A 2-second tour of Springfield

By Wade Kwon

I’ve watched “The Simpsons” since the beginning (except for “The Tracey Ullman Show”). One time, my friend BJ dated a woman who had never seen a single episode. Needless to say, she was dumped quickly. (Since then, the single criterion for any potential date had to be seeing at least one episode, any episode.)

I remember one time I bought a “Simpsons” comic book, and creator Matt Groening had published a gatefold with the whole of Springfield. In the main title, the camera pans across so quickly it’s virtually a blur. But in the comic book, I could study the dozens of characters populating the hidden frames.

(I have the comic book somewhere, but if you know where that image is posted online, leave a comment below.)

Cut to February 2009, the 20th season for this Fox comedy. The cartoon went high definition, including a revamped main title. Take a look …

And once again, you can see the super-fast scan of Springfield, which naturally has been updated, too. I took screencaps of the quickie panorama, then digitally stitched them together using Hugin. (“Everybody’s Hugin!”)

Here’s the small version (or see the original 2.8MB version):

You can …

study the original pics below,
visit the entire gallery
or see a slideshow.

I love seeing the regulars, old and new. For example, the twins Sherri and Terri were originally seen in the Springfield Elementary band room texting (in the previous title sequence, they were both playing flute). And in the Springfield panorama, well, they’re texting again.

How many “Simpsons” characters can you name? Wendell? Bumblebee Man? Spider-Pig?

Freeze frame 1