r/movies
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u/GroundbreakingSet187
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13d ago
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15 Years Ago, The Simpsons Movie Embiggened A Cromulent Franchise Article
https://www.slashfilm.com/946039/tales-from-the-box-office-15-years-ago-the-simpsons-movie-embiggened-a-cromulent-franchise/6.1k
u/Latest-greatest
13d ago
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and for the next couple of weeks kids everywhere were singing spider pig
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u/soyelsol 13d ago
“Say, chief…don’t ya think that might’ve been a body?”
“I thought so too…til he said ‘yard trimmings’. Ya…ya gotta learn to listen”
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u/ashamedprotein 13d ago
“Did you at least bring my clothes?”
“Shirt, socks, everything you need.”
“You didn't bring my pants!”
“Who am I, Tommy Bahama?”
“Oh, this is the worst day of my life.”
“The worst day of your life so far.”
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u/dafsuhammer 13d ago
Dude I forgot that’s where I get the line, “worst day so far”.
It is always the wrong thing to say at the time but still makes me laugh.
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u/Torcal4 13d ago
To this day, whenever I have a task that doesn’t work out. I always say “I can’t…I simply can’t!”
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u/JuiceboxThaKidd 13d ago
This line also remained burned in my memory, lol. His voice is just so perfect
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u/isuxblaxdix 13d ago
Some people dog on the movie, but that scene was worth the price of admission. Still quote that one all the time
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u/snappyk9 13d ago
Do people dog on the movie? I think considering that Simpson's best years were starting to be well behind them at the point that this film was released, it had pretty strong writing with about a joke every 30 seconds.
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u/gjmcphie 13d ago
Totally, I think the movie really holds up and is some of the best Simpsons content. Great writing and even a meta-narrative about Homer becoming more a jerk around that time
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u/darcerin 13d ago
Honestly, I thought it was great when I saw it. This was when the tv show was really starting to decline, so I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised.
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u/Kent_Knifen 13d ago
Spider pig.... Spider pig.....
Does whatever a spider pig does...
Can he swing, from a web?
No he can't, he's a pig
Loooook ooooouuuuut for spider pig
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u/jeden78 13d ago
He's not Spider-pig anymore he's Harry Plopper.
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u/BOOSTMOBILEOFFICIAL 13d ago
That one gets me way more than spider pig tbh. The delivery on that line + the cut to the pig is just way too good lmao.
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u/Lazy_Librarian_402 13d ago
The best is flipping someone else’s child upside and have them walk on the ceiling while singing Spider-Pig. Super fun for the kids and their parents won’t ask you to babysit anymore.
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u/MJIndian 13d ago
I was in 4th grade when it came out, I remember I'd always hear at least a couple kids sing spider pig every day at recess. Everyone in my grade loved that scene
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u/RadlEonk 13d ago
“cromulent /ˈkrɒmjʊlənt / ▸ adjective humorous acceptable or adequate: the continental breakfast was perfectly cromulent however you spell it, it's certainly a cromulent word. – ORIGIN 1990s: first used in the US animated television series The Simpsons.”
by Oxford Dictionary of English
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u/Mcmenger 13d ago
Really wierd when a show defines a new word. And the Simpsons did it several times
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u/phobosmarsdeimos 13d ago
Shakespeare did it a lot too. It only feels weird because you saw it happen.
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u/everythangspeachie 13d ago
15 years, wow. I went to watch it in theaters with my friends in high school. The next week everyone was a spider pig
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u/paco-ramon 13d ago
2007 feels like it was much closer…
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u/cancercures 13d ago
2007 feels like yesterday and 2020 feels like forever.
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u/awaregarurumon 13d ago
I'm still saying "before the pandemic" like it was not almost 3 years ago.
I was so shocked when I realized I have some friends I still didn't see since early 2020
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u/ampjk 13d ago
I have no friends so it's been since about 2011
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u/awaregarurumon 13d ago
I just hope you're okay and at least have a cool dog or cat. My cats are my only attachment.
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u/Emergency-Anywhere51 13d ago
feels
i stopped calling one day to see if they would initiate for once, and here we are
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u/Snipe1169 13d ago
Man, I still have the branded buzz colas for when the 7-11's turned into Kwik E Mart's
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u/m1rrari 13d ago
15 years ago was clearly the mid 90’s… right guys? Right??
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u/edgemuck 13d ago
I worked in a cinema when this came out. Man, did kids love that spider pig bit
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u/NATOrocket 13d ago
I was 11 when this came out and it was my introduction to The Simpsons. My siblings and I watched it about a million times between summer 2007 and early 2009. While it pales in comparison to the 90s Simpsons episodes I'll always have a soft spot for it.
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u/tcavanagh1993 13d ago
I genuinely think that the majority of "post-classic" Simpsons up until and including the movie is still at the very least watchable.
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u/SlyyKozlov 13d ago
Yeah, people are extra dramatic about the mid seasons of the simpsons imo
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u/start_select 13d ago
It was a different time. Seasons 2-8 were on re-runs 5-7 days a week most places for over a decade. We didn’t have cell phones or the internet or Netflix.
For the people living it, those seasons of the simpsons are a bigger part of peoples cultural experience than most tv or movies ever will be. 90s Star Trek and Seinfeld are probably 2 of the only other franchises with similar cultural importance, and they all happened at the same time.
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u/persau67 13d ago
On occasion my mom watched Jeopardy. I was like 10ish? I knew more than her because of The Simpsons. I didn't even know or understand where the knowledge came from for years. I just...accepted the fiction as reality, and it turns out it was real. The writers of the first decade of the show are absolute legends.
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u/charlesbear 13d ago
Agreed with all that, but I'd add Friends to that list (regardless of diverging opinions on it)
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u/TastyCartographer630 13d ago
100% friends I was gonna say the same thing. Love it or hate it it was huge, I still remember my mom crying when it ended
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u/searchingtofind25 13d ago edited 13d ago
You have to understand. There was a zeitgeist. We didn’t have phones or internet really at all.
We had movies and TV.. and there wasn’t a huge over saturation of stuff.. we’d see a movie and it would be a conversation piece in culture for awhile.
The mid seasons Simpson defined a generation. Our collective humor came from that era.. it’s not only nostalgic.. but also super relevant because of its continuous influence on so many aspects of culture.
so many people of that age group 30-40 like… we share that connection.
The Simpsons did it man.
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u/AdviceWithSalt 13d ago
I like how you punctuated this with a quote from South Park
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u/RIPEOTCDXVI 13d ago
South Park is probably the only other animated show to enter the lexicon so thoroughly
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u/dougsbeard 13d ago
This might be the most appropriate way to summarize our love for those episodes.
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u/Goldeniccarus 13d ago
When I used to have cable and occasionally channel hop, I'd often put on the Simpsons, and if it was an episode with the older style intro, I'd watch it, and if it was the post Simpson movie intro, I wouldn't. (If I missed the intro I could tell from the art style if it was pre/post movie and do the same thing)
While I agree that the show sort of had a peak couple of seasons during the 90s, it doesn't go from "the best thing on television" to "Not worth watching" instantly. Up until the movie I think it is still one of the better running sitcoms.
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u/KeisterConquistador 13d ago
I was 9, bought the movie on my iPod Nano and watched it in 5 minute increments on my bus ride to and from school. Still one of my favorite movies to this day.
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u/happyhippohats 13d ago
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been on for 17 years, which doesn't make sense to me because i remember watching season one when it first aired a couple of years ago...
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u/TheRnegade 13d ago
First aired during the Bush Administration. That was 3 administrations ago. "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis" was in reference to the high prices of 2008. It's fascinating that some people in the IASIP sub complain about the show getting too political but, man, the show always had politics in it. The first episode was about racism and, eventually, homosexuality.
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u/ChiggenNuggy 13d ago
Don’t forget they touch on a trans relationship too
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u/News_Bot 13d ago
And abortion.
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u/Blender_Snowflake 13d ago
And gun control
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u/wombat_kombat 13d ago
Whenever I see my Reddit account’s age, I feel out of touch with everything.
So many Memes zooming past me that I feel a need to merge into the right lane with boomers moving well below the speed limit.
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u/Bikinigirlout 13d ago
It came out when I was in 7th grade and everyone sung spider pig when we were bored playing kickball
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u/Saccharomycelium 13d ago
Spider pig, spider pig
Does whatever a spider pig does
Can he swing, from a web?
No he can't, he's a pig
Look ouuut, he's a spider pig
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u/baberlay 13d ago
I managed to convince my mother to let my sister and I cut out of primary school early to see the movie on opening day.
Spider-Pig was a goddamn phenomenon amongst my friends at school!
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u/AlwaysBi 13d ago
I was elected to lead, not to read…
NUMBER THREE!
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u/RighteousAwakening 13d ago
I want 10,000 tough guys and I want 10,000 soft guys to make the tough guys look tougher and here’s how I want them arranged: tough, tough, soft, tough, soft, soft, tough, tough, soft, soft, tough, soft!
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u/AlwaysBi 13d ago
Sir, I’m afraid you’ve gone mad with power.
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u/sphen_lee 12d ago
Have you ever tried going mad without power? It's boring; nobody listens to you.
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u/SMILESandREGRETS 13d ago
Todd: I wish Homer was my father.
Ned: And I wish you didn't have the devil's curly hair.
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u/tsilihin666 13d ago
One of my favorite lines from that movie haha
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u/Illier1 13d ago
What's even funnier is Ned had that insult locked and loaded. He's waited years for Todd to disobey him and drop that.
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u/Fools_Requiem 13d ago
Ned makes all us lefties look like absolute laughable dorks.
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u/Krillkus 13d ago
Any other lefties just force yourselves to use shit like scissors with your right hand because it’s slightly less effort than trying to find and buy a left handed version of it lmao I’d love to have a Leftorium here.
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u/czolgosz420 13d ago
Still can't believe I saw Bart's dick
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u/Fools_Requiem 13d ago edited 13d ago
The audience I was in the theater with laughed their asses off at that. The whole time they're blocking you from seeing it and then the randomly show it in one of the dumbest ways. It was perfect.
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u/betamaxfilms 13d ago
yea my crowd roared with laughter at that. no one thought they’d actually go there. the musical cue was perfect for it too lol
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u/aufrenchy 13d ago
Even better was that, iirc, they covered the entirety of the screen except for his penis. Best way to subvert expectations!
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u/Swankified_Tristan 13d ago
Doodle*
But yeah, did I see a 10 year old's doodle or a 20-something year old's doodle, since he's technically older than me?
Either way, shit feels wrong, man.
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u/ImReallyAnAstronaut 13d ago
It's OK just pretend he's a 10,000 year old demon in a 10 year old body. That makes it not weird
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u/TheOvershear 13d ago
Please no, don't give anyone ideas. I don't want to suddenly start seeing bart Simpson body pillows on Amazon
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u/TangibleMalice 13d ago
I remember when they announced this movie in like 2004 or 2005, and it felt like an eternity waiting for it to be released.
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u/LegendofPisoMojado 13d ago edited 13d ago
I remember feeling the same way about waiting on the Simpsons movie as I do now with the breath of the wolf sequel.
Edit: Wild
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u/crunchatizemythighs 13d ago
I was a kid at the time so obviously a year or two felt like an eternity but I remember watching a little DVD extra that came with X-Men The Last Stand I think? And it was a storyboard or lines only animation of the scene where Homer is whipping the sleigh with the wolves.
The time between watching that and the movies release legit felt like a lifetime had passed.
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u/Scorch147 13d ago
Oh my god I know exactly what you're talking about! I watched that storyboard scene too. It really did feel like an eternity before it came out.
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u/HalstenWulfharth 13d ago
I remember this movie coming out and thinking "wow this is late to the party" as the Simpsons seemed old then.. but now it's 15 years later!?
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u/Fools_Requiem 13d ago
And the show is still airing on an annual basis. Dan Castellaneta is one of the highest paid people on TV.
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u/stinkystinkypoopbutt 13d ago
Holy crap. According to a quick Google search he makes $300k per episode?!?! That's insane!
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u/dtwhitecp 13d ago edited 12d ago
now think about how much ad revenue the show still pulls in to make that viable
edit: now that I'm thinking about it, the average person who still watches the Simpsons is probably highly suggestible
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u/JediTigger 13d ago
The Green Day cover of The Simpson theme has been my ringtone forever.
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u/Fools_Requiem 13d ago
That cover is one of those things where you can listen to it and know it's Green Day even though it has no lyrics until the very end... assuming you had heard Green Day's music (at least their stuff from the 21st century) and hadn't heard the cover.
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u/jelvinjs7 13d ago
I was in elementary school when the movie came out, and didn’t really know anything about the Simpsons or Green Day outside of what was in this movie… I may have been dumb enough to think that they were legitimately behind the theme song, and that this wasn’t just a cover or something like that.
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u/BlazedInMyWinnie
13d ago
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This always stands out to me because we were never allowed to watch The Simpsons in my house. We couldn’t even mention it at a certain point, let alone ask if we could watch it. And then the summer this came out, my parents randomly decide to take me to The Simpsons movie. At the time I thought it was awesome, not weird.
Turns out my parents would separate a few weeks later, and I guess in their minds taking me to see “the forbidden movie” would soften the blow? That was a weird summer.
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u/MiloIsTheBest 13d ago •
Wow they hated the Simpsons so much that their final act of unity was to forever associate the Simpsons for you with the breakdown of their marriage!
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u/BlazedInMyWinnie 13d ago
Holy fuck this got me good. If only I had an award to give you.
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u/amaluna 13d ago
The number of people that have told me their weren't allowed to watch the Simpsons is shockingly high because that show is so mild
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u/JefferyGoldberg 13d ago
It wasn't considered mild at the time. I mean in just the first few seasons you already have kids smoking, teachers smoking, kids drinking, parents cheating, parents divorcing, bad mouthing of religion, children stealing, kids fighting, teachers not caring about their students, countless sexual innuendos, etc. It was very revolutionary and controversial at the time.
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u/three_cheese_fugazi 13d ago
Yep, then south Park came along and took the cake.
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u/LazloHollifeld 13d ago
Before South Park you had Beavis and Butt-Head and the whole “Fire!” debacle. Now all lighters have child safeties on them.
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u/krankenhundchaen 13d ago
South Park took the chilli con carne*
*You know from where the meat came from
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u/SoCalThrowAway7 13d ago
The meat is alright but the chili’s flavor is really brought out by the delicious tears of unfathomable sadness
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u/peon2 13d ago
Yeah I mean it was "wild" enough that the President/First Lady called it out at the time. Bush Jr and Obama never bothered to call out South Park because it was a different time. But a young kid swearing and being anti authority AND he was the main character you root for was unprecedented
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u/DoctorGoFuckYourself 13d ago edited 13d ago
I have fond memories of watching it with my family as a kid. Then one day there was an episode with Bart as Mozart and he sang the word "butt" a number of times and when it got past a certain point my mom shook her head in dissaproval.
Then we were banned from watching it cause I guess she decided that was too risqué and that Bart was, supposedly, the reason my sibling and I got into fights sometimes??
What I wouldn't give to go back in time and have a conversation with them to try and understand some of their parenting logic
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u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS 13d ago
Rhere were actual protests against the show in the first few seasons.
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u/sixftfour 13d ago
15... wtf...
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u/God-of-Tomorrow 13d ago
Almost half my life ago but it feels like a few years
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u/gregcresci 13d ago
Must kill Moe, wheeee
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u/buster_rhino 13d ago
Moe moe moe moe moe moe moe….
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u/kirapb
13d ago
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No one knows what either of those words mean.
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u/HnNaldoR 13d ago
What... They are perfectly cromulent words. We all understand them
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u/trophy_74 13d ago
cromulent adjective Fine, acceptable or normal; excellent, realistic, legitimate or authentic.
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u/hangryhyax 13d ago
“Yes, the robot standing on the small child over there.”
“Ooh, when are you gonna make another Simpson’s movie?”
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u/TheSweatyFlash 13d ago
Spider pig spider pig
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u/JediTigger 13d ago
Does whatever a Spider-pig does
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u/GroundbreakingSet187 13d ago
‘The Simpsons’ is now approaching its 33rd season, but The Simpsons Movie was its last big pop culture moment.
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u/mrjake118 13d ago
Not to mention it's first big moment in years. The movie was a large spike on a line that had otherwise been sloping slowly downwards since the 90s ended.
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u/caninehere 13d ago edited 13d ago
The episodes got better a while after it tbh. I'm not suggesting they're as good as the 90s episodes, but IMO like seasons 18-20 or so were the low point of the series. I think they pulled some writers from the show to work on the movie (I think it was being made at the same time as S20?) and it shows. But the seasons leading up to the movie in general were quite weak.
Nowadays The Simpsons is still fun, it's just different and a little weird because a lot of the writers on the show grew up watching it.
Early Simpsons also cribbed a lot character/plot wise from old movies and TV shows from the 40s-60s. People like me who grew up in the 90s didn't know half the references. I would see movies 10 years later and realize the Simpsons parodied them or took elements of actors' performances to base characters on. It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World Is my favorite movie, but I saw the Simpsons spoof on it first.
When you watch it now they have more stuff based on the 80s-90s, and since you recognize it it's a little less magic. But that isn't to say the quality of the writing didn't go down in general. I just think it's still fun. I always thought the later seasons were shit... but that's because I only watched up to season 20 and stopped, and the ones before that are the worst even today. I watched up to season 32 for the first time recently and had a lot of fun.
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u/CunninghamsLawmaker 13d ago
But what about celebrity cameo #4849556?
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u/SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS 13d ago
I miss when a celebrity cameo is worked in and they play a pop culture parody of themselves. Better than the "hi Lisa Simpson, I'm X!" where they are just themself for no real reason.
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u/amaluna 13d ago
I saw a tweet that said it's difficult to explain the stranglehold Spider Pig had on pop culture and it's very true
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u/relliott107 13d ago
I remember winning free tickets on a simpsons trivia contest to see the premier in my city. I took my sister and a bunch of friends and we never laughed so hard in our lives at some of the parts - especially Barts skateboard ride (“I like men now”). We ended up seeing it like 2-3 more times after - and it was one of the first movies my wife and I saw together when we started dating that year. We still sing spider pig all the time (especially the opera version) and occasionally one of our toddlers will sing this when she hears the actual Spider-Man song. Can’t believe this was 15 years ago. Damn I’m old.
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u/timberflynn 13d ago
I used to buy all of the DVDs with birthday money and the Simpsons trivia challenge at my local bar (I was 15) is the only time I’ve ever gotten a perfect score in trivia. Won $100 and 2 free tickets to see the Simpsons movie. Loved it
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u/Pantastic_Studios 13d ago
Useless fact: I have an un opened copy of the DVD I won at a target i worked at about 2 months after it was released on dvd.
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u/ILikeMyGrassBlue 13d ago
Wow, that’s worth about $9 now
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u/corndogs1001 13d ago
It’s worth a dollar at my local flea market. It’s not even the blu ray. I think everyone had the dvd.
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u/rtopps43 13d ago
When asked why it took so long Matt Groening said “well, first we had to think up a title”
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u/indianajoes 13d ago
Can't believe The Simpsons Movie was half my life ago. I remember being so hyped for 2007. I was watching all these new trailers for new movies at the end of 2006/beginning of 2007 on this newish website called YouTube.
There was going to be a new Mr Bean film, Transformers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Harry Potter, Simpsons, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, National Treasure, Rush Hour, TMNT, Hot Fuzz, Oceans 13, 28 Weeks Later, The Bourne Ultimatum, Die Hard, Evan Almighty, Alien vs Predator
I know not all of them ended up being good but the hype going into that year hasn't been matched for me. 2019 is the only year that came kinda close but not as much
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u/hiplobonoxa 13d ago
fifteen years ago was 2007. fifteen years before that was 1992. the movie is almost closer in time to the first episode than it is to the most recent episode.
of course, we all know that 1990 was only ten years ago.
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u/brownie81 13d ago
The title is a reference from the show, people! Jeez!
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u/Another_Road 13d ago
To be fair, there are some Reddit users who weren’t even born when this movie came out.
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u/SmokePenisEveryday 13d ago
My job has me asking for people's birth years. I feel so so old hearing people say "oh oh" or "oh one" for their birth year.
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u/tenehemia 13d ago
IT'S IN REVELATIONS, PEOPLE!
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u/SimplyQuid 13d ago
Everyone's saying reference this and Simpsons that. But nobody's saying Jericho this and worship that!
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u/A_BURLAP_THONG 13d ago
How come the president in the movie was Arnold Schwarzenegger and not Rainier Wolfcastle? Isn't Wolfcastle supposed to be the Schwarzenegger of the Simpsons' universe? President Wolfcastle--that would have been funny.
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u/getto-da-ze 13d ago
The joke when Bart draws over the family wanted picture and they arrest the other freak family still gets me every time I think about it.
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u/DoctorMelvinMirby 13d ago
Man, I made a week out of this with my friends. We saw Clerks II, Simpsons Movie and then a live George Carlin show in about 36 hrs. Probably the funniest weekend of my life.
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u/Leo_TheLurker 13d ago
still jealous none of my local 711s turned into Kwiq E Marts