That’s how I’d do it too.
As old as the show is, I bet half the viewers wouldn’t get the Tracy Ullman link.
Either that, or Lisa (you know it has to be Lisa) makes her speech, and then the scene ends. The next scene, there’s the caption, “One week later”, and you see Springfield Main Street, a wasteland, with ruined buildings and fires.
The Simpsons [del]have[/del] has been on air for so long and become so much a part of popular culture that it isn’t possible to conclude the series. Think, what was the series finale of the Flintstones or the Jetsons? Sure eventually the show will end, but not until the next decade or later. Even after ending as a regular series it could still go on in some form. The biggest problem would be the loss of voice actors, but that could be overcome. Hell, with all the recordings of them speaking in character the producers could come up with a computer program to duplicate their voices long after they’ve died.
I seem to recall on one of the DVD commentaries one of the producers saying that they have tons of recordings from previous episodes of Homer screaming, getting hurt, saying “d’oh,” etc. but Dan Castanelleta still likes to do it fresh. Those little bits would sound okay, but if you piece together previous recordings to make new sentences, it sounds robotic. There are libraries of recordings of Ernie Anderson (old ABC announcer, “Ghoulardi,” etc.) and Mel Blanc doing various Looney Tunes voices than can be pieced together for a fee, but the results sound robotic. I’m sure the same thing would happen if you pieced together old Simpsons lines. Here’s an example of a licensed Looney Tunes greeting card using the Blanc library.
Homer - “Marge, I have some bad news. Home-town America is dead, so we’ve been out-sourced to China…”
Marge - “Хорошая вещь я изучил китайский язык.”
By taking off and nuking it form orbit. It would be the only way to be sure.
Cockroach-Homer! Mmm, tar . . .
Like most animated series, The Simpsons have been outsourced to Korea since day one. They’ve even made a few jokes about it.
지금 그는 저에게 말한다. Doh!
(I don’t suppose you have an English-Korean translation site whose character set will show up on my PC…? :dubious: )
The Mac translator widget renders that as “He talks to me now.”
A clip show. You know it’ll happen.
The last episode could be one of theose reverse chronology eps. Have the first scene be Springfield going up in a nuclear explosion. Then reveal the explosion was caused by Homer (natch) doing something stupid at his console at the power plant. Then as the episode works backward, we see all the little points at which the stupid thing could have been avoided, but weren’t, often because of the character flaws of Homer and other Springfieldians. Finally the last shot is the family assembling on the couch, this time we know for the last time.
Nice.
Sorry to put a wet blanket on this discussion, but I don’t see any reason why the Simpsons (or any show) should have an “end.” Just don’t do any more episodes, or at least for a while.
Huh?
Since when does total annihilation prevent a show coming back?
They never used a Raccoon City scenario before. The Simpsons can all mutate into Resident Evil characters. The towns folk can change and or die. The town sign can be shown in the end, and Springfield falls off to say Raccoon City under it. The secret base is of course under the city.
Whew! That was close!
I’m still enjoying it so they can end it any way they want after I die and don’t care any more.
[sub]You can’t wait six months?[/sub]
They could just make a movie…
I’d end it with the movie, too, but since that isn’t the case, I think the best way to end the series would be with a clip show, possibly one hour in length. It would kind of be like the last Seinfeld, only sort of in reverse. Basically, the jist of it would be that times are rough for the Simpson family, even rougher than usual. Bart has been thrown out of Springfield Elementary for life for his constant bad behavior, and no Simpson can ever attend the school for the rest of time- so Lisa can’t go, either. And Homer loses his job at the nuclear power plant after Mr. Burns, in one of his rare lapses of knowledge of Homer, realizes that Homer hasn’t been in for work for over five years.
Homer: “Oh, this is horrible! I’m a failure! My life is ruined!”
Lisa comes running in with news that she is the youngest person ever to be admitted to Harvard. Homer, of course, doesn’t pay attention.
Soon, all of Springfield is at Homer’s doorstep, threatening to run him out of town because of all the trouble he has caused for the past 20 years or so. Marge, always the cool-headed one, points out that Homer may have done a lot of bad, but he’s also done a lot of good for the town. Through clips from past episodes, we see all of the good things Homer, Bart, and the rest have done for the community, all of the joy they’ve brought, and all of the ways Homer has been able to “pull a Homer” and come through in the end." The final clips show how Homer has been able to save Springfield from destruction by “pulling a Homer” in episodes such as “Homer Defined” and “King Sized Homer.” Mr. Burns realizes that Springfield would have been destroyed many times over if Homer hadn’t been around to save it, and even though he may be incompetent, he still has a place at the plant, and gets his job back. Principal Skinner states that Bart may be a nuisance, but since Homer is a hero, he overturns the ban on Simpsons attending Springfield Elementary- much to Lisa’s disappointment. Finally, Mayor Quimby gives a proclamation:
“In honor of all that Homer Simpson has done for the great city of Springfield, this date shall be henceforth known as Homer Simpson Day. I am pleased that a great American such as Homer Simpson hails from this town. I am happy to say he comes from Springfield, and will always be one of the best-known citizens of this great state of…”
Quimby is suddenly interrupted (again keeping Springfield’s exact location forever a secret) by a strange rumbling. We pan over to see a bizarre green glow coming from the power plant’s cooling towers, which start to leak radioactive waste. Sideshow Mel, in his dramatic voice, proclaims, “Is this the end of the Simpsons?” (referring not only to the family, but the show itself). “Don’t worry, everybody,” Homer says. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from television, it’s that everything always turns out OK in the end.” Fade to black, show producer credits. Homer: a long, resounding “D’OH!” (I think I might have somewhat stolen that gag from the final gag of the “When Aliens Attack” episode of Futurama, and perhaps maybe even the infamous Sopranos ending, but I can’t really think of any other way to end my scenario.)