Episode 8F06
Written by Al Jean and Mike Reiss
Directed by Carlos Baeza
Also starring: Doris Grau, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Frank Welker
Special guest voice: Marcia Wallace (as Ms Krabappel)

Premise: Homer embarrasses Lisa horribly at a school concert. To make it up to her, he buys her Princess, a pony - but he has to take a second job, at the Kwik-E-Mart, to pay for its upkeep.

Features: Principal Skinner, Grampa, Jasper, Moe, Groundskeeper Willie, Milhouse, Ms Krabappel, Lunchlady Doris, Bleedin' Gums Murphy, Sherri and Terri, Nelson Muntz, Ned Flanders, Maude Flanders, Smithers, Mr Burns, Apu, Ralph.

Couch: The Simpsons rush in - and sit on Homer.

Trivia:

• Princess is bought from the Grateful Gelding Stables.

Homage: When Lisa was taking her first steps, Homer was busy watching the cheesy seventies TV series Fantasy Island. There's a nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1969) which we aren't going to spoil by explaining here. National Velvet (Clarence Brown, 1945) also supplies a reference.

Notes for Brits: The sequence in which Homer's sleeping self drifts away is inspired by the US cartoon strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, which dates from the beginning of the twentieth century.

Mmmmm: ...beer.

Look out for: Lisa waking up with Princess in her bed.

Notes: In which Lisa has to face up to her responsibilities as the only level-headed member of the family. We get some nice flashbacks to Lisa as a baby (but not as cute as those in Lisa on Ice. Good stuff.