Lisa Simpson

Lisa is the brains of the Simpsons, having inherited them from her mother and Homer's mother. Her Grandma`s intelligence simply skipped a generation with Homer. She is an overachiever to colossal extents, an enviromentalist, a poet, a vegetarian, a football oracle, Springfields most trusted babysitter, a talented saxaphone player, a moralist, an ice hockey goalie, she's designed her own range of fashon dolls, uncovered the truth behind the real Jebidiah Springfield and even created a microscopic form of life in a glass of Cola, though i'm not sure if treehouse of horror episodes count. And unlike the rest of her family, her achivements are rarely by accident.

And what credit does she get for all her achivements and abilities? Very little from her family, as with Bart and Maggie needing so much attention she tends to be the 'forgotten middle child'. On occasion the Simpsons have even discouraged her trademark moral crusades...

"Lisa, ordinarily I'd say you should stand up for what you believe in. But you've been doing that an awful lot lately!" Marge in "Lisa VS Malibu Stacy"

These "Moral crusades" are Lisa's problem sometimes - all too often she takes on a "holier-than-thou" attitude that just makes her incredibly self-righteous, bossy and obnoxious. See how she behaves in "Lisa the Vegetarian" - she's horrible! But she's a far more aggreeable character when she doesn't go OTT.

Lisa's problem would appear to be that she's far too young to be as smart as she is, and therefore she is not taken seriously. But in many ways that doesn't matter. She's doing fine at the moment. Her University level intelligence doesn't prevent her from enjoying Itchy and Scratchy, she's not the most popular girl at school but she has some good friends, and she does know that, despite their faults, she couldn't ask for a more loving family. She's just biding her time until she can really show everyone her true ability.

Future Echoes

There's a lot in store for Lisa. One possibility is her curing all disease, ending war, and reuniting the entire cast of TV's "Facts of Life", including long time holdout, Tootie; getting shelfloads of prizes in the process. Another vision sees her as a compulsive gambler, betting with her pearl necklace in a casino. More likely is her potential to be the first female president. The most complete vision of the future sees her getting ready to marry an Englishman named Hugh fifteen years in the future only to ditch him on their wedding day when he tells her she will never see her family again. "Lisa's Wedding" also mentions about a relationship she has with Milhouse at sixteen(I think), during which she apparantly loses her virginity. This looks like being a sure thing - other episodes set in current continuity like "Lisa's date with Density" have made it clear that Milhouse kinda fancies her. But remember-all future echoes must be taken with a pinch of salt, especially when they are pronounced by rather dodgy Fortune Tellers. Oh, and Homer thinks she could win the Nobel prize for Kickboxing someday.