"The Bubble Boy" is the 47th episode of the American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

'' Seinfeld''. It is the seventh episode of the fourth season. In this episode, on the way to Susan's family cabin, the cast visits a youth who lives in quarantine due to an

immune deficiency Immunodeficiency, also known as immunocompromisation, is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious diseases and cancer is compromised or entirely absent. Most cases are acquired ("secondary") due to extrinsic factors that a ...

. The episode was directed by

Tom Cherones Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

and written by

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...

and

Larry Charles Larry Charles (born ) is an American comedian, screenwriter, director, actor, and producer. He was a staff writer for the sitcom '' Seinfeld'' for its first five seasons. He has also directed the documentary film ''Religulous'' and the mockumen ...

, airing on October 7, 1992.

Plot

Jerry, George, Elaine, and George's girlfriend Susan plan to travel upstate to Susan's family's lakeside cabin. In the coffee shop, a man tells Jerry and Elaine about his son Donald, who lives in a plastic "bubble" which creates a germ-free sterile environment. Because Donald is a fan of Jerry's, the father petitions Jerry to visit Donald on the way to the cabin to cheer him up. On the trip, exhilarated by the light traffic and the resulting chance to make excellent time, George drives at top speed, leaving Jerry and Elaine behind. As Jerry was relying on George to guide them, they quickly become lost. While waiting for Jerry to arrive, George and Susan play ''

Trivial Pursuit ''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures gam ...

'' with the "bubble boy." Irritated by Donald's taunting and condescension during the game, George disputes the answer to the question: "Who invaded Spain in the 8th century?" Donald correctly answers "the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

," but due to a misprint, the question card says that the answer is "the Moops." George refuses to give Donald credit, and Donald begins strangling him. When Susan defends George, she accidentally punctures and depressurizes the bubble, causing Donald to collapse. Jerry and Elaine exit the highway and go to a diner. A waitress there asks for an autographed picture of Jerry. Elaine pokes fun at what Jerry wrote, causing him to regret it, so he asks for it back. The waitress refuses, and it escalates to the point of the waitress attacking and strangling Jerry. Two men burst in and announce that Donald was attacked, and that his house is right down the street from the diner. Jerry and Elaine meet up with George and Susan at the house before being chased away by the residents of the town. Kramer and Naomi, Jerry's girlfriend, attempt to rendezvous with Jerry, Elaine, George, and Susan at Susan's family's cabin. Kramer carelessly leaves a lit cigar near some newspapers, which causes a fire that destroys the cabin. Jerry, Elaine, George, and Susan arrive shortly after the firefighters.

Production

The "Moops" misprint incident was based on a real-life incident that occurred to one of the Seinfeld writers while playing "Jeopardy! The Board Game" (9th Edition, 1972).

Eponymous computer virus

On November 10, 1999, a computer virus named "BubbleBoy" was discovered, apparently named after this episode. This was the first malware of its kind, having been able to activate itself (via an embedded

Visual Basic Visual Basic is a name for a family of programming languages from Microsoft. It may refer to: * Visual Basic .NET (now simply referred to as "Visual Basic"), the current version of Visual Basic launched in 2002 which runs on .NET * Visual Basic ( ...

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

) upon the recipient opening the e-mail contents, as opposed to running an attachment. As such, in spite of not being dangerous, the virus changed the concept of

antivirus Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the nam ...

technology.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bubble Boy (Seinfeld Episode) Seinfeld (season 4) episodes 1992 American television episodes Television episodes written by Larry David