Enter Planet Simpson
By Jouni Paakkinen (jouni@snpp.com) - October 24, 2004
     For fans who enjoy reading about their favorite TV show, there's a new treat in the local bookstore. The book, entitled "Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation", is an accessible cultural analysis of The Simpsons, its inside stories and the world it reflects.
     "Planet Simpson is, I hope, the first book about the show that is written in the same spirit – even the same language – in which the show's fans talk about the show. In a way, it's a book about the show itself – who created it, what makes it tick, etc. But in another, more accurate way, it's a book about why The Simpsons matters," author Chris Turner describes "Planet Simpson" to The Simpsons Archive.
     "I think of The Simpsons as the most vivid wide-angle lens that Western pop culture has yet devised through which to view the society that created it, and so I do my best in the book to use that lens to talk about the most interesting developments in that society in the last 15 years or so," he adds.
     Chris Turner is a magazine journalist based in Calgary. He has been a fan of The Simpsons since he first saw the show in the second season, when Fox Network finally reached his home town. His essay "The Simpsons Generation" appeared in Shift Magazine in September 2002 and was soon reprinted in newspapers across North America.
     When gathering material for the essay, Turner was awestruck by the show's brilliance at its peak. "It occurred to me then that this wasn't just a really great TV show but a body of work as good as anything produced in any medium in the last century." The Shift article served as the genesis of the book.
     When asked how "Planet Simpson" compares to other recent Simpsons books, Turner explains that he approaches the subject not as an academic but as a writer, a journalist, and a fan. He admits that he book covers some of the same topics as the other books. The author believes, however, that he has been able to cover a broader range of these topics. "I didn't feel at all compelled to conform to the standards and practices of academic writing. My analytical approach isn't Marxist or post-structuralist or what-have-you but rather Simpsonian."
     In fact, Turner's motivation for writing the book was discussing The Simpsons in print with the same mix of scholarly seriousness and energized enthusiasm as seen in some classic rock & roll books. "There were the scholarly texts on the one hand and the official trivia guides on the other, but nothing that spoke to both ends of that spectrum and everything in between," Turner explains.
     "By far the biggest challenge in writing about The Simpsons was deciding what to exclude," says the author. The wealth of topics, great lines and meaningful scenes turned out to be so enormous, that it became difficult for the author to choose the ones that would best illustrate the point discussed. On the other hand, spending days by watching and discussing The Simpsons with friends was obviously a very enjoyable part of the writing process.
     "I was doing an interview with a newspaper columnist the other day, and he was saying that he's always trying to explain to people that The Simpsons isn't just the greatest TV show ever but the greatest thing ever, and that was kind of what I was trying to do by writing this book," Chris Turner concludes.
     "Planet Simpson" has been published in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia. An excerpt of the book is available at the publisher's site. Author's blog, detailing the day-to-day of publishing and promoting the book, is online at www.planetsimpson.com.

Planet Simpson
By Chris Turner
USA: Da Capo Press, ISBN 0306813416, $26.00
CA: Random House, ISBN 0679313184, $35.00
UK & AU: Ebury/Random House, ISBN 0091897564, £12.99/$29.95

See table of contents
Also available on Highbridge Audio CD.

Complete Fifth Season Comes To DVD
By Wesley Mead (wesley@snpp.com) - October 18, 2004
     The fifth season of The Simpsons hits DVD just before Christmas this year - a mere six months after the bestselling season 4 set, which topped sales charts all around the world.
     The Complete Fifth Season DVD set, featuring all 22 episodes from the series' fifth season (1993-1994), will be released in the USA and Canada on December 21st. This has come as a pleasant surprise to many fans, who were expecting the next season to follow the once-a-year pattern of previous releases.
     The set is once again packed with bonus features, as collectors of the series would expect. As usual, the primary bonus on this set is the collection of commentary tracks - one for each episode - featuring banter from a different collection of cast and crew on each episode. Participants include Matt Groening, Al Jean, Jon Lovitz, Conan O'Brien, Hank Azaria, Mark Kirkland, Wes Archer, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, David Silverman, David Mirkin and Greg Daniels, amongst others - an impressive array.
     More bonus features will be included too: season five will include a short introduction to the season by Matt Groening, as season four did, as well as a special multi-language feature, more of those craved deleted scenes, Animation Showcases featuring animatics and storyboards, some commercials featuring the Simpsons from 1993-1994, and a special featurette about the 100th episode, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song". More specific details about the features are yet to be confirmed, but details should emerge over the coming months.
     The recommended retail price of the set will be $49.98 in the USA and $69.98 in Canada. The 22-episodes will be spread across the four discs, and presented in 1.33:1 full frame with DD 5.1 sound in English, as well as DD 2.0 sound in French and Spanish, and English and Spanish subtitles, just like the S4 release.
     Complete disc contents are yet to be confirmed, but a complete list of episodes to be included follows.

Disc 1 EPISODES: "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" "Cape Feare" "Homer Goes to College" "Rosebud" "Treehouse of Horror IV" EXTRAS: Commentary on all episodes Introduction by Matt Groening Animation Showcase Storyboards Disc 2 EPISODES: "Marge on the Lam" "Bart's Inner Child" "Boy-Scoutz N the Hood" "The Last Temptation of Homer" "$pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)" "Homer The Vigilante" EXTRAS: Commentary on all episodes Animation Showcase Storyboards Deleted scenes with optional commentary Disc 3 EPISODES: "Bart Gets Famous" "Homer and Apu" "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" "Deep Space Homer" "Homer Loves Flanders" "Bart Gets an Elephant" EXTRAS: Commentary on all episodes Animation Showcase Storyboards Deleted scenes with optional commentary Animation Showcase “ Disc 4 EPISODES: "Burns' Heir" "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badasssss Song" "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" "Lady Bouvier's Lover" "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" EXTRAS: Commentary on all episodes Animation Showcase Storyboards Deleted scenes with optional commentary Special language feature "A Look Back With James L. Brooks" featurette Press release

     See our episode guide for further details on the episodes. Future news concerning this release, and other future releases, will be added to our DVD News page.

The Simpsons' 16th Season Begins
By Wesley Mead (wesley@snpp.com) - October 14, 2004

NOTE: This article contains significant spoilers. Episode titles, airdates and synopses are tentative and subject to change. All airdates to refer to US network premieres.

     The Simpsons begins its season with the standard Halloween special, this year "Treehouse of Horror XV" (FABF23), airing a week after Halloween on November 7th. In the trademark three-story format, three horrific tales are related: this year these are to feature Ned Flanders being able to see the future, Mr. Burns' body is explored and Lisa becoming a new Sherlock Holmes in a parody of the detective series. One segment apparently features a "Fantastic Voyage" parody.
     The official season première will air one week later on November 14th, but unfortunately there is no confirmation of what that episode will be. Likely candidates include "Sleeping With The Enemy", FABF19, penned by Jon Vitti, in which Marge becomes motherly towards Nelson Muntz and allows him to temporarily stay with the Simpsons; and "Fat Man and Little Boy", FABF21, written by Joel H. Cohen, in which Bart goes through a mid-childhood crisis after losing his last baby tooth as a result of a spitball fight in a send-up of "Saving Private Ryan".
     Other FABF production-line episodes still to air include the Marc Wilmore-penned "Midnight Rx" (FABF16), which is rumoured to based around prescription drugs; "All's Fair In Oven War" (FABF20), written by Matt Selman; and "She Used To Be My Girl" (FABF22), scripted by Tim Long.
     Previous seasons have always included a wide array of guest stars, and as you may have guessed, season 16 is no exception. Planned guests include Ray Romano as Homer's new best friend who's a roofer and Kim Catrall as Marge's former high school pal; as well as Ray Magini, journalist Chloe Talbot, architect Gehry, rapper 50 Cent, Gary Busey, actor James Caan, and the return of Stephen Hawking and Thomas Pynchon, all as themselves. Joe Mantegna will also reprise his role as mob boss Fat Tony.
     Other planned Season 16 plots include:

• In "Mommie Beerest" (GABF01), Marge invades Homer's space when she starts serving at Moe's.
• Bart fakes his own kidnapping to avoid punishment after sneaking out to a 50 Cent rap concert in "Pranksta Rap" (GABF03).
• An untitled episode finds the Simpsons eight years in the future, as both Bart and Lisa graduate Springfield High School (and in which Maggie "may speak").
• Lisa gets a restraining order against Bart in another upcoming GABF-series episode.
• Mayor Quimby will face a recall election later on in the year.
• And finally, Bart transforms his treehouse into a sort of Playboy mansion, in an episode that sees accomplished actor James Caan guest.

Simpsons go D'oh-for-3 at Emmys
By Don Del Grande (ddelgran@snpp.com) - September 13, 2004
     Dan Castellaneta's previously announced Emmy win for voiceover performance was the only Emmy that The Simpsons will be receiving for the 2003-2004 season, as it failed to win in the other three categories in which it was nominated, as announced at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 12.
     The three nominations were:

Dan Castellaneta Wins an Emmy
By Jouni Paakkinen (jouni@snpp.com) - August 11, 2004
     Dan Castellaneta has won this year's Emmy award for voiceover performance for his roles as Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Barney Gumble and Sideshow Mel in the 15th season episode "Today I Am a Clown."
     This makes the third Emmy for Castellaneta, who has prevously won the award for his work on The Simpsons in 1992 and 1993.
     Last year, another Simpsons cast member, Hank Azaria, was given this award.
     Outstanding Voice-Over Performance is one of the "juried" categories without a slate of nominees. The remaining awards will be announced on September 12th and 19th. The Simpsons is nominated for three additional awards.