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I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot

"I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season, which originally aired January 11, 2004.

Plot

Homer, wanting Bart to be proud of him, tries to build a battle robot for the "Robot Rumble". He fails to construct one, then decides to build a robot with himself in it to which Bart names the robot "Chief Knock-a Homer." Bart enters the robot, unknowing Homer is inside, in the Rumble. Homer defeats numerous opponents to make it to the finals, but he is physically injured from the battles with the other robots. In the final match against Professor Frink's undefeated robot, Bart finds Homer in the bot after the grueling first round. Caught, Homer apologises to Bart, but Bart thinks his dad is even cooler for doing that. In the second round, the Frink bot squeezes Homer out of the robot. When the Frink bot sees Homer, it stops immediately. Frink explains that the robot follows the laws of robotics and will not harm a human. Homer wins (despite the fact that a human can't win under the rules) and Bart is proud of his dad.

Meanwhile, Snowball II gets run over by a car. Lisa is devastated and recites a poem tearfully at her funeral, where she is buried next to Snowball I. The next two cats Lisa got after Snowball II die in accidental deaths. As Lisa sits outside brooding over the recently deceased cats, the Crazy Cat Lady shows up, screaming nonsense, and hurls a cat at Lisa. She names the cat Snowball V, but decides to leave the name Snowball II on the cat dish and never to mention the whole dead cat thing ever happened. Principal Skinner notices and says it is a cheat, to which Lisa replies "I guess you're right, Principal Tamzarian". Skinner says he'll be moving on and walks off.

Cultural references

• The title is a spoof of Isaac Asimov's story collection I, Robot
• The plot of the episode is partly a reference to Steel, an episode of The Twilight Zone.
• "Robot Rumble" is based on the shows Robot Wars and BattleBots.
• One of the tapes that Homer and Bart are watching has the description "Killhammad Aieee Vs. Bender"; Bender is a character in Futurama. Other tapes are Vs. Jersey Joe Wall Switch (alluding to boxer Jersey Joe Walcott), Circuit Ray Leonard (boxer Sugar Ray Leonard), and the Grim Beeper (referring to the Grim Reaper).
• The robot "Smashius Clay"/"Killhammad Aieee" is similar in appearance to a robot which appears in the Robocop movies, "ED-209". Its name is a reference to Muhammad Ali, once known as Cassius Clay.
• The first robot seen losing to Aieee (the one that Aiee "eats" and processes into a trophy) looks just like the Terminator's endoskeleton.
• The name of the Simpsons' "robot" is very similar to former Atlanta Braves mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa.

External links

• "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot" at The Simpsons.com