{{For|the titular character|Lisa Simpson}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox Simpsons episode | season = 12 | episode = 4 | director = [[Steven Dean Moore]] | writer = [[Matt Selman]] | production = CABF01 | airdate = {{Start date|2000|11|19}} | guests = * [[Joshua Jackson]] as Jesse Grass | blackboard = "I am not the acting President" | couch_gag = [[Maggie Simpson|Maggie]] is on the couch. The rest of the Simpsons waddle in dressed as [[Teletubbies]] and Maggie applauds with delight. | commentary = [[Mike Scully]]<br>[[Ian Maxtone-Graham]]<br>[[Matt Selman]]<br>[[Tom Gammill]]<br>[[Tim Long]]<br>[[Don Payne (writer)|Don Payne]]<br>[[Yeardley Smith]]<br>[[Steven Dean Moore]] | prev = [[Insane Clown Poppy]] | next = [[Homer vs. Dignity]] }} "'''Lisa the Tree Hugger'''" is the fourth episode of the [[The Simpsons season 12|twelfth season]] of the American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It originally aired on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]] in the United States on November 19, 2000. In the episode, [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] falls in love with the leader of a radical environmentalist group and tries to impress him by living in [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]]'s oldest tree in order to keep it from being cut down. The episode is based on the story of the American [[tree sitter]] [[Julia Butterfly Hill]]. Actor [[Joshua Jackson]] guest starred in the episode as Jesse.
==Plot== [[Bart Simpson|Bart]], needing money for the new video game console Gamestation 256, takes a job hanging menus on doors for a [[Thai cuisine|Thai]] restaurant. [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] is concerned that the menus are wasting paper and hurting the environment, but the family ignores her worries. On a trip to Krusty Burger to celebrate Bart's new job, they see a group of protesters in cow costumes standing on the roof of the restaurant, accusing the company of illegal deforestation. The police arrive and shoot the protesters with [[bean bag round]]s. As the protesters are being arrested, Lisa meets their leader—[[radical environmentalism|radical environmentalist]] Jesse Grass—and is instantly smitten with him.
Lisa visits Jesse in jail, but feels intimidated when she sees that he is more dedicated to [[environmentalism]] than she is. She attends a meeting of Jesse's activist group and learns that one of [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]]'s oldest trees has been secretly auctioned off to the [[Rich Texan]]. Jesse asks if anyone in the group would be willing to live in the tree to prevent its destruction, and Lisa volunteers, hoping to impress him. She climbs the tree and sets up camp for a few days, after which she begins to miss her family. She eventually sneaks away from the tree at night and goes home to see them, but finds them asleep, so she lies down with them and accidentally falls asleep herself.
The next day, the local news reveals that the tree was felled by lightning overnight, Lisa is presumed dead, and the Texan will dedicate the surrounding forest as a nature preserve in her honor. Lisa hears this and, despite [[Marge Simpson|Marge]]'s objections, chooses not to reveal that she is alive, while [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] and Bart readily exploit the sympathy of the townspeople. However, when the Texan changes his mind and begins turning the forest into an amusement park called "Lisa Land", Lisa angrily reveals herself in an attempt to stop him. Jesse also protests by taking out the supports for the destroyed tree, which has been logged and turned into a "Lisa Land" sign; the log slides down the hill and into downtown Springfield where it devastates multiple buildings, for which Jesse is jailed once again.
The epilogue, set to a parody of "[[This Land is Your Land]]" called "This Log is Your Log", shows the log continuing to slide across the country, passing [[Mount Rushmore]] and ultimately reaching the coast of [[San Francisco]] where it then heads out to the [[Pacific Ocean]].
==Production and analysis== [[File:Julia Butterfly Hill, 2006.png|thumb|[[Julia Butterfly Hill]], an environmentalist who lived in a tree for more than two years to prevent it from being cut down, was the inspiration for the episode.]] "Lisa the Tree Hugger" was written by [[Matt Selman]] and directed by [[Steven Dean Moore]] as part of the twelfth season of ''The Simpsons'' (2000–2001).<ref name="Selman"/> It is based on a story Selman heard on the radio about [[Julia Butterfly Hill]], an American activist and environmentalist who lived in a millennium-old [[California Redwood]] tree known as [[Luna (tree)|Luna]] for more than two years between 1997 and 1999 to prevent loggers from cutting it down.<ref name="Selman">{{cite video | people=Selman, Matt|date=2009|title=The Simpsons The Complete Twelfth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Tree Hugger"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Environmentalist to speak at Manchester College|newspaper=[[List of newspapers in Indiana|Wabash Plain Dealer]]|date=March 29, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Martin|first=Glen|title=Tree-Sitter Recounts Life In the Clouds: Julia Butterfly Hill is tearful and triumphant|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tree-Sitter-Recounts-Life-In-the-Clouds-Julia-2889260.php|access-date=January 24, 2022|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=December 20, 1999}}</ref> The character Jesse Grass was named after Selman's brother Jesse Selman, who according to Matt acts a lot like Jesse Grass. The last name came from Jesse Selman's [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]] band named Grass.<ref name="Selman"/> Canadian American actor [[Joshua Jackson]] guest starred in the episode as Jesse Grass. Although guest stars most often record their lines with the cast members of the show, Jackson did not.<ref name="Smith">{{cite video | people=Smith, Yeardley|date=2009|title=The Simpsons The Complete Twelfth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Tree Hugger"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> "Lisa the Tree Hugger" originally had a different, more complicated ending compared to what is seen in the episode.<ref name="Selman"/> The final version was added at the last minute of production.<ref name="Moore-Dean">{{cite video | people=Moore-Dean, Steven|date=2009|title=The Simpsons The Complete Twelfth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Tree Hugger"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>
In his 2007 book ''Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.'', Roland Kelts analyzed the scenes from the beginning of the episode in which Bart hangs menus on doors for a Thai restaurant. These scenes allude to the film ''[[The Matrix]]''.<ref name=Kelts/> Kelts wrote: "Bart needs cash to buy a Japanese game console, so he takes a job delivering flyers for a Thai restaurant. He is quickly taught martial arts so he can drop off the menus with ninja stealth. He runs sideways along walls, his actions accompanied by staccato swishing noises. At one point [[The Matrix#Legacy|the scene freezes, he hangs in the air, and the 'camera' does a 360-degree pan around him]]. The episode dates back to 2000, a year after the look and feel of ''The Matrix'' had seeped into viewers' consciousness, and the makers of ''The Simpsons'' were very adroitly appropriating it into their [[shtick]]."<ref name=Kelts>{{cite book|last=Kelts|first=Roland|title=Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S.|year=2007|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4039-8476-0|page=75|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AKnBftsnleEC&dq=%22Japanese+game+console%2C+so+he+takes+a+job+delivering+%22&pg=PA75}}</ref>
==Release and reception== The episode originally aired on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]] in the United States on November 19, 2000.<ref name=Jacobson>{{cite web|last=Jacobson|first=Colin|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season (1999)|url=http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasontwelve.shtml|publisher=DVD Movie Guide|accessdate=November 1, 2011|date=September 2, 2009|archive-date=November 3, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103131030/http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasontwelve.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Alberti>{{cite book|last=Alberti|first=John|title=Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture|year=2004|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-2849-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/leavingspringfie00albe/page/324 324]|url=https://archive.org/details/leavingspringfie00albe|url-access=registration|quote=season 12 (2000.}}</ref> On August 18, 2009, it was released on DVD as part of the box set ''The Simpsons – The Complete Twelfth Season''. Staff members Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Don Payne, Tom Gammill, Tim Long, Yeardley Smith, and Steven Dean Moore participated in the DVD [[audio commentary]] for the episode. Deleted scenes from the episode were also included on the box set.<ref name="tvshowsondvd">{{cite web|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Simpsons-Season-12/11928|title=The Simpsons - Season 12 Street Date, Detailed Contents & 'Comic Book Guy Head' Box|date=May 20, 2009|accessdate=November 1, 2011|last=Lambert|first=David|publisher=[[TVShowsOnDVD.com]]|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522020622/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Simpsons-Season-12/11928|archivedate=May 22, 2009}}</ref>
Since airing, "Lisa the Tree Hugger" has received generally positive reactions from critics.
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson described it as "arguably [the season's] best show," adding: "The first act fares best, as I love Marge’s tune about saving, and 'Menu Boy' offers a clever spoof of martial arts-based action flicks. 'Hugger' hits a minor lull when Lisa becomes environmentally active, but it bounces back pretty quickly, and the scenes with the runaway log delight. 'Hugger' provides a winner."<ref name=Jacobson/>
Den of Geek critic Matt Haigh cited "Lisa the Tree Hugger" as one of the highlights of season twelve in his review of the box set.<ref name=Haigh>{{cite web|last=Haigh|first=Matt|title=The Simpsons Season 12 DVD review|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-simpsons-season-12-dvd-review/|publisher=Den of Geek|accessdate=November 1, 2011|date=January 24, 2022|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104083511/https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-simpsons-season-12-dvd-review/|url-status=live}}</ref>
Jon Perks of ''[[The Birmingham Post]]'' highlighted the episode in an article mentioning the twelfth season DVD, writing that like the rest of the season's episodes, "Lisa the Tree Hugger" is "sure to put a smile on anyone's face".<ref name=Perks>{{cite news|last=Perks|first=Jon|title=For Him; Last chance saloon: As you read this, Christmas will be just three weeks away and counting. Gulp.|newspaper=[[The Birmingham Post]]|date=December 3, 2009}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_12#Lisa_the_Tree_Hugger|"Lisa the Tree Hugger"}} {{Portal|The Simpsons}} * {{Snpp capsule|CABF01}} * {{IMDb episode|0701157}}
{{Simpsons Christmas episodes}} {{The Simpsons episodes|12}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lisa The Tree Hugger}} [[Category:The Simpsons season 12 episodes]] [[Category:2000 American television episodes]] [[Category:Television episodes about the environment]] [[Category:Television episodes set in San Francisco]] [[Category:Television episodes written by Matt Selman]] [[Category:Television episodes directed by Steven Dean Moore]] [[Category:Trees and humans]]