Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 10/01/2025 7:34:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
R.I.P. Dr. Jane Goodall
It’s been reported that legendary primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall has passed away at the age of 91. And while Goodall will no doubt be remembered for her ground-breaking research, we would also like to point out that she was also impressively chill about being parodied in popular cartoons.
We’ve already mentioned how Goodall befriended The Far Side’s Gary Larson, and it turns out that she was also an early fan of The Simpsons — and not just the episode that featured Stop the Planet of the Apes, I Want to Get Off! starring Troy McClure.
In the second episode of the show’s very first season, “Bart the Genius,” Bart cheats on an intelligence test and is sent to an “enriched” program. He convinces the principal to send him back in Mrs. Krabappel’s fourth-grade class by claiming that he’ll pretend to be a “regular dumb kid” and study his fellow classmates. “Like Jane Goodall and the chimps,” the principal muses.
“I got an autographed book from her in the mail which I still have,” writer Jon Vitti added. “If I were more honest, I would have given it to Al Jean because he wrote the line, but it was too cool to give away.”
Groening also noted that he got to meet Goodall “years later,” and “she was honored by that mention.”
Still, that pleasant exchange didn’t stop the show’s writers from creating a less-than-flattering Goodall parody in Season 12’s “Simpson Safari.” That’s the episode where the Simpson family travels to Tanzania and ends up in a chimpanzee sanctuary run by the conspicuously Goodall-like “Dr. Joan Bushwell.”
It eventually turns out that Dr. Bushwell is essentially running a chimp labor camp, forcing the primates to mine diamonds. The crazed anthropologist/animal abuser then tries to buy the Simpsons’ silence with handfuls of precious gems.
Clearly the real Goodall wasn’t offended by that over-the-top parody, since she appeared as herself in Season 31’s “Gorillas on the Mast.” The episode ends with Lisa delivering an gorilla named Lolo, who escaped from the Springfield Zoo, to her “hero” Jane Goodall's reserve.
And, just to be clear, there was zero ape diamond mining in that episode.
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Her achievements were far too many for her to be offended by a small joke.
The sign of a great person is their humility
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.