

Reception

The authors of the book "I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide", Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "a terrific episode, full of amusing self-referential wit and it is especially nice to finally discover what it was that caused Bart to go down the path to the darkside." A review of "The Simpsons" season 9 DVD release in "The San Diego Union-Tribune" highlighted "Lisa's Sax" along with "All Singing, All Dancing" and "Trash of the Titans" as some of the more memorable episodes of the series. [cite news | last =Dixon | first =David | coauthors = | title =ON DVD: 'The Simpsons – The Complete Ninth Season' | work =The San Diego Union-Tribune | pages = | language = | publisher =Union-Tribune Publishing Co. | date =January 6, 2007 | url =http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070106/news_lz1c06ratedg.html | accessdate = 2007-12-11 ] Stephen Becker of "The Dallas Morning News" noted that season 9 "has a special affinity for Lisa," and highlighted this episode along with "Das Bus" and "Lisa the Simpson" in his review of the DVD. [cite news | last =Becker | first =Stephen | coauthors = | title =DVD review: The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season | work =The Dallas Morning News | pages = | language = | publisher =The Dallas Morning News, Inc. | date =December 22, 2006 | url =http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-simpsons_1219gl.ART.State.Edition1.3e5aabd.html | accessdate = 2007-12-11 ] A segment of the episode where two schoolgirls chant the digits of pi while playing patty-cake is used by mathematicians Sarah J. Greenwald of Appalachian State University and Andrew Nestler of Santa Monica College in a website on the mathematics of "The Simpsons". [cite news | last =Staff | first = | coauthors = | title =Tune into math The Simpsons way.(Grades 9-12) | work =Curriculum Review | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = December 1, 2003 | url = | accessdate = (See also their website, http://www.simpsonsmath.com/)] IGN recently gave it a 9/10.

References

External links

*
* [http://www.thesimpsons.com/episode_guide/0903.htm "Lisa's Sax"] at The Simpsons.com
*imdb title|id=0701163|title="Lisa's Sax"
* [http://www.tv.com/the-simpsons/lisas-sax/episode/1466/summary.html "Lisa's Sax"] , at TV.com