A novel virus causes panic, stinging insects swarm America, and riots in the streets pit
the people vs. police — it happened in 2020, and "The Simpsons" knew about it all in 1993.
"Yoo-hoo!"
Cartoon Network's "Johnny Bravo" followed the buff blond womanizer through various exploits,
adventures and mishaps in one of the best kids' shows of the 1990s.
"If Santa doesn't get these letters by tonight,
I might not get all those free presents I asked for!"
In the episode "Chain Gang Johnny," which aired on April 27, 2001,
Johnny goes to the movies with his acquaintance Carl. The two get into an argument over the film,
and if you look to Carl's side, you'll notice an image of a building on fire.
As the scene pans over, we see the words "Coming Soon" plastered on the poster.
"Oh, you will pay for this."
Seeing how the episode aired less than five months before September 11, 2001, some have
come to see the cartoon as an eerie vision of the future. The actual answer is likely a bit
anticlimactic. Buildings on fire are nothing new to the world of action movies, and it's likely the
image merely functioned as an homage to something like "The Towering Inferno." It's also worth
pointing out there's only one building depicted in the advertisement instead of the two buildings
that would make for the Twin Towers. So if you were thinking this was a real prediction, well…
"Close." "Nice try, though."
In addition to "Johnny Bravo," "The Simpsons" has also found itself at
the center of "9/11 prediction" theories thanks to one scene from a classic episode.
"Stupid city. What the hell is this thing?"
In Season 9's "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson," the family decides to travel to the Big
Apple to retrieve Homer's car. When discussing how they could possibly afford such a trip,
Lisa holds up a magazine promotion, saying how there are rides to New York for just $9.
Right next to the price is the silhouette of the Twin Towers.
It almost looks as though the cover reads "9 11." It's enough to make
you want to get a hold of the Simpsons writers, and ask them how they knew.
"Here's a better idea: You give me your address,
and I'll write to you." "Okay, just send it to Jesus, care of the Pentagon."
It seems like all it takes to make a "9/11 prediction" is two towers that look similar and
an airplane. That's precisely what you have with the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Falling Hare."
In it, Bugs goes toe-to-toe with a Gremlin on the side of his plane. It's up to Bugs to navigate the
vessel to a safe landing, which becomes all the more difficult when he finds himself in
the midst of a massive city. At one point, the rascally rabbit approaches two tall buildings
extremely close to one another. At the last second, before Bugs would make impact,
he turns the plane on its side so that he safely flies between the two structures.
Considering this cartoon came out decades before the World Trade Center was built,
we're thinking this is less of a "prediction,"
and more of a weird thing to notice while you're watching old cartoons.
"The Simpsons" has seemingly predicted everything
from Donald Trump's presidency to Richard Branson going to space.
But one of the show's most spot-on predictions came in the form of the Season 5 episode
"$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)."
"Legalized gambling is a bad idea. You can build a casino over my dead body."
In the episode, Springfield becomes its very own Atlantic City,
complete with a towering casino with live entertainment. One of these shows is "The
Flamboyant Magic of Gunter and Ernst," in what is a clear parody of performers Siegfried and Roy,
who had a long-running show in Las Vegas for many years with their signature white tigers.
Gunter and Ernst also have a tiger by the name of Anastasia, and after a moment,
when the tiger remembers what it was like to live in the tranquility of the jungle,
it attacks the two performers. The scene took on new life when in 2003,
Roy suffered severe injuries from a tiger attack in real life. Fortunately,
he managed to pull through from the incident, and the duo would go on to perform again.
"You know, we are having a party tonight."
Some cartoon predictions aren't super on the nose,
but they can still have a chilling detail that makes you stop and say...
"Oh… my… god."
That's the case with a Season 8 episode of "American Dad!" where
Steve and his friends stumble upon a downed plane. Once venturing inside,
they find a corpse clutching a script, which just so happens to be for "Fast & Furious 7."
"Look, it's signed by Randy Scott Knobson, the guy who wrote all the 'Fast and the Furious' movies!"
The guys are stoked to get a glimpse into the future of the high-octane franchise,
but when viewing the episode today, it's hard not to be reminded of Paul Walker's death,
whose final, posthumous film role was in "Furious 7."
Walker died tragically in a car crash, eerily reminiscent of the plane crash depicted in the
episode. As it just so happens, the scene the friends read from the script heavily involves
Walker's character Brian O'Conner to make the connection all the more heartbreaking.
It's pretty impressive when a cartoon predicts a single aspect of the future.
It becomes downright bizarre when a single episode contains multiple references to an entire year.
Season 4's "Marge in Chains" starts off with virtually everyone in Springfield
coming down with a case of a mysterious new disease known as the Osaka Flu.
"The dreaded Osaka Flu has hit Springfield with over 300 cases now reported."
The novel disease spread from Japan after some factory workers coughed
into a box on its way to Springfield. Despite the fact this virus came from
Japan and coronavirus initially hailed from China, many couldn't help but see
some parallels -- especially considering how the rest of the episode plays out.
Later in the episode, the citizens of the small town become panicked and turn toward Dr. Hibbert
for guidance. He tells them that he doesn't have anything that can cure the outbreak,
and in an ensuing clash, people knock over a box of killer bees. Bees aren't hornets,
but it still reminded people of the murder hornets that briefly overtook headlines in 2020.
Eventually, the episode culminates in mass social unrest, with protesters knocking down statues,
and facing off with police in the streets. Gee, that feels familiar.
"This never would've happened if Marge Simpson was here."
Kevin Spacey's fall from grace may have been a little more predictable to people in Hollywood
than it was to the rest of the world. After decades of critically-acclaimed performances,
the actor was accused by several men of sexual harassment and assault,
sending his career into a nosedive. But the news may not have been too surprising
for anyone who enjoyed watching early episodes of "Family Guy."
In the season four episode "Don't Make Me Over," Brian and Stewie make a wager, ultimately
resulting in Stewie running naked through a mall shouting something weirdly specific.
"Help! I've escaped from Kevin Spacey's basement. Help me!"
Apparently, "Family Guy" creator Seth Macfarlane has a knack for identifying
sexual predators. Before Harvey Weinstein was outed as a criminal sexual predator,
Macfarlane made a joke at the producer's expense during an Oscar-related telecast.
After announcing the nominees for Best Supporting Actress, he joked:
"Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein."
With that kind of batting average,
maybe Macfarlane should work less with cartoons and lean into detective work.
"What have we got today, boys?" "Well, it seems we've got a bit of a crime spree."
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