As of its launch day on Nov. 12, Disney+ has nearly 650 titles — both new and old — available to subscribers. One such title is “The Simpsons,” which has its first 30 seasons (out of 31) available to stream on the long-awaited platform. However, while that should be cause for celebration for long-time “Simpsons” heads — or even folks who want to finally get in on the series from the very beginning — instead it’s become cause for frustration.
That’s because the first 19 seasons of “The Simpsons” are currently streaming on Disney+ in the wrong aspect ratio, with the streaming service stretching the episodes from their original 4:3 aspect ratio to the now common widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio.
In the case of “The Simpsons,” instead of showing more with the stretching — because it’s animated, not live-action — it’s instead cropped the frame in order to look better post-stretching. This is particularly egregious because for a show heavy on visual gags like “The Simpsons,” said visual gags are now lost in translation (well, conversion) with the stretch to 16:9 aspect ratio. In this case, it might just be hip to be square.
It’s an issue that has plagued a number of older shows on streaming platforms — notably “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which had production crew even showing up in shots because of the widescreen conversion. The shift allows these episodes to “fit” in modern widescreen televisions, as opposed to presenting as squares with black sidebars. (Those black bars were also decried by viewers — but it’s very debatable if they are worse than undercutting some of the content of the show.)
Dorkly’s Tristan Cooper tweeted a couple of notable examples:
All the classic Simpsons episodes on Disney+ are in cropped widescreen format — this means you miss out on tons of great visual jokes, like how Duff, Duff Lite and Duff Dry all come from the same tube. pic.twitter.com/cTy9adulFl
— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) November 12, 2019
Not only are the classic Simpsons episodes on Disney+ awkwardly cropped, but they're stretched in a lot of places too. Bart's head looks 4 inches wider here: pic.twitter.com/fCpmTPasGj
— Tristan Cooper (@TristanACooper) November 12, 2019
Fans expressed disappointment in the formatting, as did “Simpsons” writer Bill Oakley, who expressed his displeasure at the aspect ratio debacle in response to a now-deleted tweet.
"Just buy the dvds" or "just keep the dvds" is the shittiest rebuke to people complaining about aspect ratio or missing episodes, especially with The Simpsons
— Joshah Maccabee (@Joshy206) November 12, 2019
It’s amazing to finally be able to legally stream #TheSimpsons in Canada on #DisneyPlus but the aspect ratio is off and many characters are cropped and visual gags are lost. Please fix this
— an actual kamikaze (@ethanisblank) November 12, 2019
What the fuck is the point of Disney+ if they can’t even put The Simpsons in the right aspect ratio
— Jinglepatty (@patrickhwillems) November 12, 2019
This isn’t just a symptom of standard streaming procedure either, as Fox eventually made sure to stream “The Simpsons” (via the FXX Simpsons World app) in the appropriate 4:3 aspect ratio after having the same 16:9 aspect ratio issues.
Disney+ has the technology, as well as the proper aspect ratio, to at least make it an option. IndieWire has reached out to Disney+ for comment.
