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Recycled Animation

Animators are always looking for ways to cut corners and reduce the time it takes to create an episode. So not surprisingly, many Simpsons episodes contain recycled animation - that is, scenes or shots from older episodes used again, dubbed with the new words for that scene.

If you have noticed any other recycled animation in any episodes (or something here that has been in more episodes), please let us know.

Homer Vs. Lisa and the Eight Commandment
King Size Homer
The Old Man and the Lisa
This establishing shot of the grocery store has a trolley rolling into the road. Many episodes also feature a static version of the same shot (i.e. without the trolley).


Bart Vs. Thanksgiving
Radio Bart
This scene with Lou and Eddie was used for both these episodes; in both cases regarding Bart.


Brush With Greatness
Bart the Murderer
The animation for Burns' Somebody up there likes me speech in Brush With Greatness was reused in Bart the Murderer.


Lisa's Substitute
Bart the Murderer
This scene was originally used at the end of Lisa's Substitute, when Homer is on the biggest roll of his life. The animation was reused for Bart the Murderer after Homer has been to the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club (where Bart is working).


Stark Raving Dad
Homer's Triple Bypass
Homer and Apu
This short scene with the ambulance was used in these three episodes (and maybe more). The license plate reads SLIP.


Stark Raving Dad
This montage of people being told Michael Jackson is coming to town is made up of nine scenes from older episodes:
  1. The War of the Simpsons
  2. Principal Charming
  3. Homer's Night Out
  4. Bart's Dog Gets an F
  5. When Flanders Failed
  6. Bart's Dog Gets an F
  7. Some Enchanted Evening
  8. Old Money
  9. Blood Feud


Moaning Lisa
One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish
This short scene of Homer eating Pork Rinds Lite from Moaning Lisa was reused after Homer vows to live life to its fullest. It is looped over and over during the credits, with background noise from the television.


Bart's Dog Gets An F
Lisa's Pony
In Lisa's Pony, Lisa calls Homer at work. The shot of her on the phone is reused from Bart's Dog Gets An F - an odd choice, since she had the mumps in that episode. Homer putting down the phone is also recycled from the former episode.


Lisa's Pony
The shot of Homer being woken up by the phone is used twice in this episode: first in the fade from The Dawn of Man, and second when Lisa calls Homer at work.


Saturdays of Thunder
Radio Bart
An opening shot into a Homer/Marge bed scene. Both times Homer was talking about Bart.


Radio Bart
Dog of Death
This shot of Homer was used in Radio Bart for the line Bart's birthday is coming up and was reused for his And I'll be right here watching TV! line from Dog of Death.


Homer at the Bat
Lisa's First Word
This animation was used when Homer was making his bat, and again when he made Bart's clown bed.


Homer Defined
Treehouse of Horror II
This scene was used at the beginning of Homer Defined, where Homer reads USA Today and Lisa gives her opinion. It was reused in the final scene of Treehouse of Horror II, where Homer argues with his second head (Mr. Burns).
Note that in this shot, Lisa is next to Maggie and on the opposite side of the table to Homer, however in Treehouse of Horror II, in the next shot she is sat next to Homer (without the newspaper) and Maggie is on the opposite side of the table to her.


Separate Vocations
This sequence of eight shots below was part of the random locker search, to the tune of Axel F (from Beverly Hills Cop). The set of shots was repeated twice.


Homer's Barbershop Quartet
'Round Springfield
Abe listens to the radio: Baby on Board in the former and Bleeding Gums Murphy's album in the latter.


Marge on the Lam
This episode has some recycled footage, but I'm not sure exactly which episode it's from. The image shows a cut from the den at the front of the house to the TV room, which is at the back of the house, when Bart says the line we don't need a babysitter.


Saturdays of Thunder
Homer Alone
This shot of Homer answering the phone was used in both episodes, with ironic "on hold" music for each: Cats in the Cradle when he rang the Fatherhood Institute, and Baby Come Back when he rang the police station to report Maggie missing.


Homer's Odyssey
Bart the Daredevil
In Homer's Odyssey, Otto drives the kids to the nuclear plant. In Bart the Daredevil, he is driving them to Springfield Gorge. This short animation of the bus passing Springfield Prison was used in both episodes.


Homer Alone
Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?
Another Homer/Marge bed scene. The same animation was used for both of these episodes.


Saturdays of Thunder
Homer Loves Flanders
Sunday, Cruddy Sunday
Homer the Moe
These two American Football shots (the first is from Saturdays of Thunder, the second from Homer Loves Flanders) were reused in Sunday, Cruddy Sunday to advertise the Superbowl. The second one was reused again in Homer the Moe.


Dancin' Homer
Homer at the Bat
The pan across the stadium from Dancin' Homer was reused at the end of Homer at the Bat, as the fade into the Talkin' Softball song over the credits.


Bart The Daredevil
Marge Vs. the Monorail
This animation for the Truckasaurus commercial was reused in the monorail episode as an advert for Truckasaurus: The Movie.


The Front
This scene of Roger Meyers Jr. throwing his name block at a writer was used twice in the episode, as was the animation of him laughing.


Krusty Gets Busted
Another Simpsons Clip Show
After an Itchy & Scratchy episode, the kids laugh and Marge walks in and comments on it. In the clip show, the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon they watched was reused from an earlier episode, but not Krusty Gets Busted. Also note the crude cut back into new animation.


One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish
Another Simpsons Clip Show
This scene of Bart with a fork of food was first used in the former episode when commenting on sushi. It was used twice in the clip show, for the lines What happened to Mindy? and We learned [love] screws everybody up.