Ever since the running gag with The Simpsons became how far it could see into the future, fans of the show have consistently noticed parallels between the long-running animated series and real life events.
The latest in the long line of "predictions" comes courtesy of the tourist submersible named "Titan" that took a dive to the Titanic's wreck earlier in the week and has since been deemed missing.
© Getty ImagesThe OceanGate expedition with five people on-board rapidly losing oxygen immediately reminded several fans of an episode of the show from way back in their 17th season in 2006.
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In the episode, Homer Simpson joins a man he believes to be his long-lost biological father, Mason Fairbanks, on a treasure-hunting expedition under the sea.
© Getty ImagesThey discover a sunken wreck and boat loads of treasure, but disaster strikes when Homer's submarine is stuck in the wreckage. In his panic (and lack of oxygen), he loses consciousness, but survives the incident and wakes up in the hospital three days later.
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Fans quickly flooded social media with clips from the episode drawing comparisons to the ongoing events, and even former showrunner Mike Reiss, who created the episode and once boarded the "Titan" himself, spoke out on the disaster.
While praising the vehicle for its construction, he admitted in a BBC Breakfast interview on Monday: "If it's down at the bottom, I don't know how anyone is going to be able to access it, much less bring it back up."
As tin foil hat moments abound, here are some of the other craziest gazes into the future made by The Simpsons over its nearly 34-year long run.
Donald Trump's Presidency
© Getty ImagesYes, the animated Nostradamus predicted one of the most divisive presidential runs in American history, with a throwaway gag in a 2000 episode called 'Bart to the Future,' in which he travels to where his sister Lisa is now POTUS and talks of repairing the economy after Donald Trump's presidency.
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A still from the episode even features Homer descending an escalator alongside Trump while his supporters cheer him on, an eerie parallel to a similar scene from his campaign trail for the real life 2016 election, this time alongside wife Melania.
The COVID-19 Pandemic
© Getty ImagesWe may have all watched too much of 2011's Contagion during the lockdown, but back in the 1993 Simpsons episode 'Marge in Chains,' we found a much earlier allusion to the pandemic, when the fictional world is ravaged by a disease called "the Osaka Flu."
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Similar to the 2020 treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists immediately advised residents of Springfield to remain at home while they found a cure to the virus, which also happened to originate in another country before making its way Stateside.
The Walt Disney and Fox Merger
© Getty ImagesIn a bit of poking fun at the hand that feeds you, in a 1998 episode titled 'When You Wish Upon a Star,' Homer decides to collaborate with 20th Century Fox and even makes a suggestion to Fox executives, which cuts to the new 20th Century Fox logo with the words "A Division of Walt Disney Co" inscribed below.
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That particular prediction hit quite close to home, though, as in 2019, Disney and 21st Century Fox settled on a historic merger amounting to $71 billion, meaning the Fox-owned animated series had found themselves a new home of their own choosing.
Lady Gaga at The Super Bowl
© Getty ImagesOn a lighter note, in a 2012 episode titled 'Lisa Goes Gaga,' Lisa meets Lady Gaga herself, who then delights the residents of Springfield with a concert featuring pyrotechnics, elaborate costumes, a harness lifting her above the crowd, and a moment on the piano.
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Cut to 2017, when Gaga performed at the 2017 Super Bowl LI Halftime Show, where she broke out some pyrotechnics, elaborate costumes, was lifted above the crowd in a harness, and performed the ballad 'Million Reasons' on the piano. It really was a perfect illusion.
The Covering Up of Michelangelo's David
© Getty ImagesIn a 1990 episode titled 'Itchy & Scratchy & Marge,' Marge learns a hard lesson on censorship when her demand to crack down on violence in TV ends up backfiring when the famously nude Michelangelo's David makes a stop in Springfield and residents demand it be covered up, resulting in the statue being dressed in a pair of jeans.
The debate over nudity as a form of art was brought up once again almost three decades later in the real world, when some citizens of St. Petersburg, Russia demanded that a copy of the statue displayed in the city be covered up (though not in jeans, thankfully).
