The Walt Disney Company recently held its biennial D23 convention celebrating Disney and its various properties, which thanks to corporate consolidation and a lack of antitrust enforcement also includes The Simpsons! Here’s a roundup of all the Simpsons-related stuff.
.@TheSimpsons D23 pic.twitter.com/L76PSy8dIO
— Al Jean (@AlJean) August 10, 2024
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- On the show floor, there was a little display where you could sit on the couch with statues of the Simpsons (eagle-eyed fans will recognize this as a theater display from The Simpsons Movie) and also recreate the famous “Homer in the hedge” moment from “Homer Loves Flanders” that somehow became the meme that now defines the show.
(The Walt Disney Company)
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- A fan-created replica of The Homer, the car designed by Homer that destroyed Powell Motors, was part of an exhibit of various cars seen in Disney productions. Porcubimmer Motors, the team that built it back in 2013, got to keep the display board.
(Disney/Frank Micelotta)
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- On Saturday, there was a big panel for 20th Television Animation featuring a conversation with the creators dubbed “The Animation Greats:” Matt Groening, Loren Bouchard (Bob’s Burgers), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) and Mike Judge (King of the Hill). Judge obliquely confirmed that the upcoming King of the Hill revival will feature a time jump, but judging from accounts livetweeting the panel, the conversation mostly seemed to consist of the other guys kissing Groening’s ass for making adult animation viable.
The @Disney @TheSimpsons mash-ups drawn by @tubatron during #TheSimpsons @DisneyD23 panel pic.twitter.com/EstJsVAKEc
— Matt Selman (@mattselman) August 12, 2024
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- During the Simpsons section of the panel, longtime director David Silverman doodled some Disney-Simpsons crossovers, including Homer and Bart versions of Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc., a movie he co-directed, which is nice to see. Speaking of which, Disney World might bulldoze Muppet*Vision 3D and Jim Henson’s legacy to make room for a Monsters, Inc. land, which is not as nice to see.
- Showrunner Matt Selman noted that seasons 1 and 2 of the show are the most popular on Disney+, and encouraged viewers to “finish the binge.” Maybe the dropoff is because people realize their favorite episode, the season 3 premiere “Stark Raving Dad,” is missing and get too demoralized to continue? Just throwing that out there.
(Disney/Stewart Cook)
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- After a bit where writer Brian Kelley listed a bunch of inane memos they got from Disney’s panic-stricken lawyers, Selman announced there will be four episodes exclusive to Disney+ and he praised the relative freedom Disney+ gives them versus network television. Getting mixed messages here! It was later clarified that two of those episodes are actually one hourlong Christmas episode, which will premiere on December 17, a significant date in Simpsons history: Bart’s 45th birthday! I’m curious about this arrangement: didn’t Fox pay millions of dollars for these episodes? And now they’re just going to let Disney take them? What is the point of having Disney+ exclusives when they’ll eventually be on there anyway?
- It was also announced there’re making another one of those Disney+ shorts that everybody loves, which will be Halloween-themed. This is in addition to two “Treehouse of Horror” episodes this year, a traditional one and one that’s a tribute to the work of Ray Bradbury. These guys must really love Halloween.
- During the Disney Experiences Showcase, they had the creative heads of the various studios – Jennifer Lee of Walt Disney Animation, Pete Docter of Pixar, Dave Filoni of Lucasfilm, and Kevin Feige of Marvel – go onstage to talk about upcoming Fortnite skins. Embarrassing. This would have been the perfect opportunity to announce a Homer Simpson skin, but I guess they hate money.
(The Walt Disney Company)
- On Sunday, executive producer James L. Brooks was honored as a Disney Legend, the highest award given by the company. He was introduced by his friend and collaborator Danny DeVito after a little animated segment featuring the Simpsons coming out of the hedge to congratulate him, which led into a montage of his film and television work. The ceremony is available to watch on Disney+, and it seems very on-brand that the segment featuring The Simpsons is the first to feature swearing that’s bleeped out.