Each month, we will have a summary of the news from the past month, with all the episode airings, comic releases, Tapped Out updates and anything else you can think of.
Episode news
The Simpsons Movie 2?
January 4th saw “The Man Who Came To Be Dinner” air after a two year wait. It was originally supposed to be the season finale of season 24. No explanation for this was given, until recently. The episode was intended to be the second Simpsons Movie. The producers intended to make it a sequel, but eventually decided to make it an ordinary episode.
Al Jean stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
“Two of the allures were exploring the rules of the new world and the cinematic nature of doing something in space,” says Jean. “But then we were worried that people might think it’s an idea that’s not canonical—it doesn’t really happen, unlike all of other 560 episodes that really ‘happened’—so the ultimate decision was to air it as an episode,” Jean explains. “It just got to the point where if we were unsure about it as a movie, then it would be good to air the episode. And then if we do a movie, we’d just think of something else…. So if you want to know what was thought of a possible Simpsons Movie 2, we just aired it—for free. You can see it for free!”
The episode saw the Simpsons heading to the homeworld of Kang and Kodos where they were to become their next meal.
A 25 year old script finally becomes an episode!
Back in season one of the show, a fairly new comedy writer wrote a script for The Simpsons which was filed away and lost. 25 years later, that episode, written by the now famous Judd Apatow, finally aired. “Bart’s New Friend” sees Homer get hypnotized into thinking he’s a 10 year old kid, who then becomes friends with Bart.
Elon Musk comes to Springfield
January 25th saw inventor Elon Musk come to Springfield. He and Homer become fast friends and together attempt to revolutionize the Nuclear Power Plant. However, when Musk goes too far, Homer has to break off his friendship with Musk.
See also: “The Musk Who Fell To Earth” promo images released and Two New Promotional Images for “The Musk Who Fell To Earth”
Tapped Out news
Queen Helvetica of Equalia!
Christmas was taken down on January 14th and the snow had all melted away. The next day, Gil came along with a limited time offer for a castle and a new costume for Lisa, for the low, low price of 175 donuts. Read all about what happened here.
See also: A Royal Welcome
Willie Becomes a Slave
A tie-in update for the upcoming episode “The Musk Who Fell To Earth” was released on January 21st. This saw a new costume for Willie come with a new questline tying into the upcoming episode. It’s too late to get any content from it now, but read about it in our article.
See also: Willie’s slave laboring – technically – in a new tie-in!
The Mafia Returns
On January 28th, Level 49 hit. This update came with two new characters, three new buildings, three new decorations and… a new strip of land! Read all about the update in our article.
See also: The Springfield Mafia returns and Land, Glorious Land!
Comic news
New comic releases
Simpsons Comics #217 was released on January 21st. Bart Simpson #94 was released on January 28th.
Comic stories for these issues will be added before this is published.
See also: Simpsons Comics #217 now for sale! and Bart Simpson #94 now available!
Miscellaneous news
MythBusters
January 10th saw a special The Simpsons special episode of MythBusters air. This special sees the presenters attempt to find out whether a cherry bomb dropped in a school toilet make others act like geysers, in reference to a prank Bart pulled in “The Crepes of Wrath”, and whether placing someone between a wrecking ball and a building protect the building, in reference to the scene from “Sideshow Bob Roberts”. Read about what happens here.
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