10 PRINT "THE SIMPSONS"
February 2, 2015 4:37 PM Subscribe
Last night's Simpsons intro in all its pixelated 8-bit chiptune glory was a sight to behold and not to be missed
Pretentious Dong will be the name of my new 8-bit band.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:44 PM on February 2, 2015 [17 favorites]
posted by ZenMasterThis at 4:44 PM on February 2, 2015 [17 favorites]
Are you sure that's what this is, Matt? It bills itself as a tribute to The Simpsons, and the show wasn't even on last night.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:46 PM on February 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 4:46 PM on February 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Has The Simpsons finally jumped the shark and bounced off its head, destroying it to earn 500 points?
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:52 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:52 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
(That joke would have been better if this clip was from 15 years ago)
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:52 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by turbid dahlia at 4:52 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Are you sure that's what this is, Matt? It bills itself as a tribute to The Simpsons, and the show wasn't even on last night.
Oh, I saw everyone talking about it on Twitter like it debuted with a new episode, my bad.
posted by mathowie at 4:54 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh, I saw everyone talking about it on Twitter like it debuted with a new episode, my bad.
posted by mathowie at 4:54 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Remember when The Simpsons used to be good?
Now that's out of the way, I liked this.
posted by adept256 at 4:55 PM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Now that's out of the way, I liked this.
posted by adept256 at 4:55 PM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Are you sure that's what this is, Matt? It bills itself as a tribute to The Simpsons, and the show wasn't even on last night.
Plus, if it were from the show, the credits at the end would be for the usual showrunners, not the guys who made this video.
Nicely done, though!
posted by Shmuel510 at 4:55 PM on February 2, 2015
Plus, if it were from the show, the credits at the end would be for the usual showrunners, not the guys who made this video.
Nicely done, though!
posted by Shmuel510 at 4:55 PM on February 2, 2015
Sounds like they're going more for FM synthesis rather than NES-style wavetable music. The fast arpeggios are a chiptune staple, though.
The whole thing was pretty meh (not 'worst 8-bit styled animation ever', we said, 'meh') until the couch gag at about 1:00. That was pretty neat.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:56 PM on February 2, 2015
The whole thing was pretty meh (not 'worst 8-bit styled animation ever', we said, 'meh') until the couch gag at about 1:00. That was pretty neat.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:56 PM on February 2, 2015
Color me skeptical too. Matt Groening said in an appearance on The Animators a couple of years ago that he would never use an 8-bit intro.
posted by Flashman at 4:57 PM on February 2, 2015
posted by Flashman at 4:57 PM on February 2, 2015
this was really cool! A little too on the nose to be an official version, I think, but I did enjoy it!
posted by rebent at 5:17 PM on February 2, 2015
posted by rebent at 5:17 PM on February 2, 2015
That's an oddly specific thing to deny?
posted by saturday_morning at 5:17 PM on February 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 5:17 PM on February 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
This was much more fun than I thought it was going to be.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:24 PM on February 2, 2015
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:24 PM on February 2, 2015
This was really great! Baffled by the hate. I thought it was wonderful.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 5:25 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 5:25 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is a fan tribute created by Aussie Animators Ivan Dixon and Paul Robertson (who has been featured on the blue previously )
posted by HarveyDenture at 5:29 PM on February 2, 2015
posted by HarveyDenture at 5:29 PM on February 2, 2015
Is that Rod Flanders with a Bible instead of a game boy at 0:40? Nice touch.
posted by saturday_morning at 5:29 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by saturday_morning at 5:29 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Just fan art, though Paul Robertson has professionally animated an 8-bit "guest character" on another show, Gravity Falls.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:32 PM on February 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:32 PM on February 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Everyones rubbing one out over this, but it was already officially done better and more authentically in the simpsons arcade game.
I thought of the Konami arcade game too when the Simpson's logo came flying at the screen. But I think whoever made this might have anticipated our Comic Book Guy-level snark. At 00:28 Maggie is right next to a pretty impressive looking diamond, which was the whole plot device of the Konami game.
posted by FJT at 6:04 PM on February 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
I thought of the Konami arcade game too when the Simpson's logo came flying at the screen. But I think whoever made this might have anticipated our Comic Book Guy-level snark. At 00:28 Maggie is right next to a pretty impressive looking diamond, which was the whole plot device of the Konami game.
posted by FJT at 6:04 PM on February 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Just fan art, though Paul Robertson has professionally animated an 8-bit "guest character" on another show, Gravity Falls.
Just FYI to everyone here, this is an amazing show and you should go watch it. I put it right up there with adventure time, bravest warriors, rick and morty, etc. It's part of that whole bee and puppycat type animation renaissance going on right now.
Regular show is pretty good too.
posted by emptythought at 6:13 PM on February 2, 2015 [8 favorites]
Just FYI to everyone here, this is an amazing show and you should go watch it. I put it right up there with adventure time, bravest warriors, rick and morty, etc. It's part of that whole bee and puppycat type animation renaissance going on right now.
Regular show is pretty good too.
posted by emptythought at 6:13 PM on February 2, 2015 [8 favorites]
(also lol wow i missed the diamond thing that's hilarious)
posted by emptythought at 6:13 PM on February 2, 2015
posted by emptythought at 6:13 PM on February 2, 2015
Why was Apu the checker at the grocery store?
posted by Celsius1414 at 6:19 PM on February 2, 2015
posted by Celsius1414 at 6:19 PM on February 2, 2015
That's an oddly specific thing to deny?
He did say he was open to 64-bit, which was the style at the time.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:24 PM on February 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
He did say he was open to 64-bit, which was the style at the time.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:24 PM on February 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Why was Apu the checker at the grocery store?
I thought that too, but there were some octuplets in there too I think.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:36 PM on February 2, 2015
I thought that too, but there were some octuplets in there too I think.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:36 PM on February 2, 2015
10 PRINT "THE SIMPSONS"
In high school, back in 19XX, I signed up for a computer class. We had some IBM time share terminals connected via phone line to the State Board of Education mainframe (rumor was, some really smart kids had figured out how to hack into unauthorized parts of this computer and changed their grades, etc etc) and a brand-new little row of Apple ][ computers in the back.
So after the first class, I was hanging around in the back and asked some kid who was slightly more advanced than I to show me how the thing worked.
He sat down at the keyboard and typed out this:
First, that someone would so brazenly announce their love for someone in such an, uh, public and technological way. She wasn't even his girlfriend for diety's sake--more like a random crush. She would probably have been 100% mortified to see her name whizzing across the screen like that.
Second, the message marches across the screen in an absolutely mesmerizing way. (The number of characters in the PRINT statement and the Apple ][ screen is exactly right to make a sort of wagon-wheel effect and the sentence "I LOVE ALICE HICKENLOOPER! " appears to march right-wards simultaneously across all 24 lines on the Apple screens and, additionally, it makes these sort of dynamic diagonal lines and patterns that move across the screen in a fascinating way.
I must have spent like an hour just LOOKING at it. And then figuring out how it worked (one reason I can remember the exact wording & punctuation all these years later). It really was kind of an amazing effect for such a short and innocuous little snippet of code. A little extremely simple Applesoft demo, if you will, that somehow does a lot more than the couple lines of code would indicate.
(If you don't have an Apple ][ around the house, you can duplicate what I saw by entering the program above (exactly! including ! "; at the end of line 10) at an Apple ][ emulator like this.)
Third, that you could give this machine instructions and it would follow them. Just like that.
It was a bit like magic. And, honestly, 35 years later even though many of us spent most of our waking hours interacting with devices that work like that, and even far more advanced, I have to say--it still is a bit like magic.
posted by flug at 7:20 PM on February 2, 2015 [19 favorites]
In high school, back in 19XX, I signed up for a computer class. We had some IBM time share terminals connected via phone line to the State Board of Education mainframe (rumor was, some really smart kids had figured out how to hack into unauthorized parts of this computer and changed their grades, etc etc) and a brand-new little row of Apple ][ computers in the back.
So after the first class, I was hanging around in the back and asked some kid who was slightly more advanced than I to show me how the thing worked.
He sat down at the keyboard and typed out this:
That was my very first introduction to programming and a revelation in so many ways.] 10 PRINT "I LOVE ALICE HICKENLOOPER! "; ] 20 GOTO 10 ] RUN
First, that someone would so brazenly announce their love for someone in such an, uh, public and technological way. She wasn't even his girlfriend for diety's sake--more like a random crush. She would probably have been 100% mortified to see her name whizzing across the screen like that.
Second, the message marches across the screen in an absolutely mesmerizing way. (The number of characters in the PRINT statement and the Apple ][ screen is exactly right to make a sort of wagon-wheel effect and the sentence "I LOVE ALICE HICKENLOOPER! " appears to march right-wards simultaneously across all 24 lines on the Apple screens and, additionally, it makes these sort of dynamic diagonal lines and patterns that move across the screen in a fascinating way.
I must have spent like an hour just LOOKING at it. And then figuring out how it worked (one reason I can remember the exact wording & punctuation all these years later). It really was kind of an amazing effect for such a short and innocuous little snippet of code. A little extremely simple Applesoft demo, if you will, that somehow does a lot more than the couple lines of code would indicate.
(If you don't have an Apple ][ around the house, you can duplicate what I saw by entering the program above (exactly! including ! "; at the end of line 10) at an Apple ][ emulator like this.)
Third, that you could give this machine instructions and it would follow them. Just like that.
It was a bit like magic. And, honestly, 35 years later even though many of us spent most of our waking hours interacting with devices that work like that, and even far more advanced, I have to say--it still is a bit like magic.
posted by flug at 7:20 PM on February 2, 2015 [19 favorites]
Just FYI to everyone here, this is an amazing show and you should go watch it. I put it right up there with adventure time, bravest warriors, rick and morty, etc.
At times like this I must sound like a Pokemon named Steven Universe.
posted by JHarris at 7:59 PM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
At times like this I must sound like a Pokemon named Steven Universe.
posted by JHarris at 7:59 PM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
In high school, back in 19XX....honestly, 35 years later
Man, I should have payed more attention in math class.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 8:01 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Man, I should have payed more attention in math class.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 8:01 PM on February 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Just like to make a note here, emptythought and JHarris have mentioned some fantastic cartoon shows of a new breed. However, one stands out from the list.
Do not show children Rick & Morty.
posted by adept256 at 8:05 PM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Do not show children Rick & Morty.
posted by adept256 at 8:05 PM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Is that Rod Flanders with a Bible instead of a game boy at 0:40? Nice touch.
It goes way beyond that, saturday_morning... All the kids have gameboys/iPhones, except for the kid with an Oculus Rift-type setup. And Ralph's device is backwards. And Wendell is clearly trying to hold back from vomiting.
There are so damn many Easter eggs in this video, you can hardly even see a blade of grass.
posted by Guy Smiley at 8:26 PM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
It goes way beyond that, saturday_morning... All the kids have gameboys/iPhones, except for the kid with an Oculus Rift-type setup. And Ralph's device is backwards. And Wendell is clearly trying to hold back from vomiting.
There are so damn many Easter eggs in this video, you can hardly even see a blade of grass.
posted by Guy Smiley at 8:26 PM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hey at 00:59, not sure who the guy in glasses and blue is. My guess is Artie Ziff, but not quite sure.
posted by FJT at 9:12 PM on February 2, 2015
posted by FJT at 9:12 PM on February 2, 2015
Late to the party, but...
Pretentious Dong is the name of my Morrissey tribute band.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:30 AM on February 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
Pretentious Dong is the name of my Morrissey tribute band.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:30 AM on February 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm glad they went with the old-style Marge's reaction to Maggie in the shopping bag instead of the new, "Stiffsons" style.
posted by Galaxor Nebulon at 11:29 AM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Galaxor Nebulon at 11:29 AM on February 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
In high school, back in 19XX....honestly, 35 years later
Man, I should have payed more attention in math class.
Here's a hint, he graduated in the same year as Lisa S. No that's too obvious, L. Simpson.
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 2:00 PM on February 3, 2015
Man, I should have payed more attention in math class.
Here's a hint, he graduated in the same year as Lisa S. No that's too obvious, L. Simpson.
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 2:00 PM on February 3, 2015
Pretentious Dong is the name of my Morrissey tribute band.
Okay, but only if you do a Bob Marley parody song by the same name.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:13 PM on February 3, 2015
Okay, but only if you do a Bob Marley parody song by the same name.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:13 PM on February 3, 2015
Yes, "‘Simpsons’ Pixel Art Fan Tribute Will Become The Show’s Next Opening".
“We secretly hoped they would pick it up, but it all came so fast.”
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:54 PM on February 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
“We secretly hoped they would pick it up, but it all came so fast.”
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:54 PM on February 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
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The music notably bugs me as not being chiptuney at all, just being distorted/bitcrushed in a really harsh way. Maybe i'm just a pretentious dong though.
posted by emptythought at 4:43 PM on February 2, 2015 [19 favorites]