“Lisa the Skeptic” is the eighth episode of The Simpsons’ ninth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 23, 1997. In the episode, Lisa discovers a skeleton that resembles an angel. All of the townspeople believe that the skeleton came from an angel, but skeptical Lisa attempts to persuade them that there must be a rational scientific explanation.
About Lisa the Skeptic in brief
“Lisa the Skeptic” is the eighth episode of The Simpsons’ ninth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 23, 1997. In the episode, Lisa discovers a skeleton that resembles an angel. All of the townspeople believe that the skeleton actually came from an angel, but skeptical Lisa attempts to persuade them that there must be a rational scientific explanation. The episode’s writer, David X. Cohen, developed the idea after visiting the American Museum of Natural History, and decided to loosely parallel themes from the Scopes Monkey Trial. It has been discussed in the context of ontology, existentialism, and skepticism; it has also been used in Christian religious education classes to initiate discussion about angels, skepticism, science, and faith. In an early draft of the script, the skeleton was made of pastry dough baked by the mall’s window dresser. Homer attempts to claim a motorboat from a raffle that turns out to be a sting operation. Lisa protests and the management allows Springfield Elementary to conduct an archaeological survey. During the excavations, Lisa finds a human skeleton with wings.
In response, Springfield’s religious zealots go on a rampage to destroy all scientific institutions. Lisa is arrested and put on trial for destroying the skeleton. The skeleton is then hoisted over to the entrance of the new Heavenly Hills Mall. Lisa realizes the whole event was a publicity stunt for the mall, and criticizes management for taking advantage of peoples’ beliefs. She attempts to boycott them, but the bargain-loving public shrugs off the exploitation and goes shopping, while Dr. Gould confesses that he never actually tested the sample. Marge observes that while it was talking, Lisa believed the angel was real. She denies this, but admits she was frightened and thanks her mother for her support. The only phrase to get Gould in the script was a line that he had objected to: “I didn’t do the test”. His original line was: “The world’s most brilliant paleontologist, Lionel Hutz” The episode also makes allusions to actual hoaxes, such as the Cardiff Giant, but they went forward with the idea anyway.
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This page is based on the article Lisa the Skeptic published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 11, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
