Walter Stephen "Walt" Warren is a former inmate of Springfield Penitentiary. He makes his first and only appearance in "The Bob Next Door."
He was voiced by Hank Azaria.
History[]
Walt is generally a mild-mannered person, but he was arrested for a minor offense and he got sentenced to a term in Springfield Penitentiary, where he had the misfortune of being cellmates with Sideshow Bob. Due to budget cutbacks, the city of Springfield announced that all minor offenders would be released from prison. Bob, hearing of this, noted the similarities in height and facial structure between himself and Walt and hatched a plan to escape and make another attempt to murder Bart Simpson. The night before the minor offenders' release, Bob knocked Walt out and performed facial transplant surgery, putting his own face and hair on Walt and vice versa. Then, the next morning when the minor offenders were set free, Bob simply walked out of prison in place of Walt (who was still unconscious from the surgery).
Walt, for his part, immediately realized what had happened and tried to warn the prison guards. He tried to tell them, but he was unable to talk correctly after the surgery. Mistaking him for Sideshow Bob and he had gone crazy, the guards put Walt in a straitjacket and locked him in a padded cell. Meanwhile, Bob, impersonating Walt, had moved in next door to the Simpsons, but Bart was suspicious and insisted on making sure Bob was still in prison. Marge took Bart to visit the prison, where they saw the real Walt (looking like Sideshow Bob) in his straitjacket repeatedly writing "BART SIMPSON WILL DIE" on the walls with a pen clenched in his teeth. Walt was still trying to warn people of Bob's plot, but his writing on the wall was misinterpreted as Bob's usual behavior of threatening Bart.
Soon after that, Walt escaped from prison himself. He pretended to choke on his pen and then spat it into the eye of the guard who came to assist him. Still in his straitjacket, he grabbed the guard's taser in his teeth, zapped the guard, and made his escape. Walt then went to the Simpson home to warn them, but they mistake him for Bob, until Walt took off his shoes and revealed his normal-sized feet. Because Sideshow Bob had huge feet, the Simpsons finally believed Walt's story, and Walt explained everything that had happened. Then, searching Bob's house, they found clues indicating that Bob was planning to murder Bart at Five Corners so he could have immunity from prosecution, so they all went in pursuit of Bob, who had already kidnapped Bart.
Along the way, they stopped at a diner, where Bob had left a false trail (with a waitress who found "Walt" attractive) indicating he was headed for Mexico. The Simpsons believed the waitress and headed for Mexico, but Walt picked up on the waitress's attraction, didn't believe her, and continued on to Five Corners. He arrived in time to stop Bob from murdering Bart by disarming him, but a bee got caught under the face and allowed Bob to rearm himself, before Bob could commit the crime police from all five states arrived and the New Jersey cops arrested Bob and charged him for impersonation, kidnapping, unlicensed use of a firearm and attempted murder.
Once all of the questions about his identity were resolved, Walt was a free man, having been officially released from prison. He moved away from the Simpsons' neighborhood and it's unknown where he ended up after all that. It is also implied that Walt was granted plastic surgery restoring his true appearance, since Bob is later seen back in his original appearance in later Episodes. The episode Bobby, It's Cold Outside confirms such was the case, where a flashback to Bob's dark past featured Bob, after his latest escape from prison by disguising himself as a visiting priest, briefly has his face almost come off via a gust of wind only for him to reattach it in time.
Trivia[]
- Even though he is a minor offender, Walt managed to perfectly plan and execute his escape from prison, which could mean that either there is more criminal behavior in Walt's past than has been revealed thus far, or that while he and Sideshow Bob were cellmates, Bob bragged about his exploits enough for Walt to pick up a few pointers.
- Walt's voice, provided by Hank Azaria, is reminiscent of an impression of Jimmy Stewart.
- Walt told Sideshow Bob that measuring his face in his sleep wasn't as bad as what his last cellmate did, implying his old cellmate physically and/or sexually abused him, but neither can be said for sure.
