Talk:Dead Bart: From Start to End/@comment-24684301-20140314205925

I really liked your take on the 'Dead Bart' lineage of events. The original creepypasta ends on a strange and supernatural note. I'm not sure how I feel about that..it is haunting, but takes away from some of the "legitimacy" of the story. I'm glad you didn't include that.

It *IS* entirely feasible that Matt Groenig was going through a rough patch during the creation of Season 1. At the time, no-one knew if the show would even pan out. If you've ever read his Life in Hell series (that, coincidentally came out before the Simpsons became wildly popular) you will notice that, despite being a comic, it actually reads more like a personal diary on positive and negative things that he has encountered in his life. Even the title seems apt to an unknown health problem with anxiety or depression.

Given the amount of creative control Matt had (still has a lot of influence on the show, ever notice how his name appears on every offical Simpsons picture?) I could see a slew of animators and other ancillary staff bending to the beck and call of the strange episode. I believe that the voice actors at the time (late 80's)  commanded a small salary and weren't known for more then a few bit parts here and there, therefore I could picture clearly in my mind the voice actors, gathered around microphones, giving each other strange glances as they read the copy that was in their hands. Perhaps even giving out a commendable performance. Perhaps even being so sickened by the copy in front of them, actually crying into the microphones.

I would have liked it if you elaborated more on the mystery of the episode. How did you know that it was thrown out? How did you know who, and how they obtained the copies? I think a little bit of mystery would have worked a little bit better in this regard, but, once again, I enjoyed this part as well, as it was completely reasonable as to an explaination of how the tape got out.

In my mind, the creepiest thing would be the analog artifacts that would be present on the tape. Weird audio phenomena (that may sound like screaming, screeching, strange barely audible voices, Bart's eerie Death Scream when he falls from the plane) or video (strange blurred colors, wavvy lines, weird cuts) that would accompany any damaged, overplayed VHS tape. Sometime's the devil is mostly imagined, and uncovering something old, overly copied, and not meant to even be seen by anybody would be similar to uncovering the lid of an old tomb.

I also would have liked to hear, in your own writing voice, what you saw, what you experienced when you first witnessed the episode when you were eight years old. Were you living in that suburb of Portland that the episode was allegedly aired on (I believe either the sequel creepypasta or alternate creepypasta briefly expounds on this)? What about it was so haunting? What about it made it stick with you, and made you compelled to research the episode and communicate with people about it?

Other than that, I really liked what you wrote! I think it's natural for human beings to deal with stress and the fear of death through various methods. Mr. Groenig's mistake was one we all might have tripped into. Great story!