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The Simpsons Movie
girish writes "Eonline is reporting that, finally, after more than 10 years since Matt Groening said that a Simpsons film 'is way down the line', a movie based on The Simpsons is being made. It's still in its early stages and is being planned to be debuted in the summer or during Christmas time of 2006. The Simpsons has been on FOX for 15 seasons and averages 12.9 million viewers this season."
Will there be any shark-jumping?
davejenkins.com |
Conan O' Brian and some of the earlier writers are involved.
Does anyone have a good candidate?
Sent from your iPad.
According to Reiss, Fox has wanted to do a Simpsons movie since President Bush (news - web sites)'s father was President Bush.
;)
Now, if they only get this quote in the movie somehow
Free XBox, PS2
Let me just be the first to say, THANK GOD, a Simpsons movie! I hope it's the greatest animated film of all time.
stuff |
Have the people who OK'd this movie actually SEEN and COMPARED newer episodes of Simpsons to ones that aired back in its' glory days?
Jumped the shark a few seasons ago at least, as much as I hate to say it. This is one of those shows I wish they'd take off the air for its' own good.
"excelent!!" (menacingly tapping my fingers together)
30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
Score:5, Troll
I think I speak for many when I do bad homer impression and say:
WOO HOO!
I sooo want this to be good, but it so difficult for a cartoon that has almost always done exactly what it needed to do in 1/2 hour to accomplish the same thing as effectively in a longer format while still doing justice to the original.
(/local/home/curiosity)-#who -u|grep thecat|cut -c 44-49|xargs kill -9
I suspect that this film may mark the end of the Simpsons. I certainly hope so, and just hope that they go back to the roots and manage to make a fitting coda to what was one of the most important shows in television history, rather than just a mindless parade of celebrity voice-overs.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Simpson's Movie.... *Drool* Donuts...... *Drool*
How to Speak Leet
the series must be getting close to ending. Everyone (but me, I think) feels that the show has lost its touch. I was surprised when, just yesterday, I saw the promo for the new episode coming up on Sunday. Homer was sitting behind a newspaper and said "I'm not going to lie to you Marge..." and then went back to reading his paper in silence. WTH, they already used that joke, seasons ago! They're recycling old material into new episodes now :(
Y'know, that's a great suggestion! Matt might have them jump a shark in this movie just for the joke. He knows the show is old, and mocking himself would be perfectly in keeping with his style.
John
Worst.... movie.... ever
Support a few technologists in Washington.
The simpsons movie... at last!
I expect with the current level of writing, it will take about 2.5 hours to get .5 hours of that pure comic gold. If it is live action it will totally suck no matter how good the writers are. Perhaps a Simpson's-Family Guy double feature might get me out of the house.
I really hope that the movie will be animated like the cartoon. Judging by what they say about South Park, it seems likely. 3D animation, live action, or both would probably ruin it. (think Flinstones, Scooby Doo)
The only way it'd work is to do an extended Treehouse of Horror with 10-15 minute vingettes.
If they tried an extended episode then it'd be soooo full of padding and rehashing that you'd be better off at home with the dvd collection.
Worst
Have a new season... 23 Episodes at 22 minutes a piece or 1.5 hours of a movie... I just don't see the purpose of a movie.
It is a great unjustice that we have Star Wars and LotR topics but no Simpsons topic. That is unpossible.
nearlygod
The Tools Of Ignorance wanna be a tool?
Will there be monkeys navigating rocket propelled ...
Obligatory namesake post to Simpsons article.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
Ahhh, the definitive "Jump the Shark" moment.
Now we know The Simpsons is nearing cancellation. How long do snows normally last after a movie is made?
It'll be sad to see the show go, but I won't be crying too hard, as it's been a few years since I watched it regularly. The "Side Show Bob Steals a Nuke" episode was the end for me.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
My percent is off the net? Unpossible!
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Did anyone patent OSQ (Obligatory Simpsons Quote) already? Someone should, there will be a lot more of them on /. once the movie comes out.
Of course, Groening's inferences about the South Park movie gives me hope as that definitely was a succesful big-screen transition...
...our decades-long, shark-jumping overlords. I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their sticky-floored popcorn caves.
Now THAT'S how you hype a movie. :)
Q.
Insert Signature Here
a movie about The Simpsons. You know what would awesome stunt casting? Usher as O.J., and Luis Guzman as Nicole, and Jonathan Lipnicki as Mark Furhman.
Is it good, or is it whack?
First Po... Hey! Wait a minute... DOH!
The Simpsons has been on FOX for 15 seasons
Remember how goofy the drawings and voices were when the show just started? Every once in a while I see and old one, and I want to puke. It really shows how far they've come from 15 seasons of practice.
I can't say the writing has improved as much as the animation and voices though.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
Does this mean we get to see the itchy and scratchy movie in the simpsons movie ? recursive movies ??? wierd ...
Mind you Beavis and Butthead Do America was kinda ok, so i guess a simpsons movie would be pretty good, so how about a Futurama one ??
--- Did I say that ?
...the only couple episodes I've ever seen of the Simpson's, they ought to do a timeless piece. One that mocks politics, elections, science--you know, the works.
That's what I liked about the episodes I saw. If you're up on current events, you see pretty good satire.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Ha ha!
What could they possibly put in a movie that I can't see for free on TV? The truth is that movies based on TV shows do usually suck. The X-files movie was cool, but really it was just a long episode that probably could have aired on TV. Wouldn't a Simpsons movie just be like one long episode? Maybe it will be live action-like the Flintstones movie-which is a good example of how bad it COULD be. John Goodman as Homer Simpson...Doh!
As much as I love the Simpsons I can't help think that he's missed the boat by five or six years.
Dan Hartmann?
Well, it's already been done. In epsiode DABF22 ("How I Spent My Strummer Vacation") the "couch gag" was Homer waterskiing and jumping over a shark.
I wonder who's gonna play him. That's a difficult one. ;-)
"You don't eat or sleep or mow the lawn, you just fuck your uncle all day long!" Inspired.
"The Simpsons" Semi-Official Web Site in the UK -- Brought to you by the BBC!
Fan Sites:
Last Exit to Springfield -- "For All Your Simpsons Needs" (Well, it looks very well done.)
nohomers.net -- "the center of all that is simpson"
Fun Site:
There are countless others. These are among the best I've found. Please link to others... I'm sure I haven't seen them all.
I'll be the first to admit it: there have been some pretty good episodes this season, story-wise. There have been total dogs (like the school-closing ep, I think I smiled *once* during that 22min fiasco) but it's a lot better than the shit they were putting out S12-14.
That said, it's still far, far away from the Simpson's glory days. I'm not talking about the story lines, I'm talking about the direction and 'cinematography' (if you can call it that) of recent episodes. The current eps watch like a sitcom. A couple of camera angles, some close ups, some pans, maybe a zoom or two. I watch eps from S1-3 (on DVD, woo hoo!) and it's a totally different world. Zooms, pans, moving shots, distorted angles, etc.
I don't know how much this is a budgetary concern (although with 13+ mln viewers you should have enough money) but it is something that has to be addressed in the movie.
Oh, and bring back Conan!
With that said, he came back to the show a few years ago and the show didn't get much better. So I still don't have very high hopes for this movie. The thing that made the Simpsons great was its loving, hilarious-yet-almost-plausible depiction of a small town and all of its quirky inhabitants. It stopped doing that a long time ago and started sending the main characters on ludicrous adventures crammed full of celebrity cameos -- in a nutshell, situational humor rather than character-based humor. It became just another cartoon. There have been ups and downs in quality, but I think it's pretty clear to everyone that the series has never been as good as it was during seasons 3-6.
I would like to believe that a feature length film would allow the series' greatest contributors to sit down and really focus on their craft again, and create a legacy that can be used to put the series to bed. More likely it will be used as an excuse for a plotline that's even more outlandish than usual. I'm not looking forward to it.
That's Phil Hartman.
To understand recursion,
you must first understand recursion.
you mean phil hartman.
In a 1/2 hour comedy, like the Simpsons, the plotlines and characters tend to be simple, due to the necessity of telling a complete story in 24 minutes.
How can Groening translate the Simpsons formula to a 1 1/2 hour (or more) movie?
Homer has already jumped the shart -- DABF12 -- Gump Roast. They show him literally jumping the shark. Groening and company know how to make fun of themselves, and that's just an inside reference for those of us that notice those things.
And the fact that I knew exactly which episode it happened in, and only had to look at snpp.com to find the ep. ## scares me...
sig--we don't need no goddamn sig
...is the same reason as for Matrix 2 and 3.
46.4% new footage!
I for one welcome our new Simpson overlords. It's about time that this comment was actually used in context.
Stay tuned for new sig...
Actually Dial M for Murder was the real movie.
Troy's version was Dial M for Murderousness.
D'oh!
Seriously though: Its easy to expect disappointment, it is notoriously difficult to switch from half-hour episodes to a full 90-minute movie. If the movie is just an extended cartoon then it would be a disappointment, it wouldn't work. This is why most movie attempts fail.
However there are some examples of very good quality movies from TV series' and if done well then these can be "excellent". I think few would dispute that South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut did the series justice, it took many jokes already in the series and resulted in a very good movie. Another classic example is M*A*S*H - This is I believe the only prime-time comedy which ran longer than The Simpsons has, however the movie-length finale was very memorable. A good series which closed with an even better film.
If they just try to do a long episode then the movie will fail. If they try to get a proper movie, set in Springfield, then they have every chance to pull off a masterpiece.
You mean Phil Hartman, I hope. We could do without a schlocky version of "Free Ride" as a grand finale.
Acquiescence leads to obliteration
I like the Simpsons but I don't think their style would work for a movie-length feature. 1.5 hours of independent jokes and little storyline doesn't sound quite right. I think they should stay in their preferred length of 22 minutes. And I haven't seen too many TV shows made into movies that are any good. Except maybe Transformers the Movie. But I'm just a geeky girl.
when you find yourself and a friend being chased by a lioness, you have one choice: Trip your friend.
I hear that the "Sea Captain" has rated the move "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"!
Best Buy can have you arrested
Ever noticed that with the sole of the exception of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut - a television show usually peaks by jumping to the big screen. Decline and inevitable cancellation usually soon follow.
For example: X-Files, Beavis and Butthead Do America, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
And don't forget all the children's shows:
Transformers the Movie, GI Joe the Movie, Masters of the Universe, Pokemon, Power Rangers, Ducktales(!), Rugrats...
(Ok, not all these shows were cancelled but someone could definitely make the case for "decline").
I feel like I'm forgetting someting...help me out here people...
Also, I Googled up this interesting article:
The Challenges of the Big Screen Cartoon
I swear I saw Homer jumping a shark on skis in the previews for this season. It made me crack up. I am actually surprised they haven't done it on the show yet. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it became a running gag. I don't know if the Simpsons could ever truly jump the shark, they are all about the shark. :-)
For those who don't know about this phenomenon, "jumping the shark" is a term a guy coined to describe when a TV show (or anything for that matter) has started to go downhill. It comes from Happy Days, when Fonzie jumped a shark on water skis. It was made up to be a scary and serious episode, but was clearly very very lame. After that, the show was never the same. See jumptheshark.com for more info.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
This is a duplicate post!
</sarcasm>
No. No they cannot.
What the world really needs is the Harvey Birdman movie!! Yeah!! With extreme violence! And extreme litigation! And lots of exclamation points! And extreme full frontal nudity. Especially the full frontal nudity! Hee hee heeeeee! Dangly bits!
--- Ban humanity.
Well congratulations... I saw only one post (within my threshold) before yours that was similar... but it said WOO HOO... and not WHOO HOO. So here you are... being the first one in this thread to say it.
You must be so proud...
Unfortunately I'm being punished and won't ever be allowed to see the movie. At least not until I'm a supreme court judge.
I hope they release a few more complete seasons on DVD now (I think it's only up to season 3 currently) as the show only started to flag after about the first 10 years. It's amazing how it managed to be so consistently good for so long; that might also explain how it's death has been so prolonged and painful.
The Simpsons semi-jumped the shark when they appeared in that God awful mastercard ad during the Super Bowl.
100% Insightful
If they can make a show like South Park, or even Beavis & Butthead (which is 2-minute snippets interspersed with video clips) into a movie, then the Simpsons should be no problem.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Marge becomes a robot?
Moe gets a cell phone? Or has bart ever owned a bear?
Or a crazy wedding? Where something happens and dum do de dum dum?
They'll never stop the simpsons!
Usually a movie is released at the peak of its series.
Southpark the movie came out, then it rode downhill ever since.
Transformers and GIJOE the movie did the same thing.
Is this the end of the simpsons coming? I can't think of any instance when movies were released and the show continue riding sky high afterwards.
the company hired to do the animation. I believe they only started using Akom (in Korea) for the animation during Season 2. That studio gave the show its current look.
It's not like Groening decided "Welp! Futurama's had a good run. Pull the plug, boys!" Futurama was canceled. They would have gone on longer if they could and, in my opinion, still had at least three more good years in them.
I, too, agree about the Simpsons, though. I turned off The Simpsons about two years ago and haven't looked back. Now, whatever TiVo picks up gets deleted unless the rundate is 1997 or earlier.
fs
...a killer robot driving instructor, who travels back in time for some reason. Ron Howard is attached to direct.
Ahh, but tell me exactly where they jumped the shark. That is the key. They haven't. They CAN'T. The nature of the show makes it impossible. Some would say that they did it when they did the 3D Homer episode - or it could be considered a classic! Maude dies? Risky, but no shark there. The rake scene? Classic.
Here is why the Simpsons amazes me. When I see a show in first run, I think it is OK or good, and sometimes bad. But it seems that when I see it in re-run, it gets better. I think some of the ones in the last few years are really good. In fact, I thought last week's was pretty funny.
Everyone has their favorite. Mine is an oldie - Selma's Choice. That is the one where Aunt Gladys dies, Lionel Hutz is the executor of the will, Homer eats the huge sandwich and gets sick, so Patty and Selma have to take the kids to Duff Gardens, where Lisa trips on the water and Bart tries on Beer Goggles. There is hardly a moment in that episode that I can't laugh at.
I still love their Halloween episodes, and when they go back and enact classic stories. Behind the Laughter was awesome. Their "milestone" episode show was brilliant, with outtake clips.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
1996: Simpsons used to be good. It sucks now. These new episodes (George Bush as a neighbor, 22 Short Films about Springfield) suck.
1998: Simpsons hasn't been funny in years. It's best years are behind us. No good shows are made anymore (Bart and Homer become carnies, Kidz Newz). It's such a shell of what it used to be.
2000: Man oh man do the episodes today suck. I mean, what happened to the quality episodes of yesteryear? Did you see last sunday's episode? Worst episode ever (Homer as a Food critic, Behind the Laughter, Apu has Octuplets)
2001: Wow. There haven't been good eps in years (Bart in a boyband, "Homer's Day/Bart's Day/Lisa's Day," Praiseland)
2002: Man, this show is SO unfunny now it's a joke. There hasn't been a good episode in like the last few years. The episodes today completely lack any humor (Homer smokes marijuana, "Angry Dad," "Springshield"). What happened to all the classic episodes, like "Homer as a Food Critic" and "George Bush as a Neighbor?"
2004: Wow. This show sucks today. Such a shell of what it used to be.
Can we stop with all the "Simpsons sucks!" rants? I mean, we get proven over-and-over that it's still top-notch. Point is, we've been hearing "The Simpsons Suck!" for years now, and yet it's simply not true. Every time fanboys say an episode sucks, I guarentee you 2-3 years later it's known as classic and now the new episodes suck.
I have a theory. Perhaps simpson fans are so into the show that we know nearly every episode since it's on everyday. When these shows rerun, we see them over and over, and pick up on so many more jokes. But when we see them new for the first time, we don't catch all the humor and therefore it "suffers." Pick any episode from 3 years ago and I guarentee you people ranted how bad it was the morning after it aired. But today we have at least 3-4 classic lines from it (Example: "Trilogy of error" - 2001's season finale... definately WAY INTO the era when fanboys said the show no longer had humor and was terrible):
Dr. Nick: Flammable means inflammable? What a country!
Bart: How'd you find this place? Milhouse: This is where I go to cry.
Homer: Lingro... dead? Linguo: Linguo is dead.
Soooo many others, just from that episode. Point is, before you say how awful the show is now, realize that once the current eps hit the syndication circuit, they'll be "classic" too.
so when is there gonna be a section for anime/tv/movies?
And frankly, that sucks. I've been a fan of The Simpsons show since the first episode in 1989, so I've seen it decline. At this point, the movie might not suck if it was 2D. But live-action/CGI won't cut it.
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut did well, because it was an extention of the show. Imagine if the South Park movie was live-action: it would've tanked.
Hopefully Groening and co. will pull this off, but I have my doubts...
Q. What is jumping the shark?
A. It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill.
The aforementioned expression refers to the telltale sign of the demise of Happy Days, our favorite example, when Fonzie actually "jumped the shark." The rest is history.
www.jumptheshark.com
Corporations: your universal scapegoat for all society's ills.
"53% new footage"?
I remember him from such voice-overs as Jiji the cat in the English dub of Majo no Takkyubin.
Many people hated that version of Jiji, but I have to say I quite liked it. Different from the original but still great fun.
I love the Simpsons, but I don't see how making a movie (in other words, 3 to 4 episodes knitted together) will do any good to the 'legacy'.
Alot of series-gone-to-screen, have been turned into awful products , defenitely if they tried to convert something that is supposed to be lasting half an hour, turn into something lasting one and a half hour.
Imo, if they don't do it in a special way, that won't turn this movie into a 1.5 hour episode, they will hurt the series.
The article, as far as I can see, just says that they've "signed" to do the movies. That doesn't necessarily mean they've been contracted to actually do the movies. More likely, I'd imagine they've signed a contract saying "if these movies happen, we'll do them for thus and such amount of money, but if they don't happen, then we won't," which is known as an option, because it gives the studio the option to do or not do the movies at their discretion. Sometimes in the case of book rights, they'll pay a certain amount for the option (kind of like a signing bonus), and then an additional amount if the movie actually gets made.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
My parents grounded me because I was bad and my Mom wants me to become a Supreme Court Justice... So they won't let me see it...
Homer's chilli-trip is one of the classics, 'cinematography' wise. My gf teaches art history, and used this episode in one of her classes, asking her students to recognise the different artists parodied.
Love them or hate them, Beavis and Butt-head Do America was EXACTLY what it needed to be. I hope Groening follows Judge's lead. :)
It's a sad thought, but this could be the end of The Simpsons.
We should remember that Sideshow Bob was an actual character, he wasn't playing Kelsey Grammar. But even beyond this, the early celebrity voice-overs were great. The problem only began when they started working the episodes around the celebrities, rather than working the celebrities into an episode. I think Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger were the start of this.
Ok, since the article says they plan to rip-off South Park BL&U, which Simpsons character will be the first to say the F-Word. Bart, Homer, and Crusty would be a bit too obvious. Personally I'd like to see how Flanders would deal with uttering the unholiest of all profanities.
Wouldn't it be cool if Pixar picked up the movie?
"Yeah, Moe, that movie sure did suck last night. It just plain sucked! I've seen movies suck before, but those writers were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked."
Man, I wish I had mod points. That's the funniest post so far on this thread!
Actually, I recall a Matt Groening interview where he had said that the only way that they would do a simpsons movie is if the series is coming to an end. He'd mentioned that the movie would, in effect, cap off the story. I hope this isn't the case...I still really enjoy that show. --pete
with the kind of following the Simpsons have, I fully expect, 20 years after the last Simpsons episode, a The Simpsons: The Next Generation (TS:TNG for short) series.
when he went to Alt.Nerd.Obsessive.
(Depending on your Google results, the MASH finale seems to have remained the highest-rated prime-time show ever.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
doh!!!
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/au
i know it's off-topic... but...
m.
. . . don't let it be John Goodman.
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
I thought the South Park movie dragged quite a lot. For me a big success was "Beavis and Buthead the Movie". I detest the cartoon. I don't find it in the slightest bit funny. I was dragged kicking to the cinema to watch it by a girlfriend. Possibly one of the funniest ever animated films. The movie is hilarious.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
More importantly, will Troy McClure star in the movie?
The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
I never saw "Waiting for Guffman" in the theater, but enjoyed it a little when I first saw it on VHS. Was it as funny as Spinal Tap? Seemed like it wasn't on that level. Next time around, it really grew on me. "Best in Show" I made a point of seeing in the dark box, and it was -- eh, okay, I guessed. Then about a year later someone had the DVD -- and hey, that's really funny, you know? "A Mighty Wind" we all agreed wasn't quite up to par with the earlier movies that we now thought were classics... But it's amazing how often someone throws out a line from it now, for a beneath-the-radar movie.
I'd definitely connect Christopher Guest's humor to the Simpsons', somehow. Not sure what it is, but they're just satisfying in the same way. And they grow on you.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
I think a Simpsons movie will imbiggen all of society.
--I'm not talking about dance lessons. I'm talking about putting a brick through the other guy's windshield.-
"Transformers" shows up in animation festivals, still, and that puzzled me until I saw it with the kids. I mean, I'm a Citizen Kane sort of movie watcher (a favorite DVD, it's fantastic), and seeing Orson Welles in the credits made me wince for him, you know? How low could he go? But it's one of those totally unlikely good, entertaining movies.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
DANG DIDDLY DAMMIT!!!
i was checking my account at HollyWoods Stock Exchange yesterday.. JUST yesterday and Simpsons was at $4... and i thought.. hey that would be a neat movie to buy... but i didnt.. now its traiding at $12.. and you just know its going to sky rocket.
The More Knowledge you have the Luckier you Get- J.R. Ewing
With the jump to the silver screen, will Bart continue do his own stunts?
Anybody want a peanut?
People keep saying that The Simpsons will go downhill after this movie just like everyone else, and other people are saying they've already gone downhil. I'd have to stay they started at the bottom of the hill...but as long as people like mindless humor they will live strong in their fortified vally of uberstupidity!
Now that the Simpsons has started to lose its touch, the kiss of death appears, a movie. Once you resort to making a movie, you signify the beginning of the end for a tv show. This season's schizophrenic and dull writing has really impacted my view of The Simpsons, it is just not the same anymore, not as funny. I've been a fan since viewing it at Spike and Mike's in the late 80's, witnessing the shows on the big screen instead of on the Tracy Ullman show. I was a big fan of Groenig, having read his Life in Hell strips in my sister's UCLA Bruin, around the same time that Bill the Cat was forming Deathtongue. In the mid nineties, we'd gather at the Rat and Raven in San Francisco, watch the show over a beer, and shush anyone who was blasphemous enough to actually talk during the show. This is in a full bar, mind you, where the commercial breaks were the only time you could get a refill.
The 30 minute format (including commercials, of course) is perfect for the show, how they'll pull off a full-length animated feature, I don't know. I do know, however, that the show has lost some of its luster. The writing doesn't seem as good, and I can only think that being that funny for 10+ years has to take a toll on creativity. The movie will have devoted followers, and loyal fans, as well as critics and naysayers. Having been into the Simpsons since its inception, my opinion is that a movie will change things forever. I wish I could be excited about it, I will go, of course, but I can only wish that my doubts are completely unjustified, and I get a pleasant surprise.
man rtfm
William H Macy has to play Flanders.
- what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
Now, I have no idea what the plot of the Simpsons movie is going to be, but I am fairly certain that the second half of the movie with have nothing to do with the first half. :)
Why would they do that? There is no Bender in Simpsons.
anyone else notice the markedly high signal to noise ratio with this topic? Any else notice the lack troll material to be modded down? I really believe this will be one of the most "up" moderated topics I have seen here on slashdot. -- Subvert the dominant paradigm
Matt Groening signed his contract that includes 2 movies, this one and another one. Also, Groening has a 15 year contract, which ends at the end of the current The Simpsons season. I'm willing to see of Fox will renew or if Matt Groening will refuse, everyone knows The Simpsons has been hinting at the fact they've overstayed the welcome. However, don't get me wrong, I am still a fan and enjoy every episode, but I'd rather they go out with a bang instead of a whimper.
an episode of the simpsons that you would have to --pay $-- to see. ahhh no...
"It's so convenient to have a system where everyone is a criminal" - A. Hitler
The big /. question that nobody seems to be commenting on is whether or not the movie will be hand drawn or digitally produced. According to Groening on the (Simpson's) season three and Futurama (season two) commentary is that this season's shows are now all digital.
Digital seems to be the preferred method because you don't need a legion of Koreans (look at the credits of the original series) to draw/paint the cells, resulting in cheaper costs and scenes can be played over and changed to better suit the mood of the scene in almost real time.
I think this is the reason why the more recent seasons have not had the great "camera work" of the early ones and why Futurama looks so great in comparison.
Where this is leading is if Digital is taken advantage of (like Futurama) it means that there will probably be a different visual style to the movie (and the latest seasons) due to what digital composition allows. While this season's shows haven't really shown the advantages of digital, I wonder if the movie will take advantage of it to give us a whole new look on an old classic.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Worst....Movie....Ever
Thank you I'll be here all week. Try the veal.
Learn to use apostrophes dickhead.
i don't know what so many people are complaining about. i think the Simpsons is hilarious today just as it was in the past. for one, i'm totally glad they stopped having stupid plots that revolved around Bart, and concentrated instead on the whole family and the whole town.
also, let me note that the characters get into implausable situations BECAUSE IT IS A CARTOON. if they were shooting for realism, IT WOULDN'T NEED TO BE A CARTOON.
i'm just sayin'.
More importantly: will they serve donuts at the concession stand?
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
the simpsons writers absolutely love showing off that they can write convincing musical theater. they also remain dogmatically naive in failing to realize that no fan is interested in seeing how well they do songs.
the worst episodes in simpsons history have been ones with songs. and yet, if you put your hand on your heart and close your eyes, you just KNOW this movie will be a musical.
If I could make this sig kill you, I would.
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
This series has definitely jumped the shark. This season especially is dry & rather boring really lacking some of the punch and social commentary over the last few years. I hope they can put some fresh air into the series, otherwise it's getting done. There have been several episodes the last few that I've just jumped to the end on the TiVo and deleted vs. watching them.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
It'd be awesome if Harry Shearer got together with Michael McKeon and Christopher Guest to reunite Derek Smalls, David St Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel in the movie ... mabye Homer could be a roadie for them.
"Me too", i.e. that's certainly their golden age as far as I'm concerned.
The thing that made the Simpsons great was its loving, hilarious-yet-almost-plausible depiction of a small town and all of its quirky inhabitants. It stopped doing that a long time ago and started sending the main characters on ludicrous adventures crammed full of celebrity cameos -- in a nutshell, situational humor rather than character-based humor.
I think you've stated the stylistic change accurately, and I agree that the quality (or at least my interest) flagged in tandem with that change. It's interesting to muse on Futurama in this light. I like Futurama a lot; I suppose that could be because it's plausible in the sense that it's so far in the future that nobody can really argue that such things won't come to pass. Another possibility is that through its outlandish characters and depictions of technology and culture, the show never tried for a premise of plausibility... so it never transitioned to less plausibility and therefor never fostered the resentment of an audience that had come to appreciate plausibility. Food for thought.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
I hope that the screamapillar will be in the movie.
AUGHGHAHAGHAHGAGHAAAAHGHGUGHAHAGHG!!
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
... in the movie... They'll actually age!
---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"
All I have to say is thats about time that a movie is being made with the simpsons in it.
Anybody played that? Basically, every time Homer says "D'oh!" you throw one back. I wonder how many fatalities will result from doing this with the movie...
you slashedotted Jumptheshark.com!!!
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Get the Guy who did Zapp Branagans voice in Futurama to play Troy McClure! They sound almost the same, infact Zapp Branagan was supposed to be voiced by Phil Hartman before he died.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
"My cat's breath smells like cat food!"
"Oh boy, sleep! That's where I'm a viking!"
You can't take the sky from me...
according to IMDB there's also supposed to be a family guy movie...i just hope it's true http://imdb.com/title/tt0385690/
I am very afraid that the Simpson's animated movie will be another musical like Southpark was.
With the exception of "See my Vest", there hasn't been any great songs on the Simpsons. I think that the way this could really flourish is if they got all kids of amazing guests like they always do.
Hi, I'm Troy McClure! You might remember me from such films as The Simpsons 2: Doh! Doh!, and The Simpsons 3: Mmmmm... Money.
... errr...
just kidding, boys and girls! This is the first Simpsons full-length feature.
No, really!
Why would we already have the sequels planned?
Troy walks offstage. Cue Simpsons theme music
Here's to hoping they find a great Phil Hartman imitator for his voice.
oh, come on mods, the Free Ride reference should get me out of the "redundant" camp...
You may remember me from:
Dead and Gone, 6 feet under, and pushing up daisies.
say what you want, but I bet Phil Hartmen would appreciate the humor.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You claim that because he wrote more episodes, he had a greater contribution to the show. However, if you actually read the New Yorker article, you'll see that the lead author basically just writes the plot. The episode author also writes gags and jokes, however once its written it basically gets ripped apart and gags and jokes and even plots are added/deleted/changed around by the writers as a group.
So just because Conan didn't write more episodes doesn't mean he didn't add more hilarity.
Arbitrary sig
And I get three channels of Fox on DirecTV. No simpsons....
Eat at Joe's.
In Soviet Russia, dickheads use apostrophes.
I wonder if the upcoming Spongebob movie will have the same effect on that tv show?
You want a sig? I can get you a sig... Hell, I can get you a sig by 3 o'clock this afternoon... with nail polish.
Funny you should mention Cowboy Bebop...I suppose you could also add to that list Macross, Evangelion, Escaflowne, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Gundam W and many others that didn't make it to the US - Not to mention all the Ramna 1/2 and Inuyasha movies (3?) that exist.
I purposely left out anime, because Japanese marketing "rules" are a bit different than the US's. In Japan, it seems like almost every anime series gets a theatrical release - even if they just paste together footage from the TV episodes.
Furthermore, successful TV shows are quickly made into full-length movies, even though most TV shows are only 24 episodes long (note how there is no second season of Cowoboy Beebop). It's their standard formula. Compare with Simpsons, X-Files, Beavis etc. which only get movies after years of proven popularity.
Personally, I noticed a decline in the Pokemon fad after the movie broke. Maybe the cartoon is still going (with improved animation quality), but stateside the big thing with "the kids" now is Yu-Gi-Oh.
Firewalk with Me came after the regular TV series ended...so in a weird way it almost follows the pattern of Japanese TV/Movies.
I like your stories, grampa.
Alanis Morissette and yourself, share a problem with the definition of irony.
I once heard a comedian go on an extended rant on how the events in Alanis' song, while unfortunate, weren't ironic.
My two favorite examples of irony that he gave:
Scotsmen cloning sheep.
Naming the U.S. National Airport after the guy who fired all of the air traffic controllers (Reagan National Airport).
nt
I don't care how much it cries, or how close those enemy soldiers are getting.
I watched this when I was a kid, and I can still remember the damatic twist (it's not a chicken.)
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Anyone who's interested should have a look at this big blurb about irony. It discusses the philosophical roots and modern usage, and takes the mandatory swipe at Alanis.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
I was hoping this too, he is a great voice man.
My favorite Futurama episode is the early one where he cuts the ceremony ribbon with the ship's laser. Some great gags throughout.
I agree, I stopped watching the Simpsons about four or five years ago when they stopped being that funny. Know what, I STILL get all the Simpsons references people (on /. and elsewhere) make, because they're all from older episodes!
:)
If you stopped watching the Simpsons four or five years ago, you wouldn't recognize more recent Simpsons quotes! Worst logic ever!
sung at the end of a clip show (where one of the images during the song is homer jumping a shark - clad in a fonziesque leather jacket)
Ullman shorts
Christmas show
Marge's fling
Homer's bro
Bart in well
Flanders fails
Whacking snakes
Monorail
Mr. Plow
Homer's face
Sideshow Bob
Steps on rakes
Lisa's future
Selma's hubby
Marge not proud
Homer chubby
Homer worries Bart is gay
Poochie, U2, NRA
Hippies, Vegas, and Japan
Octupulets and Bart's boy band
Marge murmurs
Maude croaks
Lisa Buddhist
Homer tokes
Maggie blows Burns away
What else do I have to say?!
They'll never stop 'The Simpsons'
Have no fears
We got stories for years
Like...
Marge becomes a robot
Maybe Moe gets a cell phone
Has Bart ever owned a bear
Or...
How 'bout a crazy wedding
Where something happens and do-do-do-do-do
Sorry for the clip show
Have no fears
We got stories for years...
yea i agree with the dood down below...
i really hope its not a musical.. a friend of mine made a good point.. almost all cartoon movies are musicals.. dont get me wrong though, southpark was a genius.. the musical score was brilliant.. but beavis and butthead do america did fine without the whole musical aspect.. and i know the simpsons could kick all of their asses if they just stuck with original simpsons humor..
- Hi I'm Linus Torvalds and I pronounce Linux, Lih-nix..
my guess that the movie will be quite a success judging from the popularity the South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut had and still has!