TWELVE Times The Simpsons Predict Future
It might be the longest- running primetime TV series in the US, but The Simpsons is more than just a cartoon sketch- the writers actually wrote the future.
If you’re a die- hard fan, you’ll have seen these foreshadowing moments unfold when they aired- and also seen their predictions come to life.
Here are some of the mind-blowing examples that will leave you questioning life…
12. The invention of The Shard (1995)
During ‘Lisa’s wedding’ ep aired in 1995, we see a skyscraper in the background of the London skyline, behind Big Ben. 14 years later, and the Shard had been erected as London’s tallest building, standing at 306 metres.
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Here you can see the shape and location are pretty much spot on. Did the developers and writers have an arrangement or something?
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11. The discovery of the Higgs boson equation (1998)
In a 1998 episode entitled ‘The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace’, Homer becomes an inventor and is shown in front of a complicated equation on a blackboard. Of course they’ve got Homer’s favourite food in there at the bottom…
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According to Simon Singh, the author of “The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets,” the equation predicts the ‘mass of the Higgs boson particle’.
It was first predicted in 1964 by Professor Peter Higgs and five other physicists, but it wasn’t until a 2013 experiment, costing £10.4 billion, that scientists discovered proof of the Higgs boson.
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10. Ebola outbreak (2014)
Some fans believe that the yellow family predicted the 2014 Ebola outbreak, an impressive 17 years before it happened.
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In a scene from the episode ‘Lisa’s Sax’, Marge suggests that Bart, who was sick, should read the book ‘Curious George and the Ebola Virus’. Back in the 1990s Ebola wasn’t widespread- 17 years later, it was on every news channel.
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9. Daenerys Targaryen’s big plot twist in ‘Game of Thrones’ (2007)
They got their crystal ball out once again for this one. GOT fans will remember the twist in episode five of season eight, when Daenerys Targaryen and her dragon laid waste to an already surrendered King’s Landing, wiping out thousands of innocent people.
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In a 2017 episode, named ‘The Serfsons’, Homer revives a dragon that which then goes on to destruct a whole village under his and his children’s gaze.
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8. Watches become smart (1995)
In an episode aired way back when in 1995, nearly 20 years before the Apple Watch was released, the writers introduced a watch that could double up as a phone.
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Here we see Lisa’s future husband talking in to his ‘smartwatch’, way before they were even a thing.
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7. Performer Attacked By His Tiger (2003)
Back in 1993, The Simpsons saw Siegfried & Roy knock-offs Gunter & Ernst attacked by their performing tiger.
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The event was done as a throwaway gag, but little did we know what was waiting around the corner.
Flashing forward to 2003, and yes, Roy of Siegfried & Roy was attacked by a tiger during one of the tandem’s show.
Luckily Roy survived the incident, although he did suffer from a loss of mobility as a result of the attack.
6. Horse Meat Snuck Into Food (2013)
Surely 1994’s “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song” episode’s use of horse meat in school meals couldn’t something that would ever happen, right? Right?!
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Unfortunately for some customers, The Simpsons yet again predicted the future. For those reading this in the UK, you’ll wince when you remember back to 2013 when several Bird’s Eye food products tested positive for traces of horse DNA in their supposed beef products.
Several products from certain brands were completely pulled from sale as a result of this scandal.
5. The Discovery Of A Three-Eyed Fish (2011)
Ol’ Monty Burns has never one to be all that worried about such a trivial thing as pollution, as seen by the three-eyed fish he ultimately had a hand in creating back in 1990’s “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish” episode.
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Making a statement about pollution was one thing; predicting the future was another.
Worryingly, The Simpsons correctly predicted that pollution-caused mutations would actually come to be a scarily real thing
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Taking things to Argentina in 2011, and a local fisherman actually caught an eerie, mutated three-eyed fish.
4. Millhouse Predicts The Nobel Peace Prize Winner (2016)
The 2010 “Elementary School Musical” offering, we see some of The Simpson’s youngsters do a betting pool on who will win the Nobel Peace Prize. Said award would go to Krusty, but Millhouse’s bet was Bengt R. Holmstrom.
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While 2010 was Holmstrom’s year, clearly Millhouse was on to something.
By the time 2016 came around, it was a different story.
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At that point, Bengt R. Holmstrom and Oliver Hart nabbed themselves the Nobel Peace Prize for Economics.
3. Greece’s Financial Crisis (2015)
The financial crisis in Greece is far from a laughing matter, yet The Simpsons arguably predicted this back in 2013 when Europe was seen to be listing Greece on eBay.
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Still, that joke was nothing compared to the very real problems that were just around the corner for Greece.
Since 2015, Greece’s frosty relationship with the European Union has led to continuing financial collapse in the country.
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Sadly, it looks as if this crisis is still no closer to being resolved.
2. Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Show (2017)
Back in 2012, the “Lisa Goes Gaga” episode saw Lady Gaga performing an insane stadium act where she was suspended from the roof.
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Taking that as her inspiration, Gaga was about to fulfil her own Simpsons prophecy. Zip forward to 2017, and we’d see the real-life Gaga perform pretty much the exact same routine at the Super Bowl.
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The only thing missing was the sparkles coming from her cleavage.
1. Donald Trump Becomes President (2017)
Of all the things that seemed too crazy to be true, The Simpsons somehow had the foresight to see that Donald Trump would wind up in the White House.
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The “Bart to the Future” episode in 2000 centred on a 2030 landscape in which Lisa takes over the Presidency from Donald Trump.
In a move that still has some people scratching their heads, Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States in 2017.
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How long Trump can remain in office, that’s the big question right now.