Disney+ Taking Major Heat for Making This Noticeable Change to ‘The Simpsons’

Disney+ officially launched on Tuesday, which means viewers now have access to tons of their favorite classic shows and movies. One of them featured on the streaming service is The Simpsons. But eagle-eye fans are noticing some differences with the Disney+ version of the episodes and the original: It has been changed to a widescreen format which crops some of the original top and bottom animation out of the frame.

The result of this change is that some visual jokes from original episodes are now lost. College Humor’s Trisan Cooper pointed out one great example of this from an episode in which Homer is touring the Duff Beer brewery.

Todd Vaziri, who is an expert in this working as visual effects artist at Industrial Light & Magic, also tweeted the difference by showing the original clip versus what it looks like on Disney+

It’s a somewhat subtle, but brilliant, joke that’s now been inadvertently removed by Disney+. Cooper also pointed out that Bart’s head looks much wider in the new format.

Fans, of course, have strong opinions about this and took to Twitter to blast Disney for the decision to change the series..

“Cropping to widescreen seems like, I don’t know, the worst choice that shouldn’t even have been thought of by anyone with experience in viewing film or television,” one person wrote.

“Why is modern media so afraid of 4:3 aspect ratio on old shows? They are literally cutting off 1/3 of people’s work! This is a crime, especially with animation! And it happens all the time despite everyone hating it!” another commented.

“Watching anything not on the original aspect ratio is incredibly dumb, and not offering it makes the service absolutely useless,” a third said.

Aside from The Simpsons issues, Disney+ experienced other problems on its first day. Many people faced technical difficulties as the service was down for thousands of users.

“The demand for #DisneyPlus has exceeded our highest expectations,” Disney tweeted on Tuesday morning. “We are so pleased you’re excited to watch all your favorites and are working quickly to resolve any current issues. We appreciate your patience.”