The Simpsons Fans Regret One of the Biggest Changes From Classic Episodes

As The Simpsons gets ready to return for the second half of Season 36, fans are looking back on one of the big changes from the classic era episodes of the series. The Simpsons is one of the longest running animated series of all time, and through its tenure has seen multiple changes both behind the scenes and on screen. While many of the voices behind it all have remained the same over the years, the way The Simpsons has been brought to life has changed many times through the three and a half decades it’s been on the air thus far.

The Simpsons started out looking like a much different series than fans might see with Season 36’s new episodes coming later this Winter, but it’s much more nuanced than just a change of technology. There’s been an unmistakable change of vibe comparing the look of the earliest seasons to the newest, and dantedarker on Reddit has gone viral for pointing out one of the most subtle but huge differences. It’s all in the way The Simpsons used to have much bigger pupils than they do now.

I love the big pupils era of The Simpsons that's all
byu/dantedarker inTheSimpsons

Why Did The Simpsons Have Big Pupils?

As pointed out as the “big pupils” era of The Simpsons, this comes from the way the characters were animated particularly in the window between Seasons 3 and 5. Hilariously enough, if you go back and listen to any of the commentaries from series creator Matt Groening and the creative team for those episodes, the big pupils were usually a point of concern as something they didn’t like. Even going as far as to label it an animation error in some cases, it did make The Simpsons far more of a cartoon than they were meant to be seen as (especially in the earliest days of the series).

It’s hard to pin down exactly why these big pupils were such a factor in many of the early The Simpsons episodes, but things did change when the series was shifted over from its animation production with Klasky-Csupo (which animated not only the original Tracy Ullman Show shorts but also the first three seasons of the series) to Film Roman (which then took over animation production from Season 4 through to Season 20). But regardless, fans noticed a shift in vibe when these big pupils stopped being a part of the series.

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What’s Next for The Simpsons?

But these changes seen in The Simpsons are also reflective of just how many eras that it has gone through since it all began. The Simpsons has been through some both creative and visual eras through its multiple decade run, and it’s even going through an experimental new era with the latest season. There have been more experimental episodes that are switching the formats from what fans can expect to see with character deaths, voice actor retirements, and even starting off this newest season with its own take on a series finale.

The Simpsons is also branching out outside of broadcast TV with new original episodes exclusively available on Disney+. The first was released during the holidays as the very first double length episode in the series’ history, and the next will be releasing later this month. Teasing a new time travel story featuring Lisa, Mr. Burns and more, “The Past and the Furious” will be exclusively available to stream beginning on February 12th. So it’s time to gear up and see what’s coming up next in the newest era for the long running series.