The musical “Five tales that led to the planet of the apes”.

Season 7 of The Simpsons is one of the best seasons of television ever. Not only was the show in its “golden age” and delivered classic gag after classic gag during that time, but Season 7 is also notable for featuring some of best episodes of milhouse in the show’s history, including the brilliant 4ft 2 Summer, in which the level of sheer emotional abuse Milhouse goes through remains one of the funniest dark jokes the show has ever attempted.

Moreover, season seven gave us A Fish Named Selma, in which washed-up actor Troy McClure marries Marge’s sister as part of his comeback attempt. On her way to fame, McClure starred in the ridiculous musical Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to Leave! which features a big musical number named after the character Dr. Zaius from the original film. That scene alone could make A Fish Named Selma one of the The best episodes of The Simpsons.. even now the show still cites what remains his greatest musical moment — perhaps, except for the song Monrail.

With Stop the Planet of the Apes, the show manages to parody the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, Austrian artist Falco’s pop hit Rock Me Amadeus, the 1961 musical Stop the World, I Want to Leave!, and the idea of ​​the musical in general in two minutes. , with unflattering performances from the musical’s worst impulses, there’s even a section where a monkey dances breakdancing, which just so happens to be one of several crazy performances thrown out after showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein decided to lean on their writers’ wildest ideas.

The the first draft of the screenplay for A Fish Named Selma didn’t even include a Planet of the Apes musical. The show’s writers just knew they needed Troy McClure’s big return, but once the musical idea came up, it set off a chain reaction in the writers’ room, resulting in five “crazy” performances coming together in this moment of satirical genius.

Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein have been with The Simpsons since season three, but became hosts in season seven, bringing with them considerable writing experience and wisdom. As Weinstein explained in the thread Twitter/Xone of the best pieces of writing advice he ever received was to always jump at ideas that don’t make sense, or as he put it, “Never give up on an idea, no matter how crazy or stupid it sounds. Lean on her. It could be nothing OR it becomes a Dr. Zaius scene.”

As the former showrunner explained, each of the show’s writers contributed to the finished musical, and each performance inspires the next. Weinstein went on to say that the Stop the Planet of the Apes scene was actually “a combination of five separate ‘crazy’ ‘stupid’ performances” that he and Oakley were entertaining to see where they would lead.

According to Josh Weinstein, the whole idea for Stop the Planet of the Apes started when writer Steve Tompkins said, “What if we made a musical out of Planet of the Apes?”, and Weinstein commented, “It’s either crazy or a stupid idea , or both, but we all liked it and we could all sense the potential, so I say at least let’s explore it and let’s see if it goes anywhere.” Of course, it really went somewhere, and Tompkins’ idea pushed his fellow writers to realize just how funny they could make this particular parody.

Weinstein never saw the 1968 original Planet of the Apes is a movie that required more makeup artists than Hollywood could provide he asked the screenwriters in the room to check a few key facts about the film before pitching his own idea: “So, you know that Falco song?” This was the genesis of “Rock Me Amadeus”. This is how the song “Doctor Zayus” was born. But that was just the beginning.

A third pitch came from veteran “Simpsons” writer George Meyer, who suggested “interspersing (the) song with corny/silly vaudeville-style jokes, like a piano gag.” The piano gag refers to Troy McClure asking halfway through the song if he can still play the piano, to which Dr. Zaius replies, “Sure you can,” and McClure sings, “Well, I couldn’t before.” A stand is then rotated on stage and the actor performs a short interlude before resuming the song. It all came from Meyer.

With a solid core idea and some fun additions from George Mayer and Josh Weinstein, Stop the Planet of the Apes was starting to come together. But by this point, the pitch machine had kicked into motion, and other writers started throwing out equally ridiculous but hilarious ideas. The fourth of them was in the form of Dr. Zauis, accompanied by a nurse. “Someone speaking because he’s a doctor, let his nurse start the song with ‘Oh help me Dr. Zaius,'” Weinstein wrote in his Twitter/X thread. “I have no idea if there’s a nurse in the movie, but it sure is a great way to start it off.”

Finally, the former showrunner brought up another writer, whose name he has since forgotten, to suggest the idea for a big Dr. Zaius musical number, incorporating “a lot of breakdance moves.” why? Because, as Weinstein said, “at the time, it seemed to be a trend in a lot of high-profile Broadway musicals.” It was the fifth and final major installment of the Stop the Planet of the Apes parody. But there were a few more honorable mentions that Weinstein included in his thread.

In A Fish Named Selma, we move from the performance of Dr. Zaius to the climax of the musical itself, during which Troy McClure sings “I hate every monkey I see, from chimpanzee A to chimpanzee,” which remains one of the greatest lines in a musical. history of The Simpsons — perhaps in the history of the series as a whole. Josh Weinstein recalled how this particular addition really took things to another level in the writers’ room. “Somewhere in the middle of this whole process,” Weinstein wrote, “(the writer and Futurama series by David Cohen introduced the line “Chimp-A is a chimpanzee” which was one of the rare/only times we really knew right away that a line was going to be a classic. According to Weinstein, Cohen’s contribution was the moment everyone in the room realized they needed to stick with the “crazy” and “stupid” ideas they were pitching.

While the proposals may have been “silly” at the time, the enduring appeal of Stop the Planet of the Apes is a testament to how seemingly silly ideas can actually mean a lot more than meets the eye. The musical in A Fish Called Selma remains one of the best spoofs in The Simpsons history, and one look at the Weinstein-themed comments should be enough to convince you that this funny idea for a musical was much more than a “stupid” idea .It remains a fan favorite in a series full of some of the best moments in television history.

For Weinstein, it all just reinforced his idea of ​​accepting seemingly ridiculous ideas. The writer concluded his topic: “When you have an idea and immediately after it comes to mind you get the feeling that ‘there’s something special there’, take care of it. The worst that can happen is to lose a few minutes or hours. The best? Something that speaks to a whole group of people and makes them happy.”