The Simpsons Discussion with Flava Dave and Devall

This is The Brain, and you're listening to the

GeekCast Radio Network. Yes! Can you say screw

up? Hello and welcome to the animated, oh no,

this isn't the animated world, this is Tooncast,

the 80th episode. I am TF2 and Mike and we are

brought to you by the GeekCast Radio Network.

Today I am joined by two of Pop Culture Network's

co -hosts, or hosts, or whatever the heck they're

called over there, Flava Dave, hello sir. Hey,

how you doing Mike? And Pixel Deval. What? Whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You actually thought

I wasn't gonna watch that new toy smell before

recording this? Come on now. Dang it. You know

that was you, dude. Don't lie. Don't lie. That

wasn't me. I didn't do that. In the 80th episode

today, we will be talking about the classic,

the longest running animated TV series cartoon,

yeah, animated TV series ever, The Simpsons.

Isn't it also closing in on Bonanza? Is it Bonanza

or Gunsmoke? It overtook Bonanza a couple years

ago. Gunsmoke is still the longest. Law and Order

would have overtaken that if NBC had given Dick

Wolf the 21st season, but they didn't do that.

Well, The Simpsons is on like 22nd, isn't it?

Yeah. So it took over. Yeah, it took over Gunsmoke,

but... Yeah, don't try to slam it into the animation,

Ghetto. It is... I wasn't! Ghetto -wise, my Simpsons.

It may not be bright and shiny and new anymore.

It's rusty and pieces are falling off and it

should be taken out back and put down, but...

It's not funny anymore. It's still a classic.

I would have said it was crusty and it needed

to go back to Clown College. Yeah. On a quick

off topic, you talked about Law and Order would

have got 21 seasons. Dude, two weeks ago, the

entire episode, I kid you not, of 30 Rock, was

nothing but jokes about Law and Order being canceled.

I don't watch that show, so. It's sad. You should.

It's a good show. Yes. So for those of you people

who listen to Tooncast and may not listen to

Toycast, I had Flava Dave and Pixel Dan on an

episode of Toycast, and then Deval and I, the

very next episode, talked about Superman and

a bunch of other random stuff. It was the greatest

Superman, not Superman podcast ever. I know,

really. It's like, hey, we're going to talk about

Superman toys, and then we started drifting into

like 80s pop culture and just 80s culture in

general, and it's like, wow, this is a huge train

wreck. It was fun, though. Yeah, it was really

fun. Dave, why don't you introduce yourself to

the Tunecast listeners? Well, apparently my professional,

quote unquote, name is Flava Dave. I live here

in Springfield, Illinois. You know, I mean, I've

been a big fan of the Simpsons since they started.

I'm a big toy collector. I love Star Wars. I

love G .I. Joe. I have a pretty big Simpsons

collection. I don't think it's as big as people

think. If you have it displayed all together,

it looks real impressive. I don't know, I got

a dog. And Pixel Deval, who are you? I'm not

answering until you call me by my professional

name. You don't have a professional name, your

last name is your professional name. Dang it!

You have no... it's just Deval and it's like...

Wow, they were so lazy they couldn't even come

up with a nickname for him. Oh, my friends were

so lazy they couldn't come up with a nickname

for him. That's what I said! They were so lazy

that they couldn't come up with a nickname for

him. I thought you said I was so lazy. I'm like,

it's confused. I'm like, why am I bringing up

my own nickname? This is weird. Yeah, no, and

the rules apparently are you're not allowed to

pick your own nickname. Oh, no, it's picked for

you, unfortunately. Unless you're Dan and then

you pick your own name. Yeah, well... I picked

Dan. Na -ma -ma -ma -ma. Well... He does have

pixels to plastics, so it could have come from

that. I'm Deval. Actually, my real name is Jason

Deval. I live in Springfield, Illinois as well.

Dave and I are the co -hosts of the animated

world of Flava Dave and Deval on the Pop Culture

Network. And I had two dogs and two cats. And

Dave's dog apparently likes to sniff my crotch.

It's weird. Yeah, well, who doesn't? OK. Wow.

Good thing we are explicit here, so that's good

here. So I guess since my regular co -host Kevin,

I don't know if he doesn't like The Simpsons

or if he just had no interest in being on this

episode. But yeah, he's off somewhere creating

a new show called Telecast, so that'll be released

eventually sometime November, maybe next year,

we don't know yet. And normally he does the history

lesson stuff because Well, in real life he's

a history teacher and he decided he was going

to do history lessons, so I guess I have to fill

in since he just, you know, he's a lazy geek

like the rest of us. So getting into the history

lesson, The Simpsons is an animated American

television series created by Matt Groening or

Groerging or however the hell you say his damn

name. Furfrock's Broadcasting Company. The series

is a satrico - eh, satrical parody. Satirical.

Yeah, satirical parody of working -class American

lifestyle... Oediponii? Ah, God, the... Why?

I don't know. I have no idea. Basically, the

family consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa,

and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional

city of Springfield. Hey, you guys live there,

wow. No, we actually don't live there that they

gave it to Vermont Which is super weak stupid

Vermont stupid Vermont. Yeah And lampoon's American

culture society television in many aspects of

the human condition The family was conceived

by groaning shortly before a pitch for a series

of animated shorts with the producer James L

Brooks groaning created a dysfunctional family

named The characters after members of his own

family substituting Bart for his own name The

shorts became part of the Tracy Ullman Show on

April 19, 1987. After a three -season run, the

sketch was developed into a half -hour primetime

show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the

first Fox series to land in the top 30 ratings

in a season from 1989 to 1990. Since its debut

on December 17th, 1989, the show has broadcast

464 episodes, and the 21st season finished airing

on May 23rd, 2010. The Simpsons movie, a feature

-length film, was released in theaters worldwide

on July 26th and 27th, 2007, and grossed $527

million worldwide. The Simpsons has won dozens

of awards, and it has debuted since series included

25 Primetime Emmy Awards, 26 Annie Awards, and

a Peabody Award. Time Magazine's December 31,

1999 issue named it the 20th century's best television

series, and on January 14, 2000, The Simpson

Family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk

of Fame. The Simpsons is the longest -running

American sitcom, the longest -running American

animated program, and in 2009, it surpassed Gunsmoke

as the longest -running American primetime entertainment

series. Homer's exclamatory catchphrase, doe,

has been adapted into the English lexicon, while

The Simpsons has influenced many adult -oriented

animated sitcoms. So guys, what are our memories

of The Simpsons? Dave, you can go first. Well,

you know, I actually remember, I know it debuted

on the Tracy Ullman show, but I remember before

Ruthless People, if you remember that movie,

there was a Simpsons animated short. And I'm

pretty sure that's the first time I ever saw

The Simpsons. Really? Yeah. And, you know, I

remember, I remember seeing the very, I don't

remember the Christmas special, but I remember

the first regular episode, Bart, Bart the Genius.

You know, and... I went to college in upstate

New York and I wasn't exactly in the mountains

but we had mountains all around us and so it

was like every week you know there was one guy

whose job was to try to hold the antenna while

the rest of us sat around and try to watch the

show because we didn't have gable and and one

of the ones I really remember is there was the

the soapbox derby episode and there's a moment

where Martin's derby goes out of control and

bursts into flames and he goes running out of

the car in flames and we lost the signal and

we couldn't get it back for the rest of the episode

and we're all like freaking out like oh my god

did martin die so wow those are some of my favorite

early memories of the simpsons what about you

daval you know i remember i remember watching

it when at first when the christmas special first

premiered uh and then after it really started

taking off you know i started watching it uh

but i remember the thing i remember the most

is the simpsons magazine that came out every

month which was very odd for a show of that nature

to have a kids magazine. It was just, apparently

90s was one of those odd things. I remember seeing

it in stores all the time. There were Simpsons

comics in there and stories. And then I remember

the old Playmates toy line. But I remember, I

think my favorite episode from the show is the

monorail episode. Oh, the monorail episode is

great. Yeah. There are... So many episodes of

this show that how can you really pick a favorite?

That's the problem with this show No, you know,

my favorite episode is Lisa's wedding. It really

had to ask me I would pick it immediately without

even breaking a sweat It's just got that combination

of see one of the things I wanted to say about

the Simpsons I think sets it apart and that Simpsons

itself has lost is that there was a real humanity

to the characters especially when it hit kind

of when it hit its stride it had that combination

of like the humanity and the wacky zany madcap

nonsense and Lisa's wedding I think finds that

perfect absolute balance of you know these characters

are a family they hate each other they love each

other you know you know the dad you know Homer

you know tries you know he gets his heart broken

because the guy doesn't want to wear the cufflinks

and he doesn't make a big deal out of it because

he doesn't want to ruin a special day and Lisa

stands up for him and you know it's just you

know at the end she kind of goes back to her

young self and and and hugs her dad and loves

him and you know I just I like that stuff I like

that it had a heart back in it back in the day

yeah I agree that was that was the thing that

always drove that show and I think that was the

era when people like Conan O 'Brien were writing

Yeah, and you had a you had just that that all

-star cast of amazing writers who knew how to

Do that really silly ridiculous comedy because

they were doing it every day in the writers room

and then also knew how to I mean these were guys

who came from Harvard and all the you know all

these other high -class schools and They knew

how to touch on those emotions while writing

and those those those episodes of those I almost

want to say it was five or six seasons worth

that we got of episodes like that were probably

the what really propelled The Simpsons into the

height, into the stratosphere, and what's helped

it continue on, because people are hoping one

day that that show will turn around and go back

to that. I mean, it hadn't happened yet, but,

you know. Well, but I think the landscape's changed.

I mean, one of the things that I had a hard time

getting into Futurama and Family Guy, which both

became really, well, Futurama sort of didn't

succeed and then it came back, but I mean, both

of those... you know, really kind of cut out

the heart for just to go for the jokes. And I

think that's the style now. Although, you know,

the Cleveland show has kind of gone around the

other way and is getting back to sort of the

family and the characters, you know, having bonds

and relationships with each other. So maybe it's

coming around full circle. I don't know. For

me, what I remember most about The Simpsons is

that I actually was at... I was with my dad and

my stepmom. We were at her brother's... family's

house for, I don't know, some pre -Christmas

celebration. And it was that, it was premiere

night for The Simpsons, the first episode. It

was the Christmas special. I remember turning

it on. I remember it was a big deal and whatever

else. And, you know, I don't know, something...

I don't even think there was really that much

violence in... The Christmas I just actually

watched it an hour before we started recording

this so I don't remember really there being too

much violence in the Christmas episode but it

was probably language and basically anytime I

was with my dad and my stepmom she basically

said that I was not allowed to watch The Simpsons

because it was too violent and too adult. Yeah

it was controversial I mean I remember that the

I mean, I was in college when it really premiered,

but I remember hearing stories from my friends

still in high school that there was a campaign

to get people, you know, to ban it or to get

people not to watch it. And I'm like, really?

Seriously? Yeah. I, you know, I had, I, I, but

when I was like with them, because I live with

my mom full time because my parents are divorced

and all that stuff. But at the time I was living

with my mom and mom, I mean, mom let me watch

it because, you know, I'm the type of person

that I know the difference between. what's on

television or what's fictional than actually

going out and trying to do it. You know? Well,

yeah. I mean, it's just one of those common -sense

things that I don't think a lot of people, especially

nowadays, a perfect example is when Jackass hit,

which I really don't care for Jackass, but, you

know, people would go out and try to mimic that

crap. And it's like, it's a television show.

Oh, jeez. Well, no, and they did that with Beavis

and Butthead, too, and Beavis and Butthead...

turn around and made an episode out of it. Oh,

would be this couldn't say fire anymore. No,

it was the one where they flew the kite in the

storm. They were watching Ben Franklin. That's

right. So yeah, that's that's pretty much my

memories of the Simpsons. I guess we can go ahead

and go into the characters and the voice actors.

A lot of great voice actors in this series. And

a lot of them do multiple voices, like Dan Castellaneta

does, Homer, Grandpa, Barney, Krusty, Groundskeeper

Willie, Mayor Quimby, and Hans Mullman and many

others. I actually, a while ago when I had had

a IMDB Pro Trial, I was going through all the

people I wanted to contact for interviews and

getting all the information. Before this episode,

I actually called Mr. Kastlin as agent or manager,

whoever it was, and basically got shot down.

Said, we're sorry, Dan doesn't do interviews.

Wow. Yeah. That sucks because I really wanted

to interview Homer Simpson. Yeah. I guess it

always strikes me odd when these voice actors

refuse to do interviews. It's like, we pay your

salary, dude. The least you can do is take...

20 minutes out of your day when you're not in

the recording booth and talk to us Well, I mean

for me I can kind of understand though for us

because we're you know, honestly I'm not famous,

you know, it's I'm not like from e -news Okay,

this interview is over This isn't an interview.

This is an episode. Shut up, Dave What are you

gonna do? Go back to your, you know, full hoarding

room of Star Wars toys? Yes, I am. In fact, I've

got the people from A &E coming over in a couple

of hours. That's right. You know what? If you

ever come hard up, you should probably contact

Pawn Stars. They'll probably buy all that stuff.

No, they won't. Did you ever see the one with

the Transformers? I know I did see it. He was

like, oh, that's too much work. It's like, well,

you're an idiot. So getting back to the characters

and voice actors here, you got Julie Kavner as

Marge and Patty and Selma. Of course Nancy Cartwright

plays Bart Simpson, Ralph and Ton Flanders and

many others. Yardley Smith, which is, she's extremely

controversial because she only plays one voice

and she wants like the most amount of money.

I didn't know she wanted the most amount of money,

but... Well, she wanted more money or so. I don't

know. There was some big thing a few years ago

with her when they were redoing contracts where

she wanted some astronomical amount of money

and they wouldn't give it to her. They wouldn't

give it to her. I don't know. It was some weird

thing. And then you got Hank Azaria who plays,

oh god, a plethora of voices. Moe, Chief Wiggum,

Apu, Comic Book Guy, Carl Cletus, Professor Fink,

and Dr. Nick. And then Harry Shearer, who plays

Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend -

Yeah, he plays everybody else. Yeah, pretty much.

So, Dave, who's your favorite - See, this is

a weird cartoon because you don't really have

- Because most of our cartoons, we have heroes

and villains. Yeah. And you don't really have

heroes and villains with The Simpsons. I mean,

I guess Mr. Burns could be considered a villain,

but I mean - But well, I mean obviously my well

my favorite character is probably the comic book

guy Just because I identify him with him for

a lot of reasons You know, I mean I like Lisa

too, you know I think anybody who was the smart

kid who didn't necessarily fit in tends to identify

with Lisa I Don't know I I get a kick out of

Ned sometimes You know, those are probably my

three favorite characters on the show What about

you, Jason? Um, you know, that's a really good

question. I don't think I've ever been asked

who my favorite Simpsons character is. Well,

we just asked you. Yeah, I know. I'm getting

to that. I think if I had to point one out, I

would have to say that probably my favorite character

is and always will be comic book guy. And just

because I don't think they ever give him enough

stuff to actually do. He always cracks me up,

especially in that Treehouse of Horror episode

where he was the Collector. The Collector. That's

one of the last things I ever got for the Playmates

line. They had a Toys R Us Treehouse of Horror

set, and it included the comic book guy as the

Collector. One of the lines that he has is, you

know, Behold, I am the Collector, and I'm here

to add you to my collection. That's one of those

things that if there was a fire, I would make

a grab for that. Wow. Yeah, you might actually

be giving Hank Azaria a run for his money with

the voice there, Dave. Oh, well, I've got a friend

whose name is also Mike. And whenever we get

too geeky and get too into our geekiness, there's

a great moment from another Treehouse of Horror.

where it's the one where the French actually

launch a nuclear missile at Springfield. It's

called the Homega Man. And the missile's flying

through Springfield and you see the comic book

guy walking along and he's going, Oh, Aquaman,

you cannot marry a woman who has no gills. You're

from two different worlds. He looks up, he sees

the missile and goes, Oh, I've wasted my life.

Boom. And whenever we get too geeky, that's like

our little signal to like, okay, you know, oh,

you've wasted your life. In addition to the main

cast, Pamela Hayden, Tress McNeil, Marcia Wallace,

Maggie Roswell, and Rusty Taylor voiced supporting

characters, from 1999 to 2002 Maggie Roswell's

characters were voiced by Marcia Mitzman Gavin,

Carl Weigart appeared in minor roles but does

not voice any recurring characters. And of course,

a ton of repeat special guests like Albert Brooks,

Phil Hartman, rest in peace, John Lovitz, Joe

Mantegna, and Kelsey Grammer. Kelsey Grammer's

sideshow Bob is awesome. Yeah. I love the one

where they brought in David Hyde Pierce to be

his brother. Yep, and the title was brother from

another show Yep, and then they brought in I

can't remember the actress name, but they brought

in the guy who was the dad on Frasier. Oh Geez,

it's John something John Yeah, I think it's like

John he's John Martin No, Martin was the character's

name. Oh, that's that's right That was great.

Because it was actually Stephen Hawking recording

that line from his little computer, which always

cracked me up. Yeah. John Mahoney was Frazier's

dad. So I was half right. It was a JM. Honestly,

when I was a kid watching this, my favorite character

was Bart. And I think my favorite character still

is Bart. Mostly Bart and Homer, because the two

of them, the dynamic that they have is just awesome.

Yeah, I mean I love Homer a Homer's great, you

know You know, I love the whole whenever there's

like a whole Like there was a period where they

would always do this thing where Homer would

talk to his brain and the brain was like a second

character Yeah, and those were always classic.

Oh, yeah, he's like looking for a peanut. He

finds a 20 He's like, oh the brain goes no. No,

that's good explain Money can be exchanged for

goods and services. They can get us mini peanuts

and then it blows out the window. I know, it's

just, Homer and himself is just an awesome character.

I mean, but the thing with Homer and Bart is,

you know, the whole, why you little, and then,

of course, the choking. But, and again, that

kind of goes against type as far as today's standards

of, could that be considered child abuse? Could

it? Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, I know, no, I'm

just saying it. Technically was but I mean back

then that's what I think that's what made the

show controversial back then was that it kind

of was You know choking your kid, but Well, but

a it's a cartoon and B I think it went back to

the old kind of Jackie Gleeson Powell right in

the kisser kind of yep, you know Yes, very very

much so Most of the most of the characters voice

actors most of voice actors and most episodes

featured guest voices from wide ranges of people.

I mean, pretty much anybody that you can think

of has been, I guess, the term now is Simpsonized.

I mean, hell, you can even find some sort of

generator that you can Simpsonize yourself and

you're not even on the show. What's wrong with

all of you? I was just laughing because I was

imagining me and Flava Davis, Simpson's characters,

and it was funny. Okay. We'd probably work better

than John Kirchvellusi characters. I like that

logo. Our spunko cells are neat. Yeah. Hours

of children eating fun. Hmm you do you do and

I look like you're gonna be a child. Oh My god,

you know one of the interesting things about

the celebrities on the show is I can't when they

first really started doing it Celebrities went

on anonymously. They used false names Right and

that became like a big hassle or a big issue

So they finally said after one season that they're

not gonna allow them to do it anonymously anymore

because Michael Jackson did it anonymously Dustin

Hoffman did it anonymously So, and there was

some sort of issue or problem, and so they just

said, no, everybody's gotta, you know, use their

real name from here on out. And then, what's

her name? God, she's like, used to be one of

the, Elizabeth Taylor, was the voice of Maggie.

Oh, yep, yep. For the one little instant she

started the line. Yeah, daddy. They made a huge

deal about that. And I remember reading somewhere

that she had to record that line like 300 times

or something like that. It wouldn't surprise

me. Wouldn't surprise me at all either Do we

have anything else we want to say about the voice

cast here? Probably one of the greatest voice

casts in all of animation to be honest. Oh, yeah,

absolutely I mean they're they're amazing the

range of the characters that they do and you

know you sort of I Remember there was one episode

and I can't I don't remember what the episode

was, but there is one episode where they actually

do show like the credits of all the voice cast.

And I remember I was watching it in syndication.

I'm like, whoa! Because they list all of Dan

Castanello's. They list them all. And I was like,

wow! And I hope somebody got a spring cap of

that. Well, you know what was entertaining to

me was inside the actor's studio when he, when

Lipton interviewed the cast of The Simpsons on

stage, these guys, he would ask the characters

questions. These guys would go in and out of

those voices so quickly without missing a beat.

the most amazing thing I'd ever seen and made

me really, really appreciate that cast and what

they do every week. And it just makes you go,

that is the reason this show lasts, not because

of the stories, because people love this cast

and love these characters. And these actors that

portray them are so amazing. You think about

like, you know, Harry Shearer does Smithers and

Burns, and almost all their scenes are always

together. And so he's just literally acting against

himself. You know, and it's amazing. He does

an amazing job. Yep. Reminds me of a story that

a lot of the Transformers voice actors tell about

Frank Welker, where he was in a voice session

with Wally Burr, and he was voicing two different

characters, and Wally's like, oh, oh, there's

overlap there. And they're like, no, Wally, it's

just Frank. He's doing two different characters.

Because he can go, and a lot of voice actors

that can do that are just, Scott McNeil's another

one, that can just... like that go between characters

and that's just so awesome yeah that's that's

literally the true talent of those voice actors

is able to do those multiple voices and then

just to hop between them like it's like they're

not even blinking they're just like hey hi hey

or that's my range of voices yes uh so i guess

we can move into the behind the scenes segment

here and we're not gonna go through all of this

information we're gonna go through some of it

For the origins, Groening conceived the idea

for The Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks'

office. Brooks had asked Groening to pitch an

idea for a series of animated shorts, which Groening

initially intended to present as his Life in

Hell series. However, when Groening realized

that the animating Life in Hell would require

the, uh... rescinding of publication rights for

his life's work, he chose another approach and

formulated his version of a dysfunctional family.

He named the characters after his own family

members, substituting Bart for his own name and

adapting an anagram of the word brat. When he

decided to do to create the Simpsons and not

give up his rights to life in hell, he literally

set himself up so well because we think it could

have gone the other way where he could have been

like, eh, it's not that big of a deal. I'll make

more money on that. And then life in hell could

have failed. And then he would have been broke

and miserable. Whereas his name is attached as

greater than the Simpsons. He's kind of the face

of the Simpsons. And the man is a ridiculous

multi -billionaire. Right, yeah And it's just

it, you know, I mean, I mean the Simpsons let's

face it the popularity really It's straight.

It was more like it's one of those instant hits.

It's almost like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

It's just BAM. It's there there was you know

1990 1991 you couldn't spit without hitting a

piece of Simpsons merchandise Yeah, official

or unofficial. Right. Exactly, yeah. There was

an album. Huh? There was an album. You know,

remember Bartman? Oh yeah, I've got it right

here actually. We'll be talking about that a

little bit later. Yeah, there's tons of merchandise

stuff. I can't believe that... Apparently in

92, Tracy Allman filed a lawsuit against Fox

claiming that her show was the source of the

series success. The suit said she should receive

a share of the profits of The Simpsons, a claim

rejected by the courts. and when it started making

a ton of money suddenly Oldman's lawyers were

like um this show originated on your original

show so you should probably get a cut of that

money and of course she never did and you know

we all know Tracy Oldman's really not around

that nowadays but no I mean that was that was

a pretty crazy crazy thing to actually read about

was the fact that you know here's this the celebrated

comedian and she's suddenly like it started on

my show and I want me some cash for my baby's

daddy That's pretty much what it was. Oh, wow,

yeah. And normally on Tooncast, because we always

get all the credits and stuff from IMDB and stuff,

normally we'd go through and list the writers

that we know and whatever else. And really, outside

of some of the ones that have basically been

there since the beginning or that beginning set

of writers, I don't really recognize anybody

out of this list. I mean, outside of Conan and

Brad Bird and... Chris Clements and you know

some of the other ones I I really don't recognize

any of them and of course director is the same

way I don't know blame Kevin he was the one that

made up the the formula here so yeah like you

said the just the main writers I know is Clements

and yeah Bird and you know and Conan I mean these

these are all three guys who've gone on to bigger

and better things I mean you know Conan is a

hose Brad Bird is a celebrated animation director

Clemens, I think, has been writing many, many

hit comedy shows lately. Yes. Actually, it's

funny. My dad and my stepmother at the time had

moved here to Kentucky. Originally, we were in

Massachusetts and I hadn't come down here yet.

And my dad would always send me stuff because

there's a town here in Kentucky called Simpsonville.

Oh. So he would always send me stuff saying,

hey, I was at Bart Simpson's house today or whatever

else. And, you know, he had this laying out.

It was some Simpson sweatshirt or merchandise

or something or other. So I thought that was

really cool. I wonder, is Simpsonsville anything

like Margaritaville? No, it's an extremely small

town. It's like one... It's between like two

exits on the highway. It's not that big. Spit

and you'll miss it. Yeah. So getting into the

actual show for the... Normally this is where

we would do the plot and stuff like that, but

basically the setting for The Simpsons takes

place in the fictional American town of Springfield

in an unknown and impossible to determine U .S.

state, which of course they named it Vermont,

which no idea why. No, it was a contest. Right,

right. There was a contest. There was a contest

and all the Springfields across America were

encouraged to send videos. And we were actually,

I think, top five. Springfield, Illinois was

top five. And I would like to point out that

we do, in fact, have a Shelbyville nearby that

we do hate. But we don't have a squid port, which

kind of, I think, hurt us. And the whole thing

is our power plant supervisor, whatever, Todd

Renfro, looks a little like Mr. Burns. That was

like the whole premise of our film. And Vermont

just did a better film. And so they won the right

to be the real Springfield. Well, you know what's

funny is how much press that we've gotten as

a city with The Simpsons, because there's been

many times, like, we've had national coverage

because The Simpsons characters have come in

toward, like, Mellow Creme Donuts factory. like

they've come and you know there's like all these

pictures and videos of the costume characters

going through the donut like Bart, Homer and

Homer gets all happy and it's like that that's

that's what we get press for is that the Simpsons

come and visit our city. Neat. Yes and some of

the themes for the show the Simpsons uses the

standard setup of a situational comedy or sitcom

As its premise, the series centers on a family

and their life in typical American town. However,

because of its animated nature, The Simpsons

scope is larger than that of a regular sitcom.

The Town of Springfield acts as a complete universe

in which characters can explore in the issues

faced by modern society. By having Homer work

in the nuclear power plant, the show can... comment

on the state of environment. Through Barton Lease's

days at Springfield Elementary School, the show's

writers illustrate pressing or controversial

issues in the field of education. The town features

a vast array of media channels from kids television

programming to local news, which enables the

producers to make jokes about themselves and

the entertainment industry. So, they mentioned

the children's programming. And, yeah, Itchy

and Scratchy are basically the most violent version

of Tom and Jerry ever. That is true. What about

the opposite end of that, which they've actually

stopped showing, but Lisa's other favorite cartoon,

you remember what that was? The Happy Loves?

That was the cutest of cute shows, so you had

the most violent and the most cute, like, just

the... complete opposites of the spectrum on

that show at one time and it was really really

odd. You know it's funny to me that they would

satire Tom and Jerry as itchy and scratchy because

I watch a lot of the old Tom and Jerry cartoons.

I mean here they show them for an hour once a

day on Cartoon Network during the week and they're

not I mean, I know obviously satires to overdo

it and whatever else in me, but they're not really

that violent. And really, a lot of the 80s cartoons,

again, coming from a person who knows the difference

and has common sense of, hey, this is fictional.

I never really saw Transformers as violent. Yes,

I know it is. But as a kid, I never really saw

it as that. I'm like, ooh, these are favorite

characters. Ooh, these are missions they're going

out on. And it's like, the whole episode. Go

ahead. They did, especially in the 80s, they

did them in such a way as to minimize the violence.

I mean, you know, that's what, I mean, one of

the big things about Batman the animated series,

to kind of jump around here, is that they were

allowed to make the guns real guns. Whereas with

G .I. Joe and Transformers, they were always

lasers, and you know, I mean, I think a G .I.

Joe got hit by a laser one time ever, and he

was just knocked out by it. You also notice,

especially in the later 80s shows, the adversaries

are always like robots. Like with Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles, they fought a lot of robots because

they had like bladed weapons and so they could

slash the robots and nobody would really get

hurt. Clang? Did you say clang? Did I? No, that's

one of my favorite lines from the opening turtles

episode from Raphael when he hits the foot soldier

and it went clang because it was before they

realized they were robots. But yeah, just and

each show Like I said it basically focuses around

the family and it focuses around all the other

characters And I think it's great that they have

all these characters in this one little town

universe and yes They do have a war with Shelbyville

But I mean it's billions. Yeah, really? cousin

loving Shelby billions You know what I always

liked is when they did those, they've only done

a handful of them, when they do the special episodes

that instead of focusing on the family, focus

on the other characters of the show. Right. Yeah.

Yeah, like the one that I really remember is

23 stories about Springfield where they have

like little tiny bits about each character. Yes.

And there was like a running, there was like

sort of a running thing where it went from one

to the other, but that was a good one. Yes, actually

it's funny when I was watching because I have

I unfortunately because I've been buying other

stuff the last three years I only have season

one and season two on DVD But I was watching

the Christmas special because I was planning

before we started this I was planning to watch

as many episodes on the discs as possible and

I was watching the Christmas special and Found

it very strange and I know I guess that this

was kind of a takeoff on it But the Christmas

special is basically Christmas vacation with

the Simpsons They rip off the Griswold House

joke they rip off. Yeah to a point. I mean they

kind of did that Those those those sacred jokes

of that film and that but they also took it off

on its own with you know Santa's a little helper

and all that. Santa's a little helper with him

acquiring the race dog and all that. So they

kind of, yeah, they did kind of recycle some

of the jokes from Christmas Vacation, but...

Well, I mean, I'm not complaining about it. I

just, I didn't notice it until just watching

it today. I've never noticed it before until

today because Christmas Vacation is a Christmas

tradition for me. I watch that every year. Oh,

it's a tribute. It's the same for us here, too,

Mike and my wife. That is my wife's favorite

movie, and that's one of the only movies she

can watch day in and day out. literally, without

missing a beat, she'll be like, play it again

and we'll watch it again. Yep, yep. So I think

we are going to take a quick break. You are going

to hear some songs from the Simpsons' Sing the

Blues and we will come back with the music segment.

said but more of his tone the usual jive put

your nose to the grindstone i said i'm real sorry

but that didn't cut it i started to protect Everything's

silent except for my moan and the low bluesy

tone of a saxophone. They look at me, then they

go into a huddle, get the sinking sensation I'm

in deep, deep trouble. I was dragged down the

street by his royal So the series music was done

mainly, 240 episodes from 90 to 2010 was done

by Alf Klassen, Richard Gibbs did about 13 episodes,

and Arthur B. Rubenstein did two episodes in

1990. Alf Klassen, wasn't he the guy that was

the main inspiration behind the Alf theme song

or something or other? Yeah. That's a good question,

that's something to look into. I don't know for

sure you know what you know what I do know though

is that it's weird that The Simpsons has been

on this long and their music isn't actually conducted

by an orchestra Which I always found out because

the only animated show on here right now that

does for orchestrations I'll give you guess on

who it is Let's hope it's not Batman the brave

and the bold no No, it's believe it or not. It's

Family Guy It's the only show that still One

of the only shows in television right now that

still has the budget for full orchestrations

for their music on their show, which always bothered

me that Simpsons didn't do that. I always think

back to the old days in sitcoms when their music

was orchestrated, even TV shows back then. If

the Simpsons would have had a full orchestration,

to me, I think some of the music would have stood

out more to me. The original songs are great,

but the music other than the Danny Elfman theme

song, that's the only thing music -wise in that

series that stands out to me. Yeah, I tell you

though, back in 90 when they first released,

like there's been collections of original music

featured in the series that have been released

on several albums like Song and the Key of Springfield,

Ghost Simsonic with the Simpsons, The Simpsons

Testify, several songs have been recorded with

the purpose of single or album release. and have

not been featured on the show. The album, Simpsons

Sing the Blues, when I first heard about this,

I was like, I have to have that, I want that,

and I actually had it when I was a kid, and I

don't know what happened to it, and I bought

it off of Amazon about a year and a half ago

for this specific episode of Tooncast. I had

been planning this episode, because usually when

I map out a schedule, a schedule is set before

the show even starts. So... And this soundtrack

is just cool. Oh yeah, it's a great, I love that

soundtrack. I've got it actually on my separate

hard drive. I took all my CDs and sold them to

Killin' and doing so. I ripped all my CDs so

I would still have them. But I have all those

Simpsons one. I think Simpsons Sings the Blues

is probably one of my favorite CDs. Yeah, it

actually spent, let's see, Simpsons Sings the

Blues. was released in September of 90 and was

a success, peaking at number three on the Billboard

200. That's a huge feat for an animated cartoon

soundtrack. Oh yeah, huge. For any kind of tie

-in product like that. Yeah, and it became certified

two times platinum by the Recording Industry

Association of America. Of course, the first

single from the album was the pop rap song, Do

the Bartman, performed by Nancy Cartwright and

released on November 20, 1990. the song was written

and also the song was written by michael jackson

because he he had wanted to write he had wanted

to do something for the simpsons forever and

that was before he actually did a voice on the

episodes i guess they you know he bugged them

and bugged them and bugged them his people bugged

them and bugged them and finally they were like

okay we're doing this album and then he wrote

that song and presented it to him and that's

what they recorded so right yeah Some other like

famous ones were Deep Deep Trouble, God Bless

the Child, The Streets of Springfield, and Spider

Pig from the 2007 movie. Spider Pig does whatever

a Spider Pig does. For me the best musical thing

in the entire run of The Simpsons is the episode

where with Troy McClure where he ends up, is

it Patty or Selma that he ends up marrying? Always

get him confused. I want to see but he marries

one of the sisters and that brings his career

back so he ends up in Planet of the Apes the

musical and Every song from that that show is

just gold Yeah, I hate every ape I see. From

chimpanzee to chimpanzee. No, you'll never make

a monkey out of me. Oh my god, I was wrong. It

was Earth all along. Well, you finally made a

monkey. Yes, they finally made a monkey. Yes,

you finally made a monkey out of me. Yeah, yeah,

the musical style is the play of the day for

these gentlemen. I love you, Dr. Zayas. Something

you will never hear on the pop culture network.

Never ever ever. That's an exclusive. So, let's

see here. As far as getting into the legacy segment,

I've talked about a lot of the early success

so far. Obviously, there was several American

public schools that banned the t -shirts featuring

Bart's captions such as I am Bart Simpson who

the hell are you and underachiever and proud

of it the Simpsons merchandise sold well and

generated two billion in revenue during the first

14 months of sales yeah that's that's a record

that's staggering 1990 or the you know the first

1989 -1999 that's staggering for that time in

history wow yeah Because I think it was a record

setter. I think that record's been broken, but

you know it was a record setter then and it's

like people were just Could not believe that

a show that was animated could bring in that

much revenue Just on merchandising alone, and

then you see you come into effect like all of

the the you know the unofficial merchandising

they did where they did all the african -american

bark sense insurance with their phrases and They

did Mexican Bart Simpson shirts, all kinds of

crazy stuff, man. Yes, so let's see here. There

was, oh wow, throughout the summer several news

outlets, and I believe this was summer of 90,

throughout the summer several news outlets published

stories about the supposed Bill versus Bart rivalry.

Bart Gets an F Season 2 1990 was the first episode

to air. against the Cosby show and it received

lower Nielsen ratings, tying for 8th behind the

Cosby show which had an 18 .5 rating. The rating

is based on the number of household televisions

that were tuned into the show, but Nielsen Media

Research estimated that 33 .6 million viewers

watched the episode, making it the number one

show in terms of actual viewers. Cosby is no

longer the king. This animated family is now

the king of television sitcom. D 'oh! The Simpsons

has been praised by many critics being described

as most irreverent and unapologetic show on the

air. In 1990, a review of the show Ken Tucker

of Entertainment Weekly described it as, As far

as run -length achievements, we've kind of already

covered that. 2007 marked the 20th anniversary

of the Simpsons franchise, and of course we had

the movie, which we'll be talking about a little

bit later. What cracks me when we talk about

the legacy is that how many jokes the Simpsons

have done, how many shows, how many storylines

they've done, and there have actually been jokes.

From their rivalries about the fact South Park

did the whole Simpsons did an episode Yeah, that

was a great episode. That was a beautiful episode

and kind of Matt Stone and Trey Parker's kind

of homage to To the king. I mean basically, you

know Family guy family guy, you know Those guys

get bogged and dogged so often for stealing bits

from the Simpsons But the Simpsons has become

like pro wrestling. What is there new to do?

Literally, what can you do that the sentence

has not done? Yeah, I remember there was a tree

house of horror where where Homer finds like

a Hammock that can make clones of them. Yep,

and there's a scene with like a hundred clones

and you know, it's like the old Original version

of Homer from like the original series like and

then there's another one. That's that's Peter

Griffin. Yeah, just pan over real quick And then

all the Homer clones had to jump off the donut.

Oh, yeah, that's right Yeah, including the original

Homer Homer was that one was first to go yep,

and only one of the clones remained So, I guess

getting into some criticism and controversy here

as far as the legacy, Bard's rebellious nature

was frequently resulted in no punishment for

his misbehavior, led to some parents and conservatives

to characterize him as a poor role model for

children, In schools, educators claimed that

Bart was a threat to learning because of his

underachiever and proud -of -it attitude and

negative attitude regarding his education. Others

described him as egotistical, aggressive, and

mean -spirited. In a 1991 interview, Bill Cosby

described Bart as a bad role model for children,

calling him angry, confused, and frustrated in

response. Matt Groening said, That sums up Bartle,

right? Most people are in a struggle to be normal

and he thinks normal is very boring and does

things that others wish that they would dare

to do. On January 27th, 1992, then President

George H .W. Bush said that we are going to keep

trying on strengthening American family to make

American families a lot more like the Waltons

and a lot less like the Simpsons. Well, George

Sr., you can... go kiss it somewhere. You know

what's great about that too is that Barbara Bush

made a comment in public, in a public forum about

something about how Marge and the Simpsons, like

Marge was a terrible mother and the Simpsons

was a terrible family. And the writers of the

Simpsons actually penned a letter as Marge Simpson

and sent it to her. It was this very, you know,

barge -like letter about how she she could understand

that her family is is is the the common family

of america how they struggle with daily life

it you know how how they're good parents because

they they manage to keep their family together

through all the ridiculousness of hard times

where other families have failed and barbara

bush actually wrote a letter back to the to the

writers in part two bars apologizing for her

marks and saying how sorry she was that she had

offended her treating her as a real person Yeah

to me that that alone I mean we talk about legacy

to me that proves where the Simpsons are in the

legacy of American minds and pop culture is the

fact that when you have When you have a first

lady Right to a fictional character as she is

real. I know and tell her she apologizes for

her parks that That just makes you as a series

set for eternity basically One quick thing I

wanted to point out though, we were talking about

how Bart was a bad kid and all this. The series

did not, even though the family sort of held

together and had its moments, the series did

not sugar coat the fact that it was Homer and

Marge. There were plenty of episodes about Homer

and Marge's parenting being part of the problem

with Bart, that they were inconsistent. The wall

dropped his microphone again But I guess I was

just gonna say that I don't think this the the

show wasn't about glorifying Bart being a bad

kid It was about it dealt with why he had these

issues, too. Oh, yeah Yeah, well, we'll see that's

the thing with with people that are naysayers

or people that are gonna do, you know Negative

criticisms against the show. They're going to

just point out and go after the most likely target

and you know Most likely target is Bart for the

most part and they don't really want to look

at the parents. Yeah, so Something I found interesting

about the declining quality apparently Most consensus

for it's common amongst everybody the Simpsons

golden era ended after season 9 Is that when

Phil Harmon died I'm not sure It might have been

around that time, Dave, I believe. As I understand

it, that's generally when people kind of give

it the jump the shark moment, with Phil Hartman

leaving. I think Conan was the first, and then

Phil Hartman. They've had some good episodes

and a couple of good seasons since season 9.

I know the season leading up to the movie was

pretty decent. the season following the movie

I thought was entertaining. Especially that opening

scene of the first episode back from the movie

from that summer was literally Bart skateboarding

through the demolished town. Oh, the opening

credit sequence? Yeah. Yeah, that was good. I

tell you that I'm so glad they finally upgraded

the TV. Oh, yeah. I'm so glad they did that.

They did that when they went to High Death, didn't

they? The first episode they went to High Death,

they had a new television in the living room.

Oh, see, I don't... Lately, I mean, ever since

the movie, I mean, I paid attention to the season,

like, right after the movie, but if I catch it,

I catch it. It's not something that, unfortunately,

I don't keep up with The Simpsons that much,

except for... I think it was this past week,

well... This episode of tooncast will actually

air a few weeks from when we actually record

it. We're actually pre -recording this but I

believe it was October 7th or what was last Sunday's

date? October 10th and 10 10 10 again the the

year of the apocalypse They had some weird wacky

just off -the -wall Controversial intro with

some I don't know what the heck it was Was it

supposed to be the Simpsons go through Hogwarts

or something? I don't know if I saw that I'll

be honest that might have been the episode that

I just didn't even watch and erased from my DVR

I was just like I don't care that much Yeah,

I don't remember I didn't I didn't see the opening

on that one either Yeah, it was some weird thing.

I think I'm not even really sure let me see here

Let's see As far as in 2003, to celebrate the

show's 300th episode, Barting Over USA Today

published a pair of Simpsons -related articles,

top 10 episodes list chosen by the webmaster

of the Simpsons archive fansite, and a top 15

list by the Simpsons' own writers. Did you guys

ever even see these? No. No? You know, I don't

read that one, so I never, never saw it. Uh huh.

Sorry, that's the only thing I read is cnn .com

every day. That's my name. CNN or PCN? Both.

Both. uh... getting into some of the like uh...

merchandising stuff we have simpson's the ride

in two thousand seven it was officially announced

that the simpson's ride a simulator ride would

be implemented into the universal studios orlando

and universal or studios hollywood it was officially

open may fifteen two thousand florida and may

nineteenth two thousand hollywood in the ride

patrons are introduced to a cartoon theme park

called crusty land built by Krusty the Clown

oh man that's gotta be I tell you what the last

time the wife and I went to Florida which was

two years ago we you know it was open and of

course we went to Universal Studios and of course

what they did basically is they they had both

Universal's Florida and Hollywood closed down

the Back to the Future ride and basically transformed

the Back to the Future ride into the show building

for the Simpsons And the best part about that

ride is when you go inside and there's this intro

video they show where the nerdy scientist basically

goes to Universal Studios because he wants to

ride back to the future. Professor Frank. Yeah,

Professor Frank. Thank you, Dave. He gets there

and realizes that it's been closed and Krustyland

has opened in its place. So Professor Frank invents

a DeLorean time machine to go back in time to

ride the Back to the Future ride. And in doing

so, runs over Doc Brown, and of course, it's

Christopher Lloyd, and he's like, oh, I came

to ride the Back in the Future ride. And Doc

Brown's like, I'm sorry, it's closed, you know?

And Cresty comes in and he goes, hey, what are

you guys doing here? And Doc Brown's like, well,

I'm out of a job. And Cresty's like, why don't

you come work for me? You can clean my hallway.

And Doc Brown's like, I don't have anything else

going on. Why not? The ride is very interesting,

though. It's cool the way they've got it set

up, because you walk into the show building,

it's set up almost like a circus tent. And you've

got these huge LCD flat screen panels built into

these amazing, amazing 3D props, like the 3D

sets. And as you're waiting to go to the ride

in the little area, each of these screens has

a different Simpsons character on it performing

a circus sideshow act. Right and they just kind

of cycle through them and it's really cool how

it's done and then the actual ride itself of

course you get in the little Krusty Mobile and

you know suddenly it goes from Everything you've

seen is 2d hand -drawn animation to this 3d realm

You know the 3d world of you're on this runaway

roller coaster with the Simpsons And it's the

literally the roller coaster from hell I mean

everything you know you get chased by a falling

rock you get all kinds of crazy stuff happens

It's it's it's an entertaining ride. It really

is. You know, it's a fitting replacement for

back to the future Back to the future fans are

screaming in horror No, no one's a bigger one

than Deval themselves. So I was I was gonna say

high praise indeed. Yeah. Oh, yes the ride was

kind of All the not dated but fans who didn't

get to ride that they can buy the new back to

the future DVD the entire ride video was on there

the from the pre -show To the ride itself. You

just don't have the motion simulator, but it's

been captured for all eternity So yeah, your

fans quit your crying you're getting a celebration

on stage the scream awards this year the cast

so uh... getting into some video games numerous

of uh... video games have been produced uh...

first we had uh... konami's arcade game the simpsons

in nineteen ninety -one this was still the best

one yeah still the best yeah and you had a claims

bark versus the space mutants uh... more modern

games uh... the simpsons road rage in two thousand

one simpsons hit and run in oh three and the

simpsons game in two thousand seven to coincide

with the movie I loved The Simpsons Road Range.

I liked Bart's Nightmare because it was kind

of cool for SAS but... I don't know, the portable

games back then, the Game Boy games, oh my god,

Bart and Lisa, Deadly, those were the bad ones.

The racing games were fun, although they kind

of, that was right after Mario, the original

Mario Kart came out and everybody was like, oh

my god, a racing game, we have to make one. The

actual Simpsons game that came out for 360 and

PS2 and all that, PSP, it was entertaining, but

it still, No, none of these game companies have

ever been able to capture The Simpsons in a video

game world. Like they've never been able to actually

fully capture that sense of that show. The Simpsons

game came close, mostly because of all the end

jokes they had. I don't know if anyone wants

this ruined, but the last couple of bosses you

find are actually Bender and Frye and Matt Groening.

Like, Matt Groening is the finale of that game.

He's the last boss you fight. So, I mean, it

kind of reached to capture some of that, but

it failed. It had a number of missteps, and it

wasn't as popular as people thought it was going

to be. Yes. In 2010, they released a game called

The Simpsons Arcade for iPhone. You know, I've

got an iPad that's broke that I haven't fixed

yet. that essentially I could probably download

that since all the iPhone apps for the most part

of games are available for the iPouch. I haven't

seen it, I don't have an extra $100 laying around

to replace my screen that I cried. You know,

that kind of stuff. Yeah. As far as other stuff,

we've got obviously the film which we'll be talking

about a little bit later. And I loved that a

Seattle 7 -Eleven store transformed into the

Quickie Mart as part of a promotion for the Simpsons

movie. That was awesome. It wasn't just the Seattle.

It was like seven or eight different 7 -Elevens.

Right. Which had that full, you know, transformation

into, you know, the Quickie Mart. From everything

inside looked like, you know, the show to the

outside. They just basically overlaid the building

and made it the Quickie Mart. And then, of course,

nowadays there's actually a Quickie Mart in Universal

Studios Orlando and Hollywood where you can buy

all your Simpsons stuff. But, you know, there's

a pay phone out front that has El Barto's ears

spray painted like on the garbage cans and stuff.

You pick up the phone and it's Nelson, the bully.

Like saying stuff to you and you call Moe's Tavern

and Moe's Tavern, Moe's speaking, you know, one

of those things. Must be to Seymour. Seymour

who? Seymour Butts. Okay guys, is there a Seymour,

is there a Butts, a Seymour Butts in here? Wait

a minute, you little son, if I ever find you

I'll kill you. The best was Amanda Hug and Kiss.

Oh why can't I find Amanda Hug and Kiss? Perhaps

your standards are too high! oh my god oh god

and on that note we are going to take you to

the simpsons uh movie trailer and we will come

back with the simpsons movie 20th century fox

presents the greatest simpsons family adventure

of all time It's not fair to use a bug zapper

to catch the fish I think I have a nibble On

July 27th President Schwarzenegger That is me

Springfield has reached crisis levels I've narrowed

your choices down to five unthinkable options

I was elected to lead, not to read When disaster

threatens our world... They're going to destroy

Springfield! ...one family will show everyone

what they're made of. This is the worst day of

my life. The worst day of your life so far. Now...

I declare a state of emergency. ...time... Dad,

do something! This book doesn't have any answers!

...is... What? Talos! ...running out. Did I save

the day? Actually, you doomed us all. How did

the pig tracks get on the ceiling? Spider Pig,

Spider Pig, does whatever a spider pig does.

So the Simpsons movie, I'm assuming that we all

saw this in theaters? No. Oh, you didn't Dave?

No, I finally saw it on cable but I just didn't

see it in theaters. Yeah, the wife and I made

it kind of like, this is kind of sad but my wife

and I make an effort to go see every Saw film

that comes out in theaters and this was kind

of like Yeah, this was kind of like one of those

deals where I looked at her and I was like, I

don't care. We're going to script the money.

We're going to this movie because I will not

miss this film in theaters. And I was there opening

night for it. We were there opening night and

watched it. And, you know, I still don't own

it on DVD or Blu -ray, but it's still, to me,

it was one of the funniest Extended Simpsons

episodes I'd ever seen. Yeah, I saw it in theaters

and I absolutely loved it. And just the way that

Matt puts the characters into everyday pop culture

or just, you know, human culture in general.

I mean, Ralphie inside the 20th Century Fox sign,

I mean, that's classic now. I remember the first

time I saw that trailer and I almost peed myself

in that hat, but I was like, that is the funniest

thing. I think that the Simpsons movie trailers,

especially the ones with Homer, are easily the

funniest trailers I have ever seen because it's

like... Homer gets stuck up on the wrecking ball.

Oh yeah. And he's like back and forth, back and

forth between a rock and a hard place. Literally

between a rock and a place called the hard place.

I know, I know, that's why I was like, because

at first when I first saw the trailer I'm like,

oh, this is supposed to, at first I was like,

I was like all deadpan about it. I'm like, oh,

this is supposed to be funny. And then I realized,

oh wait, this is funny. You should be laughing,

you dumb ass. One of my favorite parts of the

trailer is at the end where Marge walks in and

Homer's got the pig like walking across the ceiling

and she just stares at him like, why am I married

to you? You are an idiot. And he's just singing

that song and it's so great. Spider Pig. Oh,

he's not Spider Pig anymore. He's Harry Plopper.

Harry Plopper. That's right. Oh, wow. So yeah,

basically, really quick, the previous attempts

to create a film version of The Simpsons failed

due to the lack of script of appropriate length

and production crew members. Eventually, producers

James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike

Scully, and Richard Sakay began development on

the film in 2001. It took them six years to get

this, wow. Well, it took them even longer than

that. Well, yeah. Fox had been pressing for them,

will you guys do a film version? trying to come

up with stories and trying to come up with stories

and just could not find a story that they wanted

to tell until they decided on this whole Springfield

Under a Glass Dome, basically. Literally. Yeah,

I, um, I just, I love the, and I'm kind of jumping

around, but I love that scene when the dome first

comes down and Homer's like, it's like, DOME!

That's my favorite part too, is the fact that

there's an exit out of this chromatically sealed

dome over the city and it's in the Simpsons sandbox

next door, you know? It's the sinkhole, yeah.

It was so awesome. Yeah, and they got Green Day

to perform on Lake Springfield, which has a bunch

of pollution in it. And Green Day gets killed,

oh god. and then the pollution's all because

of homer because he dumped the pig poop oh yeah

that's right that huge thing of poop no no no

no no no no the green day scene was before that

oh was it before that okay yeah the green day

scene was the opening yeah homer just like made

it pushed it over the edge to critical it was

like if one more thing gets dumped in this lake

and of course cut to homer driving the big thing

full of pig poop yep i need my pig silo And then

at the memorial service, Grandpa has a prophetic

vision, which there's not enough that they can

do with Grandpa to make him funny, seriously.

I mean, Grandpa, when he has his moments, he

really has his moments. Yeah, I can't picture

any off top of my head, but I agree with you.

I mean, you know, Grandpa was always one of the

funnier side characters that shows every once

in a while. Grandpa's had a couple of good, centered

stories too on that show. I like the fighting

hellfish one. It was a cool, funny story, but

at the end Bart comes to appreciate his grandpa,

which I thought was kind of cool. They tell you

about how Burns basically betrayed his team.

That was a good story. They have Basically because

Homer has destroyed Springfield and it's over

polluted it and everything else They have to

like flee Springfield and his whole plan is we're

going to Alaska Yeah, and I'm like what the hell

and I honestly I don't know how many listeners

tune cast has that actually live in Alaska. Do

they really give you a thousand dollars for going

there? I really want to know. I don't think so.

You know what's funny is that's the legends that's

persistent is that Alaska is such an awful place

to live. But I've worked with and known a couple

people who actually lived there for an extended

period of time. One of the guys I used to work

with at Toys R Us, who was one of our managers,

was actually their sheriff for a long time in

one of the towns in Alaska. And he just raved

about it. He was like, greatest town ever. Greatest

state. Great. Isn't it cold? He's like... Well,

isn't it cold here? And I'm like, good point.

Touche. all this other stuff and he has to get

these visions from this giant boob lady on a

tree and stuff and wow it's just wow I think

my favorite part out of the whole movie if I

was gonna pick one was when he finally gets the

bike and he goes on the little rampage with the

you know he goes to pick up Bart at the end and

they go to save and whatever else I thought that

was really cool Is that the scene where they're

like riding up the dome? Yep. Because he learned

earlier in the little circle thing at the carnival

that you have to keep throttle, don't stop as

you're going up. As you're going up and around

the little circle thing. And of course the whole,

it wouldn't be The Simpsons without some sort

of controversy with the whole Bart Wiener bit.

Yeah, I know it's like come on really guys seriously,

it's an animated cartoon characters pee -pee

Like a war going on or terrorism or something

we can complain about yeah, really um An animated

well, I guess it is an animated 11 year old boys

pee -pee. So that's kind of odd Michael Jackson

was still alive. So that was kind of dangerous.

Oh now now come on Come on now. Those are just

allegations, come on now. I always speak the

day truth. Yeah, right. Look at how screwed up

McCauley -Cocken is now. You know things happen.

There was just too much stuff going on all around

on that day. Wow. Jim's not doing too well either.

Oh jeez. More bubbles. I actually had a thing

on the Animal Planet channel where, like, Latoya

went to visit bubbles. And bubbles remembered

her. Bubbles did remember her. Yeah. Ah. Oh,

Michael. You will be missed. Oh, boy. Yes, you

will be missed. I'm sorry. We were talking about

animated penises. Oh, yeah. Wow. Well. What are

you? All right. Well, let's not talk about that

subject. But what do you guys think of kind of

the whole Bart Flanders thing where Flanders

kind of, you know, takes him in a little bit?

You know, it's a storyline that they had touched

on before in the series when they became foster

kids But this was a little bit of a different

spin because Bart sort of embraced it rather

than but it is you know, and I'm thinking there

was also the one where the that he joined the

Whatever their version of the Cub Scouts are

right sort of like real envious of Flanders as

being the better dad So it's something they've

done before but you know, I think this time they

really sort of instead of making it the subtext,

they made it the text and really developed it.

Well, they made it the text because he was so

disappointed in Homer and Homer let them down.

I mean, let's face it, Homer is a character that

is going to constantly, not intentionally, but

constantly let his family down. And this, I think,

because it is on a larger scope, they had to

work something in there. that you know barbara's

really disappointed and he doesn't want anything

to do with them and but he still needs some sort

of father figure and he sees the other side he

sees what you know like you're saying earlier

gave in the show about you know how some of the

episodes focused on margin and homers parenting

bart sees in the movie now that there are actually

you know parents that pay attention to the kids

cuz let's face it i mean unless marges yelling

at them i mean she praises them every now and

then but uh... i honestly don't ever remember

marger really saying too many good things about

bar i mean i know she loves him no no no marge

mothers that kid and makes excuses for him true

he screws up she's his special little guy true

true there's there's actually one episode where

he he he kills a bird and he he adopts the eggs

And it turns out that they're actually not really

birds. They're these bird -eating lizards from

South America. Yeah, I remember that. Everybody's

trying to kill them. And Marge is trying to help

them, and he's like, you don't understand. Everybody

thinks they're monsters, but they're mine, and

I raised them, and I love them. And Marge is

like, oh, I understand better than you know.

Oh, man. So yeah, we're kind of jumping around

here. So what is your... Deval, what's your favorite

scene in the movie? Probably the spider -pig

scene. Are you serious? I love... I just love

the image of Homer with his pig over his head

making paw prints on the ceiling. And Dave? Yeah,

I mean, Deval stole it. I love the spider -pig

and the spider -pig song. Mean that the Harry

plopper sort of comeback is also but it ties

into the spider -pig scene. So yeah, yeah So

yeah, I mean the movie was really really well

done I think and of course, I think there was

a bit because I have the DVD I'm gonna have to

drag it out and I'm not really dragging it out,

but I'm gonna go get it and watch it at some

point, but I think on the commentary, I think

at the end as the end credits go up, and of course,

one of the things about the movie is at the end,

supposedly, it's not supposedly, but this does

happen, but supposedly there's going to be a

sequel because Maggie says sequel, and it's what,

like the second time she's talked in the entire

show's lifespan? Yeah. I mean, some of it's not

official, but she's talked a couple of times.

Yeah. Kind of makes you wonder when that sequel

will happen though, because that movie's three

years old now? Yeah, well the thing is, what

I was saying about the commentary was, I was

watching it with Matt and whoever else is on

the commentary track on the DVD and he's like,

we promise we won't wait another 20 years to

make a sequel. Well, but you know what sucks

is that we're gonna be waiting for a Simpson

sequel for as long as we've been waiting for

another Beavis and Butthead film. Yeah, that's

true. I mean, Peterson Butt -Head to America

came out in, oh god, 2000? Yeah, long time ago.

And they're just now returning to airwaves, so...

Simpsons has been around 22 years, they've only

been able to turn out a film. Yeah. I'm pretty

disappointing in you. Yes. And before we go to

our next break, the Simpsons movie is on DVD

and Blu -ray. The show is, I think it has 13

seasons, a complete 1 through 13 season, then

it has the complete 20th season, which is weird.

Well, they did the 20th season, they released

it out of sequence only because season 20 was

the first season they went to hide death. Right.

Because they did that, they were able to push

the DVD and the Blu -ray for the first time.

of The Simpsons. So fans suddenly had their choice

of getting these in high -def and now I think

seasons 13 and 14 that have been out, the last

two, are actually available on DVD and Blu -ray.

Like I said before in the show, I have the season

one and season two and I never noticed it before

but I noticed it, I didn't notice it when I first

got them but it has the TV on it and of course

the box with the actual DVDs comes out. And in

the inside of the box on the first season it

shows another in picture TV with the couch. Homer's

laying on the couch and Maggie's sitting on his

stomach with the remote. Yeah. Which is really

cool. And it also shows on the actual DVD where

you can put it in different ways to show different

pictures. I think they did that for just those

first two seasons and then every season afterwards

has been usually focused on a different I want

to say a different idea or a different character.

Like the last one that just came out was comic

book guy. Right. They started the heads with

Homer in season six, but they also are still

releasing them as the regular DVD cases and not

just the heads. Which are the ones I buy. The

only heads I have, I think I had a Marge one

because I couldn't find the regular one. And

then I had a Krusty one because that was the

only way to get the free skip the line pass for

two for the ride. Yeah, I was going to say when

they started doing the heads, there's actually

a form, at least with Homer, where you could

send it in for the box, like the box similar

to the earlier boxes. Right. And it's like you

have to check a thing that says, yes, I fear

change. Because a friend of mine has all the

DVDs, and he thought that cracked them up. But

it's like you have to actually fill out the form,

and it says, yes, I am afraid of things that

change. And give me the old version. Yeah, they

would just send you the box and the insert and

everything for it. And you just take the DVD

out, plop them in. You got something to match

all the rest of yours. Yes. So I think we're

going to go to some ads or promos or I don't

know it's some sort of audio in between here

in the closing so we'll be back after these messages.

This film is not yet rated. Tooncast will be

back after these questions. Hello Tooncast. This

is your friend Kevin C. calling in response to

your latest episode about Beetlejuice. And this

is the first time where I actually completely

150 % disagree with both of you on all points

of this cartoon. I thought the Beater Juice was

an awesome cartoon, definitely one of my favorites

from the 80s and early 90s. I love the theme

song as well, you know, and I still remember

it, you know, pretty much beat for beat, you

know, the exact tune and everything. I mean,

I remember it clearly after 20 years, so... You

know, and I don't really know what would account

for me being on the other side of the planet

from you guys. Usually, I'm able to take something

away that, you know, I agree with you all on.

So, you know, even when you're cracking on Dexter's

lab, I mean, I'm still able to realize, you know,

maybe they're right on that. But anyway, maybe

this is because I saw the Beedlejuice cartoon

first, and that might be the only then key to

the disagreement because having seen it first

that developed my relationship with the cartoon

first so I really didn't have any reference to

go off of and then you know I thought the art

style you know it was very different from the

other cartoons. And it was very different from

other cartoons in this time. You know, vibrant

color. I thought the character designs were up

to change. You know, and it prepared me for other

cartoons and movies that would deal with the

dead or the undead. Stuff like that. Basically,

other Tim Burton stuff. And I really didn't even

know that he was behind this cartoon, so I appreciate

that info. And as far as other Tim Burton stuff,

you know, I happen to love The Corpse Bride and

Shane Acker's Nine. I have to put Shane Acker

in front there because if you search for the

movie Nine, another movie will pop up. But Tim

Burton was one of the producers on Nine. So,

you know, it's kind of hit or miss with him,

so I can understand that. But getting back to

Beaver Juice, I thought that they had a lot of

funny jokes, you know, and I loved the relationship

that he had with Lydia. That's why it was such

a shock for me watching the live -action movie

later on because it was so completely different.

You know, so definitely fond memories of this

one. The only problems that I had with the cartoon

as a whole is that, you know, Beetlejuice seemed

like, him as a character seemed like too much

of a doofus sometimes and not really knowing

what to do with his powers and how to solve this

particular problem. So, you know, that's, you

know, that's probably the creators dumbing it

down a little bit for the kids. And, um... You

know, I'll go back and check this one out just

to see if it still holds up. And you know, if

everybody else thinks that the cartoon sucks,

then maybe I'm the only cult following that Beetlejuice

has. And even there, I'm more of a casual fan.

So there you go. Appreciate the show. Awesome

discussion. Take care. Talk to you later. Bye.

I want you to listen to it because it's the world's

first Beast Wars and Beast Machines review podcast.

If you don't listen to it, I will set my vehicles

to remove your sparks. and destroy you. So, from

now on, you will listen and tune into the beast

at least. Or else. Excellent. Yes. Hey gang,

make sure you tune in every Friday for a brand

new episode of the Animated World of Flavadave

and Neval. With us, Flavadave and Neval! Yay!

I didn't know you were going to do the yay thing.

You were late. I'm sorry. I didn't know we were

doing the late thing. I'm sorry. You can check

us out right here on popculturenetwork .com where

we have new episodes for you every Friday. We

recover the latest, greatest, sometimes forgotten,

and sometimes really awful, deservedly forgotten,

animated shows and films of the past and the

present. So make sure you check us out right

here on the Pop Culture Network. Sword of Omens,

give me sight beyond sight. I see a new episode

of Tooncast coming this week. This is Dr. Wily,

and I will destroy Mega Man while listening to

Tooncast! We're about to Tooncast! So guys, final

thoughts on The Simpsons as a whole? What do

you think, Dave? I think it's a great show. I

fear that it may have gone on a little too long,

and that the poor quality of later seasons has

kind of hurt. The legacy has hurt the memory

of the earlier ones because I think the earlier

shows they maybe from the second to about the

ninth season or some of the most brilliant TV

Comedy that's been written and I think it's kind

of I almost think it's it's a testament that

maybe you should kind of leave Like Seinfeld

did and you're still on top of your game true

What about you to all I agree with Dave on that

I you know The earlier seasons were, you know,

are still regarded as some of the best sitcom

television half hours ever, you know, ever devised.

And now these later seasons, as they just keep

going on milking that pony, it's like, you know,

I get a feeling they're going to try to shoot

for 25 years and then be done with it. I wouldn't

be surprised if that's the case. But yeah, the

legacy overall. People still watch the show.

It still gets big ratings. All of Fox's Sunday

Night Animation Domination blog gets huge ratings.

The Simpsons is going to stick around for a while,

but we're way, way past the days of those legendary

episodes where every moment was laugh out loud.

Yeah, I agree with you guys. And Deval, you pointed

out something that I've pointed out a few times

in a couple of our shows here at Gatecast Radio

where I'm hoping that it hits the 25th season

and it just stops. Yeah, I'm sure it will, Mike.

I'll be honest with you. I strongly believe that's

what they're trying to shoot for is that they

want to hit 25 because once they hit 25, it's

very, very unlikely for a long time to come that

no one's ever going to top that. Right, exactly.

And just my own personal opinion and theory on

how they should end it is they should make the

kids adults or at least older than what they

are now. I've always thought that like maybe

the last season, they should just do like a thing

where they jump ahead. Yeah, at least the last

episode. The last episode should really kind

of, especially after 25 years, should wrap things

up. Yeah, should very. I mean, this show, I mean,

a lot of cartoons. Most cartoons, especially

like this, don't have, I mean, continuity, really.

And a lot of cartoons have continuity, and this

one is kind of in the middle of that, I think.

Yeah, it does and it doesn't, because I mean,

like, Maude died, and they kept that. Appu got

married and had... Although, you know, I noticed

at one point, it seemed like they were almost...

Aside from Appu's kids, they were almost kind

of trying to backtrack. It was like, Luan and

Kirk got together again, and, um... The principal,

whose name escapes me at the moment, and Chris

Apple, they were split up. It was like all this

character development that had been slowly progressing.

There was one season where they almost kept putting

everything, rewinding everything back to the

way it had been. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but... If

you're gonna have a series finale in any show

whether it's a continuity based show or just

a one -off show You should still have some sort

of homage or some sort of really great send -off

especially one That's the longest sitcom of all

time Well, yeah, I mean look if you look at it

this way if they they took a book from Bob Newhart

In a sense where you know was it that the second

series was it just the Newhart show Dave you

remember? Yeah Was it, yeah, and then the finale

of that episode was him waking up in bed and

with his... Was it Dan Pluchette? Yeah, it was

with Pluchette from the Bob Newhart Show. Right,

and it was all a dream. It was all a dream. And

then you could go, I mean, they could go the

opposite spectrum where the very finale of Roseanne

turned out to be that, you know, her husband

had been dead all of these years and she... No,

no, no, it was just the last season. It was just

the last season after he had the heart attack.

Oh, that they always talk about how he was like

visiting or in the hospital or... Yeah, yeah.

Because at the end of the previous season he'd

had a heart attack and then the next season where

she won the lottery, all that was... Although

they kind of implied that a lot of stuff had

been like fictionalized. It was all her book.

There was an early episode where they made an

office for her in the basement where she could

write and they never did anything with that again

until the finale and it turned out that most

of the series had been one way or another part

of her book. Like, and stuff had been like...

Like the two kids, the two girls, their boyfriends

were reversed in real life and it was the mother

who was... One character who was gay turned out

to not be gay and another character who wasn't

gay turned out to be gay. And then Dan had died

of the heart attack and had to survive. So basically,

Simpsons, please age the kids and give us a really

great send -off. Yeah, exactly. And give Maggie

a voice actor as long as it's not Yeardley Smith.

Thank you for joining us here on Tooncast or

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and we will be starting and we will be opening

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I am TFD1Mike with the guys from the Pop Culture

Network. Who are you again? Slave of Dave! And

Deval! Thank you for listening! Until next time!