Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

The Simpsons is one of the best, if not the best animated television series to exist. This episode, "The Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" is a great pilot. Since this is the pilot, the animation is a little rough and the voices are not as coherent, but would you expect on such a cheap budget? This episode is pretty funny, but not hilarious. However, this episode features heartwarming, earnest moments from the Simpson family.

This first episode is set at Christmas time. Homer does not receive his Christmas bonus this year, so he thinks he will ruin Christmas because Marge had to use her money to remove Bart's tattoo. But he gets a job as Santa thinking this will help his family out. But will it? Overall, this is a great start to a long-running series.

This is one of the heartwarming episodes you will encounter in this series. I rate this episode 9/10.

I've never seen the show before, so this this be my first time going through it. This is a decent enough pilot, but I've only heard the show gets better after the first season. The second episode, Bart the Genous, is much better and I hope the show is more like that than this, but this is still good enough. The voice acting is pretty good, the animation still sort of sketchy right now, as is to be expected. It gives us a good insight into what the characters will be like, and overall I very much look forward to watching the show and seeing all the reasons why it's so acclaimed and considered so highly (well, the first 10 seasons or so). Recommended.

I remember hearing about this special back in the third grade, "The Simpsons was the best cartoon, and you just had to see it!" Unfortunately, we didn't get Fox in my little Idaho town. Finally, when we did get Fox, I started my weekly ritual of visiting the Simpsons every Thursday and then on Sundays.

This is a solid Christmas special. It's a more heartfelt episode compared to the episodes produced today. Homer wasn't nearly as much of a buffoon as he is today, and this episode isn't as hysterical as future episodes, but what it may lack in some comedy, it makes up in story and character development. While Bart was quite the troublemaker, he still cared deeply for his father and his family. Plus, the family singing of Rudolph played in the credits was great!

This was our first meeting with the Simpsons, and it would continue to be a great relationship.

When you mention Christmas specials one would normally think of Charlie Brown, The Smurfs, He-Man/She-Ra or any other franchise that 'saves Christmas'. No one really remembers that the Simpsons began with their very own Christmas special.

Already a hit as an animated short series on the Tracey Ullman show, The Simpsons kicked off their 17-year plus career as a prime-time family with this festive episode.

Excited and filled with yuletide cheer The Simpsons come face to face with disaster when Marge's savings need to be blown on tattoo-removal surgery for Bart. And Mr. Burns cancels bonuses for all his semi-skilled employees. Flanders is already throwing his family the best Christmas ever and to make matters worse Patty and Selma show up and cast their judging eyes upon Homer in a more evil way than usual. He can't let them all down so he humiliates himself with a job as a mall Santa Claus.

The job pays poorly so he gambles it at the track, expecting a miracle to happen. Do you think it will? Since this was way back at the very beginning of The Simpsons the animation looks pretty rough and the voice acting (especially from some of the children) sounds a lot like the Charlie Brown phonetic acting. And since this is an older episode Homer isn't the machine he became in 1998+ seasons. He's still a human being with feelings who tries to be a good dad. Bart is still a kid who gets in trouble and Marge is still a devoted mum. You know what I mean when I say that none of this is really relevant in The Simpsons anymore since every new season just gets worse and worse as the writers get more and more cynical.

This one Christmas Special represents the exact opposite of all that. It was made to make a difference to your Christmas. And if your tired of the awful bore that it's become now then perhaps you should check it out.

"Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire" is one of the sweetest and greatest Simpsons episodes of all time, and this was the very first episode.

Even though the animation might be a little crude, but that's the fun of it! I actually thought the animation from "The Simpsons" back from Season 1 to Season 4 was actually really good.

This was the episode that we first fell in love with The Simpson family; Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. It also marked for characters like Mr. Burns, Grandpa Abe, Patty & Selma, and of course, Santa's Little Helper.

Overall, this is a sweet, beautiful, and heartwarming Christmas episode that's great to watch around Christmas time.