The Simpsons is having its most productive year since 2007 when its feature film hit cinemas, and that’s thanks to a series of exciting shorts being produced for Disney+, which see the beloved family of five crossing paths with icons from Star Wars, Marvel and more.
Following on from The Force Awakens from its Nap in May and The Good, The Bart, and The Loki back in July, the team behind The Simpsons has invited some of Disney’s biggest names to a VIP party at Moe’s Tavern to celebrate Disney+ Day via new short The Simpsons in Plusaversary, out today on the streaming service.
The Simpsons in Plusaversary is just one of many releases dropping on Disney+ today, and showrunner and writer Al Jean tells Supanova the goal of the new short “was to get as many [characters] into Moe’s bar as possible, from Marvel, Star Wars, Disney and Pixar.”
“We sort of asked Disney, ‘Who can we use?’ And they said, ‘Anybody, except don’t have a character who’s a real hero to kids, like Belle, get drunk,’” Jean says. “And I couldn’t agree more with that rule.”
‘The Good, The Bart, and The Loki’ premiered on Disney+ back in July
Australia’s own Bluey even makes the cut, appearing on the guest list for the function at Moe’s Tavern!
“Yes!” Jean laughs. “We were looking at what was popular on Disney+ and, I don’t want to brag, we were #1, but Bluey was #2, and one of our writers who is a mum said, ‘Oh my god, my two-year-old daughter watches it all the time.’
“And I watched it and I was like, ‘This is very hypnotic.’ It was good, I liked it a lot. I don’t have a kid that old anymore, but if I did, I’m sure they’d be watching it.”
Because of Disney’s extensive catalogue (“they own everything”), the shorts have given Jean the opportunity to work with characters that he idolised growing up and some that ultimately influenced who he is as a writer.
“I have Marvel comics in my house, so the fact that we got to work with Tom Hiddleston as Loki earlier in the year, it just blows my mind, and we got to do classic Marvel covers as little promo cards and the same with Star Wars; it’s really incredible.”
In the same way that comics from the ‘60s and classic Disney cartoons have influenced Jean, The Simpsons has impacted countless viewers, as evidenced by nearly an entire generation frequently communicating with memes based on content from the ‘90s.
“When we did, I know it’s a meme, Grampa ‘Old man yells at cloud’, it was just a joke and I was astounded to see it have this enormous afterlife, you just never know,” he says.
“The Valentine’s Day card ‘I Choo-Choo-Choose You’ that Lisa gives to Ralph, that was a real card when I was in third grade, so it’s astounding to me. You forget that you’re in this thing – some little idea can get transformed into something that millions and millions of people see.”
Jean reveals that they’re currently working on another short “coming out by the end of this year”.
“My one clue is, it’s not English language, which is really exciting,” he teases. As for the direction of The Simpsons moving forward in the midst of its 33rd season?
“I hope we just keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Jean says, “which is to continue to discuss problems that real families have and what they deal with in life and to be funny as well as timely.”
