Magy

Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in



the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. She received her first name from Groening's youngest sister. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family was given their own series on the Fox Broadcasting Company which debuted December 17, 1989.

Maggie is the youngest child of Marge and Homer, and sister to Bart and Lisa. She is often seen sucking on her pacifier, and, when she walks, she trips over her clothing and falls on her face. Because she cannot talk, Maggie is the least seen and heard in the Simpson family.

Maggie's squeaking and occasional speaking parts are currently provided by Nancy Cartwright, but she has also been voiced by guest stars James Earl Jones, Elizabeth Taylor and Jodie Foster. Maggie has appeared in various media relating to The Simpsons – including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials and comic books – and has inspired an entire line of merchandise. {| class="toc" id="toc"

Contents
[hide]*1 Role in The Simpsons
 * 2 Character
 * 2.1 Creation
 * 2.2 Voice
 * 3 Reception
 * 4 Merchandising
 * 5 Notes
 * 6 References
 * 7 External links
 * }

[edit] Role in The Simpsons
The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not physically age, and as such the show is assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes.[2] Maggie is the youngest child of Marge and Homer, and sister to Bart and Lisa. When Marge became pregnant with Lisa, she and Homer bought their first house. Seven years later, Homer felt financially secure enough to finally quit his job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and take his dream job at Barney's Bowlarama. Soon Marge became pregnant with Maggie and, unable to support his family, Homer reapplied for a job at the power plant.[3]

During the earlier seasons of the show, Maggie's equivalent of a hallmark was to trip over her clothing and fall on her face while trying to walk, causing a loud thud on the floor,[4] but this was toned down in the later seasons. She has penchant for her pacifier, on which she is always seen sucking.[4]

Maggie has performed a number of feats that suggest she is a baby genius. She has spelled out E=MC² with her baby blocks, driven Homer's car, escaped from the Springfield daycare center,[5] and written her name on an Etch-A-Sketch

.[4] Maggie is keenly aware of her surroundings, and can usually be seen imitating the flow of action around her. She shows a high degree of dexterity, and she once hit Homer on the head with a mallet and shot a dart at a photograph of him in imitation of Itchy and Scratchy.[6] Despite her age, Maggie is a formidable marksman, as seen in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" where she shoots Mr. Burns with a handgun that falls into her hands,[7] and in a more intentional manner during "Papa's Got a Brand New Badge" where she is able to non-fatally shoot a group of mobsters in rapid succession with a rifle that she apparently hides in her crib.[5]

Maggie is usually frightened and exasperated by Homer's attempts to bond with her, but has on several occasions stepped in to save Homer's life: once from drowning,[8] once from being shot by mobsters,[5] once from being kidnapped by a tow truck driver,[9] and once from being shot by Russ Cargill, head of the United States Environmental Protection Agency‎.[10]

[edit] Creation
Maggie in her first appearance in the Ullman short "Good Night".Matt Groening first conceived Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, and had intended to present an

adaptation of his Life in Hell comic strip. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction,[11] and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family. The baby of the family was named Maggie after Groening's youngest sister.[12] [13] Maggie then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons family on April 19, 1987 in the short "Good Night".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13">[14] In 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series that would air on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Maggie and the rest of the family remained the main characters on this new show.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14">[15]

The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15">[16] The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-americasfirstfamily_10-1">[11] Maggie's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Lisa shares her hairline.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16">[17] While designing Maggie and Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-THOHV_17-0">[18] At the time, Groening was primarily drawing in black and white and when designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18">[19]

Groening thought that it would be funny to have a baby character that did not talk and never grew up, but was scripted to show any emotions that the scene required.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-sundvd_19-0">[20] Maggie's comedic hallmarks include her tendency to stumble and land on her face while attempting to walk, and a penchant for sucking on her pacifier, the sound of which has become the equivalent of her catchphrase and was originally created by Groening during the Tracey Ullman period. In the early seasons of the show, Maggie would suck her pacifier over other character's dialogue, but this was discontinued because the producers found it too distracting.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20">[21]

[edit] Voice
With few exceptions, Maggie never speaks but is very participatory in the events around her, emoting with subtle gestures and facial expressions. Maggie's first lines were spoken in "Good Night", the first short to air on The Tracey Ullman Show, after the family falls asleep. On this occasion, Liz Georges provided the voice of Maggie.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21">[22]

Although she had previously spoken in fantasies and dream sequences, Maggie's first word spoken in the normal continuity of the series occurred in "Lisa's First Word", when she was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EW_22-0">[23] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-LisasFirstWord_23-0">[24] Although it was only one word, Taylor had to record the part numerous times before the producers were satisfied.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24">[25] James Earl Jones voiced Maggie in "Treehouse of Horror V".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-book_25-0">[26] Maggie would later have brief dialogue in "Treehouse of Horror IX", voiced by Harry Shearer, who used his Kang voice.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26">[27] In earlier episodes, Yeardley Smith did many of Maggie's squeaks and occasional speaking parts,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-com_27-0">[28] although in the later seasons her parts are done by Nancy Cartwright.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-TwoDimes_28-0">[29] Jodie Foster voiced a Howard Roark-inspired Maggie in the season 20 episode "Four Great Women and a Manicure".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29">[30]