The Simpsons (partially found deleted scenes of Fox animated sitcom; 1989-present)
The show's title card.
Status: Partially Found
The Simpsons is an American animated television series that premiered on Fox on December 17th, 1989, after becoming just animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. The show follows Homer Simpson, his family and a wide variety of characters in Springfield through all sorts of quirky antics. The show was a massive success since it premiered and continues to air new episodes to this day and has evolved into a pop culture phenomenon for the then-struggling network. However, several scenes and snippets have been cut or trimmed out of episodes and these scenes have become lost over time.
Deleted Scenes
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
Status: Partially Found
In the promo for the episode, two scenes shown off in the promo are nowhere to be found in the aired episode. Those being of Maggie feeding Santa's Little Helper a steak and a brief shot of Homer shouting Bart. The latter of which can be heard but not seen in the episode.
The Crepes of Wrath
Status: Partially Found
Two scenes where Bart woos at some French dancers and eating French chocolates weren't in the aired episode but they were featured in a promo for the episode.
Bart vs. Thanksgiving
Status: Lost
The scene where Bart donates blood to raise money was meant to be longer and shows the interior with Bart having his blood taken. Only one storyboard panel exists of this scene.[1]
Panel from the longer blood donor scene.
Colonel Homer
Status: Partially Found
The scene where Bart and Lisa argue over Homer knowing more than one woman before Lurleen's performance of "Bagged Me a Homer" was absent from the aired episode. A snippet of this scene was included in a promo for the episode which was included in the DVD Boxset for season 3. The rest of the scene has yet to resurface.
Marge Gets a Job
Status: Partially Lost
In the initial airing of this episode, Mrs. Krabappel lists Tourette's syndrome as one of the ailments Bart faked having to avoid doing his English test, to which Bart responds by barking, snarling, and muttering "Shove it, witch!" in an attempt to prove he still has it. This gag drew complaints from many viewers who felt that it was insensitive for the writers of the show to mock an actual condition, with a 13-year-old boy from Renton, Washington named Joshua Smith who suffers from Tourette's syndrome demanding that Fox "not repeat the episode and have Bart Simpson befriend somebody with Tourette's on the show and include an apology from Bart at the end" or he would seek legal action.[2] In response, Simpsons executive producer Mike Reiss apologized for the jokes, saying that "We kind of feel like we made a mistake this time. We felt bad about this." Additionally, the controversial line would be overdubbed in all future broadcasts and home media releases to replace the mention of Tourette's with Rabies (with Bart's reaction remaining the same), though the original audio can be found online.
Additionally, several seconds of animation from Smithers' dream sequence that featured "Mr. Burns land[ing] in a particular position on Smithers anatomy" was cut due to demands from Fox censors. To date, this footage hasn't surfaced.
Mother Simpson
Status: Found
In two scenes that weren't in the final episode, Termites are visible between the top floor, ground floor and basement and Homer is eating chocolate and space food sticks and he is talking to Mona Simpson about him working at the nuclear power plant.
Termites in the top floor.
Termites in the basement.
Team Homer
Status: Found
In one scene from this episode, Homer complains that, due to Mr. Burns' poor bowling ability, the Pin Pals will lose the championship, meaning that the trophy case he had built was for nothing, with the scene then cutting to a trophy case containing a stolen Academy Award.
In the initial airing of the episode, the name inscribed on the Award was Cambodian American actor Haing S. Ngor, who had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1984 drama film The Killing Fields. However, shortly after the episode's initial broadcast on January 7th, 1996, Ngor would be murdered in a robbery outside his Los Angeles home, with Simpsons producers subsequently demanding that the gag be changed due to the unintended implication that Homer had murdered Haing to steal his award. As a result, in the version of the episode shown in reruns and on the Season 7 DVD, the name inscribed on the Award was changed to Don Ameche, an American actor who had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work on the 1985 sci-fi film Cocoon. Both versions of the gag can easily be found online.
22 Short Films About Springfield
Status: Partially Found
A promo for this episode features a cut scene involving Krusty the Klown and Ralph Wiggum sat next to each other on an airplane, with Krusty clearly being uncomfortable at Ralph's presence. This scene was apparently cut for time very late in to production, and to date, this is the only footage from this scene to have surfaced. Another cel featuring Patty and Selma was posted by Josh Weinstein on his Twitter on April 23rd, 2023.
Animation cel from the scene.
Another animation cel.
Script of the scene (1/3).
Script of the scene (2/3).
Script of the scene (3/3).
Treehouse of Horror XVII
Status: Lost
At the end of the "The Day The Earth Looked Stupid" segment, Kang initially had a line where he remarks "This sure is a lot like Iraq will be" as he and Kodos look over the ruins of 1938 Springfield, an obvious reference to the Iraq War that was taking place at the time of the episode's production. While numerous other lines alluding to the war within the segment were maintained, this specific line was cut due to several writers deeming it "too obvious."[3] The deleted line would never be included in any home media releases of the series, though it was maintained in the cut of the episode sent to television critics. An edit of the episode featuring the cut line would later be leaked online, but no copies of this leaked version have currently been found, leaving the line lost.
Treehouse of Horror XXVII
Status: Partially Found
Scenes including Russ Cargill and Frank Grimes becoming a large ghost was cut due to time constraints according to showrunner Al Jean on Twitter.[4] According to the comment section of the tweet, the scenes were on YouTube for a short time but have since been taken down by Fox. A promo featuring snippets from both deleted scenes had resurfaced. Both scenes in their full form have yet to resurface.
Homer Is Where the Art Isn't
Status: Found
The scene where Sideshow Mel and a crowd are chanting for a female Doctor Who was swapped during production with a protest about too many Pokey restaurants, due to the announcement that Jodie Whittaker was going to be the first female Doctor.[5] The scene in storyboard form can be found online.
See Also
- Al-Shamshoon (partially lost Arabic adaptation of "The Simpsons" Fox animated sitcom; 2005)
- Currys (partially found "The Simpsons" Sky One sponsorships ads from British electronics retailer; 2009-2010)
- Fox Kids "Bartcasting" (partially found "The Simpsons" promo on children's program block; 1996)
- Season Six Alternative Packaging Program (lost audio from phone number based on "The Simpsons" animated TV sitcom; 2005-2011)
- The Simpsons (partially found scripts for unproduced episodes of Fox animated sitcom; 1990s)
- The Simpsons Movie (partially found alternate versions and deleted scenes of animated comedy film; 2007)
- The Simpsons "Some Enchanted Evening" (partially found original pilot of Fox animated sitcom; 1989-1990)
External Links
References
- ↑ SimpsonsArt's tweet on the storyboard panel of the "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" deleted scene. Retrieved 02 Jan '22
- ↑ Tourette's Isn't Funny, Bart Simpson -- Renton Boy Seeks Network Apology Retrieved 25 Jul '22
- ↑ Simpsons Halloween 'Horror' Could Hit GOP. Retrieved 08 Jan '23
- ↑ Al Jean's reply tweet on why the Russ Cargill and Frank Grimes scenes were cut. Retrieved 02 Jan '22
- ↑ bbcdoctorwho's tweet announcing Jodie Whittaker as the first female Doctor. Retrieved 02 Jan '22