Simpsons: A look into the future

I was thinking about how the series would be perceived by people in the future...20+ years. Then it dawned on me; if technology keeps advancing, everyone will have the ability to make their own Simpsons on their PC (before 20 years...maybe even this decade). I am sure that the technology already exists now, but at a cost. I am talking about an affordable/user friendly program for everyone's PC. Even if the data was not made available by the producers of The Simpsons, the data from the shows could be collected from recording the tv show. Characters (with different movements) = data...Backgrounds = data...Character voices (library of words/expressions) = data., etc. With the advancement of voice modeling, this would make the process even more varied. With voice modeling, you can speak into a microphone and what you say will sound like someone else. For example, enough data collected on Homer's voice would allow you to say a line as if Homer were saying it; "modeled" after his voice characteristics. There is already the technology to have the mouth motions on a character match the movements to what you are saying into a microphone. This is without having to manually draw the mouth movements in.

All of the data could be used so that someone could create their own episode of The Simpsons.

So, let's say that everybody and their grandmother :P are making Simpsons episodes; how will then the original series be compared and perceived in the future? Will the ability for people to make their own episodes make the original appear to be less than what it was? Will there be people who will make more entertaining episodes than the original and post them on the internet for all to download and see? Will there be PC created episodes that people will post that will be violent or adult in nature? If it would be possible to produce your own cartoon by collecting data, then conceivably the technology would advance so that live action shows/movies with images of real actors could be manipulated...Then what?....Will people mess with classic movies and post their creation on the net? Will Mork make a guest appearance on Law and Order? Will Cap'n Crunch be wheeled into the OR on ER?

But Professor Farnsworth won't invent that machine until the year 3000...

"Daniel Burdie" wrote in message news:3fe8a1ca$0$18694$[email]...

Good News Everyone !

g0ldstarr

"g0ldstarr" wrote in message news:...

Although this is about using karaoke to impersonate a singer, this will help in the general concept...

In article , g0ldstarr says...

Uh oh! We're boned!

There are already 2 or 3 humans in LOTR:TT and LOTR:RoTK who are CGI so it's well on the way!

[email] (zvoidx) wrote in message news:...

Unlike 2003, when everyone merely has the ability to live their real lives the same way that the Simpsons live their cartoon lives!

Available now, at a cost? Yes! But I predict that within 100 years it will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings in Europe will own them.

snip

I already saw this on the web. It was called "Angry Dad".

In the future, I will not be wasting my time on something like this. I will be too busy having sex with supermodels.

Uh oh. I smell another cheap cartoon crossover.

Space Mvsevm

[email] (Aaron Hirshberg) wrote in message news:...

Ha, ha..your sarcastic comments are so clever....But the truth is that this will soon be a reality; the ability for people to collect data from pre-existing shows and mold them into their own form. What I was putting out there with this post to Simspons fans, (since it's going to be more doable first with cartoon data); was how they are going to feel when their classic show will be re-worked by average people and how will that effect their and the world's feelings/perceptions about the show.

When it happens, it will be an unprecendented position for tv and movie fans to be in.

In alt.tv.simpsons, on the "Simpsons: A look into the future" thread, zvoidx wrote:

They had that, in an exceedingly primitive way, in the mid-90s. There was a program called "Simpsons Cartoon Studio" (or something like it) that let you create your own "Simpson" short subjects with canned character movments, dialogue, and the like. It wasn't nearly as flexible as what you're describing, though.

I've long thought this would be a cool way to create computer sound events and answering machine messages. Glad to hear someone's working on it.

No real effect. Really. Fan-derived things, like scripts, still drawings, and even little super-8 movies have been around for years, especially in the science-fiction universe. (Like fanscripts for "Star Trek," for instance.) They're considered to be a separate animal from the original product, so they won't cause people to think more or less of the original.

No, unless there is a radical revision to either American copyright law, or Fox's attitude towards fan activity. Even though you might be coming up with your own original plots and dialogue, the characters, situations, and even the voices are the intellectual property of the vast Fox empire. What you'd be creating is a "derived work," which means that you need permission of the copyright holder to post it. Fox has already conducted several jihads against fan sites that post 3-second audio-only clips. Do you really think they're just going to let people post whole new episodes to the internet for "all to download and see"?

Well, let me revise a bit. People may post 'em, but they sure was hell won't stay up for very long.

[email] (Benjamin Robinson) wrote in message news:...

Stuff that is copyrighted is only if it has been aired in the actual episode and/or product lines ( like Homer's sound bytes in the Playmates figures). Granted Homer and the characters ARE properties of Fox, Fox themselves could have a public relations nightmare, regardless if they're in the right, if the show was trying to snub fan-fictionists. Why? Because I can turn around and say the show is trying to steal my plot ideas that I do 'for fun' and use them to make money.

Anyway, I CAN do a very good Homer (minus the "d'oh!") and if I posted the sound files on my site and typed in "celeberty voices impersonated", Fox really coudn't do anything since the Homer Voice wasn't from an actual episode.

Fan Art, based on the Simpsons, yet not tracing any original source is a derived work. Pasting together existing video and sound clips is illegal rebroadcasting (most likely without the expressed written consent) of Fox media.

Fan-Media won't be on a basic Simpsons site, but they'll be on usenet and Kazaa like file sharing programs, though.

In alt.tv.simpsons, on the "Re: Simpsons: A look into the future" thread, Jake Lennington wrote:

Bad PR? When was the last time Fox showed any sensitivity to bad PR?

I think right now producers (all producers, not just Fox) ignore most fanfiction because it comes in a form that's far removed from the "official" product. You'll see a short story based on, say "Star Trek," but not a video clip featuring the actors, settings, or spacecraft. Or you might see an alternate-universe version of the "official" product that uses some of the original characters, but uses them in new ways or adds new, original characters. Your own "Maggie & Eric" spinoff would be an example of this.

Things might change if people started cooking up their own fully-animated episodes with realistic character voices. I'm not a lawyer, but I heard that fanfiction exists in a legal gray zone. This might convince Fox et al to try their luck in open court.

Only if Fox aired an episode where Maggie had a baby brother with a funky hairdo.

Ah, like the other legally-questionable material. Of course, as P2P networks become further stigmatized, this will tend to make distribution on a "you gotta know someone who knows someone" basis -- probably not what the original poster had in mind.

[email] (Benjamin Robinson) wrote in message news:...

How these creations will be distributed would be a major factor... The other issue is; would it (legally) be considered "satire"? ...because with satire, the creator has free reign and there is no copyright infringement.

[email] (zvoidx) wrote in message

Satire, or "parody" is what you're probably meaning, can only be used if the intent is to make fun of something. Otherwise, if it looks like a normal Simpsons episode, but made outside of Fox's circle of life, it's a copyright violation.