Yesterday in celebration of Star Wars Day (“May the 4th Be with You”), Disney+ released the latest entry in its series of original The Simpsons shorts, this one entitled Maggie Simpson in Rogue Not Quite One.
The title is obviously a play on Lucasfilm’s 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but the plot of this four-minute short is actually more closely related to the live-action Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian.
Rogue Not Quite One begins with a parody of the Disney 100 title card (with the hyphenated word “Self-Congratulatory” inserted), followed by the familiar Disney castle being replaced by a mountain of iconic Springfield locations. Then we see the Mandalorian bringing baby Grogu to a “Mon Mothma and Me” class along with a bunch of other Star Wars aliens, but a stormtrooper forces him to leave his hover-pram outside (an Aurebesh sign next to the door reads “Place Strollers Here”). Then Homer Simpson and his youngest daughter Maggie show up for the class, but Homer notice’s an establishment called “Moe’s Cantina” next door, and decides to go there instead, leaving Maggie alone in Grogu’s pram. Homer downs one blue milk in the bar and then turns to return to Maggie but gets eaten by a large robed green creature instead. Maggie gets impatient and starts playing with the pram’s multicolored controls, which skillfully change her diaper and then launch her into high speed when she pulls the lever marked “Baby Yodas Only.” She starts getting chased by Chief Wiggum (voiced as always by Hank Azaria, in this short’s only speaking role) and Officer Lou, who soon swerve to save the donut she drops from the pram.
When she’s about to crash into Springfield Elementary School’s playground, Maggie smashes the pram’s “Hyperdrive” button and rockets off into outer space, where she’s immediately attacked by Baby Gerald, made up to look like Darth Maul but piloting Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced. But Gerald is interrupted by his naptime, and back on Earth the alien creature vomits up Homer, even being so kind as to return his shoe. Homer is shocked to find Maggie missing, and the Mandalorian points to the sky. Homer uses his “Find My Baby” app, which tells him it will take 2,800 million years to reach Maggie. Then the short strangely cuts to an opening title crawl (this is just about at the halfway point, which is what makes it so odd) that swiftly gives up on plot and instead turns to pleading for The Simpsons to get its own tile on Disney+. Anyway, Maggie uses the pram’s hyperdrive to return to Earth, but she is pursued there by Gerald and his squadron of TIE fighters. There’s another fun chase through Springfield, as TIEs crash into Lard Lad Donuts and get eaten by an enormous Blinky the Three-Eyed Fish until they finally corner Maggie in the hover-pram.
Then Maggie is saved by the Deus Ex Machina of Kang and Kodos (wearing “Team Maggie” t-shirts) arriving in their UFO and blasting all the TIE fighters to smithereens. But Gerald survives the onslaught and shoots down the pram, with Maggie using Mando’s grappling gun to board the TIE Advanced like Din Djarin does in The Mandalorian’s first-season finale. She throws her pacifier into the enemy ship, calming down Gerald to the point where he gives Maggie a peace sign and flies off leaving a rainbow in his trail. Lastly, BB-8 shows up out of nowhere to give Maggie a new pacifier and watch three suns set over Springfield. The short ends with the usual parade of gags like Maggie dressed in an Ewok costume, Mr. Burns as Emperor Palpatine, and Homer dressed in an ill-fitting suit of Mandalorian armor. I’d say Maggie Simpson in Rogue Not Quite One is about on par with The Simpsons’ Disney+ shorts, though Star Wars fans who appreciate the franchise (and its current parent company Disney) being poked fun at will probably be the ones to appreciate it the most. There are some good chuckles to be had here, and the short’s extremely… well, short… running time means it doesn’t take too much of a commitment to get through it. Like 2021’s Maggie Simpson in The Force Awakens from Its Nap before it, it’s a fitting, funny tribute from Our Favorite Family to our favorite space opera saga.
Maggie Simpson in Rogue Not Quite One is streaming right now, exclusively via Disney+.