Difference between revisions of "Gary Chalmers"

Revision as of 11:28, December 2, 2007

Superintendent Gary Chalmers, voiced by Hank Azaria, is the superintendent of Springfield's school district. He first appeared in the episode "Whacking Day". Chalmers is a strict and largely humorless man, with a short temper and low tolerance for disorder or rule-breaking; his general manner and personality like that of a military officer. Whenever he visits Springfield Elementary, some sort of disaster strikes. He produces extreme anxiety in Principal Skinner, who offers increasingly improbable stories to explain what is happening. Chalmers is known for throwing open the doors to the room and bellowing "SKIN-NER!!!" or "SEY-MOUR!!!", to which Seymour stammers "S-Superintendent Chalmers!" (in fact, as shown in the episode "Future-Drama", which takes place in the future, the superintendent is practically a vegetable, only capable of saying his trademark line). His catchphrase has caused some paranoia in Skinner (as seen in "Lisa's Date with Density"). On a few occasions he says Skinner's name this way when absolutely nothing has gone wrong, implying that he either pronounces Skinner's name this way by habit, or does it on purpose to scare him.

Chalmers's own competence and dedication to his job are questionable. He let Ned Flanders allow the school to descend into anarchy when he was principal, freely admitting that he had fired Skinner for far less, explaining simply that "Skinner really bugged me." He seems disturbingly unconcerned with the school's decline, saying that "the way America's public schools are sliding, they'll all be like this in a matter of months. I say enjoy it — it's a hell of a toboggan ride!" He also promotes people based on personal bias as opposed to actual competence, promoting Principal Holloway, described by Skinner as a "drunk" and Chalmers as a "pill-popper", to assistant superintendent, overlooking the efforts made by Skinner to improve his school's standing.

In several episodes, such as "Bart the Fink", Chalmers was seen dating Agnes Skinner (much to Seymour's dismay), although in other episodes he has mentioned he is married. He was mistakenly called "Super Nintendo Chalmers" by Ralph Wiggum in "Lisa Gets an "A"". His first name was revealed to be Gary in "Yokel Chords". In the DVD commentary to "22 Short Films About Springfield", Simpsons creators noted that Superintendent Chalmers seems to be one of the few "normal" characters on the show and is frequently alone in his awareness of the show's zaniness.