On October 29, 1995, on the verge of Halloween, Fox aired a very special episode of the already very popular ‘The Simpsons’. It was ‘Treehouse of Horror VI’, the sixth episodic special in the series, which has become an annual tradition. It was exactly thirty years ago, and the result was as visionary and revolutionary as everything ‘The Simpsons’ did in the nineties.
What was happening. In ‘Homer³’, Homer passes through a portal that transports him from his traditional 2D animated world to a strange 3D computer-generated universe. An unprecedented technical challenge for the series and a true milestone in television animation, as it was one of the first visible incursions of CGI graphics in an animated series, which is doubly surprising because we are not talking about an experimental program, but rather one of the most watched series of the moment. For many viewers it was their first encounter with an aesthetic of this type: a pioneering work by the company Pacific Data Images (PDI), who with limited resources managed to create a few minutes of sequence that today are considered a benchmark.
Why it is important. The segment not only attracted attention for its impressive technical innovation, but also for its characteristic humor. In short: it never stopped being a ‘The Simpsons’ sketch. The episode aired just a month before the premiere of ‘Toy Story’, helping to mark that year as essential for CGI animation.
How it was born. The original idea was conceived by series executive producer Bill Oakley, inspired by the episode ‘Little Girl Lost’ of the legendary ‘The Twilight Zone’. To carry out this vision, the pioneering computer animation studio Pacific Data Images (PDI) was contacted, but the economic and technical demands were very high: the budget assigned by Fox for the segment was extremely low, barely $6,000, but the real cost to make the four minutes planned exceeded hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Hair and other problems. PDI decided to take on the project almost as a strategic investment to achieve visibility and prestige in the industry, which would later allow them greater commercial opportunities (as indeed happened with their subsequent link with DreamWorks, by whom they were acquired and with whom they collaborated on ‘Antz’ and ‘Shrek’). The animation ended up being limited to only Homer and Bart, and a few minutes of footage.
The PDI team had to reinvent the characters, creating three-dimensional models that preserved the essence of the original design. Significantly, Homer’s iconic hairstyle was among the biggest challenges, as it was difficult to replicate with the digital tools of the time. The production process required the coordination of the series’ traditional animators team and PDI specialists.
Y con easter eggs. The backgrounds and objects in the 3D world were designed for both a sense of strangeness and an urgent minimalism, and included easter eggs like the iconic Utah Teapot, a test standard in computer animation. And there were also references to the video game ‘Myst’. This setting sought to emphasize the feeling of being in an artificial dimension, leaving behind the familiarity of Springfield. As a total exhibition of the possibilities of 3D animation, a scene was included where Homer appears in the real world, filmed on Ventura Boulevard. It was another nod that sought to experiment with different styles and genres within a single special.
The legacy. The positive response was immediate. It was the most watched fiction program of the week on Fox, with an audience of 22.9 million viewers, a very notable figure for an animated special. In addition, ‘Homer³’ received awards such as recognition at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, highlighting its innovative and artistic value. A milestone that, thirty years later, continues to amaze due to the daring and disruption it presented in a series that, at that time, no longer needed to prove anything.
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