THE SIMPSONS Movie Sequel Storyline Turned into Episode
As a fan of The Simpsons, the prospect of a sequel to the 2007 The Simpsons Movie is always exciting news. For those of you who saw the Jan. 4th episode “The Man Who Came To Be Dinner,” you watched what was at one time considered the storyline for The Simpsons Movie 2. The story follows the Simpson family as they are kidnapped from a ride at Dizzneeland and taken to the planet of Kang and Kodos, Rigel 7, where the family is on the menu.
Let me explain.
Executive producer of The Simpsons, Al Jean, spoke with EW and told them that the episode that aired a few weeks ago was originally going to be the storyline for the follow-up to the 2007 hit. Here is what Jean had to say:
"Two of the allures were exploring the rules of the new world and the cinematic nature of doing something in space. But then we were worried that people might think it’s an idea that’s not canonical—it doesn’t really happen, unlike all of other 560 episodes that really ‘happened’—so the ultimate decision was to air it as an episode. It just got to the point where if we were unsure about it as a movie, then it would be good to air the episode. And then if we do a movie, we’d just think of something else…. So if you want to know what was thought of a possible Simpsons Movie 2, we just aired it—for free. You can see it for free!"
I can kind of see where they are coming from; however, fans of the show have come to accept any story arc they throw at us. If any family in America is going to be abducted by aliens to be served as Sunday dinner, it would be the Simpsons. Now that we know that the frontrunner story for a sequel has been reduced to an episode, what are the chances that we get another big screen adaptation of America’s family? Jean says there is a chance:
"My guess it’s 50-50… Our feeling is that the first movie was pretty successful and we don’t want the second movie to be any less successful. And I’m not talking about financially only—I’m also talking about no one wants to do a movie where people think, ‘Why did they do that? It wasn’t necessary."
He goes on to say that they don’t have a definite story that sticks out at this time, but I am hopeful that, based on everything Jean has said, it will be up to the highest standards. As far as The Simpsons goes. I don’t know about you, but I still get the Spider-pig song stuck in my head on relentless repeat.