As polarizing as recent seasons of The Simpsons can be among fans, there is no question that the
quality of the non-canonical series of “Treehouse of Horror” episodes has
largely remained of high quality over the years. And, with more than
twenty-five seasons worth of material, the long-running animated program’s
Halloween fare has produced a lot of excellent moments. This article will
explore ten of the highlights of these delightfully creepy and funny
anthologies, ordered here by season rather than attempting to create a “best
of” list.
“The Raven”, Treehouse of Horror I
Homer stars in a verbatim narrative of Edgar Allen Poe’s
classic poem, as read by James Earl Jones and co-starring Bart as the titular
corvid crowing “eat my shorts”! (Er, “Nevermore”.) The final installment in the
very first TOH special, airing during the second season of the show, it proved
early on that The Simpsons could take
even classical literature and bring its own style and spin to it, without
harming the integrity of its source material and without overt parody.
Chillingly beautiful for an early foray into the fantasy realm of the TOH
episodes.
“The Devil and Homer Simpson”, Treehouse of
Horror IV
The fifth season’s TOH contained this gem, in which Homer
finds the temptation to eat a forbidden donut too great to resist and is
dragged to Hell by the Devil himself – who, it turns out, is none other than
Ned Flanders. With the help of Lionel Hutz, Marge must prove to a jury of ne’er
do wells that Homer’s soul is her property as of their wedding day to save him.
The very idea that Flanders is, in actuality, Satan is probably one of the best
meta jokes in the series, and of course the inclusion of one of Phil Hartman’s
best characters brings some fantastic one-liners to the trial. Homer’s ‘ironic
punishments’ while in Hell are hilarious visual comedy, taking the trope to
levels only Homer can.
“Time and Punishment”, Treehouse of Horror V
Based loosely around concepts in Ray Bradbury’s 1952 tale
“A Sound of Thunder”, Homer learns the dangers of changing events in the
distant past when he is thrown into time travel by his malfunctioning toaster.
The more he tries to rectify things to create the ‘correct’ present for himself
and his family, the more he seems to mess up – and the alternate futures he
creates are some of the zaniest fun the series has illustrated. Homer, at this
point in the show’s run still merely a hapless buffoon with a generally good
heart, is sympathetic and silly – a world without donuts, even when everything
else is absolutely perfect, completely terrifies him.
“Homer³”, Treehouse of Horror VI
Pacific Data Images (PDI)’s Mind’s Eye-like CG animation sends Homer through a portal into the
third dimension while hiding from Marge’s awful sisters. Packed full of nerdy
mathematical jokes and visual gags about 3-D animation and design, the scene
brings Homer and Bart into a new realm for the time during which it was
animated – CG television being a rather new concept at that point, and fairly
expensive (a fact which Homer lampshades). Homer, of course, nearly destroys
the entire dimension when he opens up a wormhole in its floor and falls into
it. He is eventually dumped into the most horrifying dimension ever – ours.
But, hey, at least there are erotic cakes!
“Citizen Kang”, Treehouse of Horror VII
Although dating itself by making characters out of Bill
Clinton and Bob Dole, the idea of Kang and Kodos (the green aliens who make
appearances in every Treehouse of Horror episode) taking over their identities
and overtaking the American election is timelessly funny – even if it does
lampoon the two-party system and the futility of a third-party vote, which
seems to be the most horrifying point ever to come up in a Halloween special,
especially during the current election…
“Life’s a Glitch, Then You Die”, Treehouse
of Horror X
What’s funniest about this particular segment isn’t so
much its setup as a Y2K bungle from, you guessed it, Homer – but its use of
celebrity cameos. As the world plunges into millennial chaos, the family
Simpson is separated as Lisa is chosen to accompany the best and brightest to a
new Martian colony. Homer and Bart sneak onto a second rocket, only to find it
crowded with celebrities like Rosie O’Donnell, Tonya Harding, and guest star
Tom Arnold. They quickly realize they’re headed straight into the Sun instead –
and decide to eject themselves. Some of the celebrity references are, of
course, dated – but the ending, especially, is hilarious anyway.
“B.I.: Bartificial Intelligence”, Treehouse
of Horror XVI
An obvious parody of A.I.
Artificial Intelligence, this segment has a lot of really clever visual
gags – especially when it comes to David, the robot boy the Simpson family
adopts after Bart falls into a coma. When, after Bart sneaks from the hospital
to return home, David is told to eat his shorts, he complies – and turns them
into a teddy bear for Maggie. David proves to be so much better than Bart, in
fact, that as a twist on the original movie’s plot he ends up driving his
natural son out into the woods to be abandoned, so he can keep his robot son
instead. It’s a genuinely good subversion of the film right up to the ending.
“Heck House”, Treehouse of Horror XVIII
Most TOH segments don’t take place in the everyday world
of Springfield – nor do they generally return to previous ideas from the
series, since they’re not considered canon. But this nineteenth-season offering
brings back Ned Flanders as Satan, as he illustrates (with fundamentalist glee)
to the Halloween prankster children of the town the Seven Deadly Sins, and the
threat of a hellish afterlife. It works well, even though it isn’t exactly a
parody of any specific franchise – although it begins with Flanders setting up
his own version of a Halloween “hell house” to scare Nelson, Bart, and all the
others straight. The best gags are the Deadly Sins, including a painful
transformation of Homer into a plate of spaghetti for his gluttony.
“There’s No Business Like Moe Business”,
Treehouse of Horror XX
Not only is this segment a loose parody of Sweeney Todd, as Moe uses a trapped and
injured Homer’s blood to flavor his new micro-brewed beer, but it’s staged as a
theatrical musical – and it’s the first TOH segment to feature complete songs. While
it isn’t directly a send-up of the original musical, it does play around with
theatrical tropes in some very adroit ways, making it one of the more unique
segments in the series of specials.
“The Diving Bell and the Butterball”,
Treehouse of Horror XXII
Certainly not the most highbrow of Simpsons segments, but admittedly, very much indicative of its
current character, the idea of a spider-bite allowing Homer to only communicate
by passing gas is genius. TOH segments get to play with reality, and even
though the supernatural elements of this one are minor, it almost calls back to
earlier episodes that explored Homer’s need to communicate his feelings in
unusual ways. It is a definite reminder that, sometimes, The Simpsons can still get by on fart jokes.
So, now, we put it to you readers: what are some of your
favorite Simpsons “Treehouse of
Horror” segments? Let us know in the comments!
Pass on the horror!
-Dana Culling
