The Simpsons: Here’s every time the show predicted the future
The series has proved itself to be the Nostradamus of TV, accurately predicting numerous political and cultural happenings.
Happy 30th birthday to The Simpsons, which first aired in December 1989.
Although, based on the TV show’s knack for prediction, creators have likely always known it would make it to the three-decade mark.
The series has proved itself to be the Nostradamus of network television over the years, accurately predicting numerous political and cultural happenings. Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson, discussed the Donald Trump presidency prediction with news.com.au last month, revealing how producers got ahead on one of the world’s biggest news stories.
To celebrate The Simpsons milestone and its crazy predictions, F oxtel is celebrating with a 21-day takeover on its channel FOX8 , which is showing now.
Here’s every time the show is credited with seeing into the future, in chronological order:
Fish will have three eyes
1990, Season 2, Episode 4: “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish”
Iconic Simpsons character Blinky, the three-eyed fish, proved to be more than an amusing mutant when fishermen caught a three-eyed fish in Argentina.
Michelangelo’s ‘David’ will be censored
1990, Season 2, Episode 9: “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge”
Springfield tries to censor Michelangelo’s David — a plot line that became a reality in 2016 when Russians voted on covering up a copy of the famed statue.
The Beatles will belatedly reply to fan mail
1991, Season 2, Episode 18: “Brush with Greatness”
Decades after sending Ringo Starr a painting, Marge gets a response — as did two Essex women, who received a reply from Paul McCartney in 2013, 50 years after sending him a mixtape.
The Washington Redskins will win Super Bowl XXVI
1992, Season 3, Episode 14: “Lisa the Greek”
Lisa predicts the Washington Redskins will win the Super Bowl in this episode, which aired a few days before the game.
Apps will translate babies’ cries
1992, Season 3, Episode 24: “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?”
Danny DeVito, playing Homer’s half-brother Herb, creates a translation tool for infant gibberish — much like the “Infant Cries Translator” app, created in 2016.
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All-you-can-eat restaurants will be sued for false advertising
1992, Season 4, Episode 8: “New Kid on the Block”
Homer gets kicked out of an all-you-can-eat restaurant and sues — as one Albert Flemming of Massachusetts did to an all-you-can-eat restaurant in 2017.
Thriller films will be promoted with blood splattering
1992, Season 4, Episode 6: “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie”
A billboard for an Itchy & Scratchy movie spurts a bloodlike substance onto passing cars. Kill Bill Vol. 1, was promoted using a similar effect in 2008.
There will be a snake assassination holiday
1993, Season 4, Episode 14: “Whacking Day”
A snake-killing holiday invented in this episode became a real world event in the form of Florida’s annual Python Challenge.
Roy Horn will be mauled by a tiger
1993, Season 5, Episode 10: “$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalised Gambling)”
A German magic duo comes to Springfield and are mauled by their white tigers in a sequence similar to what happened to Roy Horn of real magic duo Siegfried & Roy in 2003.
An average Joe will be sent into orbit
1994, Season 5, Episode 15: “Deep Space Homer”
NASA sends a random person into space — as the United Kingdom did in 2013, when they sent non-astronaut Oliver Knight into space.
European beef will be found to be contaminated with horse meat
1994, Season 5, Episode 19 “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song”
Lunch lady Doris is shown using “assorted horse parts — now with more testicles,” in her cooking, predictive of Europe’s 2013 horse meat scandal. Luckily no testicles were involved in that one.
Apple’s keyboards will glitch
1994, Season 6, Episode 8: “Lisa on Ice”
Dolph the bully writes a memo saying “Beat up Martin” on the old Apple digital assistant technology Newton, only for it to be translated by the glitchy tech to “Eat up Martha,” a dig which inspired Apple to improve its iPhone keyboard.
There will be video chat, smart watches and robot librarians
1995, Season 6, Episode 19: “Lisa’s Wedding”
Characters in this episode communicate via screen, have watches that can be used as phones and defer to robots when navigating libraries — sound familiar?
September 11, 2001 will happen
1997, Season 9, Episode 1: “The City of New York vs Homer Simpsons”
A coupon for a $9 New York bus features the Twin Towers in the background, making the ad appear to read “New York $9 11,” spawning many September 11-related conspiracies.
Ebola will become mainstream news in America
1997, Season 9, Episode 3: “Lisa’s Sax”
Marge offers to read a book called Curious George and The Ebola virus, to Bart, in this episode which aired years before the virus became as well known to Americans.
Crooks will steal and sell grease
1998, Season 10, Episode 1: “Lard of the Dance”
Homer tries to get rich quick by stealing grease and selling it for profit — as thieves were caught doing in 2013.
The Higgs Boson particle’s mass equation will be found to be correct
1998, Season 10, Episode 2: “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace”
Homer writes an equation on a blackboard which predicts the Higgs Boson particle’s mass that, despite being first predicted in 1964, wasn’t proved until 2013.
Disney will buy 20th Century Fox
1998, Season 10, Episode 5: “When You Dish Upon a Star”
An opening shot in this episode shows the 20th Century Fox logo and “A Division of Walt Disney Co.” underneath it. In 2018, The Walt Disney Co. did indeed buy Fox.
Fruits and vegetables will mutate and hybridise
1999, Season 11, Episode 5: “E-I-E-I-D’oh!” Tomacco plant
Homer tries his hand at farming using nuclear materials from his job and creates a tomato-tobacco mutant hybrid called a “tomacco”. Mutant vegies indeed became a reality in Japan following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown.
Donald Trump will be the US president
2000, Season 11, Episode 17: “Bart To The Future”
“We inherited quite the budget crunch from President Trump,” Lisa, who is the US President, says in this episode, at the time referencing Trump’s Reform Party candidate run — but now thought to be predictive of his 2016 election.
The Albuquerque Isotopes will become a real team
2001, Season 12, Episode 15: “Hungry, Hungry Homer”
In a plot line-made-reality, Homer protests his baseball team, the Springfield Isotopes, moving to Albuquerque. When a minor league team relocated to New Mexico not long after the episode aired, they voted to change their name to the Albuquerque Isotopes.
Rodents will be sold as poodles
2002, Season 13, Episode 22: “Papa’s Got a Brand New Badge”
Criminal character Fat Tony glues cotton balls to ferrets and sells them as toy poodles. In 2013, an Argentinian man paid $150 for what he thought were toy poodles but what turned out to be huge rodents on steroids.
US voting machines will be found to be faulty
2008, Season 20, Episode 4: “Treehouse of Horror XIX”
Homer’s vote for Barack Obama turns into one for John McCain when a voting machine glitches in this episode, which aired four years before a Pennsylvania voting machine was found to be doing as much in real time.
The American curling team will beat the Swedes at the Olympics
2008, Season 21, Episode 12: “Boy Meets Curl”
Homer and Marge take up curling and defeat a Swedish team at the Vancouver Olympics. In 2018, the USA men’s curling team beat the Swedes to win the gold at the Olympics.
Bengt R. Holmstrom will win the Nobel prize in Economics
2010, Season 22, Episode 1: “Elementary School Musical”
Millhouse predicts that Bengt R. Holmstrom will win the Nobel prize in Economics, which he did in 2016.
Greece will have an economic meltdown
2012, Season 23, Episode 10: “Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson”
Homer reads a news ticker that says “Europe puts Greece on eBay”. This year, Greece became the first nation to default on an IMF loan repayment.
Lady Gaga will play the Super Bowl halftime show
2012, Season 23, Episode 22: “Lisa Goes Gaga”
Gaga plays herself in this episode, performing Poker Face in Springfield with choreography very similar to her 2017 Super Bowl performance.
FIFA officials will be arrested on corruption charges
2014, Season 25, Episode 16: “You Don’t Have to Live Like a Referee”
Homer is asked to be a World Cup referee but is then arrested on corruption charges — similar to what happened to FIFA officials in 2015.
Near final Game of Thrones episode will end like this
Season 29, Episode 1: “The Serfsons”
The Simpsons, dressed in period garb, watch as a dragon burns down their village — similar to the fiery destruction of King’s Landing in one of the final Game of Thrones episode.
In addition to broadcasting an animated crystal ball, The Simpsons has also dabbled more directly in politics, invented a word that was subsequently added to the dictionary and inspired countless tattoos.
This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
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