Production
"Bart to the Future" was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Michael Marcantel as part of the eleventh season of The Simpsons (1999–2000). It was the second episode of the series to show the Simpson family's life in the future, following the season six episode "Lisa's Wedding" that aired five years earlier in 1995. Two more future-set episodes have been released since "Bart to the Future", the first being Future-Drama (season 16, 2005) and second being "Holidays of Future Passed" (season 23, 2011). Greaney's inspiration for "Bart to the Future" came from "Lisa's Wedding". He and The Simpsons writer Matt Selman were sitting in Greaney's office one day, trying to come up with new episode stories, when they received the idea of making a companion piece to that episode. Greaney wanted to write an episode set in the future that focused on Bart instead of Lisa. He thought it would be interesting to explore how the future works out for "a guy like Bart, who doesn't pay attention to school work and is all about being cool."
Selman commented in an audio commentary for "Bart to the Future" that "the thing that really got the writers excited about the episode was this very specific version of future Bart." Greaney identified this version as "the guy who blames everyone else and tells everyone else that they used to be cool, that it's everyone else's fault that his life hasn't gone the way he wants it to go." The Simpsons showrunner Mike Scully also noted that future Bart is the kind of person who is "always waiting for some big sort of cash payoff that he feels he's owed whether it be an insurance settlement, an inheritance, or something that's gonna come sooner or later." Greaney said that everyone in the writing room recognized these traits from people they knew and therefore everyone contributed to the episode by suggesting lines for Bart to say and things for him to do.
According to Greaney, the animators originally designed future Bart as "cool and fun" and made several designs were he was "slim, attractive, and hip." Greaney did not think any of these designs went along with the personality he and the other the writers had assigned to future Bart, so he told the animators to draw the character with belly fat, a ponytail, sags under his eyes, and one earring. Scully said on the audio commentary that he thought the design of Bart looked "great", though he added that it was "slightly disturbing" to see the older versions of Homer and Marge in the episode, and joked that it is "a little bit sad to watch cartoon characters age."
Greaney needed a setpiece for the episode that enabled him to get into a vision of the characters in the future, and The Simpsons writer George Meyer came up with the idea of the Indian casino. When Homer and Bart first enter the casino, Homer tells Bart that "Although they seem strange to us, we must respect the ways of the Indian." He proceeds to greet everyone in the casino by saying "Hi-how-are-you?" in the rhythm of a stereotypical Native American chant. This joke was pitched by Tom Gammill, and there was a debate among the staff of the show about whether or not to include it in the episode as Native Americans could find it offensive. However, according to Scully, Dan Castellaneta (who voices Homer) "did so funny when we were at the table-read so we decided to put it in and risk offending."
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