In this bonus minisode, Nate, Adam, and film critic Dede Crimmins give their bite-sized reviews of Guillermo Del Toro’s new adaptation of Frankenstein (2025), as well as their thoughts on the year in horror movies so far. 

Stay tuned next week for our full episode with Dede on Frankenstein (1931) and “Treehouse of Horror II” (S3E7).

Lobby Chats are short bonus episodes where Adam and Nate share their thoughts on new releases, what they’re watching besides The Simpsons, and more.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us at @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.

What with the grim specter of everything, Halloween just wasn’t enough to contain all the frights and chills! Simpsons writer Dan Vebber joins the podcast to extend the spooky season by walking us through his award-winning episode “Thanksgiving of Horror” (S31E8) and its parody of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror masterpiece, Alien (1979).

Also in this episode:

• Why Martin Prince is the perfect stand-in for the android Ash

• Alien’s connection to H.P. Lovecraft

• Adam and Dan’s defense of Alien³

• The story of Dan’s son’s first word… while watching Apocalypto 

Plus, check out our show notes for a complete list of Simpsons references, double feature suggestions, and further reading

Next time, film critic and horror aficionado Dede Crimmins returns to reanimate Frankenstein (1931), and its double parody in “Treehouse of Horror II” (S3E7).

For more of Dan’s work, tune in to new episodes of The Simpsons Sundays at 8pm (EST) on Fox and the day after on Hulu.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us at @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.

Adam and Nate are joined by film critic Norm Wilner to revisit I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and its parody in “Treehouse of Horror X” (S11E4), one of the most movie parody-packed episodes of The Simpsons ever. Does Norm still agree with his pull quote on every home release of this movie that says it’s “a pure fright machine [that] scares the hell out of you”? (Did he ever?)

Also in this episode:

• Screenwriter Kevin Williamson’s meta impact on pop culture

• Does this movie work better as a ghost movie or a whodunnit? 

• Norm’s theory about the deep cut reference behind werewolf Flanders

• Could the recent legasequel be an improvement on the original?

Plus, check out our show notes for a complete list of Simpsons references, double feature suggestions, and further reading

Next time, we’ll be nursing our Halloween hangover with a little horror hair of the dog. Simpsons writer Dan Vebber joins us to talk about his incredibly ambitious episode “Thanksgiving of Horror” (S31E8) and its parody of Alien (1979). 

For more of Norm’s work, check out his podcast Someone Else’s Movie and his physical media newsletter Shiny Things.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us at @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.

Adam and Nate celebrate their 50th episode by breaking down AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies list through the lens of The Simpsons. If we reorder these 100 movies by how many times they were referenced on The Simpsons, can we create a different canon of American film?

Also in this episode:

• What are the canonical films that The Simpsons never parodied in the classic years?

• The time capsule that is the “100 Years… 100 Movies” TV special

• Does The Simpsons parody movies because they’re influential, or are these movies influential because they’re parodied on The Simpsons?

• Trivia and favorite moments from the last three years of the podcast

Plus, check out our show notes for our completely reordered list of AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies based on the number of Simpsons references, and further reading

Next time, film critic Norm Wilner joins the podcast to kick off our spooky season with I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and “Treehouse of Horror X” (S11E4).

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.

Adam and Nate debate the virtues of Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (1985) on its 40th anniversary. At least they can agree that “Bart Sells His Soul” (S7E4) is pretty much a perfect Simpsons episode.

Also in this episode:

• Uncle Moe’s Family Feedbag and the restaurants that inspired it

• Is the dream logic of this movie enticing or frustrating?

• The wild and wooly world of 1980s New York

• Why does the Comic Book Guy want to buy a little boy’s soul?

Plus, check out our show notes for a complete list of Simpsons references, double feature suggestions, and further reading

Next time, Adam and Nate celebrate our 50th episode with a special look at how Simpsons parodies stack up against the canon of American film!

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network. 

Hey, that gum you like is finally back in style. That’s right! We’re kicking off another season of the Springfield Googolplex with the thrilling conclusion of “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part Two” (S7E1) and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). Plus, we have a uniquely qualified guest to guide us through the Venn diagram of The Simpsons and Twin Peaks, the multitalented musician, writer and podcaster Allie Goertz! 

Also in this episode:

• Is Fire Walk with Me the ultimate test of how expectations shape the movie experience?

• Which Springfieldians would we cast as the various denizens of Twin Peaks?

• Can we crack the symbolism of Twin Peaks, or does it even matter?

• Our secret favorite movies that we always to justify have to people

Plus, check out our show notes for a complete list of Simpsons references, double feature suggestions, and further reading

Next time, Adam and Nate will catch up with Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (1985) on its 40th anniversary, alongside its parody in “Bart Sells His Soul” (S7E4).

Featuring “The Becoming“ by Allie Goertz from her latest album, Peeled Back. For more of Allie’s work, check out the complete runs of her two podcasts, Round Springfield and Fire Talk With Me.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.

In this bonus minisode, Nate and Adam give their bite-sized reviews of the recently released The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and how it stacks up against Superman.

Our latest special summer episode covered the scandalous story of Roger Corman’s unreleased The Fantastic Four (1994), alongside Stan Lee’s guest star appearance in The Simpsons episode “I Am Furious (Yellow).” So with that in mind we ask, did the MCU break it or make it better?

Lobby Chats are short bonus mini-episodes where Adam and Nate share their thoughts on new releases, what they’re watching besides movies parodied on The Simpsons, and more.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network. 

With The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters this week, Nate and Adam felt inspired to cover the latest MCU blockbuster. But in the absence of a press pass, we decided to watch Roger Corman’s unreleased The Fantastic Four (1994) instead! We also revisit “I Am Furious (Yellow)” (S13E18), the most Marvel-icious episode of the classic era of The Simpsons.

Also in this episode:

• The behind-the-scenes Hollywood shenanigans that kept this film from seeing the light of day 

• Is Stan Lee one of the best guest stars ever on The Simpsons?

• Roger Corman’s surprising influence on The Simpsons movie references

• An ode to the golden era of internet cartoons

Plus, check out our show notes for a complete list of Simpsons references, double feature suggestions, and further reading

We will return with regular biweekly episodes in September. Until then, keep an eye out for more special one-off episodes and new articles on our blog.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.

With the 36th season of The Simpsons recently wrapping up, we invited the current showrunner Matt Selman to sit down with us and talk all about the most recent season, its many movie parodies, his own relationship with the movies, and more. We even got a sneak preview of a few upcoming episodes of season 37!

Also in this episode:

• Why movie parodies on The Simpsons these days are longer, more elaborate, and more niche than ever

• Is prestige TV displacing cinema as the parody of choice?

• The most Simpsons-y part of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning

• A lightning round about possible movie references in season 36 

Plus, check out our blog for instructions on how to run a movie box office draft like The Simpsons writers room

We will return with regular biweekly episodes in September. Until then, keep an eye out for more special one-off episodes and new articles on our blog.

Watch season 36 of The Simpsons on Hulu and Disney+, including a new collection page and non-stop stream on Disney+.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.

In our season finale, Adam and Nate celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of The Simpsons’ most famous season finales, “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part One” (S6E25). To complement Mr. Burns’s fiendish scheme to block out the sun, we paired it with Goldfinger (1964), the James Bond movie that invented much of the formula that every later movie in the series either imitates or plays against.

Also in this episode:

• The brassy music of John Barry and Shirley Bassey that became synonymous with espionage and gadgetry

• What set pieces hold up best, and why is the correct answer the industrial laser scene?

•The imperceptible craft that pulls together the behind-the-scenes patchwork of this movie

• Can James Bond survive his latest encounter with an ambitious bald billionaire?

• Plus, check out our show notes for a complete list of Simpsons references, double feature suggestions, and further reading.

Springfield Googolplex will return in September 2025 with the thrilling conclusion to “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” (S7E1), alongside a mystery movie pairing. In the meantime, we will be taking a break to produce our next season, but keep an eye out for a few very special summer episodes.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.