"I think Lisa would be a fan for certain parts of it because there's a grand mythology to Star Wars," Grode said. "There's a certain kind of intelligence behind it, and that's the kind of thing Lisa would like." Morrison agreed, adding, "She would be really into Yoda." On the other hand, Grode added, "The funny Wookiee costume is something Ralph Wiggum would be into."
Asking which Springfield characters, if any, would not like Star Wars, Morrison thought for a moment and said, "Sideshow Bob would definitely not be into it." But Grode disagreed arguing, "One of the greatest things about Star Wars is you can find a line for anyone to find value in it. Sideshow Bob would like how Star Wars is empowering a young person to see things and make himself somebody, which Sideshow Bob wants children to do."
The bitter Springfield shopkeeper known simply as "The Comic Book Guy," Morrison added would "resent other fans and would be critical of Star Wars just to have an opposing view. He probably wouldn't like the Special Edition."
The most recent Simpsons/Star Wars moment came on "The Last Temptation of Krust," when Krusty the Clown grabbed a cup of joe at a coffee shop called "Java the Hutt." The quick joke came about simply because, said Selman, "we needed a funny name for a coffee shop."
But Selman revealed that there may be a much grander Star Wars tie-in coming next season. "I was talking to one of the writers who's working on a script right now where the first act takes place in a sci-fi convention," Selman told the Insider. "This could change, because everything gets rewritten, but in one scene Mark Hamill is there and he says something like, "I only have time to sign one autograph," and the crowd riots. Mark Hamill loves the show and does a lot of voice-over stuff, so that'll be a good opportunity for us to try to do Star Wars jokes."
If the episode is produced as planned, it could be the most prominent Simpsons/Lucasfilm tie-in since 1994 when a Simpsons parody of the classic THX "The Audience is Listening" trailer was adapted to become a real THX trailer shown in theaters.
It all started with the episode entitled "Burns' Heir," which was originally shown on April 14, 1994. In an early scene, a Springfield movie house showing Siskel and Ebert: The Movie runs a THX trailer in which the volume gets so loud that Hans Moleman's glasses shatter, a man's teeth break, and another man's head explodes. When it's over, everyone cheers anyway, except for Grampa Simpson, who cries, "Turn it up!"
"We knew The Simpsons was going to spoof THX," said THX marketing manager Kim Yost. "We had been talking with them about what they needed for the segment, and it was a lot of fun. Howard Roffman (currently vice president of Lucas Licensing) was running THX," Yost continued, "and I understood from Howard that he was with George Lucas and George basically said, 'This is very funny! We've got to make this into a trailer -- this is great!"
Roffman and Yost enlisted the Simpsons' animators to re-animate the segment for film-aspect ratio, tweaking the timing of the piece a bit so that it would work as a THX trailer, but leaving the essential story and humor intact. From there, sound was mixed at Skywalker Sound, and the trailer was in theaters by the 4th of July -- less than three months after the episode aired on Fox.
"The Simpsons marked a departure because it was a fun spoof of our classic," Yost said, "Today, in that spirit, we have our Tex character, and he also uses the classic trailer sound for his little adventures. We were thrilled The Simpsons wanted to include THX. The response was tremendous. To this day it's a favorite of many, and we get a lot of requests for it."
Yost said Lucasfilm and the Simpsons team have a great working relationship. "They're great," she said. "There's just a nice collaboration."
Simpsons writer Selman joked that the collaboration could go even further. "Maybe the new Star Wars movies will have Simpsons references," he suggested. "I believe the young Luke is going to be based on Milhouse."
D'oh!
