The Simpsons opening sequence

The Simpsons title screen as of 2009.

The Simpsons opening sequence is an element that begins almost every episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. Starting with the season 20 episode "Take My Life, Please", the opening sequence was redone to go with the high-definition format of the show, and replaced the previous one with numerous differences and alterations. It is the second permanent revision of the opening sequence in the show's history, the first of these occurring with the premiere of the show's second season.

The sequence

1990

The first season opening sequence, starting with the second episode "Bart the Genius", features a number of differences from the later opening sequences. This includes a scene where, in place of Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers at the power plant, a co-worker is seen eating a sandwich with a pair of tongs. Other scenes include a band rehearsal, featuring a high-pitched saxophone solo, and a drive home in a red sedan. In addition, Bart snatches a bus stop sign, having been distracted by Krusty the clown image on the televisions on display at a nearby electronics store, forcing several Springfield citizens who were waiting for a bus to chase the one passing by. Lisa is then shown riding her bike. She also gets home first, so Homer only has to dodge Marge after he gets out of his car.

1990–2009

This sequence opens with the show's title zooming in on the camera while moving forwards through clouds. While zooming through the clouds, the words "The Simpsons" appear. It continues to zoom in on the town and then through a window of Springfield Elementary, where we see Bart writing lines on the class chalkboard, as a punishment. When the school bell rings, Bart leaves in a hurry and skateboards out of the school doors. The next shot shows Homer in the power plant wearing a safety mask while carrying a bar of plutonium in tongs. Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers watch as Homer takes off his mask and leaves the power plant. As he does so, Homer tosses the plutonium into the air and it sticks to his back. The next shot shows Marge and Maggie checking out at a supermarket. Maggie is inadvertently scanned along with the groceries, rung up at a price of $847.63 and dropped into Marge's shopping cart, as she is wondering where Maggie went, then sighing in relief when Maggie pops up from one of the shopping bags. Lisa is shown next, being ordered out of a band rehearsal by Mr. Largo for her unorthodox saxophone playing; she continues to improvise on her way out of the room.

The family is then shown on their way to the house at 742 Evergreen Terrace; Homer drives along in his car and throws the plutonium bar, which is still stuck to his back, out the window. After it bounces off the curb, Bart picks it up and starts weaving his skateboard between a group of various characters, including Helen Lovejoy, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and Chief Wiggum. As soon as Bart crosses the road, a car drives past and Maggie is seen inside with a steering wheel, but when the camera zooms out her wheel is revealed to be a children's toy and Marge is actually the one driving with Maggie mimicking Marge's movements. Marge and Maggie both honk their horns and then there is a camera whip pan across a crowd of characters towards the Simpsons' house.

The family all arrive home at about the same time. Homer arrives first, parking his car in front of the garage, while Bart hits the car roof with his skateboard and then touches down. As Homer steps out of the car, he quickly dodges Lisa zooming by on her bike and says, "D'oh!", and then screams at the sight of Marge's car coming towards him. The scene then shifts to Marge's sight, inside her car, showing Homer running away from her until he goes in through the door. Upon entering their house, they speed towards the living room couch, segueing into the couch gag. After the gag, the television displays the executive producer credits, after which the screen goes black and the episode starts.

2009–present

A digital collage comparing the original and high-definition versions of the opening sequence.

A new permanent opening sequence was animated for the show's transition to the High Definition format, premiering with the Season 20 episode "Take My Life, Please." This sequence is similar to the previous one, but features many visual changes that take advantage of the wider format.

The sequence opens as usual with movement through cumulus clouds, while a 3-eyed crow flies by. The crow is sometimes replaced by characters, like the once deceased Shary Bobbins flying by using her umbrella. The camera then zooms past the nuclear power plant and into the town square where Jimbo and Kearney saw off the head of the statue of Jebediah Springfield which falls onto the head of Ralph Wiggum, who is holding an ice cream cone. As it falls on him, he inadvertently tosses the cone onto the statue's face. The camera then weaves through several buildings and structures, featuring a "chalkboard gag" towards Springfield Elementary and zooms through the familiar window where Bart writes lines as punishment on the chalkboard. The bell rings and Bart skateboards out of the school doors, plowing into a pile of leaves raked up by Groundskeeper Willie and exposing Barney Gumble underneath.

Homer is shown leaving the power plant and, as in the previous opening sequences, a uranium bar falls into his clothing as he leaves. This time, in the background of this scene, Lenny Leonard is standing on a ladder trying to change the "days without an accident sign" from 2 to 3 days but then falls off the ladder onto Carl Carlson who is standing at the bottom of the ladder. The scene changes to Marge at the supermarket check out. Among the products Marge is buying is Tomacco juice & Mr. Sparkle detergent. Maggie is scanned, and the price doubles from $243.26 to $486.52, before she is put in the shopping cart. When Maggie pops her head out of the paper bag, Marge looks relatively calm and does not panic, unlike in the previous sequences. Maggie shakes her fist at Baby Gerald, who is right beside her in another shopping cart. In band practice, Mr. Largo dismisses Lisa, who plays a solo as she leaves and then pokes her head back in the door to finish it.

Homer is then shown driving home and discards the stuck uranium bar out the window; it lands in Otto Mann's lap and he eats it. Bart skateboards past Otto before weaving through several townspeople: a sword-swinging Sideshow Bob, Helen Lovejoy, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and his octuplets, Moe Szyslak, Comic Book Guy, Disco Stu, the Crazy Cat Lady, the Rich Texan and Chief Wiggum, who shakes his cosh at Bart as Bart crosses the road. Hans Moleman pokes his head out from a manhole, which slams down on him when Marge drives over it. Maggie is shown in a booster seat in the middle while Grampa sleeps next to her. When Marge and Maggie honk their respective horns, Grampa is startled awake and his dentures fall out.

The camera pans across Springfield. The driveway scene remains almost exactly the same, except Marge's car now hits Homer and carries him on the hood until it stops short, flinging him ahead to smash a Homer-shaped hole through the door. The Simpsons run into the living room and a couch gag is shown, before the credits are displayed on a new widescreen flat panel television, which will sometimes fall to the ground and break. Unlike the previous opening sequences, there is no cut to black and the episode begins immediately.

Variations

For each episode, the sequence includes a number of variations:

• Bart writes something different on the chalkboard.
• Lisa may play a different solo on her saxophone (or in some instances, on a different instrument entirely).
• The family attempts to sit on the couch as something goes awry in an often surreal manner.
• The billboard in front of the elementary school changes (HD opening only).
• Something different flies across the screen at the beginning (HD opening only).
• Ralph says something different the statue head falls on his head (HD opening only).

Billboard gag

The billboard gag is a running visual joke added to the opening sequence with the updated 2009 high-definition opening. In the gag, a billboard is seen on the roof of the building across the street from the elementary school as the camera pans through the town. The billboard changes every episode. The first episode with a billboard gag was "Take My Life, Please" where the billboard says "Krusty: Now Doing Funerals".

Chalkboard gag

The chalkboard gag is a running visual joke that occurs during the opening credits of many episodes. In this gag, Bart Simpson is writing a unique phrase on the chalkboard repeatedly; when the school bell rings, he immediately stops writing and runs out of the classroom. Chalkboard messages may involve political humor such as "The First Amendment does not cover burping", pop culture references such as "I can't see dead people", "I was not the sixth Beatle" and meta-references such as "I am not a 32 year old woman" and "Nobody reads these anymore". In The Simpsons Movie, the gag, "I will not illegally download this movie," is a reference to piracy. The animators are able to produce the chalkboard gags quickly and in some cases have changed them to fit current events. For example, the chalkboard gag for "Homer the Heretic" (season four, 1992) read, "I will not defame New Orleans." The gag had been written as an apology to the city for a controversial song in the previous week's episode, which called the city a "home of pirates, drunks and whores". Many episodes do not feature a chalkboard gag because they are cut to make more room for story, plot development and advertisements.

Lisa's saxophone solo

During the opening sequence, Lisa is seen being ejected from band rehearsal due to her non-conformist playing. She exits the room playing a saxophone solo, which sometimes changes. Some of the solos have similarities with pieces by Donovan, Frank Zappa, James Brown, and Charlie Parker. In two episodes Lisa plays a trumpet instead of a saxophone and in another, she plays a fiddle. In one instance, Lisa plays a solo on a clarinet. In episode "500 Keys" season 22 episode 21, Lisa play the violin in opening and credits.

Couch gag

File:Simpsons couch gag.jpg

Elongated couch gags, such as one featuring a large stage show have been used to fill time in shorter episodes. It was used from Season 4 to Season 12 & afterwards whenever a show ran short.

The couch gag is a running visual joke near the end of the opening credits and it is frequently used to make the show longer or shorter, depending on the length of the episode itself. In the syndicated version for the episodes from seasons 1 to 5, the couch gag for the episode is usually replaced with the one from season five's "Rosebud" where The Simpsons find an exact double of themselves on the couch (though the syndicated versions of the later episodes retain their original couch gags). The couch gag changes from episode to episode, and usually features the Simpson family's living room couch. A typical gag features the Simpson family running into the living room, only to find some abnormality with the couch, be it a bizarre and unexpected occupant, an odd placement of the couch, such as on the ceiling, or any number of other situations.

The first episode of the series to air, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", does not feature a couch gag. The second episode, "Bart the Genius," features the first couch gag to be aired. When the family sits down on the couch, Bart is squeezed off the couch and pops up into the air. During the shot of the television set following the couch shot Bart is seen falling back down in front of the TV.

Longer couch gags, such as one seen in "Lisa's First Word" have sometimes been used to fill time in shorter episodes, such as in "The Front" and "Cape Feare". An extended couch gag was also seen in the first episode to use the new opening sequence, "Take My Life, Please", where the family chases their couch on a tour across the world.

Other versions

Live action

In 2006, Sky1 in the United Kingdom began advertising The Simpsons using a live-action recreation of the series' opening sequence directed by Chris Palmer.

It was the second time they had done so, the first being in September 2000 as part of a weekend celebrating the 10th anniversary of the show premiering in the UK. Except for the very first shot in which the logo appears out of the clouds, every piece of the opening is present in this version, with even multiple chalkboard and couch gags filmed. Attached to the end of this sequence is the message "Come home to The Simpsons on Sky One." A version was also made for cinema distribution. Because the live action sequence was made in the UK, there are some slight cultural differences, such as Homer and Marge driving on the left in a right hand drive car, and the actor playing Chief Wiggum wearing a British police uniform. There is no panaroma scene in this version because it would be hard to see due to the motion blur effect.

The sequence was used instead of the regular opening titles on the episode "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife", first broadcast on FOX on March 26, 2006 with the images during the driving scenes mirrored so that the cars appeared to be driving on the right side of the road with the steering wheel on the left side of the car.

Christmas

A Christmas-themed version was animated for "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" and later re-aired with "The Burns and the Bees". It begins with two lines of instrumental "O Christmas Tree" and then the normal theme music begins. This version is similar to the normal version, except for several key differences:

1. Everything outside is covered with snow
2. Bart's skateboard has been replaced with a snowboard
3. Everyone is wearing winter clothes
4. Mr. Burns and Smithers have been replaced by a Scrooge-esque Burns and Ghost of Marley-esque Smithers, and there are several Christmas banners in the plant
5. Lisa's saxophone solo is a jazzy version of "Deck the Halls"
6. Bleeding Gums Murphy, who is now deceased, has been replaced with Jasper in a Santa costume. Maude Flanders, however, remains in the pan across Springfield, despite having also died.
7. Marge and Maggie's supermarket and car sequence have been cut

In the end, the family sits on the couch and the camera then pulls out to reveal that the family was reflected in a Christmas ornament, which rests on a Christmas tree.

The Simpsons Movie

File:The Simpsons Movie Opening Credits.ogg

The scene from the opening credit sequence of The Simpsons Movie

A completely different sequence was created for The Simpsons Movie and features an orchestrated version of "The Simpsons Theme" as adapted by Hans Zimmer. The cumulus clouds are displayed in 16:9 television aspect ratio, with black matte bars at either end of the screen. As the "The Simpsons" logo appears out of the clouds, Professor Frink flies past in one of his inventions carrying a banner marked "MOVIE" and proclaims "Moo-vie! On the big screen!!" This differs to the DVD version, as before the menu screen appears, the "The Simpsons" logo appears (as in the movie) but this time Professor Frink says "Moo-vie! On the small screen He reaches the left side of the screen, bumping the matte bar out of view, and the other one also slides away so that the image now fills the entire screen.

Instead of going through the P of "SIMPSONS," the camera zooms through the O of "MOVIE" as the banner falls loose. The camera zooms in on the town, with several major landmarks popping-up. The camera zooms in to Mr. Burns, who is holding a toothbrush in his bathroom with Smithers, who gives him toothpaste. The extra weight of the toothpaste causes Mr. Burns to collapse. The camera then zooms past Moe's Tavern into the Kwik-E-Mart where Apu is secretly changing the expiration date on a carton of milk from 2006 to 2008. The camera cuts to Springfield Elementary where Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney are hoisting Martin Prince up a flagpole by his underwear and saluting it as if it were a flag. The camera then zooms through a window of the school where Bart is doing the Chalkboard Gag which is "I will not illegally download this movie", before quick-fading to Green Day who are hosting a concert at Lake Springfield, playing their rendition of "The Simpsons Theme".

The Simpsons Movie callback

For "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs," the first new Simpsons episode to air after the release of The Simpsons Movie, a callback sequence was animated. The sequence begins with Bart writing lines on the chalkboard, writing "I will not wait 20 years to make another movie". The school bell rings and he skates outside the door, showing the residents of Springfield restoring the town after the events of the movie. The multi-eyed squirrel from the movie is seen jumping onto Bart's shoulders, but is hit by a wrecking ball into a billboard of "Burns Construction", suggesting that Mr. Burns is attempting to make money from the incident. The camera then pans on a large shard of glass, a piece from the destroyed dome. Bart rides on the piece, and weaves in between characters from the movie; President Schwarzenegger, Colin, Moe Szyslak (in his "Emperor" attire), Russ Cargill, and the Medicine Woman, who waves her hand in a similar manner to Chief Wiggum. The family arrives home to 742 Evergreen Terrace, which is shown to be still under construction. Homer's car arrives with the pig waste silo strapped on top. The family arrive to sit on the couch, where Plopper the pig is currently sitting, with the "Spider-Pig" tune being played in the background. Homer then grabs Plopper and proclaims that the pig is his "summer love".

"Tik Tok"

A special opening sequence, featuring the cast lip dubbing to Ke$ha's single "Tik Tok", was animated for "To Surveil with Love" to promote "Fox Rocks" week. This is the first canonical episode that does not feature "The Simpsons Theme" in the opening sequence in any capacity, in the show's history. The sequence features the characters performing actions that relate to the lyrics of the song, such as Lisa waking up and taking Milhouse's glasses, Groundskeeper Willie brushing his teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey and barflys fighting in Moe's Tavern. Elements of the standard opening sequence are spliced in and altered, such as Mr. Largo singing and dancing out of the music room, various characters dancing during the pan across Springfield, and Homer and Marge running through the front door of 742 Evergreen Terrace. The Simpsons run into the living room and sit on the couch, which is then lifted into the air by several other characters celebrating their arrival. The TV scene is shown, but in a different angle.

Banksy version

Main article: MoneyBART

British graffiti artist and political activist Banksy was invited to storyboard an opening sequence for "MoneyBART". The sequence begins as normal, with minor differences. "Banksy" is tagged on various walls and billboards in Springfield. The chalkboard gag ("I must not write all over the walls") is written all over the classroom walls, clock, door, and floor.

After the Simpsons arrive at home, the camera immediately cuts to a shot of the family on the couch, before zooming out to reveal the shot as a picture hanging on the wall of a fictional Asian animation and merchandise sweatshop. The animation color quickly becomes drab and gray, and the music turns dramatic à la Schindler's List, as many workers are shown to be suffering and struggling to produce various aspects of The Simpsons.

Parodies within the show

The opening sequence has been parodied within five episodes of The Simpsons:

• A short parody as The Thompsons in the episode "Cape Feare", when the Simpsons go into a witness protection program to evade Sideshow Bob.

• As The Hurricane in the episode "Hurricane Neddy". Grey clouds appear, and the word 'The Hurricane' pops out in the same manner as the real opening. Similar vocals sing "The Hurricane", and then the letters are blown away to show parts of Springfield being destroyed.

• In "Simpsons Bible Stories", Bart is writing a chalkboard punishment in hieroglyphics when he hears Moses/Milhouse's horn being blown and leaves the classroom.

• As Three weeks later in "The Heartbroke Kid". Instead of writing on chalkboard, a now overweight Bart is seen buying and eating chocolate from a vending machine. He cracks the pavement when he leaves the school, bends a lamppost, runs over pedestrians, hits Marge's car, sending it spinning off-screen, and crushes the roof of Homer's car, before stumbling into the living room suffering a heart attack.

• In "Little Big Girl", Bart is awarded a driver's license. Bart is seen at the chalkboard writing "So long suckers". He bursts through the school doors in Homer's car, instead of on his skateboard, and speeds away. Instead of dodging all the obstacles seen in the standard opening sequence, he runs them over. As Homer pulls into the driveway and steps out to enter the house, the other car lands on him, and Bart walks into the house.

Reception

In a 2010 issue of TV Guide, The Simpsons opening title sequence ranked #1 on a list of TV's top 10 credits sequences, as selected by readers.

References

• Richmond, Ray (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family. New York City: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-638898-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

• Turner, Chris (2004). Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation. Toronto: Random House Canada. ISBN 978-0-679-31318-2.