The Simpsons is a very well-known television series that revolves around the eponymous dysfunctional family. It first aired in 1989 and continues to broadcast new seasons today with well over 700 episodes in total.
This show also exists in the South Park universe, specifically in the episode "The Simpsons Already Did It". At least one of The Simpsons characters, Bart Simpson, exists in South Park; Eric Cartman meets him in "Cartoon Wars Part II". Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening have mutual admiration for each other.
Background[]
"Ike's Wee Wee"[]
A driver shouts "Hey, Mackey! Now we see what you and Homer Simpson have in common, 'D'oh-pe!' Ha ha ha ha!" at Mr. Mackey, a reference to Homer's catchphrase on the show. He even mentions Homer by name.
"The Simpsons Already Did It"[]
The characters of South Park in the style of The Simpsons in "The Simpsons Already Did It".
In the Season Six episode "The Simpsons Already Did It", Butters Stotch, as Professor Chaos, schemes to put South Park in chaos. Dougie reminds him that his ideas are unoriginal because they were already done on The Simpsons:
- Butters wants to block out the Sun, as seen in "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)".
- Butters cuts the head off of a statue, as seen in "The Telltale Head".
- Butters plans to sell a monorail to the town and then leave with all of their money, as seen in "Marge vs. the Monorail".
- Butters plans to start a website that spreads rumors about the townspeople, as seen in "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes".
- Butters plans to bury a winged skeleton wanting people to believe that it is an angel, as seen in "Lisa the Skeptic".
- Butters wants to bring the World Cup to town to incite a soccer riot, as seen in "The Cartridge Family".
- Butters wants to shake up beer cans with electronic paint mixers, as seen in "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show".
The main plot of this episode has Cartman grow a race of Sea Creatures that evolve and worship him as their creator. This is a drawback to the "The Genesis Tub" skit of "Treehouse of Horror VII", where Lisa accidentally grows a civilization from her lost tooth.
By the end of the episode, Butters goes insane and hallucinates the townspeople and the geography of South Park as they would look on the Simpsons. The South Park characters and their The Simpsons counterparts are listed below:
- Dougie as Bart Simpson
- Veronica Crabtree as Otto Mann
- Herbert Garrison as Waylon Smithers
- Tom the News Anchor as Kent Brockman
- Mr. Mackey as Mr. Burns
- Eric Cartman laughs like Nelson Muntz
- Liane Cartman as Lunch Lady Doris
- Timmy Burch as Ralph Wiggum
- Jerome "Chef" McElroy as Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
- Mr. Hat as Groundskeeper Willie
- Stephen Stotch as Seymour Skinner (deleted scene)
- Linda Stotch as Edna Krabappel (deleted scene)
"Cartoon Wars Part II"[]
In "Cartoon Wars Part II", Cartman meets one of the main characters of The Simpsons, Bart Simpson, who shares his hatred of Family Guy. The pair work together to cancel Family Guy. Bart's opinion later changes after Kyle gives him one of his "gay little speeches".
"The Problem with a Poo"[]
Mr. Hankey moves to Springfield after being thrown out of South Park for his offensive behavior.
Character differences between The Simpsons and South Park[]
- The Simpsons' characters have eyes drawn in the South Park style, but the rest of the animation style is closer to how The Simpsons currently look.
- Some of the characters' clothing have different colors and they also have a different hairstyles compared to their original versions, in order to avoid copyright issues.
- Bart Simpson has spikey hair that is slicked back and wears green shorts, whereas on the actual show, his hair points straight up and he wears blue shorts.
- Homer Simpson looks the same as the Simpsons version, except he has an extra strand of hair on top and his pants are teal-colored instead of blue.
- Marge Simpson looks the same as the Simpsons version, except her hair in this episode, tapers towards the top and her shoes are black instead of red.
- Maggie Simpson looks the same, except she is drawn cross-eyed, has a red hairbow instead of blue and her clothing is a darker shade in the episode.
- Lisa Simpson is shown wearing a magenta-colored dress and light pink pearl necklace, whereas in the actual series she wears a red dress and white pearl necklace.
- Mayor Quimby is shown to be wearing a light blue suit and has a short hairstyle while in the actual series he wears a purple suit and has longer hair.
- Moe Szyslak is shown to be wearing a purple bowtie, green shirt, and straight hair when in the actual series he wears a dark blue bowtie, light blue shirt and has curly hair.
- Krusty the Clown is shown to be wearing an indigo shirt, blue pants, and pink shoes when in the actual series he wears a light pink shirt, green pant and red shoes.
- Nelson Muntz is shown to be wearing a light blue shirt and white vest and has dark brown hair. On the show, he wears an orange shirt with a blue vest and his hair is light brown.
- Milhouse Van Houten has a shorter and choppy haircut, wears a light blue shirt, and has large square eyeglass frames. He also appears to be cross-eyed. On the actual show, his hair is slightly longer, he wears a light pink-purple shirt and smaller round eyeglass frames.
- Otto Mann looks very similar to his Simpsons version, except his hair is straightened and his clothing is a shade lighter than on the actual show. His shoes are also black and white in this episode instead of orange and white.
- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon wears a blue jacket, dark indigo blue dress shirt, and tan pants. In the actual series, he wears a green sweater, a black dress shirt, and light tan pants.
- Patty Bouvier has the same earring and necklace color, but her hair is a darker shade of purple, shaped like a square, and she wears a light brown blouse. In the current series, Patty's hair shape is more round and she wears a pink dress in the newer seasons.
- Selma Bouvier looks relatively the same as she does on The Simpsons, except her hair is a darker purple and is not split in the middle.
- Barney Gumble is shown to be balding with some grey hair and wearing a light blue polo shirt with a left pocket and red/white bowling shoe. In the actual series, he has a full head of brown hair, wears an orange polo shirt with no pocket, and blue/white shoes.
- Ned Flanders has light brown hair and a mustache that is somewhat jagged at the edges and is wearing a teal sweater and is not wearing glasses. In the actual series, he has dark brown hair and a mustache that are neatly trimmed, and is wearing a green sweater and is wearing glasses.
- Dr. Hibbert looks the same as his Simpsons version, but his face appears smaller, and has teal-colored pants instead of blue.
- Santa's Little Helper looks the same, except he is a shade lighter than on the actual shown and his eyes are looking in opposite directions.
Gallery[]
.webp "Eric Cartman’s Shadow from Mr. Burnes (Reupload).webp (15 KB)")
Simpsons References to South Park[]
In the Simpsons episode "The Bart of War", Bart and Milhouse watch a "brand new episode of South Park". The episode features Stan, Kyle, and Cartman in concert. There O.J. Simpson attacks and murders the band members. Cartman eventually gets decapitated. Marge Simpson finds the show too violent and turns off the TV. Kenny is absent from this parody, likely due to his permanent death in South Park. Only Stan, out of him, Kyle and Cartman, has a speaking role.
Coincidentally, due to the blending of the two shows' animation styles, the boys appear similarly in this parody as in "The Simpsons Already Did It" except for their usual beige skin color.
In The Simpsons episode "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?", Bart, Milhouse, Nelson, and Ralph stand at a bus stop respectively dressed up as Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. Otto crashes his bus into Ralph and exclaims, "Oh my God, I killed Kenny!".
On the episode "Gorgeous Grampa" when Mr. Burns sings his song he mentions Eric Cartman and other villains, he even shows his shadow.
The chalkboard gag on The Simpsons episode "The Squirt and the Whale" is: "South Park - We'd stand beside you if we weren't so scared". It references the Muhammad controversy from the South Park episode "201". After "Cartoon Wars Part I" aired, The Simpsons writers sent Parker and Stone flowers to thank them.
"Treehouse of Horror XXV" - A version of the Simpsons family in South Park-style animation appears at the end of the episode; with Bart wearing Stan's hat, Lisa wearing Kyle's hat and Maggie Simpson looking like the South Park-version of a Canadian, similarly to Ike.
"The Cad and the Hat" - In the couch gag for this episode, Homer notices that the portrait of the sailboat on the wall is missing and Bart accuses another animated series of stealing it. As a result, Homer travels into the South Park universe (which he describes as a "third-grade diorama") and parodies of The Boys appear, Homer asks them if they stole his portrait, to which they respond by cursing at him.
"Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" - The Simpsons family escape out of Simpsonsworld, a world full of overdone gags of the show, and meet Linda Belcher inside Bob's Burgers Land. While Linda goes preparing their food, the episode ends with alternative cartoon shows in their own worlds, including South Park in South Park Park.
Trivia[]
- Nancy Cartwright was at one point approached to star in South Park, but rejected the offer due to the offensive content the show is known for.
- Some fans refer to Hans Moleman as The Simpsons version of Kenny McCormick since they both get killed in many episodes.
- The Simpsons are based on Matt Groening’s family, which can be seen as parallel to Stan and Kyle's families being based on Trey Parker and Matt Stone's respective families.
See Also[]
External Links[]
- The Simpsons on the Simpsons Wiki
- The Simpsons on Wikipedia