The Golden Age Of The Simpsons: The Disney Era
I did a series of posts on the first nine years of The Simpsons on the show's fansite, NoHomers.net, under my username C.MontgomeryBurns. I reposted my deconstructions here in a series of posts below. They provide a general overview of each period of the show. All of the posts together are 8,000 plus words. As a fan growing up with “The Simpsons” over the years I came to associate their first four seasons as what the show was all about. I remember watching those episodes repeatedly on my DVD player because I just simply could not get enough of them. Out of that truly awesome period I regard the third and fourth seasons as the time when the writing, humor, and animation of the original crew were perfected to its creative apex as the gold standard to follow. I feel that all of the showrunners that came afterward looked towards that particular period of the show for inspiration on how to craft great and memorable storytelling. So it really is a testament to David Mirkin, Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein, and yes even Mike Scully whose outstanding works showed that they wanted to meet that classic threshold first set up by the first generation of writers and animators on the series. Honestly they all had their work cut for them to try to replicate the special warmth and glow the episodes of that bygone era clearly exerted over us fans. While seasons three and four had the same crew of writers and animators as before the show did have a different set of show runners. Long time writers Al Jean & Mike Reiss took over the reins from creators Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Sam Simon as the showrunners for the series. Despite the shift the trio were still very active and influential in the writers’ room so their hand prints were all over the stories too. As for the duo their take on the show was very much in line with what was already established by the creators before them. You could tell that they did not want to mess with what had clearly worked for the show. So the grounded realism that was a hallmark of the previous two years was still the foundation for the show under their watch. As a result their years seamlessly and naturally evolved from the prior years to the point where you would not have thought there was a change in direction...which is no easy task at all. The important aspects of the series which the creators had first established…such as the pop culture references, the theme of the family, the Harvard Lampoon style of humor, and the political satire…were all built upon to a much bigger degree during the Jean & Reiss seasons. But there was also a subtle difference between the first two and the latter two years of that time. They did bring their own vision to the table that helped expand and elaborate on the original vocabulary of the series. The inventive stuff that was added included the use of fantastical dream sequences, the hilarious cut away gags, the well planned use of guest actors in a storyline, and a bit of wackiness to their stories. All of this would make up the trademark Simpsons style we have come to embrace obsessively and it turned out that way because the two writers were very well versed in the show’s universe. If I had to guess what was their greatest asset I would have to say it was their keen understanding of perfectly balancing the sorrow and the laughter in their stories. Right there is the quintessential heart of the show. That type of nuance and perspective is very hard to come by for any show which was why pale imitation cartoons of the day failed. The stories themselves were always of the same high standard that was created from the earlier years, but the strength of the show was exemplified even more so because of the crew hitting their stride by the third and fourth year. Homer at the Bat” remains the definitive episode on how to effectively use guest actors without having to make them gimmicks in a hilarious story. “Bart the Lover” is a great example of an episode that transforms a background character like Edna Krabappel to a fully fleshed out character capable of holding our interests. “Lisa’s First Word” is your classic flashback Simpsons episode that not only delves into the family’s history but also leaves on beautiful twist ending that will leave you speechless. And there’s “Last Exit to Springfield” which encompasses the very best the series has to offer through its comedy and drama. The voices and personalities of the characters were nailed down for good. Any trace of Walter Matthau in Homer’s voice was gone and Mr. Burns began to sound like the senile corrupt businessman he was meant to be. Certain characters have their moments during different eras of the show, like with Burns under Mirkin’s run or Lisa during the Oakley & Weinstein era. In that sense Bart clearly had the best time he could have ever had under Jean & Reiss as Bartmania had reached its peak back in the early 90’s. He was the star and you would be hard pressed to not find any episode that did not have him somewhere in the plot line. The series was always revolutionary in its animation, but by the admission of the animators themselves they felt the episodes were crudely drawn in way that was still similar to the Tracey Ullman shorts. It would have been easy for them to simply let things as they were but to their artistic credit they constantly pushed themselves during those first years until they felt the animation was truly right. Seasons three and four was really the point where the animators had definitively finalized the look and feel of the show. And along with that came an increased confidence by the animators to create some truly ambitious and beautiful episodes that did redefine what you could do in TV animation. There’s Susie Dieter’s great homage to Chuck Jones’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” with her expressive drawings of Burns looking down at his workers in “Last Exit to Springfield”. Or Brad Bird’s emotional poses of Krusty the Clown singing his heart out in “Krusty Gets Cancelled”. Of course you have David Silverman who story-boarded that wonderful dream sequence of Homer skipping happily in Chocolate Land from "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk". And you can’t forget the action packed climax of Rich Moore’s “Marge vs. the Monorail”. I’m only naming just a few of the many examples that showcased the best the series had to offer in the art form which is probably why Oakley & Weinstein looked back towards those episodes for inspiration. The reason why I praise those two years so much is because it does seem a lot like how the Disney studio was at their peak during the thirties and forties with their approach to grounded realism and the heart. The animators and writers at the studio were at the top of their game by building upon the artistic success they had gained and would not settle for anything less than awesomeness. There first five feature films all showcased just how much the animators had learned from the past decade to harness their craft to the level of perfection or near greatness. It all together elevated the studio to a new league of respect that the other cartoon studios envied to the point that they tried to emulate their style much to their detriment. But what all those studios lacked in their work was the creative spark that had been present in some of Disney’s most beloved works. “The Simpsons” to me fits that bill perfectly because of the dedication the original crew had not just for the Jean & Reiss years but also for Groening, Brooks, & Simon who were always there to nurture the show to what it finally became. It is no coincidence that a good number of the animators who worked on the show (like Rich Moore and Brad Bird) had that in mind since they came from Cal Arts, the school founded by Walt Disney himself to train the next generation of animators to lead the art form to the future. And wouldn’t you know, they did just that.
