Treehouse of Horror VIII

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

◄ Lisa's Sax

Treehouse of Horror VIII

The Cartridge Family ►

◄ Treehouse of Horror VII

Treehouse of Horror VIII

Treehouse of Horror IX ►

This episode is considered non-canon, and the events featured are not part of the timeline of the series' continuity.

For the continuing series of Halloween specials, see Treehouse of Horror series.

Treehouse of Horror VIII
Episode Number	182
Production Code	5F02
Original Airdate	October 26, 1997
Main character(s)	The HΩmega Man Homer Simpson Moe Szyslak Ned Flanders Joe Quimby Fly vs Fly Bart Simpson Homer Simpson Lisa Simpson Easy Bake Coven Marge Simpson Patty Bouvier Selma Bouvier
Couch Gag	Electrocution couch gag
Special Guest Voices	Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel Monique Yates Jr
Show Runner	Mike Scully
Written By	Mike Scully, David S. Cohen and Ned Goldreyer
Directed By	Mark Kirkland

“I'm the last man alive, and I can do everything I've always wanted!”

―Homer Simpson

"Treehouse of Horror VIII", also known as "The Simpsons Halloween Special VIII", is the fourth episode of Season 9, the 8th Halloween episode, and the 182nd episode overall.

Synopsis

Fox Censor opening the show

The episode's title card

Intro: FOX's network censor gets his comeuppance after toning down the episode to a TV-G rating, getting rid of "raunchy, NBC-style sex", "senseless CBS-style violence", and a joke about a crack pipe. The couch gag sees the family getting fried on the electric chair.

The HΩmega Man: The French launch a nuclear bomb on Springfield after Mayor Quimby cracks an offensive joke about frog's legs, and Homer finds himself the last man alive...until a cabal of mutants who used to be Moe, Sideshow Mel, Chief Wiggum, Dr. Hibbert, Krusty the Clown, and other ancillary male characters go after Homer to rid the world of past mistakes so they can make a better future.

Fly vs. Fly: Homer buys a matter transmitter from Professor Frink, but it's Bart who ends up using it after he and a fly switch bodies.

Easy Bake Coven: In this historical horror, we go back to the days when women who didn't follow society's Puritan rules were accused of witchcraft and either died during the tests to see whether or not they were witches or burned at the stake due to the wild allegations. When Goody Marge protests against the harsh punishments, she's accused of being a witch...which turns out to be correct when she survives getting pushed off a cliff. Now she and her witch sisters (Patty and Selma) are plotting to kidnap all of Sprynge-Fielde's children and eat them.

Full Story

Opening Sequence

Fox Censor, the FOX network censor, edits this year's Halloween special to a TV-G rating (removing "all the raunchy NBC-style sex and senseless CBS-style action violence", as well as an undetailed reference to a crack pipe and an unknown joke that Fox Censor actually found funny before deciding to remove it), but the TV rating bug fights back by stabbing Censor until it reaches TV-666. Afterwards, the Simpson family enters the living room where the couch turns into an electric chair and executes everyone.

The HΩmega Man

The HΩmega Man title card.

In a parody of The Ωmega Man, Mayor Quimby generates a great deal of controversy over a racist "frog's legs" joke he made about France but refuses to apologize. Lisa becomes worried that France will launch an attack against them. Homer tries to reassure her by saying that they have a bomb shelter, but it turns out to be a cardboard box in the backyard. Homer goes to Herman's Military Antiques to look for a real bomb shelter. He is looking at the Withstand-inator when the French president launches a neutron bomb directly into Springfield. Homer, completely unharmed, emerges from the shelter and complains to Herman's corpse about the food. On the way home, Homer does not take notice to the lifeless town. At a green traffic light, he becomes annoyed because the person in front of him will not go. He gets out of his car and chooses to handle matters with a "little friendly punching". He punches the driver in the head, mistaking their head-turning into dust for a sign that he 'still has it'. He then notices a newspaper headline that tells about the bomb that blew up Springfield, and he seems to be the only person to have survived. He misses his family, but he quickly gets over his loss and realizes he can do anything he wants. Homer takes this opportunity to watch a David Spade/Chris Farley comedy at the theater and then dance naked in the church, until he encounters a group of mutants. They were Moe Szyslak, Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Dr. Hibbert, Sideshow Mel, Clancy Wiggum, Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson, Otto Mann, Skinner, Groundskeeper Willie, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Waylon Smithers, Jr., Lionel Hutz, Cletus Spuckler, and Horatio McCallister (Although they prefer to be called either 'freaks' or 'monsters,' as Moe puts it). They claim that they want to create a perfect world in which the mistakes of the past will be eliminated.

Everyone except for Homer is dead.

This, of course, includes killing Homer. Homer flees in a hearse back home with the freaks chasing him in a type of zombie car. Upon arriving home, Homer is greeted by his family, who survived the blast because their house was protected by so many layers of lead paint. Seeing Homer reunited with his family, the freaks see the error of their ways. Ned Flanders hopes they can build a Utopian society where freaks and norms can live together in peace. Marge seems to agree at first, but she and the children (except Maggie) open fire with shotguns that they were hiding behind their backs, killing the freaks. Homer and his family plan to take advantage of the Nuclear holocaust and go and steal some Ferraris.

Fly Vs. Fly

Fly vs Fly title card.

In a parody of the 1958 sci-fi horror film The Fly, and Mad Magazine's Spy vs Spy, Homer buys a Matter Transporter from Professor Frink at his yard sale but refuses to let Bart use it. That night, Bart tries to sneak Snowball II into the teleporter. However, Santa's Little Helper jumps in at the same time. As the pets come out, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II have been merged into two creatures. Suddenly, a fly lands on Bart's arm, giving him an idea to splice his own DNA with the fly to become a fly superhero. So, he grabs it and steps into the teleporter. Unfortunately, it doesn't work as planned and he and the fly merely end up swapping heads. The rest of the family wakes up and come downstairs to investigate. Out of fear of being punished, Bart flies away to avoid the consequences. Homer approaches the transporter and tells Bart to come out. However, everyone is instead horrified when Bart's body emerges with a giant fly head. Marge begins to hit the creature with a broom when Lisa stops her and shows them a record from the machine showing that Bart's genetic code had been spliced with a fly's. Despite the creature's unusual, non-human behavior, the family accept it as Bart and continue on with their daily lives. During breakfast however, Lisa asks the rest of the family what they think happened to Bart's original head when he went through the transporter, but her question is shrugged off.

The Fly-boy with the family.

Meanwhile, Bart wreaks havoc on the insect world with his usual juvenile antics, and returns home after he feels a safe amount of time has passed. Upon returning home, he's horrified to find that the fly has stolen his life and tries to tell his family what happened. However, he is too tiny for them to hear him. Bart tries to reason with the fly-boy to go back through the transport and swap back to normal but it turns out that the fly boy likes its new life and chases Bart from the house. That night, Bart flies into Lisa's room and lands on top of her table lamp which allows her to see the shadow of his head cast upon the wall letting her know that it is really him. However, she still can't hear him so he flies into her saxophone amplifying his voice enough to tell her what happened. Suddenly, the fly-boy attacks Lisa and starts strangling her. Bart tries to help, only to be caught and eaten by the fly-boy. Lisa then hits the open button on the microwave which knocks into the fly-boys face causing him to stumble backwards into the teleporter and Bart emerges, now restored back to normal. Homer then grabs an axe, but instead of destroying the machine, he turns to Bart and begins chasing him around for using his teleporter.

Easy-Bake Coven

Easy-Bake Coven title card.

In a parody of the 1996 film The Crucible, the town of Sprynge-Fielde is being witnessed because of many witch burnings. Where the police priest Chief Wiggum tells the boys to fire up the stake. Then when they are finished burning the stake the bully Nelson Muntz laughs at the notion and the priest Seymour's mother isn't very happy at him which he says goodbye to his mother. Later in the church, the townspeople try to figure out who to condemn next. People begin accusing others and very soon they erupt into chaos, until the beautiful Marge intervenes. She tries to talk sense into the townspeople, that the witch hunt is turning into a circus but the bartender Moe accuses her of being a witch. the mayor Mayor Quimby assures her that she is entitled to due process which means she will be thrown off a cliff with a broomstick. If she is a witch she will be able to fly to safety, in which case the authorities expect her to report back for punishment. If she is not a witch, then she will fall to an honorable Christian fate.

Marge, Patty and Selma as witches.

The beautiful Lisa tries to speak on her mother's behalf, but to no avail and Marge gets shoved off the cliff by Wiggum's henchmen. But as the priest Reverend Lovejoy speaks to the mob about having done the Lord's work, they hear a cackle and they all look up, stunned to see that a green-skinned black haired Marge is flying on the broomstick, as she reveals herself as a witch and naturally an evil one, who vows revenge on the entire town. At first, she turns Chief Wiggum into a gopher with a military hat on his head in revenge for pushing her off the cliff, Eddie into a snowman, and Lou into a fairytale princess. And then eventually Marge tells the rest of them that she will return where her hair pulsates and bursts open sending a swarm of bats flying after the townspeople. Meanwhile, in a cave somewhere, Patty and Selma--who are also witches--are cooking over a black cauldron in their mountain lair close to the village. Then when Marge returns to them she is sad because the town has forced her to leave her family; however, Patty and Selma are glad because of the fact that Marge has "finally left her husband Homer". Later the three spies on Ned Flanders and Maude Flanders talking about how they are worried that the witches might come to normal folks houses and eat children, giving them the idea to do so in the first place. And so the three set off for Sprynge-Fielde, on their broomsticks, where they then knock on the Flanders's door and demand for their sons. They put the children in sacks and are about to leave, when Maude offers the witches gingerbread men instead. The witches like these better than the children and let Rod and Todd go. They go to each house, getting goodies in exchange for not eating the children. Where the witches compare their treats from a night's work, which they believe that scaring people into giving them treats is fun and that they should do it every year. Marge remarks that she wishes they hadn't eaten so many children before they got to the Flanders' house. But as they fly off the Sea Captain says that is how the tradition of Halloween and trick-or-treating began, with Maude Flanders' fast thinking and leading to Halloween, which everyone celebrates today.

The next year in the same town, the city is celebrating Halloween where everyone is wandering around the streets dressed in costumes comparing treats, and trick-or-treating. Homer throws eggs to the door of a house from which no candy was received. Lisa points out that Homer is egging their own house making everyone laugh. However, when everyone begins laughing at him, Homer then accuses Lisa of being a witch, prompting the townspeople to proceed chasing her down the street into the moonlight, not even the pretty boy Bart.

Behind the Laughter

Production

"The HΩmega Man" was written by Mike Scully, "Fly Vs. Fly" was written by David S. Cohen and was written by Ned Goldreyer. Large portions of the "Fly vs. Fly" segment were cut, including an extended scene with Bart as SuperFly, and the original ending where the fly also emerges from the teleporter, but is considerably larger and the Simpson family ride it to the mall.

The producers had trouble with the censors over several segments in this episode. The opening segment of the episode, which features Fox Censor the censor being stabbed to death and was pitched by David Mirkin, had a difficult time getting through the real life censors. They had issues with the size of the knife and the sound effects used. Originally Fox was stabbed with a dagger, but the censors found it too gruesome, but found the use of a sword acceptable, so it was used instead. The censors also had issues with Homer dancing naked on the altar in the church, so it was changed so that he was just dancing on the floor.

This episode was the only Treehouse of Horror episode that was directed by Mark Kirkland. It was also the last episode that was worked on by Brad Bird, who left the show to direct Warner Brothers' The Iron Giant. "Easy-Bake Coven" was storyboarded by Kirkland and the backgrounds were designed by Lance Wilder. Although Kang and Kodos make brief appearances in every Treehouse of Horror episode, their brief appearance in this one was nearly cut. David X. Cohen managed to persuade the producers to leave the scene in.

Reception

The episode received positive reviews from critics and fans. The A.V. Club named Jeffery Albertson's line "Oh, I've wasted my life" as one of the quotes from The Simpsons that can be used in everyday situations.

Awards

"Treehouse of Horror VIII" won a Golden Reel Award in 1998 for "Best Sound Editing - Television Animated Specials" for Robert Mackston, Travis Powers, Norm MacLeod and Terry Greene. Alf Clausen received an Emmy Award nomination for "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)" for this episode, which he ultimately lost.