"Lisa the Skeptic" is the eighth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 23, 1997. On an archaeological dig with her class, Lisa discovers a skeleton that resembles an angel. All of the townspeople believe that the skeleton actually came from an angel, but skeptical Lisa attempts to persuade them that there must be a rational scientific explanation. The episode's writer, David X. Cohen, developed the idea after visiting the American Museum of Natural History, and decided to loosely parallel themes from the Scopes Monkey Trial. The episode also makes allusions to actual hoaxes, such as the Cardiff Giant.
It has been discussed in the context of ontology, existentialism, and skepticism; it has also been used in Christian religious education classes to initiate discussion about angels, science, and faith.
Plot
Homer Simpson attempts to claim a motorboat from a "police raffle" that turns out to be a sting operation. While returning home, the family passes a new mall being built on an area where a number of fossils were found. Lisa Simpson protests and the management allows Springfield Elementary to conduct an archaeological survey. During the excavations, Lisa finds a human skeleton with wings. Springfield's residents are convinced it is the remains of an angel, and Homer cashes in by moving the skeleton into the family's garage, charging visitors to see it.
Lisa remains skeptical and asks scientist Dr. Stephen Jay Gould to test a sample of the skeleton. When Dr. Gould appears at the Simpson house the next day to tell Lisa that the tests were inconclusive, Lisa goes on television to compare the belief in angels to the belief in fictional things, such as leprechauns. In response, Springfield's religious zealots go on a rampage to destroy all scientific institutions. Appalled with the violence, Lisa goes into the garage to destroy the skeleton, but finds that it has disappeared. The mob soon converges on the Simpson household, and Lisa is arrested and put on trial for destroying the skeleton.
Before the trial even begins, the skeleton is seen outside the courtroom. Everyone rushes to it to see a foreboding message added to the skeleton, warning that "The End" will come at sundown. Sunset approaches and the citizens gather around the skeleton, but nothing happens. As Lisa reprimands them, a booming voice from the skeleton silences her and announces, "The End... of high prices!" The skeleton is then hoisted over to the entrance of the new Heavenly Hills Mall. Lisa realizes the whole event was a publicity stunt for the mall, and criticizes management for taking advantage of peoples' beliefs. She attempts to boycott them, but the bargain-loving public shrugs off the exploitation and goes shopping, while Dr. Gould confesses that he never actually tested the sample. Marge observes that while it was talking, Lisa believed the angel was real. She denies this, but admits she was frightened, and thanks her mother for her support.
Production
"Lisa the Skeptic" was written by David X. Cohen, and directed by Neil Affleck. Cohen was inspired to write the episode after a trip to Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History, where he decided to turn the visit into a "business trip", and think of a possible episode connection to the museum. He initially wanted Lisa to find a "missing link" skeleton, and do an episode reminiscent of the Scopes Monkey Trial. Writer George Meyer convinced him instead to have the focus be on an angel skeleton, while keeping an emphasis on the conflict between religion and science. Both Cohen and Meyer acknowledged how silly the "angel skeleton" idea was owing to simple questions raised such as why an angel died and why bones were left behind, but they went forward with the idea anyway.
In an early draft of the script, the skeleton was made of pastry dough baked by the mall's window dresser. Cohen had initially written the Stephen Jay Gould role as a generic scientist or paleontologist, not knowing that they would eventually get Gould. He had taken Gould's Introduction to Paleontology class at Harvard University. The only phrase Gould had objected to in the script was a line that introduced him as the "world's most brilliant paleontologist". His original final line was "I didn't do the test. I had more important work to do", but it was cut because the writers felt it would be funnier to give him a short final line. In an earlier version of the episode, Marge would have ended up apologizing to Lisa for not supporting her, letting the ending be more of a nod to Lisa's correct assumptions all along.