The Simpsons: 10 Best Martin Prince Moments

In light of the recent tragic death of Russi Taylor, now seems a fitting time to look back at Martin Prince’s finest moments in Springfield. Taylor voiced Prince, as well as Sherri, Terri, Wendell, Lewis and Uter across her impressive career, but was maybe most famous for her performance as Disney’s Minnie Mouse.

It’s unknown at this stage what The Simpsons plan to do with her characters. Mrs Krabappel was killed off on the show respectfully after Marcia Wallace’s death, while Lionel Hutz & Troy McClure were quietly retired in the wake of Phil Hartman’s murder.

Martin and the rest might remain in the show silently, may be recast or might just go away. Maybe their planet needs them but they’ll die on the way back - who knows?

One thing’s for sure though: Russi Taylor will be sorely missed. Though Martin perhaps wasn’t a top level favourite character, he was a crucial part of Springfield, and earned a place in our hearts. Over the past 30 years, he’s been involved in some classic episodes, giving us some great laughs along the way, and it's time we totted up the best.

Not getting murdered seems like a low bar for best bits, but there’s more to it than Martin just existing without someone giving him forty whacks with a wet noodle.

Dial N For Nerder is a rarely discussed episode. Coming in Season 19, a lot of people had stopped viewing The Simpsons regularly; it’s not only outside of the Golden Era but outside of that post-Golden Era glow where the episodes were decent but running out of steam.

However, it’s not so late in the run that its quality sees it singled out the way Barthood or Halloween Of Horror have been. It’s just a good episode which, now 11 years old, is starting to fade from memory.

In it, Bart pulls a fairly harmless prank which results in Martin falling off a cliff. Well, not that harmless all things considered, but attempted murder was never Bart’s intention. He starts feeling guilty, but Lisa stops him confessing as she’ll be blamed too as an accomplice.

The episode is bookended by Martin ‘dying’ then returning from the dead in his butterfly garden. Nelson plays a Columbo style investigator and steals the show as well, acting as the icing on the cake of a solid episode.