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 3
| # | Airdate | Title | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 - 301 | November 6, 1988 | "Shut Up, Simpsons" | |
| Maggie squeaks her toy, which causes a chain reaction of anger in the family. An attempt for reconciliation leads to even more anger. | |||
| 31 - 302 | November 13, 1988 | "Shell Game" | |
| Bart tries to hide the cookies he stole from the jar by distracting his parents with the shell game. When his plan seems to succeed, he is bested by Maggie. | |||
| 32 - 303 | November 20, 1988 | "The Bart Simpson Show" | |
| The kids are watching TV and Homer tells them to stop watching violent cartoons. Unable to watch cartoons Bart puts on his own show, which eventually angers Homer even more. | |||
| 33 - 304 | November 27, 1988 | "Punching Bag" | |
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Bart and Lisa take out their frustrations on a punching bag with Homer's picture on it. When Homer commands Marge to make the kids stop, he later finds her punching the bag. | |||
| 34 - 305 | December 18, 1988 | "Simpson Christmas" | |
| Bart tells a story of a traditional Christmas in the Simpson family in the style of "The Night Before Christmas". | |||
| 35 - 306 | January 15, 1989 | "The Krusty the Clown Show" | |
| The kids get to see Krusty's show live for the first time. | |||
| 36 - 307 | January 29, 1989 | "Bart the Hero" | |
| Sent out to exercise, Bart foils a robbery attempt. | |||
| 37 - 308 | February 5, 1989 | "Bart's Little Fantasy" | |
| Bart tells a story about large kids who throw their small parents into a small room. | |||
| 38 - 309 | February 12, 1989 | "Scary Movie" | |
| Bart, Lisa and Maggie go to the movie to see "The Happy Little Elves Return" (much to Bart's dismay), but Bart convinces the girls to see "Space Mutants" instead. However, Bart ends up being scared by it. | |||
| 39 - 310 | February 19, 1989 | "Homer Hypnotism" | |
| Homer tries hypnosis to calm down his crazy kids. | |||
| 40 - 311 | February 26, 1989 | "Shoplifting" | |
| Bart's attempt to swipe some chocolate is foiled. | |||
| 41 - 312 | March 12, 1989 | "Echo Canyon" | |
| The family drives to Echo Canyon, takes turns making echoes, and Bart almost makes a boulder crunch the family car. | |||
| 42 - 313 | March 19, 1989 | "Bathtime" | 120px |
| Homer makes Bart take his "Sunday Night Bath", only to flood the bathroom. | |||
| 43 - 314 | March 26, 1989 | "Bart's Nightmare" | |
| In this sequel to "Shell Game", Bart has a nightmare after eating every single cookie from the cookie jar. | |||
| 44 - 315 | April 16, 1989 | "Bart of the Jungle" | |
| The kids swing from the trees off Homer's ties. | |||
| 45 - 316 | April 23, 1989 | "Family Therapy" | |
| Homer takes the family to a psychologist. | |||
| 46 - 317 | April 30, 1989 | "Maggie in Peril (Chapter One)" | |
| Bart kicks Maggie's ball out of sight and she takes off to retrieve it back. | |||
| 47 - 318 | May 7, 1989 | "Maggie in Peril (The Thrilling Conclusion)" | |
| Part 2. Maggie floats in the air hanging on to balloons and lands safely back in her playpen. | |||
| 48 - 319 | May 14, 1989 | "TV Simpsons" | |
| Homer attempts to fix the television antenna on the roof. | |||
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.
