Bart's Birthday
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This episode is considered non-canon and the events featured do not relate to the series and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.
The reason behind this decision is: The events shown on screen are part of an A.I. created scenario. If you dispute this, please bring it up on the episode's talk page. |
"Bart's Birthday"
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Episode Information
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"Bart's Birthday" is the first episode of season 36 of The Simpsons and the seven-hundred and sixty-ninth episode overall. It originally aired on September 29, 2024. The episode was written by Jessica Conrad and directed by Rob Oliver. It guest stars John Cena as himself, Danny DeVito as Herb Powell, Tom Hanks as himself, Joel McHale as himself, Conan O'Brien as himself, Mark Proksch as Hack-GPT, Seth Rogen as himself, and Amy Sedaris as Maggie Simpson.
Synopsis
- "In the series finale of The Simpsons, Bart celebrates a birthday that will change his life forever."
Plot
Live from the Dolby-Mucinex Theater, Conan O'Brien presents "The Simpsons Series Finale", announcing FOX had decided to end the show. Conan mentions how FOX has been trying to end it for years, starting of with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", saying the viewers said that it wasn't as funny as it used to be, showing their messages on social media, forums, Twitter, faxes and postcards. He mentions they decided to end the series in 1990, and shows a never-before-seen clip in "Bart the Daredevil", where Homer gets killed by the skateboard at the bottom of Springfield Gorge and the hearse carrying his coffin hitting a tree, making it fall down the Gorge. Conan then shows Rupert Murdoch's deal for Bart's Thanksgiving balloon in the 1990's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, saying they had to make new episodes to amortize the cost.
Next he shows another alternate scene conceived as season finale, this time from "Little Big Mom", where the tree slices Homer in half and starts bleeding, with Stupid Sexy Flanders passing by saying "Nothing at all!", and "King-Size Homer", where Homer's pressure causes him to get expelled and propeled up, hit a Duff Blimp which falls into the cooling towers and create a nuclear explosion that wipes the city. He proceeds to say how in 2007, the efforts to end the show stopped when The Simpsons Movie Porno Parody was released. But then the producers found a way to end the show proper with the help of the A.I. Hack-GPT, which after creating the "2026 opening of Homer Simpsons' Claim-Jumping Yukon-Rumbling Rock-N-Roller Coaster" at Disneyland Shangai, and having being fed every series finale ever, produces "The Simpsons Finale".
Bart is preparing for his birthday party, but Homer has forgotten to send out the invites, and Bart has only 8 hours to deliver them. At the theater, A.I. network executives intervene with some ideas. Meanwhile Bart at school is handing out the invitations and Skinner announces he'll no longer be the principal at Springfield Elementary School, with Willie as his roommate, with Bart exclaiming that it's his best birthday present ever but when Skinner and the other leaves, he isn't able to hand out all of the invitations. At the Power Plant, Homer gets distracted by scammers on his phone, while Smithers announces that Mr. Burns is dead. Blue-haired lawyer announces that he leaves everything to the power plant employees, who shout in joy, only for Burns to show up behind Smithers, pranking them. However, he didn't notice Homer walking up to him without looking, and he gets flung into the Core acid and dies melted in it. Being filthy rich, everyone leaves the plant, right as Bart arrives seeing everyone cheering him.
Bart then goes to The Android's Dungeon, Comic Book Guy and Kumiko are having a baby and they call a doctor, only for John Cena to show up instead and delivering the baby. Comic Book Guy then states that he doesn't need toys anymore as he has his collectible right there and closes down the dungeon too. Bart then goes to Milhouse but Milhouse leaves too as Kirk find a new job in Atlanta. Bart keeps seeing closures, as at the church, Patty and Evelyn, Ned Flanders and Ruth Powers, Selma and Yes Guy, and Duffman and Ms. Hoover marry, Moe closes his tavern, and Raphael leaves his job at the Springfield Tire Yard, switching it off.
At home, Bart try to tell Homer and Marge about his worries but they interrupt him to tell that their last therapy session was successfull and things were going to start getting better, including Homer trying a new diet, and a lot of changes, but Bart refuses and Hack-GPT says he's become self aware rejecting the story. On the street, stuff keep changing. Nelson reunites with his his dad, Agnes with her real son and moves in with him, Mr. Burns, Old Jewish man, Disco Stu and Hans Moleman's funeral are held at the church (though Hans is shown alive next to the sign) and he goes to visit Krusty, the only person he thinks never change, but Krusty announces that it's going to be the "Krusty Show last episode ever spectactular". To avoid it ending, he ruins the show, by showing his butt to the public.
At the Police Station, he's held in the cell and the family visits him, with Lisa wondering what's happening to him. Bart tries to convince Lisa to help him but she won a scholarship and a grant, and Wiggum is joining the Chicago P.D.. Outside, the road sign is changed from Evergreen Terrace to End-of-the-Road, and when they get home, everyone surprises Bart with a cake, with another change, him becoming 11. He tries to tell everyone that there's no way it'll work including Homer.
When he points out Homer will never change from the father he's, Homer Simpsons, he starts strangling him and they end up on the cake, with the screen glitching out and switching off, just to reboot to them in the house, with Nelson, Milhouse, Lewis, Grampa, Patty and Selma celebrating Bart's 10th birthday and nothing changed. On stage, Conan cries and Hack-GPT announces that The Simpsons hasn't ended but reset, with Conan saying it's not a series finale, but just a season premiere. When Conan asks Hack-GPT if it has 800 more episodes in it, it explodes and everyone runs out. Conan dresses himself up and says he's not gonna miss that place.
Production
The idea of the episode came from showrunner Matt Selman. During the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, Selman did some traveling and was often asked when and how The Simpsons would end. So he pitched the idea of doing a fake ending to the writers room. At one point in production, each act of the episode was going to be a parody of a different show ending, with Act 1 parodying the finale of Cheers. However, this ended up being scrapped. The episode was also partially inspired by "Lisa the Boy Scout" and "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular".[1]
Maggie's first words were intended to "the most hack line we could think of" when she said "Well, that just happened." Amy Sedaris was brought in to voice Maggie, and she only recorded her line on September 26, only three days before the episode aired. The line was originally spoken by Nancy Cartwright. For the scene where Homer strangled Bart, David Silverman animated it himself.[1]
The producers hoped to get Barack Obama as a guest star, where he would have said something like "The Simpsons is like being the president, where he had eight great years, then a lot of bad stuff comes after it". However, they were told "Thank you, but he’s kind of busy right now with the election." when they reached out to him.[1]
Gallery
References
Promo videos
"It's the episode fans have waited for since 1989... #TheSimpsons Season 36 premieres this Sunday on @FOXTV, next day on @hulu." on Twitter- "TV promo" on Twitter
- "anidom's BACK with a packed schedule. don't forget snacks 🍿 watch the season premieres of #TheSimpsons, #bobsburgers, #krapopolis & a brand new episode of #universalbasicguys SUNDAY on @foxtv. next day on @hulu!" on Twitter
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