Star Wars Joins Forces With The Simpsons In New Short Film
Star Wars and The Simpsons released a four-minute video for May the Fourth.
It’s been 100 years since Walt Disney founded his eponymous studio, which has produced such undisputed masterpieces as the revolutionary animated motion picture Snow White, the iconic fantasy movie Merry Poppins, and the universally-well-known classic Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire. It also was just recently, May the 4th, the informal holiday celebrating Star Wars in all its intergalactic glory. Variety reports that, to celebrate the convergence of Star Wars Day and Disney’s centennial anniversary, the studio has brought in another of its properties, The Simpsons, to create an homage to the much-beloved franchise.
The four-minute Star Wars-themed short, titled Rogue Not Quite One, follows Maggie (the Simpsons’ infant daughter) after Homer abandons her in Grogu’s hovering perambulator to visit Moe’s Cantina — and promptly gets eaten by one of the aliens inside. After Din Djarin returns, he attacks the now-occupied hovercraft, launching it into space. Maggie travels the galaxy, getting into trouble as she tries to find her way back home.
The Simpsons have a long history of referencing Star Wars. Among other things, one of its earliest (and longest-running) commercials featured Bart Simpson filling in the role of Luke Skywalker in the iconic trench run, Darth Vader’s “Imperial March” theme sometimes played when the egotistical Mr. Burns appeared onscreen, and Mark Hamill guest starred as himself in the very Star Wars-centric Season 10 episode “Mayored to the Mob.” So, while the mash-up of Star Wars and The Simpsons is a little odd, it doesn’t come entirely out of left field.
In fact, this isn’t even the first time that Disney has used May the 4th as an excuse to release an animated short featuring both The Simpsons and Star Wars. In 2021, Disney released Maggie Simpson in The Force Awakens From its Nap, which features Maggie being left at “Jabba’s Hut Jedi Preschool.” In a similar vein, Disney released The Simpsons in Plusaversary that same year — a short film that celebrated most of Disney’s major franchises and featured appearances from Stormtroopers, BB-8, Din Djarin, and Max Rebo.
Star Wars is far from the only franchise with which The Simpsons have received a mashup on Disney+. The seven-minute film The Simpsons: The Good, The Bart, and The Loki has the Simpsons taking up the roles of The Avengers as they battle against the god of mischief himself. Another short, The Simpsons: Welcome to the Club has Lisa Simpson attempting to become a Disney princess only to find herself among Disney’s most iconic villains — who want to recruit her to their cause.
The Simpsons short wasn’t the only Star Wars-related content released on May the 4th. Seven episodes of the preschool-aimed series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures were also released on Disney+ the same day, following three Jedi younglings training together under Yoda on the planet Tenoo. Season 2 of the animated anthology series Star Wars: Visions also launched on Disney+ on May the 4th, featuring nine episodes from animators around the world, each celebrating the Star Wars mythos.
