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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?
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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
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 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.
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 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?
The Simpsons: Hit and Run actually did quite well in the long format. It was fairly entertaining throughout.
I don't know if one successful Simpsons video game necessarily indicates a successful movie implementation, but it does demonstrate that with clever writing and good pacing, a Simpsons storyline can be carried out well past the 1/2 hr. mark.
I wish I had a kryptonite cross, because then you could keep Dracula and Superman away.
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.
"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.
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?
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.
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>
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.
...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.
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...
Simpson's, they ought to do a timeless piece. One that mocks politics, elections, science
Can't be done, religion and science are to remain one hundred yards away from each other at all times...
You can't take the sky from me...
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.
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
I agree... Bart the General was one of the very first episodes I ever saw (the 5th one ever) and I was hooked. The animation really wasn't great, but the writing was beyond compare. Two Cars in Every Garage, 3 Eyes on Every Fish (a very loose take on Citizen Kane) from early in Season 2 is probably my favorite of all!
Burns: Amazing, isn't it Smithers? This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes has cost me the election, yet if I were to have them killed, I would be the one to go to jail. That's democracy for you.
Smithers: You are noble and poetic in defeat, sir.
Best. Dialog. Ever.
My local WB affiliate is running through seasons 1 and 2 right now... brings back fond memories (even if I do have the DVD box sets).
On the other hand, I saw Bart the Daredevil again last night. I was really struck by how poor the animation was at certain points. One in particular is where the kids are watching wrestling on the TV and start throwing popcorn at the screen. The arm motions are totally wrong... I would have to say that, by the end of season 2, the animation was getting there, but not quite yet.
As for celebrity voice overs, the first episode with Danny Devito was in Season 2 (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?) and the first episode where Sideshow Bob talks (Krusty Gets Busted) was in Season 1. Kelsey Grammar had been on Cheers for several years by then, although he hadn't yet spun that into Frasier.
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.
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.
"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."
when he went to Alt.Nerd.Obsessive.
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.
unfortunately, the voice of Troy McClure is dead... and for that I get to call you an insensitive clod.
"You had this look that of an angel, it was such a bad disguise" --Dishwalla
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.
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
"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.
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).