The Simpsons Movie

girish writes "Eonline is reporting that, finally, after more than 10 years since Matt Groening said that a Simpsons film 'is way down the line', a movie based on The Simpsons is being made. It's still in its early stages and is being planned to be debuted in the summer or during Christmas time of 2006. The Simpsons has been on FOX for 15 seasons and averages 12.9 million viewers this season."

I can only hope that

[dr_steel]

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

Make it stop

[SpiffyMarc]

Have the people who OK'd this movie actually SEEN and COMPARED newer episodes of Simpsons to ones that aired back in its' glory days?

Jumped the shark a few seasons ago at least, as much as I hate to say it. This is one of those shows I wish they'd take off the air for its' own good.

I'm Scared

[Torinaga-Sama]

I sooo want this to be good, but it so difficult for a cartoon that has almost always done exactly what it needed to do in 1/2 hour to accomplish the same thing as effectively in a longer format while still doing justice to the original.

Mmmm.... movies!

[plover]

Y'know, that's a great suggestion! Matt might have them jump a shark in this movie just for the joke. He knows the show is old, and mocking himself would be perfectly in keeping with his style.

I would rather.....

[Sentosus]

Have a new season... 23 Episodes at 22 minutes a piece or 1.5 hours of a movie... I just don't see the purpose of a movie.

Re:Make it stop

[j0217995]

I disagree, last week's episdoe with Marge telling the various history stories was classic. I thought it had everything some of the old episodes had and is perhaps the best so far this season. There were way too many good parts in the episode to list, but perhaps the greatest was when Lisa tried to grow a penis. I laughed so hard I was crying.

While last season was pretty terrible, this season has improved. Hopefully it will continue

Guaranteed cash cow

[n0mad6]

One has to only look at the Matrix sequels and the Star Wars prequels to see sloppy filmmaking can get (in terms of quality) when you have something guaranteed to be a box office success...

Of course, Groening's inferences about the South Park movie gives me hope as that definitely was a succesful big-screen transition...

Re:I can only hope that

[ArmenTanzarian]

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

Re:Make it stop

[garcia]

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

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut

[blorg]

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

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

Re:And homer jumps a shark on a unicycle

[NDPTAL85]

The Simpsons is still one of the highest rated shows on FOX.

It is not nearing cancelation.

Conan O'Brien is overrated

[sbma44]

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

With that said, he came back to the show a few years ago and the show didn't get much better. So I still don't have very high hopes for this movie. The thing that made the Simpsons great was its loving, hilarious-yet-almost-plausible depiction of a small town and all of its quirky inhabitants. It stopped doing that a long time ago and started sending the main characters on ludicrous adventures crammed full of celebrity cameos -- in a nutshell, situational humor rather than character-based humor. It became just another cartoon. There have been ups and downs in quality, but I think it's pretty clear to everyone that the series has never been as good as it was during seasons 3-6.

I would like to believe that a feature length film would allow the series' greatest contributors to sit down and really focus on their craft again, and create a legacy that can be used to put the series to bed. More likely it will be used as an excuse for a plotline that's even more outlandish than usual. I'm not looking forward to it.

Re:Make it stop

[haystor]

Stop watching.

"prepare-for-disappointment department"?

[RandBlade]

D'oh!

Seriously though: Its easy to expect disappointment, it is notoriously difficult to switch from half-hour episodes to a full 90-minute movie. If the movie is just an extended cartoon then it would be a disappointment, it wouldn't work. This is why most movie attempts fail.

However there are some examples of very good quality movies from TV series' and if done well then these can be "excellent". I think few would dispute that South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut did the series justice, it took many jokes already in the series and resulted in a very good movie. Another classic example is M*A*S*H - This is I believe the only prime-time comedy which ran longer than The Simpsons has, however the movie-length finale was very memorable. A good series which closed with an even better film.

If they just try to do a long episode then the movie will fail. If they try to get a proper movie, set in Springfield, then they have every chance to pull off a masterpiece.

End of simpson near?

[superpulpsicle]

Usually a movie is released at the peak of its series.

Southpark the movie came out, then it rode downhill ever since.

Transformers and GIJOE the movie did the same thing.

Is this the end of the simpsons coming? I can't think of any instance when movies were released and the show continue riding sky high afterwards.

Re:But will it work?

[dema]

I think 320 (or somewhere around there) 24-minute episodes is more than enough to prove the characters of The Simpsons aren't "simple."

It is still better than anything else....

[gosand]

Have the people who OK'd this movie actually SEEN and COMPARED newer episodes of Simpsons to ones that aired back in its' glory days? Jumped the shark a few seasons ago at least, as much as I hate to say it. This is one of those shows I wish they'd take off the air for its' own good.

Ahh, but tell me exactly where they jumped the shark. That is the key. They haven't. They CAN'T. The nature of the show makes it impossible. Some would say that they did it when they did the 3D Homer episode - or it could be considered a classic! Maude dies? Risky, but no shark there. The rake scene? Classic.

Here is why the Simpsons amazes me. When I see a show in first run, I think it is OK or good, and sometimes bad. But it seems that when I see it in re-run, it gets better. I think some of the ones in the last few years are really good. In fact, I thought last week's was pretty funny.

Everyone has their favorite. Mine is an oldie - Selma's Choice. That is the one where Aunt Gladys dies, Lionel Hutz is the executor of the will, Homer eats the huge sandwich and gets sick, so Patty and Selma have to take the kids to Duff Gardens, where Lisa trips on the water and Bart tries on Beer Goggles. There is hardly a moment in that episode that I can't laugh at.

I still love their Halloween episodes, and when they go back and enact classic stories. Behind the Laughter was awesome. Their "milestone" episode show was brilliant, with outtake clips.

Fan reaction...

[BTWR]

1996: Simpsons used to be good. It sucks now. These new episodes (George Bush as a neighbor, 22 Short Films about Springfield) suck.
1998: Simpsons hasn't been funny in years. It's best years are behind us. No good shows are made anymore (Bart and Homer become carnies, Kidz Newz). It's such a shell of what it used to be.
2000: Man oh man do the episodes today suck. I mean, what happened to the quality episodes of yesteryear? Did you see last sunday's episode? Worst episode ever (Homer as a Food critic, Behind the Laughter, Apu has Octuplets)
2001: Wow. There haven't been good eps in years (Bart in a boyband, "Homer's Day/Bart's Day/Lisa's Day," Praiseland)
2002: Man, this show is SO unfunny now it's a joke. There hasn't been a good episode in like the last few years. The episodes today completely lack any humor (Homer smokes marijuana, "Angry Dad," "Springshield"). What happened to all the classic episodes, like "Homer as a Food Critic" and "George Bush as a Neighbor?"
2004: Wow. This show sucks today. Such a shell of what it used to be.

Can we stop with all the "Simpsons sucks!" rants? I mean, we get proven over-and-over that it's still top-notch. Point is, we've been hearing "The Simpsons Suck!" for years now, and yet it's simply not true. Every time fanboys say an episode sucks, I guarentee you 2-3 years later it's known as classic and now the new episodes suck.

I have a theory. Perhaps simpson fans are so into the show that we know nearly every episode since it's on everyday. When these shows rerun, we see them over and over, and pick up on so many more jokes. But when we see them new for the first time, we don't catch all the humor and therefore it "suffers." Pick any episode from 3 years ago and I guarentee you people ranted how bad it was the morning after it aired. But today we have at least 3-4 classic lines from it (Example: "Trilogy of error" - 2001's season finale... definately WAY INTO the era when fanboys said the show no longer had humor and was terrible):

Dr. Nick: Flammable means inflammable? What a country!
Bart: How'd you find this place? Milhouse: This is where I go to cry.
Homer: Lingro... dead? Linguo: Linguo is dead.
Soooo many others, just from that episode. Point is, before you say how awful the show is now, realize that once the current eps hit the syndication circuit, they'll be "classic" too.

Re:Make it stop

[Tickenest]

Man, good thing I don't let you decide for me what's funny and what isn't.

Jumping the Shark is a definite possibility

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a sad thought, but this could be the end of The Simpsons.

The problem with the celebrity voice-overs

[blorg]

We should remember that Sideshow Bob was an actual character, he wasn't playing Kelsey Grammar. But even beyond this, the early celebrity voice-overs were great. The problem only began when they started working the episodes around the celebrities, rather than working the celebrities into an episode. I think Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger were the start of this.

Re:Make it stop

[Viceice]

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

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

Re:End of the Simpsons?

[Galvatron]

It might also just be that keeping a show on the air for a long time is inherently difficult. Around the time a movie gets rolling, the show has slid into decline. Look at, say, Friends. It was actually a pretty funny show for the first couple seasons. If, around season 4 or 5 they'd made a movie, people might say that the movie was responsible for the decline. In actuality, the show got stale and unfunny all on its own.

I think this goes doubly for cartoons, because of the aging audience. By the time you get a movie out, your audience is 3 years older, and is likely starting to outgrow your cartoon (only very occasionally does it seem that a cartoon can capture the next younger set of kids; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seemed to make occasional revivals, but it was never as big as it was when I was about 10). Of course occasionally there are exceptions, such as Transformers where they just spent too much money on the movie, and then had to farm out the animation for the third season to a cut rate animation studio. In that case it could be argued that the movie killed the TV show.

Re:Conan O'Brien is overrated

[Avumede]

Interesting point. I actually have been thinking that the Simpsons has been getting better the last few years. Perhaps it is Meyer's influence after all.

F-word

[TrevizeNet]

Ok, since the article says they plan to rip-off South Park BL&U, which Simpsons character will be the first to say the F-Word. Bart, Homer, and Crusty would be a bit too obvious. Personally I'd like to see how Flanders would deal with uttering the unholiest of all profanities.

Re:Make it stop

[mrseigen]

Last week's episode was really good, yeah. Last season was the worst; if I wanted to watch nothing but an idiot hurt himself and run around screaming I'd go outside and watch for awhile. :)

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

[noisehole]

overall, you're right, but s15e09 (FABF04) [tvtome.com] was a great one. its the one with snowball... havent seen that kind of humor for a while in the simpsons.

for the ones that missed it, get it here as vcd [66.90.75.92] or avi [64.191.60.251]

Re:And homer jumps a shark on a unicycle

[mtrupe]

Well, South Park has done pretty well after the movie was made. The South Park movie was great, but not as good as the TV show. I don't think shows like The Simpson's, Family Guy, South Park, and Futurama are designed to work well in a hour+ long story. These TV shows are great because they play on our short attention spans very well.

Of course, I'll be in the theatre on its opening night anyway...

Who will Star?

[red floyd]

More importantly, will Troy McClure star in the movie?

Re:Conan O'Brien is overrated

[hambonewilkins]

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

Re:Mmmm.... movies!

[sxltrex]

Just like South Park. How would that work in a full-length feature? Oh, wait, that was one of the funniest movies of all time!

All it takes is brilliant writing and any show can be made into a movie. Conversely, bad writing can make the best show into a piece of crap movie.

Re:But will it work?

[katarac]

I don't know if I agree on the plotlines being simple. If you watch any episode in the past 10 or so years, you can easily forget how the episode started at all. I happen to like the convolutedness(real word?) of it. It makes the episodes seem longer and it's funny just for being so absurd. I think it would be easy to make a movie just by extending some of the twising, non-linear plotlines of the episodes.

Hand Drawn vs. Digital

[mykepredko]

The big /. question that nobody seems to be commenting on is whether or not the movie will be hand drawn or digitally produced. According to Groening on the (Simpson's) season three and Futurama (season two) commentary is that this season's shows are now all digital.

Digital seems to be the preferred method because you don't need a legion of Koreans (look at the credits of the original series) to draw/paint the cells, resulting in cheaper costs and scenes can be played over and changed to better suit the mood of the scene in almost real time.

I think this is the reason why the more recent seasons have not had the great "camera work" of the early ones and why Futurama looks so great in comparison.

Where this is leading is if Digital is taken advantage of (like Futurama) it means that there will probably be a different visual style to the movie (and the latest seasons) due to what digital composition allows. While this season's shows haven't really shown the advantages of digital, I wonder if the movie will take advantage of it to give us a whole new look on an old classic.

myke

Re:F-word

[nertz_oi]

I've always thought of the Simpsons as a family show...at least compared with today's South Park, Family Guy etc. Its genius was that it really didn't have to stoop to using swear words to get laughs, and i would be really surprised if fuck was used in the movie.

Re:Make it stop

[JahToasted]

Yeah but if Futurama continued on, everyone here would be complaining about how its jumped the shark and the last season wasn't as good as the first five. Don't deny it, you all know its true.

Re:Fan reaction...

[NoseSocks]

Never dipped in appeal?

Most of my friends who were once die hard Simpson fans (would watch the current episodes and the 3 re-runs played during the day) watch it rarely these days. I've tried to watch it, but it seems the Simpsons today are a part of the television they used to rise above and mock in early seasons.

The problem is, the Simpsons used to be closely-knit stories with many low-brow and high-brow jokes mixed in, often in the form of references to other movies. It's lost that cohesion, and other shows blow it out of the water on the humor they try.

Political Satire - South Park addresses this all too well these days
Obscure references - Family Guy, while now only in reruns, did this better than recent Simpsons
Bizarre Factor - Adult Swim shorts (Sealab 2021, ATHF, and SGC2C) blows the Simpsons out of the water on this factor.
The Ending with a Smile Factor - Home Movies on Adult Swim leaves a smile on my face by the end of every episode. The combination of innocence and clever witt is phenominal