Maude Flanders - The Simpsons

Character Information

Gender/Sex Female ♀ Other statuses Alive Status Deceased AKA Mommy (by Todd Flanders) Hair Color Auburn (as a human) Occupation Housewife (former) The Leftorium (former) Creator of Praiseland (closed)

Relations

Mother: Unidentified Brother or Brother-in-Law: Kevin Husband: Ned Flanders Sons: Rod Flanders and Todd Flanders Grandmother: Unnamed (Deceased) Other Relatives: Flanders family

Behind the Scenes

First episode appearance "Dead Putting Society" Portrayed by Maggie Roswell (1990-1999, 2002–present) Marcia Mitzman Gaven (1999–2000, 2022) Pamela Hayden (2001)

About Her

Maude Flanders was a major character of The Simpsons in the first 11 seasons, was the first wife of Ned Flanders, and the late mother of Todd and Rod Flanders. Maude was a devout Christian who once attended a Bible camp to learn how to be more judgmental, although she isn’t as preachy as her husband. She campaigned strongly against Itchy and Scratchy with Marge and often partnered with Helen Lovejoy as they protest against the "evils" in Springfield. She died after being struck by a barrage of shirts fired from T-shirt cannons at the Springfield Speedway in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily".

Biography

Although she spent much of her free time in prayer and reading the Bible, Maude was known to let her hair (and her neckline) down for the occasional dinner party at the home of the Simpsons (Maude's neighbors). Homer Simpson and Moe Szyslak both find her attractive Unlike Titus Simpson he didn't find her attractive and he didn't mind her that much, he and her didn't interact that much as shown when Moe made unnamed phone calls to her and Homer once ogled Maude's low-cut dress at a dinner party, which resulted in him and Marge going to marriage camp.[1] Maude liked ficus plants, unflavored nonfat ice milk, and Newsweek Magazine. In one episode, when Marge was arrested for accidental shoplifting, Maude was one of the people who missed Marge’s treats during a bake sale. After her so called death, Marge was mildly surprised and concerned to discover Maude's three pairs of shoes as she believes this to have been a fetish.[2]

Death

In the episode from 2000, Maude died after being knocked off a grandstand by several t-shirt cannons at the Springfield Speedway. The shirts had been meant to hit Homer, who wanted one of them. However, before the shirts could hit him, Homer And Titus Simpson both noticed a bobby pin on the ground and one of them which was Homer who was the one to bent over to pick it up. This caused Maude, who was returning to her seat behind Homer, to be struck instead, and fall off the grandstand to her death, at least a 20-foot drop. According to Homer's statement later in the episode, he had parked in the ambulance zone, which prevented any quick resuscitation.[3] Her death crushed Ned and their sons, Todd and Rod, who, although used to some measure of hardship (their house getting destroyed[4]) assumed they would always be together (the actual reason her character was killed off was due to a pay dispute between the actress who voiced her character and the show's producers) and they are still together since Maude can be seen next to Flanders in Take My Life, Please.

Praiseland

After her death, the grieving Ned Flanders and the Simpsons saw in her sketchbook a series of drawings that outlined a plan for a Christian-themed amusement park named "Praiseland." Realizing this park to be her so thought final dream, Ned acquired the defunct amusement park "Storytime Village" from Colonel Antoine "Tex" O'Hara ("The Rich Texan") and, with the assistance of Homer and other townspeople, built and opened Praiseland. He memorialized Maude there with a statue of her and placed on its base a plaque bearing the phrase: "She taught us the joy of shame and the shame of joy." Praiseland sold Maude memorial items such as masks. Praiseland gained popularity among the residents of Springfield when they erroneously attributed to the statue of Maude the performance of miracles providing religious experiences. The religious experiences were actually hallucinations, caused by gas that was leaking from a gas line near the base of the statue (it was revealed that Springfield natural gas was actually deadlier and more poisonous in area with good ventilation). Feeling that profiting off the memory of his thought to be dead wife was wrong, and even more so after the candles near the gas leak nearly caused an explosion, Ned closed down Praiseland.[7]

Post Death Appearances in the Simpsons

Despite her death, she and Bleeding Gums Murphy continued to be in the seasons 2-20 intro until the show introduced the 720p high-definition opening sequence as well as the new 16:9 high-definition format in the episode "Take My Life, Please". At the start of "Treehouse of Horror XIII" originally broadcast in the U.S. on November 3, 2002, the Simpsons and Ned Flanders hold a séance and summon Maude's ghost, who proceeds to tell them three horror stories. In the regular episode "Bart Has Two Mommies", which aired March 19, 2006, Maude was shown looking down on her sons from Heaven and said: "My little boy's growing up." Maggie Roswell voiced her, and she was credited in the premiere airing. Maude was also shown to be alive in Season 6 in the episode "Lisa's Wedding" which was set in the future after the Simpson children had grown up but written before Season 11 when Maude was killed. However, it should be noted that this was a vision by a possibly illegitimate psychic and may not have been considered canonical. Maude appeared in flashbacks in the Season 20 episode "Dangerous Curves" and the Season 21 episode "Postcards From the Wedge", as well as other episodes such as "Take My Life, Please", "The Kids Are All Fight", and "Fland Canyon". There is a house in the final level of The Simpsons Game with a huge sign with Maude's name on it, which may have implied that she's literally "living with God." Comically, she was seen with Ned, Rod, and Todd when an overview of the crowd was seen in "Take My Life, Please", even though she was supposed to be dead. She was mentioned in "Kill the Alligator and Run", "A Star is Torn" and "The Ned-liest Catch". Ned mentions in "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes" that he forgave Homer for accidentally killing her. There are still pictures of Maude in the Flanders home.

Post Death Appearances in the Simpsons

In The Simpsons Road Rage game, if you play as Ned and go airborne, he'll eventually yell out: "AAGH, I'm coming to join ya, Maude!" In "Treehouse of Horror XXII", Maude appears as a devil who is sleeping with Satan. God kills Homer in an act of revenge and anger, but God refuses to resurrect him because Satan wouldn’t like it. Ned is happy to have Maude back. In "How I Wet Your Mother", Maude appears in Homer's dream as a member of a crowd of women who support drunk driving, ironically enough. In The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Maude's ghost could be unlocked in the "Treehouse of Horror XXIV" Event in 2013. In the crossover episode "The Simpsons Guy", while threatening to hit Peter Griffin with a large rock, Homer says "Say hi to Maude Flanders!" (who Peter naturally did not know). Peter seeing Kang and Kodos's flying saucer about to crash onto Homer And Titus Simpson, replies "No, you say hi to Muriel Goldman" (a deceased Family Guy character who Homer And Titus Simpson didn't know). In "Holidays of Future Passed", Maude appears as a bride ghost and remarries Ned, interestingly claiming that Heaven doesn’t exist, where Ned revealed that Homer had killed Edna Krabappel. In "Waiting for Duffman", when Bart and Lisa are playing with the t-shirt cannons, Homer says that no one had ever been killed by a t-shirt cannon. One of the t-shirts hit a picture of Maude in Ned's house and Ned looks at the audience, referencing Maude's death. In "Fland Canyon", Maude features heavily, appearing in flashbacks in which she and Ned, amongst others, clean up Springfield's Skid Row, and on the Flanders' and Simpson's family vacation to the Grand Canyon and she judges Marge's parenting towards Bart during the vacation. Maude's most recent appearance is in "Flanders' Ladder", where she meets Bart in ghost form to resolve unfinished business. She seems to be jealous of Ned marrying Edna.

Post Death Appearances in the Simpsons

In the episode "Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus", the deceased Maude and Edna Krabappel sit beside Ned Flanders. In "My Way or the Highway to Heaven", she is in heaven alongside Edna Krabappel. In "Todd, Todd, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?", she appears to Ned in his dreams. In "Manger Things", she appears in a never-before seen story where she falls pregnant and gives birth to Todd.

Friends

Helen Lovejoy Timothy Lovejoy Luann Van Houten Marge Simpson Julius Hibbert Bernice Hibbert Edna Krabappel Agnes Skinner She was often seen with Helen Lovejoy, with whom she would protest against the evils of Springfield. After her death in Season 11, Helen is often seen with Luann Van Houten and Bernice Hibbert.

Appearances

Simp Episode – "Dead Putting Society" Simp Episode – "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" Simp Episode – "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" (picture) Simp Episode – "Old Money" Simp Episode – "The War of the Simpsons" Simp Episode – "Blood Feud" Simp Episode – "When Flanders Failed" Simp Episode – "Lisa's Pony" Simp Episode – "Flaming Moe's" Simp Episode – "Radio Bart" (Mentioned) Simp Episode – "Bart the Lover" Simp Episode – "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" Simp Episode – "Homer the Heretic" Simp Episode – "Lisa the Beauty Queen" Simp Episode – "Marge vs. the Monorail" Simp Episode – "I Love Lisa" Simp Episode – "Duffless" (Ned's flashback) Simp Episode – "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" (pagan daydream) Simp Episode – "Marge in Chains" Simp Episode – "Cape Feare" Simp Episode – "Bart's Inner Child" Simp Episode – "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)" Simp Episode – "Homer Loves Flanders" Simp Episode – "Bart Gets an Elephant" Simp Episode – "Burns' Heir" Simp Episode – "Lady Bouvier's Lover" Simp Episode – "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" Simp Episode – "Bart of Darkness" Simp Episode – "Another Simpsons Clip Show" Simp Episode – "And Maggie Makes Three" Simp Episode – "Bart's Comet" Simp Episode – "Lisa's Wedding" Simp Episode – "The Springfield Connection" Simp Episode – "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)" Simp Episode – "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily" Simp Episode – "Bart Sells His Soul" Simp Episode – "Mother Simpson" Simp Episode – "Team Homer" Simp Episode – "Two Bad Neighbors" Simp Episode – "Much Apu About Nothing" Simp Episode – "Bart After Dark" Simp Episode – "A Milhouse Divided" Simp Episode – "Lisa's Date with Density" Simp Episode – "Hurricane Neddy" Simp Episode – "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" Simp Episode – "My Sister, My Sitter" Simp Episode – "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" Simp Episode – "Grade School Confidential"

Appearances

Simp Episode – "In Marge We Trust" The Simpsons Halloween Special - Title Card THOH – "Treehouse of Horror VIII" Simp Episode – "Bart Star" Simp Episode – "Realty Bites" Simp Episode – "The Trouble with Trillions" Simp Episode – "Natural Born Kissers" Simp Episode – "D'oh-in' in the Wind" Simp Episode – "Viva Ned Flanders" Simp Episode – "I'm with Cupid" Simp Episode – "Make Room for Lisa" Simp Episode – "Mom and Pop Art" Simp Episode – "Brother's Little Helper" The Simpsons Halloween Special - Title Card THOH – "Treehouse of Horror X" Simp Episode – "Little Big Mom" Simp Episode – "Saddlesore Galactica" Simp Episode – "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" (Death) Simp Episode – "Kill the Alligator and Run" (Mentioned and pictured) Simp Episode – "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" (Seen in pictures and as a statue)' The Simpsons Halloween Special - Title Card THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XIII" (As a ghost) Simp Episode – "Bart Has Two Mommies" (heaven) Simp Episode – "Kill Gil: Vols. 1 & 2" Simp Episode – "Dangerous Curves" (Flashback) (returned) Simp Episode – "Take My Life, Please" (In crowd with Ned, Rod and Todd due to an error) Simp Episode – "Postcards From the Wedge" (Flashback) (returned) Simp Episode – "The Ned-liest Catch" (Mentioned and pictured) The Simpsons Halloween Special - Title Card THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XXII" (returned) Simp Episode – "Holidays of Future Passed" (As a ghost) Simp Episode – "How I Wet Your Mother" (Seen in Homer's dream) (returned) Simp Episode – "Them, Robot" (Seen in couch gag as a ghost) (returned) Simp Episode – "The Man Who Grew Too Much" (Appeared in a picture) Simp Episode – "Days of Future Future" (As a ghost) (returned) Simp Episode – "The Simpsons Guy" (Mentioned and pictured) Simp Episode – "My Fare Lady" (Seen in pixel couch gag as an angel) Simp Episode – "Waiting for Duffman" (Picture and indirectly mentioned by Homer) Simp Episode – "The Kids Are All Fight" (Flashback) (returned) Simp Episode – "Barthood" (Tombstone)

Appearances

Simp Episode – "Fland Canyon" (Flashback) (returned) Simp Episode – "Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus" (ghost) Simp Episode – "Moho House" (ghost) Simp Episode – "Dogtown" (grave) Simp Episode – "The Serfsons" (severed head) Simp Episode – "Haw-Haw Land" Simp Episode – "Flanders' Ladder" (ghost) Simp Episode – "My Way or the Highway to Heaven" Simp Episode – "Thanksgiving of Horror" (in turkey form) Simp Episode – "Todd, Todd, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?" (seen in Ned's dream and in Todd's dream) Simp Episode – "Diary Queen" Simp Episode – "Manger Things" Simp Episode – "Mother and Child Reunion" (picture seen) The Simpsons Halloween Special - Title Card THOH – "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" Simp Episode – "Pin Gal" (flashback) (returned) Simp Episode – "Homer and Her Sisters" (flashback) Simp Episode – "O C'mon All Ye Faithful" (mentioned, picture seen) Template:Comic Book Simpsons Couch Couch gag – "Citizens of Springfield couch gag"[src] Do the Bartman Promo Image Music video – "Do the Bartman" The simpsons tv Commercials – "Crime of the Century" Joystick Video game – The Simpsons: Tapped Out (As a ghost) Joystick Video game – The Simpsons: Hit and Run (pictured)

Citations

The War of the Simpsons I'm Goin' to Praiseland "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily Hurricane Neddy Kill the Alligator and Run Alone Again, Natura-Diddily I'm Goin' to Praiseland