The first episode of the Simpsons produced was the last aired episode of what became the show's first season, the first aired episode happened to be the Christmas episode. It aried on December 17, 1989.
"The Simpsons" was created to go against the grain of what other shows with families were doing at the time period , also a good pairing for Fox's other series "Married with Children"
The Christmas special also presents itself something different than standard Christmas television fare, especially at the time. With this being the first introduced episode this is an introduction to the Simpson family and characters incase you didn't see their shorts on the "Tracey Ullman Show"
It starts with a Christmas presentation at the school with kids presenting a pageant. Lisa Simpson does a Christmas dance and Bart gets in trouble for singing different lyrics to "Jingle Bells" (The Batman Smells version) Already showing a glimpse of their characters' personalities. Marge writing a letter gives the viewers more information.
The main core of the special is to show the Simpsons as a not completely well to do family, the family having Christmas money saved in a jar and hoping Homer gets his Christmas bonus to provide a nice Christmas. Bart wants a Tattoo, and using Homer's line of get one if you use your own money you can get one, he decides to get one.
These parts intersect when the president of the company, Mr. Burns, announces their will be no Christmas bonuses; at least there's the jar, but Marge finds out that Bart got the tattoo and she has to use the jar of money to get the tattoo removed. She's glad for Homer's bonus. It sets a great conflict for the story. Homer is put into a position of worry.
He doesn't want to disappoint his family on Christmas and doesn't tell them that he didn't get his bonus. One of the quiet shots I like is when Homer walks out of his house and stands in front of it, the shot of the neighbor's house having the fancy decorations contrasting the Simpson house with the shoddy lights. It says so much without words giving a great impact to the special and shows what will drive Homer for the plot.
He doesn't want to tell Marge about the bonus so tells her he wants to to do the Christmas shopping that year. He goes to a discount store and buys some very low cost gifts. He bumps into Flanders again, showing the contrast once again. Homer goes to the the bar to drink his troubles and hears about an idea of being a Santa Claus and decides to do that for some extra cash.
He doesn't tell his family about this either. Patty and Selma, Marge's sisters, are also very characterized in this special where you can really tell that they don't like Homer at all. Bart goes to the mall with his friends and notices the Santa Claus (Homer) and his friends challenge him to pull the beard off this is when Bart finds out the truth.
Homer finds out he only gets $13.00, until he gets an idea from Barney to gamble on a dog track to makes more money. Bart even mentions that other Christmas specials and stories as a way of hope. I also like how Lisa corrects her Aunts on their opinions and it's well done where you learn about Lisa's intellect and that she was defending her father from being attacked.
Homer decides to gamble on a dog named Santa's Little Helper. Because Santa, Christmas luck, duh. The Simpsons decides to be subversive and not let this be a Christmas miracle and they lose money. Bart even mentions that TV failed him. The owner of the dog who lost tells his dog to go away and ends up with Homer and Bart.
The ending is great as Bart shows everyone the dog; the family is happy to see their new pet. It's a great special and a great start to the Simpsons. It's a Christmas special with it's own heart and a realism that Early Simpsons really went with well. By itself even, it's a wonderful special. It has the roughness that Early Simpsons had but yet like "A Charlie Brown Christmas "it helps its charm. A wonderfully well done Christmas story, yet going for the idea of not an instant miracle but working out in a way where like Marge says the dog was great gift because it's a way to share their love. Homer does what he does in the episode in the drive to hope that his family has just as good of a Christmas has the neighbors ( I can't believe I didn't say Flanders at all) the charm and heart is there
That's it for now tune in next time, when we work as Santa to find a racing dog.
No comments:
Post a Comment