Springfield transforms into the magical Land of Ooo in The Simpsons season premiere “Monty Burns’ Fleeing Circus.” The episode’s couch gag titled Simpsons Time is based on the popular Cartoon Network series Adventure Time. There’s even a Simpsonized Adventure Time theme song by series creator Pendleton Ward.
“That was the brain child of Mike Anderson, our supervising director,” executive producer Al Jean told TVLine. “It’s a really beautiful, elaborate crossover.”
Simpsons Adventure Time Crossover Breakdown
Bart and Homer star as the Finn the Human and Jake the Dog though they seem to be more like frenemies than BFFs. Maggie and the Simpsons’s dog, Santa’s Little Helper, appear as Princess Bubblegum and Lady Rainicorn. Lisa plays her saxophone in homage of Marceline the Vampire Queen who plays guitar. Marge seems to be one of the candy people from Candy Kingdom. Other cameos include Marge’s sisters Patty and Selma as Mr. Cupcake / Mrs. Cupcake, Mr. Burns as the Ice King and Moe as Snow Golem.
The Simpsons Time title is intersected not by a sword but a radioactive carbon rod from the Springfield nuclear power plant. There are numerous other nuclear references from Blinky the Three-Eyed Fish swimming in nuclear waste to the Radioactive Man comic book in Bart’s treehouse. The theme plays on the origin of the Land of Ooo, which is a post-apocalyptic Earth following the Mushroom War.
The Simpsons season 28 premieres Sunday 8PM on Fox.
