They're solidly pre-digital. Somewhere, the individual frames were drawn/painted on cel, were they not? In principle, remastering should still be possible.
In fact there's an episode of the Simpson's where Bart buys an Itchy & Scratchy animation cel and is disappointed when it's just a segment of Itchy's arm (or something like that).
I shouldn't have said never had a film negative. They likely scanned hand-drawn cells to film, then transferred that to tape. At the time they likely saw the NTSC tape as the master.
It would take a ton of work, especially for a show as long-running as The Simpsons. The original materials probably aren't even available anymore.
I believe the reason they were able to remaster lots of old Japanese anime OVAs in HD is because the animation was recorded to film first. I wouldn't be surprised if the Simpsons just used videotape instead.
NoMoreNicksLeft|10 months ago
HideousKojima|10 months ago
In fact there's an episode of the Simpson's where Bart buys an Itchy & Scratchy animation cel and is disappointed when it's just a segment of Itchy's arm (or something like that).
EDIT: https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Itchy_%26_Scratchy_animation_c...
The cel had Scratchy's arm, and it was in the episode "Lady Bouvier's Lover" (S05 E21).
gnomesteel|10 months ago
neckro23|10 months ago
I believe the reason they were able to remaster lots of old Japanese anime OVAs in HD is because the animation was recorded to film first. I wouldn't be surprised if the Simpsons just used videotape instead.