"Marge vs. the Monorail" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.
The plot revolves around Springfield's impulse purchase of a faulty monorail from a conman, and how it subsequently falls to Marge to stop the train from destroying the town.
[7] When the Environmental Protection Agency fines Mr. Burns $3 million for dumping nuclear waste in a Springfield park, a town meeting is held to decide how to spend the money.
Marge nearly persuades the townspeople to repair Springfield's heavily damaged Main Street, but fast-talking salesman Lyle Lanley leads a song-and-dance routine that convinces them to build a monorail.
A suspicious Marge visits Lanley's office and discovers he plans to skim money from the project and then leave Springfield.
Cobb confirms that all of Lanley's monorail projects are scams and offers to help Marge prevent Springfield from suffering the same fate.
Homer improvises by prying loose the metal "M" from the engine's side logo, tying a rope to it, and throwing it from the train.
As the passengers disembark, Marge narrates that the monorail was the last folly the people of Springfield embarked upon, except for "the popsicle stick skyscraper, and the 50-foot magnifying glass, and that escalator to nowhere."
The episode was written by Conan O'Brien,[2] who conceived the idea when he saw a billboard in Los Angeles that just had the word "Monorail" on it, with no other details or explanation.
O'Brien had previously pitched episodes where Lisa had a rival and where Marge gets a job at the power plant and Mr. Burns falls in love with her; both went well.
[9][4] Leonard Nimoy was not originally considered for the role as the celebrity at the maiden voyage of the monorail, as the writing staff did not think he would accept, because William Shatner had previously turned the show down.
"[4] Director Rich Moore[2] and animator David Silverman called the production process for this episode "huge and ambitious".
Moore bypassed the design team and provided the photos directly to background layout artist Nancy Kruse.
[12] The episode starts with a tribute song to The Flintstones as Homer heads home from work and crashes his car into a chestnut tree.
[2] The music that plays as Smithers moves the barrel of toxic waste is a spoof of the "Axel F" theme from Beverly Hills Cop.
References are made to his role in Star Trek: The Original Series, and to his role as the host of In Search of.... Kyle Darren, the caricature of Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills, 90210 is present for the opening of the monorail, as is Lurleen Lumpkin from "Colonel Homer", who says "I spent last night in a ditch.
[22] John Ortved of Vanity Fair called it the third-best episode of the show, due to, "An amazing musical number; Leonard Nimoy in a random guest appearance...
"[4] The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "an unsurpassed episode.
He concludes this review celebrating the episode's writer O'Brien, noting that the episode "gave Americans an early glimpse inside the beautiful mind and wonderfully warped sensibility of a comedy icon who would go on to become the most successful Simpsons alum of all time (with the possible exception of Brad Bird) as well as a goddamned American treasure.