Simpsons Movie Deleted Scenes detailed in TV Guide

Topic: The Matrix...It's like it's from another millennium

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[Lisabella]

Thought this might be worth its own thread, but if it should be merged with the general movie discussion thread, let me know.

Last week's TV Guide (Glenn Close Cover, Valerie Bertanelli/Simpsons Movie cover sidebar, August 6-12th pull date) has a two page article showing scenes deleted from the Simpsons Movie.  Here's some details fromt he article:

Al Jean guesses there's at least an hour and a half worth of colored and animated footage left on the cutting room floor which could make the DVD - MG says that they should title the delted scenes section "If only they had laughed in Oregon," refering to a test market screening of the movie.  They then detailed five deleted scenes from the movie with stills or sketches.

Scene 1:

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 SHOWS: The multi-eyed squirrel killing a Woodsy The Owl-type costumed park ranger at the EPA headquarters in Cargill's office.  Cargil is shown with his original character model.

REASON FOR BEING: the producers loved the squirrel and wanted it in more scenes; it was nearly Tom Hanks' sidekick in his PSA.

HOW FAR IT GOT: Black and White animation (recently colored) and test screenings; cut from the final product.

Scene 2:

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 SHOWS: The family stowing away in the back of a van filled with treasures of an Egyptian empire.  When they're followed by the police, Homer lights the mummies on fire (!!) and throws them at the police (!?)

REASON FOR BEING: They wanted to "liven up" the second act with a chase scene.

HOW FAR IT GOT: Despite being written for and V.A. work being recorded for it, the scene was cut for not advancing the plot and was never fully animated.

Scene 3:

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 SHOWS: Homer hiding out in the back of a sausage van.  He eats the contents, leaving the happy, sausage-ditty-singing driver aghast and in mourning.

REASON FOR BEING: Gained writer's favor as an improv by Hank Azaria in the recording booth extended the scene.

HOW FAR IT GOT: Made it all the way to test screenings but never made an audience (outside of the writers) laugh, so it got cut.

Scene 4:

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SHOWS: Krusty the Klown trying to comfort his audience when the blackouts strike; when he sticks a flashlight under his chin his skeletal visage only scares them more.

REASON FOR BEING: One of the many vingettes of Springfieldians coping with the blackouts.

HOW FAR IT GOT: Despite the fact that the gag made everyone laugh, it was cut for plot constraints and never fully animated.

Scene 5:

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SHOWS: In a more direct parody of the DaVinci Code, Marge goes to Reverand Lovejoy for council when Grandpa has his vision.  Lovejoy takes Marge to the church's surveilence system, which is located high in the rafters; he shows Marge the footage of Grandpa's freak-out and they both witness Moe stealing from the collection plate.

REASON FOR BEING: Obviously, it was the original opening which drove the plot.

HOW FAR IT GOT: Was fully animated but cut to make the scene flow more smoothly.

[Kiyosuki]

Yeah there were tons of cut scenes. Supposedly almost a movie's worth, I really hope they're all on the DVD.

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Personally, the scene with Russ and the one with Krusty here you mentioned I think were pretty painful sounding losses. Even though they changed Russ' design I feel like a scene like that, that better spells out the character would have made him a much more effective villain character, even with just one extra scene. Otherwise he's more a funny plot device than anything.

The Krusty scene, even though it turns out with him doing more damage, I think could have been a funny but at the same time endearing scene. I mean think about it, he may fuck it up because he looks scary but he's not on TV anymore, its not about the ratings at that point. He's just trying to keep the kiddies happy. It sounds like it could have been a strangely touching scene for a jaded character like him. And the possibility that that was only one of many other "how the blackout/breakdown affected them" scenes is a little sad too. That really could have emphasized what makes the characters and town so charming. Like they may not be perfect at all and they kinda brought it on themselves to an extent, but then when things are at their worst you can kinda see a lot of people's better or different sides.

Its like that Springfield Anthem scene that was included in the 10 DVD. I'm not sure if it was right to cut it or not, I can see how it may have made the flow weird, but at the same time its such a poignant sounding scene too because it harpers back to Bart's Comet. Everyone's about to die, and then beginning with Barney they just go "what the hell, lets just go out with an improvised song number". Like literally improvised, no background music. Its such a Springfield thing to do I love it.

Another cut scene was one more scene explaining what happened to the pig. Now from a not so analytical point of view I think even some small hint of what happened to the pig should have been pretty necessary, it was somewhat of a plot hole.

[Lisabella]

Responding:

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The Krusty scene was my favorite of the five shown, too - simple, but the very idea made me laugh.  Actually, none of the premised scenes made me cringe except for the mummy one, which sounds way too wacky for the tone that gets established.

RE: Plopper - I think that might be the callback to the movie we get in the opening of the first episode of the new season?  Unless the poor thing was sucked down the sinkhole never to be seen again...