The Simpsons short
"
Good Night
" (also known as "
Good Night Simpsons
") is the first of the forty-eight
Simpsons
shorts
and the second segment of the third episode of the first season of
The Tracey Ullman Show
.
It originally aired on
Fox
in the United States on April 19, 1987 and marks the first ever appearance of the
Simpson family
?
Homer
,
Marge
,
Bart
,
Lisa
, and
Maggie
? on television.
[2]
[3]
After three seasons on
Tracey Ullman
's show, the shorts would be adapted into the animated show
The Simpsons
. "Good Night" has since been aired on the show in the episode "
The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular
" (in its entirety), along with several other
Ullman
shorts, and is one of the few shorts to ever be released on DVD, being included in the
Season 1 DVD set
.
Plot
[
edit
]
Homer
and
Marge
say goodnight to their children, but all does not go according to plan.
Bart
tries to ask about the
mind
, but is left contemplating it as he does not get a proper answer.
Lisa
fears that
bed bugs
will eat her after hearing Marge say "Don't let the bed bugs bite".
Maggie
is terrified by the lyrics of "
Rock-a-bye Baby
". Ultimately, all three children decide to sleep in their parents' bed.
Origins
[
edit
]
Groening first conceived of the Simpsons in the
lobby
of
James L. Brooks
' office. He had been called in to pitch a series of
animated shorts
, and had intended to present his
Life in Hell
series. When he realized that animating
Life in Hell
would require him to rescind
publication rights
for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction.
[4]
He hurriedly sketched out his version of a
dysfunctional family
, and named the characters after his own family. Bart was modeled after Groening's older brother, Mark, but given a different name that was chosen as an
anagram
of "brat."
[5]
Production
[
edit
]
This short was written and storyboarded by Groening.
[6]
Animation on the short began March 23, 1987.
The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the
animators
, assuming they would clean them up; instead they just traced over his drawings.
[4]
It was produced at
Klasky Csupo
,
[8]
[9]
with
Wesley Archer
,
David Silverman
, and
Bill Kopp
being animators.
[6]
The episode is sometimes considered to be the first episode of season 0 of
The Simpsons
.
[10]
The show's production number is MG01.
[11]
[12]
11 seconds of the short were cut in syndication airings.
[13]
The short consisted of four segments, lasting 24, 15, 33, and 33 seconds, respectively.
After the short plays from start to finish in "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular",
Troy McClure
, who now has a look of disbelief on his face, as though he has never seen the clip before, covers his expression with an awkward laugh and insincerely comments 'They haven't changed a bit, have they', a comment on how the characters' appearance and personalities had altered from the shorts to the airing of that episode.
[15]
Critical reception
[
edit
]
FilmThreat says "This dark nursery rhyme is funny and disturbing. Homer’s voice is totally off the wall, nothing like it stands today, and it’s interesting to see how far they’ve come since these early forays into animation".
[16]
Todd Doogan of The Digital Bits was sad that "only [one] of the original Tracey Ullman Show shorts" was featured on the first season DVD". He added, "Still, the one you get perfectly illustrates just how far the show has come".
[17]
DVD.net describes it as "The Simpsons as some of you may never have seen before, drawn by the hand of Matt Groening himself and looking a little worse for wear."
[18]
DVD Movie Guide says, "I’ve seen a few additional Ullman shorts and think they’re nearly unwatchable, so I can’t say I miss them, at least not for their entertainment value. However, they’d make a nice historical addition, so it’s too bad we only get this single clip. The first one ever aired, “Good Night Simpsons” runs for 115 unfunny seconds."
[19]
The Digital Fix says the short extra on the DVD "showcases the superb sense of humour that has made The Simpsons what it is today", and that "the picture quality is quite breathtaking (considering the age of these shorts) while the sound is standard DD2.0 Stereo". It adds that "it is a teaser for something we will supposedly never see (all 48 shorts on DVD)" and wishes they had chosen a short that hadn't been featured in a future episode (The 138th Episode Spectacular), and therefore released on the Season 7 Box set.
[20]
Planet Simpson
says "the drawing and animation were blatantly crude, thick-lined, and primary-colored" and that "the vignettes were far too short for anything as sophisticated as 'character development'". It adds that the "central gag [of] kids finding ironic horror in bedtime platitudes" was very simplistic, and doubts many people even watched the airing of the short. However, the book explains the significance of Good Night as "the first baby steps of an institution that would become one of the most-watched TV shows on earth and the most influential cultural enterprise of its time".
Home media
[
edit
]
The short is featured on disc 3 of
The Complete First Season
DVD.
[21]
[22]
[23]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"The History of The Simpsons: The Complete History of the Most Beloved American Family on Television ? Yahoo! Voices"
. voices.yahoo.com. Archived from
the original
on October 13, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
"Greatest screen characters ? DNA"
. Dnaindia.com.
Archived
from the original on June 12, 2010
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
BBC (2000).
'The Simpsons': America's First Family (6 minute edit for the season 1 DVD)
(DVD)
. UK: 20th Century Fox.
Archived
from the original on February 11, 2017
. Retrieved
June 30,
2018
.
- ^
Paul, Alan (October 1995).
"Life In Hell"
.
Flux Magazine
. No. 6. Harris Publications. pp. 54, 76.
ISSN
1074-5602
.
- ^
a
b
Cagle, Daryl.
"The David Silverman Interview"
. MSNBC. Archived from
the original
on November 30, 2005
. Retrieved
December 29,
2006
.
- ^
"Good Night (1987) Season 1 Episode MG01- The Simpsons Cartoon Episode Guide"
. Bcdb.com. April 19, 1987
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
Deneroff, Harvey (January 2000). "Matt Groening's Baby Turns 10". Animation Magazine, Vol. 14, #1. pp. 10, 12.
- ^
"The Simpsons"
. Episode Data.
Archived
from the original on September 1, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
Global Episode Opinion Survey (November 29, 2012).
"GEOS ? The Simpsons ? Good Night ? Cast & Crew"
. Geos.tv. Archived from
the original
on October 12, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
"The Simpsons Archive: Episode Capsules"
. Snpp.com.
Archived
from the original on February 8, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
"List of scenes cut from The Simpsons shorts ? Wikisimpsons, the Simpsons Wiki"
. Simpsonswiki.net. January 9, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
Brian L. Ott (2007).
The Small Screen How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age
. John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN
978-0-470-76637-8
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
"The Simpsons Complete First Season (dvd)"
. Film Threat. February 17, 2002.
Archived
from the original on October 12, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
"DVD Review ? The Simpsons: The Complete First Season"
. Thedigitalbits.com.
Archived
from the original on October 12, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
Steve Koukoulas ? RED5 Web Design.
"The Simpsons ? Season One ? DVD Review"
. DVD.net.
Archived
from the original on April 20, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"The Simpsons: The Complete First Season (1990)"
. Dvdmg.com.
Archived
from the original on August 21, 2008
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
Dave Foster, The Digital Fix (September 29, 2001).
"The Simpsons: The Complete First Season | DVD Video Review | Film @ The Digital Fix"
. Film.thedigitalfix.com.
Archived
from the original on October 14, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
"Simpsons DVD guides: The Complete First Season ? Simpsons Crazy"
. Simpsoncrazy.com.
Archived
from the original on January 16, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
"Simpsons ? The Complete First Season"
. Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from
the original
on June 26, 2013
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
- ^
"DVD Review: Simpsons: Season One"
. Currentfilm.com. Archived from the original on November 1, 2001
. Retrieved
February 17,
2013
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- Bibliography
External links
[
edit
]
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