Rod Flanders
Rod Flanders
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Character Information
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Rod Flanders is voiced by Pamela Hayden. Rod prays often, first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. He prays for God to watch over him and his little brother, Todd. He prays for the success of his father's business. He also prays for all of the naughty little boys and girls, like his neighbor Bart Simpson, who are too bad to pray for themselves. Aside from praying, Rod enjoys playing wholesomely with his brother and eating lots of "Nachos, Flanders-Style" (cucumbers with cottage cheese). His one regret is that he cannot pray at school. His favourite song is "Bringing in the Sheaves", followed closely by "Noah and the Arky-arky" and "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart". Rod has diabetes and has described being quiet during trips as one of his favourite hobbies, including clapping during songs.
Biography
Rod Flanders is voiced by Pamela Hayden. Rod prays often, first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. He prays for God to watch over him and his little brother, Todd. He prays for the success of his father's business. He also prays for all of the naughty little boys and girls, like his neighbor Bart Simpson, who are too bad to pray for themselves. Aside from praying, Rod enjoys playing wholesomely with his brother and eating lots of "Nachos, Flanders-Style" (cucumbers with cottage cheese). His one regret is that he cannot pray at school. His favourite song is "Bringing in the Sheaves", followed closely by "Noah and the Arky-arky" and "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart". Rod has diabetes and has described being quiet during trips as one of his favourite hobbies, including clapping during songs. In the episode "Crook and Ladder", Rod appears to have gray hair in the whole episode.
Rod's largest role was in "Bart Has Two Mommies", where he obtains new climbing skills and rescues Bart from a gorilla atop a church. This episode also reveals Rod thinks of Marge as the most fun they've ever had ever since Maude.
Age discrepancy
There is also some controversy as to which of the two is the elder. In "Dead Putting Society" the commentator at the golf tournament states that Todd is 10. In Homer Bad Man, one of the corrections that the TV-magazine show Rock Bottom makes is to their claim that "the older Flanders boy is Todd, not Rod". (although this could have been included purely to stir up fans). Later, in Bart Sells His Soul, the Flanders family eat out for Rod's "big ten-oh", suggesting the two are of similar age (however, the present time in at least one other Simpsons episode has been set two years before that of others, as shown by All's Fair in Oven War). However, in "My Sister, My Sitter" Lisa, when babysitting Rod and Todd, tells a story about a robot named Todd who "had a brother named Rod, who was two space years older than him". Todd responds by saying, "I don't like this story!"
As Rod is shown to be quite a bit taller than Todd, the claim that Todd is the older brother is disputed. Both Rod and Todd were born before Lisa (who is eight), Todd appearing a similar age to Bart (who is 10) in the episode "Lisa's First Word" (when Bart was entering "the terrible twos"). This suggests the Flanders children are slightly older than the Simpson children.
Despite these discrepancies, the Simpsons official website states that “Todd is the youngest and most impressionable member of the happy Flanders clan”. This seems to trump any inconsistency concerning age seen in the episodes. On the other hand, the character profile for Rod Flanders in The Simpsons: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family describes him as the "youngest of the Springfield Flanders." Another possible reason for the variation is that, in the DVD commentaries for show, the writers have stated that they are never sure which Flanders sibling is Rod and which one is Todd and are often forced to check character models to be sure. According to the commentary, early show writers used two different mnemonics to identify the taller brother; first that Todd started with T and was Taller, or that Rod was long like a rod and hence taller.
"Religious" references
- On the local intramural football team, Rod and Todd wear complementary uniforms: numbers 6 and 66. This also reads as 666, the number of the beast.
- They play board games like "The Good Samaritan" and video games like "Billy Graham's Bible Blaster", where the object is to shoot a bible to "convert the heathens".
- They watch religious TV shows, including one where sheep talk about sins (a typical dialogue involves them discussing "The sin of envy" - over wanting a sin to confess), and it has been acknowledged that Todd is responsible for the TV ban listings. He even removed Davy and Goliath under the reason that a talking dog was blasphemous.
- They have many miscellaneous objects of worshipful meaning around the house, such as "God Bless This Mess" rather than the usual "Bless This Mess"; along with countless crosses and artificial palm leaves. Also noted are their most prized possessions - Todd's is his Joseph of Aramathea trading card ("43 conversions in A.D. 26!"). The whole family collects Biblical playing cards.
