Commentary on the Simpson Disc Commentaries :) (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Kleist]

That is one thing sorely lacky from Fox's TV commentaries

Where's the talent?

(My guess, the talent wants mucho dinero)

 

[Jeremy Allin]

I would love to hear Dan Castellaneta, Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, and even Kelsey Grammer reflect during their favourite episodes. As a special twist, what if they were to do so in character?

Although this sounds like a cool idea, I've heard that we will never see footage of voices being recorded. We will also never hear anybody doing the voices outside of the show.
The creators do not wish to diminish the fact that Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa et. al. have become so engrained in our minds that to a certain degree we perceive them as being real people. To hear those voices out of character would tarnish this horribly.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

What annoys me is that Sam Simon has not been involved in any of the commentaries, even though he was as much the creator of the series as Groening, perhaps more. (Groening created the family, but the format of the series, and the day-to-day running of the series for the first four seasons, was apparently in large part the work of Sam Simon.) I wonder why Simon didn't come in to do the commentaries. I've heard he didn't get along with Groening -- he once called Groening "the show's ambassador" in reference to the fact that Groening's main function seemed to be giving entertaining interviews about the show -- but I don't know if that's the reason.

Anyway, I like the commentaries, but I didn't expect anything deep from them. (The directors tend to have more new things to say than the writers, because they can talk about the problems involved with drawing and animating these scenes.) Part of the problem is simply that a TV sitcom moves so fast -- and The Simpsons moves much faster than any TV sitcom before it -- that there's no time for them to talk about anything; if they start to talk about one scene, suddenly we see a cut to the next scene and they either a) Stop what they were talking about, or b) Skip the next scene altogether.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Although this sounds like a cool idea, I've heard that we will never see footage of voices being recorded. We will also never hear anybody doing the voices outside of the show.

The creators do not wish to diminish the fact that Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa et. al. have become so engrained in our minds that to a certain degree we perceive them as being real people. To hear those voices out of character would tarnish this horribly.

Where did you hear this from? It doesn't sound accurate to me. I've seen Hank Azaria(sp?) doing Simpsons voices on talk shows before.

 

[Brenton]

Although this sounds like a cool idea, I've heard that we will never see footage of voices being recorded. We will also never hear anybody doing the voices outside of the show.

I saw Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith on the TV Guide channel. They had Cartwright doing Bart, Nelson, Ralph, and Todd Flanders, and Smith doing Lisa. As I was watching these episodes with commentary, I was thinking about how good an actor commentary would be. While doing it in character sounds like a good idea, more than likely, most of them are not be so good at improv. And you can bet that even if they were doing it as themselves they would throw in certain jokes and lines in character voices. It would be pretty entertaining. They may save this for when the crew runs out of interesting things to say.

 

[Gui A]

I heard that thing about the cast not being able to do voices, especially Nancy Cartwright...

But then a couple of weeks ago, some local Seattle Fox station had an interview with Dan Castellaneta while he was doing voices in the recording studio.


Also, do you guys think that they'll be able to say Michael Jackson's name in the commentary track for season 3? Right up to the the live action voice reading in the UK a couple of years ago, they had to sidestep around the issue very creatively...

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Harry Shearer was doing the voices on Conan last year

 

[Jeremy Allin]

Hmmmm, guess that idea just got shot to hell.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Not really, Jeremy. FWIW, I heard the same thing as you. Remember, this relates only to the DVDs. They can't control what the actors do in interviews and stuff. The word is that none of the DVDs will feature the cast or the cast doing vocal work. This was raised last when people wanted to see Phil Hartman doing his characters, I believe.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Actually, now I remember in the commentary from one of the season 1 episodes some one said that early on in the series' history, they wanted to keep secret which actors played which characters. But later they gave up on that idea. (As you can see on one of the season two episodes, on the ending credits, below each actor's name, they listed which characters they performed.

Also, do you guys think that they'll be able to say Michael Jackson's name in the commentary track for season 3? Right up to the the live action voice reading in the UK a couple of years ago, they had to sidestep around the issue very creatively...

They mentioned his name in the "Do the Bartman" music video commentary (on Season 2 set).

Slightly off topic, on the commentary tracks for the Futurama set (from the UK), they had one actor in each of the commentaries.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

I could be mistaken (but I think I'm right one this one) - Conan only wrote for Seasons 4 and 5.
You guys have made some good points about the commentaries, but I just love 'em. There's something about watching your favorite episodes "with" the creators. When they crack up at a gag that you've always loved...that's a cool feeling.
On the actors using their voices elsewhere: talk shows seem to be fair game, but I remember reading somewhere that Groening would NEVER let any Simpsons recording sessions end up on a DVD. A small part of me would love to see those, but there's something to be said for maintaining a glorious illusion.

 

[TheoGB]

The BBC documentary about the Simpsons ("America's first family" maybe?) had footage of them recording in the studio and stuff, I'm sure...
Maybe Dan can tell us...

 

[Louis-Olivier]

Not true about not doing voices out of the show!

This year in montreal's Just for laugh festival, Mat Groening and a couple of the actors doing the voices did a special show where they were doing voices and talked about the show.

 

[DeathStar1]

>
I heard that thing about the cast not being able to do voices, especially Nancy Cartwright...
>>
Well, this idea is shot to hell as well . Anyone remember that book tour she did a year or two ago? She had a sheet list of her favorite character sayings, including a personal favorite "I bent my Wookie". So obviously she can do it for promotional tours.
One of the funnier bits, was someone brought up an old, 1990 talking Bart Simpson doll, whose phrases where worn out with age. IIRC, she rememberd some of 'em and did them in concert with the toy..
Too bad I made an ass of myself in the autograph line. I always get nervous meeting my favorite actors/VA's the first time around. I bumbled saying that my favorite episode was where Bart gets a comet named after him, looked at me like I had flies stuck to my face .

 

[Haden]

A couple years ago at the Aspen Comedy Festival they had all the actors up on stage do a live script reading of an episode in character with their voices. I'd love to see that on video because I read on the net that it was very cool to see them doing, especially when someone like Harry Shearer would have to do a scene of dialogue as two different characters (Burns and Smithers) talking back and forth.

 

[Matt Giggey]

Hmmmm, guess that idea just got shot to hell.

In DVDReview's original announcement for Season One, when they mentioned extras, they said something along the lines of:

"One extra Fox said wouldn't be included is footage of the actors recording the voices, effectively 'bursting the bubble'."

Even though they said it wouldn't be included, they could always end up changing their minds over the next 25 years it will take to get the rest of the show out.

 

[TedT]

Yes, virtually all animation cels on the market are stolen. There are exceptions. I know there are several dealers that buy them in bulk from various studios. Some shows like "The Simpsons" DO NOT sell sells to the outside market, so this is the only way to get them. Considering they go to a LANDFILL after they're shot, I don't have too many qualms about picking up cels.

Most of the info regarding Simpsons cels here is completely FALSE! Sorry, I just had to sign up to HTF to say so! Not even TWO WEEKS ago, I bought TWO Simpsons cels AND had Matt Groening sign them. He has NO PROBLEM signing cels as long as they're official. Official cels had a "20th Century Fox" stamp on them.

I believe it was only the cels for the first 3 Seasons that were stolen. For the latter seasons, the ones that are "sellable" (meaning those that look good), are sold to authorized 20th Century Fox dealers (i.e. animation cel resellers & studios, etc...).

At the Comic-Con in San Diego 2 weeks ago, there were HUNDREDS of Simpsons cels available. In fact there was a whole set up with a replica of "Moe's Bar". Cels ranged in price from $420 to $1000.

Matt Groening told me personally and mentioned at the Futurama panel that Simpsons cels WILL be rare very soon. As of now, they are just about the ONLY show that uses cels. Starting with episode 300, the Simpsons will be done on computer.

Just clearing up some info...

 

[Craig_T]

Starting with episode 300, the Simpsons will be done on computer.

Wow, I didn't realize this. I remember them mentioning in one of the commentaries that it's becoming difficult to find traditional animators because everyone's getting into computer anaimation instead. I wonder how different the show will look?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Cel painting is expensive and Kodak has recently stopped making the sheets (they're the only ones)
The entire industry is moving away from them, simply because computer painting makes the combination of elements, alteration etc etc 1000 times easier.
I'll miss cels tho :frowning:
Yes, there are official cels released for sale, but they are few and far between. I would imagine that most of the Simpsons cels on the market were at San Diego

 

[JasonK]

I love listening to all the commentaries. I've also been a huge fan since the Xmas episode, and like hearing all the anecdotes, no matter what they're about.

I'd love to listen to Conan talk about 2 episodes he wrote, the 'Marge vs the Monorail' episode, and the one where Homer goes back to college and hates the Dean (for no reason).

I do have one question, though. Does anybody know why John Swartzwelder hasn't done any commentaries? He's written the most episodes of any writer, and he gets alluded to in other commentaries from other writers. Perhaps he just doesn't want to do them.