Fun with screen captures

First, two shots from "Cosmos" showing how my main interests in life - Astronomy/Science and Tudor History - can sometimes combine in interesting ways.

In this episode, Sagan is in a hall in Cambridge and you can sometimes see the portraits on the wall behind him, including a giant one of Henry VIII (top) and one with Mary I (bottom). The episode would have been filmed sometime in the late 1970s, so I'm not sure if these portraits are in the same place now. The one of Mary I looks like the portrait done by Antonio Mor, which is now in the Prado in Spain, I believe. However, it is possible (or even probable) that this is a copy. The painting of Henry is one of many of that same style, so I'm not sure which particular one it may be.

There also appears to have been a Tudor thing going on at "The Simpsons" lately. They did a great send-up of Henry VIII a few years back, but in a recent episode, Homer decides to help Bart build a matchstick Westminster Abbey and has some weird dreams when he falls asleep trying to finish it. Because it was Westminster Abbey, Henry VII got a mention, even though Homer accidentally carves an effigy of Henry VI (and it really was Henry VI when they briefly showed it - I was impressed!), but I couldn't resist a screen shot of Homer on his tomb (I guess Elizabeth of York didn't make it into Homer's dream):



And Anne of Cleves (the only of Henry VIII's wives to be buried at the Abbey) and Chaucer float along to talk to Homer:



They could have gone with some better known Tudor-era figures - Mary I, Elizabeth I or Mary Queen of Scots, but instead we get mentions of Henry VII, an image of Henry VI and a talking Anne of Cleves. Interesting!

There was also some Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh stuff in another episode this season, so I'll have to grab some screen caps from that as well.

3 comments:

Tania said...

Hi.
I am interested episodes of simpsons with Tudors, could you tell me what are the episodes and seasons please?

Lara said...

These screen caps were from season 20 "Father Knows Worst". There are more Tudor references in the episode "Four Great Women and a Manicure" from that same season and back in Season 15 there was "Margical History Tour".

Tania said...

Thank you (=