Trollheart's Treehouse of Horror

[Trollheart]

I think we all knew it was inevitable I would end up doing some sort of journal on my favourite cartoon family, but given how long it's been going for now, and how many episodes, the idea of tackling the entire series - the sheer weight of such an enterprise - has always turned me off the idea, while I continually search for a way to do something on them.

Then someone gave me this idea.

The Simpsons has been running what were originally - and I think still are - termed Halloween Specials, but which have become tagged with the title of Treehouse of Horror for about thirty years now. Some are good, and some, well, not so good. Some are brilliant. Some are enough to make you think they really should rest this poor flogged horse and let it die. But over the years they have come up with some pretty amazing stories, funny pastiches and homages, and some great laughs.

This journal then will trace the evolution of what we now know and recognise as the Treehouse of Horror series, a series basically within a series as it were, and how it's either improved, or disimproved, over the course of three decades. For those who for some reason don't know, the Treehouse of Horror usually contains three or four separate stories, very short, seldom if ever linked, and usually connected, if sometimes very tenuously indeed, to the idea of Halloween, or at least horror. I'll be rating and ranking each episode, indeed each segment, to see which scores highest and then placing them on a leaderboard chart.

After the basic rating, which will just be an indication of how much I enjoyed the segment, or not, will be the score, which will determine its ranking on the chart and will be, as before, broken into separate categories, explained below.

Story: Simple enough: was the story a good one, well told, well written, without any major plot holes (given this is after all essentially a cartoon), and did I enjoy it?
Laughs: Not all episodes ended up being funny. Did this one make me laugh?
Originality: Was it an original idea or did the writer(s) base their idea around a movie, book or other story already written (e.g. "Bart Simpson's Dracula," "The Homega Man" etc)
Ending: And not all of them ended well. Did this one?
Longevity: Is it a memorable one? Do people quote it, remember it, or has it just been filed away with a shrug?

All categories are scored out of a maximum of ten, therefore the top possible score is 50. In general I will be trying to limit comments in the score section, but if I have something to say I will do so. Mostly it will just be numbers though.

I considered whether I should take random episodes, but decided in the end the best way to do this was in order, so we begin, then, with the very first ever so-called Halloween Special, season two, way back in 1990.

Treehouse of Horror episode: 1
Year: 1990
Season: 2
Segment: 1 of 3
Segment title: "Bad Dream House"
Writer(s): John Swartzwelder
Characters: Marge, Homer, Lisa, Maggie, Bart
Homage to? The movies Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror and The Shining
Basic premise: Homer and family move into a house and find out it's haunted.

Best quotes: Disgruntled removals guy, after having received a lousy dollar tip from Homer: "A buck? I'm glad there's a curse on this place!"

Note from the vortex in the kitchen, after Homer throws in an orange: "Quit throwing your garbage into our dimension!"

Marge: "This family has had its differences, and we've had squabbles, but we've never had knife fights before!"

Homer (on phone): "When you sold me this house you forgot to mention one little thing: you didn't tell me it was built on an Indian burial ground! No, you did not! Well, that's not my recollection. Well, okay. Goodbye." (turns to family) "Says he mentioned it five or six times."

Bart: "Do it again!"
House: "What?"
Bart: "Make the walls bleed!"
House: "No."
Bart: "Hey, we own you, man! Let's see some blood!"
House: "I don't have to entertain you!"
Bart: "Come on man! Do it! Do the blood thing! Come on! Do it! Do it!"
Lisa: "Why are you trying to scare us? Are you trying to keep us from getting close to you, maybe even loving you?"
House: "Leave me alone!"

House: "Hmm. Life with the Simpsons? What choice do I have?" (Shrinks to a tiny point out light, which then disappears)
Lisa: "It destroyed itself rather than live with us. You can't help but feel a little rejected."

Type of ending: Slightly downbeat but quite funny

Synopsis: In an opening scene which gives the series its unofficial title, Homer is sneaking back to the house dressed as a rather unconvincing ghost (sheet over the head, sort of thing) when he stops beneath Bart's treehouse and decides to listen in to the kids' ghost stories. He's just in time to hear Lisa finish her urban legend, at which Bart scoffs, saying he has a much scarier tale. And so begins the story.

Unable to believe how they got such a lovely house in a prime location so cheaply, Marge worries there's a catch, and fails to see objects floating, a voice growling GET OUT! ("Just the house settling," explains an oblivious Homer) and blood running down the walls of the kitchen ("this place certainly could use a woman's touch!") - even a weird vortex in the kitchen, apparently leading to another dimension, does not faze the family. But when Marge finds the others all up and about that night, encouraged by the spirit of the house to kill each other, she has a stern talk with the house, telling it that they aren't going anywhere, and it may as well just get used to the idea. In desperation, the house, having asked for a moment to think it over, pops out of existence.


Rating:

Score
Story: 8 (as it's not technically original I can't give it top marks, though it parodies the haunted house idea well)
Laughs: 5
Originality: 2
Ending: 8
Longevity: 5
Total: 28

[Trollheart]

Treehouse of Horror episode: 1
Year: 1990
Season: 2
Segment: 2 of 3
Segment title: "Hungry are the Damned"
Writer(s): Jayce Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky
Characters:
Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie, Kang, Kodos
Homage to? The Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man"
Basic premise: The Simpsons are abducted by aliens.
Note: this is the first appearance of the aliens Kang and Kodos, who will pop up in many another Treehouse of Horror. It's also the first usage of what will become their theme tune, a sort of play on the Twilight Zone/Outer Limits music.
Best quotes:

Lisa: "There's something not quite right about this."
Homer: "Girl's right. Let's get some applesauce in here for these pork chops! What you looking at buddy?"
Kodos: "Your wife is quite a dish."

Kang: "It is our great pleasure to provide you with unlimited entertainment on your intergalactic journey. This cable system receives over one million channels from the furthest reaches of the galaxy."
Bart: "Can you get HBO?"
Kang: "No. That would cost extra."

Kang: "Over here is our crowning achievement in amusement technology. A digital version of the game you call table tennis. Your primitive paddles have been replaced with electronic -"
Bart: "Hey man, that's just Pong! Get with the times!"
Homer: "Yeah. Marge and I played that old game before we were married!"
Kang: "Well, we did build this spacecraft."
Kodos: "Anyone from a species who has mastered intergalactic travel raise your hand!"

Kang: "Well, if you wanted to make Ceroc the Preparer cry, mission accomplished!"

Kang: "We offered you Paradise. You would have experienced emotions a hundred times greater than what you call love, and a thousand times greater than what you call fun. You would have been treated like gods, and lived forever in beauty. But now, because of your distrustful nature, that can never be."
Marge: "For a superior race they really rub it in."

Lisa: "There were monsters on that ship, and truly, we were them."
Marge: "Lisa, see what we mean when we say you're too smart for your own good?"

Type of ending: Downbeat

Synopsis: The Simpsons are abducted by aliens. Hilarious scene when the others are taken up into the spaceship by a tractor beam, but Homer is too heavy and needs an extra beam to lift him. Even then, the saucer struggles. Through a series of misunderstandings and flawed reasoning, Lisa comes to believe the aliens intend to eat them, but they reveal good intentions at the end. However, because of the Simpsons' distrustful ways and suspicions, the aliens conclude these are not the type of people they want to take to their planet, and drop them back on Earth. The different ways things can be interpreted, or misinterpreted, are handled very well here, with one thing turning out to mean another, and just when you think you have it figured out, it changes again. Very clever. And funny.

Also clever is the way in which at one point the covers are taken off some of the meals and the angle makes it look like Marge and Homer's heads are on the plates. More misunderstandings when a book is found in the possession of the chef, titled How to Cook Humans. Lisa confronts the aliens with it, but Kang and Kodos point out that there are words covered by dust, so it should read How to Cook For Humans. Lisa blows at it and reveals the true title to be How to Cook Forty Humans, but again the aliens blow yet more dust off it and the final title is shown as How to Cook for Forty Humans. Well, that's all right then. Although Ceroc the Preparer is not happy. Seeing that the Simpsons are not yet ready for their brand of Paradise, the aliens return them to where they found them.

Rating:

Oh yes I do love pulling things apart and analysing them to death don't I? If there's fun to be squeezed out of something, rely on me to do that! And here will be no different. Although I fully accept this is a cartoon/animated show and you can't take much of it too seriously, if you think that's going to stop me applying logic and real-world reason and criticism to it, well then hello, we haven't been introduced. I'm Trollheart.

In this segment, I find it unfair that the family, through mostly Lisa, get the wrong idea. Yes she may be jumping to conclusions, but are those suspicions unfounded? Let's look at the evidence, M'Lord.

Firstly, look at the aliens. Through probably no fault of their own, they have huge fangs and seem to be constantly salivating. This makes them look like they're hungry. One of the first things Kang says to them is "Eat! Grow large with food!" whereafter rather quickly Kodos remarks about Marge that she is "quite a dish". All right, these are comments that could be taken as innocent enough, but as the segment goes on, the innuendos and inferences become more and more suspicious. When Lisa queries why the aliens aren't eating, they start talking about a great feast, and make references to the Simpsons being the guests of honour, laughing evilly and noting there will be plenty of time to "chew the fat."

Then they take the time to weigh each of the family. Why? If they're not fattening them up, why do they care what they weigh? Kang also seems to be concerned when they stop eating, urging them to continue. So again, why? How would anyone in this situation not put two and two together? Sure, it's a comment on human suspicion, but it's hardly fair on Lisa.

Score
Story: 8 (Again, it's based on someone else's writing, otherwise it would be getting top marks)
Laughs: 8
Originality: 5
Ending: 8
Longevity: 8
Total: 37

[Trollheart]

Treehouse of Horror episode: 1
Year: 1990
Season: 2
Segment: 3 of 3
Segment title: "The Raven"
Writer(s): Sam Simon / Edgar Allan Poe
Characters:
Main: Homer, Bart (in the form of the raven)
Supporting: Lisa and Maggie, Marge
Homage to? Duh.
Basic premise: If you know the poem, you know the story. If you don't, go read it. You won't be disappointed.

Best quotes: None really, as it's pretty verbatim. The only ones that stand out are Bart's comments to Lisa (who is relating the poem in the treehouse) such as when she says Poe opens the door and Bart mutters "This better be good!" only to hear her recite "darkness there; nothing more" and he retorts with "Do you know what would have been better than nothing, Lisa? Something!"

There's also Homer's slightly changed "Take thy beak from out my heart and take thy form from off my door - why you little-!"

Other than that, nothing to report.

Type of ending: Very downbeat (hey, this is Poe, after all!

Synopsis: Really? The story is based entirely - verbatim, other than Lisa's introduction to it - on Edgar Allan Poe's seminal work of the same name, featuring Homer in the role of Poe, who sits in a room mourning for the loss of his wife (Marge, shown in a picture, her hair so tall it needs an extra frame) and who thinks he hears something outside. It turns out to be a raven, who sits on a bust above his door and won't leave. He fancies the bird caws "nevermore!" and I think you're meant to believe this is the soul of his wife come back to haunt him, or something. Those who have studied the poem can explain it far better than I. But it's chilling in its own way, and related very well. Other than that though, it's exactly as written.

There are a few good touches. Bart making the raven say "Eat my shorts" before Lisa angrily corrects him, the chase around the study, the raven dropping books by Poe on Homer, and the mellifluous voice of James Earl Jones narrating, but otherwise there's not much here to get excited about.

Rating: (I can't in fairness rate it too high; it's well done but nothing original about it really)

Score
Story: 3
Laughs: 1
Originality: 1
Ending: 5
Longevity: 5
Total: 15

[Trollheart]

Notes: Until the thing settled down, there was a basic linkage between segments, as in the first episode, where Bart and Lisa tell scary Halloween stories, which turn into the segments. In the second episode, the segments are based on nightmares suffered by Lisa, then Bart and finally Homer, when all three eat too much candy. By the third episode, it's back to storytelling. After a while this "introductory piece" would be removed, and the segments would just play out without any real preamble, usually titled.

In addition to this, initially the episode would be introduced by one of the family, in the first two instances this being Marge, who essentially voiced her disapproval of the stories and advised parents to send their children to bed early rather than watch. Again, these were - mostly - discontinued as the Treehouse of Horror took on its own identity. They did resurrect it from time to time, often to make a point, like the episode when the  Fox censor laughed at things in the segments, then declared them censored out. When either - or both - are used, I will note same.

Introduction: Marge refers to her previous warning on the inaugural episode, and notes that "if you didn't listen to me then, you're not going to listen to me now."

Derivation: These segments, then, as mentioned above, all derive from nightmares the Simpsons have after having consumed too much Halloween candy. The first is Lisa's nightmare.

Oh, but before we get to that...

Tombstones

Each episode used to (and I think still does) throw in satirical stabs by presenting tombstones with things inscribed on them such as "American industry" and "Satirical comedy". I'll be noting these here from now on. Some of the jokes are purely American and may mean nothing to me. These ones I'll be marking with an asterisk; if anyone wants to explain them to me, don't bother.

No seriously, I would like to know.

Bambi's mom
Jim Morrison (lives)
Cajun cooking
Walt Disney
Lose weight now: ask me how



Treehouse of Horror episode: 2
Year: 1991
Season: 3
Segment: 1 of 3
Segment title: "The Monkey's Paw"
Writer(s): Al Jean, Jeff Martin, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon, George Meyer, John Swartzwelder (Note: there is no distinction made between these writers, who are just lumped together in the writing credits, so I don't know if they all wrote all three episodes, or if some of them were only involved in one or two. As I can't sort it out, and Wiki doesn't make any distinction either, I'm just putting their names on all three).
Characters:
Main: Homer
Supporting: Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Marge, Kang, Kodos, Flanders, Lenny, Moe, Mayor Quimby
Homage to? Short horror story "The Monkey's Paw" (Note: I can't remember when they began titling the segments again, but here at least there are no titles; one story just flows into the other without any real introduction - well, they're all tied together by the medium of dreams, but there are no opening or closing  titles or credits).
Basic premise: On a visit to Morocco, Homer buys a monkey's paw which he is assured will grant him three wishes. Stand by...
Best quotes: Marge: "Homer, where did you get that awful thing?"
Homer (pointing): "From that little shop over there - gasp!" (no shop, only swirling wind). "Oh no wait," he says, pointing the other direction, where the shop actually still is. "It was over there."

Customer at the Gilded Truffle: "If I hear one more thing about the Simpsons, I swear I'm going to scream!"
Other customer: "At first they were super funny, now they're just annoying."

Lisa (with the paw): "I wish for world peace!"
Homer: "Lisa! That was very selfish of you!"

Kang: "Your superior intelligence is no match for our puny weapons!"

Citizen: "This is all the Simpsons' fault!"
Other citizen: "Before, I was just bored with their antics and the merchandise. Now I wish they were dead!"

Homer: "Okay okay! I want a turkey sandwich, on rye bread, with lettuce and mustard, and I don't want any zombie turkeys, I don't want to turn into a turkey myself, or any other weird surprises. Got it?"

Flanders: "Hey Homer. Is that one of those monkey paw dealies you can make wishes with?"
Homer: "Yeah but I gotta warn you it's - uh, yeah yeah! That's what it is! Wanna try it?"

Kang: "Kneel before my puny slingshot, human! AAh! He's got a board with a nail in it!"

Kodos: "Well Kang, it looks like the humans won."
Kang: "Did they? That board may have defeated us, but the humans won't stop there. They'll keep making bigger boards with bigger nails. Soon they'll make a board with a nail so big it  will destroy them all!"

Type of ending: Ironic

Synopsis: After eating too much Halloween candy, against Marge's advice, Lisa has a nightmare in which the whole family are in Marrakesh, Morocco, for some reason. Homer buys a monkey's paw from a trader, and is told it will allow him to make three wishes, though he is strongly advised not to buy it. Of course he  listens and that's the end. Now, about that bridge you wanted to buy...

Maggie makes the first wish before they can stop her (a new dummy/pacifier) and then Bart grabs the paw and wishes for the family to be rich and famous. And they are. Money everywhere, everyone knows them and wants to be their friend. Unfortunately, they're now so well-known that everyone is sick of them (see clever quote above) and they're seen as total sell-outs. Lisa wishes for world peace, which is great until our friends Kang and Kodos launch an invasion!  With Earth all pally now and no more armies or weapons, they're ripe for the picking.

Seeing him throwing away the monkey paw, Flanders asks for it and immediately all his wishes start working out. He kicks the aliens out, "spruces up the old homestead", ie makes it into a castle, while Homer grumbles that he wishes he had a monkey's paw.
Rating:

Trivia: Although not named, one of the people in the crowd is the (again, unnamed) owner or receptionist of the Rubber Bumper Buggy Romper Bouncing Baby Babysitting Services - or whatever the fuck it's called: I've tried three times, pausing the video and I still can't get it - anyway, her: the one who says "The Simpsons? Lady, you must be kidding!"

Score
Story: 6
Laughs: 5
Originality: 2
Ending: 7
Longevity: 1
Total: 21

[Trollheart]

This then is Bart's nightmare - not surprisingly, he's the one starring in it and is able to do whatever he likes without anyone being able to punish him.



Treehouse of Horror episode: 2
Year: 1991
Season: 3
Segment: 2 of 3
Segment title: "The Bart Zone"
Writer(s): Al Jean, Jeff Martin, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon, George Meyer, John Swartzwelder
Characters:
Main: Bart, Homer, Marge
Supporting: Lisa, Maggie, Snowball II, Mrs Krabappel, Principal Skinner,  Moe, Otto, Krusty, Milhouse, Sherri and/or Terri, Martin, Barney

Homage to? Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life"
Basic premise: Bart is the boy with power to do everything and anything he wants, and keeps his family, and Springfield, in thrall, for fear of what might happen if they disobey.

Best quotes: Homer: "He gets it from your side of the family, you know: no monsters on my side!"

Otto: "This is fun isn't it? We're gonna die, aren't we?"

Krusty: "Well, we're still on: 346 consecutive hours and all because of one little boy who WON'T LET ME STOP!"

Dr. Marvin Monroe: "The problem is, Bart, you don't care whether you get good attention - from, say, getting good marks in school, or bad attention - from, say, turning your father into a jack-in-the-box. Homer, I see you agree with me."
Homer: "I'm not nodding: it's the air-conditioning."

Type of ending: Pretty cheesy really, a bit meh.

Synopsis: Not a lot to tell. If you've seen the episode you know the deal. Springfield is constantly on edge because everyone has to be happy - or pretend to be - all the time, otherwise Bart can turn them into whatever he feels like. When Homer tries to end the town's shared nightmare by killing Bart, he is turned into a jack-in-the-box. The never-in-any-way-missed Dr. Marvin Monroe advises Homer he should spend time with the boy. They have so much fun that Bart turns his father back into himself. The end. Yeah.

Rating: (I used to think "at least they had the thing about the jack-in-the-box, which is funny", but no: that was in the Twilight Zone episode too, so they basically just rewrote it. And they really didn't do much of a job with it. An interesting note: Monroe says to Homer "get to know him, maybe even love him." These are almost verbatim the words Lisa uses in "Bad Dream  House" when she speaks to the house. Given that there's only a year and one THOH between the two, it's pretty lazy writing I feel.

Score
Story: 2 (it's just a copy of the episode with a few bits added in)
Laughs: 3
Originality: 1
Ending: 1
Longevity: 2
Total: 9

[Trollheart]

Finally, we have Homer's nightmare. When the kids, scared by their own dreams, run into their parents' bedroom to sleep with them, Homer groans, looking at the clock, "Four AM? I have to be up for work in a few hours. Work... work..." And so his nightmare involves his job. And we are able to welcome, for the first, but by no means the last time, to The Treehouse of Horror, Springfield's very own scary fiend, Charles Montgomery Burns.

And Smithers.

Treehouse of Horror episode: 2
Year: 1991
Season: 3
Segment: 3 of 3
Segment title: "If I Only Had a Brain"
Writer(s): Al Jean, Jeff Martin, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon, George Meyer, John Swartzwelder
Characters:
Main: Homer, Smithers, Mr. Burns
Supporting: Lenny, Carl, Willy, Marge, Maggie, Bart, Lisa


Homage to? Frankenstein duh. Also elements of Burke and Hare and (it says here) The Beast with Two Heads. Sure. Better than the beast with two backs I guess.
Basic premise: Mr. Burns wants a brain for his new robot worker, and who do you think is first on the list?
Best quotes: Smithers: "What corpse should we unearth, sir?"
Burns: "I don't know. I feel like a kid in a candy store!"

Smithers: "Did you hear that sir?"
Burns: "No I didn't. What is it? Frankenstein? The Booger Man?"
Smithers: "The, uh, the man in the bag sir. I think he's still alive."
Burns (bashing bag with spade): "Bad corpse! Bad corpse! Scaring Smithers! Better?"
Smithers: "Thank you, sir."

Burns: "Damn it Smithers! This isn't rocket science! It's brain surgery!"

Burns (with Homer's brain on his head): "Look at me! I'm Davy Crocket!"

Burns: "Oh Smithers, I was wrong to play God! Life is precious, not a thing to be toyed with! Now take out that brain and flush it down the toilet!"
Smithers: "Sir, his family might appreciate it if you'd return the brain to his body."
Burns (whining): "Oh come on! It's 11:45. Oh Smithers, when you look at me with those puppy-dog eyes of yours!"

Smithers: "You know what this means, sir? He was alive!"
Burns: "Ooh you're right, Smithers. I guess I owe you a Coke."

Type of ending: Scary-ish and funny

Synopsis: After being fired for sleeping on the job, Homer takes a job as a gravedigger, but old habits die hard, and he again falls asleep while digging a grave. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns has a scheme to replace his workers with robots, but for the prototype he needs a human brain. So off he and Smithers go to the cemetery at night, prowling through the graves looking for a fresh corpse. They find Homer asleep, and assume he is dead. They bring him back to the lab and take his brain out, putting it in the robot body. But Homer's brain takes over, and the robot worker ends up sitting with his feet up on the console eating donuts.

Angry, Mr. Burns abandons the project, and Smithers convinces him to return Homer's brain to his body. However, the robot falls on Burns and crushes his body, so he has Smithers graft his own head onto the shoulders of Homer. Two heads are definitely not better than one in this instance!
Rating:

Trivia: Perhaps giving the episode its title, while removing Homer's brain Mr. Burns hums the tune "If I Only Had a Brain" from the movie The Wizard of Oz.

This is the first time Burns apparently makes a bet with Smither involving a Coke. In the episode parodying The Shining later, as they leave he says "Tell you what: if we come back and they're all dead, I owe you a Coke!"


The obvious question here is, how is Mr. Burns suddenly a brain surgeon? He's shown no indication of such talents before, and even had he those talents, he's a little old and frail to be handling sensitive medical instruments! How is a robot body able to eat donuts, and why exactly is Homer given back his job when he was fired (though I suppose that could be seen as a "generous" gesture on behalf of Burns for having tried to turn him into some sort of automated monster!)? Also, as I moaned about on the Twilight Zone episode "The Mighty Casey", how can a human brain be put into a robotic body? Ah, I see. Very well then. If that is to be your attitude, I shall hie me elsewhere. But I shall return,  you may be assured of - oh, you're gone.

Score
Story: 5
Laughs: 5
Originality: 2
Ending: 8
Longevity: 2
Total: 22

[Trollheart]

Homer does the intro this time, stepping into an outline of Alfred Hitchcock and drawling "Good evening." He goes on to take aim at those who want the show cancelled, daring them to turn off their TV, and then making chicken noises. The set goes off, and Marge is heard asking him if he just insulted everyone. "No," lies Homer. "I swear on this bible." Marge snaps "That's not a Bible: it's a book of carpet samples!"

We're back to the idea of storytelling, as Lisa, Bart and then grandpa tell their tales. Lisa is up first, and says "this is a tale of a boy and his doll." When Homer sneers "that's not very scary" she grins "A doll from Hell!"



Drexell's Class*
I'm with stupid (pointing to)
R.. Beckminster Fuller*
Slapstick
American workmanship

Treehouse of Horror episode: 3
Year: 1992
Season: 4
Segment: 1 of 3
Segment title: "Clown Without Pity"
Writer(s): Al Jean & Mike Reiss, Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky, Sam Simon, Jon Vitti
(As before, no separate writing credits are shown, so the same deal as before).
Characters:
Main: Homer, Bart, Krusty (as a doll)
Supporting: Grandpa, Marge, Lisa, Martin, Nelson
Homage to? The Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll", the movie Child's Play.
Basic premise: Looking for a birthday present for Bart, Homer buys a Krusty doll from a strange old man in a strange old shop. Surprisingly, the doll turns out to be evil, and tries to kill him.
Best quotes: Marge: "Where did you get all the money, grandpa?"
Grandpa: "The government. I didn't earn it, I don't need it, but if they miss one payment I'll raise hell!"

Bart: "Hey Homer, where's my present?"
Homer: "I forgot to get you a present, son. But I swear on my father's grave -"
Grandpa: "Hey!"
Homer: "I will get you one now."

Homer: "Do you sell toys?"
Shop owner: "We sell forbidden objects from places men fear to tread. We also sell frozen yogurts, which I call frogurts."

Shop owner: "Take this object, but beware: it carries with it a terrible curse."
Homer: "That's bad."
Shop owner: "But it comes with a free frogurt!"
Homer: "That's good!"
Shop owner: "The frogurt is also cursed."
Homer: "That's bad!"
Shop owner: "But you get your choice of toppings."
Homer: "That's good!"
Shop owner: "The toppings contain Potassium Benzoate." (Blank look from Homer) "That's bad."

Bart: "I'd say that the pressure has finally got to dad, but what pressure?"

Patti (or is it Selma?), as Homer runs through the house naked: "There goes the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality."

Krusty Co. service guy: "Yup, there's your problem: someone set this thing to 'evil'!"

Type of ending: Upbeat but silly
Synopsis: When he realises he has no birthday present for Bart, Homer goes to a strange curio shop and buys a Krusty doll, ignoring the shop owner's warning that the toy is cursed. Bart loves it, but later the toy attacks Homer, and even when he tries to drop it into a bottomless pit (with a sign saying "Bottomless Pit"!) it comes back. Finally, a repairman comes out to sort the issue, remarking that the toy has been set from "good" to "evil." Flicking the switch on its back turns it back into a good toy, and the Krusty toy ends up sharing Lisa's wendy house with her Malibu Stacy doll.
Rating:

Trivia: The title is a corruption of the song "Town Without Pity", mostly made famous by Gene Pitney, and from the German 1961 movie of the same name.

Score
Story: 8
Laughs: 8
Originality: 5
Ending: 5
Longevity: 5
Total: 31

[Trollheart]

Grandpa is up next, and Bart says to him that he has led an interesting life. "That's a lie!" snaps Grandpa, "and you know it! But," he admits, "I have seen a lot of movies." And so his story is a retelling of King Kong, shown in black and white.

Treehouse of Horror episode: 3
Year: 1992
Season: 4
Segment: 2 of 3
Segment title:  "King Homer"
Writer(s): Al Jean & Mike Reiss, Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky, Sam Simon, Jon Vitti
Characters:
Main: Homer, Mr. Burns, Smithers, Marge
Supporting: Barney,  Lenny, Carl, Charlie (? - occasional worker see at the plant), Otto
Homage to? King Kong
Basic premise: Mr. Burns captures King Homer and brings him back to exhibit him, but he breaks loose and wreaks havoc.
Best quotes: Burns: "What do you think, Smithers?"
Smithers: "I think women and seamen don't mix, sir."
Burns: "Pshaw! We all know what you think!"

Carl: " I heard we're going to Ape Island."
Lenny: "Yeah, to capture a big ape. I wish we were going to Candy Apple Island."
Charlie(?): "Candy Apple Island? What have they got there?"
Carl: "Apes. But they're not so big."

Marge: "Will I come too?"
Burns: "Of course! We couldn't dream of going without the bait - ah, that is, the bait-hing beauty. The bathing beauty. Well I covered that up pretty well."

Marge: "What is he saying?"
Burns: "Uh, he's saying we wouldn't dream of sacrificing the blue-haired woman!"

Lenny: "Hey come on Homer, cut it out! Quit eating me!" (Carl shoots at Homer, hits Lenny in the shoulder) "Ow! Nice shot, Carl!"

Burns: "Nice work, Smithers! When we get back, I'm giving you a raise." (Homer eats him) "Oh well."

Marge: "I think you're making him angry."
Reporter: "Come on! What's he gonna do? Run amuck in downtown Springfield?"

Flight leader, as they wait for Homer to ascend the building: "He's sure taking his sweet time!"
Other pilot: "Better refuel."

Marge: "He's not dead!"
Burns: "No, but his career is."

Type of ending: Upbeat but silly

Synopsis: Follows the basic story of the movie. Mister Burns is a big game hunter/entrepreneur who goes to Ape Island to capture the legendary Homer. Using Marge as bait he lures the huge beast away and knocks him out with gas, then has him transported back to the USA, where he exhibits him. Homer runs amuck, captures Marge, makes a pathetic attempt to climb a tall building but gets no further than a few feet off the ground before he collapses. Later he and Marge marry.

Rating:

Score
Story: 4
Laughs: 4
Originality: 2
Ending: 5
Longevity: 1
Total: 16

[Trollheart]

Treehouse of Horror episode: 3
Year: 1992
Season: 4
Segment: 3 of 3
Segment title: "Dial Z for Zombies"
Writer(s): Al Jean & Mike Reiss, Jay Kogen & Wallace Wolodarsky, Sam Simon, Jon Vitti
Characters:
Main: Bart, Lisa, Homer, Marge, Maggie
Supporting: Flanders, Skinner, Martin Prince, Dolph, Jimbo, Curny, Krusty, Sideshow Mel, Willy, Barney

Homage to? Night/Return of the Living Dead and every zombie movie or TV series you've ever watched
Basic premise: When Bart and Lisa try to resurrect their beloved cat, the spell goes a little wrong and suddenly Springfield is overrun with zombies.

Best quotes:
Book (on Bart opening it, phantom faces leering out of its pages): "Evil! Evil! Bad! Beware!"
Bart (slamming book closed): "Cool!"
Book (faces from within): "Ow! Ouch! Ow!"

Bart (reading): "Let's see, what we got? How to get your skeletons their whitest, selling your soul in a buyer's market..."

Lisa; "Bart! You cast the wrong spell! Zombies!"
Bart: "Please, Lisa: they prefer to be called the living impaired!"

Willy (patting down a grave): "There! Pretty as a picture." (Zombies emerge from the grave) "Aaah! Zombies!" (Zombies shuffle off, Willy pats down grave again) "There! Pretty as a picture!"

Lisa and Bart: "Dad! Dad! We did something really bad!"
Homer: "Did you wreck the car?"
Lisa and Bart: "No."
Homer: "Did you raise the dead?"
Lisa and Bart: "Yes."
Homer: "But the car's okay?"
Lis and Bart: "Yes."
Homer: "All right then."

Skinner: "Martin Prince to my office. And bring that big, juicy chess club brain of yours along with you!"

Homer: "Spare my family! Take me! Take me!"
(Zombies gather around, walk off annoyed at there being no brain to consume).

Flanders: "Hey Simpson! I'm feeling a mite peckish. Mind if I nibble on  your ear?"
Homer shoots him with a shotgun.
Bart: "Dad! You killed the zombie Flanders!"
Homer: "He was a zombie?"

Homer (shooting): "Take that, Washington! Eat lead, Einstein! Show's over, Shakespeare!"

Zombie, getting back into grave: "Excuse me, I'm John Smith."
Other zombie: "John Smith, 1882?"
Zombie: "My mistake."

Type of ending: Ironic

Synopsis: Trying to do a book report for school (his first attempt, Baby's First Book, being deemed not to have fulfilled the brief by his teacher) Bart comes across an occult section in the library, where he finds a book of spells. Arriving home, he finds Lisa pining for the loss of their pet cat, Snowball, and looks in the book for a spell to bring her back to life. They go to the graveyard, but the spell instead raises all the dead. Springfield is now in the midst of a zombie attack. Clever touch there when Bart is raising the dead, he has a copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller on his head. Also clever when Homer points a shotgun at the screen and yells "To the book depository!" I mean, it's not Texas, but the meaning is pretty clear. Anyway eventually Bart reverses the spell and the zombies go back to their graves. Clever commentary at the end, when, as they all sit watching TV, Marge says "I'm sure glad we didn't all turn into mindless zombies!" and Bart says "Shh! TV!" Homer then remarks "Man fall down. Funny." And they all grunt.

Rating:

Score
Story: 8
Laughs: 7
Originality: 3
Ending: 5
Longevity: 2
Total: 25

[Trollheart]

Introduction: None
Derivation: A walk through paintings which all have a story to tell, in a homage to Rod Serling's Night Gallery. Bart is your guide.


Elvis: accept it
A balanced budget
Subtle political satire
TV violence

Treehouse of Horror episode: 4
Year: 1993
Season: 5
Segment: 1 of 3
Segment title: "The Devil and Homer Simpson"
Writer(s): Greg Daniels and Dan McGrath
Characters:
Main: Homer, Flanders
Supporting: Marge, Bart, Lisa, Lionel Hutz
Homage to? The Devil and Daniel Webster
Basic premise: Homer sells his soul for a donut; Marge tries to trick the devil into releasing him from his contract.
Best quotes:
Homer: "Don't panic: remember your emergency training." (Opens manual, into which is cut a deep box shape; reads note - Dear Homer, IOU one emergency donut, signed Homer) "Damn! He's always one step ahead!"

Homer: "You're the devil?"
Flanders: "Always the one you least suspect eh?"

Burns: "Hmm. Who's that goat-legged fellow? I like the cut of his jib."
Smithers: "Prince of Darkness, sir. He's your eleven o'clock."

Flanders/Devil: "Oh, you Americans, with your due process and fair trials! This is always so much easier in Mexico!"

Flanders/Devil: "Hey Bart."
Bart: "Hey."

Demon: "So, you like donuts eh?"
Homer: "Uh-huh."
Demon: "Well, have all the donuts in the world! Ha ha ha ha!"
(As Homer finishes the last donut in the world)
Homer: "More."
Demon: "I - I don't understand it. James Coco (?) went mad in fifteen minutes!"

Type of ending: Ironic and funny

Synopsis: When a true emergency strikes, Homer knows what to do. No donuts left, as Lenny and Carl have eaten them all (and thrown some at Grampa for kicks) but he has an emergency donut in his manual. When he finds that he earlier ate this, he whines that he would sell his soul for a donut, and who should appear but Flanders as the Devil, ready to seal the deal. Homer later realises though that the contract doesn't fall due until or unless he finishes the donut, and determines never to do so. But of course, this is Homer and these are donuts, so he has no chance, and when he eats the last crumb Flanders pops up to take his soul. Funny when Homer, doomed to Hell, gets stuck in the floor as Flanders tries to get him pulled down.

Lisa challenges the Devil to allow Homer one chance to save his soul - due process, which Flanders is not happy about (well, he wouldn't would he, being a Republican?) but has no choice but to agree to. Homer must spend one day in Hell while arrangements are made, and at midnight the trial begins. When Marge shows the jury a note from Homer in which he pledges his soul to her forever, they rule in favour of her and the Devil is thwarted.

Nevertheless, Homer doesn't get off scot free, having his head turned into a donut. Naturally, he keeps trying to eat it.
Rating:

Score
Story: 5
Laughs: 5
Originality: 2
Ending: 5
Longevity: 2
Total: 19

[Trollheart]

Treehouse of Horror episode: 4
Year: 1993
Season: 5
Segment: 2 of 3
Segment title: "Terror at five and a half feet"
Writer(s): Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein
Characters:
Main: Bart, Milhouse
Supporting: Skinner, Otto, Uder, Willy, Hans Moleman, Ralph Wiggum,  Kang, Kodos, Jimbo, Flanders, Martin Prince, Sherri, Terri, Wendell

Homage to? Twilight Zone episode "Terror at 20,000 feet"
Basic premise: The school bus goes out of control, and Bart and Milhouse see a tiny creature outside, tearing parts off the bus.
Best quotes:

Otto: "I don't see anything."
Milhouse: "Wait a minute! Who's driving the bus?"
Otto: "Ooh! Uno momento, por favor!"

Skinner: "Now I've gotten word that a child is using his imagination, and I've come to put a stop to it."

Skinner: "Pull, Willy! Pull!"
Willy: "I'm doin' all the pullin', ye blouse-wearin' poodle-walker!"

Flanders: "Oh my lord! It's some sort of hideous monster! Oh isn't that cute? He's trying to claw my eyes out!"

Type of ending: Downbeat/ Horrific

Synopsis: As the school bus proceeds through heavy rain, Bart looks out the window and sees a tiny monster tearing at the outside, ripping holes in the metal, pulling out wires etc. He tries to convince Otto, Skinner, and everyone else on the bus but nobody can see the creature except him. Eventually he decides to take matters into his own hands, and grabs an emergency flare (wait, what? What is a school bus doing with emergency flares on board? It gonna go sailing on the sea or something? Emergency flares, with excitable children around? Great idea!) and throws it at the creature, knocking it off the bus where it's found and picked up by Flanders.

When the bus finally stops everyone can see how badly it's damaged, and nobody but Bart knows why. He's being taken to a mental institution when the creature taps on the rear window of the ambulance, holding up Flanders' head.

Rating:

Score
Story: 4
Laughs: 3
Originality: 2
Ending: 5
Longevity: 1
Total: 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A6CzxmVeIE

[Trollheart]

Treehouse of Horror episode: 4
Year: 1993
Season: 5
Segment: 3 of 3
Segment title: "Bart Simpson's Dracula"
Writer(s): Bill Canterbury
Characters:
Main: Bart, Lisa, Mr. Burns, Homer
Supporting: Smithers, Milhouse, Marge, Maggie, Kent Brockman, Chief Wiggum, Grampa, Janey, Martin, Ralph, Lou, Eddie

Homage to? Bram Stoker's Dracula (the movie) and also of course the novel; The Lost Boys
Basic premise: Mister Burns is a vampire
Best quotes:

Kent Brockman: "Another local peasant has been found dead, drained of his blood with two teeth marks on his throat. This cape was found at the scene (picture shows a black cape with the word DRACULA on it) Police are baffled."
Wiggum: "We think we're dealing with some sort of supernatural being, most likely a mummy. As a precaution, I've ordered the Egyptian wing of the Springfield museum destroyed."

Homer: "Lisa, vampires are make-believe, just like elves, gremlins and eskimos."

Homer: "It sure was nice of Mr. Burns to invite us for a midnight dinner in his country house in... PENNSYLVANIA!"

Burns (on intercom): "Ah welcome, come in. Excellent. Fresh victims for my ever-growing army of the undead!"
Smithers: "Sir, you have to let go of the button -"
Burns: "Son of a bi -"

Lisa: "Eww! Dad, this is blood!"
Homer: "Correction: free blood!"

Bart: "Hello mother, hello father. I missed you during my uneventful absence."

Homer: "Oh Lisa, you and your stories. Bart's a vampire. Beer kills brain cells. Now let's go back to that.. building ... thingy ... where our beds and TV... is."

Grandpa: "Quick! We have to kill the boy!"
Marge: "How do you know he's a vampire?"
Grandpa: "He's a vampire? AAAAHHHH!"

Marge: "Homer, we've got to do something! Today he's drinking people's blood, tomorrow he could be smoking!"

Homer: "Kill my boss? Do I dare live out the American dream?"

Lisa: "You must drive this stake right through his heart."
Homer: "Take that, foul fiend!"
Lisa: "Dad, that's his crotch!"
Burns: "Aaaagghh! You're fired!"

Type of ending: Stupid, pointless and very annoying

Synopsis: Invited to a midnight dinner by Mr. Burns, the Simpsons quickly become suspicious (well, Bart and Lisa do) and uncover evidence that Homer's boss is a vampire. Bart is turned, and then, Lost Boys-like, floats outside Lisa's window and then turns her. Stupid ending where suddenly for some reason they all shout "Happy Halloween" and sing what appears to be "Auld Lang Syne" (?) as it snows outside??
Rating: (despite the ending)

Score
Story: 5
Laughs: 5
Originality: 2
Ending: 0
Longevity: 5
Total:17

[Trollheart]

Introduction: Marge comes on as usual to warn everyone about how scary the show is, and that kids should not be allowed to watch it, then she is handed a note to say that in fact it's so scary that Congress will not allow it to be shown, and so some old black-and-white western begins. This is then interrupted as Bart mimics the Controller from The Outer Limits. Homer then sees what he's doing, and starts messing around with the waveforms.



"Amusing tombstones" (they're just not trying are they?)
However in addition to the tombstone, we get, as we travel through the cemetery, Moe hanging himself (or being hanged) and opening his eyes, Patti and Selma being burned as witches (and lighting their cigarettes from the flames), Skinner being guillotined while below him are the heads of Mrs. Krabappel, Wiggum and Willy and then Bart comes in, stomps them down in the basket, Skinner gives him the thumbs-up and Bart drops the blade. Finally the couch gag is the family coming in as zombies.

Treehouse of Horror episode: 5
Year: 1994
Season: 6
Segment: 1 of 3
Segment title: "The Shinning"
Writer(s): Bob Kushell
Characters:
Main: Homer, Bart, Maggie, Lisa, Marge
Supporting: Mr. Burns, Smithers, Groundskeeper Willy, Chief Wiggum, Kent Brockman
Homage to? The Shining duh
Basic premise: Mr. Burns has Homer and his family take care of his cabin in the mountains while he is away and while staying there Homer loses it and goes after his family. Other strange things happen. You know: it's The Shining
Best quotes:

Burns, as blood pours out of the lift: "Hmm, that's odd. Usually the blood gets off at the second floor!"

Willy: "You read ma thoughts! You've got the Shinning!"
Bart: "You mean the Shining?"
Willy: "Ssh! You wanna get sued?"

Burns; "Excellent! Cutting off cable TV and beer supply will ensure I get an honest winter's work out of those people."
Smithers: "Sir, did you ever stop to consider that maybe it was doing this which caused the other caretakers to go insane and murder their families?"
Burns: "Hmm. Perhaps. Tell you what: we come back and everyone's slaughtered, I owe you a Coke!"

Homer: "So what do you think Marge? All I need is a title. I was thinking something along the lines of No TV and no beer make Homer something something."
Marge: "Go crazy?"
Homer: "Don't mind if I do!"

Marge (on radio): "Hello? Police? Help! My husband is on a murderous rampage! Over."
Wiggum: "Oh, thank goodness that's over. I was worried there for a minute."

Homer: "Urge to kill fading, fading, fading, RISING, fading, gone."

Type of ending: Funny and a little tragic

Synopsis: Hired by Burns as the caretakers for his mountain lodge retreat, the Simpsons settle in as the snow begins to fall. Groundskeeper Willy realises Bart has "the Shinning", and tells him to call for him if ever he needs him. Finding that Burns has turned off cable TV and taken all the beer, Homer goes crazy and chases his family with an axe. Marge locks him in the pantry, where he's happy eating everything until Moe, who had appeared as a ghost earlier and encouraged, read, intimidated him, into killing his family, drags him out, along with some other spectral figures (including Freddie Kruger) and send him on his murderous way again.

Bart calls Willy using the Shinning, but as soon as he arrives his would-be rescuer is killed by Homer, who then chases the family out into the snow. Marge finds a tossed-aside mini TV at the last moment, and reunited with his first love Homer's murderous rage dissipates. Mind you, they all then end up watching the mini-TV and freezing to death, but you can't have everything.
Rating:

Score
Story: 6 (Can't be too high, as they're basically copying King's novel)
Laughs: 8
Originality: 2
Ending: 6
Longevity: 10
Total:   32

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyQukqhP0UA

[Trollheart]

Treehouse of Horror episode: 4
Year: 1994
Season: 5
Segment: 2 of 3
Segment title: "Time and Punishment"
Writer(s): Greg Daniels, Dan McGrath
Characters:
Main: Homer
Supporting: Marge, Lisa, Maggie, Bart, Flanders
Homage to? A Sound of Thunder, it says here.
Basic premise: After fixing his dodgy toaster Homer finds it is a time machine, and travels back to the time when dinosaurs ruled the earth. However while there he manages to change the future. Repeatedly.
Best quotes:
Homer: "I've travelled back to a time when dinosaurs weren't just confined to zoos!"

Flanders: "Oh I see we have a negative Nellie in sector 2! I'm gonna have to ask the whole family to freeze and prepare for re-Neducation!"

Flanders: "Now, in case all that smiling didn't cheer you up, there's something that never fails: a nice glass of warm milk, a little nap and a total frontal lobotomy!"

Homer: "Hmm. Fabulous house, well-behaved kids, sisters-in-law dead, luxury sedan - Woo-hoo!"

Type of ending: Inconclusive
Synopsis: Having trouble with his toaster, Homer accidentally turns it into a time machine. He returns to the time of dinosaurs (yes, you've heard it before; I wrote it in the "basic premise" above, shut up) and kills a bug, which alters the future so that now Ned Flanders is the unquestioned master of the world, and everyone has to obey him. Going back to the past he tries to avoid killing anything, but sits on a fish coming out of the water - first mammal on earth I guess - and this time when he gets back to the present his family are all giants. Third time lucky; this time he sneezes and wipes out all the dinosaurs. On returning, everything is perfect, even better than before, except nobody seems to know what a doughnut is! Screaming, he runs off, as Marge notes "It's raining again." Raining doughnuts.

Next he goes wild, killing everything in sight, and after several returns where really weird things happen, he finds himself back in a more-or-less normal universe. Of course, his family all now have reptilian tongues, but as he says himself, close enough.
Rating:

Score
Story: 6 (I haven't read the Bradbury story but it's clearly not an original episode)
Laughs: 4
Originality: 3
Ending: 5
Longevity: 2
Total: 20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1hmiaNReCg

[Trollheart]

Treehouse of Horror episode: 4
Year: 1994
Season: 5
Segment: 3 of 3
Segment title: "Nightmare Cafeteria"
Writer(s): David X. Cohen
Characters:
Main: Bart
Supporting: Skinner, Lunchlady Doris, Martin Prince, Jimbo, Milhouse, Willy, Mrs. Krabappel, Mrs. Hoover, Mr. Largo, Uder, Sherri, Terri, Lisa, Marge, Wendle
Homage to? Soylent Green
Basic premise: Skinner and the faculty begin eating the students
Best quotes:
Skinner: "Oh don't worry about Uder! I have a gut feeling he's around here somewhere. After all, isn't there a little Uder in all of us? In fact, you might say we ate Uder, and he's in our stomachs right now! (Pause) Wait a minute: scratch that."

Willy" I'm comin' to save ye all!! " (Get hit with an axe) "Aw, I'm really bad at this!" (This is I assume meant to link back to his attempt to save Bart in "The Shinning", which came to an equally quick failure).

Skinner: "I'm going to enjoy devouring you, Simpson. I believe I'll start as you so often suggested, by eating your shorts!"

Type of ending: Stupid and annoying

Synopsis: With food for the cafeteria in short supply, Principal Skinner comes up with the idea of cooking the students. Bart and Lisa must save the say, by, um, well, see further. Good link with Willy rushing to save them and again being hit in the back by an axe, this time wielded by Skinner. Very annoyingly it turns out to be a dream, and then there's a stupid dance routine with "fog that turns people inside out" and they dance to that tune "One, thrilling combination, every little step she takes" - you know the one. They change the lyric but it's very irritating and a terrible way to end a story they clearly had no idea how to conclude.

Rating: (mostly for the awful ending)

Score
Story: 7
Laughs: 3
Originality: 5
Ending: 0
Longevity: 0
Total: 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4r9kdcGApk