[MG05] The Pacifier

The Pacifier                                           Written by Matt Groening
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[$Id: mg05 1.2 1993/05/30 14:31:32 rjc Exp $]
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> Didja notice...
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    ... Maggie has a full set of teeth (when biting Bart)?

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> Freeze Frame Fun
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>> Maggie's room
   On the wall is a portrait of an unidentified Simpson.
   She has a tall hairdo, but the hair is yellow and spikey.
   On the floor are a rabbit doll and a duck pull-toy.
   Another rabbit doll is atop the dresser.
   In the corner of the room is a mouse hole.

>> The TV room
   Brown couch in the corner along the back wall.
   Mouse hole behind and to the left.
   A painting of a rabbit (guess who) in a field.

>> Other worthwhile freeze framing
   Bart pulls Maggie's pacifier out of her mouth for the third time.
   Maggie's face contorts as she sucks on the hot-sauce flavored pacifier.

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> Assorted comments and observations
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Maggie fall count:  Four.
                    Two of the falls were Bart-induced.
                    One of the falls was cut in syndication.

Bart and Lisa are especially evil in this short.

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> Syndication report
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Brian Howard {bh} gives the timing for this short as 1:45, whereas the
syndication package contains only 1:27 of animation.

His report:

The line of Bart's is the only difference in dialogue I come up
with between your summary and the original short.  That accounts for
about 5 seconds; there seem to be another 5 seconds missing in scenes 1
and 3, and a couple seconds each in 2 and 4.  The latter are probably
due to cutting out early or coming in late, thus missing a little
pacifier-sucking.  The other 5 seconds in scene 1 seem to be partly
from a brief shot which you don't describe, of Maggie in the hall on
the way to her room -- she passes a mouse hole, falls, picks herself
up, walks offscreen, and falls again as the scene shifts to her
entering her bedroom.  The 5 seconds in scene 3 I can't account for.

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> Quotes and scene summary
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% B = Bart, L = Lisa
%
% Text enclosed in {curly braces} was removed for syndication.
%
% The kids are out in the yard.  Maggie sits on the grass sucking on her
% pacifier; Bart and Lisa are to either side of her.  The elder kids have
% expressions of disgust and punctuate their disdain with corresponding
% arm motions.

{B: How long are you going to keep sucking on that stupid pacifier?}
L: What a little baby you are.
B: Don't you have any self-respect?
L: You don't see <us> going around sucking on pacifiers.
B: It's time to grow up, you little runt.

% With an evil grin, Bart pulls Maggie's pacifier out of her mouth.  (In
% the process, Maggie falls forward onto her face.)  Maggie picks herself
% up, blinks twice, and walks off.
%
% {Maggie walks down the hall, passes a mouse hole, falls, picked herself
% up, walks offscreen, and falls again as the scene shifts to her entering
% her bedroom.}
%
% Maggie enters her room and opens the middle drawer of her dresser.  It
% is filled with pacifiers.  Hundreds, easily.  She removes one, places
% it in her mouth, and sucks away.
%
% [End of Act One.  Time: 0:21]
%
% The same set-up as before, except this time they're in the TV room.
% Bart and Lisa speak with intense bitterness.

B: What?
L: Another pacifier?
B: You <are> a depraved little infant.
L: We're just trying to help you.
B: Yeah.  Help you.

% As before, Bart pulls Maggie's pacifier out of her mouth, and she falls
% on her face.  With evil grins on their faces, Bart and Lisa play catch
% with the pacifier.  Maggie crawls over to Bart and bites into his leg.
% (*crunch*)  Bart screams in pain (the animation here rather unusual),
% and the pacifier sails through the air.  Maggie catches it in her mouth.
%
% [End of Act Two. Time: 0:40]
%
% Maggie sucks happily away next to the couch.  Lisa steps into frame.

L: Hey Maggie.  Look!

% Lisa points offscreen behind Maggie, where we see that Bart is lying in
% wait.  Maggie turns her head, and Bart pulls the pacifier out of her
% mouth.  Bart and Lisa zip out of frame.
%
% Bart scoots into the kitchen, the pacifier in his hand.

B: Quick, the hot sauce.

% Lisa skates in and tosses Bart a bottle of hot sauce.  Bart stops the
% bottle with the pacifier and shakes it, then pops the pacifier back into
% Maggie's mouth (who has magically appeared in the kitchen).  Bart and
% Lisa watch with the evil grins of mad scientists eagerly anticipating
% the results of their handiwork.
%
% Maggie sucks three times, then steam pours out of her ears as her face
% contorts.  Maggie smiles, removes her pacifier, produces a bottle of hot
% sauce, shakes the bottle with the pacifier as the stopper, then sucks on
% it some more.
%
% [End of Act Three.  Time: 1:00]
%
% Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are on the couch watching TV, Maggie in the middle,
% sucking away.

B: You can have your dumb pacifier.
L: See if we care.
B: We don't need pacifiers.
L: We're big.
B: We watch TV.
L: We're mature.

% Maggie reaches into her baggie and produces two pacifiers, one in each hand.
% Bart and Lisa each take one and study them.

B: What? For us?
L: Are you kidding?
B: No way, man.

% Lisa stares at the pacifier a bit, then sucks on it.  Her eyes do a weird
% effect.

L: Not bad.

% Bart gives it a shot.

B: Not bad at all.

% The three kids suck away happily.
%
% [End of Act Four.  Time: 1:27]
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Shorts summaries Copyright 1992 by Raymond Chen.  Not to be redistributed
in a public forum without permission.  (The quotes themselves, of course,
remain the property of The Tracey Ullman Show, and the reproduced articles
remain the property of the original authors.  I'm just taking credit for the
compilation.)