See 'The Simpsons' reveal the newest James Bond
SAN DIEGO — Forget speculation about the next James Bond. It's Bart Simpson.
Or at least it is in the Springfield universe. To celebrate the show's mind-boggling 600th episode ("Treehouse of Horror XXVII," Oct. 16), the animated classic Wednesday premiered its own celebratory song and video in the spirit of Shirley Bassey's great Goldfinger theme, with young Bart assuming 007's license to kill —with laughter, at least.
Watch the video, which was presented during the Simpsons panel Saturday at Comic-Con.
The video flips 600 to 006 and features Marge Simpson's sisters, Patty and Selma, and the Cat Lady (with felines in tow) as aquatic Bond girls. Moe the Bartender makes an appearance and Sideshow Bob serves quite well as a Busby Berkeley-style visual prop. The song, performed by Judith Owen (wife of Simpsons voice actor Harry Shearer) mentions that the show has run "thousands of promos for shows that were bad," followed by a list of canceled shows.
The 600th episode, the fourth to air this fall, will leave The Simpsons just 35 episodes shy of Gunsmoke's all-time record for a scripted prime-time series. Fox's current deal for the animated comedy runs through episode 625, and the voice actors are under contract through a 30th season.
The "Treehouse" episode opens with a short segment in which Simpson foes, including Sideshow Bob and Frank Grimes, try to kill the beloved Springfield family.
The three main segments include a satire of dystopian movies in which evil Mr. Burns controls the only water in a Springfield gone dry; a story in which an imaginary friend (Sarah Silverman) from Lisa's younger days returns to kill her real friends; and a James Bond-themed segment with accents of Kingsman: The Secret Service that features bartender Moe running a secret society that tries to keep order in the world. Uh-oh!
Executive producer Al Jean, who was on the panel with creator Matt Groening and other producers and directors, announced guest voices for the upcoming season, including Patton Oswalt, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Allison Janney.