Since the world was graced with Minecraft, players have used the game like a virtual play set of LEGO blocks, in order to build… well, anything they can think of. Here’s one of the most clever uses I’ve seen yet: the entire opening credits sequence of The Simpsons, filmed in the gloriously low resolution of Minecraft.

This particular short film was made by a YouTube user known as “CraftedMovie” (they also have a Facebook page)– a person or group that’s racked up some 29 Minecraft videos devoted to of all sorts of wildly diverse things, such as Pokemon, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, parkour, mazes, and more.

It couldn’t have been easy to reproduce The Simpsons‘ title sequence in Minecraft‘s blocky world, so you’ll notice a number of creative liberties taken, including the square forms of the characters (poor little Maggie is reduced to nothing but a head!). It required the creation of several custom yellow skins, as well. But you’ll instantly recognize what’s taking place.

There are tons of untooned images out there, so I used the following criteria for selection:

1. They must be high quality, high-res images.
2. The depiction must match or come close to the true proportions of the cartoon character.
3. It must be photo-realistic. Nothing too cartoony.
4. With one or two noteworthy exceptions, no video game characters or anime. Cartoons only.

With no further ado…

Agent P (Phineas & Ferb)

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Alfred E. Newman (Mad Magazine)

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Barney Rubble

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Bart Simpson

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Beavis

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Brain (Pinky & the Brain)

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Bugs Bunny

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Butthead

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Charlie Brown

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Fred Flinstone

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Hans Moleman (The Simpsons)

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Homer Simpson

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Jessica Rabbit

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Link

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Mario

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Mr. Burns

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Moe Szyslak (The Simpsons)

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Mr. Natural (by Robert Crumb)

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Naruto

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Patrick Star (Spongebob Squarepants)

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Peter Griffin

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Pikachu

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Popeye (old)

Sideshow Bob (The Simpsons)

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Snoopy & Woodstock

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Spongebob Squarepants

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Squidward Tentacles

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Stan Smith (American Dad)

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Stewie Griffin

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Timmy Turner (Fairly Oddparents)

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Wimpy (Popeye)

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Wolverine

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Zoidbergg & Bender

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I am not much of a Simpsons fan, but that cartoon has an undeniable attraction for people of all ages. Admittedly, after seeing the movie when it came out, I found myself singing Spider Pig in my head for a while. So anyway, I just discovered the identity of an artist whom I have been looking for for a while. It all started with this image, which I found somewhere on the Internet months ago.

Isn’t that just brilliant? I remember posting it on my Facebook wall. I also remember having a discussion with a friend about how brilliant the painting is, but that there was just something freakishly wrong about it. I was on the hunt as to who was behind the painting but totally forgot about it. Until now.

Enter David Barton. Armed with a crayon, Photoshop (an old version, mind you), and Corel Painter (according to him, a less old version), he takes the work of the masters to a whole new dimension. Scroll up a little bit and take a look at Darth Vader again. Whole new dimension or not?

Now that I have discovered the identity of David Barton – though I didn’t know it was him I was looking for – I have also taken the time to look at his other work. They are no less brilliant, but definitely not as disturbing as Darth Vader. (Still can’t figure out why!)

So here some of your most recognizable characters from The Simpsons in a different setting.

Grounds Keeper Willie Van Gogh. Now compare that with Van Gogh’s self portrait.

Spot the difference?

Everyone’s favorite convenience store owner, Apu. Time to spot the difference.

Do I have to tell you that this is Dali’s self portrait?

Now here is the lovable couple, Homer and Marge.

And the original paintings: The Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt’s Self Portrait.

Going back to the Darth Vader image. This is the original – Monet’s Woman with a Parasol.

Tell me there isn’t something freakishly wrong about it!? I still can’t seem to put my finger on it!

When I’m really hooked on a TV show I tend to become an encyclopedia on it. I started watching Friends in year 2000/2001 and now I own the whole show on DVD and have watched every episode more then 10 times. If I have to show the same dedication to The Simpsons show I would have to be watching it hours a day.

For those of you who are Simpsons fans and want to know all details without having to watch reruns after reruns there now is the Simpsons World The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1-20

This mega book covers everything of the Simpsons that you can think of: Every blackboard phrase Bart has written, every “D’oh” or “Mmm…” Homer has said, over 400 characters profile and a lot more. This kind of book is something all long running shows and/or intricate shows like “Lost” should have for TV show geeks like me.

The book will be available on October 26 for 90 dollars from Amazon.

It is a public secret that I am a big fan of Banksy’s street art and when I saw the title of a tweet combining both Banksy and The Simpsons, I don’t know anymore whether I was amused, excited or just thinking WTF. For the first time ever the crew around Matt Groenig have allowed a ‘third party’ artist to write the storyboard for and direct intro of the popular springfield animation series and the results are rather interesting. Enjoy the video before the Youtube overlords pull it. ;)

If another artist is allowed to direct the intro in the future, I would love to see this honour to go to David Fincher, in my opinion not only a great director but also one of the best movie title sequence artists.

I really want to say that this is cool, but the more I look at it, the more my spine tingles. This is just a too eerie for me.