Behind the Game:

The Driving Force

Love them, like them, or simply not sure just what to do with them, there is hardly a soul in the free world who wouldn’t recognize the Simpsons. There’s underachieving Bart with his major ‘tude. Dad Homer has an IQ that reads like a speed limit and a personal history that raises squandered chances to a high art form. Matriarch Marge has a pile of blue hair and never-say-die outlook. Lisa is the vegetarian sax player on a mission. And Maggie, the baby who by all rights should been taken from the family for child endangerment a hundred times over. Dysfunctional? Usually. Out of control? Definitely.

Who better to put in cars and give free reign over the streets of Springfield?

Electronic Arts’ The Simpsons™ Road Rage is as much a vehicular homicide tour of Springfield as it is anything else. Mr. Burns has unveiled his new line of nuclear-powered buses—cheap, efficient, and apparently with enough glow-juice to spawn a new generation of mutant children. Enter Homer with his latest scheme: a family taxi service. If you know the cartoon series at all, you already have a good idea where this is going.

Matt Groening’s The Simpsons debuted in 1987 on FOX’s Emmy Award-winning series the Tracy Ullman show. Emmy Awards would follow this animated family for some time, actually. They were eventually handed out to Dan Castellenata (voice of Homer Simpson), Julie Kavner (Marge Simpson), and Nancy Cartwright (voice of the near-immortal Bart Simpson). There was something here that the public, the critics, and the network certainly liked ?

The pilot episode of the animated series aired on December 17, 1989. The Simpsons’ irreverent satire was full of political commentary seasoned heavily with political incorrectness, yet still managed to have the kind of heart rarely seen on any TV show.

Some of the most eagerly anticipated episodes were the cartoon’s Halloween specials. The writers pulled out all the stops: A Dolphin Revolution that threatens the world; A homicidal house of the future; Gypsy curses; A hammock that creates a cloned army of Homers, who march through Springfield like a yellow-skinned Night of the Living Dead. These annual episodes have become cult classics.

But there’s still more!

Never content to rest on their yellow butts, The Simpsons raised the bar yet again with celebrity appearances. With more than 300 episodes behind them, this animated city has seen the likes of Aerosmith, Paul and Linda McCartney, Ringo Starr, and N’Sync walk their way. Quite an assortment of politicians and pop culture stars clamored to put in face time on the series; if you haven’t been lampooned by The Simpsons, you haven’t made it.

Hop in Homer’s taxi for a closer look at America’s favorite dysfunctional family—you’ll be glad you did.

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