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"Bart the Mother" is the third episode of ''The Simpsons''s tenth season. It originally aired on Fox on September 27, 1998. In the episode, Bart accidentally kills a mother bird with a BB gun, and decides to hatch and take care of the two eggs he found in the bird's nest. "Bart the Mother" was written by David X. Cohen and directed by Steven Dean Moore; it was the last full-length episode Cohen wrote for ''The Simpsons'' before leaving to work on ''Futurama''. The original idea for the episode was intended to be a B story, but because it was too difficult to work into other episodes, it eventually became a primary plot. The episode features the final appearance of character Troy McClure and was dedicated to the character's voice actor, Phil Hartman, who was murdered by his wife on May 28, 1998, four months before the episode aired. In its original American broadcast, "Bart the Mother" finished 58th in ratings for the week of September 21–27, 1998, with a Nielsen rating of 7.4, translating to 7,355,600 households. The episode received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Bart's moral dilemma and soul searching moments. Nancy Cartwright, the voice actress of Bart, described the episode as one of her favorites. ==Plot== When Marge takes the family to the Family Fun Center, she notices Nelson acting like a bully, especially when he knocks Milhouse off the track and wins a BB gun from stolen prize tickets. Bart and Nelson attempt to be friends, but Marge forbids Bart to hang out with Nelson. Bart goes to Nelson’s house anyway and starts using Nelson's new BB gun. When Nelson pressures Bart to shoot a bird in a nest, Bart accidentally kills the bird. Marge is furious that Bart killed an animal, but instead of punishing him, she refuses to have anything to do with his destructive ways. After Marge leaves Bart with Nelson, Bart discovers two eggs in a bird's nest. Since he does not want the babies to die like their mother, he decides to hatch the eggs, and secretly keeps the eggs warm in his treehouse. After Bart spends more time in his treehouse, Marge starts to suspect he is up to something. After Marge finds out what Bart has been doing, she tells him she is proud of him. With Marge's help, the eggs eventually hatch, but the Simpson family is shocked when instead of birds, a pair of lizards emerge from the eggs, who Bart names Chirpy Boy and Bart Jr. Bart and Marge take the lizards to the Springfield Birdwatching Society. Principal Skinner, a member of the society, explains that they are Bolivian tree lizards, a type of lizard that steals a bird’s eggs and leaves their own eggs to be watched after by the mother bird, which is then eaten by the offspring once they hatch. Skinner says the lizards must be killed by law, because they have killed many bird species. Bart escapes and runs away with the lizards, but before he can get away, Skinner catches up to him and they both struggle on top of the building. Suddenly, the lizards glide to the ground, they escape and eventually reproduce and start to eradicate pigeons in Springfield. Since the town considered the pigeons to be a nuisance, they are delighted that the lizards have eaten all the pigeons. So, Bart is thanked and honored by Mayor Quimby with a loganberry scented candle. Lisa worries the town will now become infested by lizards rather than the pigeons, but Skinner assures her they will send in "wave after wave of" Chinese needle snakes, then snake-eating gorillas, and then "when wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bart the Mother」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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