Top 10 Segments from The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror
We look back at the best Simpsons Halloween segments!
October 30, 2006 – As we don our Halloween costumes and prepare for All Hallow’s Eve, here at IGN TV we’re taking a look back at one of our favorite show’s annual Halloween specials, The Simpsons‘ “Treehouse of Horror.” While the episodes haven’t actually aired on or before Halloween for seven years (FOX’s airing of the World Series has pushed the “Treehouse” episodes to November since 2000), the “Treehouse of Horror” eps are always some of our favorite Halloween specials.Each “Treehouse of Horror” episode is split into three segments — ranging from great, to OK, to not as memorable. We took a look through the 48 “Treehouse” segments from the past 16 installments of the seasonal special and picked out our favorite ten segments. There were many great segments to choose from, so if we missed your favorite moment from The Simpsons‘ “Treehouse of Horror,” let us know and we’ll include it in an edition of the IGN TV Mailbag.
This year’s installment, “Treehouse of Horror XVII,” will be airing this coming Sunday, November 5 at 8pm ET/PT on FOX. Check out our interview with Supervising Director David Silverman as well as three other exclusive interviews, a look at a scene from animatic-to-color and the opening sequence from the episode on our Simpsons video pages.
Now, without further ado, here are IGN TV’s Top 10 “Treehouse of Horror” Segments from The Simpsons!
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#10: Starship Poopers
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror IX”In this very funny segment, we find out that Maggie is actually the daughter of alien Kang (of Kang & Kodos, perennial guest stars of the “Treehouse of Horror” specials). The segment begins with a Maggie’s first baby tooth turning out to be a fang, and the family taking her to see Dr. Hibbert, leading to one of the doctor’s best lines ever, when Homer asks him what he prescribes: “Fire! And lots of it!” (To which Marge replies, “That’s your cure for everything!”) While not the best Kang & Kodos segment (“Citizen Kang” and the original alien story, “Hungry Are the Damned,” both rank higher on our list), “Starship Poopers” delivers consistent laughs and a great ending, as Kang & Kodos vow to destroy all the politicians in Washington (to the Simpsons’ delight) and Maggie creepily laughs and says, “I need blood.”#9: Bart Simpson’s Dracula
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror IV”Bram Stoker has nothing on Bart Simpson’s take on the Dracula story. “Bart Simpson’s Dracula” follows the Simpsons as they go to Mr. Burns’ manor in Pennsylvania. Lisa suspects foul play, as Burns just bought the Springfield Blood Bank, and tries to convince her parents that it isn’t safe as Burns may be a vampire. Ignoring Lisa’s pleas, the family ventures to Burns gothic mansion for a feast. It soon becomes apparent that the Simpsons are the real feast when Bart and Lisa stumble upon a crypt containing vampires. After deciding to face a grizzly fate (due to riding the ’super fun happy slide’) Bart is turned into a vampire – with the goal of turning the rest of the family. Eventually Lisa is able to convince her parents of Bart’s transformation, only to find out that Marge was the head vampire and that she was the only non-vampiric Simpson. If this parody of Bram Stoker’s Dracula wasn’t funny enough, we got to watch as Homer tried to stake Burns in the heart… only to repeatedly stab him in the crotch.
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#8: If I Only Had A Brain
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror II”“Treehouse of Horror II” contained three quality segments, but “If I Only Had a Brain” was easily the best. Featuring a story reminiscent to Frankenstein, this episode made us laugh from beginning to end with Homer’s crazy antics. The story followed Homer as he tried his hand at grave digging, after he got fired from the plant. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns and Smithers were working on a project to make a half-robot/half-man that could replace regular human workers (borrowing a little from Robocop 2). When Burns and Smithers go looking for a human brain they stumble across a dead body (or a sleeping Homer) and forcefully take his brain for their experiment. Mr. Burns’ Frankenstein monster turns out to be just as lazy and useless as the real Homer, so Burns admits defeat and returns Homer’s brain back to the body. But due to the giant metal body falling and squashing him, Burns is forced to attach his head to Homer’s shoulder to end the episode. The humor that is derived from the multiple movie and literary parodies was enough to leave a last impression on us as an audience – and who doesn’t like a robot whose primary function is to find donuts?
#7: Citizen Kang
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror VII”The Simpsons rarely goes for topical political humor, simply because it takes so long to produce an episode, that there’s too much of a risk of the subject being obsolete by the time an episode airs. However, “Treehouse of Horror VII” went against the norm a bit with “Citizen Kang,” a story focusing on Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, and their then-current rival presidential campaigns. Of course, it wasn’t quite a realistic take, as the aliens (and frequent “Treehouse” players) Kang and Kodos come to Earth, and based on information from Homer, kidnap Clinton and Dole, and then impersonate them. Their plan is simple – no matter who is elected, it will be the aliens in charge. This very funny installment includes plenty of clever moments, such as when Kang finds himself getting booed by a crowd if he either completely endorses abortions or speaks out against them, only to get cheers by declaring, “Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!” The amazing Phil Hartman also gets to take his Saturday Night Live Bill Clinton impersonation to The Simpsons, on an episode that includes Homer trying to free Clinton and Dole from a spaceship, only to accidentally kill them both by ejecting them (naked!) into space. This is bipartisan, dark comedy at its best.
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#6: Clown Without Pity
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror III”
This parody of the Twilight Zone episode “Living Doll” features some great lines and ridiculously hilarious situations. In “Clown Without Pity,” Homer picks up a last minute birthday gift for Bart from a Gremlins-like “House of Evil” ignoring warnings of curses on everything in the store from the shop’s owner. The gift, of course, is a talking Krusty the Klown doll and as Homer gives it Bart, Grampa yells, “That doll is evil, I tells ya. Evil!” (However, Marge does point out that Grampa said the same thing about every present; Grampa then whines, “I just want attention.”) The evil Krusty doll then proceeds to try to kill Homer, which no one believes, until Marge finally sees the Krusty doll attacking him. Marge calls KrustyCo, which sends out a repairman who quickly discovers that the doll’s Good/Evil switch was set to “Evil.” “Clown Without Pity” is a wonderfully funny segment from a classic Simpsons episode (the other segments were Homer-as-King Kong in “King Homer” and Homer taking on zombies in “Dial ‘Z’ for Zombies” (the latter of which also made our Top 10 list, as you’ll see on the next page).
#5: Hungry Are The Damned
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror”
In the first edition of The Simpsons Halloween feature “Treehouse of Horror,” we were treated to three very funny skits, but “Hungry Are the Damned” was easily the best of the bunch. As a direct parody of The Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man,” we watched as the Simpsons were abducted and brought before Kang and Kodos from Rigel 4. It soon turned out that their initial freight of alien abduction was misled, as the two alien hosts gave the Simpsons a lavish setting with as much food as they could possibly eat. Like all good things, it turns out that Kang and Kodos might have just been fattening them up for a feast – but unlike the Twilight Zone episode, this was not the case, as the two aliens just wanted to treat America’s favorite family to all riches and feasts they could possibly imagine. The funniest part of the episode featured the Simpsons finding out about an alien cookbook: “How to Cook Humans” or “How to Cook For Humans” or “How to Cook Forty Humans” or more accurately “How to Cook For Forty Humans” – this lengthy parody made “Treehouse of Horror” worth revisiting.
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#4: Time and Punishment
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror V”
“Treehouse of Horror V” is arguably the best “Treehouse” episode to date, consisting of Shining parody “The Shinning,” cannibalistic teachers in “Nightmare Cafeteria,” and this brilliantly conceived segment, “Time and Punishment.” In this parody of the Ray Bradbury short story “A Sound of Thunder,” Homer accidentally creates a time machine while fixing a toaster. When the toaster sends him back to the age of dinosaurs Homer discovers that any minor changes he makes to that world make major changes in the present day. After accidentally killing a mosquito and finding that Ned Flanders is now the “unquestioned lord and master of the world” in the present day, Homer ends up going back to the dinosaur age to try to fix things, only to make them worse each he goes back. Some of the ridiculously funny present day changes include a giant-sized Simpsons family, the sky raining donuts, and Groundskeeper Willy getting axed in the back by Maggie, who says in James Earl Jones’s voice, “This is indeed a disturbing universe.” Homer eventually settles on a seemingly normal Simpsons family with just one twist: they all eat with long forked tongues.
#3: The Devil and Homer Simpson
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror IV”Easily one of the best segments of the “Treehouse” episodes, let alone all Simpsons episodes, this hilarious parody of Steven Vincent Benet’s short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” is infinitely rewatchable and funny every single time. When Homer sells his soul to the devil (who looks like Ned Flanders and says hello to Bart) for a donut, he realizes that he has to finish the donut or else Satan doesn’t get his soul. Unfortunately for Homer, a late night donut-craving sends him to the fridge, where he then devours the last bite of donut, while muttering, “Mmmm… forbidden donut.” Homer’s sent to Hell for a day, where he endures various forms of “torture,” one being forced to eat “all the donuts in the world” which Homer happily does and keeps asking for more. After his day in Hell, Homer has a trial with a “Jury of the Damned” that includes John Wilkes Booth, Benedict Arnold and Richard Nixon. After inept attorney Lionel Hutz bails on Homer, Marge comes to his defense, presenting as evidence a wedding photo on which Homer had written that he pledges his soul to Marge. Homer comes away with his soul, but the devil ends up cursing him to have a donut for a head, which he of course picks at. The entire segment is classic Homer, with tons of entertaining details throughout.
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#2: Dial “Z” for Zombies
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror III”The genius of “Treehouse of Horror” is taking the Simpsons characters into places the regular episodes could never go, without changing the show forever. Such is the case in “Dial ‘Z’ for Zombie,” which finds Bart’s attempts to resurrect his cat, Snowball I, resulting in a Springfield full of zombies. From famous historical figures to modern day town locals (and recurring characters like Krusty and Skinner), the brain-eating zombies are soon everywhere, and Homer finds himself more than ready, able and perhaps a bit excited, to blast or bash them all to bits, as he screams things like, “Take that, Washington! Eat lead, Einstein! Show’s over, Shakespeare!” Another great touch are the different incantations used to revive and destroy the zombies, which range from everything from 1970’s American television detectives to the names of several brands of condoms. The show also contains a truly classic Simpsons joke, with Bart exclaiming, “Dad, you killed the zombie Flanders!” only for Homer to reply, “He was a zombie?”
#1: The Shinning
Episode: “Treehouse of Horror V”“No TV and No Beer Make Homer Go Crazy.” That sentence perfectly encapsulates this segment of “Treehouse of Horror V,” which is not only a standout installment of the annual Halloween episode, but of The Simpsons, period. “The Shinning” of course parodies Stephen King’s novel and Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining, though when Bart actually begins to say the real title, Groundskeeper Willie warns, “Shh! You wanna get sued?!” Homer sits in for Jack Nicholson here, as he takes the Simpson family to a remote hotel, to watch over for the winter, while it’s closed for the season. But deprived of his two most important sources of comfort — beer and television – Homer soon turns into a homicidal maniac, who eventually pursues his family through the hotel and out into the frozen surroundings. Oh, and Bart turns out to be psychic. This is just a perfect parody, that manages to use the few minutes it has to touch upon all of the iconic moments from The Shining, from Nicholson’s famous, “Here’s Johnny!” moment (complete with the axe through the door) to using Willie in the role of the ill-fated hotel staff member, whose attempts to save the day don’t go quite as planned. Best and funniest of all is the continuing theme of Homer’s obsession with TV, which he describes at one point as, “teacher, mother, secret lover!”
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