# And The Simpsons Are Headed For The Big Screen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870 "2005-06-11T17:29:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ultraviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c77e96/32.png) [@Ultraviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ultraviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/41 "2005-06-13T17:55:01Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Wayne Knight could be Chief Clancey Wiggum. If he kept some of his Don Orville uniforms from “3rd Rock,” they wouldn’t even have to provide a wardrope. I don’t think those uniforms would fit him anymore. I saw interviews with him on the recent Seinfeld DVDs, and man, has he ever lost a lot of weight. I don’t think he could do Wiggum properly now. ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/42 "2005-06-13T22:50:48Z")
The whole movie should be about Armen Tanzarian with “Eat my shorts, children!” a frequent tag line. ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/43 "2005-06-14T03:25:08Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > If they are really serious about a Simpsons movie, they need to bring back some of the old writers. Give Conan O’Brien whatever he wants. Yes! I definitely agree with you there. > [@Meeko](#): > > Seriously though. This could work. The overall “Glue” to make it 90 minutes needs to be good. Some “epic” adventure would need to take place. Possibly this would mark a big change in the “permanent” storyline of the cast. Then again, that would destroy all of the self referencial stuff going on. > > Maggie could grow up some, either physically or in a toddler-esque comming of age story. That or it becomes a Secondary character cram-fest. Once again, I’d just like to say I totally agree with everything you said. My biggest fear with the Simpsons movie is that it will buckle under the weight of the huge number of secondary characters, cameo appearances and inside jokes that they can do. One time during a particularly boring math class in high school, I started writing down names of characters from The Simpsons to see how many I could remember. Within 10 minutes, I had listed over 60 characters. That’s more people than I know in real life! If you gave every character equal screen time (after all, those voice actors all want their moment in the spotlight) it would be a mish-mash of characters coming into the story and then leaving with no explanation. Kind of like the way most episodes of the show seem to be written these days. I agree that it should have an epic, movie-sized story. Something with the writing quality of “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” and the emotions and character development (God forbid) of the episode where Bleeding Gums Murphy dies. I’ll end up seeing this movie no matter what. I really hope the writers aren’t counting on that fact. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/44 "2005-06-14T06:02:52Z")
I had a thought, perhaps this is how Groening’s gotten Fox to agree to a couple of _Futurama_ movies. (Yeah, they’ll be straight to DVD, but it’s better’n nuttin’.) ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/45 "2005-06-14T16:43:24Z")
> [@Sarah Woodruff](#): > > If it was a “live-action” film, as long as William H. Macy plays Ned Flanders, it’ll all be okay. And Steve Buscemi plays the gun store guy. ---
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Woodruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/46 "2005-06-15T08:36:03Z")
> [@teela brown](#): > > And Steve Buscemi plays the gun store guy. …And Robert Carlyle as the Scottish janitor Willie, Billy Crystal as Moe… ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/47 "2005-06-15T09:56:05Z")
> [@KJ](#): > > Ycreen time (after all, those voice actors all want their moment in the spotlight) What, both of them? ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/48 "2005-06-15T10:38:34Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > The South Park movie was _great_. I think that’s the exception and not the rule though, and is the result of the creators being filmmakers first and tv show writers second. Wha the huh? They were short filmmakers, sure, but I don’t think that means they’re any better at handling feature-length format, just that they liked being able to say “fuck” with impunity. I mean, anybody who says that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are great filmmakers has apparently never seen _BASEketball_. I’m with you on wanting to see more “Futurama,” though, except I don’t know if it would work feature-length. All the episodes feel really dense and longer than just 30 minutes to me, because they pack in so many jokes and changes in scene. I wonder how much of the humor _depends_ on non-sequiturs and one-liners. An hour would be about perfect. “The Simpsons” should be fine as a movie, because it’s got so much history and so many side characters now that they can have subplots and asides and such. The trick would be in letting it ramble, I think – if they tried to do one big storyline (like Who Shot Mr. Burns?) then it’d pretty quickly get either tired or maudlin, or both. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/49 "2005-06-15T12:36:05Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > I mean, anybody who says that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are great filmmakers has apparently never seen _BASEketball_. They didn’t make that movie, they just acted in it, ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/50 "2005-06-15T13:18:32Z")
Maybe the movie will COMBINE Bart losing his virginity with Michael Jackson coming back. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/51 "2005-06-15T13:18:37Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > They didn’t make that movie, they just acted in it, Wow. Checking IMDB, you’re right. I’d always assumed that was one of their own movies. Pity. I think it’s an absolutely brilliant movie. I would have loved to be able to attribute it to their writing skills. Oh well, at least they can definitely do live acting as well as voice. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/52 "2005-06-15T14:37:47Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Wha the huh? They were short filmmakers, sure, but I don’t think that means they’re any better at handling feature-length format, just that they liked being able to say “fuck” with impunity. Actually they both went to film school (I think Matt ended up graduating with a degree in math and Trey ended up dropping out to complete his first feature), and their first film - _Cannibal! The Musical_ - probably has less than 5 instances of the work _fuck_. > [@SolGrundy](#): > > I mean, anybody who says that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are great filmmakers has apparently never seen _BASEketball_. As has been mentioned, they didn’t make that film, the guy who made _Airplane!_ did. > [@BayleDomon](#): > > Pity. I think it’s an absolutely brilliant movie. I would have loved to be able to attribute it to their writing skills. Oh well, at least they can definitely do live acting as well as voice. …But they did improvise almost all of the dialogue. _BASEketball_ was a very funny and good-spirited movie, IMO. > [@SolGrundy](#): > > I’m with you on wanting to see more “Futurama,” though, except I don’t know if it would work feature-length. All the episodes feel really dense and longer than just 30 minutes to me, because they pack in so many jokes and changes in scene. I wonder how much of the humor _depends_ on non-sequiturs and one-liners. An hour would be about perfect. Futurama has surprising depth of story and it’s not all about the humor (for me, anyway.) I _hope_ we’ll find out soon how good a movie would be :). ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/53 "2005-06-15T17:30:41Z")
> [@](#): > > “The Simpsons” is about to get bigger - with a film being planned on the cult TV cartoon character Homer Simpson and his family. Homer Simpson a cult character? When was that written, 1990? I thought his bust had been added to Mt. Rushmore some time before the dot-com bust. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870/54 "2005-06-15T18:07:45Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > The writers talk about it on the DVD commentary. They don’t beat around the bush, either. They say they were supposed to never reveal that it really was Michael Jackson, but oops! There they are, doing it right on the commentary! I just read in [this](http://cagle.slate.msn.com/hogan/interviews/silverman.asp) interview in Hogan’s Alley with Simpsons producer David Silverman who said MJ declined the credit and the Simpsons people were not happy. **"How did he come to be credited as “John Jay Smith”? Silverman: We didn’t want him to be uncredited. We wanted him to be Michael Jackson! That was the point of the whole joke of the episode! So we began saying that if you’re going to be a guest on the show, you’ve got to own up to it. I think Dustin Hoffman didn’t want credit; he took the pseudonym Sam Etic. Michael Jackson didn’t want credit, and that kind of stung us. We wanted to use them for publicity [laughter]. So, in the third season we made a rule: You want to be on the show? You gotta own up to it! "** I wonder if the DVD commentary was sugar-coating a negative experience? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-simpsons-are-headed-for-the-big-screen/307870.md?page=2)