Rod and Todd Flanders

Rod Flanders
Hair Color	Brownish Redish
Occupation	Student
Relations	Father - Ned Mother - Maude Brother - Todd Grandmother - Grandma Flanders
First episode appearance	“Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”
Portrayed by	Pamela Hayden

Todd Flanders
Hair Color	Orange
Occupation	Student
Relations	Father - Ned Mother - Maude Brother - Rod Grandmother - Grandma Flanders
First episode appearance	“Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”
Portrayed by	Nancy Cartwright

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.

Todd Flanders is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Todd is the youngest and most impressionable member of the happy Flanders flock. When exposed to profanity (for example, from over the fence as Homer Simpson curses his way through mowing the lawn), little Todd starts to curse a blue streak himself. Whether due to immaturity or relentless sheltering by his parents, whenever Todd comes into contact with anything outside of his family and their pious ways (like the time he was tricked into eating a Pixie Stick by Bart Simpson), he turns nasty.

Todd's proudest moments have been when he tied with Bart in the mini-golf championship and when he portrayed Jesus in the Springfield Christmas Pageant. Todd can play the violin quite well, and is a part of the Springfield Elementary band.

Background

Rod and Todd, like their parents, are very religious. The brothers enjoy attending church, Bible stories, watching religious cartoons, and playing religious-themed board games. These games include Good Samaritan - though they do not use dice because Ned says that dice are wicked. Instead they just move one space at a time - they believe "It's less fun that way". They are twins.

Maude and Ned prohibit them from consuming foods containing sugar, as they fear it will make them behave badly, in which it does (or send them into diabetic shock, in the case of Rod). They are also extremely entomophobic (particularly with moths and ladybugs), a behavior probably learned from their father, who considers an insect flying near someone a "bug attack". They enjoy stories about robots named Rod and Todd, though these also frighten them. Both play with a mock-up newspaper press, and take the activity very seriously. (One headline read: "This just in, playtime is fun!" - Bart responded to this by making his own newspaper stating that "Todd Smells!") They are both also very gullible, walking into a wall when told by "God" (actually Bart on a radio-transmitting microphone) that He would make it disappear for them. Early episodes depict Rod and Todd as students at Springfield Elementary, but in later episodes they are shown being home schooled. In "Skinner's Sense of Snow", Ned and Homer rescue them from the school, despite this.

It has been suggested the two are homosexuals, or suffering from gender confusion. (Rod told Ned in 'Tis the Fifteenth Season he was jealous of girls because they get to wear dresses.) Rod and Todd are both extremely sheltered from girls as Ned considers them to be a major temptation in life, along with rock and roll music. In another future-set episode, "Future-Drama", when Bart's future girlfriend mentions she wants to make love to him on prom night, and becomes disappointed when he denies her, she adds, "I never had this problem with Todd Flanders!", implying a strong, though latent, sexuality in the boy. Also, in the episode "Home Away From Homer", Ned moves away and then moves back to Springfield. When announcing this to the boys, Rod says he has a girlfriend. In another episode depicting the future ("Bart to the Future"), however, Ned thanks Bart for not outing Rod and Todd. Both Rod and Todd are then shown washing a cabinet in a slightly feminine way whilst wearing tight shorts and sporting mustaches, a style fashionable in gay culture in the 1980s, and promoted by Freddie Mercury.

Rod Flanders

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.

Todd Flanders

Todd is voiced by Nancy Cartwright. Todd is the youngest and most impressionable member of the happy Flanders flock. When exposed to profanity (for example, in the episode, Bart the Lover, from over the fence as Homer Simpson curses his way through mowing the lawn or making a doghouse), little Todd starts to curse a blue streak himself ("I said I don't want to any damn vegetables") and ("Hell no."). When Moe Syzlak loses his temper at Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag restaurant, Todd responds with "Ow, my freaking ears!" Whether due to immaturity or relentless sheltering by his parents, whenever Todd comes into contact with anything outside of his family and their pious ways (like the time he was tricked into eating a Pixie Stick by Bart Simpson), he turns nasty, calling his brother a "zitface", much to the delight of Bart. Todd can play the violin quite well, and is a part of the Springfield Elementary band. He is also prone to bedwetting.

Todd's proudest moments have been when he tied with Bart in the mini-golf championship and when he portrayed Jesus in the Springfield Christmas Pageant. Todd's voice is based on Sherman's from Peabody and Sherman.

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.