31 Years Later, This Near-Perfect ‘Simpsons’ Episode Is Getting Better With Age

2 weeks ago 12

Published May 10, 2026, 4:43 PM EDT

Lloyd 'Happy Trails' Farley: the man, the myth, the legend. What can be said about this amazing - and humble - man that hasn't been said before? Or, more accurately, what can be said in public? Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Lloyd is a master of puns and a humorist, who has authored one pun book to date - Pun and Grimeish Mint - and is working on a second. His time with Collider has allowed Lloyd's passion for writing to explode, with nearly 1,000 articles to his name that have been published on the site, with his favorite articles being the ones that allow for his sense of humor to shine. Lloyd also holds fast to the belief that all of life's problems can be answered by The Simpsons, Star Wars, and/or The Lion King. You can read more about Lloyd on his website, or follow his Facebook page and join the Llama Llegion. Happy trails!

This year, one of the all-time best The Simpsons episodes turns 31: 1995's “Lisa’s Wedding.” It’s the first episode of the series set in the future and, to my mind, still the best of the lot — and somehow, it’s only getting better with age. That’s partly because time has caught up to it in such a strange way. In 1995, “Lisa’s Wedding” imagined a future 15 years ahead, placing its story in 2010. Now, in 2026, that once-distant future is itself 16 years in the past. Which means this is an episode from the past about a future that has already become the past. D'OH! More than a clever time-capsule gimmick, though, it proved to be a turning point for the series as a whole.

What Is "Lisa's Wedding" About?

"Lisa's Wedding" begins with the family visiting a Renaissance fair, where Lisa (Yeardley Smith) comes across a fortune-teller. Skeptical at first, Lisa is won over by the fortune-teller's ability to name the entire Simpsons family and what they're doing at the moment ("Homer is heckling the puppet show" sealed the deal), and listens as she hears the tale of her first true love.

The story jumps ahead to the year 2010, when 23-year-old Lisa meets British student Hugh Parkfield (Mandy Patinkin). The two have a lot in common — vegetarianism, the magic of Jim Carrey, and the Rolling Stones ("Not for their music but for their tireless efforts to preserve historic buildings") — and Hugh invites Lisa to meet his parents back in England. He then asks her to marry him, and she accepts. Now it's off to meet her parents... and cue the hyperventilation.

We Get A Surprising Look at Springfield's Future

"Lisa's Wedding" is the first time we see what will become of our favorite Springfield citizens. Bart (Nancy Cartwright) is a twice-divorced 25-year-old building demolition expert; Maggie is a teenager who never shuts up (but never talks in the episode, always being cut off). Marge (Julie Kavner) is still a housewife, and Homer (Dan Castellaneta) is... still in Sector 7G.

But Milhouse (Pamela Hayden) is his supervisor, and Mayor Quimby (Castellaneta) drives a cab under the name Mohammed Jafar, working for Otto (Harry Shearer). Martin Prince (Russi Taylor), presumed dead, lives underground à la Phantom of the Opera, Mister Burns (Shearer) is cryogenically frozen until a cure is found for the 17 stab wounds in the back (but they're up to 15). The Simpsons' home at 742 Evergreen Terrace has had Homer-renovations ("Remember: If the building inspector comes by, it's not a room, it's a window box").

‘The Simpsons’ EP Reveals Which Character’s Death Would Be the “End of Everything” After 800 Episodes

From Philly guest stars to ‘The Pitt’ parody, Mike Price reveals how Episode 800 came together and why the next ‘Simpsons’ movie has the team hyped.

This first glimpse into the future of Springfield's citizens is an important one in the series' history. Some arcs are comical for sure, but others make an odd degree of sense. It's not surprising that Homer hasn't left Sector 7G, nor is it surprising that Bart hasn't amounted to much. It's a narrative that carries forward in most of Bart's future arcs, a natural consequence of his actions in the present. The allusion to a romance between Lisa and Milhouse is another arc that has often been revisited, including a zombie-Milhouse that becomes far more interesting to Lisa in "Days of Future Future."

"Lisa's Wedding" Showcases What We Love About The Simpsons

Lisa (Yeardley Smith), Hugh (Mandy Patinkin), Homer (Dan Castellaneta) in The Simpsons' Lisa's Wedding.

In addition to catching up with Springfield, "Lisa's Wedding" has fun with what the future will bring, something that every future-set episode takes a crack at. Some are ridiculous: Big Ben is now a digital clock flashing 12:00, and "wacky old designs" for airplanes have been re-evaluated (bi-plane? Nah, hex-plane). Largely, though, the episode is notorious for the number of predictions that came to pass within it, arguably the point at which The Simpsons turned from funny animated sitcom to Nostradamus incarnate. The episode predicted smartwatches (technically second, after Dick Tracy in 1931), FaceTime, the still-touring Rolling Stones, remote (and commercialized) education, virtual darts, and famed London landmark The Shard.

It also predicted a key moment to come in the series itself: Lisa's vegetarianism, which would kick off with Paul McCartney's appearance in Season 7's "Lisa the Vegetarian." It did, however, drop the ball when it came to Maude Flanders (Maggie Roswell). The success of the future-set "Lisa's Wedding" prompted The Simpsons to go back to the future several times since. The results have been varied, from the lows of "When Nelson Met Lisa" to the highs of "Holidays of Future Passed."

One of the weaker entries, the second future-set episode "Bart to the Future," would gain notoriety for predicting the presidency of one Donald Trump. One last point: flashback and flash-forward episodes of The Simpsons are problematic for some people who have issues with continuity. In The Simpsons, of all things. To you, I reach back to the past for this gem: "Eat my shorts."

The Simpsons is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ in the U.S.

Release Date December 17, 1989

Network FOX

Directors Steven Dean Moore, Mark Kirkland, Rob Oliver, Michael Polcino, Mike B. Anderson, Chris Clements, Wes Archer, Timothy Bailey, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Matthew Faughnan, Chuck Sheetz, Rich Moore, Jeffrey Lynch, Pete Michels, Susie Dietter, Raymond S. Persi, Carlos Baeza, Dominic Polcino, Lauren MacMullan, Michael Marcantel, Neil Affleck, Swinton O. Scott III, Jennifer Moeller

Writers J. Stewart Burns, Michael Price, Brian Kelley, Bill Odenkirk, Dan Vebber, Kevin Curran, Stephanie Gillis, Dan Castellaneta, Deb Lacusta, Billy Kimball, Jessica Conrad, Cesar Mazariegos, Daniel Chun, Jennifer Crittenden, Conan O'Brien, Valentina Garza, Elisabeth Kiernan Averick, Christine Nangle, Broti Gupta, Loni Steele Sosthand, Megan Amram, Bob Kushell, David Isaacs, David Mandel