The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!
"The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!"
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Episode Information
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The Simpsons “Best. 20 Years. Ever.” celebration will culminate in January of 2010 with a documentary special entitled “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3D on Ice” airing on January 14th, 2010 - the 20th anniversary of the series’ debut.
Despite the title, the documentary will be in 2D and not on ice until the end,where the family is seen skating (it is not seen on 3-D to us just to the simpsons characters watching the tv). [1]
Content
The film will examine the "cultural phenomenon" of The Simpsons and will include interviews with both the cast and fans of the show. Morgan Spurlock says that despite the title, it "most likely will not be in 3-D nor on ice."
Production
Background
Director Morgan Spurlock was a fan of The Simpsons in his college days In 2009, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the premiere of The Simpsons, Fox announced that a year-long celebration of the show titled "Best. 20 Years. Ever." would run from January 14, 2009 to January 14, 2010. Morgan Spurlock, an Academy Award nominated documentary film maker (Best Documentary Feature for Super Size Me in 2004) and fan of The Simpsons since his college days, was asked to direct the special in February 2009. The producers of The Simpsons were impressed with an animated sequence in Spurlock's 2008 film Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? and decided to ask him to direct the special. Spurlock immediately accepted the offer, describing the opportunity as "the coolest thing I could ever get to do in my career." The special was later announced in July 2009. The producers spent several months deciding on the content and format of the film. Spurlock believes "the reason [the producers] called [him] to begin with was to not have a show that would be a glad-hand, pat-everyone-on-the-back special, that's why rooting it in the people who kept this show on the air for the last 20 years is important."
Filming
Plans for the special include interviews with fans from ten to fifteen countries. Filming of the special began at Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego. A casting call for fans was held on July 25, 2009, with the hopes of finding "some of the most incredible super-fans that the world has ever seen." Spurlock has filmed interviews with a man who grew real life "Tomacco" (a mix of Tobacco and tomato, based on the episode "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)"), the man with the most Simpsons tattoos and a couple that had a Simpsons-themed wedding. On August 12, 2009, Spurlock attended a Pacific Coast League baseball game between the Albuquerque Isotopes and Tacoma Rainiers at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Isotopes' name was inspired by the season 12 episode "Hungry Hungry Homer", where Homer attempts to thwart the Springfield Isotopes' plan to move to Albuquerque. Subsequently, when an Albuquerque Tribune online survey helped the team decide its new name, "Isotopes" received 67 percent of the 120,000 votes. Spurlock filmed several scenes in both Glasgow and Aberdeen, Scotland. Both cities have claimed to be the home of character Groundskeeper Willie, based on various bits of dialogue from the series. He also conducted tongue-in-cheek interviews with former Lord Provost of Glasgow Liz Cameron and Aberdeen FC manager Mark McGhee.
For more information: www.simpsonschannel.com[1] and www.wikipedia.org[2]
References
- ↑ Kung, Michelle (2009-07-13). Morgan Spurlock Spills the Beans on his Upcoming “Simpsons” Doc. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on 2009-10-04.
