Difference between revisions of "Hans Moleman"
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Revision as of 02:57, May 14, 2010
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Hans Moleman
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Character Information
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Hans Moleman is a 4 ft 4 in, 140 lb mole-like man with extremely bad luck. Although apparently elderly, he claims to be only 31 years old (his driver's license says he was born August 2, 1961; this episode aired in the early 1990s, and birth years have been changed in the series to keep characters the same age), but due to his heavy drinking, he appears much older. He has cataracts and is almost entirely blind (which has severely impaired his reading ability) and has used medical marijuana. He carries a brown cane with him everywhere, which has once been shown to contain a hidden sword.
Biography
Hans Moleman is the retconned name of an earlier character named "Ralph Melish." Although apparently elderly, he claims to be only 31 years old (in 1993's "Selma's Choice", his driver's license says he was born August 2, 1961, and in "Duffless", Moleman confessed his real age at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, implying that his grotesque appearance has been caused by severe alcoholism), though Moleman has been seen at the Springfield Retirement Home on season ten's "The Old Man and the "C" Student" and in the season 13 episode Little Girl in the Big Ten,[2] He has cataracts and is almost entirely blind[3] (which has severely impaired his reading ability and has led to repeated revokings of his driver's license), and has used medical marijuana. He carries a brown cane with him everywhere, which has once been shown to contain a hidden sword. In the episode "Burns' Heir", Hans is mistaken for Bart and accidentally "de-programmed" (Homer and Marge had hired a cult de-programmer, hoping to convince Bart to move out of Mr. Burns' mansion and back in with them), apparently leading him to believe he is the son of Homer and Marge. On "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife, and Her Homer," it's revealed that Hans Moleman slept with Lars Ulrich's grandmother, and is considered by Metallica to be a "real fan".
His home address is 920 Oak Grove, Springfield. He has also been seen living at the Springfield Retirement Castle and (in a deleted scene) he is shown to live in a small house directly below the dam that was erected (and subsequently destroyed).
Careers
He runs an early morning radio show, on Springfield's jazz station KJAZZ-FM, in which he introduces himself as "This is Moleman in the Morning, Good Moleman to you". One of his other jobs was driving a truck filled with sugar (which he subsequently flipped onto its side, spilling its contents, much to Homer's delight.) He is often seen driving other types of trucks as well. He was seen transporting the birthplace of Edgar Allan Poe in a truck [1]. He also teaches an orange-eating class at the Adult Learning Centre in Springfield. On another occasion]], it is implied that he works at a bird sanctuary, as he has to order a bird seed bell ("No, that's too big") [2]. He once worked as a postal worker. He once worked as a janitor at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and received a severe head wound ("Oh no, my brains.") from Mr. Burns when Moleman asked Burns for seventeen dollars for a push-broom rebristling; Burns, high on ether, mistook him for the Lucky Charms leprechaun and went to his skull with a power drill. He has also been seen representing a Solar Power company [3]. Homer stumbles across Hans Moleman as the leader of a race of Mole People in an underground fortress complete with earthquake machines [4]. Before now he has also been working in a prison as someone giving out books.
Most recently, he has been sighted working as a teller at the First Bank of Springfield. He also worked as a Duff Delivery man in [5] and a janitor at the Power plant [6].
Accidents
Hans has escaped death innumerable times, usually highly improbably. He survived catching on fire due to the powerful magnifying effect of his glasses, Montgomery Burns drilling into his brain, capital punishment (in a local jail) after Homer eats his last meal, being buried alive, getting stranded in the snow surrounded by wolves, getting run over by the school bus, mysteriously flying into the side of a restaurant [7], sinking completely into quicksand, being run over (while carrying a "U Suck" sign in the middle of countless "Keep Out" signs) by Homer Simpson when trying to dump the Pig Crap into Springfield Lake, and being engulfed by the "anti-escape orb" that was attempting to catch Marge from escaping a Movementarian compound(a parody of the Rover security device from the 60s show the Prisoner). Many times people will totally disregard him, usually leading to something like death, or simply imprisonment, but since he appears, even after "dying", those later appearances could indicate he survived. He has also had several accidents where he was not severely injured. He further angered the crowd at Bart and Lisa's junior hockey final because he fell down the steps then shouted 'We paid for blood!' [8]. He also crashed his 1959 Cadillac into the side of Springfield's Planet Hype restaurant (which Marge mistook for a clever decoration). One time, due to Homer's stupidity and intolerance of Muslims, he nearly drowned in his truck when it sank into the river after Homer blew up the bridge between Duff Brewery island and the rest of Springfield.
Behind the Scenes
Moleman first appeared as a character model for the season two episode "Principal Charming", but he looked so shrivelled and unrealistic that some one proclaimed to look like a "mole man". However, he was used in several episodes and later became a recurring character.According to the episode "Principal Charming", his name was Ralph Melish, which is a reference to the Monty Python sketch "The adventures of Ralph Melish: Hot Dog and Knickers" from The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief. According to a DVD commentary for one episode, some number of viewers were offended by Moleman's appearance, and he was reused in order to annoy people of such a viewpoint.[citation needed] Matt Groening has claimed that Hans Moleman was inspired by Tex Avery's Droopy Dog, who shares many of Moleman's deadpan and unassuming mannerisms.[citation needed]
Appearances
References
