Turtles on The Simpsons
The Simpsons have a lot of turtle references. (It seems unusually high for a non-recurring 'character'. Almost every reference is to a different turtle. (The clip shows, like All Singing, All Dancing, sometimes have duplicate references.) I've counted on average two per season. That makes roughly 10% of the episodes that have a turtle reference that I've seen.) The purpose of this page is to document those occurrences and maybe try to find a pattern.
I recently found another page along a similar vein: Reptiles and The Simpsons, to which I owe thanks for the Treehouse of Horror II and Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-D'OH!-cious references.
Suspects
Can a pattern be detected to when the turtles appear? I haven't found one yet, but I have my suspicions.
Episode list
Ep # | Episode Title | Reference |
MG42 |
Shorts: Maggie in Peril |
In one of the Tracy Ullman shorts, Maggie has a turtle toy. |
03x07 |
Treehouse of Horror II |
Homer is fired and gets a job as a gravedigger.
|
03x22 |
The Otto Show |
|
04x08 |
New Kid on the Block |
Decor in the Frying Dutchman includes a turtle in a net.
|
05x13 |
Homer and Apu |
|
05x1720x11 |
Bart Gets an Elephant
|
The Note: This scene is cut in syndication[1].
The clip shows up later as Homer remembers his past injuries in season 20's "How the Test Was Won". |
06x07 |
Bart's Girlfriend |
After Bart's new girlfriend pulls a fire alarm, Willy attempts to save the wee tur'les.
|
06x08 |
Lisa On Ice |
When Bart's team wins a hockey game, Homer pulls out a turtle
Meanwhile, Lisa finds she's failing gym class and imagines being impeached from the presidency in the future because she failed gym
|
06x2009x11 |
Two Dozen and One Greyhounds
|
This song is reprised in the season 9 clip show, All Singing, All Dancing |
07x19 |
A Fish Called Selma |
Troy McClure proposes to Selma at a drive-in theater showing of his movie: The Muppets Go Medieval
(Yes, I know turtledoves aren't turtles.) |
08x09 |
El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Homer |
Homer goes on a vision quest after eating the Merciless Peppers of Quetzalsacatanango.
|
08x10 |
The Springfield Files |
Mulder and Scully, while investigating Homer's claim of an alien sighting, run across Abe who's lost his teeth to a turtle.
|
08x13 |
Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-D'OH!-cious |
Homer tells Marge she has his full attention as we cut to Homer's brain and see a turtle and some farmyard animals playing Turkey in the Straw. |
08x18 |
Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment |
After a prohibition law is rediscovered on the Springfield books (on St Patrick's Day), Rex Banner comes to town to clean up Eliot Ness style. Hunting for the Beer Baron, he raids Moe's Pet Shop (speakeasy):
|
09x12 |
Bart Carny |
One of the prizes in the ring toss booth is a turtle. (I knew there had to be one in this episode. There are just too many images in the carnival for there to not be one. It took me a while to find it though.) |
09x17 |
Lisa the Simpson |
Lisa, afraid she's going to succumb to the Simpsons Gene goes on TV to talk about some things that have meant a lot to her
Yertle the Turtle also shows up in 25x02 Treehouse of Horror XXIV |
10x0513x17 |
When You Dish Upon a Star
|
Snapping turtles chase after Homer. I wrote that down when the episode first aired, but I've had a hard time finding it whenever it aired in syndication. Now I know why. It was cut in the syndicated version[2].
They also edited out the same scene from the syndicated version of the clip show Gump Roast[3]. |
10x10 |
Viva Ned Flanders |
While paying for a carwash, Ned Flanders gets a senior discount
|
10x23 |
Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo |
Returning from a trip to Tokyo, the plane the Simpsons are on is shaken.
|
11x03 |
Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner |
Turtle decor from the Frying Dutchman
|
11x07 |
Eight Misbehavin' |
While trying to free Apu's octuplets from the zoo, they see a turtle swinging through the trees.
|
11x15 |
Missionary Impossible |
Homer wears a turtle-shell helmet in a nod to The Flintstones |
11x19 |
Kill the Alligator and Run |
After hitting an alligator, Homer dives in the swamp to flee the police and comes up with a few animals biting him, including a few little snapping turtles. |
12x09 |
HOMЯ |
Homer has a crayon removed from his brain, improving his intelligence. In a visit to the library we run across Cletus about to make some turtle soup.
|
14x01 |
Treehouse of Horror XIII (The Island of Dr. Hibbert) |
In this Island of Doctor Moreau parody, Moleman is a tortoise |
14x03 |
Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade |
Bart is demoted to the third grade and Lisa is promoted to the third grade. In the background we see that the third grade classroom has a pet turtle.
|
14x04 |
Large Marge |
While Lisa and Homer spend their father-daughter time building a house for Domiciles for the Destitute, Homer paints "El Homo" on the house trying to be cool like "El Barto". Then after realizing how it sounds he desperately paints over it.
Marge thinks she sees Homer flirting and goes to a plastic surgeon to get liposuction, but ends up getting breast implants. Hilarity ensues. |
14x06 |
The Great Louse Detective |
Marge goes to a spa and gets a Turtle Massage after which, the turtles are tossed into a bin marked "used turtles." |
14x07 |
Special Edna |
(OK, so this reference is cheating since it's referring to the band, not to turtles themselves, but I'm counting it :P) |
14x20 |
Brake My Wife, Please |
On a school field trip to the aquarium, a turtle punches Bart after he moons the crowd. |
14x21 |
The Bart of War |
While cleaning up litter, Kirk Van Houten (leading the Cavalry Kids) accidentally impales a tortoise. |
15x12 |
Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore |
Milhouse and his mother move to Capital City, leaving Bart to adopt Lisa as his new best friend.
|
15x16 |
The Wandering Juvie |
Bart gets sent to juvenile hall. Yard equipment includes a rocking turtle. |
15x18 |
Catch 'Em If You Can |
(I originally found this quote on the net. It took me two years to finally find what episode it came from. Let me tell you, noone on the 'net has the quote right. Most say he says "turtle". Some say "check the webpage for recipes". &etc.) |
15x20 |
The Way We Weren't |
During the flashback scenes Marge and |
16x14 |
The Seven-Beer Snitch |
In order to find out why Snowball likes another family better than the Simpsons, Bart comes up with an excuse to see in their house.
|
16x15 |
Future-Drama |
Bart and Lisa find themselves in Prof. Frink's basement and he uses the science of astrology on his new computer to show them their future, eight years from next Tuesday. At their graduation party, Nelson flees fatherhood on the back of a sea turtle. |
16x16 |
Don't Fear The Roofer |
Homer goes in for electroshock therapy because everyone believes he's crazy. Bart asks him to hold his dead turtle while he's getting shocked to try to revive it. |
17x08 |
The Italian Bob |
During the diversity film at the beginning a legend about a turtle is mentioned.
(Spelling of names approximate.) |
17x18 |
The Wettest Stories Ever Told |
In Mutiny on the Barty (a parody of Mutiny on the Bounty), Skinner gets marooned with Willy, who then maroons him on a turtle.
|
17x19 |
Girls Just Want to Have Sums |
At the beginning of the episode, the Simpsons are attending Stab-a-Lot: the Itchy and Scratchy Musical (a parody on The Lion King / Spamalot), and an actor in a turtle costume leads the animals down the aisle. |
18x04 |
Treehouse of Horror XVII |
In the You Gotta Know When To Golem segment, Homer mentions Bart's turtle.
|
18x10 |
The Wife Aquatic |
Marge goes back to a happy place from her childhood, only to find it's not what she remembered. A carousel she loved has a turtle on it. (It's interesting that when they "refurbished" the ride, the turtle had a different shell pattern on it.) |
18x12 |
Little Big Girl |
Lisa fakes her family heritage in the 'Hitachi' tribe for a school project.
|
18x15 |
Rome-old and Juli-eh |
(Loved the parody of the Battle of Helm's Deep in this episode.) |
18x20 |
Stop, Or My Dog Will Shoot! |
First we believed Cletus was bitten by a turtle, we now have proof that he was actually bitten by a wereturtle!
|
19x01 |
He Loves to Fly and He D'oh's |
Homer develops a taste for flying. After failing to get a job that would involve travel, Homer hides out at Krusty Burger when we see the school children arrive.
Of course, I loved the bits in Chicago in the beginning of this episode. |
19x02 |
The Homer of Seville |
In a parody of Entourage, Lenny dresses like Turtle. Turtle is also referenced in 21x01 Homer the Whopper (I have to admit I didn't catch this until I saw it on the Wikia page.) |
19x04 |
I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings |
A turtle shows up in the baseball game in the Itchy and Scratchy Show. |
19x06 |
Little Orphan Millie |
A sign at the Van Houten wedding reads "PLEASE DO NOT KICK SEA TURTLES". |
19x07 |
Husbands and Knives |
A new comic store opens across the street from Android's Dungeon. The new Comic guy has a Girlfriend!! (Who wears a turtle t-shirt.) (There are probably other turtles in this episode, as there are a ton of images flashing by in the comic stores and I know there were other kaiju around, so there's probably a Gamera I have not yet been able to spot somewhere.) (I loved Comic Book Guy's parody of the iconic Spider-Man No More cover when he goes out of business.) |
19x15 |
Smoke on the Daughter |
Lisa, as Angelica Button (a parody of Harry Potter), wears a tortoise-shell barrette. (There's also a kid with a Harry Potter scar in the crowd.)
|
19x18 |
Any Given Sundance |
While filming a video project for school, Lisa films a turtle and then Barney 'turning turtle'. |
20x20 |
Four Great Women and a Manicure |
After a season that's been a bit dry on turtle references, some catch up is necessary. This episode actually has THREE turtles in it! The first shows up during the Snow White segment. Lisa uses her animal wiles to convince a turtle to climb into the soup pot. During Maggie's story, there are two drawings of turtles on the nursery wall. (I love this segment. I'm not necessarily a big Ayn Rand fan, but I do like The Fountainhead -- I like architecture and self-reliance.)
|
21x01 |
Homer the Whopper |
Homer gets a part in a movie and gets a personal trainer. Partway through the film the trainer leaves and Homer returns to his normal self.
Turtle is also referenced in The Homer of Seville |
22x06 |
The Fool Monty |
Mr Burns gets some bad news that he will die soon. Smithers finds him at the top of a cliff.
|
22x11 |
Flaming Moe |
Mr. Burns writes a will naming his pet tortoise, Sheldon, as a beneficiary.
|
23x17 |
Them, Robot |
Mr Burns replaces the nuclear plant's workers with robots. When things go awry, Bart uses the head of one for a turtle tank. |
24x06 |
A Tree Grows in Springfield |
Homer dreams about playing baseball and accidentally breaks the sky, letting in the sea, including one turtle swimming over the field. |
24x12 |
Love is a Many-Splintered Thing |
One of the performers uses a turtle shell as an instrument |
24x17 |
What Animated Women Want |
|
25x02 |
Treehouse of Horror XXIV (Oh, the Places You'll D'Oh) |
The Fat in the Hat knocks over a Yertle the Turtle-esque turtle tower. Yertle the Turtle also shows up in 09x17 Lisa the Simpson |
25x08 |
White Christmas Blues (Itchy & Scratchy: It's a Wonderful Knife) |
A turtle walks by in the background in the beginning of the Itchy & Scratchy episode during the It's a Wonderful Life parody |
25x12 |
Diggs |
|
26x20 |
Let's Go Fly a Coot |
I've probably missed a couple this season, but this episode has lots of turtles.
|
27x05 |
Treehouse of Horror XXVI |
Homerzilla battles Gamera
|
27x06 |
Friend with Benefit |
|
27x11 |
Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles |
|
27x15 |
Lisa the Veterinarian |
|
???? |
???? |
Yeah, I missed a few seasons. About this time I lost access to broadcast TV and the wiki software was broken for a while. Now I'm finally able to catch up. |
28x04 |
Treehouse of Horror XXVII |
In the segment called "Dry Hard", Springfield suffers from a drought and Apu resorts to squeezing tortoises and selling "Tortoise Water". |
28x15 |
The Cad and the Hat |
Turtle t-shirts are seen for sale in Sunblock Sam's, a shop on the Springfield boardwalk. |
29x02 |
Springfield Splendor |
|
29x07 |
Singin' in the Lane |
The opening sequence is replaced with an underwater theme in which Marge's car is a sea turtle. |
29x14 |
Fears of a Clown |
Bart pulls off another prank and is brought before another judge. The judge enters with his son.
|
29x15 |
No Good Read Goes Unpunished |
Bart and Homer go to war, reading The Art of War. After Homer reads that all war is deception, he pretends to be friends with Flanders, disturbing Bart.
|
29x19 |
Left Behind |
Flanders comes to the nuclear plant to look for a job. As he waits, the head of human resources quits.
|
30x01 |
Bart's Not Dead |
[Homer is bored with Christian heaven and runs over to Hindu Heaven]
|
30x13 |
I'm Dancing as Fat as I Can |
Bart stays with Milhouse, who makes him read Yertle the Turtle for a bedtime story.
|
31x22 |
The Way of the Dog |
Episode opening titles shows pictures of departed pets, including a tortoise. |
32x01 |
Undercover Burns |
Burns destroys a pile of balloon animals, in which can be seen a few turtles |
32x03 |
Now Museum, Now You Don't |
In the segment "Lisanardo da Vinci", Lisa thumbs through an art book that shows a picture of Leonardo da Ninji (clearly a TMNT reference) |
32x04 |
Treehouse of Horror XXXI |
During the fight between the Spiderver-- I mean, Homerverse and the Burnsiverse characters, one of the characters is a Bowser-esque version of Burns.
|
Current count: 85 known episodes
Other Stuff
|
Misc |
|
The Simpsons Game |
In The Simpsons Game, Professor Frink stays behind to marry a Koopa Troopa. Also, level 4 has a Frogger parody with giant turtles. | |
The Simpsons Movie | The Turtles are played in the movie. (Happy Together) | |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, |
The references go both ways. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, the Turtles have a Bart Simpson glass in the Lair, which Professor Perry uses to mix the mutagen antidote. Also, in the Coming Out of Their Shells tour, at one point Michelangelo does an impersonation of Bart saying "Don't have a cow man". | |
16x17 |
The Heartbroke Kid | NOT a reference
Bart was watching itchy and scratchy. and there was an explosion in itchy and scratchy. for a brief second you could see something that looks like a DEAD TURTLE hurled across the screen. It's just a hat from one of the bystanders. |
18x0525x2229x14 |
G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)
|
The Simpsons appear to have a turtle bath toy. EDIT: In Yellow Badge of Courage it appeared to be a turtle with a pull-string in its mouth. After redrawing and reshading in Fears of a Clown, it appears in high definition to be a strange green octopus with holes in one of its tentacles. |
This article contains material from a copyrighted television program, movie, or station ID. As such, the copyright for it is most likely owned by the company or corporation that produced it. It is believed that the use of a limited number of web-resolution captures (screencaps, short audio clips, short transcriptions),
- for identification and critical commentary on the station ID or program and its contents
- non-commercially on Wikitheus, hosted on servers in the United States,
qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. Any other uses of this material, might be copyright infringement.
NOTE: Wikitheus is not an image / audio archive. Only a limited number of captures related to the commentary should be posted.