Treehouse of Horror

This episode is the first in the Halloween themed episodes called Treehouse of Horror(originally titled "The Simpsons Halloween Special.)" These episodes have become fan favorites for their skewering of popular horror movies and Twilight Zone segments. I love watching all the classic era THOH just because of their pure campy fun. They of course will never crack my top ten or anything but I do have some in my top 30.

The premise of this episode is that Bart and Lisa are telling stories in an attempt to scare each other. of course no really work. But Homer happens to be spying on them and gets extremely frightened by the stories. At the end after every story has been read Homer and Marge are in bed and Homer doesn't want her to turn off the light but she insists they're just kids stories. But Homer as she turns out the light sees the green hue from the spaceship that abducts them in the second segment and sees Bart as the raven laughing as the episode ends.

Bad Dream House: This segment was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer. It's probably my least favourite segment of this episode but by no means weak. The whole premise of the episode is based around the horror film The Amityville Horror. We have the Simpson family buying a haunted house because it was on sale for so cheap. But as soon as they arrive the trouble begins. The house wants the family to leave it in peace. Marge insists the family leave immediately but Homer say they should sleep on it and they do. But during the night is when the episode gets interesting. We have the house making every member of the Simpsons trying to kill each other with knives a la The Shinning along with Maggie's head spinning around a la The Exorcist. But the best moments of the segment come at the end with the family getting a hold of themselves and they discover an ancient Indian burial ground in the basement(Poltergeist). Homer immediately calls the seller of the house to tell him that there's a burial ground in the basement and in a classic Homer moment has to swallow some crow as apparently he was told of the burial ground 5 or so times. With no hope in sight Marge yells at the house and it works. Marge tells it to deal with them living within it. But the house decides to implode itself instead of living forever with the Simpsons. Quite a fitting end as Lisa points out. The last thing I want to talk about is the nicely done animation of this episode. This is what makes the segments of the early seasons so good. I mean the writing was of course phenomenal but the animation really does add to the atmosphere set up by the writers. The dark colors of this episode work really well especially the walls of the house.

Hungry Are the Damned: This segment was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and was directed by Rich Moore. It's a real tossup between this one and The raven for my favourite segment and both are probably in my top 10 segments of the show. This segment is based around the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man" and if you're a twilight Zone nerd like me this one is really special. This segment is also the first introduction to two of my favourite characters in Kang and Kodos. Kang and Kodos's names are of course based on Star Trek characters and Serak(the preparer) name is based on Spock's fathers(Sarek) and the Vulcan philosopher Surak. Whatever enough nerdiness for now. The episodes starts off innocently enough with the Simpsons having a nice BBQ. There is a nice reference to The Fly and of course there's the infamous Homer lighting the BBQ with the entire thing of lighter fluid. The Simpsons while enjoying their BBQ are abducted by Kang and Kodos. Kang and Kodos say they will take the family to their home planet and on the journey there they will given anything they want. There are some really hilarious moments within their journey. The fact that Kang and Kodos think Pong is advanced and the lack of HBO on an intergalactic spaceship is hilarious. But the crowning achievement of this episode is when Lisa begins to get suspicious of the aliens purpose for them. So she begin searching for any validation of these suspicions(an Alien reference is thrown in with the corridor). She goes to the kitchen and finds what she needs a book titled "How to Cook Humans". This is what I think makes the episode because Lisa confronts Kang and Kodos about the book. They blow dust of to reveal it says "How to Cook for humans" Lisa blows more dust off "How to Cook Forty Humans" and Kang and Kodos blow off the last of the dust to reveal the true title" How to Cook for Forty Humans". It's a great moment and one of my favourites. Lisa soon questions why they fed them so much and why they treated them so nicely. The aliens merely say they let them eat what they want and they simply pigged out making Serak cry(voiced by James Earl Jones). There is a small but of social commentary here in the fact that the smartest of The Simpsons clan proves to be their downfall from being treated like gods on a distant planet. The episode ends with the family back on Earth with nothing and everyone blames Lisa. The animation of this segment is much different than the other two segments. It focus is more on bright colors for the spaceship and the hue the ship gives is a brilliant look. The inside of the ship is nicely drawn and again just makes the segment all the more poignant.

The Raven: This segment was written by Sam Simon and of course Edgar Allan Poe. It was directed by David Silverman and it really shows. This segment is honestly a work of genius. The only reason I hesitate to name it my favourite segment of this episode and hell even ever is that it is a little slow and the cutaways in the episode take away from the pace. But the fact is this is an animation masterpiece. It feels very cinematic and beautiful. The dark tones of the room are really well done and the fluid motion of Homer is very Silverman esque. Also the animation just does a beautifully job of accompanying James Earl Jones's narration and the overall mood of the episode/poem. The episode is of course is based around the poem by Poe. But they do it in a very Simpsonian way. It's a funny reading of the poem along with Bart being the raven make the episode great. It's somewhat harder for me to write about this segment because it's just a retelling of a great poem.

Grade: A and #29 on my list of favourite Simpson's episodes