After 20 seasons of living in the land of standard definition, The Simpsons made the move to HD last night, and in honor of that change, Fox debuted a new main title sequence, the first change to the intro credits since the show began.
It’s an extended cut, so it’ll probably get trimmed down for subsequent episodes, but there are plenty of hidden gems along the new path, and Simpsons fans will no doubt be digging through all of the references for the next few weeks trying to match them all to their original episode.
Enjoy:
(And if you’d like to watch the full episode, just head on over to Fox’s Fox on Demand service.)
As a major supporter of the Hulu movement, I’m glad to see that they’re continuing to develop the online TV alternative with new shows and exclusive viewings.
Their “Fall Premiere Lineup” includes favorites like “Bones,” “Heroes,” “House,” “The Office,” “Family Guy,” “The Simpsons,” “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Crusoe,” and “30 Rock”, while shows like “Knight Rider,” “Chuck,” “Life,” and “Lipstick Jungle” are even slated to debut on Hulu more than a week before they go live on broadcast TV.
Even the technology continues to improve, as more and more shows are available in 480p for resolutions that approach HD. (And on most computer monitors, you’d probably never notice any difference above 480p, though that’s not true if you’ve got your computer hooked into your home entertainment system.)
The opening scene of every Simpsons features a panoramic sweep of the city that reveals many of the characters, yet does so in such a speedy manner that it’s hard to see exactly what’s shown.
Thankfully, with the release of the series on DVD, it’s possible to slow down time, and as Drew Mackie has done, stitch together the into clip into one large image.
What’s interesting is that, despite seeing this clip before every episode, most people (myself included) have never really had a chance to see exactly what’s going on.
Noah Kalina’s slideshow of images that documented six years of his life was a fantastically original project, so of course, The Simpsons had to make their own.
Here, you see 39 years of Homer’s life occur in a little over a minute:
Whoever designs the packaging for The Simpsons disks must not know anything about the typical shelf, because they seem to prefer things that are more round than square.
The soundtrack for The Simpsons Movie is no different, and it comes in its own donut.
Looks tasty. (And unstackable!)
