BART SIMPSON

Bartholomew Jo-Jo "Bart" Simpson is a main character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Nancy Cartwright. He is the oldest child and only son of Homer and Marge Simpson, and is the brother of Lisa and Maggie. According to The Bart Book he was born on April 1, 1979. According to Marge in episode 1818, The Boys of Bummer, he was born "blue and backwards." He, along with many of Springfield's citizens, is ambidextrous, but is most commonly seen writing left-handed. Along with his father, Bart is arguably the most well-known character on the long running animated series. Both Bart and Lisa ranked #11 in TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time".

He is a self-proclaimed underachiever who begins each show in school detention writing lines on the blackboard, which are known as the Chalkboard Gags. He is easily distracted by almost anything, even, strangely enough, algebraic equations. He is considerably under motivated and takes great joy in disrupting the routine at Springfield Elementary. His pranks are often elaborately complex, while his actions and speech frequently show considerable mental agility, street-smarts and understanding; so he cannot be called "stupid" per se. His best friend is Milhouse Van Houten. His antics terrify everyone, including Springfield's most powerful citizen Charles Montgomery Burns. Many of his pranks are directed against authority figures (his father, his teachers and principal, as well as the city and town church, are among his favorite victims), although they are usually meant to drive people crazy rather than cause any serious harm, and he has occasionally helped these same people out when they are in trouble.
He shares a sibling rivalry with his younger sister, Lisa, but has a buddy-like relationship with his youngest sister Maggie (due to her infant state). While Bart has often hurt her out of jealousy, and has even fought her physically, he loves Lisa as deeply as she loves him, and has always apologized for going too far. He also believes Lisa to be his superior when it comes to solving problems, and always comes to her for advice. Both siblings formed a dynamic crime-solving duo during many of their encounters with Sideshow Bob, Bart's nemesis.
Bart's interests include Krusty the Klown, skateboarding, reading comic books (especially Radioactive Man), terrorizing Lisa, playing video games/computer games, helping Lisa solve various problems (e.g. reuniting Krusty with his estranged father), and pulling off various pranks (such as mooning unsuspecting people and prank calling Moe Szyslak at his tavern). In Bart the General, Bart has hinted that his favorite movies are Jaws and the Star Wars trilogy.
Whenever Homer finds out that Bart has said or done something stupid or bad, he yells out: "Why you little–!", and strangles him in anger.
In his book Planet Simpson, Chris Turner describes Bart as a nihilist.
Bart's character traits of rebellioness and disrespect for authority has been likened to that of America's founding fathers, rendering him an updated version of American icons Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, rolled into one."
Bart is allergic to butterscotch, imitation butterscotch, glow-in-the-dark monster makeup, cauliflower, and shrimp.
Though he has not demonstrated the ability since the episode in which he learned, he speaks near-perfect French.
In, Homer's Barbershop Quartet Bart says that he has a serious problem in which he can't remember anything over 15 minutes ago. Although he repeatedly insists that it was serious, the rest of his family laughs. He soon forgot why they were laughing and laughs along.

LISA SIMPSON

Lisa Marie Simpson is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Yeardley Smith. Matt Groening, the creator of the series, named her after his sister. Lisa is an extremely intelligent girl, one of the brightest characters on the show, with an I.Q. of 159 or so. She plays the baritone saxophone. Many fans of the show claims that Lisa's birthday is September 28, although in "My Sister, My Sitter," we learn that Lisa is 2 years and 38 days younger than Bart, which would put her birthday on May 9, 1981. Lisa is also a Buddhist and often serves as a mouthpiece for the show's writers, many of whom are postgraduates, to voice their knowledge of philosophy, science and history. Both Lisa and Bart ranked #11 in TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time".

Biography

Lisa is 8 years old (despite the fact that there have been 3 separate episodes which focused on her 8th birthday), two years younger than her brother Bart. Lisa's mother Marge insisted on choosing her name because her father Homer wanted to call her "Bartzina".

Future
Eight years from "now": Depicted in "Future-Drama". Professor Frink shows that she is to take Milhouse to her prom after he saved her from a housefire, which she later learned he started. She almost loses her chance to attend an Ivy League college on scholarship, which prompts Bart (in that time) to use Frink's machine to see what Lisa's life will be if she does not attend university. It is revealed that she would be unhappily married to Milhouse, which spurs Bart to save her from this fate.
Fifteen years from "now": Depicted in "Lisa's Wedding". A fortune teller in a medieval carnival reveals that Lisa will fall in love with a British man who matches her intellectually, but her wedding will be cancelled because of his intense dislike for her family. It is also stated that Lisa will lose her virginity to Milhouse (although, in Marge's words, "Milhouse doesn't count!").
Thirty years from "now": Depicted in "Bart to the Future". An American Indian reveals that Lisa will become the "first straight female US President", having defeated Chastity Bono. A balding middle-aged Milhouse works as a Cabinet Secretary for the Lisa Simpson Administration. Her administration's main issue is the massive foreign debt. She appoints Bart as the "Secretary of Keeping it Real" as a way to keep him out of the way at Camp David, but he later buys her some time to sort out the debt problem.
In "Lisa the Greek", Lisa pictures herself as a future gambling addict.
In "Bart Gets Famous" Lisa imagines she has done heroic things like curing all disease while Bart just cleans her trophies.
As seen in "Future-Drama", Lisa is married to Milhouse and wants to join a poetry class at the local community college. Note, though, that this is an "Alternate-Reality" scene, and it is hinted that it is not true.
In "Lisa the Simpson", Lisa imagines herself very overweight, with children, and married to Ralph. This is also a fantasy scene.

MARGE SIMPSON

Marjorie "Marge" Simpson (née Bouvier), born December 19, 1958. Is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons and is voiced by Julie Kavner. She is the well-meaning and patient wife of Homer Simpson. Her most notable physical feature is her blue hair, styled into an improbably high beehive (kept in place by Johnson's Water Seal); she is proud to have never met anyone with taller hair outside Graceland. Homer once mentioned that she actually dyes her hair blue, being "gray as a mule since she was seventeen".
Marge spends most of her time doing housework, minding Maggie, being supportive of Lisa, and either disciplining Bart or protecting him from Homer's wrath. She was named after, and loosely based on, Margaret "Marge" Groening, mother of series creator Matt Groening. In many ways, Marge Simpson is modeled on the stereotypical 1950s suburban housewife, by using stereotypes such as her faux pearl necklace.

Biography

Marge's family are fairly recent to Springfield (The Simpsons), although she claims to be a third-generation Springfielder. The family originally chose to settle in Springfield rather than Stenchburg because they admired the life story of Jebediah Springfield.
As a child, Marge developed a fear of flying after being shocked to learn that her father was an airline steward for Braniff Airlines instead of the pilot he claimed to be. (Ironically, she had also harbored aspirations of becoming an astronaut, although this was most likely a passing fancy or a case of a little girl playing dress up). On her first day of school, she was teased for having a lunch box with a picture of The Monkees on it.
Marge is a talented painter. She had an intense crush on Ringo Starr, and painted several portraits of him (including one in which they are depicted as married) and wrote to him as a teen, but received a response only 25 years later. This inspires her to enter an art contest. While in that art contest, her portrait of a drunk Homer asleep on the couch won a competition against two other paintings.
Marge claims her most famous moment occurred in high school when she and her friend Chloe worked on the school paper, and busted a young Moe Szyslak, then a cafeteria worker who spat in some soup to "teach them to give him his first job outta prison".
After high school, before marrying Homer and birthing Bart, Marge worked as a "roller-waitress" at a drive-through restaurant. She briefly returned to her job years later after Homer was fired from the plant, which encouraged Homer to return to work as he should be the main breadwinner of the family. She sometimes collects unemployment benefits from her short lived jobs.
Marge has two older sisters, twins Patty and Selma (both also voiced by Kavner). Her father, a former flight attendant and baby photographer, died as a result of a freak roller coaster accident. Her disapproving mother, Jacqueline, is still alive but rarely seen. All female members of the Bouvier family (except Marge) are heavy smokers with gruff voices and sarcastic, snarky demeanors. None of the other Bouvier family members approve of Marge's marriage to Homer.
Marge apparently makes very bad ice-cream sundaes, though she is otherwise a highly regarded cook. She is especially celebrated for her pork chops. She manages to nourish her entire family with only twelve dollars a week (She pads Homer's food with sawdust). She also prepares various commemorative hams, including an emergency ham, a condolence ham, an earthquake ham and a celebration ham. Her specialty, which she makes to celebrate Bart's best dental check-up ever (only three cavities) is butterscotch chicken.
In spite of her image as a stereotypical sitcom mother with relatively high morals, Marge, who can appear naive and gullible, has her share of escapades to the disdain of Springfield's less forgiving residents. She once had a tumultuous stint as a police officer in the Springfield Police Department, took classes for road rage, was jailed for "misdemeanor shoplifting", became a gambling addict, showed alcoholic tendencies, engaged in a memorable cross-country police chase (à la Thelma and Louise), had sex with Homer at a miniature golf course (resulting in the couple running about completely naked, and eventually being photographed on a football field in broad daylight, to which a humiliated Marge grumbles, "It would have to be camera day..."), briefly became addicted to steroids which caused her to fly into violent rages whenever something made her mad in "Strong Arms of the Ma" and mistakenly received breast implants (in "Large Marge"). These are just some of the strange situations in which Marge has found herself. She also displays a surprisingly strong will. In "The Joy of Sect", she escapes brainwashing by the Movementarian Church, and in "Bart-Mangled Banner", while in prison, she questions Lisa when Lisa begins losing her beliefs after watching propaganda cartoons. Marge is the only member of the family who actively encourages church attendance. She also appears to have significant athletic ability, as seen in her escape from the Movementarian cult.
Politically, Marge generally aligns with the Democratic Party. She once mentions that she voted for Jimmy Carter ("twice" according to Lisa) and supported the candidacy of their state's progressive governor Mary Bailey, and also claimed to have been extremely depressed when Lyndon Johnson died.
It was revealed in the episode "The Way We Weren't" that Marge first met Homer when they were 10 years old, attending summer camp. Although she never knew his real name (he told her it was "Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar" because Patty had said that "Homer" was a stupid name), they shared a brief mutual attraction. The short relationship ended when Homer did not show up for a date, leaving Marge heartbroken. It was later revealed that the stand-up was entirely unintentional, as Homer had fallen off a cliff and gotten trapped in a fat camp at the time.
Marge briefly participated in student activism as a teenager in high school. After engaging in her only protest, she is forced to serve school detention, where she happens to meet Homer for the second time (although she did not recognize him from their earlier courtship at camp). Marge then tutors Homer on French, and they start dating. Marge becomes pregnant with first child Bart, in her mid- to late twenties. Consequently, she and Homer marry, in a low-budget wedding at a combined wedding chapel and casino across the state line. This is often contradictory as in some episodes it appears Marge gets pregnant right out of high school, but since Marge at the youngest is 34 and Bart is 10 than means she couldn't have gotten pregnant before age 23.
Besides Homer, Marge has had a number of admirers, including C. Montgomery Burns, Springfield Isotopes player Flash Baylor and high school classmate and ex-millionaire Artie Ziff (who recently got over her and is now interested in Marge's sister, Selma). Probably Marge's most persistent admirer (who never seemed to get completely over her) is Homer's friend and pub owner Moe Szyslak. On several occasions Moe has tried to steal Marge from Homer. His first attempt occurs in Season 5 ("Secrets of a Successful Marriage"), and his most recent attempt occurs on a flight to Aruba in Season 16 ("Mommie Beerest"). Moe's and Marge's love-hate relationship has become a recurring gag.
Her favorite dishes are buttered noodles, julienned potatoes and peach crumble. In the episode "Burns, Baby Burns", she mentions that spring and winter are her favorite seasons, followed by autumn.

HOMER SIMPSON

Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He has become a popular character and an American icon; his signature annoyed grunt "D'oh!" has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary. Homer is named after the show's creator Matt Groening's father. His voice was originally based on that of Walter Matthau. The early seasons of the show focused primarily on Homer's son , Bart, but as the series went on and "Bartmania" died down, Homer became more of a focus. Homer embodies several working class American stereotypes. He is crude, overweight, intolerant, clumsy, and a borderline alcoholic. Despite being gluttonous, lazy, and often simple-minded, Homer has displayed flashes of brilliance. He also sometimes appears on his couch drinking beer in his briefs. In spite of his apparently blue-collar status, he has had a number of remarkable adventures. Although often inept, he is a caring and devoted husband and father and has come to be known as a lovable oaf.

Biography

In the episode "Duffless", Homer's license said he was born on May 12, 1956. Although The Simpsons has a floating timeline in which the characters do not age, and the show is set in the current year, certain dates have been given. According to one source, Homer Simpson was born c. May 12, 1955 which makes him a Taurus, and was raised on a farm with his parents, Mona and Abraham Simpson. In the mid-1960s, while Homer was between nine and twelve years of age, Mona went into hiding following a run-in with the law. Homer attended Springfield High School and fell in love with Marge Bouvier in 1974. Marge became pregnant with Bart in 1980, while Homer was working at a miniature golf course, turning the crank that spins the windmill (sometimes too quickly). The two were wed in a small wedding chapel across the state line, spent their wedding reception alone at a truck stop, and the rest of their wedding night at Marge's parents' house. After failing to get a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Homer left Marge to find a job by which he could support his family. He briefly worked at a taco restaurant called the Gulp n' Blow, until Marge found him, and convinced him to return. As a result, Homer confronted Mr. Burns and secured a job at the Plant. Homer's salary is only $6,000 a year. Marge became pregnant with Lisa in 1983, shortly before the new couple bought their new house. In 1985 and 1986, Homer saw brief success as the lead singer and songwriter for the barbershop quartet the Be Sharps, even winning a Grammy. During his time with the group, Homer was frequently absent from home, which put stress on his marriage. After the group broke up due to creative differences, Homer went back to Springfield to continue his old life. Some time in the late 1980s, Homer and Marge carefully budgeted so Homer could work at his dream job, pin monkey in a bowling alley. Unfortunately for Homer, Marge became pregnant shortly after he started his new job, and not being able to support his family, he went back to the Nuclear Plant.According to comments made on The Simpsons DVDs by the writers and producers, Homer's age was initially 34, but as the writers aged, they found that he seemed a bit older too, so they changed his age to 38. Some episodes have different ages. In "The Homer They Fall", he is 38 years old; in "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace", he is 39; and in "Springfield Up", he is 40.

THE SIMPSONS

The Simpsons is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning, animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox TV Network. It is a satirical parody of the "Middle American" lifestyle epitomized by its title family, consisting of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Set in the fictional town of Springfield, the show lampoons many aspects of the human condition, as well as American culture, society as a whole, and even television itself.

The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with James L. Brooks. He sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family, and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show.

The Simpsons was an early hit for Fox, winning several major awards. Time magazine's 1998 issue named it the century's best television series, and on January 14, 2000 it was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is the longest-running American sitcom, as well as the longest-running American animated program. As a testament to the show's influence on popular culture, Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon. The Simpsons is also cited as an influence to many adult-oriented animated sitcoms of the late 1990s.

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has aired 395 episodes over 18 seasons, and as of March 20, 2006, it was renewed for a 19th season, due to be aired in 2007–2008. The 18th season finale will be the 400th episode, and 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of The Simpsons franchise. A feature-length film, The Simpsons Movie, is currently being produced, to be released on July 27, 2007