The Simpsons Archive
Encyclopedia
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
fan site
Fansite
A fansite, fan site, or fanpage is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee interested in a celebrity, thing, or a particular cultural phenomenon...
that has been online since 1994. Maintained by dozens of volunteers from—amongst other places—the newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
alt.tv.simpsons
Alt.tv.simpsons
alt.tv.simpsons is a usenet newsgroup dedicated to discussing the American television program, The Simpsons. Created in 1990, the newsgroup became a popular community in the early 1990s, and continues to exist as of 2011.The newsgroup is known for reviewing the episodes and nitpicking on minor...
and Simpsons-related forums
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
, the site features information on every aspect of the show, from detailed guides to upcoming episodes and merchandise
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
, to the episode capsules (text files documenting freeze frame jokes, quotes, scene summaries, reviews and the like), for which the site is well-known. In a bid to steer clear of Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
's legal department after a conflict in 1996, the site contains no multimedia or interactive features, preferring to focus on documenting the show through textual material. As of October, 2005, the site receives roughly 1.2 million hits per month.
The Archive began in 1994, the brainchild of Gary Goldberg, with extensive help from the members of alt.tv.simpsons at the time, including Raymond Chen, the first to compile the episode capsules, and Dave Hall, one of the first online Simpsons fans to champion list-compiling. The site, originally based on the Widener archive set up by Brendan Kehoe
Brendan Kehoe
Brendan Patrick Kehoe was an Irish-born software developer and author. Born in Dublin, he was raised in China, Maine in the United States. In his early teens, he was first exposed to computing when he was given a Commodore 64 computer and he used this machine to teach himself about computing and...
in 1989, featured a bright yellow and black design until 1998, when it was revamped to the more subdued style to which it remains today.
Site contents
FAQFAQ
Frequently asked questions are listed questions and answers, all supposed to be commonly asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic. "FAQ" is usually pronounced as an initialism rather than an acronym, but an acronym form does exist. Since the acronym FAQ originated in textual...
s, Guides and Lists : FAQs, character files, merchandise information, broadcast history and, as the name would suggest, various lists (such as the cast list, couch gags, blackboard gags, song lyrics etc.)
Upcoming Episodes : Guides to upcoming national schedules in the countries of (including, but not limited to) USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, as well as details on episodes in production.
Episode Guide : Brief episode synopsis for each episode, including guest stars and first character appearances.
Episode Capsules : Probably the site's most well-known feature: comprehensive text files documenting quotes and scene summaries, freeze-frame jokes, reviews, animation errors and any other insight necessary. The capsules are mostly compiled from documentation posted to alt.tv.simpsons. The episode capsule is a convention that has since crossed over to many other TV show fansites and newsgroups, including co-Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
animation Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
. Currently incomplete (it contains all episodes up to thirteenth season
The Simpsons (season 13)
The Simpsons thirteenth season originally aired on the Fox network between November 6, 2001 and May 22, 2002 and consists of 22 episodes. The show runner for the thirteenth production season was Al Jean who executive-produced 17 episodes...
's "The Bart Wants What It Wants
The Bart Wants What It Wants
"The Bart Wants What it Wants" is the eleventh episode of The Simpsons thirteenth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 17, 2002. In the episode, Bart befriends Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter, Greta...
", but none from thereafter).
Miscellaneous : A collection of both internal and external copies of academic papers, articles, interviews and the like relating to the show, dating back as far as 1987.
Simpsons-L : The site's own e-mail-based discussion group
Mailing list
A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is referred to as "the mailing list", or simply "the...
, with over 1000 members. This list is moderated to prevent spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
.
Web links : A comprehensive list of links to hundreds of other related sites, from fansites and character sites to the homepages of the cast
Cast member
A cast member is:* An actor who performs in a theatrical production, motion picture, or television program. The actors who perform in the show are collectively referred to as the cast....
and official
Official
An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...
sites.
The Springfield Times : A news
News
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
page, home to articles on new Simpsons-related information, events and products, as well as to the two sub-sections of DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
News and Movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
News.
In addition to this, the site offers a search facility and an About the Archive page which allows you to contact any of the various maintainers and check which new pages and episode capsules have been added since your last visit.
Publicity
The site has been featured in many publications, including the UK magazineMagazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
WebUser, in which the site ranked #3 in their list of the "Top 100 TV Websites" back in 2002, and several unofficial Simpsons books including the analytical Planet Simpson by Chris Turner and the UK-issued episode guides Pocket Essentials: The Simpsons by Peter Mann and I Can't Believe It's A Bigger, Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide by Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood. In Planet Simpson, Turner thanks the Simpsons Archive, saying that the book would have been impossible without it.
Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
, creator of the show, was once quoted in the Argentinian
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
La Nación
La Nación
La Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
as saying: "Sometimes we have to look at fan sites to remember [what we have done before]: one of the best is www.snpp.com. I have no idea what those initials mean, but it has a lot of stuff. Though for them, every episode is the worst ever." Reviews from the site's episode capsules have also been mentioned in the DVD commentaries
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
by various members of the show's staff.
In 2007, it was ranked number five on Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s list of "25 essential fansites".