-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Friendly reminder: The Simpsons Marathon is airing right now on FXX, all 552 episodes
- Thread starter NoctisVsStar
- Start date
- Status
redmetal86
Member
Lol Fruit Bat Man.
UberTag
Member
Here is how you need to approach the chronology of the show as we proceed forward into Season 26 and beyond.
Treat Springfield and the immediate surrounding area as a self-contained bubble where the "present" is concerned. Bart will always be 10, Lisa will always be 8, Homer & Marge will be whatever age they deem is pertinent for the episode at hand.
Everyone within the bubble remains the same age yet the world outside of the bubble continues to proceed as normal. Popular trends change. The Internet was conceived. Different presidents (Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama) all take office.
Mike Scioscia doesn't live within the bubble which is why he aged normally between Homer at the Bat in Season 3...
And MoneyBART in Season 22...
Their respective histories and futures will always course correct based on what the "present" year is currently perceived to be. There will be similarities and variations and a ton of chronological inconsistencies but for the people living within the "present" Springfield bubble will remain blissfully unaware of any changes that occur except for those that take place "within the bubble" such as Maude and Edna dying, etc. If someone dies "within the bubble" who wasn't meant to die - like a Fat Tony, Snowball II or Homer in Days of Future Future - events will course correct to designate a replacement.
As of right now, Lisa will believe she was born in the year 2006. Next year it will be 2007. Eight years from now it will be this year. Because she remains trapped within the temporal bubble. The only instance when time flows properly for the Simpsons and they actually age normally is when they travel outside of it - to Australia, Brazil (twice), Canada (umpteen times), Alaska (during the movie), etc.
Crazy events occur during these episodes because this bubble requires the Simpson family to live within it or it will break down and degrade. The Simpsons are either compelled to move back to Springfield or Springfield will move to where they are (as it did in At Long Last Leave).
And that is why Abe being younger in a flashback set in 1998 makes perfect sense.
UberTag
Member
Final batch of episode recommendations for this marathon - Season 25...
1:30pm Treehouse of Horror XXIV - Watch it for the Guillermo del Toro-directed opening and the Cat in the Hat spoof; ignore the rest.
5:00pm Steal This Episode - Selman ep #1; written by J. Stewart Burns of Holidays of Future Passed fame; Homer discovers how to download movies online and gets arrested by the FBI after screening them in his neighborhood.
8:00pm The War of Art - Selman ep #2; written by Rob LaZebnik; the family sailboat painting gets destroyed and replaced with a painting from the Van Houten yard sale - which is worth a fortune.
10:30pm Brick Like Me - Selman ep #3; written by Brian Kelley; Homer wakes up in a LEGO version of Springfield where "everything is awesome".
11:00pm Pay Pal - This ep from freelance writer David H. Steinberg has pacing issues but boasts rare conflict when Lisa discovers that Marge had paid a girl to pretend to be her friend.
1:30pm Treehouse of Horror XXIV - Watch it for the Guillermo del Toro-directed opening and the Cat in the Hat spoof; ignore the rest.
5:00pm Steal This Episode - Selman ep #1; written by J. Stewart Burns of Holidays of Future Passed fame; Homer discovers how to download movies online and gets arrested by the FBI after screening them in his neighborhood.
8:00pm The War of Art - Selman ep #2; written by Rob LaZebnik; the family sailboat painting gets destroyed and replaced with a painting from the Van Houten yard sale - which is worth a fortune.
10:30pm Brick Like Me - Selman ep #3; written by Brian Kelley; Homer wakes up in a LEGO version of Springfield where "everything is awesome".
11:00pm Pay Pal - This ep from freelance writer David H. Steinberg has pacing issues but boasts rare conflict when Lisa discovers that Marge had paid a girl to pretend to be her friend.
Season 25 starts next. Meaning the end of the marathon is nigh.
Hmm, that's one way to look at it. With the bubble constantly fluctuating to match the times.
That plotline bothered me. It just stopped when there could have been at least one more scene.
Hmm, that's one way to look at it. With the bubble constantly fluctuating to match the times.
That plotline bothered me. It just stopped when there could have been at least one more scene.
lazybones18
Banned
Season 25 has arrived. It's almost over
UberTag
Member
There are still some loopholes in that theory.
The most notable of which being how Apu's kids and especially Ling have aged - not quite in real-time but certainly more dramatically than everyone surrounding them.
Well you yourself said that characters that arent from the bubble age, so Ling could make sense because she was born elsewhere.
lazybones18
Banned
Be sure to watch the 2pm chalkboard gag
UberTag
Member
It's just a Hobbit-themed opening. Wasn't that impressed by it.
My logic was that they age when "outside of the bubble" - not within it. Otherwise, immigrants like Groundskeeper Willie would also be aging.
Avon Barksdale
Member
I wonder if Bart gets a new teacher next season...
lazybones18
Banned
I made a mistake. I'm thinking of the chalkboard gag.
Dominican Power
Member
Wtf
megarockexe
Member
A November episode, I think.
Dominican Power
Member
Did they air the episode where Edna dies?
It airs at 7PM ET.
UberTag
Member
Technically, Bart will be getting several new teachers this next season. That's going to be the new "plug a guest star" for an easy storyline role.
Willem Dafoe will be voicing one of Bart's teachers in an episode that airs in November.
lazybones18
Banned
We'll really miss you Mrs. K ;_;
Nintendoga
Member
Man I forgot all about that ;_;
Sapiens
Member
lazybones18
Banned
That was one kiss of death 
terrisus
Member
Is that confirmed
UberTag
Member
Dominican Power
Member
These couch gags are ridiculous. And when do hell did Lisa started being such a loner?
lazybones18
Banned
that was a pretty neat intro
UberTag
Member
lazybones18
Banned
Guinness World Record achieved
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
What record?
lazybones18
Banned
Longest uninterrupted marathon of a TV franchise or something
Willem Dafoe playing a psychopath.
...how original.
UberTag
Member
Yeah, it's a real stretch for him.
lazybones18
Banned
Previous record holder: NCIS
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com...est-uninterrupted-transmission-of-a-tv-series
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com...est-uninterrupted-transmission-of-a-tv-series
Well to be fair those episodes are 1 hour long.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
I'm surprised there's never been a Star Trek marathon.
Edit: Never mind. A 24 hour a day Star Trek Marathon would take a full 31 days counting the Animated Series and films.
Edit: Never mind. A 24 hour a day Star Trek Marathon would take a full 31 days counting the Animated Series and films.
UberTag
Member
Correcting past episode's mistakes by citing them in subsequent chalkboard gags is a long-standing Simpsons tradition.
Incidentally, I hope you guys are watching Steal This Episode right now.
terrisus
Member
Oh, this is that episode.
lazybones18
Banned
Was it really the Best Day Ever?
- Status