The Simpsons shorts
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The Simpsons Shorts is a series of one-minute shorts that ran on the variety show The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons, before the characters spun off into their own half-hour prime time show called The Simpsons. The shorts were created by cartoonist Matt Groening in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. He had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts, and had intended to present his Life in Hell series. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction.[1] He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family, and named the characters after his own family.[1] Bart was modeled after Groening's older brother, Mark, but given a different name which was chosen as an anagram of "brat."[2]
The stories were written and storyboarded by Matt Groening.[3] The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead they just traced over his drawings.[1] The animation was produced domestically at Klasky Csupo,[4] with Wesley Archer, David Silverman, and Bill Kopp being animators for the first season.[3] After season one it was animated by Archer and Silverman.[3] Georgie Peluse was the colorist and the person who decided to make the characters yellow.[3]
The characters are voiced by the same people known from The Simpsons. Dan Castellaneta performed the voices of Homer Simpson, Abraham Simpson, and Krusty the Clown. Homer's voice sounds different on the shorts compared to most episodes of the half-hour show. His voice was in the beginning a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but it became more robust and humorous on the half-hour show, allowing Homer to cover a fuller range of emotions.[5] Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, and Yeardley Smith performed the voices of Marge Simpson, Bart Simpson, and Lisa Simpson respectively.
The shorts were featured on the first three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show. By the fourth and last season of The Tracey Ullman Show the first season of the half-hour show was on the air. In the two first seasons the shorts were divided into three or four parts, in the third season they were played as a single story. Tracey Ullman filed a lawsuit, claiming that her show was the source of The Simpsons success and therefore should receive a share of the show's profit. Eventually the courts ruled in favor of the network.[6]
Only a few of these shorts have been released on DVD. "Good Night" was included on The Simpsons season 1 DVD. Five of these shorts were later used in the clip show episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" on the half-hour show, which was released on the season 7 DVD. These five shorts were "Good Night", "The Perfect Crime", "Space Patrol", "World War III", and "Bathtime". Groening has announced that all of the shorts will be available on mobile phones.[7]
Shorts
Season 1: 1987
| Picture | # | Title | Original airdate | Prod. code | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100px | 1 - 1 |
"Good Night" |
April 19, 1987 | MG01 | ||
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Marge and Homer say goodnight to their kids but all does not go to plan. Bart philosophically contemplates (first time and last) the wonders of the mind, Lisa hears Marge say "don'tlet the bed bugs bite" and fears that her bed bugs will eat her, and Maggie is traumatized by the lyrics of "rock-a-bye-baby" | ||||||
| 100px | 2 - 2 | "Watching Television" | May 3, 1987 | MG02 | ||
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Bart and Lisa quarrel over what channel they should watch. Repeatedly Maggie comes up to the television and changes the channel. The only thing they eventually agree on is to stop Maggie changing the channel. Later Homer is saying a speech about family matters and stops when the show comes back on. | ||||||
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3 - 3 | "Bart Jumps" | May 10, 1987 | MG03 | ||
| Homer makes several attempts to have Bart jump into his arms. Each time Bart jumps Homer is distracted and fails to catch him. | ||||||
| 100px | 4 - 4 | "Babysitting Maggie" | May 31, 1987 | MG04 | ||
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Marge puts Bart and Lisa in charge of babysitting Maggie. They totally ignore her, and she gets electrocuted, falls down the stairs and chases a butterfly onto the roof only to fall off the roof. | ||||||
| 100px | 5 - 5 | "The Pacifier" | June 21, 1987 | MG05 | ||
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Bart and Lisa take Maggie's pacifier away to stop her from sucking on it. Maggie has an entire drawerful of them and refuses to kick the habit. | ||||||
| 100px | 6 - 6 | "Burping Contest" | June 28, 1987 | MG06 | ||
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Bart, Lisa and Maggie compete in a contest to see who can make the most disgusting burp. Marge objects several times, but to no avail. | ||||||
| 100px | 7 - 7 | "Dinnertime" | July 12, 1987 | MG07 | ||
| Marge serves the family dinner and the family sits down for the meal. Marge insists that family should have table manners, but the family's crude eating habits are hard to stop. | ||||||
Season 2: 1987 - 1988
| Picture | # | Title | Original airdate | Prod. code | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100px | 1 - 201 |
"Making Faces" |
April 19, 1987 | MG08 | ||
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Marge and Homer say goodnight to their kids but all does not go to plan. Bart philosophically contemplates (first time and last) the wonders of the mind, Lisa hears Marge say "don'tlet the bed bugs bite" and fears that her bed bugs will eat her, and Maggie is traumatized by the lyrics of "rock-a-bye-baby" | ||||||
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2 - 202 | "The Funeral" | May 3, 1987 | MG09 | ||
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Bart and Lisa quarrel over what channel they should watch. Repeatedly Maggie comes up to the television and changes the channel. The only thing they eventually agree on is to stop Maggie changing the channel. Later Homer is saying a speech about family matters and stops when the show comes back on. | ||||||
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3 - 203 | "What Maggie's Thinking" | May 10, 1987 | MG03 | ||
| Homer makes several attempts to have Bart jump into his arms. Each time Bart jumps Homer is distracted and fails to catch him. | ||||||
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4 - 204 | "Football" | May 31, 1987 | MG04 | ||
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Marge puts Bart and Lisa in charge of babysitting Maggie. They totally ignore her, and she gets electrocuted, falls down the stairs and chases a butterfly onto the roof only to fall off the roof. | ||||||
| 100px | 5 - 205 | "House of Cards" | June 21, 1987 | MG05 | ||
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Bart and Lisa take Maggie's pacifier away to stop her from sucking on it. Maggie has an entire drawerful of them and refuses to kick the habit. | ||||||
| 100px | 6 - 206 | "Bart and Homer's Dinner" | June 28, 1987 | MG06 | ||
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Bart, Lisa and Maggie compete in a contest to see who can make the most disgusting burp. Marge objects several times, but to no avail. | ||||||
| 100px | 7 - 207 | "Space Patrol" | July 12, 1987 | MG07 | ||
| Marge serves the family dinner and the family sits down for the meal. Marge insists that family should have table manners, but the family's crude eating habits are hard to stop. | ||||||
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 BBC. (2000). 'The Simpsons': America's First Family (6 minute edit for the season 1 DVD) (DVD). UK: 20th Century Fox.
- ↑ Paul, Alan. "Matt Groening" (Interview)Flux Magazine Issue #6.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Cagle, Daryl. The David Silverman Interview. MSNBC. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
- ↑ Deneroff, Harvey. "Matt Groening's Baby Turns 10"Animation Magazine, Vol. 14, #1, pp. 10, 12.
- ↑ Brownfield, Paul. "He's Homer, but This Odyssey Is His Own"Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ Spotnitz, Frank. "Eat my shorts!"Entertainment Weekly, p. 8(1).
- ↑ Groening's repeats u-turn (2006-08-06). Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
