As much as even barebones ports of this and Road Rage would be most welcome, I would rather leave anything pertaining to The Simpsons (moving forward) to rest as the recent recasts of characters who have been on the show for over three decades will also be reflected in any other media pertaining to the franchise, be that games, a new movie, or merchandise.
While the show has been mostly garbage for the better part of two decades, I hate to see it descend even further into the abyss, especially when the finish line appears to be so close, with the last season repeatedly breaking all-time low ratings in wake of the recasts, likely due to decisions from execs further alienating disillusioned long-time fans.
I had been meaning to get back into the show (likely through iTunes downloads in the absence of Blu-rays of seasons 21+), however, some of the more recent decisions concerning the direction of the show have put me off completely. I will still consider grabbing Blu-rays should they be released at some point in the future, but I do not wish to further support Disney otherwise (and Fox by association), especially as they are imposing upon virtually all of their properties.
Incidentally, Julie Kavner’s voice is sounding heartbreakingly worse for wear in more recent seasons (she is nearly 71) and while Harry Shearer sounds mostly the same (and seems as sharp and perky as ever in person), he is the eldest of the main cast at 77. I hope that the producers have some sort of finale pre-recorded in case the unthinkable happens, especially for a show that has had 32 years to plan for it (a head-start that virtually no other scripted show in history has had).
Fortunately, I still have the PC version of The Simpsons: Hit & Run (though I haven’t tested it to see if it runs on Windows 10, though I assume that it would). Unfortunately, they never did make a PC version of Road Rage (though I have been able to play it on PC thanks to my Smash Wii U adapter/GameCube controller).
@Goat_FromBOTW : Oh, it’s garbage. (and it was made well over 15 years ago now and is no longer available, though I had a lot of fun working on it) It was made with The Sims 2, and I provided voiceovers (of varying ethnicities/nationalities/sexes) for many other such productions in the late 2000s. I do miss it, though there are only very few productions that I could say that I was proud of.
I can understand the issue of white actors playing black characters on screen (and vice versa), but I don’t understand the issue with voiceovers, especially when voiceovers have, until only recently, been cast blindly, whereby one’s sex, age, ethnicity, complexion etc. played virtually no part in the casting process except where contextually justified (such as the casting of actual children for Charlie Brown shorts/films or the casting of adult women to play prepubescent boys for television shows in which the characters do not age etc.). People play characters that do not match their real-life attributes all the time. My question is, why is one’s complexion relevant to the exclusion of all other attributes?
But what about situations where casting talent with very specific attributes are otherwise virtually impossible to come by? Linda Hunt did a brilliant job of playing a Chinese/Australian man in The Year of Living Dangerously, and surprise, surprise, she is neither Chinese, nor Australian, nor male, and I imagine that it would have been exceptionally difficult to find a male dwarf of that description, who also just happens to be an actor, hence the unorthodox casting. Her talent is what got her the job, not her superficial attributes, and she was praised for it, but had such casting taken place today, she would have been laughed out of town (frankly, I’m a little surprised that her award hasn’t been revoked yet).
At the end of the day, there was no malicious intent in the casting. Ideally, somebody who fit the bill would be preferable, but considering how specific the requirements were, it’s also understandable that a concession was made (and likewise when able-bodied people are cast as disabled people, as directing people with disabilities can be extraordinarily difficult, if not virtually impossible, and also potentially dangerous to such people). As a brother to a disabled sister, I thought The Black Balloon (featuring a disabled character played by able-bodied/minded Luke Ford) did a brilliant job (the film was also written and directed, I believe, by a woman with such a disabled sibling, and so it hit very close to home as so much of it was based on her upbringing).
The indignant will always find something to complain about. I see no reason why we ought to kowtow to those who complain endlessly in a way that is completely divorced from reality and reason, especially when their reasoning only applies with respect to their selective indignation and not to due to principles that are applied more broadly (hence the examples I had mentioned above, that if scrutinised in the same manner, would therefore be “ageist” and “sexist”).
