During the FOX Animation Domination-presented panel for The Simpsons (launching its astounding 36th season this fall) at San Diego Comic-Con, series creator Matt Groening presented attendees with a fun relic of Springfield history. Attendees got to watch a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris reciting an apt campaigning quote from “Treehouse of Horror VII” (Season 8), which was recorded by University of Chicago students some years ago as part of a challenge to get an elected official to quote the smash-hit toon.
In the video, which was originally reported as an SDCC 2024 original, Harris recites a stirring speech from the segment “Citizen Kang,” in which the aliens Kang and Kodos vie for the U.S. Presidency disguised as 1996 candidates Bill Clinton and Bob Dole: “We must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.” The line is delivered in the episode by Clinton (or rather Kang, voiced by Homer actor Dan Castellaneta), who would win the election just a month later.
Another highlight of the panel was the appearance of Seth Green, co-founder of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios (Robot Chicken), who told the assembly about the work his shop is doing on a stop-motion character called “Denim” (a send-up to Marvel’s Venom). Attendees got to see a sneak-peek clip of of the upcoming “Treehouse of Horror XXXV,” in which Homer dons a malevolent pair of pants and has his body taken over by this trouser terror.
The panel was moderated by Kevin Smith and also included writers and producers Matt Selman seven-time Emmy Award winner), Jessica Conrad (five-time Emmy nominee) and Rob LaZebnik (four-time Emmy winner), who are all nominated for the animation writing Emmy again this year for “Night of the Living Wage,” and longtime director and storyboard artist Timothy Bailey.
The Simpsons panel also shared a new opening credits sequence from guest animator Jorge R. Gutierrez (Maya and the Three, Book of Life), which will air as the opening to this year’s “Treehouse.”
Since President Biden announced he would be stepping down from his re-election campaign and endorsing Harris for the Presidency, fans have compared the possibility of the United States’ first woman President to another Simpsons episode, “Bart to the Future” (2000), in which Lisa is grown up, heading the White House and complains about budget issues caused by “President Donald Trump” — a bit of wry comedy that turned out to be another in a long roster of Simpsons predictions.
While self-proclaimed Simpsons superfan Harris has yet to provide a guest voice for the show, her likeness is included in a lineup of Democrats doing the can-can in the 2019 musical parody short “West Wing Story.” Released to YouTube, the standalone sees Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her “Squad’ face off with President Trump.
In another “The Simpsons predicts” moment, series veteran David Silverman revealed on Twitter a couple years later that his placement of future running mates Harris and Biden next to each other was accidental.
[Source: Hollywood Reporter]
