Haverbrook, the townsfolk storm the aircraft to attack Lanley for ruining the town. Back in Springfield, the monorail leaves the station just before Marge and Cobb arrive. Sub-standard equipment causes the solar-powered train to speed round the track, endangering Homer, Bart and everyone on board. The train stops briefly during a solar eclipse, then starts again. As Chief Wiggum and Mayor Quimby argue over who takes charge, Marge and Cobb contact Homer by radio and Cobb tells him he must find an anchor to stop the train. Improvising quickly, Homer pries loose the metal "M" from the engine's side logo, ties a rope to it and throws it from the train. After damaging a large portion of the town—especially the already-derelict roads—the "M" catches on the giant donut of the Lard Lad Donut store's sign and the rope holds, stopping the monorail. As the passengers are rescued, Marge concludes that the monorail was the only foolish project the town ever embarked on, except for a skyscraper made from Popsicle sticks, a 50-foot-tall magnifying glass, and an up-escalator that leads nowhere. Production The episode was written by Conan O'Brien 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. He first pitched this episode at a story retreat to Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who said the episode was a little crazy and thought he should try some other material first. 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. James L. Brooks "absolutely loved" this episode when O'Brien presented it. 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. Instead, George Takei was asked to guest star, as he had previously appeared as Akira in the second season episode "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish". After demanding several script changes, Takei declined, saying he did not want to make fun of public transportation as he was a member of the board of directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District (now the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority). As a result, the