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Lisa's Wedding

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"Lisa's Wedding"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 6
Directed byJim Reardon[1]
Written byGreg Daniels[1]
Original air datesMarch 19, 1995[2]
Episode features
Chalkboard gag"I will not strut around like I own the place"[3]
Couch gagThe couch springs the family off, lodging their heads in the ceiling.[1]
CommentaryJames L. Brooks
David Mirkin
Greg Daniels
Episode chronology
The Simpsons season 6
List of episodes

"Lisa's Wedding" is the 19th episode of The Simpsons' sixth season, which originally aired March 19, 1995. The plot focuses around Lisa visiting a carnival fortune teller and learning about her future love. It was written by Greg Daniels and directed by Jim Reardon. Mandy Patinkin guest stars as Hugh Parkfield and Phil Hartman guest stars as Troy McClure.[2][3] The episode won an Emmy Award in 1996 for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, becoming the third episode of The Simpsons to win the award.[4][5]

Plot

File:Lisaswedding.JPG
Lisa and Hugh in the future

The episode begins with the Simpson family visiting a renaissance fair. Homer eats eight different kinds of meat and an ashamed Lisa wanders off and eventually finds a fortune telling booth. Although Lisa is at first skeptical, the fortune teller manages to prove her validity by telling Lisa the names of everyone in her family. She then uses tarot cards to predict Lisa's future, and says she will tell Lisa the story of her true love.

The story then shifts to an Eastern University in the year 2010 (at the time the episode aired, 15 years in the future) where a now 23 year old Lisa becomes annoyed by a British student named Hugh Parkfield. At first, the two quarrel over a book in the library, but the pair eventually fall madly in love. The two discover they have a lot in common and Hugh invites Lisa to come back to his home in England so she can meet his parents. Hugh asks Lisa to marry him and she immediately accepts.

The next day, Lisa calls home to tell Marge of the news and Marge promises that she will prevent Homer from ruining the wedding. Marge is still a housewife, Bart works as a twice divorced building demolition expert and plans on going to law school, Maggie is a teenager who apparently never shuts up (although she never talks in the episode) and Homer still works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant in Sector 7G with Milhouse as his supervisor. Lisa and Hugh travel to Springfield where Lisa is worried that her family will embarrass her and things get off to a bad start when Bart and Homer accidentally set the British Union Jack flag on fire.

At dinner, Lisa plans on going for a wedding dress fitting and Homer decides to take Hugh out on the town to Moe's Tavern. While there, Homer presents Hugh with a tacky pair of cuff links (a bride and groom pig) that all Simpsons men have worn on their wedding day, asking him to continue the tradition; Hugh reluctantly agrees to wear them during the wedding. Later that night, Lisa apologizes profusely for the behaviour of her family and although Hugh says it was nothing, he stays up thinking.

On the day of the wedding, Homer talks with Lisa and she discovers that Hugh did not wear Homer's cuff links. She finds Hugh and asks him to wear them. He agrees, but lets slip that after the wedding he plans for them to return to England and never see her family again. Lisa is outraged and calls off the wedding.

Back in the present once more, the fortune teller says that Hugh went back to England and never saw Lisa again and that there was nothing Lisa could do to prevent it - although she should "try to look surprised". Lisa questions the fortune teller about her "true love" and the fortune teller reveals that although Lisa will have a true love, she "specializes in foretelling relationships where you get jerked around." Lisa leaves the booth and finds her father, who brags about his day at the fair and Lisa listens raptly as the two walk off.[2][4][3][5]

Production

The idea for the episode came from James L. Brooks, who called David Mirkin and pitched the idea as travelling to the future and Lisa meeting the perfect guy, who in turn cannot stand her family.[6] Believing that it would be a tough episode to write, the job was given to Greg Daniels, who was enthusiastic about it and has said that was a lot easier and more fun to write than expected.[7] The part involving Homer's cuff links was not in the original draft, it was later added because the writers felt that something was needed to represent Hugh's dislike of the Simpson family.[7] The end theme was redone by Alf Clausen as a "Renaissance version" including a harp.[6]

Everything in the episode had to be redesigned, which included new sets and all of the characters had to be remodelled for their age.[6] In most cases, the adults were made heavier, had a few lines added to the face and less hair. On Homer, the redesign was minimal, making him a bit heavier, removing one hair and placing an extra line under the eye.[6] Krusty's design is based on Groucho Marx.[7] The night sky was intentionally made a more reddish colour in a subtle joke about how the producers thought the world would be much more polluted in 2010.[6] Nancy Cartwright's Bart voice was electronically lowered a couple of notches.[6]

This is the first of three future-themed episodes. The second was "Bart to the Future" in season 11 and "Future-Drama" in season 16. All three have been separated by five year margins. While both "Lisa's Wedding" and "Future-Drama" were nominated for an Emmy, Entertainment Weekly named "Bart to the Future" the worst episode ever.[8]

Cultural references

File:Adultmaggiesimpson.jpg
Maggie Simpson as a 16 year old.

The episode makes mention of "40 classic films starring Jim Carrey", which include The Mask and "Ace Ventura VI". This is a joke about how "huge" his movies were at the time, and yet despite this, he was still not garnering much respect as an actor. Since this episode aired David Mirkin has said that Carrey has become a much more "subtle" and respected actor.[6] The sounds of the car are the same as the ones used in The Jetsons.[6] In this episode's version of the future, apparently four of the major American networks have merged into CNNBCBS (a division of ABC). At the same time, FOX has gradually become a hardcore sex channel.[1] The beginning of Lisa's and Hugh's romance is similar to the one in Love Story.[1] Martin Prince's fate is a parody of The Phantom of the Opera. The song that he plays on the organ is "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy, a disco version of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" in C Minor.[1]. World War III a popular theory had actually took place before 2010.

Reception

"Lisa's Wedding" won an Emmy Award in 1996 for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program,[6] becoming the third episode of The Simpsons to win in the category.[9] This episode is generally rated as one of the best episodes on The Simpsons and is a fan favorite.[10] It is a favorite of James L. Brooks, who believes that it is one of the best written episodes and ranks near the top of Simpsons episodes.[10] The emotion of "Lisa's Wedding" is often compared with season 2's "Lisa's Substitute".[7] Somebody even did their doctorate thesis on this episode with the topic "Lisa's Wedding as a Fairy Tale".[7] The Quindecim, a college newspaper, made their own top 25 list, ranking "Lisa's Wedding" as the greatest episode of The Simpsons. They also ripped Entertainment Weekly for leaving this episode and "Lisa's Substitute" off their top 25 list, saying it was the "equivalent of leaving the Sistine Chapel off a list of Michelangelo's best work ... Serving well as bookends, these episodes are not only brilliantly funny, they're among the most genuinely touching stories in the show's entire run."[11]

Mandy Patinkin as Hugh is considered one of the best Simpsons guest spots by Chris Turner in his book Planet Simpson, who says that many of the best Simpsons guest stars have been lesser known celebrities.[12] The Daily Telegraph characterized the episode as one of "The 10 Best Simpsons TV Episodes."[13]

References

Notes
  1. ^ a b c d e f Lisa's Wedding BBC.co.uk. Retrieved on March 20, 2007
  2. ^ a b c d "Lisa's Wedding" The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on March 20, 2007
  3. ^ a b c Richmond, Ray (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-638898-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Episode Capsule at The Simpsons Archive
  5. ^ a b Martyn, Warren (2000). I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0495-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mirkin, David (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa's Wedding" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e Daniels, Greg (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa's Wedding" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  8. ^ "The Family Dynamic". Entertainment Weekly. 2003-01-29. Retrieved 2007-03-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Every show, every winner, every nominee". The Envelope. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
  10. ^ a b Brooks, James L. (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa's Wedding" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  11. ^ Culp, Sarah (2003-02-17). "The Simpsons' Top 25 Episodes". The Quindecim. Retrieved 2007-03-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Turner, Chris. Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation. ISBN 0-679-31318-4.
  13. ^ Walton, James (July 21, 2007). "The 10 Best Simpsons TV Episodes (In Chronological Order)". The Daily Telegraph. pp. Page 3. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Further reading
  • Matt Groening (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family. New York: HarperCollins, Inc. ISBN 0-06-095252-0.
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