The Simpsons Come to Life

musicon writes "Makers of the hit cartoon The Simpsons have a filmed the show's opening titles using real actors. In the hit viral going around the world we get to see what Bart, Homer, Marg, Lisa and Maggie would look like if they were humans. Simpson's maker Matt Groening has approved the human version of the show's opening credits to promote the brand new series." Amazing attention to detail.

Comments

English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

"New series" = "new season"

That's also the reason Marge is driving on the wrong side, it was made in the UK.

Re:English to American translation

[Ghandalfar]

It's funny that Homer isn't.

Re:English to American translation

[greenguy]

What about "have a filmed?" Is that British thing? Because I'd hate to think it was a typo that got past the crack editorial staffs of both the Sun and Slashdot.

Re:English to American translation

[fmcamargo]

you tube video link http://youtube.comcs3yhwta/watch?v=49IDp76kjPw

Re:English to American translation

[greenguy]

Then again, I suppose "Marg" got past both, so....

Re:English to American translation

[Directrix1]

Non-embedded

Re:English to American translation

[icepick72]

the reason Marge is driving on the wrong side

Well, that kind of depends on your perspective now doesn't it. How about "driving on the lefthand-side side of the road instead of the of the righthand-side of the road of which I am accustomed." There. Politically correct and squeaky clean now.

Re:English to American translation

[Sneftel]

Gosh, you're right. The AC's words must have been emotionally shattering for the millions of people who drive on the left hand side. When he posted, it was as though the entire UK wept. I'm just glad that now we can begin the healing process.

Re:English to American translation

[1u3hr]

Since Springfield is in the USA (though it's kept ambiguous exactly where), "left" is definitely "wrong".

Re:English to American translation

[flawedgeek]

Then where did she get a right-hand-drive car?

Re:English to American translation

[ehrichweiss]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DKg22Al4SOE
Corrected link.

Re:English to American translation

[ConceptJunkie]

"The Sun" and /. have editors?

Re:English to American translation

[Poltras]

And isn't Lisa the name of the bigger sister? Supposed to be Maggie there, isn't it?

Re:English to American translation

[slysithesuperspy]

No, in the UK we drive on the right side, ohhh...

Re:English to American translation

[Mozk]

I've heard at least twice on the show itself that Springfield is in Kentucky.

Re:English to American translation

[Ethan Allison]

It's in Missouri. Homer's security service's (SpringShield I think) phone number is +1-636-555-something, and 636 is the area code for suburbs of St. Louis.

Re:English to American translation

[jban4US]

I just wonder why Homer's car is a right side (american style) car while Marge's is left side (everyone else's style) car.

Re:English to American translation

[menacing_cheese]

Uhh I don't think you have. Its pretty well established that the writers/creators of the Simpsons have left the exact location of Springfield a mystery.

Re:English to American translation

[Fred Ferrigno]

At least once was probably during the "Behind The Laughter" episode, which is not a part of the normal Simpsons universe. The Simpsons Archive has a has a complete episode-by-episode breakdown of all state references. In short, Springfield does not have a fixed location intentionally. They picked the name Springfield precisely because it exists in so many states.

Re:English to American translation

[Toutatis]

Everybody do already know there's something wrong in the leftorium.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Well Marge IS driving on the wrong side, because the one thing we know about the location of Springfield is that it is in the United States.

Re:English to American translation

[friedmud]

Not too mention that there is a Nuclear Rector outside Fulton Missouri (not terribly far from Springfield, MO)... and Springfield MO is close to Branson MO (which the simpson's have visited a couple of times).

Being from Springfield MO myself, I it's pretty plain to me that they mean Springfield MO. (although I'm sure others living in other springfields feel the same) ;-)

Friedmud

Re:English to American translation

[Dark_Lord_Prime]

Yeah, but so did "Lisa" driving Marge's car...

Re:English to American translation

[RichardX]

For the love of all that is holy, please don't assume that The Sun represents British journalism, or indeed, any kind of journalism. It exists purely to pander to the lowest common denominator (and I'm not even talking about page 3 here. That's one of it's highlights.)

Re:English to American translation

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

obligatory quote:
it's as if millions of voices cried out at once, and then silenced.

Re:English to American translation

[Pharmboy]

Um, he has and so has everyone else. Episode 248. Google it. Kentucky. Their own words. They don't dwell on it, but they clearly said as much at the end of the episode.

Lisa has also admited as much with her "It's a bit of a mystery, yes, but if you look at the clues, you can figure it out." comment previously.

Re:English to American translation

[wbd]

Nuclear Rector? Clergy gots atomics!

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Behind the Laughter is non-canonical. Shut up.

Re:English to American translation

[Myopic]

i don't understand. i see him driving on the left. he's driving on the right side of the road, coming toward us, which is the left by his direction.

Re:English to American translation

[Timex]

Well, that kind of depends on your perspective now doesn't it. How about "driving on the lefthand-side side of the road instead of the of the righthand-side of the road of which I am accustomed." There. Politically correct and squeaky clean now.
 
...or "The steering wheels of Marge's car and Homer's are on opposite sides, and their driving style is reflected accordingly."

Of course, seeing how Marge drives (in the cartoon), I'd guess that it doesn't really matter what side of the road she's driving on-- Her thought seems to be that she's doing okay, so long as she's on pavement... The steering wheel position isn't quite so easy to explain, though, unless Homer's car is from the Continent.

Re:English to American translation

[JLF65]

It can't possibly be in Missouri or Kentucky - it's on the Atlantic coastline. Homer WALKS to the lighthouse on the edge of town once (the episode where he seeks his soulmate). Unless you think they put lighthouses on rivers or lakes, Springfield HAS to be either on the Atlantic coast (most probable), or the Gulf of Mexico.

Given Cletus the Slack-jawed Yokal, this clearly puts Springfield in Virginia or North Carolina (the accent and lifestyle are right for those two states). I would say North Carolina is the most probable location of Springfield given everything seen over the years.

Re:English to American translation

[RobertKozak]

No one has pointed out yet that each time you view this file the comments on the blackboard keep changing.

-- Robert

Re:English to American translation

[dozer]

The dudes from Kentucky are convinced Springfield is in Kentucky, the dudes from Missouri are sure it's in Missouri... When you're selective abou tthe facts you accept, it's trivial to figure out where Springfield is located!

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Or it's on/near a Great Lake (and yes, there are lighthouses on the Great Lakes). I've always thought it was Springfield, IL.

Re:English to American translation

[ksheff]

If he was driving a vehicle with the steering wheel on the right hand side of the car, he wouldn't be able to get nearly run over by Lisa and still have the car in the same spot in the driveway as the cartoon.
I'm guessing Homer got a cheap used car from the continent. Are there many people driving cars with the controls on the left in the UK?

Re:English to American translation

[Mattintosh]

Homer's drivers license in one episode has the state as "NT", which is the abbreviation for "North Takoma", according to the same episode.

Re:English to American translation

[Solokron]

And then of course to make Homer's but crack appearance he gets out of the left side of the car anyhow in the driveway anyhow.

Re:English to American translation

[Mattintosh]

Springfield is on the other side of the state from St. Louis. If I'm not mistaken, it's in the 816 area code.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

In other episodes, they show an old squid cannery on the waterfront. I'm pretty sure that squids don't live in the lakes.

Re:English to American translation

[Solokron]

Wow, time to start reviewing what I write before posting!

Re:English to American translation

[Mattintosh]

There are lighthouses on rivers. There's one in Hannibal, Missouri on Cardiff Hill overlooking the Mississippi River.

Cletus would fit right in with the hicks in the midwest, especially in the Ozark Mountains near Springfield, Missouri. The problem is, it's apparently easier to draw coniferous trees around a mountain cabin, which is a good way to eliminate the oak-forested Ozarks as a probable location for the cartoon city of Springfield.

Re:English to American translation

[SamSim]

Thank you for spreading the word about that episode. I maintain that article and I get people emailing me after watching that episode ALL THE TIME. As if I wouldn't have seen that episode, as well as EVERY OTHER EPISODE THERE IS.

The other "Kentucky" moment which the grandparent may be referring to is in "Sweets And Sour Marge" when somebody mentions going "south of the border" and Homer says "you mean Tennessee?" Pedantically, 1) Tennessee borders Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia to the north, although Kentucky is the main one and 2) doesn't it seem rather more likely that Homer might not know his geography?

Re:English to American translation

[lucky130]

What about Springfield, IL which is very near Shelbyville, IL and has a nuke reactor nearby in Clinton, IL?

Re:English to American translation

[SamSim]

That phone number is given so it fits in with established continuity (an event which is practically unique in Simpsons history, frankly) - in the earlier episode "A Tale Of Two Springfields", Springfield was divided into two area codes, 636 and 939. 636 - which includes the Simpsons' house - is in reality in Missouri, while 939 is in Puerto Rico. Interestingly, while Missouri does contain a Springfield, that Springfield is in the 417 area code.

Had Homer given the number 1-939-555-XXXX then I doubt we could reasonably conclude Springfield was in Puerto Rico.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

And he probably doesn't know north from south either.

Re:English to American translation

[menacing_cheese]

My mistake. I guess he has heard it. But as the AC said, Behind the Laughter is not considered canon. And in the second airing of this episode Kentucky was changed to Southern Missouri. As far as Lisa's comment, the writer's were obviously poking fun at the fact that you can't figure it out. There is a ton of evidence out there that rules out every state in the union as a possible home to Springfield. Not the least of which is that no state in the union has a capital named Capital City.

Re:English to American translation

[SamSim]

I maintain the Where Is Springfield? file at snpp.com and I can say for sure that you are right: people ALWAYS think that Springfield is based on THEIR state, or the nearest Springfield to where they live. I've had emails from all over.

This is because they are more familiar with their own locality than anywhere else in America, so they see more similarities between the town on the television show and their home than any other place in America.

In reality this shows the success of the writers of the Simpsons to make Springfield, as much as possible, a reflection of all of America rolled into a single town. The name "Springfield" was chosen precisely because it was so common, because it meant Springfield could be literally anywhere in the mainland USA. Everybody sees things they recognise in the town of Springfield, and in the people of Springfield, and in the Simpsons themselves, which is part of the reason why the show became so very very popular.

Finally, for the record: Springfield is not based on a real Springfield. It is not based on ANY real town. At all. Thanks.

Re:English to American translation

[SamSim]

On the other hand, the episode "Simpson Tide" clearly shows Homer departing, by submarine, from Springfield Harbour on the WEST coast of the United States and heading towards Russia, thus proving conclusively that Springfield is wherever the writers want it to be for that episode.

Re:English to American translation

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"I've heard at least twice on the show itself that Springfield is in Kentucky."

The first time I saw that episode, it said Missouri. The second time that show aired, they said Kentucky. It was a practical joke on the audience.

Besides, we all know that it's a reference to Springfield, Oregon. :P

Re:English to American translation

[Quino]

from:

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=30m edt6bi6a6n?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Behind+the+Lau ghter&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04b&linktext=Behi nd%20the%20Laughter

"northern Kentucky" was changed to "southern Missouri" for some regions' airings of the episode, and completely different locations for other regions, so the mystery (or joke) continues.

Re:English to American translation

[Hogwash McFly]

No.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

'Pretty plain', but how do you explain the absence of Shelbyville as a neighboring town, hmmmmm?

That does knowck you out of the running, now does it?

Re:English to American translation

[Petrushka]

Thousands might believe you, but I won't. Come on, it is the default "newspaper" of choice for the majority of Brits ... and the others, including broadsheets, aren't any less biased, they just put everything into high-falutin' language to make themselves sound poncier. The Times is a tabloid by any reasonable definition. (Rant, rant)

No, I honestly believe that ... sad but true. Mind you, it's difficult to find any newspaper that merits the name. I've been told the Sueddeutsche is good, but my German isn't good enough to read that every day. Anyway I don't live in Europe so it's difficult to get them here anyway.

Re:English to American translation

[fm6]

...doesn't it seem rather more likely that Homer might not know his geography?

Only if you assume that The Simpsons is a comedy, a point which many people in this discussion apparently don't accept!

Re:English to American translation

[Lodragandraoidh]

There is a Springfield Virginia.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

"It exists purely to pander to the lowest common denominator"

Aye, and they can vote.

Who said that democracy is a good thing?

A Thoroughly Disillusioned Brit

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Well obviously they are in a state which hasn't got round to switching to driving on the right yet. As the other former British colony states did in the early nineteenth century.
So look for a state with an out of date legal system.
It would also explain why they have cars of the other persuasion as well.
  RJG.

Re:English to American translation

[Lxy]

I'm confused by Lisa's comment about "It's a bit of a mystery, yes, but if you look at the clues, you can figure it out." If the town doesn't exist. I've seen many debates on the subject, and the only logical conclusion is that it doesn't exist. We do however have probability.

Your site missed a clue, I consider it a big one. In ep 8F08 (Flaming Moe's) Steven Tyler mistakingly screams out "Hello, St Louis!", implying that he may be near St. Louis. Of course, large bands often have no idea where they are. Maybe he was either in St. Louis the night before, or will be tomorrow night, or the road manager was just plain lost. I think it was intentional on the part of Matt Groening, and gives us another point for Springfield, MO.

Re:English to American translation

[HappyEngineer]

Your comment piqued my interest. I wasn't sure whether the rest of the world drove on the left or not, so I decided to google for the answer.

See drivings sides. There are 74 left driving countries and 166 right driving countries. Furthermore, it lists populations. 66% of the people in the world live in areas where driving is done on the right had side of the road.

I think you're thinking of the metric system. Most nations apparently use it, although I didn't find a page with the nice stats I found about the driving sides.

Re:English to American translation

[G-funk]

Sorry kiddo, this is Bronson, Missouri.

Hey ma, how about some cookies?

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

No. Wrong. Right is right, left is WRONG.

Re:English to American translation

[SamSim]

Lisa's comment is one of many, many jokes on the fact that Springfield has no definite location. If you're confused by the comment, you're missing the point.

Reasonably, all we can sensibly conclude from "Flaming Moe's" is that Springfield is not the city of St. Louis, which we knew already.

Re:English to American translation

[NotPeteMcCabe]

Everybody knows it's Springfield, Oh hiya Maude!

Re:English to American translation

[dankasfuk]

At the end of the 138th Episode Spectacular, the voice over says something to the effect of "this small Kentucky family"...

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, frankly Marge is driving on the wrong side of the road. The Simpsons are American. If Marge is driving on that side of the road, the rest of the folks in Springfield (whatever state it's in!) better watch out.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe because he's driving a Lada (a Riva 1500 maybe), wich is a russian car brand. Don't know if they made UK-Versions of their cars (don't think so).

Re:English to American translation

[osobear]

Springfield, IL (the capitol), is very very close to Shelbyville, IL.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing Homer got a cheap used car from the continent.

Which continent? Is that how it is referred to regularly by Brits?

Re:English to American translation

[syukton]

Oh right, there could never be a Springfield elsewhere.

Re:English to American translation

[outsider007]

When someone says 'righthand' or 'lefthand' I always wonder if it's because they have to actually look at their hands to tell right from left. Because otherwise what's the reason?

Re:English to American translation

[DIGITAiLor]

Hahahahahahaha Thanks for the laugh buddy!

Re:English to American translation

[ConceptJunkie]

...much pointless debate about the side of the steering wheel is on...

Of course, they _never_ could have just flipped the video.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it's the wrong side, considering it's supposed to be an exact replica of the intro sequence of "The Simpsons".

Re:English to American translation

[Walt Dismal]

They do in Lake Squid. And Grandpaw used to go ice-squid fishing in the winter. At least that's what he told Gram, until the day he came home with lipstick smears and he tried to tell her a lipstick-bearing squid attacked him after the third beer.

Re:English to American translation

[Deliveranc3]

Um, using the right hand for the Gear Shift? Frikkin Genius!

Though the Brittish way does make it easier for right handed people to, look over their shoulder and keep their dominant hand on the wheel.

However there can't be a truly right way because these conventions weren't developed in the time of automobiles (Brits with first cars vs Americans with first mass production cars) but rather in horse and buggey or before.

It's currently about 50/50 and we're more likely to reach a road system on which it doesn't matter (automagical cars :P) than we are to agree.

Isn't human nature grand!

P.S. I'm a Canadian - bridging the gap between Americans and Brits since the 18th century.

Re:English to American translation

[andrewa]

Ehrm... Right here in Oregon...

http://www.portlandtribune.com/simpsons/

Yes, yes. I read the arguments about the other towns. BTW, was that the Didcot power station in the opening scenes of the movie...? Being from Oxford originally, it looked familiar....

Re:English to American translation

[biglig2]

The thing you must remember about the Sun is that it's staff are very skillful and clever people and do not print stuff because they are evil; they print it because that is what people buy.

Re:English to American translation

[biglig2]

I once read somewhere - it may be fact, it may be the ravings of a paranoiac - that every motorway junction in the UK has been deliberately designed to still work if we changed to driving on the right...

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking of crack...

Re:English to American translation

[lewp]

No dice!

Re:English to American translation

[jazir1979]

which is the reason why the sun is mostly T&A (tits and arse, for the uninitiated)

Re:English to American translation

[jban4US]

Hmm, that's really interesting, suprising, actually. I figured since we did everything else different, surely we drove on the wrong side too :P. Glad to know we don't do everything backwards, although this might be because the advent of mass produced automobiles originated in the US.

Re:English to American translation

[dfgchgfxrjtdhgh.jjhv]

I'd rather have my right hand on the wheel than the gear stick, and theres the looking behind you while reversing & steering thing too.

its the british that drive on the correct side of the road, everyone else got it wrong.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh right, there could never [google.com] be [google.com] a Springfield [google.com] elsewhere [google.com].

Don't be a dope. The Simpsons is quite clearly an American show about an American family living in a town called Springfield somewhere in the USA. So there are Springfields outside the USA? BFD. We all know the Simpsons live in the USA. Bringing up the existence of towns called Springfield outside the USA is boring, pedantic, and pointless.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

But journalists DO have a responsibility to print the truth, even if printing something more sensationalized would sell better. That you see nothing wrong with them not living up to their responsibilities is a sad sign.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh... reminds me of the time I went to see Alice Cooper with Slaughter and Warrant opening. Before the set, Mark Slaughter held his Heineken up high and proclaimed "Milwaukee, I love your beer!!!" Alice Cooper was pretty good, though.

Re:English to American translation

[thelem]

Yes, Springfield is in the USA, but you're assuming the family in the film is the Simpsons. The way I interpret it, it is just a regular British family who watch the Simpsons so much that they have become like them. After all, the Simpsons are meant to be a regular American family, so its kind of fitting.

Re:English to American translation

[name*censored*]

Yeah, did anyone notice that they somehow managed to make 2 mistakes in one sentance (Marg=Marge, and "Lisa" wasn't in the car ....)

Does the editor even watch The Simpsons?

Re:English to American translation

[Ayanami Rei]

That's just it.
They base certain aspects of Springfield on many real-life Springfields and other American towns.

They wanted a town they could be "rivals" with.

So they looked at a map of Sprinfield IL and found the nearest large town nearby. Thus begat Shelbyville.

Re:English to American translation

[Mozk]

I know about that one, and the other instance was probably the one a replier to your post mentioned. Thanks for the link too.

Re:English to American translation

[bckrispi]

Obligitory correct quote:

"... as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. "

Re:English to American translation

[HorsePunchKid]

Lighthouses are quite common on rivers and lakes.

Re:English to American translation

[naoursla]

In the G.I. Joe comic book, COBRA was based out of a Springfield (in fact the entire town was a COBRA operation run like some sort of Stepford Wives style cult). I am sure the fine folks at Marvel chose the name Springfield for the exact same reason.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

> its the british that drive on the correct side of the road, everyone else got it wrong.

What about the Australians, Japanese, Indians (from India), Chinese (in Hong Kong), Chinese (in Macau, despite it being a Portuguese colony), Singaporians, and others I've probably forgotten?

I expect there's a Wikipedia article about it, but I'm in China (who, BTW, drive on the left hand side*).

* of the car.

Re:English to American translation

[stare_at_the_sun]

But it is just so much more fun to try to find the "real Springfield"! http://www.compuglobalhypermega.net/ has a rather good take on the quest.
And I am rather envious of that guy's domain name...

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

> so long as she's on pavement...

What?!?!

Re:English to American translation

[G-funk]

This ain't over...

Re:English to American translation

[dfgchgfxrjtdhgh.jjhv]

ok, everywhere except a few mostly ex-colonies & one or two other very sensible countries, got it wrong ;)

portugal also used to drive on the left, until the 1920s, that explains macau

gibralter, ireland, bangladesh and south aftrica drive on the left too, as well as malta & cyprus & many other mainly commonwealth countries.

it seems driving on the right was a french idea.

Re:English to American translation

[CelticLo]

Well there's a nuclear site called Springfield in the UK.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=53.777696, +-2.815128+(Springfield,+Preston,+UK)&ll=53.777694 ,-2.815118&spn=0.008622,0.027122&t=h

Re:English to American translation

[AndrewHowe]

Europe. Yes.

Re:English to American translation

[AndrewHowe]

Never have I heard such gratuitous use of the word 'but'.

Re:English to American translation

[elvum]

Most would, but not all. :-)

Re:English to American translation

[1u3hr]

ok, everywhere except a few mostly ex-colonies & one or two other very sensible countries, got it wrong ;) portugal also used to drive on the left, until the 1920s, that explains macau gibralter, ireland, bangladesh and south aftrica drive on the left too, as well as malta & cyprus & many other mainly commonwealth countries.

Hong Kong still drives on the right, despite now being part of China. It helps to cut down cross-border car theft and smuggling.

Also Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan are left-side.

Re:English to American translation

[Mr Z]

...or Springfield, IL, which is much closer.

Re:English to American translation

[GregWebb]

Er...

Would it be worth pointing out that Springfield in the Simpsons is coastal? And that the only location hints for the coast have it as a west coast?

It's officially supposed to be Anytown, USA, with hints of anywhere, but the few solid geographic hints they've given (more in later episodes and I suspect not entirely deliberately) have made me think of Oregon.

(Matt Groening's home state, FWIW...)

Re:English to American translation

[tacocat]

It probably also spells the end of the series. Like jumping the shard tank.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Well at least she isn't driving on the RIGHT side.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

errr, sorry to pee on your bonfire there, but

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Springfi eld,+West+Midlands,+B13&ll=52.446175,-1.857891&spn =0.027831,0.177498

and google will show you 3 more springfields in the uk (and I know of at least a couple more that aren't suberbs of cities!!)

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

FYI the origin of the left-hand travel thing (warning:possibly apocryphal) is that a man travelling on horseback with arms would present his shield to the kerb and his sword arm to an oncoming (similarly armed) traveller (most people being right handed). This would mean the traveller presented an open passive stance, rather than t'other way round which would be quite aggresive. A bit like approaching a guy with your gun drawn or holstered I guess.

Also, there is some view that this contributed to the demonising of left handed people, since they would always be forced to present the aggresive stance. Terribly rude and uncivil of them.

Re:English to American translation

[jellomizer]

Well one could also assume that it is in Upstate NY too.
the Springfield NT or NY could just be a bad Y. There are numerous references to Albany, NY (Grandpa use to live there, The school was going to visit Albany on a School trip with the money they made from recycling paper. ) and they are in Driving range of New York City, for a day trip. But what I heard about that is one of the Producers or writers or someone who work(s/ed) on the Simpsons was from the Albany NY area, and he also worked on the Dilbert cartoon thus a lot of Jokes about Albany, NY came.

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Funnily enough, BNFL Springfields in the UK is a nuclear site (fuel manufacture though, no power station).

Do any of the various Springfield-s in the US have a nuclear site of any sort in the town?

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that you, Comic Book Guy?

Re:English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Marge is finally driving on the CORRECT side of the road, you silly americans allways get things the wrong way round.

btw, a season is a period of the year.

a series would be a series of programs.

Re:English to American translation

[elrous0]

I've heard at least twice on the show itself that Springfield is in Kentucky.

Which is, of course, widely known for its hurricanes and desert landscapes.

-Eric

Re:English to American translation

[biglig2]

Ah, paranoic ravings then. The internet is great, isn't it.

Come to think of it, one I use a lot wouldn't switch - High Wycombe East, which you can only leave westbound and join eastbound, for some bizzare reason.

Re:English to American translation

[elrous0]

Lisa has also admited as much with her "It's a bit of a mystery, yes, but if you look at the clues, you can figure it out." comment previously.

No, you can't. No place exists in the U.S. with all the characteristics we've seen of the Simpsons hometown. No state with desert landscapes gets hurricanes or was founded by a Revolutionary-era pioneer.

In short, it's a running gag.

-Eric

Re:English to American translation

[elrous0]

gives us another point for Springfield, MO.

Get a lot of hurricanes in Missouri, do ya?

-Eric

Re:English to American translation

[HTH NE1]

Then where did she get a right-hand-drive car?

She saved money by buying a "slightly irregular" car from Crazy Vlaclav's Place of Automobiles?

Re:English to American translation

[jeffgeno]

And in Italian "kentucky" means "whore."

Re:English to American translation

[Timex]

Okay... let me rephrase, using terms provided by your gracious link: [Marge's] thought seems to be that she's doing okay, so long as she's on tarmac...

Crazy Brits... Where'd they learn English? :)

Re:English to American translation

[LordKronos]

Unless you think they put lighthouses on rivers or lakes

For starters, theres about 180 lighthouses on the Great Lakes alone (in fact, Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state), but then I suppose those aren't your typical lakes...probably a bit more like small oceans. There are also a half dozen or so navigational lighthouses on the Columbia River (Oregon/Washington border). There are several more individual navigational lighthouse on other various rivers.

But aside from that, there are plenty of lighthouses on rivers and lakes which are fully functional but serve only decorative or memorial purposes, such as the Mariners Memorial Lighthouse near Detroit, Michigan and the Celina lighthouse (built on a manmade lake) in Celina, Ohio.

Re:English to American translation

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

thank you. . . the possibilities of me successfully quoting a movie are three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one.

Re:English to American translation

[bckrispi]

Never tell me the odds! ;)

They look so fake

[bj8rn]

Five fingers on each hand? No yellow skin and blue hair? Gimme a break.

Re:They look so fake

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Not to mention that the kids' hair isn't just the shape of thier heads.

Re:They look so fake

[fm6]

I seem to recall an episode where it was predicted that humans would someday evolve into a five-fingered form. Obviously, this has finally happened!

Re:They look so fake

[AndroidCat]

They look like some kind of weird graphics rendered into the third dimension using frinkahedrons.

Re:They look so fake

[Anonymous Coward]

god has five fingers

Re:They look so fake

[Skidge]

I like how whenever God it drawn in the Simpsons, He has 5 fingers.

As reported by "The Sun",

[onebuttonmouse]

the real world version of the Springfield Shopper.

Re:As reported by "The Sun",

[d99-sbr]

Yea, after the Shopper merged with Hot Sex Weekly it pretty much went downhill from there...

The kids

[Dionysus]

Isn't Bart supposed to be older than Lisa?

Re:The kids

[Firehed]

Not unless eight suddenly became a bigger number than ten.

Re:The kids

[PainBot]

Yeah, but boys are often shorter than girls around that age... I should know, d'oh !

Re:The kids

[Marc2k]

No, but 10 happens to be bigger than 8. Thus, he's right.

Re:The kids

[hogfat]

But not when there's a gap of two years between. According to the CDC, 95% of 10 year old boys are taller than half of the 8 year old girls, and half of all 10 year old boys are taller than 95% of 8 year old girls.

Re:The kids

[sharopolis]

The boy in the trailer does actually appear to be skateboarding himself. There's probably a limited number of child actors that can skate, he could have been the only kid they could get.

Re:The kids

[nephridium]

Yeah, but boys are often shorter than girls around that age... I should know, d'oh !

In the Cartoon Bart is older AND taller than Lisa, though.

I don't want to sound like the comic book guy, but "attention to detail"?

Re:The kids

[oh_bugger]

I doubt there's a limited number of small girls though, many of which can probably pretend to play a saxaphone

Re:The kids

[kv9]

saxamaphone*

Re:The kids

[Hogwash McFly]

I think a Nelson-style point and 'HA-HA' is appropriate here.

Re:The kids

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't that be more like 28 and 30? God that show has been on the air for so so long.

Re:The kids

[AndroidCat]

At least we know why Maggie isn't walking yet--she's just waiting for her tentacles to grow out.

Re:The kids

[fraudrogic]

I don't want to sound like the comic book guy....


Too late.

Worst. Not-wanting-to-sound-like-comic-book-guy-Post. Ever.

Re:The kids

[fm6]

If you don't want to sound like the comic book guy, you shouldn't go anywhere near Slashdo!

Re:The kids

[StikyPad]

I don't want to sound like the comic book guy

Too late.

Re:The kids

[Anonymous Coward]

But they didn't really need a child "actor", I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to get a kid who could do basic skateboarding who was able to follow some very simple directions. (when the bell rings, run out the door. Ride your skateboard down the street...)

Re:The kids

[Anonymous Coward]

Some boys are short & some girls are tall. Let us never speak of this again.

Re:The kids

[SomeGuyFromCA]

don't forget bouncing off the roof of "homer"'s car and sticking the landing...

Re:The kids

[hogfat]

You actually think the car stunt was practical?

Re:The kids

[Anonymous Coward]

wot the shit is Slashdo?

Re:The kids

[sabre307]

Watch the show sometimes. Bart is the middle child. Lisa is actually the oldest.

Re:The kids

[Anonymous Coward]

Right... say, you might want to go back and correct all those episodes establishing Bart as the oldest.

Re:The kids

[craXORjack]

Girls start to get taller than the boys once they begin puberty typically around 11-13 years. Lisa is only 8.

Re:The kids

[Ambush]

Isn't Bart supposed to be older than Lisa?

And right-handed?

Re:The kids

[skam240]

The real issue is where the hell does that teleporting devil baby lisa come from at the ending couch scene!?!?

Also they're missing the register display of "NRA forever" when maggie is priced over the register.

Re:The kids

[Anonymous Coward]

...

you sir, are retarded.

it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[joe545]

This introduction was made by the UK satelite TV channel Sky, although Rupert Murdoch owns both Sky and Fox. If this fil was really made by the makers of the simpsons would the cars drive on the left-hand side of the road as they do in this film?

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[ettlz]

He also happens to own The Sun.

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[JeffSh]

not sure who made it, but the simpsons has a huge UK following. by percentage, i would bet it's more popular there than it is in the US.

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[LS]

It's extrememly easy to mirror the video to switch right and left...

LS

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[SecretAsianMan]

He also happens to own The Sun.

You mean he fell for those "Buy property on the Sun!" ads he saw in the classified ads?

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[Tony Hoyle]

That used to be true a couple of years back, but the endless and constant repeats have basically killed most of its support... you can hardly switch onto sky one without a 'simpsons marathon' blighting your day.

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[Anonymous Coward]

I think by left hand side of the road you mean wrong side of the road.

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[Scrameustache]

He also happens to own The Sun.

Rupert Murdoch owns the Sky AND the Sun?!?

But the moon is still free, right? Right?

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[Paul Jakma]

And he also owns Twentieth Century Fox.

Finally, this is (should be) old news. Sky One showed this promo *last year*.

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[TheAncientHacker]

Rupert Murdoch owns the Sky AND the Sun?!?

But the moon is still free, right? Right?

No. Reverend Moon owns the Washington Times.

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[dougmc]

But the moon is still free, right? Right?

Sort of. The moon does not create it's own light -- it merely reflect that it receives from the Sun, which apparantly is owned by Rupert. So it's probably just a matter of time before he goes after the Moon for appropriating his light without paying licensing fees.

(Yes, the vast majority of the light emitted by the Sun goes off into deep space and is effectively wasted, but any that is used, the rightful owner would certainly expect to be compensated for, and while he'd rather not litigate if he can avoid it, he certainly will to protect his property!)

(Dyson sphere coming soon! Sort of like DRM, but on a much larger scale.) Of course, even a Dyson sphere eventually has to have the same luminosity as the star inside of it (unless it wants to just get hotter and hotter) but it still represents the best possible means of extracting the full licensing potential of 0wning (with a zero) the Sun, short of unprofitable legal/cosmological issues like black holes.

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[ejp1082]

What killed the Simpsons as a pop culture phenomenon was simply its decline in quality. It just sucks now compared to its golden age. It used to be the sharpest sattire on TV - nowadays its a pale reflection of its former glory.

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[Anonymous Coward]

He's also considering buying The Suprnova

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[orkysoft]

Your sig is oddly appropriate now :-)

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[Hogwash McFly]

Let's not forget MySpace.

On second thoughts, let's really try to forget MySpace...

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[Anonymous Coward]

Easy to check if the image has been flipped horizontally. Check the writings/number plates/street signs.

Or alternatively check which arm G.W.B. is holding up when he shouts "Heil Hitler".

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[yndrd1984]

He also happens to own The Sun.

But his show tells us that since the dawn of time man has yearned to destroy the sun, so isn't he shooting himself in the foot?

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[yndrd1984]

Rupert Murdoch owns the Sky

"You can't take the sky from me."

You bastard! Give it back!

Re:it is not by the makers of the simpsons!

[quinkin]

Wow a Zardoz reference... you need help. :)
Q.

Slashdotted

[prichardson]

It's too bad their webserver never made it into the third dimension.

Anyone have any more?

Re:Slashdotted

[LiquidCoooled]

Its available on youtube.

Heres the Real life Simpsons intro :)

Re:Slashdotted

[bj8rn]

Here's a YouTube link (found on MetaFilter)

Re:Slashdotted

[Anonymous Coward]

It succuumed to the Digg Effect long before it appeared on /.

New Series?

[xylix]

Matt Groening has approved the human version of the show's opening credits to promote the brand new series.

When I read the above I thought Groening must be promoting a brand new TV show... except there is no mention of this. Do they mean 'new series' as in a new season? Is this a British English - American English thing?

Assuming that this is just a one off opening sequence for the latest SEASON of the Simpsons I don't get why this is news. They always do something different with the opening sequence. So they are using live actors. Big deal. If they were making an entire show with real actors or if they were creating some spin off show with real actors (which is how I had read this) then maybe that would be news.

just my 2 cents

Re:New Series?

[LeonGeeste]

Try to avoid typing in italics.

Re:New Series?

[Tedium Unleased]

I'm just glad it isn't another Apple product price change update. Though people have some how managed to mention Apple multiple times in the comments.

Re:New Series?

[tverbeek]

Do they mean 'new series' as in a new season? Is this a British English - American English thing?

Because BBC TV productions haven't necessarily followed the model of annual Fall-to-Spring production schedules (as the American networks usually do), they call each batch of episodes a "series".

Re:New Series?

[Jozer99]

Looks to be filmed in england (both by the looks of the actors and by the fact that one of the cars is right hand drive). I bet this is more like fan art than official.

Re:New Series?

[croddy]

Okay, I have to ask -- how do y'all describe what Americans call a "series"?

Re:New Series?

[Nintendork]

Come on, he's created a cartoon series that's been around for many, many years. I remember it launching and relating to Bart in the sense that I was also in 4th grade. I'm 25 now and have grown up watching The Simpsons from time to time. People are excited because the idea of using live actors for a movie version has been around nearly as long as the show itself. Remember when everyone went nuts for the CGI characters in the halloween special? This shows us that Matt really isn't afraid of doing live action, he's just waiting for the right time and place. Even if he never did it, at least there would be "something" done live. Personally, i'm not a huge fan of the show, but I'd love to see a full live-action movie. I was laughing the whole way through this intro and can't beleive how well they pulled it off, especially the camera work!

Re:New Series?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can you even read?

Re:New Series?

[croddy]

yes, i know what we call it. i want to know what they call our "series" ....

-- american

Re:New Series?

[needacoolnickname]

The Simpsons is a series. The X-Files is a series. Each show is a series. If they are lucky enough not to be killed off in the middle of a season or told they will not be brought back the next season we get a "series finale". Otherwise the show just goes off into the ether.

Re:New Series?

[orudge]

Generally we would call a series a 'show', or at times a 'series' too... eg, one could refer to the third series of the BBC's comedy series "Little Britain". Confusing, perhaps, but we seem to get by. When referring to American shows though, 'season' is often used as it would be in the US.

Re:New Series?

[daeg]

Actually, very few shows follow the traditional fall to spring scheduling anymore. Sweeps periods now happen more frequently. In our case, we have 4 sweeps periods (CBS) during the year. New seasons generally air during these critical rating periods. Sweeps used to be twice a year: fall and spring. Now it is very common for shows to take breaks during their season. ABC's Lost is a perfect example. They've taken numerous several week long breaks. These breaks are periods when they are NOT in sweeps. The shows typically "return" to air at the beginning of a sweeps period since the first episode after an in-season break gives huge ratings.

Also, new shows that are considered risky ventures are not played during sweeps or are played at the end of a sweeps period. Thus the people that make sure to watch a show to help its ratings really don't help at all since no one cares about ratings between sweeps.

In case you're wondering, sweeps periods are never staggered the same. Some sweeps periods last for two or three weeks while others can last up to 5 consecutive weeks with only a few weeks break before the next sweeps period. They generally are set to predate seasonal advertising routines. E.g., one of the last sweeps periods ends in early November and sets the advertising rates through the end of the holiday season.

The more you know(tm).

Youtube video link/mirror...

[goldragon]

here just in case there's any trouble with the The Sun's link. As someone pointed out to me yesterday, notice that Homer's car is lefthand drive while Marge's is righthand drive.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[bj8rn]

As someone pointed out to me yesterday, notice that Homer's car is lefthand drive while Marge's is righthand drive.

Yeah, it's a bit strange, given that Ladas (it's what Homer is driving, and yes, I'm laughing -- Homer Simpson is driving a bloody Lada!) were, to my knowledge, made righthand drive as well.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[kalidasa]

That's because Homer needs to be in the middle of the driveway when Marge gets home. They would have had to mirror the whole house to get the same visual effect (Homer on the side of the driveway away from the house, getting out of the car and moving toward the house when he's nearly run down) with a right-driver car. The casting of the two kids doesn't work - the girl playing Lisa is one year too young, the boy playing Bart two years too young.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[stunt_penguin]

Yea, though the side on which 'Homer' here throws out the fuel rod matters , because it sets up the pan and cut to 'Bart' skateboarding along the street in the right direction. Somone else just mentioned the side Homer gets out of the car on needing to be left for the driveway sequence, too.
Oh they got things like the twins in the school band in there too- I must go look for a few more characters from the series, too, like Apu and stuff.

Fun parody though-- glad they didn't attempt to make the actors look exactly like the simpsons, with Marge's beehive and stuff, or Homer's clothes because either because they wouldn't have looked right in live action, and attempting to look like the Simpsons would have come off badly.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

> notice that Homer's car is lefthand drive while Marge's is righthand drive.

Is it any surprise that Homer, as the resident moron, is a yank? :)

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[Jack9]

When homer takes his "protective hood" off, Mr. Burns (left) and Smithers (right) are visible.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[Jack9]

Stepping through the scool band scene...why is there a kid in an "ethnic" mask in the second row from the right? (see behind the music instructor's arm) I could be mistaken, but that face looks really really strange and it put me off from the first time I saw the scene.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[aj50]

They're supposed to be eight and ten, right?

I would say the lisa actor is too old, but the bart actor is about right.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[HardCase]

Maybe he's French.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

looks like a odd looking ethnic kid to me.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, if he were French, instead of throwing the fuel rod out the window, he would have surrendered to it.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[Jack9]

Later when panning back, you can see the same kid very alive and animated and looking like a real kid.

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[sbaker]

Did you also spot what looks like a live-action Krusty in the TV's in the store window? But he has orange hair...weird.

Darn - now I have to find a Simpsons video so I can step through it a frame at a time!

Re:Youtube video link/mirror...

[Mahler]

Do you really think Marge is driving that car?

Never trust a British newspaper....

[garyr_h]

They even got the simplest thing wrong "While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car." It's Maggie!

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[oilisgood]

Thank you "Comic Book Guy"

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[Lord Pillage]

Marge is also spelled with an 'e'.

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, the video sorta got things wrong too (though this is a bit unrelated to what you said): after Maggie is scanned at the supermarket, she's supposed to be put into the grocery bag, while an inadvertant Marge takes the bag away. This is our introduction to Marge. Instead, they skip the latter part of that scene and instead our first introduction to Marge is in the car, where Maggie appears to be driving (and yes, apparently Marge drives an English car; Homer drives an American car).

This all might be nitpicking, but this submission has been up for minutes and people have noticed it; would it have killed the guys who made this to review what they filmed?

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[tverbeek]

As Tom Robinson put it in is queer pride anthem Glad to Be Gay:

"If it's filthy and fiction, it's all there in The Sun."

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you expect? It's The Sun, the most notoriously bad newspaper in the world that only gets sails because of the tits shown on page three.

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[isorox]

What do you expect? It's The Sun, the most notoriously bad newspaper in the world that only gets sails because of the tits shown on page three.

What a cool boat, with a pair of knockers to propel it!

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[Blakey Rat]

Dude, it's The Sun. That's like complaining that the Weekly World News got the color of Bat Boy's toupee wrong... just be glad the story isn't ENTIRELY bullshit and move on.

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[Jerf]

No, "Comic Book Guy" is "Everybody knows Wiggum wears his badge on his right, not his left." A lot of people know the names of the Simpsons.

(And no, I have no idea about whether the badge was correct. I just made that up.)

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[Gaewyn L Knight]

We knew we could ferret you out somehow... Sic'm boys!

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[PEaNEss]

That's exactly what I noticed, it's Maggie damit!

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you "Comic Book Guy"

Worst response to a legitimate criticism, ever.

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[pafrusurewa]

And I thought Bart was a boy and therefore not "blonde" as the article claims...

Re:Never trust a British newspaper....

[tuzo]

"Worst live action opening credits ever"

This is British

[kentrel]

I really doubt Groening was involved in this, if so, why doesn't everything look British. The left hand drive and Chief Wiggum is a slim English Bobby!

Re:This is British

[Gonoff]

slim English Bobby

Not neccesarily English. British certainly, but quite possibly Scottish with that hat on. Many English police wear those pointy things unless they are in cars.

Link to the video

[Anonymous Coward]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-223127182 7736577327. God bless Google.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

wrong !

[Anonymous Coward]

from Bromleys local paper (area where the intro was filmed)

CALAMITY cartoon family The Simpsons brought their own special brand of havoc to Bromley last week - as producers filmed a new 'human' opening sequence for the hit American TV comedy.

The spectacular scenes were shot throughout the day last Friday (30) in Lansdowne Avenue, Orpington, because one of the properties looked similar to the family's home in make-believe Springfield.

Producers wanted to film an entirely different version of the opening credits scene, which is always slightly altered every episode, and called up a host of look-alikes for the job.

Read the Bromley Times for our full exclusive report and pictures.


so either you are wrong, or the local paper who specialise in local stories is, hmm tough choice

Re:wrong !

[joe545]

Why would the producers travel all the way over to the UK to make this? If you watch the video it is just the Sky One trailer for the simpsons and when they sit down on the sofa the "real" simpsons introduction begins. This is just Sky One advertising their biggest programme.

Re:wrong !

[Uber Banker]

Why wrong?

GP: This introduction was made by the UK satelite TV channel Sky, although Rupert Murdoch owns both Sky and Fox. If this fil was really made by the makers of the simpsons would the cars drive on the left-hand side of the road as they do in this film?

And you quote from Bromley Times, a UK local paper.

GP says this was made in UK, you quote Bromley Times. In what way was the GP wrong?

Choose your Media

[BearRanger]

Interesting that none of the Quicktime versions will play. Either they've been Slashdotted or the Sun screwed up the format. No problem getting Windows Media to play though. The perfect comment on the Simpsons world.

Re:Choose your Media

[Al Al Cool J]

The high-quality quicktime version plays fine for me in mplayer under Gentoo, and the download was very fast. The codec is reported as 'Sorenson Video 3' Maybe you just have older software.

Re:Choose your Media

[rehannan]

There's a link inside the small "mov" file. Just open it with a text editor.

Re:Choose your Media

[dozer]

Sorenson requires w32codecs doesn't it? A damned useful set of code modules to be sure but also pretty damned illegal.

Re:Choose your Media

[Lord Kano]

For a moment I thought that your name was RearBanger.

LK

Re:Choose your Media

[BearRanger]

MacOS X 10.4.5, Quicktime Player 7.0.3. If it will play anywhere it should play THERE you would think. But I do appreciate the suggestion.

Re:Choose your Media

[Jan Brunner]

No, there's support in FFmpeg for the Sorenson 3 CoDec.

Simpsons' Faces

[pipingguy]

See here for the real thing (maybe later this week).

Not amazing attention to detail

[Anonymous Coward]

There are several bits left out such as the glowing rod bouncing onto Homer's back, Bart picking up the glowing rod when Homer throughs it out the car and the cash register does not display 847.63. They did an ok job but I would hardly call it "amazing attention to detail".

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Anonymous Coward]

You, fine sir, need to find a woman.

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Down8]

Bart never picks up the inanimate carbon rod, he jumps over it on his skateboard.

-bZj

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Anonymous Coward]

So, what you're saying is....

"Worst. Re-enactment. Ever."

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot the fact that Lisa's playing a tenor sax instead of the bari she should be playing.

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[GrievousMistake]

Whatever perspective trick they used when zooming into Bart's classroom impressed me, though. Very cartoonish. The blackboard looked a little strange, but I guess that's part CG for changing the writing.

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Carthag]

You can usually convince people that he catches it in his mouth & swallows it. I've done it with a few of my friends. Then a few weeks later, they go "heeey, that was a load of bullshit!"

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[iamlucky13]

Yeah, but imagine a kid that age actually carrying around a real baritone sax, much less dancing down the hallway with it. And where the heck do you suppose they found that guy to play the band teacher? He was the best fit appearance-wise in the whole clip.

The timing throughout was pretty well done, too.

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[splatterboy]

Everyone missed that Bart starts off with a short sleeve t-shirt and when the stunt double pops off Homers car in the driveway he's wearing a long sleeve t

but they did a much better job than U.S. networks who copy Brit shows...
(the office, ab-fab etc)

just pray no U.S. network tries a Wallace and Grommet rip-off.

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Anonymous Coward]

There is already a Wallace and Gromit film in the works that will be mostly american made using CGI instead of plasticine.

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Down8]

A) Wallace & Gromit sucks. So did Ab-Fab.

B) The Office (US) is easily as hilarious as The Office (UK), if not more hilarious. And the first American Idol winner easily surpasses the lisping retard that won Pop Idol the first year.

-bZj

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Anonymous Coward]

Tell me: does it suck, not being able to enjoy things? Does it make you bitter? 'Cuz it sure sounds like it does...

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[sowalsky]

Well, I thought the bit with Burns looking and listening to his watch was pretty good.

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[CrazyDuke]

...anyone else notice the amazing teleporting Maggie at the end there?

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Zonnald]

Might be wrong, but I to this day believe that in the original series he did pickit up or it hit him or something like that.

Re:Not amazing attention to detail

[Da Masta]

I think the grandparent meant alto sax, not baritone, since the tenor sax was already too big. These pictures show the size differences amongst common saxophones.

Homer's car

[Anonymous Coward]

Homer drives a Lada, a car made in the Soviet Russia...

Re:Homer's car

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, Ladas drive YOU! (nuts, that is)

Re:Homer's car

[bloobloo]

So why isn't the car driving Homer then?

Re:Homer's car

[grolschie]

Crazy Vlaclav: She'll go 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene.

Re:Homer's car

[badstate]

Wasn't Homer's car made in Guatemala?

Re:Homer's car

[Anonymous Coward]

'Cause he's not in Soviet Russia, duh.

NOT Real

[ArcherB]

This is not real. You can tell because Maggie really is driving the car. Just look at which side she's on!

Re:NOT Real

[echucker]

But Homer is on the correct side.... Go figure.

Re:NOT Real

[danimrich]

Well, you watched a mirrored video, didn't you?

Re:NOT Real

[kossico]

uhh.. I think this is a British video.. the steering wheel is on the other side remember?

Re:NOT Real

[Belgand]

He has to be in order for thme to correctly copy the original. He notices the fuel rod, grabs it and throws it out the car window. The camera follows the rod as a pan over to Bart. If they had him on the other side of the car he would have been required to completely mirror his actions, throw it out the left window and as a result Bart would have to go the wrong way down the street. Since this would also mean that Bart moves right-to-left it would probably be seen as even more wrong since people in Western culture tend to have a problem viewing things moving right-to-left.

Marge and Maggie in the car are completely isolated from other scenes by cuts so they can put them on either side without problems as long as the turns are correctly mirrored.

Google Video link

[babbling]

Here's the video on Google Video. Google Video's streaming works better than other sites' streaming, and they generally let you download the video as an MPEG-2, as well. You may need to rename the ".gvi" file to ".avi", they rename it for some silly reason.

Re:Google Video link

[pjbgravely]

Mine saved as a .avi. The extension doesn't matter as your OS should be able to read the file anyway.

3.7 KB/sec? What did we do, /. Google?

Re:Google Video link

[Bazouel]

Or you can use this link: http://www.waytoblue.com/media/video/the_real_simp sons_850k.wmv/ which is the video being streaming.

Re:Google Video link

[quakeroatz]

You mean the 576 byte file TheSimpsonsIntro.gvp?

Where did you get the MPEG-2 gvi file? Or did you even try clicking TFL

Re:Google Video link

[babbling]

... click on the "download" button. Depending on your OS, it will take you to "TheSimpsonsIntro.avi" (Linux) or "TheSimpsonsIntro.gvi" (Windows).

Re:Google Video link

[Anonymous Coward]

But OTOH, the Google video looks positively scrotal. Grab the QuickTime and download it for complete control and probably the best video quality they released.

Re:Google Video link

[Anonymous Coward]

More accurately, on Windows it will give you a gvp, which is a text file that contains a url to the actual video.

URL of actual file?

[harmonica]

Is there some AVI/ASF file behind it with a URL I can feed to wget? That page doesn't work for me (Firefox).

Re:URL of actual file?

[bj8rn]

Actually, it's a Flash file. Disabling Adblock might help ;)

Re:URL of actual file?

[Anonymous Coward]

having grown up on the simpsons this makes me cry
but no NRA4EVER

Wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is news "that matters...?"

Re:Wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

The tag line is "News for Nerds, stuff that matters", this would fall under the "news for nerds" portion of the tag.

Re:Wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

This is news "that matters...?"

Fuck. Yeah.

This is the Simpsons.

Look, if you even have to ask, you are so at the wrong website.

Wrong color

[nurb432]

What happened to marge's hair??

Re:Wrong color

[cyrek]

Does it matter? "She's been as gray as a mule since she was seventeen."

Bad Casting

[Paul Slocum]

It's still a fun trailer, and I know they're never going to really look like the Simpsons, but it's like they didn't even try! At the very least, Marge needs a beehive. And pick a girl that looks a little nerdy with short hair for Lisa. They obviously spent some money on the filming and effects, but it's like they cast from whoever happened to be around the studio that day.

Re:Bad Casting

[Anonymous Coward]

I should imagine it's deliberately different. Similar enough for the viewer to say 'Hehe, The Simpsons' but not similar enough for them to say 'Hang on, why do they look *quite* like that.' The idea in the advert, anyway, is that it's a normal British family coming home to see The Simpsons, so making them look too similar would defeat the purpose.

Re:Bad Casting

[Larthallor]

I agree on the main characters, but they did a better job on the bit parts. The music teacher in Lisa's sax scene is spot on. And if you watch Bart zoom by on the skateboard, you can pick out Moe, Comic Book Guy and Bleeding Gums Murphy. They even have Chief Wiggum, although as someone else has mentioned he's a less stout bobbie.

One more thing I thought was interesting was the special effect to get Maggie onto the couch. Instead of having Marge carry her in, they composited her in. It all happens so fast that I missed it the first time.

Re:Bad Casting

[Xzzy]

Instead of having Marge carry her in, they composited her in.

They did it for Bart too, within the time Marge cuts in front of him he goes from rushing to his spot to sitting comfortably. Looks really odd once you notice it.

Re:Bad Casting

[Scarletdown]

it's a normal British family coming home to see The Simpsons

By His Noodly Appendages! I believe you have cracked the code and unravelled the mystery. Well done. Well done indeed.

Re:Bad Casting

[Sporkinum]

If you look on the TV in the store window just after Bleeding Gums and before Wiggumn you'll see a Krusty-esque clown.

Re:Bad Casting

[Milton Waddams]

Yeah. When I first saw this story, I was expecting Marge to be hot like in the cartoon. The real life Marge just looks like any other Ma :(

Re:Bad Casting

[CowardX10]

Yeah. For Homer, they should have gotten John Goodman.

Re:Bad Casting

[Hogwash McFly]

Actually, that's not Comic Book Guy but Barney.

In order, the people appearing in the street scene are (or at least supposed to be):

Helen Lovejoy
Apu
Moe
Barney
Jaques (the French bowler who tempts Marge)
Bleeding Gums Murphy
Chief Wiggum

As far as the nitpicks are concerned, this scene is actually quite faithful to the animation. There's a bookshop next to Moe's, Helen has her shopping, Apu is walking his dog, there's a pyramid of beer bottles behind Barney, Jaques has his bowling ball, Krusty the clown is on the television.

Re:Bad Casting

[Servants]

Also, that looks like a Sideshow Bob wanted poster on the door of the store.

Re:Bad Casting

[m.lp.ql.m]

Anyone else think the actress that plays Marge looks somewhat like Tracey Ullman? Shoulda been, maybe. Though she has Marge's facial expressions down pat, I feel, right down to the big upper lip and the way she blinks.

Re:Bad Casting

[Anonymous Coward]

Did anyone else notice, if it wasn't an effect, that small boy performed a phenominal jump on his skateboard off homer's car onto a rough cobble stone surface with 0 safety gear.

Attention to detail? Glowing radioactive chunk...

[dpbsmith]

I didn't see the green glowing radioactive chunk land on Bart's skateboard. Did I miss something? Or did Homer miss?

Not bad!

[Ghost-in-the-shell]

Actually I find it a rather good version of the cartoon opening. Consider the limitations of using real life people, and since the idea was to use real people and not CGI, them it was well done.

I think it is a pretty good opening. Looking forward to maybe seeing it at the start of a few shows in the future.

Crap

[AsherMaximum]

Looks like a peice of crap some filmed for fun

The best part of the video

[mrsam]

... is Homer's butt crack, when he runs away from the car.

Yes, I need therapy...

Re:The best part of the video

[despisethesun]

Hah, I noticed that too. I wonder if that's a commentary on me.

Editors, pay attention!

[winphreak]

This doesn't even make sense, and it still slipped.

"...cartoon The Simpsons have a filmed the..."

Maybe it's an accent?

Re:Editors, pay attention!

[Anonymous Coward]

What a are you a talking about a? A people a talk a like a this all a the time a.

what?

[lordgreg]

While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car. as the source reports.. Maggie is always driving Marge's car!

"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[ettlz]

That's because it's meant to be a British family coming home to watch The Simpsons , presumably through one of those ghastly Murdochotron devices that adorn so many homes these days.

Come on people, think!

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Wizard Drongo]

You're asking americans to think, in the hopes that they might "get" something that is blatently obvious and simple to grasp.

Oh the irony....

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[ACME Septic]

You're criticizing Americans for not thinking on a site built by Americans to post things for you to think about. Oh the irony...

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Anonymous Coward]

STOP! You're making my inside head thingy hurt!

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Anonymous Coward]

British men drive American cars now, do they?

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[raehl]

Come on people, think!

Ow.

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[blane.bramble]

Funnily enough, sometimes, yes. Although it's not "American" because the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car. Those cunning French and Germans etc. do the same. Plenty of Porsche's over here like that.

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[ettlz]

British men drive American cars now, do they?

In Soviet Britain, Russian Lada with registration D834 GGW drives bloke.

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[ModernGeek]

Everyone seems to mention the left side drive car, but no one pointed out that the license plates are the big long UK ones too!

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[MtViewGuy]

We of course know it's not perfect, but the producers of this little promo commercial got most of the details pretty accurate. It probably didn't cost that much to make but gawd, I still loved it! (big thumbs up)

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow get over yourself. Your information might be useful but your personal touch is not.

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, most Americans have yet to get that in most democracies, the canidate with the most votes won the election...

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Bender Unit 22]

Indeed, there were a lot of details that was included. I think it was good.

Lately I have seen a ad/teaser/whatever-it-is-called-in-english for The Simpsons with a clip from Homer in space, only he eats the tv station logo instead of chips. Is that something that is done worldwide? Like when some from a sitcom says "you are watching Fjeård TV(or whatever)".

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Belgand]

I found it... scary. Like Homer was scared when he went into the third dimension everything seemed right, but it was suddenly scary and crazy and wrong.

I do recall noting when I saw the still "Is this just because it's The Sun or do they look extraordinarily British?" Glad to know that it's because they are.

Anyhow, the details are exceptional, but it still feels like a live-action British version of the Simpsons... and in that small tweak from American to British the alternate-reality feeling is complete.

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Americans get it - but they live in a republic.

Criticism of American politics in a thread from a country whose upper house is primarily made up of an unelected aristocracy and whose head of government is elected by...wait for it...the government.

Nice.

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow - apparently Americans are too dumb to realize in a Republic, the "most votes win" rule also applies.

Guess what, America contains plenty of unelected officials itself. Or did you vote for Rumsfeld?

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[vonsneerderhooten]

...but it was suddenly scary and crazy and wrong.

Until he found the erotic cakes store..
{/drool}

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[MtViewGuy]

Anyhow, the details are exceptional, but it still feels like a live-action British version of the Simpsons... and in that small tweak from American to British the alternate-reality feeling is complete.

And I think that is what makes this live-action film so much fun to watch.

Re:"It's not the Simpsons, it's British!"

[Anonymous Coward]

The difference is that it is the United STATES and the number of electors [proxies to vote for the president] per state was very deliberately set up to moderate the ability of states with large populations to run roughshod over states with fewer people. This leads to the occasional president who won with fewer votes than his opponent.

Is it time to change this system? I think so. At this point the US is much more homogeneous (IMHO) and the larger states end up mattering more due to their large blocks of votes which are (argh) nearly always winner-take-all.

Ob slam of the British system of government: Funny how the unelected part has more sense than the elected part (think: ID cards).

Wait!!! How come...

[Anonymous Coward]

Homer is driving on the left and Marge is driving on the right?

Re:Wait!!! How come...

[Anonymous Coward]

That's cause Homer drives a Lada!

Re:Attention to detail? Glowing radioactive chunk.

[sethadam1]

I don't think it lands on his skateboard ever. It just kind of goes "past it," the same way Bart goes right past the car Homer is driving.

It's just a continuity piece, it doesn't actually land ON his skateboard.

Put it in H!

[Anonymous Coward]

Homer: "What country is this car from?"
Dealer: "It no longer exists"

Re:Put it in H!

[chivo243]

shit, you should get a 5 for this tidbit.... too bad he wasn't driving snake's lil' bandit

Re:Put it in H!

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia (and in the cyrillic alphabet in general), the letter "H" sounds like the "N" in our alphabet. The dealer is telling Homer to put the car in "N" to get it to go, but on any vehicle I've seen "N" is the neutral position. Maybe he's going to push Homer around in the car ;-)

Since when...

[wackymacs]

Since when did Marge get a haircut? *gasp*

I just have to...

[snutte]

"Worst episode ever!" A little more USA over it wouldnt hurt, it really looked down right british.

They "have a filmed the show's opening"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot's editors have a gotten a little more sloppy than usual.

Taken too seriously

[saboola]

Everyone commenting on how inaccurate this is needs to take a close look in the mirror to make sure that the comic book guy is not staring back at them.

Re:Taken too seriously

[Anonymous Coward]

Worst. Comment. Ever.

Re:Taken too seriously

[CMiYC]

Worst Comment Ever.

(j/k)

Re:Taken too seriously

[Telecommando]

Everyone commenting on how inaccurate this is needs to take a close look in the mirror to make sure that the comic book guy is not staring back at them.

I resemble that remark!

Re:Taken too seriously

[ettlz]

Everyone commenting on how inaccurate this is needs to take a close look in the mirror to make sure that the comic book guy is not staring back at them.

I resemble that remark!

That's unpossible!

Re:Taken too seriously

[fm6]

(Checks mirror.) Whew! Thanks! I was terribly confused there for a while!

Re:Taken too seriously

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, I just realised.....All you people are *&^%@#ing nerds....

doh?

[Anonymous Coward]

simpsons are dead. family guy && american dad ftw!!!

I thought it was funny...

[Anonymous Coward]

Man you guys are cynical. Wasn't it funny? I thought it was pretty well done. I think it would be really interesting to have a live action Simpsons movie/series. Just to see what it would look like. I want to see who would play Mr. Burns....

Re:I thought it was funny...

[glenstar]

I agree that people should lighten up. It is after all a *television show*. There is no reason to be a pedantic fucktard just because some minor and/or obscure element is off... note: this does *not* make you a fun person to be around.

Note to self: I should save this reply for any Slashdot article covering games, Windows, or politics.

Re:I thought it was funny...

[saucercrab]

You must be new here. Welcome to the Internet.

Real people, so you can identify with them...

[AusIV]

FTA:

We used regular actors, not so much for their resemblance - as you can't copy a bunch of yellow characters - but becuase you can easily identify with them.

I don't know about you all, but the Simpsons aren't exactly a family I want to relate to in the first place. They're funny to watch, but when homer suddenly becomes a genius after getting a crayon removed from his brain through his nose, that's not exactly something I can identify with.

Re:Real people, so you can identify with them...

[Anonymous Coward]

You still have your crayon in, then?

Re:Real people, so you can identify with them...

[grungefade]

There is a lot of symbolism and metaphors used within The Simpsons all the time. Personally thats only why I like watching The Simpsons sometimes.

Ive seen books written about the connection between The Simpsons and philosophy, although ive never read ony myself. Im sure theres probable even other books. But yeah, to me The Simpsons at face value are some of the dumbest talking pictures that occupy the mind for 30 mins so thoughts dont have to.

Re:Real people, so you can identify with them...

[Threni]

> They're funny to watch, but when homer suddenly becomes a genius after getting a
> crayon removed from his brain through his nose, that's not exactly something I
> can identify with.

Yeah. I think my `wait a minute, is this is a cartoon or something?` moment occured when some aliens turned up! I mean, come on - we're supposed to take this seriously?

Re:Real people, so you can identify with them...

[haqatak]

i loved that episode, its where he gets 100 in IQ and figures out everything

Re:Real people, so you can identify with them...

[ebbomega]

They're talking about identifying with the characters, not with the situations.

Homer is an archetypal American blue collar worker, marge an archetypal housewife, bart the rebellious kid, lisa the suck up do-gooder, maggie rounding out the family for the 2.3 kids.

The whole point of a satire is that it takes pieces of the world that we are rather familiar with and exagerrating aspects of it to emphasize certain points in human nature. if you don't see that in the simpsons, then you've missed the point of the whole show.

south park did this even moreso, except that's based pretty directly on littleton colorado, whereas springfield is supposed to just be an archetypal american city (hence all the debates over what state springfield is in).

Re:Real people, so you can identify with them...

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet I know what your "Word of the Day" calendar had for today...

Re:Attention to detail? Glowing radioactive chunk.

[chivo243]

I have put hours into this one second of the Simpson's intro. I have frame-by-framed the whole clip from where Homer tosses it out the window/cut to bart on the skateboard/ the rod appears to bounce and disappear, not landing on the skateboare at all, as this is the point where Bart is using the lamppost to redirect himself. I have a degree in film(so i get way more jokes than average joe), editing was my focus... and The Simpson's are one of my all-time favorite t.v shows.

Score: 1pt. please... I have no links, and have dropped no big names in tech.... Don't worry, I am used to only getting the boobie prize of 1 pt.

Let me be the first to say

[Anonymous Coward]

I, for one, welcome our new quasi-accurate, real life Simpsons Overlords.

Good, but...

[DrScotsman]

Personally, I thought it was too slow. I know the speed was, y'know, realistic, but I think they should have sped some things up so they fit in with the original opening. That way they wouldn't have had to cut things out (Maggie in the paper bag, less shots of Maggie driving, etc.).

I'm willing to bet they used the PAL version of the Simpsons opening (which I assume is sped up from 24fps to 25fps) but filmed at native 25fps speed, which doesn't help.

Re:Good, but...

[bloobloo]

Erm - the NTSC version is 30 fps, not 24. It's fully transcoded rather than just played differently as the resolution is different too.

Re:Good, but...

[phozz bare]

While many TV shows are sped up when broadcast in PAL format, these are only shows that are actually shot with film at 24 fps. This would include shows like Friends, Seinfeld, Buffy, and many others. Probably any show you can think of, in fact. You Brits should be aware of the fact that those actors actually have noticeably deeper voices than what you hear on TV.

Older sitcoms that were originally filmed in video (such as, say, the Cosby Show or Alf), however, have a different conversion process that maintains the original speed while adding annoying artifacts whenever there is motion. This also affects sports and news broadcasts (anyone watching NBA basketball east of the Atlantic knows what I mean).

Animation series such as the Simpsons fall into neither category. They are not changed in speed nor reduced in quality for PAL lands, instead it seems they are originally rendered at 25 fps at the studio.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong :)

phozz

Re:Good, but...

[FamineMonk]

Watch them side by side the Live action one goes much faster than the cartoon one. It kinda bugs me, but then again I watch at least 5 eps of simpsons a day so I might be a little biased towards the cartoon.

Re:Good, but...

[DrScotsman]

Rubbish, it's telecined from 24p to 60i. Check various doom9 posts and 100fps.com if you don't believe me.

WORST LIVE-ACTIONIFICATION EVER

[defile]

Wait till I post this to usenet!

Re:WORST LIVE-ACTIONIFICATION EVER

[ConceptJunkie]

Wait till I post this to usenet!

You said it. Boy, I sure hope someone lost his job over that!

Re:Attention to detail? Glowing radioactive chunk.

[Anonymous Coward]

But clearly not used to getting laid.

Spliced Video

[grungefade]

At the very end when everyone is running towards the couch, watch Bart and Maggie. You'll notice how when Marge runs in front of Bart, the video is sliced and shows footage of Bart already sitting with Maggie. Im impressed how well they accomplished putting different shots together. I think Lisa's character uses 2 different takes also. But hers is a lot more subtle because she almost moves in the same way on the second part.

Re:Spliced Video

[wk633]

Good catch. I had to watch it six times to see what the heck you were talking about, even though I knew something was there. But you're right. Bart 'jumps' into place.

What about clothes?

[Man in Spandex]

Will they always wear the same clothes to make it more accurate?

Re:What about clothes?

[CMiYC]

"New series" means a new season. This isn't a new television series that is being made. Only the intro.

Just make sure

[technoextreme]

Everyone commenting on how inaccurate this is needs to take a close look in the mirror to make sure that the comic book guy is not staring back at them.

If you do see comic book guy staring back at you just make sure that your mirror isn't a television set.

Re:Just make sure

[Urusai]

What if the TV is showing a picture of a mirror? What then, wise guy?

My brain hurts.

Re:Just make sure

[Anonymous Coward]

My brain hurts.

Ralph Wiggums, is that you?

Re:Attention to detail? Glowing radioactive chunk.

[Main Gauche]

"I didn't see the green glowing radioactive chunk land on Bart's skateboard."

More importantly, it didn't bounce up and stick to Homer's back, when he drops it at work. Otherwise, how does it get in his car?!

(A first: I'm embarassed by a post I've made, before I even submitted it.)

New couch gag!

[Kawolski]

Matt Groening needs to start an episode with this opening to make one of the best couch gags ever!

Re:New couch gag!

[Scarletdown]

Matt Groening needs to start an episode with this opening to make one of the best couch gags ever!

I thought that was what this little clip was supposed to be. Or were you thinking something more along the lines of the animated family rushing into the livingroom and finding the live action family already on the couch?

awesome

[Anonymous Coward]

you guys are assholes. this is an awesome idea from a channel that just broadcasts the show. it would not have been cheap and kudos for them for doing a pretty good job within a promo budget.

as posted above it's not supposed to BE them, it's supposed to be a british family coming home to WATCH the show.

i'm pretty sure there is a little cgi used here and there, though. the baby honking the horn when marge does, for example.

one funny thing, though. I've watched 370 episodes of the simpsons in xVid, and watching that spot made me go and check the real thing. yes. they have TWO cars. I have never noticed that before. Weird.

Re:awesome

[Anonymous Coward]

How can you possibly have watched 370 episodes and never noticed they have two cars? Who are you, Ralph Wiggum?

If by 370 you mean zero, however...

Re:awesome

[dotgain]

Exactly, that's how the Mr Plow episode starts. Homer drives home drunk while it's snowing, and rear ends someone. Getting out of his car, he realises he's already at home, and has just written off his own and Marge's car.

I predict...

[Spy der Mann]

a failure of UweBoll-ic proportions.

Another Disney connection?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Homer character played by Vernon Singleton of Orlando. http://www.blogger.com/profile/10768670 Leap-cf.org

Re:Attention to detail? Glowing radioactive chunk.

[Anonymous Coward]

Post as yourself next time or don't you have any balls?

Why thanks, "chivo". Is that your real name? LOL.

Ewwwww!

[edunbar93]

You mean they they'll be horrible freaks with pink skin, no overbites, and five fingers on each hand?!?!

Aaaaaah!

Sim(psons) City?

[Esion Modnar]

Has anything like a Simpsons-themed Sim City ever been produced? That could be interesting...

The TFA doesn't watch the show ....

[Salis]

Bah. Posers.

"While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car."

Not Lisa. Maggie.

Duh?

Re:The TFA doesn't watch the show ....

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe, Sir, the phrase you are looking for is "D'oh!" and not Duh?

Re:The TFA doesn't watch the show ....

[VJ42]

Actually, they make the show.
The sun "newspaper" is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also happens to own Fox who make the simpsons.

Re:The TFA doesn't watch the show ....

[Exaton]

No, no, no, no, noooooooooooooooooooooo !

Please, oh mercy, please, I'm not usually one to gripe about this sort of thing, but please !

There's already "ATM Machine" and the likes, and now that Slashdot has created the acronym TFA... The F*cking Article (or "Fine", to be polite), after the well-known expression "RTFM"...

Someone has to go and say "The TFA" :O

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease :'(

Re:The TFA doesn't watch the show ....

[Salis]

I think you should STFU Up.

Happy? ;)

Re:The TFA doesn't watch the show ....

[Exaton]

Very happy that you saw my post and obviously got the message, yes :-p

And honoured to get a witty answer from someone who's user ID is close to 1/10th of my own... Wish I'd noticed that earlier -.-

Re:The TFA doesn't watch the show ....

[Salis]

I don't know if having a low ID is a badge of honor or shame.

This is Slashdot, of course.

You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[hullabalucination]

...for people who eat something called "bangers" for breakfast every morning.

* * * * * * *
Heaven:
French Chefs
American Engineers
British Bobbies

Hell:
British Chefs
French Engineers
American Police

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[jaseuk]

Thats supposed to be:

Heaven:
French Chefs
German Engineers
British Bobbies

Hell:
British Chefs
French Engineers
German Police

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah but that was 65 years ago...times have changed.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

Tell that to Gordon Ramsey, one of the best chefs in the world, yes he is British.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Scarblac]

Actually:

Heaven: French cooks, English police, German engineers, Italian lovers, Swiss bankers

Hell: English cooks, German police, French engineers, Swiss lovers, Italian bankers

(yours is of course a strict subset, but I do like the last two :-))

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean you finally think it's OK to hold your head up about American engineers because most slashdot readers are too young to remember "unsafe at any speed"?

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

Heaven: Japanese wife, American salary, Chinese job

Hell: American wife, Chinese salary, Japanese job

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[genner]

Oh the irony, I'm sure this joke got it's start in a japanese magazine.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[jaseuk]

If it wants updating to include americans we could try:

Heaven:
French Chefs
German Engineers
British Bobbies
American Lawyers

Hell:
British Chefs
French Engineers
German Police
American Lawyers

I think it works.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[triplej]

Heaven:
... American Engineers

Yeah, Ford and GM are shining examples of why American Engineers should be in heaven...

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[cswiii]

It's like the joke I once heard about Canada. You see, they coulda had the best of all worlds: French food, American technology and British culture.

Instead, they ended up with British food, French technology and American culture.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[TheoMurpse]

Heaven:
French Chefs
American Engineers
British Bobbies

What?

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[91degrees]

It's a joke! Geez - Not all Americans are fat couch potatoes, not all French are surrender monkeys, not all Germans are hyper efficient control freaks. Not all Irishmen are idiots. But you get some funny jokes if you assume they are.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[martinultima]

Stop discriminating against those poor American lawyers – just because they're always siding with that Anglin kid and the RIAA/MPAA doesn't mean they're any worse than all the other rip-off artist sharks in the world!

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[zippthorne]

Maybe, but Boeing & Sikorsky are here as well.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Widowwolf]

What and next your gonna tell my not all scots are drunks!

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

American Engineers? I'd go with German, but I'm not too sure about a country that hasn't been able to adopt the metric system yet...

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the article was in The Sun I think that should read:

Heaven:
French Chefs
German Engineers
British Boobies
American Lawyers

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are the Lawyers included in Heaven?

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

Heaven

British Music
French Food
German Beer

Hell

British Food
French Beer
German Music

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[yroJJory]

Unless you are a corporation, then it would be:

Heaven:
French Chefs
German Engineers
British Bobbies
American Patent approval

Hell:
British Chefs
French Engineers
German Police
American Patent Lawyers

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[LS]

People here in Beijing say heaven is a Japanese Wife, American Salary, and German Car.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Anonymous Coward]

Heaven
British boobies
Asian mailorder brides

Hell
British teeth
Romanian mailorder brides

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[Kokuyo]

I think you have either no idea about the Japanese culture or a very weird picture of the perfect wife ;).

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[GraemeDonaldson]

Perhaps that was supposed to be "boobies"? :-)

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[91degrees]

That may be the case.

I'll let you know when I meet a non drunk Scotsman.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[pugugly]

There are no lawyers in Heaven. That's the very *MEANING* of heaven.

Re:You know, I just don't feel sorry...

[rAiNsT0rm]

Was I the only one disappointed to find that it really said "British *Bobbies*"?

Something about that British accent just leaves me powerless, and their "bobbies" aren't so bad either.

Doppler effect?

[MetalBlade]

This trailer would have been great, if it wasn't for the bad timing between when Marge and Maggie sounds the horn in the car and when Homer parks the car at the house.

Can't be right

[roman_mir]

Marge must have tall blue hair, the chick on the picture has black hair. What the hell?

Re:Can't be right

[drachenstern]

remember the episode (what am i saying, of course you do) where marge and homer realize that they met at a summer camp before they "met" each other? Marge ironed her hair and it was brown/black when down, not blue.

Re:Can't be right

[roman_mir]

She only had blue hair since the first kid was born :)

That was worth watching.

[Skudd]

I'm by no means a die-hard Simpsons fan, but I do very much enjoy the show. This little video clip was entertaining and worth watching. Yes, I did see a lot of inaccuracies, but where did anything say it was 100% exact? Very good work, IMHO.

could be fiat

[dunkelfalke]

as you may or may not know, old ladas are just license-produced fiats

Re:could be fiat

[Anonymous Coward]

Driving a Lada fits better to Homer's character. And it IS a Lada.

Re:could be fiat

[Zaatxe]

Ladas are license-produced Fiats? Oh, my... I'll never trust Soviet Union again! Oh, wait...

Re:could be fiat

[grolschie]

A man goes to the car wrecking yard and says "I'll have a hub cap for my Lada please". The attendant replies "sounds like a fair trade". da-da-tish! :-)

Re:could be fiat

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it is definitely a Vaz (BA3) Lada Riva (Nova) 2105. But I can't see whether it is the cam chain or belt version.

Obligatory reference...

[Anonymous Coward]

[How can nobody have said this yet?]

"Worst Trailer Ever!"

Amazing attention to detail

[KaosConMan]

This reminds me of the house built in Springfield, NV. It brought the house to life. http://www.lasvegassun.com/dossier/misc/simpsons/s tory.html

Now we need this family to re-film this at the house. Maybe then it can be aired in the US.

STUpid video doesn't work...

[_Griphin_]

Dumb ass stupid link.

bring him out

[Anonymous Coward]

where is moe. where is moe. where is moe. If those bustards have screwed up moe too, I will start a fight.

Re:bring him out

[Scarletdown]

where is moe. where is moe. where is moe. If those bustards have screwed up moe too, I will start a fight.

Moe is there, standing outside the door to his tavern, and Barney is off to his left.

Re:bring him out

[FamineMonk]

Its not Barney its Comic Book Guy. I'll just slink back in to the shadows now.

Re:bring him out

[Scarletdown]

Damn. I hope this doesn't mean I have to turn in my geek license.

Re:bring him out

[Hogwash McFly]

You are wrong. It IS Barney.

Re:bring him out

[FamineMonk]

O my God Your Right I should really stop drinking in the afternoons. I hope this means I don't have to turn in my geek license.

couch gag

[WhiteSox]

its gonna be a couch gag, and the funniesnt one in a while. I wonder when they are gonna use it...

oh, by the way, if this story is **sooooo** important, why isnt it in... i dont know... a trustworthy source?!

Scanned Baby

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

When the baby is passed over the scanner there is no readout like in ther cartoon...

uk percentage higher?

[edflyerssn007]

.....but more american's know the simpsons then they do they 1st ammendment to the US consititution.

Re:uk percentage higher?

[dougmc]

.....but more american's know the simpsons then they do they 1st ammendment to the US consititution.

Of course that was a really stupid, pointless and misleading study. I'm guessing that most Americans are aware that the Consitution gives them freedom of religion, freedom of speech/the press, freedom to have guns, the `right to remain silent' (from Miranda, but even that's based on the right to not have to incriminate yourself), the right to assemble and the right to a speedy trial. They may not be aware that these rights come from the Bill of Rights or which specific amendment they come from, but most people seem to be aware of having most of these rights, which is what matters. (Though the government certainly does seem to be busy degrading these rights.)

And besides, the idea of `knowing the Simpsons' was apparantly defined as `naming the five main characters' and the idea of `knowing the First Amendment' was defined as `knowing the five rights given there', which is hardly a fair comparison. I'm guessing that even most people who had just passed a college level American Government class would have a hard time accurately enumating the rights given in the First Amendment -- they'd probably be aware of all the rights, but might not be aware of exactly where they were listed.

Re:uk percentage higher?

[edflyerssn007]

5 characters vs 5 rights; basic knowledge taught in high school level intro. to politics clases vs. basic knowledge learned from pop culture. The study sounds fair to me. By the way, my other post wast meant to illustrate the importance of the Simpsons in the United States.

Simpsons 3D

[sounddesignz]

4 years ago a 3d version of the intro was shown at mekkasymposium: http://scene.org/dir.php?dir=%2Fparties%2F2002%2Fm ekkasymposium02%2Fwild%2Fshown/ file yellow3d*, multiple formats available.

Great!

[ceeam]

So muslims can now watch Simpsons too?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Lisa's Sax

[ScaryFroMan]

Lisa's playing the wrong kind of saxophone. This is unforgivable.

Re:Lisa's Sax

[stevesliva]

Indeed, she appears to have a C-Melody rather than a Baritone. That, or she's a frickin huge girl and it's actually a Tenor as it appears.

Disappointed

[eebra82]

I know this could not have been a far too serious attempt, but this video lacks so much. Homer doesn't look stupid enough and is just semi bald. He should have a bigger forehead.

Bart and Lisa is just plain wrong, but Marge is just horrible. She reminds me of Al Bundy's wife, Peg, but with lesser hair.

All in all a funny attempt and it takes me back to the time when they animated homer in 3D and let him travel to our dimension. That was some cool stuff back then.

Sun Online...

[cosmotron]

They suck, they have a type-o in their story...who does that?!

"but becuase you can easily identify with them."

Re:Sun Online...

[Anonymous Coward]

You suck, it's a typo not a type-o...you know who does that shit, stupid people like you, mr. mayor of stupidville in the state of stupidia in the united states of stupidedea.

ha

Re:Sun Online...

[cosmotron]

What the fuck is that? Do you not believe in capitalization on words other than the first? Go back to sucking at the Internet.

Okay, others have spoken against, now let's hear..

[Lord Bitman]

What "amazing attention to detail" is actually present? I see lots of major points, sure, but I actually dont see /any/ details. Some things which might be considered details are done entirely wrong, the timing seems completely off. Did they film this without any room left to "fudge" and then do as best they could in the editing room with what they had to work with?
"nice", I guess, but I really would like a reply which mentioned what details are actually present. I see a decent tribute which fails to capture any of the subtle details which made simpsons good.

Bart 10, Lisa 8.

[Scrameustache]

Yeah, but boys are often shorter than girls around that age.

That would apply if they were the same age.

Futurama

[MiKom]

With Futurama it may be a bith harder.

Re:Another error: English to American translation

[Yankel]

Homer still exits the car using the left-hand door when he pulls into the house. Maybe he was fortunate enough to get one of his brother's American cars?

How about some grammar correction?

[elyons]

"Makers of the hit cartoon The Simpsons have a filmed the show's opening titles using real actors. In the hit viral going around the world we get to see what Bart, Homer, Marg, Lisa and Maggie would look like if they were humans. Simpson's maker Matt Groening has approved the human version of the show's opening credits to promote the brand new series.

Editor? I need an editor! Come on people!

Nice work, Taco, you even copied the typo

[Rogerborg]

On the other hand, is it copyright infringement if the goal was to astroturf anyway?

Article Quote

[p0rnking]

From the article:
"The clip re-enacts the title sequence to a tee ..."
"While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car."

Is it me, or is there something wrong with these two quotes?

Also, during the humanoid version of it:
- The "nuclear waste" is placed on the table before Homer leaves work, but he then takes it out from the back of his shirt.
- Maggie is swiped through the checkout, but the well known price isn't shown.
- And what has probably been mentioned, it's filmed in the UK.


So much for following it to a tee.

Oblig. quote

[Brett Buck]

Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder!
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/4F12.html
Brett

Re:Attention to detail? Glowing radioactive chunk.

[HardCase]

dude!
what do you know,film school was crawling with babes... Too bad you went to DeVry... plus you gotta have something to do in the down time... what do you do..? Talk to your woman.... I bet you even care if she gets off... you know the joke about real men caring about their women getting off... I didn't think so. Post as yourself next time or don't you have any balls?

Dude, relax - Mr. Conrad's 4th period photography class doesn't count as "film school" and those cheerleaders don't even know that you exist.

-h-

saxamaphone

[cbnewman]

also, lisa is playing a tenor sax in the live action version, whereas she plays a baritone sax in the animated version.

it was a nice touch to see homer's ass crack as he's running into the garage.

Re:saxamaphone

[stevesliva]

Looks a little small for a tenor. Maybe a C-Melody.

Enjoy it people, please

[hine_uk]

I cant believe bow negative alot of people are about this thing. Ok The Sun made a number of mistakes in the article - the sun is on a par with the national enquirer, if it doesnt invole some b list celebrity with their tits out or following some half arsed sports personality then the sun is incapable of getting even the slightest fact right. But im more surprised at the hostility alot of people have shown towards the clip. This is the first creative thing I have seen on The Simpsons in years so relax people, its a live action parody and I thought it was fun. Its not accurate, its not trying to bring the simpsons to life its just trying to give a little parody to an otherwise tired opening segment (My current fave is where it pans out of Homers head, through the universe and back out of Homers head!). 3 cheers for trying something new - now all you writers got to do is make the show entertaining again (I am not trying to flame or troll so please do not take as such)

British Policeman in the Video

[JLS-UK]

Take a look - http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/9072/britishbob by9iq.jpg

Re: Direct Downloads

[Intruger]

If anybody wants save the movies to hard drive. Here they are (I didn't bother with the RealPlayer versions):

High
the_real_simpsons_850k.mov
the_real_simpsons_850k.mov

Medium
the_real_simpsons_330.mov
the_real_simpsons_330.mov

Low
the_real_simpsons_30.mov
the_real_simpsons_30.mov

Re: Direct Downloads

[Intruger]

I didn't label them properly, but the second links point to the WMV version.

Technically competent but...

[BcNexus]

The comercial had the background action and background detail right but that doesn't make up for the actors and main action being stiff, uninspired and unfunny.

If am officially underwhelmed. Perhaps because it's British humour?

HAHAHA... just kidding about British humour. Don't flame me pleeeeeease.

No, no, this is the list...

[brunnock]

Heaven- British house, American salary, Chinese cook, Japanese wife

Hell- Japanese house, Chinese salary, British cook, American wife

Re:No, no, this is the list...

[rundgren]

British House?? Everytime i go to the U.K I'm amazed about the poor standard and ridiculous bathroom solutions.. Carpet around the toilet? Don't tell med you English gents always hit the bowl. And how come you havent't discovered the mixing faucet? Having to mix cold and warm in the basin just sucks..

Re:No, no, this is the list...

[Anonymous Coward]

At least our houses aren't made of papier-mache, cardboard and twigs and get blown away every time a mild wind blows...

missing detail

[rupert0]

Bart didnt grab from the post and kicked the radioactive bar...sad :(

Ahem!

[Provocateur]

It exists purely to pander to the lowest common denominator

...and Simpsons fans.

You insensitive clod!

Attention to detail?

[Urza9814]

I've gotta argue with that one. The radioactive thing is supposed to bounce up and get stuck on Homer's jacket thing. Then when he throws it out the window note that it never shows it bounce and bart grab it...and it doesn't spend nearly enough time on Maggie during the driving scene... Pathetic...they cosider THAT detail!

IAstronglyWTP

[__aajqwr7439]

nt

Whole section of opening sequence missing

[Peachy]

The bit where the view pans across the Springfield population. Would have been great to have that sequence in there.

Maggie driving, not Lisa.

[ThinkOfaNumber]

From the article:

While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car.

Does the UK version have Lisa driving? I thought it was Maggie with her toy wheel ;)

If you ask me, the likeness looks pretty lame.

chesterfield?

[skiddie]

What part of Canada are you from?

What about Flanders?

[erik_fredricks]

Repeat after me: William H. Macy was born to play Ned Flanders. No live-action Simpsons movie will work without him.

Think about it.

Re:What about Flanders?

[elrous0]

Repeat after me: William H. Macy was born to play Ned Flanders.

Good call. But, before we move forward, let's all make crystal clear that we're in agreement that Lisa Simpson should be played by "Anyone except Dakota Fanning."

-Eric

OK, while we're playing at stereotypes...

[meringuoid]

... there was a Scandinavian joke I rather liked.

In Norway, they drink their vodka with water.
In Sweden, they drink their vodka without water.
In Finland, they drink their vodka like water.
And in Russia, they drink their vodka instead of water.

Re:OK, while we're playing at stereotypes...

[Anonymous Coward]

In russia, Vodka Drink you.

So sorry

Re:OK, while we're playing at stereotypes...

[Flaming Foobar]

... there was a Scandinavian joke I rather liked.
...
And in Russia, they drink their vodka instead of water.

And of course, Russia is a part of Scandinavia since..?

Re:OK, while we're playing at stereotypes...

[AdamWeeden]

Slashdot version: In Norway, they drink their vodka with water. In Sweden, they drink their vodka without water. In Finland, they drink their vodka like water. And in soviet Russia, vodka drinks you.

Re:OK, while we're playing at stereotypes...

[Anonymous Coward]

.. there was a Scandinavian joke I rather liked. ...
And in Russia, they drink their vodka instead of water.

And of course, Russia is a part of Scandinavia since..?

And of course, Russia is part of a Scandanavian joke, not part of Scandanavia. So if there's an American joke about France (cheese-eating you know what), that implies France is part of America?

They had to

[AllenChristopher]

Animated characters can move much faster than real life characters and still stay convincing. The timing on the original Simpsons intro is breakneck. Characters whirl all over the place.

Most of the details people are mentioning as missing simply couldn't be done in live action. They are already running the video at about 1.4 times normal speed, and the humans still move too slowly to work it. Run at a high enough speed to match, things would jerk all over the place, Keystone Cops style.

Part of that is storyboarding cheats, though, which the filmmakers could have done had they known a little more about animation. One of the rules of cartoon storyboarding is that as soon as a character is out of shot, they can move infinitely fast. For example, in the saxophone scene Lisa is out of shot for a moment, and when she comes back she's moved further than a human can. The filmmakers tried to approximate this, but they ended up with a jump cut.

Other times, it just doesn't work because live action takes longer to read than animation. The shot that is supposed to look like Maggie is driving the car is just confusing. Car, baby, car in different place, car turns over the storyboarding axis. Unpleasant. The English countryside doesn't help. It's so detailed and lush that the car seems like a minor part of that last shot.

The whip-pan from Homer tossing his rod to Bart skating is odd.

On the whole, I think they concentrated too hard on trying to match the actual shots, and not enough on trying to match the intent of the shots.

Hilarious

[uberdave]

Oh man, that's funny.... Lawyers in heaven... that's rich.

Google Video

[rollonet]

Google Video Here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-223127182 7736577327

Now I know why no one RTFA

[Drakonite]

While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car.

I'm glad the author of the article did enough research to know who was who...

Another Video Mirror

[adamsackey]

http://www.putfwd.com/index/putfwd-dl-action/id.24 89/type.mov

Re:Another error: English to American translation

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, actually it's Russian car. You know, from the country where car drives you!

Re:Another error: English to American translation

[Zonnald]

Perhaps he has parked close to the ajoining wall/fence and can't get out of the driver's side door.

Obligatory comic book guy

[jpostel]

Worst episode ever!

The blackboard.

[Langley]

What does Bart write on the chalkboard?

Re:The blackboard.

[SithLordOfLanc]

"I will not eat things for money."

The Saxophone Mistake

[FairAndUnbalanced]

A huge mistake: in the cartoon, as everyone knows, Lisa Simpson plays a BARITONE saxophone. In this real-life adaptation, she's playing a TENOR saxophone. How could they miss that? There must be 100 episodes with a baritone sax in it. Back to the drawing board, mates!

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[reaktor]

Ha. A bari-sax would be twice the size of the girl in the video.

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[whatthef*ck]

A huge mistake: in the cartoon, as everyone knows, Lisa Simpson plays a BARITONE saxophone. In this real-life adaptation, she's playing a TENOR saxophone. How could they miss that? There must be 100 episodes with a baritone sax in it.

That's almost as bad as episode 2F09 of Itchy and Scratchy, when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a "magic xylophone" or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[gordgekko]

I wish I had mod points for you.

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[bisscuitt]

<comic book guyBest Come-back Ever!</comic book guy%rt;

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

Worst HTML Ever!

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[bisscuitt]

DOH&excl I didn?t i&gtmean/i&gt for it to come out like that&excl

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, what a complete and utter fucktard!

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[seabre]

Heh, I could DEFINITELY see a little girl swinging around a baritone saxophone all over the place, and not living to tell about it.
Plus the saxophone that is played on the show SOUNDS like a tenor sax :-)
I really don't think they cared what it looked like as long as it resembled some sort of saxophone.

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[marksilverman]

That's almost as bad as episode 2F09 of Itchy and Scratchy, when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a "magic xylophone" or something? Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

for those who didn't catch the reference, that's what Doug says in episode 4F12 ("The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show") in the Android's Dungeon. Here's the link for more details.

Re:The Saxophone Mistake

[FairAndUnbalanced]

Heh. That's so *not* true. The baritone sax is only, maybe, 8 inches longer than the tenor. Even in the cartoon, the sax is as big as Lisa Simpson. That's the point. Who knows why they made this glaring mistake. Sad, considering the effort they put into the overall detail.

If I could be a simpson's actor

[SlashSquatch]

I'd want to play Ralph.

A B C D E F G
How I wonder what you are.

Then again, maybe punching nurds would be more fun...Dingus

What's for lunch today? Chicken necks?

Anyway I thought the carnies that took over Homer's house were humans or at least one of them, Ernest P. Worrel. "Hey look at me, I'm James Bond."

Its not LISA driving Marge's car.

[mnmn]

The article says a baby girl is shown as lisa driving marg's car. First its Marge, not Marg, and Lisa is the older sister.

I wouldnt bother with the corrections except this IS slashdot.

Resemblance issues

[nEoN nOoDlE]

Lots of people seem to be mentioning how poorly cast this is, so I figured I'd put this up for those who didn't RTFA

"We used regular actors, not so much for their resemblance - as you can't copy a bunch of yellow characters - but becuase you can easily identify with them."

Band director ...

[willtsmith]

The only guy I thought was "spot on" was the band director. How could you mistake a hairstyle like that. The other guy I easily recognized was Lenny walking down the street. Than I picked up on Bleeding Gums Murphy and what was probably SUPPOSED to be Chief Wiggum.

It would have been nice if their was actually something funny at the end like a typical Simpsons opening.

who thought this up??

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't most people learn that what start out as cartoons usually don't look good in real life...that wasn't even close to being funny....or good...then again it was british...

Re:who thought this up??

[DragonTHC]

then again it was british...

how are the simpsons british?

Next step...

[Anonymous Coward]

I challenge someone to live-action-ify the Futurama intro.

The prize: you get to keep the ship

Re:Next step...

[saskboy]

"I challenge someone to live-action-ify the Futurama intro."
I was just about to suggest that. Are you me, in the future?

In the power plant ...

[willtsmith]

At the power plant, you can see Mr Burns checking his watch and Smithers in the background.

On the street, the guy you call Jaques seems spot on for Lenny to me. Why would the opening credits feature a character that was only in one episode. This isn't South Park ;-)

Comic Book Guy Inaccuracy ...

[willtsmith]

Comic Book Guy was not wearing shorts, nor was his belly hanging out of his shirt. And wow, we wasn't NEARLY fat enough.

Since there is no crime in heaven ...

[willtsmith]

Since there is no crime in heaven, British Bobbies are the natural choice. Either that or Canadian mounties.

In hell, I think I'd want the KGB.

The way I heard it was:

Hell:
German Humor
French Engineering
English Food

Heaven:
German Engineering
English Humor
French Food

To the hell list I would like to amend American single serving faux cheese and Wonderbread. The heaven amendments speak for themselves. I would also like to amend Cricket and Soccer to the hell list and Football (American) to the Heaven list. I would like to add baseball to the hell list, but I'm afraid the Chevy and Ford Truck partisans would finally find unity in wanting to run me over.

Re:Since there is no crime in heaven ...

[pugugly]

The proper use of American Cheese singles is on (and only on) an american hotdog or grilled hamburger. For this, properly melted on a still hot hotdog, it is perfect is ways that no foreigner can truly understand.

Sad, but true - I have neices and nephews, I know these things

Re:Since there is no crime in heaven ...

[MarkGriz]

"The proper use of American Cheese singles is on (and only on) an american hotdog or grilled hamburger. For this, properly melted on a still hot hotdog, it is perfect is ways that no foreigner can truly understand."

Actually, you forgot the other use of American Cheese singles.

Pacific Northwest is the only possible choice ...

[willtsmith]

Well, if you were to assume that Springfield is based on a REAL city ... it would have to be in the Pacific Northwest. Why???

a) Springfield is next to an ocean.
b) Springfield is adjacent to a VERY large mountain (Mt. Springfield)

The Pacific Northwest is the only place where you will find the Ocean in near proximity to mountains.

But it's all fictional, made up and based on nothing but Americana so all the arguments are effectively moot.

No lighthouses on the Pacific ...

[willtsmith]

Were you under the impression that there are no lighthouses on the Pacific coast??? I suppose navigation didn't occur on the west coast until the invention of radio.

That sax was ALREADY too big for the kid ...

[willtsmith]

That sax was already too big for the kid. If you gave her a bari, she would have tipped over. You might as well gave her a 5 valved tuba to play.

I understand switching the instrument. But it would have been nice if they'd given the young actress some saxophone lessons so she knew how to mime playing correctly.

Nope, it's right.

[ZxCv]

Going solely off appearance (and thus, not anything ever said in the show), Lisa plays a tenor sax both in the cartoon and in this live action opening.

Lisa vs Maggie

[Anonymous Coward]

FTA:
"While a baby girl copies the scene where Lisa appears to be driving Marg's car."

Umm...Lisa == Maggie?

Burns and Smithers

[s-twig]

Just wondering if anyone else noticed Mr Burns and Smithers in Homer's first scene?

British chefs?

[grandmofftarkin]

Yeah British food sucks. According to Restaurant magazine in 2005 the UK only has 4 of the top 10 resturants in the world (more than any other country), including the number one resturant in the world.

Re:British chefs?

[enjahova]

Yeah! The Brits have all kinds of good food, they got Viet food, Chinese food, Indonesian food, Indian food, etc. :)

Re:British chefs?

[hab136]

Yeah British food sucks. According to Restaurant magazine in 2005 the UK only has 4 of the top 10 resturants in the world (more than any other country), including the number one resturant in the world.

Wow, British restaurants won 4 out of the top 10 spots in a British magazine about British restaurants? Amazing!!
http://www.restaurantmagazine.co.uk/

Next up: Russian dancing magazine that covers Russian dancing declares that Russia has 4 of the top 10 dancers!

Re:British chefs?

[Phat_Tony]

Everyone jokes about British food, and that includes me. Yet, London's one of my favorite places to eat.

Is this odd? No, it makes perfect sense. Because British food is so bad, London has the most exquisite collection of foreign restaurants of any great city. The Italian, French, Chinese, Irish, and Thai food in London is world class. I am not the least surprised that London has many of the best restaurants in the world. Anyone in their right mind in London would eat foreign food, thus providing a large clientele and lots of healthy competition.

But look at the article you linked to: most of the restaurants, and practically every dish they mention, is not traditional British cuisine. Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons? Admittedly, "Best End of Lamb" might be British, but I'll guarantee you that most of the menus at the restaurants run more along the lines of the "crab with roast foie gras, oyster ravioli with goats cheese and truffle" than fish and chips or any of the combinations of separate servings of a chunk of dry, overcooked meat, a small mound of bland vegetables, and a flavorless white-bread that seems to constitute many British meals.

Re:British chefs?

[tjanke]

And I'll bet none of those 'top' restaurants serve *British* food. They all serve originially foreign cuisines. Am I right?

This is shocking.

[Harvester of Eyes]

Wow. Is that show still on? Bet they've run out of celebrities by now. Last time I watched it, they recycled a joke from Season 7. Haven't watched it since.

Rehost!

[hemlockz]

Damn they took those files down realll quick after /. linked em!

Re:Pacific Northwest is the only possible choice .

[hemlockz]

True true. NW Portland Oregon is where it is based. Matt went to highschool here. He carved barts face into the sidewalk behind the baseball field of Lincoln Highschool. Some of the street names in NW are Kerney, Lovejoy, Quimby... all Simposons characters! His insiration came from here! Nancy Cartwright and Hank Azaria met in college in Oregon too.

"New Series" Typo

[Micklaine]

When I first saw the blurb, I just assumed that was a jab at how eternally long the series has been on television. How long can a show possibly last?

Amazing Attention To Detail? Hmm....

[mistergin.net]

"Makers of the hit cartoon The Simpsons have a filmed the show's opening titles using real actors...." Amazing attention to detail.

I know it's Monday and my eyes aren't always working well at this early an hour, but does anyone else notice the irony here?

Where's Alanis when you need her!!!

Re:Attention to detail? Glowing radioactive chunk.

[chivo243]

that sounds so high school.... My uni had no cheerleaders, it was a Fine Arts School....

They moved the town at least once in episodes

[PurpleWizard]

And we knnow the towns folk of Sringfield have moved it at least once, why not more than once depending upon which disaster they wanted to leave behind. We just haven't seen those events. Probably have to wait for books to fill them in like they do between events for Star Trek, Buffy etc...

Re: Direct Downloads

[phalse phace]

The second and third .wmv links don't seem to work. I think it's missing the k at the end 30 and 30 respectively.

medium .wmv

low .wmv

Iffy..

[Chadhulhu]

I don't mind it, it is sort of funny, Lisa is the only one I don't care for, and marge's hair. It would interesting if it folds out to a Live action series.

Well...

[Ynos]

I, for one, welcome our new realistic overlords.

Behind the Laughter

[Otto]

The best part of that episode is that, when it first aired, I know that the narrator said "East Kentucky family" and everybody thought it was answered. Then they actually changed than line before releasing the episode into syndication, and now it says "Southern Missouri family". I thought that was a beautiful example of the writers messing around with the uber-fanboy crowd. :)

Other interesting bits...

[Cervantes]

Some quick cameos I noticed:
As Bart skates through town, the first lady he passes appears to be frumpy enough to be the ministers wife... notice Moe standing in the doorway, with Barney nearby. And although his back is turned, I'm sure that's Lenny near them as well, judging by the clothes. Then it appears to be Creepy Suave Guy from one of the early years (with the bowling ball, the guy Marge almost scored with), Bleeding Gums Murphy, and Chief Wiggum, though he's skinny enough that I believe this is a homage to the infamous, never-aired "Triple Amputation" episode.

And as others have mentioned, it appears they couldn't think of a more suitable way to get Maggie into the picture in the last scene, so they cut her in behind Marge running, and also included Bart, which leads to a rather odd sense once you notice it... he's there, then he's over /there/.

And finally, in the camera swing to Lisa in the orchestra, I noticed Millhouse playing the trumpet, a rather dense-looking young lad who must have been Ralph (or if he isn't, will be some day), and those two annoying twins... as well as the music teacher being spot on.

And I think, in the back row just over Lisas' shoulder, is Token.

Springfield, MO and Fulton, MO

[booch]

You've got to be smoking some serious crack to think that Callaway Nuclear Generating Station is anywhere near Springfield, MO. Goggle Maps tells us that it's a 196 mile drive, taking nearly 4 hours.