It's the bicentennial of Springfield and its founder is being praised. But Lisa comes upon evidence that the guy was a pirate and a cad. But delivering the message is hard to do because of an adoring populace. Donald Sutherland makes an appearance as the curator of the local museum.
9 Reviews
Lisa exposing the truth but no one in Town really cares
celiawatsonanime21 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The title is silly, "Iconoclast" is an extremely rarely used word.
Crazy that Mayor Quimby tries to assassinate Lisa at the end but fails and has no repercussions.
Springfield's founder definitely doesn't deserve praise but it sure makes the towns people happy believing that lie.
Good for Lisa for going with the lie at the end.
Crazy that Mayor Quimby tries to assassinate Lisa at the end but fails and has no repercussions.
Springfield's founder definitely doesn't deserve praise but it sure makes the towns people happy believing that lie.
Good for Lisa for going with the lie at the end.
A great episode until the end - Horrible message
skyfall-3340223 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The ending of this message promoted a horrible message about praising problematic historical figures. And the fact that Lisa went along with it is so out of character.
The rest of the episode was great! Donald Sutherland was good as always.
The rest of the episode was great! Donald Sutherland was good as always.
Excellent Episode.
tarbosh2200027 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This comment contains spoilers!!!!
"Lisa The Iconoclast" is an excellent episode. The plot is: The Jebediah Springfield memorial parade is coming up in town, and Lisa's class has to write an essay about him. Then Lisa goes to visit Hollis Hurlbut (voiced by a first-rate Donald Sutherland) who runs an shop about Jebediah. She figures out that Jebediah is a murderous pirate named Hans Sprungfeld. In the other subplot, Homer becomes the town crier and helps Lisa convince the town of her surprising find.
What's great about this episode is the fantastic chemistry between Lisa and Homer and the perfect mixture of hilarious comedy and drama. ("You suck-diddly-uk, Flanders!!" and "Where's The Fife, Gimme the Fife.") When nobody believes her, and Homer gets stripped of being Town Crier, you really feel for them. The ending is perfect and caps off a stand-out episode.
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"Lisa The Iconoclast" is an excellent episode. The plot is: The Jebediah Springfield memorial parade is coming up in town, and Lisa's class has to write an essay about him. Then Lisa goes to visit Hollis Hurlbut (voiced by a first-rate Donald Sutherland) who runs an shop about Jebediah. She figures out that Jebediah is a murderous pirate named Hans Sprungfeld. In the other subplot, Homer becomes the town crier and helps Lisa convince the town of her surprising find.
What's great about this episode is the fantastic chemistry between Lisa and Homer and the perfect mixture of hilarious comedy and drama. ("You suck-diddly-uk, Flanders!!" and "Where's The Fife, Gimme the Fife.") When nobody believes her, and Homer gets stripped of being Town Crier, you really feel for them. The ending is perfect and caps off a stand-out episode.
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Special episode
joeybueckert10 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Love the creation of the words Cromulent and Embiggen, and Donald Sutherland's acting. The short film starring Troy McClure, the flashbacks, Homer and Lisa's relationship, and the Ballad of Jebediah Springfield all contributed to making this a classic episode for me.
Put this in your fife and smoke it
snoozejonc6 December 2022
In the lead up to Springfield's bicentennial celebration, Lisa discovers something disturbing.
This is one of my favourite episodes.
The plot is exceptionally good, with an intriguing backstory for Jebadiah Springfield told in a series of fun reveals from Lisa's historical detective arc.
Lisa is used fantastically well by the writers to drive the plot, along with Homer as the perfect comic foil. I love Donald Sutherland's cameo as the curator.
Most importantly the humour is right up my street, blending great historical satire with the right amount of silliness to make something both clever and very funny. There several memorable and quotable lines.
This is one of my favourite episodes.
The plot is exceptionally good, with an intriguing backstory for Jebadiah Springfield told in a series of fun reveals from Lisa's historical detective arc.
Lisa is used fantastically well by the writers to drive the plot, along with Homer as the perfect comic foil. I love Donald Sutherland's cameo as the curator.
Most importantly the humour is right up my street, blending great historical satire with the right amount of silliness to make something both clever and very funny. There several memorable and quotable lines.
Donald Sutherland -- the other Homer Simpson
joel-mabus11 March 2014
This is a dandy example of one of the better Simpsons episodes. I give it a ten.
Lisa takes the fore in this one, doing some Nancy Drew style detective work looking for clues to the history of Springfield.
A bit of trivia: Donald Sutherland, guest star of this episode, once portrayed a character named Homer Simpson. That Homer Simpson was a frustrated and doomed everyman in the film, The Day of the Locust (1975) based on the 1939 Nathaniel West novel of the same name.
No apparent relation to our cartoon dimwit, though only Matt Groening would know for sure. The Day of the Locust is considered a seminal American novel. According to Wikipedia, Groening says in a 1990 interview he got the name for his Homer from that book/film. But then again, Matt's own father was named "Homer" too.
Lisa takes the fore in this one, doing some Nancy Drew style detective work looking for clues to the history of Springfield.
A bit of trivia: Donald Sutherland, guest star of this episode, once portrayed a character named Homer Simpson. That Homer Simpson was a frustrated and doomed everyman in the film, The Day of the Locust (1975) based on the 1939 Nathaniel West novel of the same name.
No apparent relation to our cartoon dimwit, though only Matt Groening would know for sure. The Day of the Locust is considered a seminal American novel. According to Wikipedia, Groening says in a 1990 interview he got the name for his Homer from that book/film. But then again, Matt's own father was named "Homer" too.
History remade
safenoe28 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Lisa the Iconoclast examines what happens when the ugly and undesirable truth emerges about a heroic history figure in the form of Jebediah Springfield. Donald Sutherland plays a historian, and I remember him from his groundbreaking and bold role in Don't Look Now opposite Julie Christie, but I think Don't Look Now is too young for Simpsons kids if you know what I mean.
Anyway, Lisa is in a dilemma as she has to decide what to do armed with this knowledge, and the ending was quite climactic because we weren't sure until the very end what was going to become of Lisa and her secret and all but it went well.
Anyway, Lisa is in a dilemma as she has to decide what to do armed with this knowledge, and the ending was quite climactic because we weren't sure until the very end what was going to become of Lisa and her secret and all but it went well.
Comparable to The Principal and The Pauper: The real reason why this one was liked and not that one
santifersan16 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
With this episode, we can realize how irrational the viewers can be. It is revealed that Jebediah Springfield was an impostor, however, unlike "Principal and the Pauper," which has a similar focus on one of the series' characters, this episode was well-received. This episode is just as good as "Principal and the Pauper," except the ending of "Principal and the Pauper", which is what ruined the entire episode that was being established. If the ending had been more like that of "Lisa the Iconoclast," it would have surely been equally well-received, but people are not capable of reaching that reasoning and they condemn "Principal and the Pauper" throughout the entire episode instead of just its ending.
And as for "Lisa the Iconoclast," what I dislike the most is precisely how it ends, as I believe the people of Springfield have unjustly vilified Lisa and the ending doesn't allow those Springfield residents who didn't believe her to discover that she was actually right.
And as for "Lisa the Iconoclast," what I dislike the most is precisely how it ends, as I believe the people of Springfield have unjustly vilified Lisa and the ending doesn't allow those Springfield residents who didn't believe her to discover that she was actually right.
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