Treehouse of Horror
Treehouse of Horror is a series of annual Halloween-themed anthology episodes of the American animated sitcom and spin-off of The Simpsons.
In addition to parodies of horror, science fiction, and fantasy films, episodes include the recurring alien characters Kang and Kodos, unique opening sequences, and 'scary' pseudonyms in the credits.
Treehouse of Horror episodes have earned high ratings and broad popularity, spawning a steady stream of merchandise, including a comic book series that ran from 1995 to 2017.
Treehouse of Horror episodes typically consist of four parts: an opening and Halloween-themed version of the credits, followed by three segments.
These segments usually have a horror, science fiction or fantasy theme and quite often are parodies of films, novels, plays, television shows, Twilight Zone episodes, or old issues of EC Comics.
[1] One of the season 34 Treehouse of Horror specials, "Not It", is distinguished by its uncharacteristic title and one full-length segment (divided in the two parts).
[12] On occasion, the episodes will be used to showcase special animation, such as the "Treehouse of Horror VI" segment "Homer3", in which a computer-animated Homer is shown in a non-animated setting.
These messages include the names of canceled shows from the previous season, deceased celebrities such as Walt Disney and Jim Morrison,[20] and a tombstone with an inscription that read "TV violence" that was riddled with bullets as the camera panned on it.
[19] The tombstone gags were easy for the writers in the first episode, but like Marge's warnings, they eventually got more difficult to write, so they were abandoned.
[21] However, after two decades, this gag made a brief comeback in "Treehouse of Horror XXIX" at the very beginning, this time appearing before the main opening sequence and title.
While the early Treehouse of Horror episodes featured a Halloween themed opening sequence, the later ones only included the title and the "created by" and "developed by" credits.
For example, a story about zombies attacking the town briefly cuts to them in their space ship, watching the events and laughing maniacally at the Earthlings' suffering.
Beginning with "Treehouse of Horror II", the producers decided to give the cast and crew of the show 'scary names' in the opening and closing credits.
[27] References to films, novels, plays, television shows, and other media are commonly featured, and many segments have been parodies of a specific work in the horror, science fiction, or fantasy genre.
[28] Some of the Twilight Zone episodes parodied include "A Kind of a Stopwatch", "To Serve Man",[29] "A Small Talent for War",[30] "Living Doll",[31] "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet",[32] "Little Girl Lost",[33] and "The Little People".
[37] Robert Englund had a cameo appearance in "Treehouse of Horror IX" as his character from A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger.
[41] In "Treehouse of Horror", Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" is read by James Earl Jones, while the parts are acted by various characters.
[citation needed] The first Treehouse of Horror installment aired on 1990 as part of the second season, and its on-screen title was "The Simpsons Halloween Special."
[46] "Treehouse of Horror III" in particular underwent somewhere between 80 and 100 line changes in the six-week period between the arrival of the animation from Korea and the airing of the episode.
[26] By the fourth season, executive producers Al Jean and Mike Reiss were less enamored of Treehouse of Horror episodes and considered dropping them, but the other writers insisted that they be kept.
[45] "Treehouse of Horror V" was described by Mirkin as being one of "the most intense, disturbing Halloween show ever" as it was filled with violence and gore in response to new censorship rules.
The script originally called for Kodos and Kang to look over the smoking ruins of Springfield and say: "This sure is a lot like Iraq will be."
There have been several references to this in the show, such as in Season 15's "Treehouse of Horror XIV" where Kang looks at a TV Guide and says, "Pathetic humans.
In 2001, Fox Interactive and THQ released The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror on Game Boy Color.
[70] It was said that it "set a level of excellence that viewers never expected creator Matt Groening to repeat",[71] although it was also described as "kind of stupid and unsatisfying".
[77] In 2000, "Treehouse of Horror VII" was ranked Simpsons creator Matt Groening's seventh-favorite episode, and the line he likes best is: "We have reached the limit of what rectal probing can teach us.
[80] In 1998, "Treehouse of Horror VIII" won a Golden Reel Award for "Best Sound Editing – Television Animated Specials"; the recipients were Robert Mackston, Travis Powers, Norm MacLeod, and Terry Greene.
Bob Beecher also received a nomination for "Best Sound Editing in Television Animation – Music" for "Treehouse of Horror X".
[81] The second, third, fifth, eighth, ninth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighteenth[82] Treehouse of Horror episodes were nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)" at the Primetime Emmy Awards.
The second and third "Treehouse of Horror" episodes were also nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special".
