Treehouse of Horror

"Hello, everyone.  You know, Hallowe'en is a very strange holiday.  Personally, I don't understand it.  Mm mm...  Kids worshipping ghosts, pretending to be devils.  Oooh, things on TV that are completely inappropriate for younger viewers.  Things like the following half hour.  Nothing seems to bother my kids. But tonight's show, which I totally wash my hands of, is really scary. So if you have sensitive children, maybe you should tuck them into bed early tonight instead of writing us angry letters tomorrow.  Thanks for your attention. Enjoy the show." -- Marge Simpson --

"Treehouse of Horror" (also known as "The Simpsons

Halloween Special") is the third episode of Season 2 and the first Halloween Special. Kang and Kodos make their first appearance in this episode.

Synopsis

The first of the annual Halloween spook-fest. In 'Bad Dream House', the family move into an old haunted house, and are possessed to kill each other. In 'Hungry are the Damned', the family are abducted by Kang and Kodos, and fattened up to the extent that Lisa questions their motive. Her nosiness ends up in the Simpsons being dropped off at home again. In 'The Raven', a poem by Edgar Allan Poe is recited with the family as the characters.

Full Story

Opening Sequence

In a parody of the original Frankenstein film, Marge warns viewers that the following program (The Simpsons) may give their children nightmares, so she suggests the adults to "tuck your children into bed tonight instead of writing us angry letters tomorrow." However, the viewers ignore her and let their children watch it anyway.

Wraparound

When Homer comes back from trick-or-treating, he notices Bart and Lisa are telling ghost stories in Bart's treehouse. He climbs up and eavesdrops while Bart comments on Lisa's first story. Bart starts telling his own story called:

Bad Dream House

Bad Dream House title card

The "haunted" house.

In a parody of The Amityville Horror The Simpsons move into a new home at a great price. Lisa and Marge are scared there is an evil presence lurking in the house, though Homer says there's nothing to worry about despite there being a vortex in the kitchen, Homer throws in an orange into the vortex then the ones who live in the world throw it out with a note that asks them not to throw in stuff. Bart being strangled by lamp cord, the house threatening the family to leave, and being thrown up to the ceiling. When everyone tries to settle in to sleep, the house brainwashes everyone to kill each other. Luckily, they stop what they're doing, thanks to Marge not being brainwashed. The family then finds out there is an ancient Indian burial ground in the cellar. Suddenly, the house threatens that they will die horribly. Marge ends up angrily telling the house to shut up, and after a few moments, it complies. Marge then explains that since they are living in the house, the house is going to have to accept this. The house asks them to leave for a moment as it decides what to do. It determines it would rather die than live with the Simpsons, and the house implodes into nothingness.

Hungry are the Damned

Kang and Kodos

Hungry are the Damned title card

In a parody of To Serve Man The Simpsons are having a barbecue when an alien ship suddenly abducts them. Then When they arrive on the ship, they meet Kang, Kodos and Serak the preparer (It is the unnamed alien, who treat the Simpsons extremely well by giving them countless amounts of food to hold them over until the great feast at Rigel 4. After the whole family is weighed and the Rigelians still make food references, Lisa becomes suspicious and thus. One night, she wanders around the ship & heads into the kitchen when Serak cooks something to "give the humans the perfect flavor". After he leaves, Lisa grabs the book "How To Cook Humans", runs to her family and accuses the Rigelians of feed them up to eat them. However, it is then revealed she didn't see the whole title of the book which is actually "How To Cook For Forty Humans". The Rigelians feel sad and angry, so they send the family back home to live the life of not gods, but normal human beings. Lisa then speculates that they, the Simpson family, may be the true monsters.

The Raven

Bart as the Raven.

The Raven title card

In A Simpson's version of the Edgar Allan Poe tale, "The Raven". The narrator (Homer) reads a book to forget the lost lover of his, Lenore (Marge). He hears a knock, but there is no one in front of the door. Knocking keeps on and he finds out it is the Raven (Bart) behind the window. And As he opens it, the Raven flies into the room, sits on the bust of Pallas above the door and says "Eat my shorts" (actually said by Bart to interrupt Lisa telling him that the Raven says Nevermore and nothing else).  But As the story continous, the Raven keeps on repeating "Nevermore", driving the narrator crazy. He tries to catch the Raven, only to provoke it to drop books on him. At the end, the mad narrator lies in the middle of the room, surrounded by books, and the Raven laughs.

Epilogue

Later As the episode comes to a close, Bart and Lisa consider the tales before going to bed, not knowing Homer was freaked out by all of the stories. Everyone goes to bed, but Homer has trouble sleeping that night, as he decides he hates Halloween when he hears the Raven outside.

Behind the Laughter

Production

The episode was written by John Swartzwelder, Jay Kogen, Wallace Wolodarsky and Sam Simon. Wesley Archer, Rich Moore and David Silverman directed. The episode is considered to be non-canon and takes place outside the normal continuity of the show. Part of the series' attraction to the writers is that they are able to break the rules and include violence and kill off characters, which they would not usually be able in a regular episode.

Reception

Since it first aired, the episode has received very positive reviews from television critics and is almost always included in the lists of "best episodes" of the show.

Gallery

Hungry are the Damned poster

Action figures for The Raven