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."

Comments

I can only hope that

[dr_steel]

Conan O' Brian and some of the earlier writers are involved.

Re:I can only hope that

[ArmenTanzarian]

I read an article on this quite some time ago saying that they were going to pull in a few of the old writers. They also mentioned that the voice actors had been contracted for 3 movies. I thought it was posted on Slashdot, but I can't seem to find it. Either way, here's an interesting page that discusses some of the rumors and has a fairly insightful interview.

Oh yeah

[savagedome]

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 ;)

Make it stop

[SpiffyMarc]

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.

Re:Make it stop

[Viceice]

to be replaced by what? More re-runs of "The Show About Nothing"? No thanks.

The answer is SO obvious. F U T U R A M A

Finally, the end

[blorg]

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.

Welp,

[stomv]

Worst.... movie.... ever

No Simpsons Topic?

[nearlygod]

It is a great unjustice that we have Star Wars and LotR topics but no Simpsons topic. That is unpossible.

nearlygod

Re:I'm Scared

[ZaMoose]

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.

Already done

[kaszeta]

Will there be any shark-jumping?

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.

Re:Already done

[Oyvind Eik]

Here's a picture of it.

Re:Already done

[GigsVT]

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 are the real life comic book guy, aren't you? :)

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut

[blorg]

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut managed this with aplomb. I remember being in the theatre, everything going along relatively calmly, when "Uncle Fucker" started. I have *never* heard so many people explode with laughter. It was classic...

"You don't eat or sleep or mow the lawn, you just fuck your uncle all day long!" Inspired.

Obligatory Informative Links

[crashnbur]

Commercial Sites:

• "The Simpsons" Official Web Site -- Brought to you by Fox (and Matt Groening?)!
  "The Simpsons" Semi-Official Web Site in the UK -- Brought to you by the BBC!

Fan Sites:

• The Simpsons Archive -- "the Internet's clearinghouse of Simpsons guides, news, and information"
  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:

• The Simpsons Personality Test -- I am Lisa Simpson. My dad is Krusty the Clown. Who are you?

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.

Re:Obligatory Informative Links

[EulerX07]

What badgers eat dot com

Still on the web years after the in-episode joke.

episode quality

[jedrek]

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!

Conan O'Brien is overrated

[sbma44]

as a Simpsons writer. While he's a brilliant talk-show host and did some good writing for the Simpsons, he is far too often given all the credit for the Simpsons' golden years. I think if you look at the writing credits you'll see that George Meyer's presence on staff is more closely correlated with Simpsons quality. He is attached to the movie, according to comingsoon.net.

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.

Re:Conan O'Brien is overrated

[hambonewilkins]

Let me see if I get your argument: Both Conan and George were writing during the golden years of the simpsons. Both left. Show gets bad. Later, George came back and the show failed to right itself. Hence, Conan is overrated as a writer? On the contrary, Conan, having written for SNL and the Simpsons, is a very good writer. I DO credit him with the golden years.

Re:Conan O'Brien is overrated

[sbma44]

From snpp.com:

Conan O'Brien wrote or cowrote:

• [9F06] New Kid on the Block
• [9F10] Marge vs. the Monorail
• [1F02] Homer Goes to College
• [1F04] Treehouse of Horror IV (wraparounds)

All very fine episodes, and obviously a staff writer will contribute to others' episodes. But that's just 3.3 episode credits. Conan was a contributor, but not a driving creative force.

George Meyer wrote or cowrote:

• [7G13] The Crepes of Wrath
• [7F07] Bart vs. Thanksgiving
• [7F22] Blood Feud
• [8F01] Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington
• [8F02] Treehouse of Horror II
• [8F15] Separate Vocations
• [9F01] Homer the Heretic
• [1F05] Bart's Inner Child
• [AABF08] Sunday, Cruddy Sunday
• [AABF22] Brother's Little Helper
• [BABF19] Behind the Laughter
• [CABF22] The Parent Rap

That's a much larger contribution. He's also probably got the most cameos on the show of any simpsons writer (he's the dirty looking bearded guy with the gilligan-style hat found in the unemployment line, in the writers' office at I&S studios, etc). And his tenure at the show is considerably longer.

But my best advice is to go here. It's an archive of a new yorker article profiling Meyer. Conan is a great, talented guy. But don't assume that just because he's the only famous name on the Simpsons writing staff that he's the funniest one.

"prepare-for-disappointment department"?

[RandBlade]

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.

Re:"prepare-for-disappointment department"?

[RandBlade]

On MASH - are you refering to the final episodes as a movie, or to the in-theaters movie? If the latter, it was released before the TV series, and was the inspiration, not the other way around.

The final episode of M*A*S*H was movie-length. It wasn't shown in the cinema's, but it was done as a movie. Incredibly emotional and tops any episode.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_A_S_H_(television)

The final episode was titled "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" and was first broadcasted on February 28, 1983. The episode was 2.5 hours long and was viewed by over 125 million Americans (77% of viewship that night) which made "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" the most watched television episode in history up to that time.

I Hear that the sea captain....

[callipygian-showsyst]

I hear that the "Sea Captain" has rated the move "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"!

End of the Simpsons?

[cyranoVR]

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

Aren't they doing that this season?

[gosand]

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.

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.

Re:Aren't they doing that this season?

[gowen]

Fonzie jumping the shark was not 'very very lame', but when the show clearly reached its peak

Your wrong (as incidentally is the frontpage of jumptheshark.com. The OP was right. The Shark Jump was lame, and indicative that the Happy Days writers were entirely devoid of ideas (much as the Simpsons writers have been for 2 or 3 years). It wasn't the peak, it was the point at which the decline was irreversible.

See here for example.

It's about...

[Anonymous Coward]

...a killer robot driving instructor, who travels back in time for some reason. Ron Howard is attached to direct.

Fan reaction...

[BTWR]

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.

Re:Fan reaction...

[rnelsonee]

You have a point about warming up to episodes when you re-watch them, but it's still safe to say the show has declined.

I always liked the show until Season 9, when it started to show bad storylines. Shows like Apu having octuplets continued to demonstrate that the writers were 'running out of ideas', but it still had respectible writing. But then it just got worse and worse. When Ian-Maxtone Graham took over as exec. producer, we saw many things concerning the show that ruined the reputation The Simpsons once had:

• The episodes have lost cohesiveness. Acts I, II, and III are rarely tied together anymore.
• Computer-aiding drawing. Hand animators only draw key poses, and computers interpolate the rest. The result is very clean, but I think it's too clean. The Simpsons lost it's look and feel.
• Other "look and feel" issues: The Simpsons' animators used to only use a limited palette of colors. We're talking one or two shades of light blue, and one or two shades of pink. Now, there's an overuse of colors. Classic examples include lighted/muted colors for background objects, and shadows everywhere - like the back of Lisa's hair - even when everyone's indoors!
• Too topical: The Simpsons relies on jokes taken from current events. Yes, they did this in early seasons, but nowhere near as much as they do now. The timeless quality the writers put into the show in the past is gone now.

Re:here comes the over-use of the "funny" mod

[FortKnox]

Lets not forget the "The Simpsons were funnier when I watched them" and "I hope they use the earlier writers when the Simpsons were funnier"

Alas, I am too late.

FWIW, I think the Simpsons get funnier and funnier the older they get :-P

Re:End of simpson near?

[meta-monkey]

I don't think that's true at all of South Park. South Park is just as funny, if not funnier, today than it was when the movie came out. The movie is great, the series is great...keep it coming.

However, yes, the quality of the Simpsons has deteriorated somewhat, but it's still better than 99.9% of the crap on TV.

Re:Season 1 vs Season 2

[EricWright]

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.

Obligatory Homer Paraphrase

[Anonymous Coward]

"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."

Re:Who will Star?

[unborracho]

unfortunately, the voice of Troy McClure is dead... and for that I get to call you an insensitive clod.

Re:Mmmm.... movies!

[EverDense]

ironically, UPN aired that episode last night

Alanis Morissette and yourself, share a problem with the definition of irony.

Mere coincidence is NOT irony.

American, are you?