| The Simpsons character | |
| W. Seymour Skinner | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Job | Principal of Springfield Elementary School |
| Relatives | Father: Sheldon Skinner (deceased) Mother: Agnes Skinner |
| Voice actor | Harry Shearer |
| First appearance | |
| The Simpsons | "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" |
Principal W. Seymour Skinner is a fictional character on the animated sitcom The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the Principal of Springfield Elementary School, and a stereotypical educational bureaucrat. He struggles to control the crumbling school 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. He occasionally appears haunted by his experiences in the Vietnam War, where he served as a Green Beret. This has also influenced his attitude towards discipline and haughty demeanour.
Contents |
Out of genuine concern for the quality of education of his students, most of Skinner's actions revolve around ensuring the school has adequate funding. His constant desperate, and usually ineffective attempts at maintaining discipline are an effort to receive good reviews from 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 each of them; when Skinner was fired and replaced by Ned Flanders, Bart found pranks less meaningful, due to Flanders' lax approach to discipline.[1] In an accident involving both Skinner and Chalmers, Chalmers showed grief over Skinner before he realized he was still alive.[2]Although he 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 constantly makes demands from him. In an early episode, she addresses him by the nickname "Spanky".[3]
Aside from a short-lived relationship with Patty Bouvier,[4] Skinner's love-life has focused on Edna Krabappel. The two dated for several years and became engaged,[5] but later cancelled the wedding.[6] Edna has shown she does want to live a life with Skinner, but first wants him to commit to her - namely by not letting his mother, with whom he still lives, control him anymore. Skinner often seems weak-willed and easily suppressed — perhaps because he wants to avoid confrontation — but often will use his military command experience gained in the Vietnam War to get real respect and discipline; when he and the students were snowed-in at the school, he treated them like his squad to control the chaos temporarily - before they mutinied.[7] Some episodes depict him haivng symptoms of Posttraumatic stress disorder relating to his service in Vietnam.
During the early years of the show, it was established that Skinner had served as a sergeant in the US Army during the Vietman War and been captured at the Battle of Khe Sanh.
In the season nine episode "The Principal and the Pauper", it was revealed that Skinner is actually Armin Tamzarian, who was a troubled orphan until he was forced into the Army during the Vietnam War. There, he was befriended by Sgt. Seymour Skinner, whom he came to idolize. When the real Skinner was reported missing presumed dead, Tamzarian returned to Springfield to tell Skinner's mother, but she deliberately mistook him for Seymour, so he assumed Skinner's identity and followed his dream of becoming a school principal. At the end of the episode, Judge Snyder 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". The real Seymour Skinner (voiced by Martin Sheen), who had been alive after all, had briefly returned to Springfield to take his rightful place as Elementary School Principal, but had proved hopelessly unpopular due to his old-fashioned views, his social ineptitude and his lack of respect for his mother: the Springfielders ran him out of town on the railroad. In the DVD commentary for "The Principal and the Pauper", the producers described that they intended for the episode's ending to reset the continuity to before Skinner was revealed to be Tamzarian. As such, they said, fans could dismiss the discontinuities created by the notion that Skinner is actually an impostor and consider the episode on its own terms, divorced from the rest of the series.
Principal Skinner first appeared in "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which was also the first Simpsons episode to air.[8] The first drawing of Skinner was done by Matt Groening,[9] who based him on "all the principals of [his] youth, rolled into one bland lump".[10] Writer Jon Vitti named him after behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner.[11] An original idea for Skinner was that he would continually mispronounce words and he does so in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" but the idea was later dropped.[12]
Skinner was originally supposed to wear a toupee, but it was dropped because the writers didn't like "that type of joke".[13]
In the first few seasons, Skinner resembles Norman Bates, the main character from Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho. This reached a head in "Brother from the Same Planet", in which Skinner looks out the window from his office and sees the Bates house in the distance. He then begins "talking" with Agnes, visible from the window. In later episodes, Skinner's behavior was based on teachers that Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein had in high school.[14]
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.[15]
| The Simpsons characters | |
|---|---|
| The Simpson family and relatives | |
| Homer Simpson · Marge Simpson · Bart Simpson · Lisa Simpson · Maggie Simpson · Abraham Simpson · Patty and Selma Bouvier · Mona Simpson · Santa's Little Helper · Snowball | |
| Around Springfield | |
| Comic Book Guy · Ned Flanders · Professor Frink · Barney Gumble · Dr. Hibbert · Lionel Hutz · Rev. Lovejoy · Hans Moleman · Apu Nahasapeemapetilon · Mayor Quimby · Dr. Nick Riviera · Cletus Spuckler · Moe Szyslak · Chief Wiggum | |
| Springfield Elementary School faculty and students | |
| Seymour Skinner · Edna Krabappel · Otto Mann · Groundskeeper Willie · Nelson Muntz · Martin Prince · Milhouse Van Houten · Ralph Wiggum | |
| Media personalities | |
| Celebrities · Itchy and Scratchy · Kent Brockman · Krusty the Clown · Troy McClure · Radioactive Man · Rainier Wolfcastle | |
| Springfield Nuclear Power Plant | Families |
| Montgomery Burns · Carl Carlson · Lenny Leonard · Waylon Smithers | Simpson family · Flanders family · Van Houten family |
| Villains | Miscellaneous |
| Kang and Kodos · Sideshow Bob · Springfield Mafia (Fat Tony) | Recurring characters · Fictional characters · One-time characters · Animals · Guest stars |