The Dark Secrets of "The Dark Secrets of The Simpsons"

The year is 1997, and The Simpsons is released on home video in the UK in the form of 'themed' videos, each containing four episodes based around a certain topic. The first of these releases was The Dark Secrets of The Simpsons, which contains four episodes themed around MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE: "Homer Badman", "Homer the Great", "Lisa the Iconoclast" and "The Springfield Files". It is the first of these which causes a bit of a problem, and therein lies the video's own mystery.

"Homer Badman" was initially rated as a 12 by the British Board of Film Classification. However, this caused a problem at FOX Video; they felt a 12 certificate would reduce sales, which was especially undesirable when this was the first of a new range. The BBFC downgraded it to a PG, although this was not because they'd had any kind of rethink about the episode's content; they simply agreed to FOX's request.

Dark Secrets was re-released in 2003 on DVD, as part of "The Simpsons Classics" range. The DVD was rated 12, and it seems this was because "Homer Badman" now carried its correct rating; "Homer the Great" was replaced by "Homer to the Max" for the DVD, but both of those episodes seem to have always been PG, and so were "Iconoclast" and "Files". Finally, the episode was released on the Complete Sixth Season boxset in 2005, and it also had a 12 rating there.

The problem is that the BBFC can't classify an identical work twice. If you want to submit the same thing to it again, it has to be changed in some way. Compare this with the Red Dwarf episode "Marooned". When that episode was first released on VHS, it was given a 15 certificate due to the discussion about Lister losing his virginity. By the time they were preparing the series for release on DVD, the requirements for each certificate had changed, and "Marooned" would now be able to get away with a 12 certificate. As it was, up until then, the only Red Dwarf episode to be rated 15, this would mean the rating of the whole DVD it was on could be lowered. But even though standards had changed, they couldn't just submit the episode again. The solution to this was to add an unused model shot after the end credits and, lo and behold, that's enough of a change for the BBFC to be happy.

Does this not imply that there were two different versions of "Homer Badman" submitted to the BBFC? But what could have changed between the two? It is possible, of course, that this was some kind of genuine oversight and it was classified twice, or it's because "Homer Badman" was always a 12 (as opposed to "Marooned", which was a 15 by the standards of the nineties but only a 12 by the standards of the noughties) and the BBFC just let the VHS release slide. Perhaps there was even some informal agreement at the time that they'd allow the video to be released as a PG, on condition that any future releases containing that episode had the proper certificate? (The fact that it's animated and the show is often treated as one for children in the UK might have helped them to get away with it.)

Whatever the truth is, it's an interesting thing to consider. Which is a rare thing on this blog.