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Lisa the Beauty Queen
Treehouse of Horror III
Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie
Treehouse of Horror II
Treehouse of Horror III
Treehouse of Horror IV

Trivia[]

  • The scene where Homer gives his warning to the audience is similar to Marge's warnings in the first and second Treehouse of Horror specials.
  • Homer walking onto stage and saying 'Good Evening' is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock, who frequently introduced his TV series in this manner.
  • This is the first Treehouse of Horror episode to contain a couch gag, appropriately being a horror-themed one (in this case, with the Simpsons family as skeletons.) This would continue until after "Treehouse of Horror X".
  • According to episode writer Al Jean on the DVD commentary for this episode, this episode was really fraught to the brim with major coloring troubles and other issues when the colored version of this episode was test screened to the staff. When there was just 6 weeks remaining before it's October 29th, 1992 release date, the episode was subjected to be comepletely overhauled in South Korea with approximately 100 line changes.
  • This is also the first Treehouse of Horror special to have the closing credits shown in a green typeface instead of the standard yellow. It's also the final one to have the credits shown over a still from the episode, as the first and second specials did; afterwards the credits would roll against a black background, like the standard closing credits sequence.
  • Dial "Z" for Zombies is the first of 3 zombie segments in Treehouse of Horror, joining "The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms" and "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind".
  • Coincidentally, this episode aired directly on Dan Castellaneta's (Homer's voice actor) 35th birthday.
  • After seeing Homer run naked through the kitchen, Patty declares that she just lost the last lingering thread to her heterosexuality. 12 seasons after this Treehouse of Horror aired, the episode "There's Something About Marrying" acknowledged that Patty is a lesbian.
  • The names used in Bart's spell book:
    • Cullen, Rayburn, Narz, Trebek (last names of game show hosts, all of whom are now dead as of 2021)
    • Zabar, Kresge, Caldor, Walmart (names of inexpensive department stores, with Zabar and Walmart being the only ones as of 2021 still in business, though Kresge is now known as Kmart)
    • Kojak, Mannix, Banachek, Danno (names of 1970s TV detectives)
    • Trojan, Ramses, Magnum, Sheik (brand names of condoms)
  • Costumes at the Halloween party:
    • Homer - Julius Caesar (until his toga rips on a nail)
    • Bart - Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange
    • Lisa - Statue of Liberty
    • Marge - Cleopatra
    • Milhouse - Radioactive Man
    • Nelson - Pirate
    • Martin - Calliope, the Muse of heroic poetry
    • Janey - Princess
    • Lewis - Frankenstein's Monster
    • Richard - Scratchy
    • Becky - Arabian Princess
    • Wendell - Astronaut
  • The title on the Shop of Evil is "Your one stop evil shop".
  • In "King Homer", King Homer eats Lenny, Smithers, Shirley Temple and Clancy Bouvier.
  • King Homer climbs only up to the third floor and then faints, due to exhaustion.
  • Snowball I lived from 1988 - 1990 and was run over by Mayor Quimby's beer-swilling brother, Clovis.
  • Springfield Pet Cemetery appears in the series for the first time.
  • This is the second Treehouse of Horror to have the cast and crew's names changed for Halloween (e.g. Bat Groening). The first was in Treehouse of Horror II.
    • This also marks the debut of Matt Groening's scary name, Bat Groening.
  • This is the final episode where the Gracie Films logo in a Halloween special has the organ playing on its own.
  • Kang and Kodos' appearance is recycled from the previous "Treehouse of Horror" without the human peace symbol.
  • This is the second episode to have characters telling scary stories, the first being "Treehouse of Horror".
  • The title "Clown without Pity" is a take from the song "Town without Pity."
  • The first two segments end similarly with a Love American Style ending.
  • The Krusty Doll is said to be a parody of Twilight Zone's "Living Doll", and the Child's Play movies.
  • In the Alfred Hitchcock opening, Homer is fatter than the silhouette.
  • In the segment "Clown Without Pity", the evil Krusty doll pulls a butcher knife out of nowhere, much like Chucky does in the 1988 horror film Child's Play, when he is fighting against the detective.
  • Bart, Lisa and Maggie do not appear in the "King Homer" segment.
  • The shopkeeper from the House of Evil is similar to Mr. Wing from Gremlins.
  • Bart and Lisa using magic to resurrect their dead cat is a reference to Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.

Goofs[]

  • Snowball I is shown as black, but "Lisa's Sax" reveals that Snowball I was a white cat.
  • When Bart tells Homer that's it's the best birthday he ever had after looking at his gift, he looks unusually large, about the same size as Homer bending down.
  • Homer's toga was ripped off when he came down the stairs ("Behold, mighty Caesar! In all his glory!"), but when he ruins the evil witch game by eating the food used as the witch's body parts, Homer is in his normal clothes (white shirt and blue pants). Then when Homer tells his crummy ghost story when the show comes back from commercial break, he's back in his toga.
  • In "King Homer," the spinning newspaper that announced Marge marrying King Homer had Woody Allen's birthday as a sub-story, but when the spinning newspaper is shown in full, the Woody Allen birthday story is replaced with Dick Cavett (and both stories have pictures of what each man looks like as an adult, despite the fact that they were just born). This was actually a last-minute change due to the Woody Allen sexual abuse scandal involving Soon-Yi Previn.
  • In "Clown Without Pity" when Homer yells, "The doll is trying to kill me, and the toaster's been laughing at me!", his mouth doesn't move. Also, the kitchen table is gone.
  • Marge finds the customer service number for the Krusty doll on a box, despite that Homer bought the Krusty doll at a curious shop owned by a strange Chinese man and it clearly wasn't in a box when he bought it.
    • When Bart opens the present, it was also in a box. The doll might have not been in a box as part of the display and the Chinese man may have gift-wrapped it in a box.
  • In the ending of "Dial Z For Zombies", the security guard to the right of Mayor Quimby has dark skin. In the next shot, his skin is yellow.
  • When Krusty turns into a zombie by a Zombie Sideshow Mel and tells them to send their parents brains or write it down on a 3 by 5 card, just before Marge interrupted the zombie Krusty's speech as the camera focuses on her and the kids who were barricading the house windows. For a split second, Krusty now has a bite mark through the left of his head with a brain showing through the bite mark, and the top of Krusty's hair and the Sweepstake box are gone.

Citations[]

  • The first segment, 'Clown Without Pity' is an overall spoof of the Twilight Zone episode, "Living Doll". 
  • The hold music when Marge calls to complain about the Krusty Doll is "Everybody Loves a Clown" by Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
  • Homer sings the Oscar Mayer song, only with his first name in place of the O-S-C-A-R and the M-A-Y-E-R.
  • 'King Homer' is obviously a parody of King Kong.
  • The ad above the one Marge applies for in 'King Homer' is part of the chorus of "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes.
  • The chief of Ape Island shouts "Mosi Tatupu" (translated as "The blue-haired woman would make a great sacrifice") which is actually the name of an NFL running back who played for the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams from 1978 to 1991.
  • Shirley Temple is seen dancing and singing before Homer eats her.
  • Ape Island is a spoof of Skull Island.
  • The Springfield Shopper's November 19, 1936 issue includes an article "Dick Cavett Born." Cavett was actually born on that exact day.
  • The title 'Dial Z for Zombies' is a parody of Dial M for Murder.
  • One of the books Bart picks out when told to redo his book report is "Find Waldo Yet Again," a spoof of the Where's Waldo (Where's Wally in the UK) picture book series.
  • The Necronomicon Bart finds spoofs annual Time Life Magazine endorsed releases of historic and culturally significant media.
  • In the Pet Cemetery, there are 3 tombstones that read "Fish Police", "Capitol Critters", and "Family Dog". Those three are the titles of very short-lived primetime animated shows that tried to compete with The Simpsons back in the early 1990s.
  • When Bart raises the dead, he's wearing a Michael Jackson record on his head (coincidentally, it's the Thriller album, whose title track had a music video where Michael Jackson is a zombie).
  • Homer kills the following famous zombies: George Washington, Albert Einstein, and William Shakespeare, each with a witty remark.


Season 3 Season 4 References/Trivia Season 5
Kamp KrustyA Streetcar Named MargeHomer the HereticLisa the Beauty QueenTreehouse of Horror IIIItchy & Scratchy: The MovieMarge Gets a JobNew Kid on the BlockMr. PlowLisa's First WordHomer's Triple BypassMarge vs. the MonorailSelma's ChoiceBrother from the Same PlanetI Love LisaDufflessLast Exit to SpringfieldSo It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip ShowThe FrontWhacking DayMarge in ChainsKrusty Gets Kancelled
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