< The Simpsons (animation)

The Simpsons (animation)/Fridge


The Series

Fridge Brilliance

  • In "Homer's Enemy" Frank Grimes is appalled that Homer is lazy but yet successful and starts to hate Homer, yet what he doesn't realize is that you don't have to work hard to be a good and successful person, you just have to have a big heart and be surrounded by the people you love and good friends.
  • In "The Prime Of Miss Lisa Simpson" (Simpsons Comics) Martin is driven to insanity by the class he was delegated to teach. This seems like Rule of Funny, but hold on a second, they enjoy it, the whole class was working together to piss off Martin!!
  • In earlier episodes bully Jimbo Jones had a full head of hair. In several recent episodes he's bald on top when he takes his hat off. This is due to years of wearing a tight wool hat.
  • In the Thanksgiving episode from the second season Homer mixes up Patty and Selma's names. This isn't Early Installment Weirdness, it's Homer resenting the two and getting their names mixed up.
  • In The Simpsons Movie, when the titular family is walking into church and Homer is venting his usual complaints, one of the things he says is "Oh, Marge, please, it's not like these people have better things to do with their lives than praying to their phony-baloney God." At first, it might seem like a standard jab at the usual acceptable target, but, in "HOMR", after undergoing a procedure to remove a crayon from his brain, which then greatly increased his mental capacity, the man was writing a flat tax proposal that accidentally proved that God did not exist. Since it disturbed Ned greatly due to the fact that the data was airtight (he immediately burned his copy), and that Homer was placing the results of his findings on every single windshield in his neighborhood, we could assume that no one bothered to read what was on the report, or that Ned managed to burn every single sheet of paper. So it would make sense that Homer would have to remind someone of one of the greatest achievements that

he reached during his short span of being intelligent.

  • I forget which episode, but Lisa is being given a peptalk by some numbers inside her head. There was for exaple, eight, ninety-three, and 2006 who made her feel better. But last of all came came 27! When I watched it first of all, I just thought it was a stupid joke, but then I realised that 27! means 27 factorised. Which would be a massive number (1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8...)showing how good Lisa is at maths.
  • In The Simpsons, Krusty says he owns a racehorse with Bette Midler called Krudler. For a long time I just thought the joke was that it was a horrible-sounding amalgam of the names "Krusty" and "Midler", and that was funny enough. Only later did I realize that if they'd taken the other part of each name, the horse would have been called Misty. - User:Whogus The Whatsler
  • We used to think Flanders was Homer's age until he revealed he 60 in a season 10 episode. That made him Older Than They Look. A couple classic era episodes show that he grew up in the 50s with beatnik parents. It's the 2010s now so that makes this instance of Comic Book Time more believable and Hilarious in Hindsight. This also throws some Negative Continuity and Series Continuity Error out the window.
  • In 'Half-Decent Proposal' Artie Ziff pays many Springfieldianites money to relive his high-school prom. Among the attendees are Kirk and Luann Van Houten - together. At first it seems illogical considering their divorce, until one remembers they are being paid to relive the past.
  • In Krusty Gets Brusted from the first season, Kent Brockman plays a clip of Krusty's on the air heart attack, where he's cooking ham and bacon on a grill. A couple seasons later we learn Krusty is Jewish. God obviously exists in the show's universe, and he was punishing Krusty for eating non-kosher foods.
    • Or, you know, Early Installment Weirdness.
    • Krusty is clearly not an observant Jew, and has always assumed he was a self-hating one. Also, it's not *that* obvious that God exists, since Homer developed a proof of his nonexistence that even convinces Flanders.
  • Mr. Burns used to forgot Homer's name in the early seasons and he finally got it in the Who Shot Mr. Burns episodes. Homer was a suspect in the shooting. Since then because of these circumstances and how crazy the situation was, Mr. Burns knows Homer's name no problem.
  • Nelson's talked about huckleberry picking in a couple of later episodes. When the boys were in Branson, Missouri in season seven Nelson wanted to see Andy Williams and was excited to hear Moon River. This song contains a line involving two friends picking huckleberries in their youth. Probably unintended on the writer's part and was supposed to be an Out of Character moment, but the whole thing is made funnier.
  • Many people say that Homer has become dumber and dumber over the years. A slow descent at first, but eventually reaching the point where the only rule was 'Homer cannot forget his own name.' The brilliance is that in season 4 Homer received a coronary bypass graft. 51% of patients who have a bypass graft suffer severe brain damage as the years pass. The cure we all saw him get... is the cure that made him so very, very dumb. - @/Crusader1089
    • Later that season he ends up in a coma and is even told he suffered some brain damage.
  • Another Simpsons example: I must have seen the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge" a couple of dozen times, before I realized that the totalitarian daycare that the family enrolled Maggie into is named "Ayn Rand's School For Tiny Tots". Oh how I laughed - User:The Real CJ
  • In another Simpsons episode, "Treehouse of Horror XIII", in the second part, one of the zombies is the "most evil German": Kaiser Wilhelm. The joke is, of course, they don't say Hitler. But then I realised that Hitler was actually Austrian.
    • That and Hitler's shown to be alive in the episode where Bart calls Australia
  • The Simpsons page quote for Reverse Whodunnit works as a straight out joke with a bonus for Columbo fans. Y'see, in the episode Wiggum refers to, the victim was a pianist (with big honkin' piano that was key to the scene), not a cellist. So obviously, he couldn't remember the beginning of the episode!
  • The episode "The Great Wife Hope" features yet another attempt by Marge to stop everyone's fun. Nelson inadvertently gives her great advice on how to get together other pissy moms, clergymen, etc. He claims this is because he secretly enjoys event planning, but the real more subtle joke is that what Marge wants to do is essentially bullying.
  • In the episode where Homer is escaping the plant and he's attacked by a Giant Spider, he's told that the spider will be defeated if he says a Bible verse. Of course, he can't remember any, so he simply kills the spider by throwing a rock at it. The Fridge Brilliance comes in when you realize that Homer just killed a gigantic enemy by throwing a small rock and hitting it between the eyes.
    • David... Goliath... Holy Shit! It all makes sense!
  • Between a rock... and a hard place....
  • In the episode with the teacher's strike, substitute teacher Marge complains that it took the kids 45 minutes to find Canada on a map. It then occurred to me that this is BART's class, where erudite wunderkin Martin Prince is attending... the whole class was working together to piss off Marge!!!
    • Alternatively, they were doing what children with substitutes are known to do: Feigning ignorance to waste time and avoid doing more work than they had to (It's what I would have done, to be honest.)
  • Early in The Simpsons, Lenny is seen living in a furniture-less, run down house, however later on, he's shown to have a very expensive and clean home with art pieces everywhere, there doesn't seem to be a reason for the change, until you remember that Mr.Burns bought the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant from him when he was briefly put in charge...
  • In the early episodes Smithers was in love with Mr. Burns and Word of God said his orientation was Burnsexual, meaning he was attracted to his boss regardless of gender. Anymore Smithers is gay without any hints of subtlety. Look at the way Mr. Burns holds his hands when he walks. It's stereotypical of gay people to hold their hands out like that so Smithers thinks Mr. Burns may be gay.
  • In a Christmas episode about the Nativity, Jesus is potrayed by Bart. It may seem offensive at first, but think about it: Jesus was seen as a trouble maker by the Jews and the Romans, and they thought that his messages might start riots.
  • In 'Lard of the Dance', the first thing new transfer student Alex says is, "Your name's Lisa? Shut up, I love that name!" I thought it was just a stock teenage saying until I remembered who she was voiced by.
  • At the end of the future Christmas episode, the pets have evolved into humanoids with giant craniums. This seemed like a stupid gag, but earlier in the episode Marge and Homer have a Martian animal as a pet in their Christmas card. It could've speed up the process or had super powers it transferred to the pets.
    • I also noticed in the same episode Future Ned says that Homer was responsible for Mrs. Krabbapel's death. In an earlier episode, he was accidentally responsible for Maude's death. Stupid Flanders can't catch a break, can he?
      • In the same episode Lisa is married to Milhouse, but Lisa's daughter Zia calls herself Zia Simpson instead of Zia Van Houten. It's a subtle hint to let Lisa know she looks up to her mother.
  • In Simpsons Bible Stories, when Lisa/Israelite tells Millhouse/Moses to tell Pharaoh to let his people go, Millhouse/Moses says "Oh, so now they're my people." There is a theory, albeit a minority one, that Moses was actually ethnically Egyptian.
  • In "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken", Homer and his friends wreck up the school on a joyride and the damages are blamed on rowdy kids, thus causing a curfiew to be places. This was all gone in the next episode. This may have been Negative Continuity, but the 500th episode had Mayor Quimby illustrate Springfield's hatred of the family by showing [{Call Back a photo of Homer and his friends wrecking the school]]. So they must have found out the real cause and lifted the curfiew.
  • Almost Fridge Brilliance: The backstory to Skinner/Tamzarian in "The Principle and the Pauper" is almost completely consistent with his background in "The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase", except for the switch of his home city, New Orleans vs. Capital City. And they can't be one and the same, since New Orleans is not the capital of any state.
  • Probably unintentional Actor Allusion: Jeff Goldblum's character in "A Fish Called Selma" is named "MacArthur Parker", after the song 'MacArthur Park', which was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic as 'Jurassic Park', which was about the movie Jurassic Park, which co-starred Jeff Goldblum!

Fridge Horror

  • In the end of "Boy Scoutz N Da Hood", the rest of the campers are seen being attacked by an unknown monster. None of them are ever seen again, ever.
  • "Simpsons Animal Stories" in Simpsons Comics issue #160 has a particularly horrible implication. Lisa, who will become the grandmother of one of the Abes, ends up in prison after the end of "Lisa's Web". This implies Lisa, who probably spent most of her teenage years in prison, was raped by a male inmate!!
  • The subplot to "Sleeping With The Enemy". Lisa, an eight-year-old girl, has an eating disorder. And if the ending is any indication she still has it. That's dark, even for The Simpsons.
    • But since the show is partially have Negative Continuity, stuff like that won't stick long. Unless something else worse replaces it.
  • Professor Frink allegedly made an "8-month-after pill". Oh god, the implications of that...
  • "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind." First, prior to losing his memory, Homer Simpson accurately predicts when and how he'll off himself. Right before he does, Patty and Selma help push him off. Considering previous suicide attempts on Homer's half, the Fridge Horror that he's borderline suicidal isn't that surprising. What's disturbing is the realisation that Patty and Selma are quite willing to murder Homer.
    • Jossed-Homer falls onto a cruise liner where everyone in town is celebrating something,if my memory is right.And aformentioned in-laws were also in on it.
      • It was a party being held for him and he'd arranged for it to be under the bridge, so the implication that he's really thought about suicide was still there. And when Patty and Selma showed up once everything was OK, Homer assumed they'd pushed him off the bridge because they knew it was safe, and their reactions indicated otherwise. So... yeah, they were trying to kill him.
  • We find out in "The Fool Monty" that the thing that keeps Mr Burns alive is bile and hate. That's right, not only is Mr Burns immortal, but in order to do so he has to be a heartless billionaire. We've seen the damage to Springfield and the world that Burns has caused. Unless someone can bankrupt/kill him (which probably won't work), Springfield is going to have to put up with him Forever.
    • Nice going, Simpsons writers. You just made Mr. Burns' genuinely nice moments meaningless.
      • Way I see it, they made them even more meaningful. He was willing to put his life at risk just for those fleeting moments of humanity.
  • Principal Skinner's mother is named Agnes, which she herself explains angrily to Marge that it means lamb. It seems innocuous until you put her first and last name together. Think about it for a minute. Her name literally means lamb skinner.
    • It fits her, though.
    • Also related to Skinner, if you've grown up watching the series, Fridge Horror hits when you watch old episodes and realize that Skinner's got some severe PTSD going on as a result of his time in 'Nam.
    • Another Skinner-related thought: In the episode where he gets fired after Bart brings the dog to school. He shows Bart a picture of his old platoon they're all looking at him with hatred and he says it was taken on a Bob Hope reunion thing just before he got shot in the back. But in retrospect now that we know that Armin Tamzarian had taken the place of the actual Seymour Skinner who was sergeant of that platoon and they would naturally find it strange.
  • At the end of "Homer Loves Flanders!", what the hell were the Simpsons screaming at?
  • What happened to Uter, anyway?
    • He probably went back home to Germany. Bart and Lisa may remain in 4th and 2nd grade forever, but we still hear about how years pass by
      • But we see what appears to be his skull in a recent episode...
  • Homer has attempted suicide multiple times (when he couldn't find a job, when he tried to stop Bart from jumping Springfield Gorge, when he couldn't grow crops on his father's farm, when his fifteen minutes of fame over bowling a perfect game were up -- to name a few, and that's not counting the foolish things he does that would get a real person killed or injured, like boxing a professional heavyweight, eating an extremely rotten hoagie, driving his bartender buddy's car off a cliff, getting electrocuted [several times by everything from lightning to dangerous toys], or trying to escape a riptide while teaching his baby daughter how to swim). In "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind," he predicts that he will do so again after losing his memory, and knows exactly how, when, and where he is likely to do so. He has been thinking about it a lot. Maybe all of his innocent buffoonery (and alcoholism) is actually an expression of deep-seated self-destructive tendencies.
    • It's worth noting that Homer's first suicide attempt (when he chained a rock to himself and walked off to throw himself off a bridge after failing to find a new job for his family) happened in the first season, a season ostensibly lauded as one of The Simpsons's best (though there are those who aren't impressed with it due to the slow pacing and Off-Model animation).
    • Another suicide attempt reveals that he thinks he'll be going to Hell when he dies. The fact that he's sucidal is one thing, but that he thinks he'll be condemned into 'the' Fate Worse Than Death afterwards? No wonder he's such a jerkass.
  • In the episode where Mona Simpson dies, her final request raises questions: A) Did she actually plan to die to stop the missile launch occurring later when Homer spread her ashes? and B) You can't help but feel that she manipulated her extended family every time she appeared on the show...
  • In "Lisa The Simpson" every male born in the Simpson family will apparently slowly lose their intelligence as kids and grow up to be borderline retarded. What if Bart, Lisa, or Maggie have a son in their future?
    • Lisa and Maggie's hypothetical sons would be unnaffected. It only affects males because it appears on the y-chromosome, which is passed unchanged from father to son but not passed on to daughters at all. Since Lisa and Maggie did not inherent Homer's y-chromosome, they would be unable to pass it on to their sons who would be as intelligent as their mothers as a result. As for Bart's descendents, let's just hope he only has daughters.
      • Or at least nobody shoves a crayon up their nose.
        • Terrible at genetics, sorry.
  • At the beginning of Last Exit to Springfield, Smithers comments how the plant's union president disappeared after he promised to Mr. Burns to clean up the union. We then cut to a football field where a human-shaped burial mound is suspiciously situated in, implying that they murdered him for that. Later on in the episode, during a union meeting, Carl says that their president hasn't been seen, but that they're "all praying he'll turn up alive and soon." He and everyone else in the room then promptly laugh. They were all in on it!
    • No wonder Homer was so desperate to get out of being president.
  • In The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", Poochie leaves the show when his home planet needs him. However, he dies on the way back - what became of his planet?
  • Matt Groening has confirmed that Springfield really is a Crapsack World, and the only person with any hope of escaping it is Lisa. That comes across as a massive Kick the Dog to all the genuinely good Springfieldians we've met.
  • Lindsay Naegle said she's a sexual predator and that's why she keeps changing jobs. Think about that for a good long moment.
    • She also never has the same job.
  • In "Hungry Hungry Homer", Homer claims that Duff won't let him waste away; pan to a skeleton with a sign saying "clean the ladies' room". So, they let her die because she didn't do an entertaining dance?
  • Barney the town drunk never appears in any episode that takes place in the future and no explanation is made. Every future episode has a seen that takes place at Moe's and he is nowhere to be seen, but Lenny and Carl are. He probably died from years of alcoholism.
  • How citizens of Springfield treated Bart in "The Boys Of Bummer" was terrible and cruel. The fact that they abused and humilliated Bart just because over a lousy baseball game makes you wonder: what kind of mindset would allow that?
    • Maybe it works in reverse. Here, their treatment of Bart was worse than for what he did in "The Telltale Head". And Bart's done worser things and barely anybody cared.
    • Also, what if he did worse?
    • And what if Marge didn't stop the madness before it got any worse?
  • The purpose of "Homer's Enemy" was to show what would happen if a Real Life person would live in Springfield. The fate of Frank Grimes gives us the chilling implication that anyone from/with the mindset of Real Life would be driven insane by the people in Springfield. If we, people from Real Life, would spend a day in Springfield we would be driven insane by antics of Springfield's citizens. "Homer's Enemy" is proof that, beneath it's humorous exterior, is a dystopia. No wonder it's considered America's Worst City. Also remember the funeral scene where citizens of Springfield forget Frank Grimes at his own funeral and instead laugh at Homer. This is disgusting enough. But considering their apathy when someone died makes you wonder: what if there were more people like Frank Grimes and suffered the same fate like he did...? Considering their apathy towards his death, it may seem to be the case...Also remember that episode where we find out that Frank Grimes has the son. His son said that Frank liked hookers (prostitutes). May seem like Out-of-Character Moment for Mr. Perfect Frank Grimes. But what if Frank Grimes's life was so hard and he was so stressed that he saw no other way to relieve his stress than having sex with a prostitute?
  • In "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes," when Homer is taken to The Island, a German doppelganger takes his place. When the doppelganger first arrives at the Simpson's house, he propositions Marge for sex and she says that it'll give her something else to do besides cleaning the house. We don't see any hints that the deed was not done. In other words, the doppelganger performed a Bed Trick, or as it also know by Rape by Deception.
  • In, "How I Wet Your Mother", Professor Frink reveals that "hell is real, and everybody goes there." Combine that with Homer proving there is no God, and you have pretty hefty Fridge Horror. One can only hope this is the same hell as South Park.

The Video Games

Fridge Brilliance

  • It took me a while to realize why The Simpsons Hit & Run has that name. Then, while sitting around doing something completely unrelated to The Simpsons, I realized the reason. It's a Grand Theft Auto clone, so they named it after a different vehicular crime.
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