From: Revenge is A Dish Best Served Three Times (Season 18, Episode 11) However, you would be mistaken for thinking that Bartman is merely a name used in Bart's pop star days. Over the years, The Simpsons has become known for its parodies of other films and television series, and one of the best in more recent seasons sees the Batman films come under The Simpsons' glare - starring our very own Bartman. After his parents are murdered in an alley - his father's dying words being 'avenge me... in flamboyant and impractical fashion' - Bart becomes the masked vigilante, Bartman, to search out their killer. He fights a bunch of other crazy supervillains on the way, namely The Toker (Otto the Bus driver), the Diddler (Ned Flanders) and Poison Lenny ('I'm not a villain, I'm a transvestite!') before Bartman finally discovers that the man who did it is his arch-enemy, the Serpent (in a parody of the Batman/Joker relationship from Burton's Batman film), who Bartman quickly dispatches. But did vengeance really make him feel any better? Well, as Bartman says, he does have billions of dollars without parents to tell him what to do! Good point, Bart. Batman, pay attention...
23. Springfield! Springfield!
From: Boy-Scouts 'n the Hood (Season 5, Episode 8) The Simpsons is big on musical numbers. A common trick of the show is to insert a song, usually a parody, into the narrative, whether they are doing a special musical episode or not. Bart, surprisingly, is one of the more all-singing, all-dancing of the Simpsons as he proves in this next entry on our list. Don't worry, its not another rap. Here, Bart gets high on sugar; Broadway-style!
Spending their money on an All-Syrup Super Squishee, Bart and Milhouse paint Springfield town red by by going to the arcade, going to see Cats (?!) and getting rub-on tattoos, all while singing the stage musical-like 'Springfield, Springfield, it's a hell of a town!' The next day, Bart awakes 'hungover' from his sugar high and discovers - to his horror - that he has joined the boy scouts.
It's a memorable sequence and one of the great roster of Simpsons songs, as well as being a clever version of a pint-sized night on the town. We've all had so much sugar that we ended up in the same situation as Bart, right?
22. Be A Bart
From: Bart's Inner Child (Season 5, Episode 7) A large part of Bart's charm is his rebellious attitude towards the authorities of The Simpsons' hometown of Springfield. However, in one episode, thanks to life coach Brad Goodman (voiced by Albert Brooks, in one of his many guest appearances), everyone in town starts taking up Bart's mantra in life; 'do what you feel.' While Bart at first delights in having the town all act like him ('Today, I am a god!' 'Then why are you sitting in an ice cream sandwich?'), he soon feels at a loss; what is Bart if not a rebel? And how can he be a rebel when everyone is? Soon though, the actions of the townsfolk mean Springfield goes to pot - because when doesn't it? - and everyone goes back to normal. As well as one of those The Simpsons episodes that examines the stupidity of the mob, this also looks at what would happen if the world was full of Barts. Why don't we all give living life the Bart way a try?
