Original air date: 1/11/2004 (produced in 2003)
Production code: FABF-04
Homer and Bart participate in a Robot Wars-style robotic combat game show — with Homer disguised as a robot in order to help his son, as building an actual robot was beyond him. Meanwhile, Snowball II dies and Lisa goes through a string of replacement Snowballs.
Tropes:
- Amusing Injuries: Downplayed. Homer receives a hell lot of injuries while disguised as a robot, but these include a painful cut in his arm and a post-action scene where he uses a magnet to remove nuts and screws from his skin.
- Animation Bump: This episode has a handful of scenes that are really fluid.
- The beginning scene with Milhouse running to the Simpsons' house
◊ in particular containing some beautiful lighting and animation. - Homer running around after getting injured by his spring-loaded first-aid kit◊. It's very fast and has him getting closer to the camera towards the end.
- The entire scene of Homer in the basement is amazingly lit and directed. Him smashing a pile of junk◊ is a highlight.
- The episode uses more interesting and ambitious camera angles than usual, such as with Homer sucking beer out of the carpet◊.
- The ending shot◊ is beautifully lit.
- The beginning scene with Milhouse running to the Simpsons' house
- Artistic License – Sports: The episode makes absolutely no attempt to portray Robot Combat accurately, instead relying solely on Rule of Funny. For one thing, Homer disguising himself as a robot would never have worked in real life, as actual combat robots undergo intense scrutineering before they're ever allowed near an arena, and he would have been discovered immediately.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Played With. Bart said Professor Frink's robot had one of these, only to see Frink upgrade it to the robot's strongest part.
- Bowdlerise: An interesting case that veers into
Edited for Syndication. For several years going on partway through the 2010s, Sky One's broadcast of the episode cut short the scene of Chief Wiggum disguising his police car as a pizza delivery car by removing the part where he sticks a 'Dominoe's' sign on it. This is because at the time it was originally broadcast on Sky, Domino's Pizza was the show's sponsor between 1998 and 2008, and it probably wasn't a good idea to annoy the sponsor by showing a scene that clearly makes fun of them. The scene was later reinstated when the channel swapped to HD prints of the episode. - Call-Back: The montage of Homer and Bart winning their fights is set to "Watching Scotty Grow", which was previously featured on the show in "Saturdays of Thunder". When Homer is losing the final bout, he deliriously sings a few lines of the song.
- Cats Have Nine Lives: Mentioned during Snowball II's funeral. Lisa wrote her a poem.Lisa: I wrote this poem for you. It's called "Cat Math".
Four paws, plus one tail, plus nine lives equals one special cat.
One special cat minus nine lives equals one sad little girl. - Chronic Pet Killer: After Snowball II dies, all other cats Lisa purchases kill themselves in rapid succession in a barrage of accidents (and one apparent suicide), none of them even making it to a single day. The animal shelter eventually refuses to sell Lisa any more cats, telling her that they will be a whole lot safer by staying in death row.
- Combat Pragmatism:
- Homer's advantage against other robots is that he can fight dirty (smashing the controller of Jessica Lovejoy's robot, for instance).
- Ralph Wiggum's robot uses an actual handgun as a weapon. Homer somehow manages to dodge the gunshots (though a couple graze his arms), and he takes the gun away from Ralph's bot, emptying the magazine on it.
- The Determinator: Due to the fact that he is operating Chief Knock-a-Homer, Homer has to actually fight the robots so that Bart doesn't catch on. In fact, in the very first bout he is in, Homer has to fight through taking a buzzsaw to the arm.Homer: (grabs arm in pain) Doin' it for the boy. Pain is love. To bleed is to care.
- Discontinuity Nod: Lisa sarcastically calling Skinner "Principal Tamzarian" when Skinner tells her that it's dumb to just call another cat "Snowball II" to save on buying a new bowl. Skinner leaves her alone (and the torture penalty for doing that? Never mentioned).
- Disproportionate Retribution: Homer has a nightmare where he wins an Oscar and a robot kills him for making a speech that lasts longer than 30 seconds.
- Honor Before Reason: Rather than let Bart down when it becomes clear that the robot's next opponent could easily kill him, Homer commits to keeping up the ruse to spare his son's feelings even though it comes at the risk of leaving him fatherless. It's Lampshaded by Bart when he finds out the truth.Bart: Any poindexter can throw some nuts and bolts together. You risked your own life! Even though you're the sole provider for a family of five! I am the luckiest kid in the world!
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: Invoked by one of the hosts, who says that if robots feel pain then everyone watching is a terrible person. After Homer's robot is revealed to be him in disguise, the host reacts by calling man the ultimate killing machine and trying to get Homer awarded.
- I, Noun: The title is "I, (Annoyed Grunt) Bot" or "I, D'oh-Bot".
- Jerkass: Nelson and his gang when they steal Bart's bike's tassels and mock him for not having a ten-speed bike.
- Lazily Gender-Flipped Name: Homer wanted to name Lisa Bartzina. Marge says Lisa should be glad she got to name her instead.
- Loophole Abuse: Averted. When Homer was announced as a robot fight champion despite not being a robot, the one announcing Homer dared everyone to state any rule prohibiting humans from being robots. He was then shown Rule 1.
- Meet My Good Friends Lefty and Righty: During Bart and Homer's first robot fight, Moe is seen in the audience, lamenting that he's seemingly the only adult sitting among a crowd of teenagers. The Squeaky-Voiced Teen, who happens to be sitting next to him, asks Moe if he has his children with him, prompting Moe to hold up his fists and introduce them as his two kids, "Screw" and "You".
- Misery Poker: When in bed Marge is worried that she just doesn't know what to do with Lisa being depressed over losing many cats. Homer simply shows her a large metal shrapnel and says he just removed it from his leg. Marge kind of forgets her problem and just helps Homer removing more shards of metal scraps with a magnet.
- Mooning: After Homer builds Bart a bike, the boy purposely seeks out the bullies to mock them. Bart then shows his butt to them while riding the bike ("hey guys, this butt is for you!") Unfortunately for Bart, the bike then promptly disintegrates, leaving Bart crumpled in the street with his naked butt still exposed as the bullies ride by him.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: Lisa's ready to give up on getting a new cat until an angelic figure approaches the Simpson home... and it's the Crazy Cat Lady, who flings a cat to Lisa.
- Obituary Montage: Homer daydreams about making an acceptance speech at the Oscars and a robot killing him for going over the time limit. The robot then segues into this trope, of which the first photo is Homer himself.
- Obvious Rule Patch: When one of the hosts tries to invoke Loophole Abuse to allow Homer to claim victory, the other host points that there is a rule against that. Rule 1.
- Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: Subverted. Lisa calls the new Snowball II a "lucky cat" after a car swerves to avoid it in the nick of time, oblivious to the fact that the car is on fire after hitting a tree. Turns out the incident was also good luck for the driver, Gil, who looks forward to the insurance payout.
- Parental Neglect: When Homer asks Bart if he ever suspected him of operating the robot, Bart notes that while he did disappear a lot, "I've gone whole summers without seeing you."Homer: (chuckling) Yeah, I'm pretty unreliable.
- Pet the Dog:
- Bart and Homer both comfort Lisa and Marge when they're mourning their pets.
- The Crazy Cat Lady giving a very depressed Lisa one of her beloved cats (well, more like tossing it to her, and who knows what she was thinking when all she says is gibberish).
- The Pollyanna: Ol' Gil is glad he crashed his car because he'll get a check from insurance.Gil: I'll be eating food tonight.
- Precision F-Strike: The episode starts with Bart using an accessory kit to trick out his bicycle, the result of which nets an appreciative "That is one bitchin' bike!" from Ned Flanders.Rod: (covering Todd's ears) Daddy said a cuss word!Ned: Lighten up, Roddy!
- Removed Achilles' Heel: Much to Bart's (and Homer's) fear, they discover that the Frinks have reinforced their robot's sole weak spot with so much extra armor that it's now its toughest spot. For further irony, Bart discovers it just as he's explaining his battle plan, making him Instantly Proven Wrong.
- Reset Button: Because the cat that the Crazy Cat Lady gave her looks like the recently deceased Snowball II (and because she doesn't want to go through the hassle of buying a new bowl), Lisa decides to call her new cat "Snowball II". A passing Principal Skinner points out that she's pressing the Button out of laziness, only for Lisa to point out his own name change.
- Secret Message Wink: Played for Laughs. Bart asks Homer to come to one of the robot fights and Homer says he can't make it, "but on the other hand I may be closer than you think." He winks and then cringes in pain.Homer: So much metal in my eye!
- Self-Deprecation:
- Most of the cast and crew of The Simpsons consider "The Principal and the Pauper" note to be an Old Shame, and Al Jean is no exception. He hated the episode so much, when he returned as executive producer he retconned the episode every chance he got. This episode is a rare exception, but Lisa calling Skinner "Principal Tamzarian" after he calls her out on naming her new cat who looks exactly like her old cat "Snowball II" is a nod to the blatant Reset Button at the end of "Principal".
- In-universe, one of the robot fight hosts ponders that if it turns out robots feel pain, then everyone watching is a terrible person.
- Shout-Out:
- Frink's robot goes by the name of Chassis Clay, aka Killhammed Aleee and looks like ED-209.
- The robot that is crushed and turned into a trophy by Frink's robot resembles that of an Endoskeleton. Videotapes labeled "Killhammed Aleee vs. Circuit Ray Leonard" and "Killhammed Aleee vs. Bender" are also visible when the shot changes to Bart and Homer.
- The announcer tries to claim there's no rule prohibiting humans from participating, only to instantly be proved wrong when his co-host quotes rule #1.
- Snap Back: Lampshaded. At the end of the subplot, Lisa christened her final cat "Snowball II". When Principal Skinner called her out on this, Lisa says "I guess you're right, Principal Tamzarian."
- Straw Loser: One more point for Gil Gunderson. The man crashes his car into a tree, the wreck's on fire, he's on fire, and yet he's still dancing a jig because:Gil: Oh, Ol' Gil's gonna collect big from insurance. I'll be eating food tonight!
- Survivor's Guilt: After Snowball II's death, Marge tries to console Lisa by saying she coped with the loss of her pet guinea pig, only to break down as she says the following:Marge: Oh, Cinnamon! It should've been me who chewed through that extension cord.
- Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: Frink's robot, that would probably see better use in an active war zone than fighting kid's robots, has a mode where it transforms into a couch with integral speakers and an arm that provides beverages.
- Take That!: When Bart and Milhouse ride by Chief Wiggum in his cop car, he disguises it as a pizza delivery car thinking that the sounds coming from the bike are from a motorcycle gang. When Lou asks "What if they LIKE pizza?", Wiggum responds by placing a Domino's logo (spelt as Dominoe's) on the outside of the door.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Frink's robot, "Killhammed Aleee", is a copycat of the ED-209 with the firepower to match. The Frinks use it to participate in (or rather curb-stomp their way through) kids' garage robot gladiator competitions.
- Three Laws-Compliant: Frink’s robot, luckily for Homer.
- Uncatty Resemblance: One of the cats Lisa gets, named "Coltrane", looks more like a kitten version of Bart and turns out to have the same hatred for Jazz that Bart has, deciding to jump out the window of Lisa's second-floor room to its death rather than hear more than two seconds of John Coltrane's music.
- Unrobotic Reveal: In-universe.Sideshow Mel: That robot has given birth to a man!
- Waxing Lyrical: During one of Homer's fights.Announcer 1: He's killing him softly with his saw!Announcer 2: Killing him softly?Announcer 1: With his saw!
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: "Can robots feel pain? If so, we are horrible, horrible people!"
