[You might have noticed that this review isn't as comprehensive as what I usually post. My VCR went belly-up earlier this week, so it's based on just one viewing.]
[The long and short of it]
Way back when I was in the eighth grade, I found some old almanacs in the school library. In one of these was an ad for a correspondence school, the kind of place that today would offer degrees in computer repair, or medical technology. One interesting metaphor from the ad copy remains with me today. "Remember, even the mighty sun can't burn a piece of tissue paper," it read, "unless its rays are concentrated in one tiny spot."
Lisa Simpson might agree with that idea. Early in the course of "'Scuse Mw While I Miss the Sky," a documentary filmmaker (well played by Eric Idle) visits Springfield Elementary, intending to document how it has failed its students. (That he thinks the people in Springfield would even care clearly indicates that he's an outsider. Well, that and his British accent.) Skinner contrives a meeting between Lisa and the filmmaker. Surprisingly, the filmmaker isn't impressed with Lisa's intellectual prowess. He accuses her of being a dilettante, saying that unless she finds focus, she's doomed to a life of a faux thinker. Stung by this judgement, Lisa decides to devote herself to one field of study.
This decision has some far-reaching consequences, and most of them are funny. Lisa's search for the one thing to concentrate on is amusing. She briefly considers paleontology, but a museum curator warns her away, plaintively saying he spent "thirty-five years brushing a dead monster's teeth." Eventually, she discovers astronomy after watching an inspiring planetarium presentation. Well, inspiring to her, anyway. The rest of us might be discouraged that Lisa is the only person in the audience for the obviously pre-recorded show. When the "narrator" rhetorically asks, "Who will be the next to discover the stars," a spotlight picks up one empty chair after another until it finds Lisa.
Although Lisa is advised to concentrate her energy on one thing, "Miss the Sky" itself has an intricate and wide-ranging plot. As Lisa sets off on her journey of self-discovery, the filmmaker gets footage of Bart preparing to whip clods of dirt at his fellow students. The school bullies beat him to the idea and nail him, instead. In an instant, Bart's attitude shifts from cocky to almost tearful, and he makes that classic schoolyard vow, "I'm telling." It's curious how in a comedy like "The Simpsons," some of the most telling moments are the serious ones. The look on Bart's face, and Nancy Cartwright's voice acting, really put across the changing landscape of Bart's emotions. Of course, there are plenty of light-hearted moments in this subplot. Bart spends most of the episode trying to steal a hood ornament, because that's the way to get back in the good graces of the "in" crowd. I liked his reasoning: To be cooler than Nelson, he "has to do exactly what he does."
The filmmaker, meanwhile, adds yet another dimension to the plot. I liked Skinner's na�ve attitude at the beginning of the show; he figures the documentary of the school will be "glowingly positive" despite the fact that all the filmmaker's previous works have been expos�s. The setup for the meeting between him and Lisa is good -- Skinner insists she's an average student at the school. Some footage from his documentary runs at the end of the episode, punching up an ending that would otherwise have petered out.
If there's a problem to "Miss the Sky," it's that that plot, elaborate though it is, seems kind of lightweight. Lisa's attempts at astronomy initially are thwarted by light pollution -- light from the city overwhelms the stars she's trying to see. So, she convinces the mayor to turn down the city streetlights. Just like that. The darkness immediately sparks a crime wave that consists almost entirely of boys prying the hood ornaments off cars. Just like that. Eventually, the mayor cranks the lights back up to maximum. Lisa solves that problem pretty quickly, too, and the show is over. Just like that.
I could probably complain more about the pat ending, but spring has just started where I live and I'm more in the mood for a little light entertainment (so to speak) than for the typically more brainy show that Lisa episodes usually are. So, I'm happy overall with "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky," even if the diffuse plotting sometimes lacks "gravity." It would seem that the writers ignore their own advice.
Then again, I think it was Robert Heinlein who said, "Specialization is for insects."
[The short of it]
It's an episode where Lisa is advised to focus on one field of scholarly pursuit, but "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" has a diffuse plot that takes in a lot of different events. Sometimes, plot elements are wrapped up too neatly, but as a whole the show works well as light entertainment (so to speak). Both Lisa's intellectual self- discovery and a subplot where Bart tries to steal a hood ornament are consistently funny. I also liked a snotty documentarian's view of Springfield Elementary, including some samples from his film which run at the show's end. "Miss the Sky" is kind of like a summer movie, except that it's airing in the early spring. (A-)
[DYNs]
... the paper airplane sitting on top of the row of lockers? ... the leather craft kit in the hobby shop?
[References]
"Kiss the Sky" (song) - title a spoof of the Jimi Hendrix song
Michael Moore (documentary filmmaker) - known for confrontational documentaries that question established institutions, like the filmmaker in the show
Barnes & Noble (bookstore chain) - this chain is known for offering a wide selection of books, making it a good choice for an intellectual dilettante like Lisa
"Baba O'Reilly" (song) - hobby shop called "Teenage Pasteland," presumably in homage to this song's signature lyric
"Star Search" (TV series) - Ed McMahon borrows the title for his astronomy book, "Star Searcher"
"Citizen Kane" (movie) - Quimby's lover has that distinctive Susan Alexander accent
the Emmy Awards - Fat Tony's hood ornament resembles the Emmy statuette
"The Natural" (movie) - the scene of the ballpark lights shattering is similar
[Previous Episode References]
[EABF07] Mt. Holyoke mentioned [1F18] People unimpressed by geodes [4F01] Kearney drives a Hyundai (cf. wearing a Hyundai medallion)
[FFF]
Title of documentary film:
Do You
Want
Lies
----
With That?Hobby Shop sign:
T E E N A G E
P A S T E L A N D
SPRINGFIELD'S #1 HOBBY SHOPOrnaments for Hoods (Let's see how many of these I got):
Nelson -> Mercedes-Benz
Kearney -> Hyundai
Dolph -> CadillacGraphic on the evening news:
HOODS ROB
H O O D S
IN 'HOODSProtest signs:
I'M PRO- LIGHTEN
LIGHT UP, LISA![Personal Comments & Observations]
The "Skinner in a Shredder" site probably seemed darkly funny when it was written. Now, however, there are reports that Saddam Hussein ordered real-life people to be fed into giant shredders, and the fictitious site is just a hair too disturbing for my taste.
Most people don't think of light as being a pollutant, like smog or toxic waste, "light pollution" is a very real problem for astronomers. Light from cities and housing developments "drowns out" light from distant stars, the way loud music in a nightclub drowns out someone whispering. The effect is visible to the naked eye -- when you're out in the countryside, the night sky is much starrier than when you're standing downtown. For people studying the skies with optical telescopes, light pollution means that many of the faintest and most scientifically interesting stars are invisible to people on Earth. Astronomers have attempted to compensate for this by building their observatories out in the boonies, but urban sprawl has kept pace -- and it's unlikely that there's a Lisa Simpson out there coming to the rescue.
The "cool kids" as Springfield Elementary sport pendants made from automobile hood ornaments, preferably *stolen* automobile hood ornaments. Do people still do this? It was a fad about ten years ago, if I recall. It even caused a small crime wave back then, as fashion-forward (and larceny-minded) youths went hunting for Mercedes and Jaguar ornaments that they could hang around their necks.