David Cooper
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🕑 Added 2022-10-31 09:00:06 +0000 UTCHappy Halloween! Let's celebrate with a spooooky look at Springfield's in-universe horror franchise! I totally planned this and the date lining up was definitely on purpose!
This is one of two actors who appears in Space Mutants 4: The Trilogy Continues.
In the film, they are eaten by a space mutant. Our glimpses of these films imply little happens in the plot, merely that people are attacked constantly by space mutants, like some sort of intergalactic snuff film.
This is actually the second appearance of the Space Mutants franchise, we first encountered these films in the Tracey Ullman short "Scary Movie". They aren't really a parody of anything specific, there's certainly no film franchise from the era that they seem to mirror, and are probably an homage to the kind of 50s sci-fi b-movies that the writers will have grown up watching.
Of course, despite having at least 12 films, the biggest appearance of the space mutants are in the 1991 video game "Bart vs the Space Mutants".
Please don't make me play this game.
That's harsh. I might play this game. The weird self-appointed job of "Simpsons researcher" I've fallen into means I might at some point cover all these 90s video games in a little more detail, but for today I'm just going to focus on the very strange fact that the plot of this game isn't a dream or fantasy or anything, and that Bart has to literally fight the creatures he knows from a movie. The canonicity of Simpsons is obviously sketchy at best (that's the fun of this project), so there's no reason not to believe that between episodes, Bart fought actual aliens that he had previously thought were a work of fiction.
Like, imagine if a xenomorph suddenly showed up and you had to fight it. You'd be more confused than scared. And in a way, isn't that the scariest thing of all? No, no it isn't. The scariest thing of all is sharks with legs. What was I talking about?
Oh yeah: Happy Halloween.
This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
Comments
David Cooper
I intend to do a full playthrough of it at some point! I've referenced it here and there through this project but never sat down and played it start to finish. It's definitely a cornerstone of the merchandise of this era. Honestly, I need to play through more of the games...they're just most a slog, is the problem!
Connor
I think that you'd enjoy at least watching a 'Let's Play' of Bart vs the Space Mutants. It's notoriously obscure and difficult, but the first level in particular has a very detailed exploration of Springfield circa Season 1, with an almost point-and-click approach to using objects to solve puzzles. You can prank-call Moe, visit Candy Most Dandy, chat with the statue of Jebediah Springfield and much more. Surprisingly thorough for a game from 1991- almost the 'Virtual Springfield' of its time. The game falls off a cliff after the first stage (and going by the YouTube comments, not many people made it further than that), but it holds a lot of nostalgia for me to this day. It was my introduction to The Simpsons, having grown up in that strange pre-1996 era in the UK where Season 1 episodes were practically the only ones that were easy to get a hold of!
Isaac Guysaac
FWIW people have uploaded "game movies" where it's just all the major cutscenes stitched together. For the PS2 game that had wonky 3D cutscenes, there's even a really dedicated fan who's re-animating them all in the show's style https://youtu.be/9EZGciae8aw
David Cooper
Ooh good idea. I've been hoping to play that game soon but it's not the easiest these days.
David Cooper
I'm a little late but Happy Halloween! Or I'm early for nextyear.
Isaac Guysaac
You might have to illustrate Will Wright's appearance as himself in The Simpsons Game if you do. A terrifying thought.
sea
Wonder if they're near the lake where the sexy teens were killed 100 years ago today. Happy Halloween ๐
