Episode 8F24
Written by David M. Stern
Directed by Mark Kirkland
Also starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Maggie Roswell. Russi Taylor
Special guest voice: Marcia Wallace (as Ms Krabappel)

Premise: School's out - and Bart and Lisa enrol at Kamp Krusty, site of summer thrills - 'archery, wallet-making, the whole magilla'. But Krusty's not there - and in his place is the sinister Mr Black.

Features: Ms Krabappel, Principal Skinner, Miss Hoover, Nelson, Sherri and Terri, Lewis, Janey Wendell, Groundskeeper Willie, Otto, Krusty, Dr Hibbert, Martin Prince, Mr Prince, Milhouse, Dolph, Jimbo, Kearney, Barney, Ralph, Kent Brockman.

Couch: The Simpsons rush in - to find the sofa occupied by Fred Flintstone - together with Pebbles and Wilma.

Trivia:

• Lisa's letter home is addressed to 430 Spalding Way, not 742 Evergreen Terrace.

Homage: School's Out by Alice Cooper was a Number One in the US and UK in 1972. The episode plays out with Frank Sinatra's South of the Border. Lisa's mistrust of the postal system and robed moonlight flit to a waiting rider are a nod to many nineteenth-century novels, but most particularly Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. There's also a reference to Allan Sherman's 1963 summer camp hit Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah.

Song: Hail to Thee, Kamp Krusty sung by the campers.

Notes: A bit baffling to non-Americans unfamiliar with the summer camp system. But top grade stuff nonetheless. Anyone who's worked as a counsellor in such a place can testify to this episode's authenticity.