Bart the Genius

In "Bart the Genius" can be seen the seeds that would go onto define the greatness of The Simpsons. While the animation is still rough and lacks the beautiful smoothness of the majority of the show's golden age, and while some of the voice work is not what would go onto become a staple of the series (namely Homer's very deep voice in these episodes), the episode manages to bring forth the heart that has made the series a timeless staple of media.

The single greatest aspect of the episode is Bart and the episode perfectly nails everything that has made the character so endearing and enduring. He's a troublemaker, he's lazy, he craves a relationship with his father, he tries to be better and ultimately admits to his own mistakes. In this episode, Bart swaps an IQ test with class genius Martin and due to 'his' remarkable results is given the chance to attend an intellectual school for gifted kids. He accepts when he realizes the freelance nature of studying and very soon comes to realize his place there.

The part of the episode in which Homer begins to dote on his son and the two share a healthy and touching relationship is a story that the show would come to time and time again, always to great success. Here it works but perhaps not as well as when the show REALLY finds its footing.

While the episode can be a little dry on humour, there's some amusing moments with Homer such as the joke about his atrociously childish handwriting or the doctor casually insulting Homer's intelligence by suggesting that Bart's genius bears no resemblance on his heredity. More importantly, there's great heart behind this episode and while the episode isn't quite part of the show's Golden Age, it's still pretty impressive.

Definitely a step up from the first episode. This time we get an in depth look at Bart and his education troubles. It's done cleverly.

We start to get an idea that there is more going on here than simple laughs. This is a character that we are made to Genuinely feel For. They show us a show that has a lot of heart behind the jokes. That has heartfelt messages and stories to tell.

The animation is still crude and there are funny things like Milhouse's hair being black that seem strange to us now.

We are introduced to Martin Prince and he is incredibly obnoxious at this stage of the show. I don't remember disliking him that much.

Lisa is shown to be more onboard with homer and bart's childish shenanigans at this stage - I think she'll evolve to be more like the disapproving Marge.

Homer is shown to have a lot in common with Bart. He loves him but he isn't equipped to know how to show that love. A very relatable concept.

This episode really does a great job of setting up Bart as a character and showing different sides of his personality. The loveable hoodlum or the brat with a heart of gold.

This episode was a great follow-up to "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" as it developed Bart and Homer as characters whilst sticking to a comedic story. I think that this episode was definitely funnier than the previous episode, there were lots more laugh out loud jokes which got better as the episode went on. The relationship between this father and son showed it's true colours where deep down Homer loves his son but he just wants him to do well and not fool around, so he is very happy and open to bond when it is revealed that Bart is a "genius". There are also more hints that Lisa is more intellectual than the rest of her family but her intelligence is glossed over rather than acknowledged and congratulated. Overall it was a brilliant episode and the writing was superb! 8/10

There's a lot of fun to be had watching these early episodes and seeing how the show went from this to what it ultimately became.

Martin as Bart's enemy, Homer not being dim - how times change!

This episode is smart, it's funny, and it's heartfelt- what more could you want?

The Simpsons of course started off with Christmas special "Simpson's Roasting On An Open Fire" which had basic drawings and not laugh out loud jokes, but this episode has probably the first laugh out loud joke in it and from here the show just gets better and better. This episode centers around Bart who in this episode swaps on a test from Martin and gets into a school for the highly gifted, this leading to Bart mending his friendship with his Dad and losing all of his mates. The Episode is very humorous and shows what was to become the greatest show ever to come out. Overall fans of the show will love this episode as it features the character's exactly as they became 20 years later. So watch this episode in a pack of Season 1 and enjoy early Simpson's doing what it was meant to, Making people laugh. I rate this episode 73%.