Springfield Googolplex: The Movie Podcast for Fans of The Simpsons

Have you ever watched one of The Simpsons beloved musical numbers and been stumped by what the heck it’s parodying? Join Adam and Nate as they introduce a new miniseries all about the movies behind your favorite Simpsons musical numbers!

Also in this episode:
• The musical DNA of The Simpsons, from Matt Groening to Danny Elfman to Alf Clausen
• How the show slowly bent its own rules to become a Broadway musical (sometimes)
• A preview of the six movies we will be covering in the miniseries
• Plus more bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com

In the first episode (available now), Adam and Nate take shore leave in the Big Apple for On the Town (1949).

Miniseries Air Dates:
5/23 (Today): On the Town (1949)
6/6: My Fair Lady (1964) with Michael Price
6/20: Mary Poppins (1964) with Rachel West
7/4: Paint Your Wagon (1969)
7/18: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
8/1: A Chorus Line (1985)

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In this non-denominational holiday episode, Nate and Adam are joined by special guest Daniel Baptista (co-host of The Movie Podcast) as they revisit It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), one of the top 10 most referenced movies on The Simpsons. From saving the Leftorium to the highly specific disguises of Homer’s guardian angels to a documentary imagining a world without zinc, we’ve got a bevy of Simpsons references to unwrap under the festive bush this year.

Also in this episode:

• The miraculous origins of this movie and the clerical error that made made it a Christmas favorite

• How storytelling in The Simpsons replicates Frank Capra’s mastery of high highs and low lows

• A countdown of the five times this movie makes Nate cry (he’s a softy)

• Nate, Adam and Daniel share their middling Jimmy Stewart impressions

• But is this really a Christmas movie? Adam asks the tough questions

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com.

Adam and Nate look back on the journey so far through the wonderful world of Simpsons movie parodies. They compare the first batch of movies they watched together, and sum up what they’ve learned about film, parody, and The Simpsons.

Also in this episode:

• What movies and directors are referenced most on The Simpsons? (The answer may surprise you.)

• Exploring the full smorgasbord reference types: cinematography, background gags, music, and mashups 

• What the Simpsons chooses to parody, what it doesn’t, and why 

• What the hell is the difference between parody, homage, pastiche, and reference anyways?

• The Simpsons Movie Reference Database, which collects, categorizes, and quantifies every movie reference in the first 13 seasons of The Simpsons

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com.

Adam and Nate explore Jerry Lewis’s The Nutty Professor (1963), who helped inspire the voice and look of Professor Frink on The Simpsons, mm-hey. It’s a colorful, cartoony comedy filled with inventive filmmaking and Rat-Pack swagger. But watching this retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we can’t help but talk about Lewis’s real-life duality, too.

Also in this episode:

• Exploring the cinematography, editing, and writing of the original auteur director

• Professor Frink’s origin, evolution, and best bits

• The process of creating a new Simpsons character

• The rise, fall, and dark side of Jerry Lewis

• On the blog: A roundup of every Simpsons reference to The Nutty Professor

Next week, Adam and Nate talk about what they’ve learned so far about parody on The Simpsons and explore their growing database of 1,500+ movie references. 

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com.

Nate and Adam strap on their spooky names for a very special Halloween viewing of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Wes Craven’s surreal, funny, and maybe even beautiful slasher. Join us as we take our first dip into that near-bottomless well of Simpsons parodies, “Treehouse of Horror,” with a segment from the sixth entry in the series, “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace” (S7E6).

Also in this episode:

• Freddy Krueger’s quippy, MTV-friendly place in the pantheon of iconic slashers 

• Discovering the seeds of Googolplex boys favorite Scream (1996) in Nightmare’s balance of teen drama and humor

• What Fred Astaire, Wes Craven, and Christopher Nolan have in common

• A sidebar on the Simpsons early experiment with 3D animation, and it’s Canadian predecessors Short Circuitz (1994-96) and ReBoot (1994-2001)

• On the blog: A roundup of every Simpsons reference to A Nightmare on Elm Street

Next week, Adam and Nate get their fill of glavins with The Nutty Professor (1963). 

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com.

Nate took Adam to Planet of the Apes (the movie, not the planet), one of the most thoroughly parodied movies on The Simpsons, after Citizen Kane. But will Adam resist its charms, or will Nate finally make a monkey out of him?

Also in this episode:

• One of the wildest movies to ever get a G rating from the MPAA

• A deep dive into Troy McClure’s big musical comeback, arguably the greatest film parody in Simpsons history

• The long shadow of Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone twist ending

• An ode to the bang-on musical parodies of Simpsons composer Alf Clausen

• On the blog: A roundup of every Simpsons reference to Planet of the Apes

Next week, on our spooktacular Halloween episode, Adam “promises” to wake Nate up from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). 

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com.

This week, Nate and Adam revisit Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), our first of many Stanley Kubrick movies we will likely cover on the show, and a favorite of many Simpsons writers. You might remember it from such Simpsons episodes as “Homer the Vigilante” (S5E11) and “Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming” (S7E9).

Also in this episode:

• Is this the best comedy of all time? Is it funny at all?

• The timelessness of nuclear annihilation

• A pet theory about the title of the movie

• Kelsey Grammer gives us Sideshow Bob at his Sideshow Bobbiest (welcome to the snot party)

• Adam and Nate learn who the hell Maynard G. Krebs is

• On the blog: A roundup of every Simpsons reference to Dr. Strangelove

Next week, Nate forces Adam to watch Planet of the Apes (1968) for the first time.

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com.

This week, Nate shares one of his favorite childhood films with Adam, The Karate Kid (1984). Immortalized by The Simpsons in “Dead Putting Society” (S2E6), this VHS classic brings together a potent mix of eighties style, karate action, and touching drama. You’re the best!

Also in this episode:

• Early Bart as a stand-in for Matt Groening

• The unsung filmography of John G. Avildsen, a master of naturalism, underdog stories, and the training montage

• An honest, unglamorous portrait of Los Angeles on film

• Adam and Nate test out a different format for the show (let us know what you think!)

• On the blog: A catalog of every Simpsons reference to The Karate Kid

Next week, Nate and Adam revisit a movie they’ve both only seen once a long time ago, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com.

This week, Adam introduces Nate to You Only Live Twice (1967), perhaps the most ridiculous James Bond film of the Connery era and fodder for the beloved Simpsons episode, “You Only Move Twice” (S8E2). Come for Roald Dahl’s wacky take on the James Bond formula, stay for the tremendous amount of cringe!

Also in this episode:

• Some of Bond’s most outlandish gadgets, including an autogyro named “Little Nellie”

• A case of yellowface that rivals even The Simpsons

• A deep dive into the legacy of Ken Adam’s iconic volcano lair, from The Simpsons to Austin Powers to The Incredibles

• A roundup of favorite James Bond moments from The Simpsons

• A few thoughts on parody mashups and how parodies work when viewers don’t know the source material

Next week, Nate invites Adam to watch The Karate Kid (1984) for the first time.

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com

Welcome to the Springfield Googolplex, the movie podcast for Simpsons fans! In this short episode, Nate and Adam share the inspiration for this podcast, what to expect in upcoming episodes, and their geekiness about movies and The Simpsons.

Also in this episode:

• How The Simpsons writers passed down the • tradition of secondhand movie literacy from Mad Magazine

• Some of Adam and Nate’s favorite Simpsons seasons and episodes

• Finding out that Paint Your Wagon (1969) isn’t just a joke made up for The Simpsons

Now available: In episode 01, Adam introduces Nate to You Only Live Twice (1967), a wild entry in the James Bond series from the twilight of Sean Connery’s run as 007.

Follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Twitter and Instagram! Find bonus content at SpringfieldGoogolplex.com