Tales from the Public Domain

"Tales from the Public Domain"
The Simpsons episode
Lisa, as Saint Joan of Arc, getting burned at the stake. Executive producer and show runner Al Jean ordered director Mike B. Anderson to "not burn her", even though she is surrounded by flames.
Episode no.	Season 13 Episode 14
Directed by	Mike B. Anderson
Written by	D'oh, Brother Where Art Thou?: Andrew Kreisberg Hot Child in the City: Josh Lieb Do the Bard, Man: Matt Warburton
Production code	DABF08
Original air date	March 17, 2002 (2002-03-17)
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"Vampire is not a career choice"
Couch gag	The Simpsons rushing to and sitting on the couch is animated in flipbook style, with the pages flipped by real hands.
Commentary	Al Jean Matt Selman Tim Long John Frink Don Payne Joel H. Cohen Matt Warburton Mike B. Anderson
Episode chronology
← Previous "The Old Man and the Key" Next → "Blame It on Lisa"
The Simpsons season 13
List of episodes

"Tales from the Public Domain" is the fourteenth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 17, 2002. It is the third trilogy episode of the series, which had become annual since the twelfth season's "Simpsons Tall Tales", consisting of three self-contained segments that are based on historical stories. The first segment puts Homer Simpson in the role of Odysseus in the ancient Greek epic poem the Odyssey. The second segment tells the story of Joan of Arc, and the third and final segment lampoons William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet.

The episode was written by Andrew Kreisberg, Josh Lieb and Matt Warburton, and Mike B. Anderson served as the director. Show runner and executive producer Al Jean stated that the episode was "very fun for the writers" to do because it "allow[ed] them to parody great works of literature." On the other hand, Anderson stated that the episode was "much harder" to direct than others because, like with Treehouse of Horror episodes, the animators had to make as many character designs for one act as they would for one normal episode.

In its original American broadcast, the episode was seen by more than 4% of the population between ages 18 and 49. Following its release on DVD and Blu-ray the episode received mixed reviews from critics.