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{{short description|Fictional character from The Simpsons franchise}}
{{Simpsons character|
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}{{Infobox character
image= ]|
| name = Principal Skinner
name=Seymour Skinner / Armen Tamzarian|
| series = ]
gender=]|
| image = Seymour Skinner.png
hair=Graying, neat|
| first_major = "]"
age=44|
| first_date = December 17, 1989
job=Principal of Springfield Elementary (1989–1994; 1994–present)|
| creator = ]
relatives=Sheldon Skinner, father (Deceased), ], mother, girl friend ]|
| designer = Matt Groening
appearance=]|
voiceactor=] | voice = ]
| gender = Male
| occupation = ] of ]
| significant_others = ] (ex-fiancée)
| relatives = Sheldon Skinner (father)<br>] (mother)
| affiliation = ]<br>Springfield Elementary School
}} }}


'''Principal Seymour Skinner'''<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One) |episode-link=Who Shot Mr. Burns? |series=The Simpsons |series-link=The Simpsons |season=6 |number=25 |time=06:17}}</ref><ref>{{cite video|last=Oakley|first=Bill|year=2005|title=Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One)". The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season|medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>{{Sfn|Groening|2010|pp=83, 1187}} is a recurring fictional ] in the animated ] '']'', who is voiced by ].{{Sfn|Groening|2010|p=1105}} He is the ] of ], which he struggles to control, and is constantly engaged in a battle against its inadequate resources, apathetic and bitter teachers, and often rowdy and unenthusiastic students, ] being a standout example.
''' Seymour Skinner''' (born '''Armen Tamzarian''', ]) is a fictional character on '']'', voiced by ]. He is of ] heritage.


Skinner attempts to institute discipline at the school, with an uptight, militaristic attitude that stems from his years in the ] as a ] including service in the ], where he was captured and held as a prisoner of war. He is quick to take orders from his superiors, chiefly his mother ] and ].
Skinner is a stereotypical educational ], the principal of ]. He struggles to hold the crumbling school together and is constantly engaged in a battle against the school's inadequate resources, apathetic and bitter teachers, and largely rowdy and unenthusiastic students -- ] being the standout example. He often tries to exploit ]'s ] to make the school look good. Seymour Skinner's father, Sheldon Skinner, fought on ]'s ].


==Role in ''The Simpsons''==
{{spoiler}}
Skinner's actions often involve ensuring the school has adequate funding. His constant, desperate, and usually ineffective attempts at maintaining discipline are an effort to receive good reviews in the frequent inspections of his very strict boss, ], who makes no effort to hide his disapproval of Skinner. These inspections usually turn awry due to ]'s elaborate pranks, which play off Skinner's desperation for order. Over the years of pranks and inspections, though, Skinner has developed a ] with Bart; ] by ], Bart found pranks less meaningful, due to Flanders' lax approach to discipline, while Skinner missed his constant battles with Bart. The two bonded during this time and Bart made an effort to get Skinner reinstated in the school.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song|episode-link=Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song|series=The Simpsons |series-link=The Simpsons |credits=Oakley, Bill; Weinstein, Josh; Anderson, Bob|network=Fox |airdate=1994-04-28 |season=5 |number=19}}</ref>


One of Skinner's defining traits is that he has served as a ] sergeant during the ], where he was captured by the ] at the ] and spent three years as a ].<ref>''The Simpsons'' episode "I Love Lisa"</ref><ref>''The Simpsons'' episode "Team Homer"</ref> Seeing his entire platoon devoured by an elephant was one of the many things that led to the development of his ]. He is also quite bitter about the treatment that he and other Vietnam veterans have received upon returning from the war. Skinner is a highly skilled combatant, particularly hand-to-hand, and demonstrates his abilities in several episodes.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Lisa the Beauty Queen|episode-link=Lisa the Beauty Queen|series=The Simpsons |series-link=The Simpsons |credits=Martin, Jeff; Kirkland, Mark|network=Fox |airdate=1992-10-15 |season=4 |number=4}}</ref> Skinner often seems weak-willed and easily suppressed, but often will use his military command experience gained in the Vietnam War to get real respect and discipline. When he and the students are snowed-in at the school, he treats them like his squad to control the chaos temporarily, before they mutiny.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Skinner's Sense of Snow|episode-link=Skinner's Sense of Snow|series=The Simpsons |series-link=The Simpsons |credits=Long, Tim; Kramer, Lance|network=Fox |airdate=2000-12-17 |season=12 |number=8}}</ref>
Skinner lives in fear of the wrath of his boss, ], who makes no effort to hide his disapproval of him. At one point Skinner was fired and replaced by ] despite Flanders' thorough lack of administrative skill and experience. During this period Bart actually became friends with the unemployed Skinner, telling him about Flanders' rather lax approach, having gotten rid of formal punishments and putting the place on the honor system, terrifying the teachers to the point of locking themselves in the faculty lounge. Skinner eventually decided to rejoin the military as a drill sergeant, feeling that he would never be happy doing anything that wasn't related to being an administrator, and Bart found that he missed Skinner on two levels - on one level he missed Skinner as a friend, but missed him even more as an enemy. While Bart initially enjoyed the ease of pulling pranks on Flanders's watch, he ultimately found it unfulfilling because the overly laid back Flanders simply didn't have Skinner's uptight personality for Bart to play off of. Bart decided to get Skinner rehired by showing Chalmers how badly the school had fallen apart without him. Upon showing him the devastation, Bart points out: "You fired Skinner for way less than this." Chalmers initially scoffed at the idea, but changed his mind after hearing Flanders say: "Thank the Lord for this beautiful day" over the intercom, a comment he took to be a prayer, which is not allowed in public schools (technically incorrect; while ''organized'' prayer is not allowed in public schools, ''individual'' prayer is protected).


Although Skinner likes to maintain the image of a strict disciplinarian, he is often weak-willed and nervous and has a very unhealthy dependence on his mother, who still lives with him, constantly torments him and nicknames him "Spanky".<ref>''The Simpsons'' episode "The Crepes of Wrath"</ref> Aside from a short-lived relationship with ],<ref>{{cite episode |title=Principal Charming|episode-link=Principal Charming|series=The Simpsons |series-link=The Simpsons |credits=Stern, David M.; Kirkland, Mark|network=Fox |airdate=1991-02-14 |season=2 |number=14}}</ref> most of Skinner's love life is focused on ]. He and Edna kiss in Martin's playhouse after they are invited to a birthday party, and they are witnessed by Bart. He loses his job along with Edna when Superintendent Chalmers is advised of their romance by ], after which Skinner and Edna lock themselves in the school with Bart demanding their jobs back. After Skinner is reinstated, he and Edna date for several more years and become engaged,<ref>{{cite episode |title=Special Edna|episode-link=Special Edna|series=The Simpsons |series-link=The Simpsons |credits=Snee, Dennis; Anderson, Bob|network=Fox |airdate=2003-01-05 |season=14 |number=7}}</ref> but later cancel the wedding.<ref>{{cite episode |title=My Big Fat Geek Wedding|episode-link=My Big Fat Geek Wedding|series=The Simpsons |series-link=The Simpsons |credits=Curran, Kevin; Kirkland, Mark|network=Fox |airdate=2004-04-18 |season=15 |number=17}}</ref> Edna has shown she does want to continue dating Skinner, but first wants him to commit to her—namely by not letting his ], with whom he still lives, control him anymore.
In the first few seasons, Skinner resembled ], the main character from the ] film '']''. Though this has been dropped, there are still hints, such as the house he lives in and his overbearing mother, ]. He is named for behavioral psychologist ], whose work is often studied by professional educators, or ], the founder of ].


The controversial season 9 episode "]" heavily alters Skinner's backstory, revealing him as an impostor. Born as Armin Tamzarian, he has been a troubled orphan from Capital City, who is forced into the US Army during the Vietnam War. There, he serves as a ] under Sgt. Seymour Skinner, whom he comes to idolize and befriend. When the sergeant is reported missing and presumed dead, Armin returns to Springfield to inform Skinner's mother, Agnes, but she deliberately mistakes him for Seymour, so he assumes his identity and follows Skinner's dream of becoming a school principal. The real Seymour Skinner (voiced by ]) is alive after all, and briefly returns to Springfield to take his rightful place as Springfield Elementary School Principal, but proves hopelessly unpopular and the Springfielders run him out of town on the railroad. ] grants Tamzarian Skinner's "name, and his past, present, future, and mother", and decrees that no one will mention his true identity again "under penalty of ]" (although Lisa uses the real name in the episode "]"). A clip from the episode is used in season eleven's "]" as an example of the show's increasingly "gimmicky and nonsensical plots". The continuity of the series appears to have been ] to the original story of Seymour Skinner in the 2010 episode "]", as he is clearly shown to kick Agnes Skinner in utero, establishing him as Agnes' biological son after all. This is further declared in the Season 29 episode "]" where a teenage Seymour is shown living with Agnes before going off to college.
In later seasons Skinner and ] started dating, and later got engaged. Later again they broke up, although it has been hinted that he still wants her and they may get back together in the future. He was a ] until he started dating Krapabbel (or so he claimed at the time in order to save himself and Edna from being fired). He still lives at home with his mother. Principal Skinner frequently lapses back to the Vietnam war in many episodes.


Another part of Principal Skinner's backstory is revealed in the season 21 episode "]". When Bart Simpson plays numerous pranks on teachers of the school, Skinner reveals to Bart that there was a student who was an even better prankster than him. Bart is eager to discover the prankster's identity. Later, ] tells him the story: years ago, the school had a swimming pool and team, with Willie as their coach. Skinner was a more easygoing principal, but it all changed when student Andy Hamilton filled the pool with worms and locked Skinner in there for a long weekend (Monday being a teachers' holiday, Skinner was not rescued until Tuesday morning). This experience has caused him to become serious and almost merciless in his approach to rules, even going as far as to shut down the pool and demoting Willie, the swim teacher, to groundskeeper.
His age has been referred to twice. Bart Simpson stated his age as 40, whereas ] says he is 44. He was "born" in the year ], and in the same episode it is estimated that he will die in ], though he lived longer in several episodes about the future. In the episode "The Heartbroke Kid," Skinner's sign is Libra.


==Character==
Outside of the school, Skinner often seems weak-] and easily snowed over, perhaps because he wishes not to get into confrontation, but on one occasion he used his Vietnam training to beat up a lawyer and his two enormous bodyguards who were accusing him of ] because the school's fair unintentionally ripped off a tagline similar to the ] theme park, dispatching them with disturbing efficiency. He also reveals here that he was apparently a ]. There are occasional other moments where Skinner uses his military physical training as well, which all but proves that while he may be a pushover most of the time, he is quite deadly when angered or cornered, although others such as Bart or his mother never see him in this mode themselves. He also stood up to ] when Burns tried to get him to give over control of the school's newly discovered oil deposit, but Skinner refused to buckle - only to have Burns steal the oil from him later anyway.


===Creation===
Skinner is apparently very intelligent as well, at least when it comes to book smarts. He is one of the members of ]'s branch of ]. However, when Lisa steals the teacher's editions, he is just as helpless as the teachers, which means that he, too, relied on the books and didn't know anything for himself. He is also clueless when it comes to bullies. In ], Bart remembers a time when Jimbo was giving him a swirly while Skinner was waiting outside the stall and questioned Jimbo if there was a problem( thinking that Jimbo was just going to the bathroom), since Jimbo had been flushing for twenty minutes. When Jimbo replies " No, Principal Skinner (stupid laugh)", Skinner says " Alright, I'll continue to wait" and begins whistling while the toilet continues to flush in the background as Jimbo gives Bart swirlies and Skinner is clueless about the whole thing with no suspicion. Before becoming principal, he worked as a fourth-grade science teacher, presumably at Springfield Elementary. As a result, he has an incredible ability to identify chemical reactions by sense of smell, such as ] bonding with ].
Principal Skinner first appeared in "]", which was also the first ''Simpsons'' episode to air.<ref name="Roasting">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season1/page1.shtml|title=Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire|author1=Martyn, Warren|author2=Wood, Adrian|year=2000|publisher=]|access-date=2008-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111025304/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season1/page1.shtml|archive-date=2012-11-11|url-status=live}}</ref> The first drawing of Skinner was done by ],<ref>Silverman, David. (2001). Commentary for "Bart the Genius", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete First Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> who based him on "all the principals of youth, rolled into one bland lump."<ref name=tvguide>{{cite news|title=Flash! 24 Simpsons Stars Reveal Themselves|date=2000-10-21|work=]|first=Joe|last=Rhodes}}</ref> Writer ] named him after behavioral psychologist ].<ref name="Reiss1">Reiss, Mike. (2002). Commentary for "]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref><ref name="sprcon">{{cite book |last1=Reiss |first1=Mike |last2=Klickstein |first2=Mathew |title=Springfield confidential: jokes, secrets, and outright lies from a lifetime writing for the Simpsons |date=2018 |publisher=Dey Street Books |isbn=978-0062748034 |page=100|location=New York City}}</ref> An original idea for Skinner was that he would continually mispronounce words. He does this in the series premiere "]", but the idea was later dropped.<ref>Groening, Matt. (2001). Commentary for "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete First Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> Skinner was originally supposed to wear a ], but it was dropped because the writers disliked "that type of joke".<ref name="Groening1">Groening, Matt. (2002). Commentary for "Principal Charming", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete SecondSeason'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> In later episodes, Skinner's behavior was based on teachers that ] and ] had in high school.<ref name="Weinstein1">Weinstein, Josh. (2004). Commentary for "]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref>


===Development===
Seymour Skinner's personal history, like that of many ''Simpsons'' characters, is somewhat convoluted. It was long known that he was a ] veteran; having been a ] (prisoner #24601), he often goes into ]s of how the guards mistreated him. He lives alone with his domineering elderly mother (his father having died in a parade float accident in 1979, along with Arnie Gumble, Iggy Wiggum, Etch Westgrin, and Griff McDonald, all of the Flying Hellfish). However, in the episode "]," it was revealed that Skinner is actually '''Armen Tamzarian (])'''. Armen was a troublesome orphan until he joined the ] and was befriended by Sgt. Skinner, whom he came to idolize. Believing himself responsible for the real Skinner being killed, he returned to ] to tell Skinner's mother, but she mistook him for Seymour. At the end of the episode, ] granted Tamzarian Skinner's "name, and his past, present, future, and mother," and decreed that no one will mention his true identity again under penalty of torture (this, after the Springfielders ran the real Seymour, voiced by ]&mdash;who had been alive after all&mdash;out of town by way of ]). This bears some resemblance to the tale of ]. ''The Simpsons'' writers have occasionally mocked the subsequent inconsistencies themselves in later episodes, most notably when Lisa buys ] but: "To save money on a new dish, I'll call you ]." Skinner says: "Isn't that a cheat?" to which Lisa replies: "I guess it is, Principal ''Tamzarian''." (''see'' ])
] was introduced in the episode "]" as a boss for Skinner. Harry Shearer and ], the voice of Chalmers, fell right into the characters and quite often ad-lib between them.<ref name="Jean1">Jean, Al. (2004). Commentary for "]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref>


==="The Principal and the Pauper"===
In ], Skinner acompanies ] and ] to Clancy's new job as a Private Investigator in ]. While the canon relevancy of this sequence is disputable due to the episode's parody like nature, Skinner says that he was born in New Orleans and was always something of a small-time street ]. This fits rather perfectly with his canon story, as its not difficult to imagine that Skinner/Tamzarian went from New Orleans to Capitol City, and eventually his unusual fate in the military.
In "]", it is revealed that Skinner was not who he claimed to be and was really named Armin Tamzarian. The episode was pitched and written by ], who was inspired by the ] of 19th-century England.<ref name="Keeler">Keeler, Ken. (2006). Commentary for "The Principal and the Pauper", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> Producers ] and ] were excited about the episode because Principal Skinner was one of their favorite characters. They "spent a month immersed in the mind of Seymour Skinner" to prepare that episode, and from that point forward, took every opportunity to "tinker with personality and his backstory and his homelife."


They intended for the episode to be "an experiment" and that the ending was meant to allow viewers to reset to the point before Skinner was revealed to be an impostor.<ref name="Oakley">Oakley, Bill. (2006). Commentary for "The Principal and the Pauper", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref> The revelation that Principal Skinner was not who the audience had long been led to believe (as well as the self-referential ] ending of the episode) was negatively received by many fans and critics, and is considered by some to be the point at which the series as a whole ].<ref name="alberti">{{cite book |last =Sloane|first =Robert|editor=John Alberti|title =Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture |publisher =]|year =2004 |page = |chapter=Who Wants Candy? Disenchantment in The Simpsons|isbn =978-0-8143-2849-1|title-link =Leaving Springfield}}</ref>{{sfn|Turner|2004|pp=41-42}} Oakley considers "The Principal and the Pauper" the most controversial episode from his tenure as executive producer.<ref name="Oakley"/>
In the episode "]", Skinner was demoted after he made a disparaging remark about women's and girls' ability in mathematics. This is in imitation of a firestorm created by ], the outgoing president of ]. In this episode, Skinner found himself demoted to Assistant Groundskeeper, a humiliation for the erstwhile Principal, having, in previous episodes, made it clear that he considered ] to be the lowest status employee in the school.


In April 2001, in an interview, Harry Shearer, the voice of Principal Skinner, recalled that after reading the script, he told the writers, "That's ''so'' wrong. You're taking something that an audience has built eight years or nine years of investment in and just tossed it in the trash can for no good reason, for a story we've done before with other characters. It's so arbitrary and gratuitous, and it's disrespectful to the audience."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/shearer_delight/Content?oid=282154&showFullText=true|title=Shearer Delight|author=Wilonsky, Robert|date=2001-04-27|website=]|access-date=2008-12-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002203123/http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/shearer-delight/Content?oid=1065334|archive-date=2013-10-02|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Tapping into the many roles of Harry Shearer|date=2006-12-07|page=8E|newspaper=]|author=]}}</ref> <!--] also described "The Principal and the Pauper" as "one of least favorite episodes".<ref>Groening, Matt. (2006). "A Riff From Matt Groening", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season'' . 20th Century Fox.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937934/homer_and_me/print|title=Homer and Me|last= Eliscu|first=Jenny|date=2002-11-28|work=]|access-date=2008-12-20}}</ref>-->
In the episode "]", it is revealed that Skinner is severely allergic to peanuts.


The writers themselves have since mocked the inconsistencies created by the episode; in the season 15 episode "]", Lisa is seen talking to her new cat, Snowball V, saying "You're Snowball Five. But to save money on a new dish, we'll just call you Snowball Two and pretend this whole thing never happened", after losing three cats to death in the episode. Skinner walks by and asks "That's really a cheat, isn't it?", to which Lisa pointedly replies, "I guess you're right, ''Principal Tamzarian''." Skinner then quickly excuses himself to Lisa with "I'll just be moving along, Lisa. Snowball Two", and walks away.
Although a humorless and bureaucratic individual (he once observed of himself "I'm a small man in many ways. A small, petty man"), Skinner can be more kindly interpreted as a genuinely dedicated ]. He appears to have no friends and no hobbies outside of his job (other than an interest in ]) yet despite being utterly dominated by his often cruel and sneering mother, and living in constant fear of ], he is able to summon up enough character to keep the underfunded and failing ] functioning through his own, often thankless efforts.


==References==
== Episodes starring Skinner ==
{{reflist}}
''This is a list of Simpsons episodes in which Seymour Skinner plays a substantial role in driving the plot, not simply a supporting role.''
'''Bibliography'''
*] (Season 2, Episode 14) ''Skinner falls for the wrong Bouvier sister.''
{{refbegin}}
*] (Season 3, Episode 5) ''Everybody thinks Fat Tony killed Skinner''
* {{cite book |last=Turner |first=Chris |author-link=Chris Turner (author) |title=Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation |others=Foreword by ]. |edition=1st |year=2004 |location=Toronto |publisher=] |oclc=55682258 |isbn=978-0-679-31318-2|title-link=Planet Simpson }}
*] (Season 5, Episode 19) ''A guilty Bart befriends Skinner after getting him fired.''
* {{cite book |last=Groening |first=Matt |author-link=Matt Groening |title=Simpsons World: The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1–20 |title-link=Simpsons World: The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1–20 |date=2010-10-28 |publisher=] |year= |isbn=9780061711282 |editor1-last=Richmond |editor1-first=Ray |editor1-link=Ray Richmond |edition=1st |editor2-last=Gimple |editor2-first=Scott M. |editor2-link=Scott M. Gimple |editor-last3=McCann |editor-first3=Jessie L. |editor-last4=Seghers |editor-first4=Christine |editor-last5=Bates |editor-first5=James W.}}
*] (Season 8, Episode 19) ''Skinner begins dating Edna Krabappel.''
{{refend}}
*] (Season 9, Episode 2) ''Skinner is revealed as an impostor.''
*] (Season 12, Episode 8) ''Skinner and the students are trapped at school by an ice storm.''
*] (Season 14, Episode 7) ''Skinner proposes to Edna.''
*] (Season 15, Episode 17) ''Edna leaves Skinner at the altar.''
*] (Season 18, Episode 3) ''Bart discovers Skinner's allergy to peanuts.''
{{Simpsons characters}}


==External links==
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{{Portal|The Simpsons}}
]
* on ]
]
{{The Simpsons}}
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Latest revision as of 15:36, 17 November 2024

Fictional character from The Simpsons franchise Fictional character
Principal Skinner
The Simpsons character
First appearance
Created byMatt Groening
Designed byMatt Groening
Voiced byHarry Shearer
In-universe information
GenderMale
OccupationPrincipal of Springfield Elementary School
AffiliationU.S. Army
Springfield Elementary School
Significant othersEdna Krabappel (ex-fiancée)
RelativesSheldon Skinner (father)
Agnes Skinner (mother)

Principal Seymour Skinner is a recurring fictional character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the principal of Springfield Elementary School, which he struggles to control, and is constantly engaged in a battle against its inadequate resources, apathetic and bitter teachers, and often rowdy and unenthusiastic students, Bart Simpson being a standout example.

Skinner attempts to institute discipline at the school, with an uptight, militaristic attitude that stems from his years in the United States Army as a Green Beret including service in the Vietnam War, where he was captured and held as a prisoner of war. He is quick to take orders from his superiors, chiefly his mother Agnes and Superintendent Chalmers.

Role in The Simpsons

Skinner's actions often involve ensuring the school has adequate funding. His constant, desperate, and usually ineffective attempts at maintaining discipline are an effort to receive good reviews in the frequent inspections of his very strict boss, Superintendent Chalmers, who makes no effort to hide his disapproval of Skinner. These inspections usually turn awry due to Bart Simpson's elaborate pranks, which play off Skinner's desperation for order. Over the years of pranks and inspections, though, Skinner has developed a love–hate relationship with Bart; when Skinner was fired and replaced by Ned Flanders, Bart found pranks less meaningful, due to Flanders' lax approach to discipline, while Skinner missed his constant battles with Bart. The two bonded during this time and Bart made an effort to get Skinner reinstated in the school.

One of Skinner's defining traits is that he has served as a Green Beret sergeant during the Vietnam War, where he was captured by the Viet Cong at the Battle of Khe Sanh and spent three years as a prisoner of war. Seeing his entire platoon devoured by an elephant was one of the many things that led to the development of his post-traumatic stress disorder. He is also quite bitter about the treatment that he and other Vietnam veterans have received upon returning from the war. Skinner is a highly skilled combatant, particularly hand-to-hand, and demonstrates his abilities in several episodes. Skinner often seems weak-willed and easily suppressed, but often will use his military command experience gained in the Vietnam War to get real respect and discipline. When he and the students are snowed-in at the school, he treats them like his squad to control the chaos temporarily, before they mutiny.

Although Skinner likes to maintain the image of a strict disciplinarian, he is often weak-willed and nervous and has a very unhealthy dependence on his mother, who still lives with him, constantly torments him and nicknames him "Spanky". Aside from a short-lived relationship with Patty Bouvier, most of Skinner's love life is focused on Edna Krabappel. He and Edna kiss in Martin's playhouse after they are invited to a birthday party, and they are witnessed by Bart. He loses his job along with Edna when Superintendent Chalmers is advised of their romance by Chief Wiggum, after which Skinner and Edna lock themselves in the school with Bart demanding their jobs back. After Skinner is reinstated, he and Edna date for several more years and become engaged, but later cancel the wedding. Edna has shown she does want to continue dating Skinner, but first wants him to commit to her—namely by not letting his mother, with whom he still lives, control him anymore.

The controversial season 9 episode "The Principal and the Pauper" heavily alters Skinner's backstory, revealing him as an impostor. Born as Armin Tamzarian, he has been a troubled orphan from Capital City, who is forced into the US Army during the Vietnam War. There, he serves as a Green Beret under Sgt. Seymour Skinner, whom he comes to idolize and befriend. When the sergeant is reported missing and presumed dead, Armin returns to Springfield to inform Skinner's mother, Agnes, but she deliberately mistakes him for Seymour, so he assumes his identity and follows Skinner's dream of becoming a school principal. The real Seymour Skinner (voiced by Martin Sheen) is alive after all, and briefly returns to Springfield to take his rightful place as Springfield Elementary School Principal, but proves hopelessly unpopular and the Springfielders run him out of town on the railroad. Judge Snyder grants Tamzarian Skinner's "name, and his past, present, future, and mother", and decrees that no one will mention his true identity again "under penalty of torture" (although Lisa uses the real name in the episode "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot"). A clip from the episode is used in season eleven's "Behind the Laughter" as an example of the show's increasingly "gimmicky and nonsensical plots". The continuity of the series appears to have been retconned to the original story of Seymour Skinner in the 2010 episode "Boy Meets Curl", as he is clearly shown to kick Agnes Skinner in utero, establishing him as Agnes' biological son after all. This is further declared in the Season 29 episode "Grampy Can Ya Hear Me" where a teenage Seymour is shown living with Agnes before going off to college.

Another part of Principal Skinner's backstory is revealed in the season 21 episode "Pranks and Greens". When Bart Simpson plays numerous pranks on teachers of the school, Skinner reveals to Bart that there was a student who was an even better prankster than him. Bart is eager to discover the prankster's identity. Later, Groundskeeper Willie tells him the story: years ago, the school had a swimming pool and team, with Willie as their coach. Skinner was a more easygoing principal, but it all changed when student Andy Hamilton filled the pool with worms and locked Skinner in there for a long weekend (Monday being a teachers' holiday, Skinner was not rescued until Tuesday morning). This experience has caused him to become serious and almost merciless in his approach to rules, even going as far as to shut down the pool and demoting Willie, the swim teacher, to groundskeeper.

Character

Creation

Principal Skinner first appeared in "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which was also the first Simpsons episode to air. The first drawing of Skinner was done by Matt Groening, who based him on "all the principals of youth, rolled into one bland lump." Writer Jon Vitti named him after behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner. An original idea for Skinner was that he would continually mispronounce words. He does this in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", but the idea was later dropped. Skinner was originally supposed to wear a toupée, but it was dropped because the writers disliked "that type of joke". In later episodes, Skinner's behavior was based on teachers that Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein had in high school.

Development

Superintendent Chalmers was introduced in the episode "Whacking Day" as a boss for Skinner. Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria, the voice of Chalmers, fell right into the characters and quite often ad-lib between them.

"The Principal and the Pauper"

In "The Principal and the Pauper", it is revealed that Skinner was not who he claimed to be and was really named Armin Tamzarian. The episode was pitched and written by Ken Keeler, who was inspired by the Tichborne case of 19th-century England. Producers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were excited about the episode because Principal Skinner was one of their favorite characters. They "spent a month immersed in the mind of Seymour Skinner" to prepare that episode, and from that point forward, took every opportunity to "tinker with personality and his backstory and his homelife."

They intended for the episode to be "an experiment" and that the ending was meant to allow viewers to reset to the point before Skinner was revealed to be an impostor. The revelation that Principal Skinner was not who the audience had long been led to believe (as well as the self-referential deus ex machina ending of the episode) was negatively received by many fans and critics, and is considered by some to be the point at which the series as a whole jumped the shark. Oakley considers "The Principal and the Pauper" the most controversial episode from his tenure as executive producer.

In April 2001, in an interview, Harry Shearer, the voice of Principal Skinner, recalled that after reading the script, he told the writers, "That's so wrong. You're taking something that an audience has built eight years or nine years of investment in and just tossed it in the trash can for no good reason, for a story we've done before with other characters. It's so arbitrary and gratuitous, and it's disrespectful to the audience."

The writers themselves have since mocked the inconsistencies created by the episode; in the season 15 episode "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot", Lisa is seen talking to her new cat, Snowball V, saying "You're Snowball Five. But to save money on a new dish, we'll just call you Snowball Two and pretend this whole thing never happened", after losing three cats to death in the episode. Skinner walks by and asks "That's really a cheat, isn't it?", to which Lisa pointedly replies, "I guess you're right, Principal Tamzarian." Skinner then quickly excuses himself to Lisa with "I'll just be moving along, Lisa. Snowball Two", and walks away.

References

  1. "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)". The Simpsons. Season 6. Episode 25. Event occurs at 06:17.
  2. Oakley, Bill (2005). Commentary for the episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One)". The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  3. Groening 2010, pp. 83, 1187.
  4. Groening 2010, p. 1105.
  5. Oakley, Bill; Weinstein, Josh; Anderson, Bob (April 28, 1994). "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song". The Simpsons. Season 5. Episode 19. Fox.
  6. The Simpsons episode "I Love Lisa"
  7. The Simpsons episode "Team Homer"
  8. Martin, Jeff; Kirkland, Mark (October 15, 1992). "Lisa the Beauty Queen". The Simpsons. Season 4. Episode 4. Fox.
  9. Long, Tim; Kramer, Lance (December 17, 2000). "Skinner's Sense of Snow". The Simpsons. Season 12. Episode 8. Fox.
  10. The Simpsons episode "The Crepes of Wrath"
  11. Stern, David M.; Kirkland, Mark (February 14, 1991). "Principal Charming". The Simpsons. Season 2. Episode 14. Fox.
  12. Snee, Dennis; Anderson, Bob (January 5, 2003). "Special Edna". The Simpsons. Season 14. Episode 7. Fox.
  13. Curran, Kevin; Kirkland, Mark (April 18, 2004). "My Big Fat Geek Wedding". The Simpsons. Season 15. Episode 17. Fox.
  14. Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". BBC. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
  15. Silverman, David. (2001). Commentary for "Bart the Genius", in The Simpsons: The Complete First Season . 20th Century Fox.
  16. Rhodes, Joe (October 21, 2000). "Flash! 24 Simpsons Stars Reveal Themselves". TV Guide.
  17. Reiss, Mike. (2002). Commentary for "Principal Charming", in The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season . 20th Century Fox.
  18. Reiss, Mike; Klickstein, Mathew (2018). Springfield confidential: jokes, secrets, and outright lies from a lifetime writing for the Simpsons. New York City: Dey Street Books. p. 100. ISBN 978-0062748034.
  19. Groening, Matt. (2001). Commentary for "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in The Simpsons: The Complete First Season . 20th Century Fox.
  20. Groening, Matt. (2002). Commentary for "Principal Charming", in The Simpsons: The Complete SecondSeason . 20th Century Fox.
  21. Weinstein, Josh. (2004). Commentary for "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season . 20th Century Fox.
  22. Jean, Al. (2004). Commentary for "Whacking Day", in The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season . 20th Century Fox.
  23. Keeler, Ken. (2006). Commentary for "The Principal and the Pauper", in The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season . 20th Century Fox.
  24. ^ Oakley, Bill. (2006). Commentary for "The Principal and the Pauper", in The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season . 20th Century Fox.
  25. Sloane, Robert (2004). "Who Wants Candy? Disenchantment in The Simpsons". In John Alberti (ed.). Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture. Wayne State University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-8143-2849-1.
  26. Turner 2004, pp. 41–42.
  27. Wilonsky, Robert (April 27, 2001). "Shearer Delight". East Bay Express. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
  28. Goldstein, Meredith (December 7, 2006). "Tapping into the many roles of Harry Shearer". Boston Globe. p. 8E.

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