Where Did THAT Come From – Itchy & Scratchy Studios

They fight,
They bite,
They bite and fight and bite,
bite, bite,bite,
fight, fight, fight,
The Itchy and Scratchy Show

What’s up everybody?  It seems to me that anyone who is at least faintly familiar with The Simpsons probably knows about that dynamic and violent cartoon duo named Itchy & Scratchy.  I for one have always loved when an I&S cartoon appeared in the Best. Show. Ever.  We already had quite a few Itchy & Scratchy items in our TSTO world but EA decided it was time to bring us the animation studio responsible for them.  Woohoo and more!

This building has been on the fan’s wish list for quite a while along with the personalities we associate with them.  It’s beginning price is expensive at $800,000, but for that sum, it’s a humongoid building with a 14×9 footprint AND it comes with a new character.  It earns $135 and 15xp every 8hrs which is also nice for frequent tappers.

Even though our game calls this building the Itchy & Scratchy Studios, I will always think of it asItchy & Scratchy International.  It’s actually based on the Film Roman Building in Burbank, CA where the Best. Show. Ever. has had its source production done since Season 4.

Our first glimpse of this structure in the show is in “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge” (S2:E9).  When exposure to the violence of Itchy & Scratchy leads to Maggie attacking Homer, Marge realizes she needs to do something.  When her letter to the purveyors of senseless violence only gets a demeaning response in return, Marge is ready to show them what one screwball can do.  The natural place to protest of course is Itchy & Scratchy Studios.

Marge starts a crusade against cartoon violence and starts S.N.U.H (Springfieldians for Non-Violence, Understanding and Helping).  Her movement actually gets a lot of followers and soon they’re filling Krusty’s live audience and Marge gets a segment on Smartline with Kent Brockman.  NOTE: This is the first but not last time Marge protests something so you could also consider this episode the origin for Marge’s 24-hour TSTO task.

The rest of the episode is really good.  Marge actually makes a difference in the world and there is a great segment with the children of Springfield rediscovering daylight and playing outdoors.  A really great episode to watch AND because it’s I&S centric, there’s a bunch of their clips too.

Two take-away quotes I love:
Lisa: “But Mom, if you take away our cartoons away we’ll grow up without a sense of humor and become robots.”

Marge: “I guess one person CAN make a difference, but most of the time,        they probably shouldn’t.”

The Itchy & Scratchy Studios basically appears in any episode where the writing of the show features.  In “The Front” (S4:E19), Lisa & Bart decide they could write better I&S cartoons then the current writers.  They aren’t taken seriously because they’re kids but it’s easily solved when they use Grampa as a ghost writer for them.  Bart& Lisa’s cartoons are pretty good.

For our first view of the entire I&S Studios like we have in TSTO, we head to “The Day the Violence Died” (S7:E18).  Behold, the manufactory of cartoon violence in all its glory.

It’s shown several times and even has the sign light up and smoke come out its stacks just like our TSTO animation.  You’ll notice the INTL was dropped from the sign.

For anyone who needs to see more full frontals of the studios, you can also watch “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show” (S8:E14).  I wrote a bunch about that episode in this post so I’ll save you from more words.

Well, that about sums up this round of WDTCF goodness.  If there’s an appearance of the building I dind’t mention you want to share, by all means do so in the comments.  I’m thrilled this building exists in TSTO even if it is ginormous.  Itchy & Scratchy are one of those things that are so great in The Simpsons.  Y’all stay classy as usual and all that good stuff.

TTFN… Wookiee out!