David Cooper posts
Posts: 676
Files: 1703
0354 - Della
As much as Lionel Hutz gets repeat appearances and a lasting legacy, his seemingly long-suffering secretary does not get as much of a chance to shine after this. At least she gets a name, which is more than most!Homer does not seem to recognise her, even though she was at Shotgun Pete's, the chapel where he got married a decade ago (as seen in season 3's "I Married Marge"):The most...
BONUS! Orderly and Colleague
There must be balance in the universe. We covered two major characters this week, so we must even things out with two characters you never knew existed:This is the way.It is possible that Homer's colleague is oneof theseguys, but sometimes with these background nobodies taken from a character back it's hard to tell! Obviously none of them are especially defined - or even centred on in fram...
0353 - Lionel Hutz
It feels pretty set in stone that Miguel Sanchez here is one of the all time great Simpsons characters. I'd probably put him in my personal top ten, alongside classics like Manand Old Lady.He smashes into this episode like a wrecking ball and is an instant classic - it's easy to see why they kept bringing him back, and by all accounts Phil Hartman was a joy to work with (we'll save the...
0352 - The Devil
Hmm, this might be a tricky one to define.This is the first appearance of "Devil Classic", as I am going to call him. He appears a few times very early on, in the "Do The Batman" video, or three episodes from now in "Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment":As far as the show is concerned at this point, this is Satan, Lucifer, The Devil, The Big Guy...um...Downstairs, eve...
BONUS! Old Lady, Simpson Relatives and Snowball
A few bits and bobs from the opening two minutes and twenty five seconds of this episode.This lady's snazzy dress stuck out for me, so here she is, forever immortalised. Congratulations, old lady with dog, you made it!As we established yesterday, we cannot say for sure that this kid is Abe, nor can we 100% say that is his mother, I suppose. But is it Great Grandma Simpson, she looks extremely ...
0351 - Great Grandpa Simpson
One of those characters where it's debatable how much he "counts" for our little project. But if you listen closely, you can hear his grumbling as he strangles his (presumed) son. That counts as a line!Bart refers to him specifically as "Great Grandpa SIMPSON", and so we can determine that this is Abe's father (assuming none of his other three great Grandpas are also Simpso...
0350 - Sewer Worker
This episode is FULL of major characters! More significance per capita than perhaps ever before.But not this guy.He has a Homer-esque scream as Bart skateboards over him, retreats to the sewers, then briefly returns. It's not the strongest story arc the series has had, but at least he gets to share screen time with legendary Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. We'll do a deep dive into his ...
Itchy & Scratchy & Marge - round up!
I know that Roger Myers Jr is the most "important" new addition to the Springfield cast, but I'm pulling rank here and giving MVP to the Marge Squirrel.I didn't cover it with any specific character, but a lot of this episode is inspired by Terry Rakolta, and her protest of Simpsons channel mate Married...with Children, which lost sponsors following Rakolta's campaign against th...
0349 - Reporter
Another day, another reporter! I wonder if we'll ever stop the tradition of meeting new reporters for a single scene.By my count, this is the eighth unnamed news reporter we've encountered, and that's not including old favourites like Kent Brockman, Scott Christian, Dave Shuttonor "Phil". She's only the second lady one though, because the world is sexist.She's the last ...
BONUS! Protestor and Dr Marvin Monroe
This protestor is one of those fun designs that stuck out to me.And while I checked the episode for screenshots, I noticed he had already popped up at the Simpson house.On a similar theme of "acknowledging multiple appearances of minor characters while we have them", here's Dr Monroe again.We're not gonna see Marvin very much before his alleged death, so we might as well catalogue ...
Patreon Prints - July 2024
Another two print month! It would have seemed unfair to separate these two.Lenny was a kind of self-indulgent piece celebrating the fictional character who has probably had most impact on my life. I didn't expect other people to like it so much, but people voted for it! Everyone loves Lenny! And Mt Carlmore was an experimetation with a new style for me, I've been trying to branch out in ho...
0348 - Art Curator
I'm noticing the further we get with these single-appearance nobodies, the less documentation they have in the online fandom. This gentleman appears in two scenes but has no dedicated page on the Simpsons Wiki - either of them.Here he is tastefully covering Michelangelo's David's penis, even though it was shown seconds prior. Part of me is tempted to do a list of times genitals have ap...
BONUS! Other Writers, Mailman, OTHER Other Writers and Kid
Firstly, we needed to cover the rest of the writers/board room members.We have now spent approximately two weeks discussing this single shot. It's over, move on.Secondly, this Cliff Clavin looking fella.I am glad I don't have to draw every single mailman from this, frankly, ridiculous shot:Here's where the meat of today's word-broth is:The other writers weren't based on anybody...
0347 - Squirrel
The main event! The character you have all been waiting for from this episode.You can just hear her already, can't you? "Don't do that, don't do that!" I know that technically Roger Myers Jr is a more significant addition to the Simpsons-verse from this episode, but this angry squirrel is far more memorable to me.Could you say she was the inspiration for Sandy Cheeks? No, proba...
0346 - Writer
The last of the maybe-writers to speak at this table is this lady.The script refers to her and the previous gentleman as board members, so their leanings towards cartoon violence are somewhat welcome.Despite her distinctive appearance, we won't see this lady again.This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
0345 - Writer
I've categorised all these guys as "writers", even though we all know writers don't dress like that.I guess it's possible these are corporate executives of some kind, but this guy suggests they hit Marge on the head with a piano, and corporate executives aren't usually that fun.I do not believe this guy is based on anyone in real life, as no one has hair like that.This post...
BONUS! Corporal Punishment
This is a strange one! If you were to ask me to list every Simpsons character before I started this project, I absolutely would have remembered Corporal Punishment eventually, but I'm not sure he ever gets a line or anything more significant than a cameo.Maybe he is a good example of how deep I was in the Simpsons cult, that this one-note character somehow left enough of an impact that I consi...
0344 - Writer
This gent shows up early in the episode, reading Marge's angry letter:But it is not until the boardroom scene in which Roger Myers Jr asks for suggestions that he gets a line:And perhaps most crucially in this episode, he is the creator of a new character for Itchy & Scratchy to torment.(We'll get to her another day.)One of the fun things about Itchy & Scratchy episodes within the world of...
0343 - Man With Head Injury
This one might be controversial? This guy raises his hand in Marge's SNUH protest and possibly says "YEAH!" in Dan's voice.There's no real lip-sync, but I believe it is fully the show's intention that he is the one loudly answering Marge's question ("How many of you were his in the head with mallets last week?").Like I say: controversial. But I'm a renegade,...
BONUS! Itchy, Scratchy, Itchy, Scratchy, Janey's Mum and Secretary
I don't really enjoy drawing Itchy and Scratchy, for some reason, I never feel like I get them "right". But nevertheless, my compulsive dedication requires me to document their alternate appearances in the two shorts shown at the start of this episode.The real star of today's post is Janey's mother. Dearest reader, I am not exaggerating when I tell you I gasped when she appears...
0342 - Roger Myers Jr
Is it Myers or is it Meyers? This episode gives us both options. Sometimes names are multiple choice, baby!This is the first of three appearances in which this character is voiced by Alex Rocco - his other two being "The Day The Violence Died" and "The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show", in season 7 and 8 respectively. Myers appears occasionally between season 2 and 7, but he is ...
Bart The Daredevil - round up!
The last two minutes of this episode make it one of the most important ones we've covered yet in terms of the show finding its footing. Looking ahead, I can only see one other episode this season with a moment that comes close to the Springfield Gorge jump, and when combined with the introduction of Dr Hibbert (our biggest character this season so far?), "Bart the Daredevil" is probabl...
BONUS! Lion, Bart the Daredevil, Lance Murdock, Kid and...uh...Bart the Daredevil...again.
We have covered every speaking character in this episode, but let's skip back a bit for a bonus-o-rama.My favourite joke in the episode is not Homer falling down Springfield Gorge, but is Lance Murdock adding a lion to the deadly pool he jumps over. It's very silly, and is made funner by the fact that the lion seemingly gets his revenge moments later.There are two instances of Bart's d...
0341 - Park Ranger
The final character of "Bart the Daredevil" is an extremely minor one, with only one line: "Hello children, and welcome to Springfield Gorge".In the production script, she has a larger role: her name is Ranger Smythe, and she gives a few facts about Springfield Gorge before Bart decided to jump across it. As she never gets to issue information in the final episode, let's use th...
0340 - Dr Julius Hibbert
The most significant introduction of this episode, by far! Suffice to say, I will not be doing that thing where I track down and list every single one of this character's appearances.Dr Hibbert's first appearance is not what we're used to from him, and not what the character is known for. His demeanour is serious and dour, and without a single chuckle through his two scenes. As far as ...
0339 - Lance Murdock
Lance has a very big debut here, being Bart's inspiration for the episode and then later getting a full scene with our main characters.This well rounded (certainly more prolific than most of the weirdos we cover here) appearance implies to me that Lance was intended to be a partially recurring character. The fact that he is voiced by Dan, and not a guest star, means he could have shown up ofte...
Patreon Prints - June 2024
There were a few potential prints vying for people's attention last month, so in June/July I'll be sending out two prints to people! It's two print Summer!This month the prints will be Legend of the Mole-Man and Kako's Order. This is the first Mole-Man thing I've printed, but there might be more coming soon! And Kako's Order looks like the sort of thing you can classily han...
BONUS! Crowd Members
We're seeing more and more stadium crowds in the show, it feels like. Bad for the animators perhaps but good for me, a weirdo archiving strange Simpsons background characters.I especially like the freaks with beady eyes and/or "Simpson flesh hair", in which they are possibly bald but have weird shaped heads. Although at various points it is demonstrated that Bart/Lisa actually so have ...
0338 - Leo G Clark
It's Leo G Clark, inventor, owner and operator of Truckasaurus!He's so specifically named, and even designed, that I thought maybe he could be a reference to an existing person. Robosaurus's inventor was Douglas Malewicki (and he doesn't look like this guy), and the only Leo G Clark I found was an elevator operator in New York (I suspect this is coincidence.) If you have any furthe...
0337 - Man
He's like, an insurance claims inspector or something. I don't know. The production script refers to him as "Jack Scraper", I can't tell if that name is super cool or super lame (apologies to any Jack Scrapers reading this.)It seems strange that he's even a part of the episode, he's just there to hand Marge a cheque covering the damage caused by Truckasaurus. This is re...
