Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation, also abbreviated to Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Defined a Generation, is a non-fiction book about The Simpsons, written by Chris Turner and originally published on October 12, 2004 by Random House.[1] The book is partly a memoir and an exploration of the impact The Simpsons has had on popular culture.
Background
Planet Simpson was written by Canadian author Chris Turner, who is a big fan of The Simpsons, although "not even the biggest fan I know personally ... I think I am actually a pretty average hardcore fan. What I brought to it was a sense that because the show is as well put together as it is, it really offers a wide lens for looking at culture generally."[2] Turner notes: "I can count on The Simpsons to provide me with a solid thirty minutes of truth, of righteous anger, of hypocrisies deflated and injustices revealed, of belly laughter and joy. It is food for my soul. Seriously. I think many Simpsons fans would agree. And that, as far as I'm concerned, makes it a kind of religion," he explains in the book.[3] He had previously written an essay during his time at Shift entitled "The Simpsons Generation", which was syndicated across North America.[1] Turner wrote Planet Simpson because there had not been a book that had looked at the "genesis, past, characters and influence" of the show, only official episode guides or academic pieces.[2]
Planet Simpson examines the show's satirical humor and its impact on pop culture.[3] It also looks at numerous episodes of the show.
It features a foreword by Douglas Coupland.[1]
Chapters
- Foreword by Douglas Coupland
- Introduction: The Birth of the Simpsonian Institution
- Chapter 1: The Life & Times of The Simpsons
- A brief history of the show, its creation, its writers and a study of its various styles of humour. Also details the shows descendants and its "ancestors".
- Chapter 2: Homer's Odyssey
- Chapter 3: Bart Simpson, Punk icon
- Chapter 4: Citizen Burns
- Chapter 5: Lisa Lionheart
- Chapter 6: Marge Knows Best
- Chapter 7: The Simpsons in Cyberspace
- Focuses on the Internet and its influences in the show and the shows influence on the Internet, extended mention of Comic Book Guy.
- Chapter 8: The Ugly Springfieldianite
- Chapter 9: The Simpsons Go Hollywood
- Chapter 10: The Simpsons Through the Looking Glass
- Focuses on the shows take on pop culture.
- Chapter 11: Planet Simpson
- The conclusion of the book.
Top 5 episodes
The end of the first chapter includes a look at the author's Top 5 episodes. Turner lists "Last Exit to Springfield" as his favourite episode. The other four episodes ordered by airdate: "Marge vs. the Monorail", "Rosebud", "Deep Space Homer" and "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)".[4]
Reception
Christopher Hirst of The Independent felt the book would largely appeal to fans of The Simpsons who would enjoy "Turner's critical intelligence and social awareness," while "non-fans will see 470 pages of geeky raving." He felt the book was "sui generis," and its "combination of motor-mouthed omniscience and voluminous footnotes is reminiscent of a certain style of highbrow writing about pop music."[5] Curtis Gloade of The Record described the book as "almost 500 pages of this sort of meticulous, clear, and I believe, accurate rhetoric. It kept me nodding in agreement throughout. And laughing, too."[3] He also wrote that he hopes people will not skip by the book at the bookstore because it is about The Simpsons and assume that it is "little more than a laugh-along-with-me book with lots of pictures and funny quotes." Gloade commented that this is "not the case. I laughed out loud regularly at the many Simpsons quotes, but that's only a small part of the total package."[3] He concluded that Planet Simpson is an "enjoyable reading experience, one that will likely be matchless still for a long time because I highly doubt we'll see such a melding of a stellar pop culture icon (The Simpsons) and eloquent cultural critic (Turner) again for a long time."[3] Kevin Jackson of The Times gave a largely negative review of the book. While feeling Turner's knowledge of the show was vast and finding much of the initial "less well-known aspects of Simpsonian pre-history" interesting, he overall felt the book was mostly "flimflam and filler" and criticised Turner's "gee-whiz prose and occasional lapses into plain old illiteracy" and ultimately failed to achieve the analytical goal Turner set: "It would take wit as keen and literary flair as supple as [the show's writers] to do justice to the show, and Turner is gifted with neither: he may think like Lisa, but he writes more like the Comic Book Guy."[6]
