The Character Who Started The Simpsons Decline Just Returned For The First Time In 27 Years
Warning: This article accommodates SPOILERS for The Simpsons season 36, episode 1
Although he’s usually blamed for heralding the top of the present’s Golden Age, The Simpsons season 36, episode 1 introduced again one among its most controversial supporting characters ever. The Simpsons has been on the air for over 35 years and, on this time, its important decline has been properly documented. It is broadly agreed that the so-called Golden Age of The Simpsons started round season 3 and ended earlier than season 12, which means 23 of the present’s seasons arrived after its peak. Despite this, latest years have seen YouTube creators and critics like Vulture‘s Jesse David Fox alike query whether or not The Simpsons is nice once more.
Seasons 34 and 35 of The Simpsons obtained markedly higher opinions than the much-maligned seasons 30-33, so it was a shock when The Simpsons season 36, episode 1 introduced itself because the collection finale. In actuality, “Bart’s Birthday” was the season premiere, however its elaborate self-parodic framing machine offered the outing as an AI-generated finale for the long-running present. To this finish, loads of supporting stars from earlier within the present’s historical past returned for Bart’s birthday in season 36 episode 1, together with a controversial character whose unique arrival is intently linked to the decline of The Simpsons.
How The Real Seymour Skinner Started The Simpsons’ Decline Back In Season 9
The Principal And The Pauper Heralded Future Simpsons Problems
Martin Sheen’s Principal Skinner first appeared in season 9, episode 2, “The Principal and The Pauper,” the place the Vietnam veteran returned to his hometown of Springfield and revealed that Principal Skinner was a fraud. This episode’s weird story noticed Sheen’s no-nonsense veteran show that the principal, whose actual title was Armin Tanzarian, had assumed his id when he thought that Skinner had died within the battle. This revelation was nearly as absurd as lots of The Simspons season 36 episode 1’s outlandish twists however, surprisingly, it wasn’t retconned by the episode’s ending. Instead, the present discovered a novel answer.
The pointlessness of the episode’s round plot and its odd tone left many long-time followers chilly.
To keep the present’s establishment, the characters of The Simpsons determined en masse that they might ship the actual Skinner out of city, reinstate Armin Tanzanian as “Principal Skinner,” and by no means point out the episode’s occasions once more. This audacious gag mocked the ways in which sitcoms work round awkward plot twists, however not everybody was left laughing. The pointlessness of the episode’s round plot and its odd tone left many long-time followers chilly, and the outing’s zanier, extra pointedly far-fetched writing garnered criticism. Many followers on-line nonetheless spotlight this episode as the start of the top of the Golden Age of The Simpsons.
Why The Simpsons Brought Back The Real Skinner In Season 36
Skinner’s Return Proved Something Was Wrong In Springfield
It isn’t any shock that “Bart’s Birthday” introduced again the actual Seymour Skinner, as your complete episode was designed to mock the present’s unchanging establishment. Presented as a possible collection finale, “Bart’s Birthday” noticed Principal Skinner and Police Chief Wiggum go away Springfield, Milhouse transfer to Atlanta, Lisa get a scholarship to Juilliard, and Moe shut his well-known tavern. These occasions, together with Bart lastly turning eleven, proved the world of the collection was lastly, unavoidably altering. This turned out to be a fakeout and normality was reinstated, however Skinner’s return to The Simpsons bolstered the episode’s establishment disruption.
Sources: YouTube
Vulture‘
