''Maggie Simpson in "The Force Awakens from Its Nap"'' is an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

short film based on the television series ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

''. The short was released on May 4, 2021, on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

in celebration of ''Star Wars'' Day. It is the third short film featuring

Maggie Simpson Margaret Evelyn Lenny "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and a part of the Simpson family, notably the youngest member. She first appeared on television in the '' Tracey Ullman Show'' sh ...

, following ''

The Longest Daycare ''Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"'' or simply ''The Longest Daycare'', is a 2012 American animated 3D comedy short film based on the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. In the film, Maggie Simpson is enrolled at a new daycare fa ...

'' (2012) and ''

Playdate with Destiny ''Maggie Simpson in "Playdate with Destiny"'' is a 2020 American animated short film based on the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. The film features Maggie Simpson. It is the first Simpsons short film released after the Disney acquis ...

'' (2020). In 2023, another short film was released with Maggie Simpson celebrating ''Star Wars Day'' called '' Rogue Not Quite One''. The promotional short is the first of several from ''The Simpsons'' that Disney+ released since 2021, to tie in with the service's marquee brands and titles.

Plot

Marge Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret (name), Margaret. Notable Marges include: People *Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist *Marge Anderson (1932� ...

drives

Maggie Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret. Maggie may refer to: People Women * Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician * Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist * Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...

to The Ayn Rand School for Tots daycare, but Maggie refuses, so she takes her to the Jabba's Hut Jedi Preschool, entering through the Sky toddlers door. In there, they see a

Jedi Jedi (), Jedi Knights, or collectively the Jedi Order are the main heroic protagonists of many works of the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Working symbiotically alongside the Old Galactic Republic, and later supporting the Rebel Alliance, the Jedi O ...

prepare sandwiches with the use of a

lightsaber A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout the ''Star Wars'' franchise. A typical lightsaber is depicted as a luminescent plasma blade about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the or ...

and the force, while

Ahsoka Tano Ahsoka Tano is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Introduced as the Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, she is a supporting character in the animated film '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' (2008) and the subsequent animated telev ...

puts a baby in carbonite for being bad. Marge takes her to

General Grievous General Grievous is a character and antagonist in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Grievous was introduced in the 2003 animated series '' Star Wars: Clone Wars'' (voiced by John DiMaggio in the second season and Richard McGo ...

that was changing a kid's diaper next to

R2-D2 R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...

, using it as a trash bin. The cyborg takes the pacifier and throws it away. Maggie panics and is approached by

BB-8 BB-8 (or Beebee-Ate) is a droid character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He appeared in the three films of the sequel trilogy, '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015), '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'' (2017), and '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywa ...

, which wants to help her retrieve the pacifier, so Maggie gives it her bow tie. BB-8 starts running toward the next room but finds itself trapped in the middle of many other BB-8s. Maggie tries to reach it but the other BB-8 attack and damage it. BB-8 managed to find and give Maggie the pacifier before

Baby Gerald The American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' contains a wide range of minor and supporting characters like co-workers, teachers, students, family friends, extended relatives, townspeople, local celebrities, and even animals. The writ ...

, dressed as

Darth Maul Darth Maul, also known simply as Maul, is a character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. He first appeared as the secondary antagonist of the 1999 film '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (portrayed by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Se ...

, stabs it in the back. Maggie and Gerald start fighting, Maggie using a prolonged pacifier, and when she reaches a "new improved

Death Star The Death Star is a fictional space station and Weapon of mass destruction, superweapon featured in the ''Star Wars'' Space opera, space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire (Star Wars), Galactic Empire, the Death Star ...

guaranteed unexplodable" she hits it, making it explode on Gerald. However, he is not stopped and makes her lose the pacifier. Maggie retrieves it and makes him lose his diaper. Gerald uses the Force to crush her under a wardrobe. BB-8, still alive, arrives at the scene, and Maggie emerges from the wardrobe, alive, with

Yoda Yoda () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' universe, first appearing in the 1980 film ''The Empire Strikes Back''. He is a small, green humanoid alien who is powerful with the Force and is a leading member of the Jedi Order until ...

ears. BB-8 wonders how she's alive and she shows it how in the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' rules, beloved characters never really die. In the end, Maggie and a restored BB-8 watch the twin suns of

Tatooine Tatooine () is a fictional desert planet that appears in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms. The planet was first ...

set.

Production

The idea behind a ''

'' short starring Maggie Simpson came up in January 2021. As the

''Simpsons'' library was well received, executive producer

James L. Brooks James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Taxi'', ''The Simpsons'', '' Broadcast News'', ''As G ...

proposed to do a series of shorts where the show interacted with other franchises available in the streaming service. Showrunner

Al Jean Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his wri ...

, a long-time ''Star Wars'' fan, pitched the idea of making a ''Star Wars''-centric short in which Maggie is sent to a Jedi preschool. Two shorts starring Maggie, ''

'' and ''

'', had been previously produced in 2012 and 2020. Both

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

and Disney+ showed enthusiasm for the idea, and asked the ''Simpsons'' crew to have the short ready for May 4, 2021, given how " ''Star Wars'' Day" is celebrated on that date. Jean wrote the script along with Joel Cohen and

Mike Price Michael Bruce Price (born April 6, 1946) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach at Weber State College from 1981 to 1988, Washington State University from 1989 to 2002, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) from 2004 ...

and the ''Simpsons'' director David Silverman directed the short. The first draft for the short was ready by January 18. They worked closely with Lucasfilm throughout the short's development, providing suggestions and making sure that the ''Simpsons'' crew used the full universe of their characters. Among the characters included in the short as a "Darth Maul Baby" and

, but

Grogu Grogu, colloquially referred to as Baby Yoda, is a character from the ''Star Wars'' Disney+ original television series ''The Mandalorian''. He is a toddler member of the same species as the ''Star Wars'' characters Yoda and Yaddle, with whom he ...

(better known as "Baby Yoda") was only referenced yet not included, as Jean felt that the character is probably the most sought-after of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, so they did not want him to be overexposed. The Lucasfilm team also helped them to transliterate the chalkboard writing to Aurebesh. The short was finished on April 30, four days before its release date.

Reception

Critical reception

Rich Knight of ''

Cinema Blend Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...

'' ranked ''Maggie Simpson in "The Force Awakens from Its Nap"'' third in their top of The Simpsons Short, acknowledged the references to the ''

'' franchise, and praised the humor and the gags of the animated short film, despite stating that ''The Force Awakens from Its Nap'' does not offer much of a story. Eden Arnold of ''

Bleeding Cool Bleeding Cool is an Internet news site, focusing on comics, television, film, board games, and video games. Owned by Avatar Press, it was launched by Rich Johnston on March 27, 2009. Avatar Press also publishes an associated magazine, ''Bleeding ...

'' found the short film to be an endearing celebration of ''Star Wars'' Day, while saying it shows off Disney's properties. Raul Velasquez of ''TheGamer.com'' complimented the humor of the short film, stating it manages to be a cheerful and carefree short that is funny enough to entertain ''Star Wars'' fans, and claimed that the crossover manages to capture the humor of ''

'' franchise at the same time.

Accolades

Followups

In 2023, another short film was released with Maggie Simpson celebrating ''Star Wars Day'' called '' Rogue Not Quite One''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Force Awakens From Its Nap, The 2020s American animated films 2021 animated films 2021 short films American animated short films American comedy short films Animated films based on animated series Animated films without speech Disney+ original films Films based on television series Films directed by David Silverman Films set in the United States Parody films based on Star Wars The Simpsons short films 20th Century Studios short films Gracie Films films 2020s Disney animated short films Films produced by James L. Brooks Films produced by Matt Groening