I like the Simpsons. I like Stephen King. What's better than when the Simpsons steal an idea from Mr. King?
.1. In 2000, King was a guest on the Simpsons episode: Insane Clown Poppy.
Marge: So, Mr King, what tale of horror and the macabre are you working on now?
Stephen King: Actually, I'm taking a break from horror for the time being.
Marge: Oh, that's too bad.
Stephen King: At the moment I'm working on a biography of Benjamin Franklin. He was a fascinating man who discovered electricity, and used it to torture children and green mountain men. And that key he tied to a kite - it opened the gates to HELL.
Marge: Well, when you go back to horror will you let me know?
Stephen King: Will do. [writes down a note: CALL MARGE RE: HORROR]
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2. The Simpsons did a parody of The Shining (called The Shinning) in Halloween Treehouse of Horror V.
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3. According to stephenking.grimpuppy.com, King has had references in 6 episodes and had a cameo in a 7th (noted above).
.4. In the Simpsons episode the Joy of Sect Homer and Bart see a bookstore called "Just King and Crichton." That's funny! I wouldn't mind running that bookstore.
.5. Wikipeida notes, "In the episode "Dude, Where's My Ranch?", Moe asks "Ya ever see the movie Misery?", to which an injured man replies "Actually, no." Moe then says "Then this will all be new to you." and the two drive off while menacing music plays." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King_in_popular_culture#The_Simpsons
.Obviously the most cited book by the Simpsons is the Shining. They seem to love it! I laugh at all the people who say the Simpsons should sue S.K. for his use of a Dome. There seems to be a pretty good working relationship between the two.
.I just found this link, which is really cool. It's Stephen King in popular culture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King_in_popular_culture
The Simpsons have referenced Stephen King's books in the show merely as compliments. I'm sure if they did it to rip off King's ideas, they would've made it lot more subtle. I wouldn’t be surprised if The Simpsons had King’s permission to do these references. Also, there has been a few more references to Stephen King’s books since this post has been made. For example, in the episode American History X-Cellent, Mr. Burns gets sent to jail. There are is a reference to Shawshank Redemption, and a reference to The Green Mile in just that episode alone.
ReplyDeleteStephen claimed that he had started writing Under The Dome in the seventies and just got around to working on it again around the time that The Simpsons movie came out. This isn’t hard to believe because King has many unfinished books. I‘d like to think that this is just a funny coincidence, but it's hard to say. My favorite author and my favorite show since birth have always been Stephen King and The Simpson. It’s hard to believe that one could rip off the other because there is a tremendous amount of respect between the two. Perhaps I’m being a bit naïve, but I doubt we’ll ever know for sure.
I just finished Stephen Kings latest novel, "End of Watch". It's a ripoff of the movies "Patrick". 1978 and remade in 2013.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Stephen never saw those movies, either.
King did not copy Under the Dome off The Simpsons movie. Under the Dome is a partial rewrite of a novel King attempted to write first in 1972 under the same title and then a second time in 1982 as The Cannibals. We also known that over 300 thing the Simpsons aired before it happen in real life came true. This is just a write off as another prediction they made.
ReplyDelete