The Simpsons: 10 Real Unaired Pitches (And What They Could Have Been About)

8. Bart Gets 144 Jeeps

This was an episode idea that was pitched by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein and featured in a list of "leftover storylines and ideas" discussed by Oakley on the internet back in 2010. The idea for the episode comes from a World War Two era myth, where advertisements in the back of magazines like Boy's Life and Popular Mechanics said you could buy surplus Army jeeps that had been packed in crates for only fifty dollars or cheaper when bought in bulk. You can imagine that Bart finds the advert in a magazine at the Springfield Retirement Castle and either cons Grandpa Simpson into buying the jeeps or steals Homer's credit card and buys them over the phone. A young man (similar to Squeaky Voiced Teen) ends up sending the crated up jeeps to Evergreen Terrace and, upon opening up the crates, Bart and his school friends drive around Springfield, causing chaos wherever they go. Homer inevitably gets involved and they cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. The jeeps end up with Mr Burns, who uses them to set up a racing league, earning the elderly billionaire a few more million. The Simpsons are left regretting not doing something useful with them as they watch it unfurling on TV. Bart buying stuff he shouldn't do with Homer's money or getting a lot of something has been done in previous episodes (see "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh" where Bart and Lisa get a load of cardboard boxes) but this could work as a fresh twist on the theme. If anyone has played The Simpsons games Road Rage or Hit And Run, you know that you can cause chaos driving round Springfield and this episode could easily replicate that sort of behaviour. The episode could easily have been made, using the episode to parody the manic driving styles often employed in real life and in the Grand Theft Auto games.