Original Air Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010 Spoiler Alert! The episode opens with Bart and Homer, sitting outside, carving pumpkins. At one point, Bart gets the idea to carve a face into Homer's pants, triggering Homer's usual strangle, causing Bart to throw a flaming pumpkin onto Homer's head. This all turns out to be presented on a monitor in Professor Frinks house, as he's here to introduce the show. He even goes so far as to greet the people watching who have pirated the episode, as if to say "it's okay, we get it". When Frink further warns us about the gruesome episode ahead, he suggests fast-forwarding through the scary bits. He provides an example, but accidentally goes through the episode, spoiling things for the audience. He shames himself for it by claiming he's not fit to hold the remote, and fast-forwards his ageing process until he drops dead, forming a cloud of dust that the wind sweeps off the floor, forming the title 'Treehouse of Horror XXI'. Suddenly, a Frankenstein's Monster comes along saying he's going to watch 'The Office' instead, and compares Dunder Mifflin is just like his workplace. This is followed by an 'Office' opening farce, featuring various monsters, and it's pretty well out of nowhere and feels a bit forced. 'War and Pieces' In this parody of Jumanji, things open with Bart and Milhouse playing a violent video game. Marge intervenes, and suggests the boys play some board games instead. They eventually give in, and in searching through the pile of unlicensed knock-offs, they come across one called 'Satan's Path'. When Bart goes first, after a couple of moves, the rejected board games (as well as other things like a Slinky, and various card games) come to life. In order to bring things back to normal, the boys must play the games through to the end. The whole thing gets so rushed, however, the ending is actually a combination of Bart fighting back and setting off the "Mouse Trap". This is one of those concepts that I really like, but the execution is pretty weak. I do, however, give this segment credit for using the games in a lot of imaginative ways. The only real problem is that there's a lot to cover here and no time to do it in. It makes me wonder how many ideas were bounced around the writing room when it came to using so many different games. I really think that had this been a whole, separate, imaginative episode (it could turn out to be a dream or something) it would be a lot of fun. But this was almost like a test screening of an idea that I can't help but want to add to. It was a lot of potential packed into too tight a window. 2/5 'Master and Cadaver' Homer and Marge rent a boat to take a cruis in uncharted waters for a romantic second honeymoon. This is all disrupted when they rescue a castaway named Roger (Hugh Laurie) who claims that he was knocked out after attempting to stop a poisoning on his former boat, the Albatross. Homer is immediately jealous of the man, but further suspects that he was probably the man who did the poisoning, especially when he offers the couple some pie. This leads Homer and Marge to take matters into their own hands as this farce of 'Dead Calm' unfolds. It's actually got quite a few laughs, including one visual gag that got me where a shark comes on board the boat, immitating 'Jaws', only to spit Homer out - this is how Homer is introduced in the segment. That shark swims away and is never heard from again. But perhaps most interesting about this one is how it ends. I won't spoil it, but it's gonna be one of those things you'll either enjoy because its imaginative, or hate because it does feel like a bit of a cop out. I do enjoy the idea of a murder mystery thriller farce for a Halloween show. I often say "just Halloweenish enough", and that still applies here, but the segment is the least thrown-together I've seen for a while. As for that ending, I actually really like it. I won't say much more than this, but it makes us look at Maggie in a whole new light, and it caps things off with a pretty Halloweenish touch of a twist. It's not perfect, but it's still well done, and a breath of fresh air from the mess that was the previous segment. 4/5 'Tweenlight' To this day, I have never bothered with anything to do with 'Twilight', so as a parody, I won't have much to match it to. I did, however, still recognize a few things they were doing here, and the turn it takes is funny enough that the whole 'Twilight' thing hardly enters into it. I can't deny a few solid laughs, even though I haven't seen the 'Twilight' movies for myself. When a mysterious new student named Edmund (Daniel Radcliffe) comes to Springfield Elementary, Lisa falls in love with him, only to find out that he's a vampire. She's not afraid of this, and the two begin a romantic entanglement. Marge then invites Edmund over for dinner, along with his father, who happens to be Dracula (Dan Castellaneta). When both parents embarrass the young potential couple, however, they fly away, and Homer and Dracula have to go track them down together. This one has quite a few great visual gags, and once again, it's put together to run somewhat smoothly, not feeling so thrown together. On top of that, it interests me that they got Daniel Radcliffe to play Edmund here when, at this point (at least as far as film goes) the stories were overlapping between 'Harry Potter', with 'Deathly Hallows' right around the corner, and 'Twilight' with 'Eclipse' just out earlier that year. So both were kind of on top of the world at this point, remembering that 'Avengers' was only just brewing. I had fun with this one, and it's so much more than anything just cheesy and romantic. 4/5 The thing that stood out to me the most about this episode was the fact that at the end of every segment, a main character (or two) gets killed off. This suggests to me that 'The Simpsons' is willing to provide some new shock value to their work. This isn't a first or anything, but the way the deaths are done are a bit brutal in context. The first segment hangs Bart and Milhouse, the second technically doesn't kill off Marge, but the visual is there, and the third makes Homer plummet to his death and get carried off by Milhouse the Werepoodle (as a farce of Jacob from the 'Twilight' series).
This is all something that I'm not sure whether I like or not. Although it adds to the Halloween feel of everything, all but the final death wasn't entirely creative and just felt like a cheap shock for the viewers. Not funny, really, just sort of cruel. That said, however, the final two segments are a couple of good ones that farce what they're farcing quite well. It's a damn shame the first segment was thrown together into such a mess though. We could have had a very solid Halloween episode here. Overall Episode Rating: 67%
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Original Air Date: Sunday, October 18, 2009 A Tribute to Universal Monsters In a fitting tribute to the 20th Halloween episode, things open up with Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, Dracula and the Wolf Man all emerging from wherever they are and getting together to roam the streets of Springfield on Halloween night. But when they come across the local bullies who make fun of their clothes (or "costumes") they figure out that they're lame and yesterday's news. They then head into Halloween Headquarters costume shop to update their costumes to represent pop culture of today. The monsters then head to the Simpson house to attend a Halloween party, using a bottle of booze for entry. Each of them start interacting with Springfield's single women - Dracula with Edna Krabappel, the Mummy with Selma, the Monster with Nelson's mother and you don't see much of it, but the Wolf Man with, I think, Lindsay Nagle. At this point the monsters wives come to crash the party and punish them for lying about going out to kill children. Homer tries to interfere, but is decapitated with his head landing in a punch bowl, and his eyes crossed out as the X's in the title 'Treehouse of Horror XX'. 'Dial "M" for Murder or Press "#" to Return to Main Menu Once again we have a segment I have to give them quite a bit of credit for based on its execution as a whole. This one is a parody of various Hitchcock films that include a mixture of 'Psycho', 'Strangers on a Train', 'North by Northwest' and 'Spellbound'. The primary focus on a film is 'Strangers on a Train', however, while things like 'Psycho' are mostly referred to in music. When Ms. Hoover announces her choice to represent the class at the National Reading Roundup, she chooses someone who isn't Lisa, causing Lisa have a bit of an outburst. She's sent to detention where she meets up with Bart, who suggests a "criss-cross" plan in which the siblings "prank" each other's teachers. But while Lisa simply ding-dong-ditches Krabappel, Bart takes things just a tad further by killing Ms. Hoover, revealing that he has a much darker side than Lisa imagined. Now Lisa may need to take matters into her own hands, protecting herself and others from Bart's potential threat. While it does a rather good job at spoofing Hitchcock, there's not much that tops how it ends. I won't spoil it, but it's dark enough that it adheres to the basic regular Hitchcock twist you'd generally see in his films. It fits what they're trying to do, and it's actually even kind of shocking. I'm not sure I'd count this one among my all-time favorites, but its certainly solid, and with the Hitchcock theme, it fits Halloween quite well. Some shows, like 'That 70's Show' have done the Hitchock blend better, and 'High Anxiety' is a great Mel Brooks film that does the same (probably the best example of one of these), but this one still holds its own for a short segment. Bravo. 4/5 'Don't Have a Cow, Mankind' In what I believe is now the third zombie-related segment for a 'Treehouse' episode ('Dial Z for Zombies'/'The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms'), Krusty the Clown introduces the world to a new Krusty Burger which has been made from the meat of cows who eat other cows. Reporter Kent Brockman is the first to try the burger, but quickly turns into a zombie, starts attacking other people, and "28 Days Later" (the primary parody here), the zombie virus spreads throughout Springfield. The Simpson family, however, survives the ordeal. One day, when Bart gets sick and tired of the limited food they have to eat, he escapes the barricaded house to eat a hamburger that has been left out in the open. It turns out that Bart seems to be immune to the virus, however, and the family tries to et him to the "safe zone", established in Shelbyville. Along the way they meet one other survivor, Apu, who didn't fall victim to the plague due to being a vegetarian and armed to the teeth as a convenience store owner. It's all right, but it's still no 'Dial Z for Zombies'. For as many zombie segments as they may release, that one probably just won't be topped. This one, however, does become a second-place entry as far as the zombie segments go. I like the spoof on '28 Days Later', and the whole Mad Cow thing, which could have come from 'Zombieland' if the film wasn't released earlier the exact same month. Consider it another strange "Simpsons Prediction" in a way. Anyway, it's not bad, I just wish the end solution wasn't so gross. I won't spoil it, but the idea of what it takes to protect themselves from the zombies is honestly pretty nasty, and is played for gross-out laughs. So that does bring it down just a touch from what it could have been, 3/5 'There's No Business Like Moe Business' This one is a parody of 'Sweeny Todd: The Demon barber of Fleet Street', and the segment is presented as a stage musical. It's a cool and original idea, but I'm not sure it totally pays off. It starts off with Moe, lonely about not being able to meet women on account of his ugliness. Furthermore, he's jealous when he sees Homer and Marge together in their loving relationship. When Moe leaves the taps unattended, Homer stumbles over for some free beer, ut falls down a hole onto the microbrew pipes which impale him, killing him. After this, Moe's beer obtains the secret ingredient of Homer's blood that makes the beer feel warm, cozy and friendly, and people keep coming back for more. This includes Marge in the constant hope that her husband will come back, although Moe tries to steer her away from that idea so he can get with her. Really, it's just a drawn out version of a scenario that lends itself to Moe's obsession with Marge, which has been a constant in the past. I give this segment mild credit for its original take on a spoof, and trying something new. But all in all, I actually find this one sort of boring, despite a few funny lyrics in the songs. There's just not enough going on in this one to really save it for me, and the idea to make it in the style of a Broadway musical really takes away any sort of threat any characters are facing. This is another one that feels a bit last-minute slapped together, and it's just not all that funny to me. But perhaps it's a treat for others as something they've never done before, all the same. 2/5 The 20th Halloween show ends with a small musical number that celebrates the milestone. This is all done by the cast members of the pay as well as the audience, but it is all interrupted when Kang shushes the audience only to point out Kodos has fallen asleep - presumably due to boredom. The credits then roll with a more upbeat and broadway sounding theme, which somewhat takes away from Halloween, but does manage to fit with the last segment just as well. Hey, at least it's not the 'Perfect Strangers' anthem again.
Overall Episode Rating: 60% Original Air Date: Sunday, November 2, 2008 A Jab at the Republican Party 'The Simpsons' once again uses the upcoming Presidential Election, this time between Barack Obama and John McCain. When Homer tries to vote for Obama, we learn very quickly that the machine is rigged in McCain's favor. When Homer realizes it, the machine sucks him in and grinds him up to keep the truth hidden. The blood spills out on the floor, and the machine spits Homer out. Jasper then walks by, sticking an "I Voted" sticker to Homer's forehead, and 'Treehouse of Horror XIX' drips down the screen in red, white and blue. 'Untitled Robot Parody' So... you know my perpetual beef about Halloween episode segments not having much or anything to do with Halloween? Well, here we have one that fully embraces its November release date by having it take place on Christmas. That is honestly about as far away from Halloween as you can get, and quite honestly... you'd think it would bother me more than it actually does. This one's a parody of 'Transformers' in which Bart buys Lisa a Malibu Stacy convertible as her Christmas present. The car turns out to be a "Pos-i-bot", or "Transformer", if you'd like a more literal translation. He zaps the surrounding technology, awaking several other Pos-i-bots with funny names like a three-way lamp named Threeway and an alarm clock named Snooze. The plot here is essentially the same as the basic plot of 'Transformers' in which our planet plays host to an intergalactic war among these robots. Perhaps the best moments of this segment have to do with the robots themselves, and it's loaded with great visual gags during fight scenes. For example, a plane gets punched in its "stomach" and throws up a bunch of passengers. It even takes a jab at the 'Transformers' movie, and Michael Bay's directing capabilities when Marge suggests they don't need to destroy their town and one of them says "that does not compute". It all ends with a funny lesson about what teamwork means, although the teamwork here occurs between the two battling robot races, and the goal is to enslave humanity. It all ends with the citizens of Springfield rigged up as a foosball table for the robots to play with. All in all, the visuals just make it funny enough to pass even though it's so far separated from Halloween itself. 3/5 'How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising' To be perfectly honest, I have to give this one at least some credit for being pretty original. It does start with a parody of 'Mad Men' for its intro, but the story here is much more about the use of likeness rights in general. It's actually one of the more clever segments they've done in quite some time. When Homer and Marge try to drop off Maggie at her daycare, she gets fussy about her parents leaving her. Homer tries to console her by pointing out the Krusty the Clown images on the walls; all very friendly and warm and doing the trick. Krusty shows up, however, sand-blasting his face off the walls due to unauthorized use of his image, and makes Maggie cry. This results in Homer confronting him and accidentally tossing him into a woodchipper. After this, two advertising agents approach Homer with a plan to use dead celebrity likeness rights to their advantage, having Homer be their killer. Again, this is one of those "just Halloweenish enough" segments. While most of it is pretty far-separated from the holiday, the context of the segment still involves Homer being a killer. I have to give it some generous credit for its overall originality, and even using the idea of certain likenesses 'The Simpons' have used over the years within the segment to their advantage. It's surprisingly entertaining, and manages to get a generous rating from yours truly. 4/5 'It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse' I actually kinda love this one. I have been a life-long fan of 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown', so when this segment came along, it was very hard for me to turn my nose up at it. It was more as though they finally got around to it, and upon doing some homework I learned that's basically true. It took them a while to get certain rights to spoof the beloved family classic, but hey, it worked out and worked out well. Things open up very similarly to the 'Peanuts' classic, with characters and even setting given a more 'Peanuts' look to it. Bart is Charlie Brown, Lisa's Sally and Milhouse is Linus who, of course, sits out on Halloween night awaiting the "Grand Pumpkin" (one of those name rights they couldn't quite get their hands on here). What would be the original special plays out to about the half-way point, but here, Milhouse's tears actually bring the Grand Pumpkin to life. He's friendly to Milhouse at first, but then Milhouse stupidly offers him pumpkin bread which eventually leads to the Grand Pumpkin seeking revenge on humans for cooking pumpkins. The segment isn't without a touch of controversy though, in which Nelson uses the word "gay" as an insult. To a lesser extent we also learn that all pumpkins are racist, but I find the idea so ridiculous it doesn't fully matter. With Nelson, I could see an upset, but I'd hope people would see more about the clever spoof they're pulling off as opposed to a single moment of controversy (although I do understand). For me, despite that awkward moment, this is definitely one of my favorites, and it even hits that nostalgia button ever-so lightly for me. 5/5 Everything ends with Marge closing out the episode by suggesting, to paraphrase, that "anyone offended by their take on a beloved children's classic should write to" - and then she uses her trombone to cover her voice just like the adults in the 'Peanuts' cartoons always did. Marge wishes an appropriate "Happy Holidays" to the audience, fitting the theme that the episode seems to roll out several different holidays as it goes. Even Thanksgiving pops up in the last segment. Then it all closes with a truly eerie theme music, bringing us back to that Halloween spirit. Despite a few minor nitpicks for me, I think it's the best Halloween episode in quite a while... even if the first two segments are that far from Halloween. Could it be that I'm getting used to this?
Overall Episode Rating: 80% Original Air Date: Sunday, November 4, 2007 Marge vs. Fox Ads As Marge begins to open the show in a kindly manner as the host, she keeps getting interrupted by those irritating on-screen ads Fox has all the time. Once again, in a bit of a fourth-wall break, Marge plays the audience as she becomes annoyed enough with these ads to start picking them off one by one, including throwing House in the microwave, and sticking Jack Baur to the fridge with a magnet. Things cut to Marge serving up what seems to be a loaf of some kind, and as she slices into it, the title is introduced, using various body parts from, presumably, other unwanted TV ads that Marge killed off. We then see Homer eating the "Developed by" credit and exclaiming is famous "Mmm..." phrase, and the show begins. It's not among my favorite intros, but I have to admit that I enjoy the idea nonetheless. There are worse. 'E.T., Go Home' When Marge sends Bart to the storage shed for some butane, he finds Kodos hiding in there, revealed by Bart throwing a baseball at his 700 testicles. As this parody of 'E.T.' continues, Kang tells Bart that he was sent to spread a message of peace. Now abandoned, Kang expresses his desire to "phone home". Bart and Lisa team up to help Kang with this, but little do they know that he has other plans for what they are helping him build. This one isn't too bad, and it has been a while since we've the aliens as part of an actual segment, as opposed to being an intro or a closing to the show. It plays with the concept from 'E.T.' just enough, yet still ends up being its own things. It's more of a "what if" scenario involving a destructive alien in the lovable E.T.'s place. The results aren't exactly knee-slapping hilarious, but it's not without it's charm either. It could be better, it could be worse. With all of that said, the end is a little abrupt (yeah, we're back to that) and it's actually sort of jarring. The best of the segment probably comes from Kang, himself, as he's one of those characters whose speech is so annunciated and clear-cut that it's funny, especially when he's being sarcastic or cute. Whenever real alien or scientific words are thrown in, that just adds to it. 3/5 'Mr. & Mrs. Simpson' Among my most disliked of the 'Treehouse' segments is this particular farce of 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith'. While at what appears to be a marriage counseling session, the couple recounts a fight they had. It all begins when Homer comes home only to head to the bathroom and communicate with Mr. Burns through a hidden monitor. Burns tells Homer his next target is Kent Brockman. He tells a cover-up lie to Marge before leaving, and heads out on his mission. While on his assignment, Homer ends up having his victim taken from him when a mysterious blonde woman takes Brockman out first. The woman is soon revealed to be Marge, and the couple lying to each other results in a firefight in the family household. By the end, things are resolved between them, and we find out their counseling session was just them talking to Principal Skinner, who initially brought them in to discuss Bart's behavior. Once again, we have a segment that plain and simply doesn't belong with a Halloween show. The only thing about this even close to Halloween is the killing involved, but even with that, it's a parody of 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith'; a movie reveared as an action, comedy, romance. If it had become a part of a different segment-based episode of the regular show, it would be more forgivable. This was one I just didn't get, and I believe it's the furthest apart from Halloween a segment has felt yet. 1/5 'Heck House' Inspired by 'Seven Footprints to Satan', this one opens with Bart, Lisa, Milhouse and Nelson all go trick-or-treating. They stop by Agnes Skinner's house, who refuses to give them candy and even spits in Milhouse's bag. As a result, the four kids start a night full of Halloween pranks, taking it out on Agnes first with water balloons, then doing everything from rolling pumpkins down a hill to blowing up the Springfield Hotel; meeting place of the Republican Presidential Debate. With the kids out of hand, a neighborhood outdoor meeting gathers in which Ned Flanders suggests that he'll be able to scare these kids straight for the damage they've done with their pranks. This ends up being the transformation of the Springfield Church to "Heck House", where Ned hopes to host a "Hell House". When the first little skit doesn't work, Ned asks for God to grant him the power to strike fear into them. He then transforms into basically Satan and shows the kids a variety of gruesome potential deaths having to do with the Seven Deadly Sins. This one stands as one of the better, and even slightly scarier (as far as 'Simpsons' goes) segments that 'Treehouse' has to offer. It's almost as if the episode heard my complaints of the previous segment not having anything to do with Halloween, and suddenly handing out something that's just about as Halloweenish as you can get with one of these. It not only takes place on Halloween, but gets into concepts like Hell as well. As a treat, even the pig from the movie released earlier that year shows up. This does what it needs to do quickly, leaves us with a little gag at the end, and it fits the mood of what I generally seek out in these episodes. So things on a stronger note here. 4/5 When the final segment ends, Ned closes the episode by telling us all that we're gonna go to Hell for watching Fox, as well as FX, Fox Sports and The Wall Street Journal. The joke is that he's doing it in his typical friendly way. It honestly leaves the viewer with a slight sense of unease, despite the fact that it's a 'Simpsons' Halloween show. Do I dare say that the way this episode ends is actually uncomfortable enough to consider it a good episode?... Well, maybe if it wasn't for that stupid middle segment, we'd really have something. Finally, the credits roll with a call-back to the time they used an 'Addams Family'/'Munsters' theme in 'Treehouse of Horror IV'; easily one of the best.
Overall Episode Rating: 53% Original Air Date: Sunday, November 5, 2006 A Tribute to 'Tales from the Crypt' In one of my personal favorite openings, things kick off with the theme music and general into to the classic anthology series, 'Tales from the Crypt'. In place of the regular mansion is Burns' mansion, and as the camera heads down the spiral staircase (one of the most memorable sections of the intro), the cameraman falls down the stairs, ending up in a crypt where Mr. Burns pops up, posing as the Crypt Keeper, and introduces the show. Off to the side, a zombie Smithers compliments his puns, but even further off to the side, you hear Moe complaining while standing in an iron maiden, stating that listening to them is more torturous than the actual torture. Smithers then closes the iron maiden on Moe, whose blood drips out onto the floor, spelling 'Treehouse of Horror XVII'. Moe even comments on how smart his blood is for using the roman numerals. 'Married to the Blob' While Homer and Marge are making out in the back yard, a meteor crash lands right next to them, unveiling a strange blob that Homer dubs a "space marshmallow". Not even caring about where it came from or how it tastes, Homer the eats the "space marshmallow", which in turn sends his appetite into a runaway train. As the segment progresses, Homer continues to eat everyone in sight. This includes a montage with music and lyrics by Sir Mix A Lot, parodying his own song with 'Baby Likes Fat'. Essentially, it's just a 'Simpsons' take on 'The Blob', making Homer's uncontrollable eating habits the main focus. Dr. Phil McGraw makes a guest appearance here as well, trying to talk to him about obesity. At first it feels a bit crow-barred in, but at least he lends himself to the segment instead of having someone show up just to be recognizably famous. This one's actually pretty funny to me, but the concept almost makes you wonder what took them so long to make it happen. I mean, Homer Simpson as The Blob practically writes itself. But there are several solid visual gags, including a 50-foot Lenny, not getting any attention. I'm pleased to say it doesn't end as abruptly as anything from the last episode, and the ending returns to being one of humorous darkness. It's basic, and feels a bit late to the party, but enjoyable all the same. 3/5 'You Gotta Know When to Golem' In a parody of 'The Golem', the segment opens with Bart and Milhouse attending a live recording of 'The Krusty the Clown Show'. There's a hilarious visual here involving seeing what Krusty looks like in HD, but I daresay that's about where this segment peaks. Anyway, as they go to leave, Bart decides to go backstage to complain about a Krusty clock that shoots acid in your face. While exploring Krusty's prop room, he stumbles on a statue Krusty tells him is the Golem of Prague; legendary defender of the Jewish people. Krusty recaps the tale of the Golem's origin, including the premise of the Golem performing any task someone would write down on a piece of parchment, and put in its mouth. Bart takes this and rolls with it by giving him the task of coming to his house at midnight that night. The Golem obliges, and Bart soon uses him to his advantage, especially on the school playground as protection. However, what starts out actually kinda cool takes a downward tumble once Lisa gives the Golem the task to "speak", resulting in Jewish comedian Richard Lewis' voice. There are some decent laughs here, but you can feel things really start to teeter. Then by the end, Fran Drescher shows up to voice a female Golem the male Golem falls in love with. It just turns into a whole thing about Jewish comedy that feels like it's trying too hard. For me, this is one example of a segment that starts strong and ends weak. While it's still not exactly not terrible, I'm not exactly a fan of it... But I do have fond memories of Richard Lewis. 2/5 'The Day the Earth Looked Stupid' In a 1938 version Springfield, the town is fooled by the very real and infamous Orson Welles 'War of the Worlds' broadcast. As with much of what really happened that fateful Halloween night, the people of Springfield burst into a mass panic. They all make fools of themselves until level-headed Lisa comes along, informing them all that it was a hoax. Once their guard is down, in a twist, Kang and Kodos invade the Earth for real, and that's about all there is to it. Voice actor Maurice LaMarche lends his voice here to play Orson Welles. People of my generation may know him best as The Brain from 'Animaniacs' and 'Pinky and The Brain'; a character who as actually based on Welles. This may be the first time in 'Treehouse' history that celebrity guest stars really got poured into a full episode, as opposed to just being one-offs, as the case usually is. LaMarche's impression of Welles is rather spot on, too, and he's one of my favorite parst about this episode - me being a bit bias about the Halloween classic that is that radio broadcast. It has actually become tradition for me to listen to it every year for the past few years. This segment moves pretty damn quickly, and parts of it admittedly feel pretty thrown-together. But there are several gags that just work for what it's trying to portray. My favorite example is when Welles is describing what the martians are doing, and the sound effect guy can't take it anymore, holding up a sign that says "screw you". It's another one I meet right in the middle, because for as much as I love the farce they are pulling off here, I have to admit that it's really not the strongest either. In fact I think other people would probably get a bit less out of it than I do. If you enjoy that old radio broadcast, it's worth a look, but if you just find it old news and boring, you won't get much out of this. 3/5 As the episode ends, we do see that Kang and Kodos have taken over the Earth successfully. However, as they look over a destroyed Springfield, three years after the attack, there's actually a neat twist in which Kang and Kodos were meant to be liberators, there to rid the Earth of weapons of mass disintegration. The camera pans out on the destroyed Earth, and 'I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire' by The Ink Spots plays. The credits then roll with a different and more chilling Halloween theme than we're used to, adding some atmosphere to its closing we haven't seen for a while.
Overall Episode Rating: 53% Original Air Date: Sunday, November 6, 2005 The World Series Interference It has been brought up before, but just for convenience-sake, it's a good time to go over why these Halloween specials keep airing in November. Basically it all boils down to Fox's contractual obligation to cover on the World Series. This pushed the episode back by about a week, and it wouldn't be until 'Treehouse of Horror XX' that we'd go back to the Halloween tradition of airing it before Halloween by, guess what, airing it before the World Series as well. Anyway, this one starts off, for the second time, poking fun at the whole November situation. Kang and Kodos (who seem to have taken on the role of Halloweeen openers) are watching the World Series, and complain about the Halloween special being late. They then use an "accelerray" to speed up the game, but when things go haywire, they also destroy the space-time continuum. One of them says "it's okay, I'll leave a note", slaps the note to the screen, and it reads 'Treehouse of Horror VI'. It's definitely one of the more humorous openings, and it seems we may be off to a decent start. 'B.I. Bartificial Intelligence' In a parody of 'Artificial Intelligence', Bart attempts a backwards jump into the pool at Patty and Selma's apartment. He plummets to what seems to be his death, and Dr. Hibbert makes the recommendation of getting a new robot son named David to fill the void. However, Bart wakes up in the hospital, only to learn that he's been replaced. At first, Bart and the robot make an attempt to get along, but when Bart just won't have it, Homer drives him out to the wilderness, abandoning him and keeping David - mostly because David can do things like make ice cream with his nose, and upon eating Bart's shorts can throw together a teddy bear. The other side of it is simply that Bart can't keep up with a robot. But Bart soon gets a pretty sweet revenge, after he meets some throw-away robots. This one isn't bad. I enjoy some of the creativity behind what David can do, and the way Bart takes his revenge is fairly satisfying and, once again, just Halloweenish enough. It ends so abruptly though, and although the gag at the very end is pretty funny, it's out of nowhere and honestly a bit jarring. But with all the rest of it, I still find it pretty passable. It lingers in that category where you almost forget it exists, but when you check it out again, you know you've seen worse. 3/5 'Survival of the Fattest' In a parody of 'The Most Dangerous Game', Homer gets invited to Mr. Burns' private estate to join a hunt. Against Lisa's objections, Homer goes, and meets up with a handful of other Simpson regulars who have also been invited. Mr. Burns enters, and the games begin when he tells the group that they are all there to be hunted, rather than be the hunters. Burns offers them a 5-minute head start, and the group has until noon the next day to survive and win their freedom. As the game goes, things get pretty funny when it turns out that the whole thing is also being presented as 'The World Series of Manslaughter', complete with commentary from Terry Bradshaw. On top of that, the way various characters do get picked off is kinda hilarious. But it also ends pretty abruptly, and though the sports parody is pretty funny, it's safe to say that it was already covered in the episode's opening, and the whole thing just feels crowbarred in so they could feature another celebrity guest appearance. Yet again, this one is just Halloweenish enough, being based on something considered to be a very realistic horror movie. But to be honest, it does feel a little bit all over the place, and didn't really need certain aspects it dragged along with it. It's funny, but it feels very thrown together, and the way it ends feels pretty weak. So while I get a chuckle or two from this one, it's not among my favorites. 2/5 'I've Grown a Costume on Your Face' I'm not sure a lot of people got much out of this one, but it's definitely a forgotten, hidden gem among the 'Treehouse' segments. It pulls a simultaneous parody of 'Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge', a 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' episode called 'Halloween', and a 'Twilight Zone' episode called 'The Masks'. Beyond these farces, it's the most Halloween-feeling segment we've seen for quite some time. It just plain fits, and it's everything one of these segments should be. When the citizens of Springfield attend a Halloween party, complete with costume contest, the winner turns out to be a real witch. When everyone accuses her of cheating, she then curses the townsfolk to become their costumes, which results in several great visual gags that include Moleman being turned into a mole, with no costume at all, and Nelson turning into a raccoon when he's supposed to be the Lone Ranger. However, the witch doesn't think things through, doing this out of anger, because it turns out Lisa dressed as Einstein, and Maggie dressed as another witch - the only character with the ability to stop the real witch now. Although things move pretty quickly here, they move smoothly as well. My only real problem is the way it ends - guess what? Abruptly! But I will admit that the gag is really quite funny. This segment is an example of the creators finally kicking things up a notch, and making things feel like Halloween the way they used to in the older segments. The ending is the only thing keeping it from earning a maximum score though. I have to admit that it is pretty irksome when it comes to how the segments in this one just seem to slam on the breaks, but that's the only true downfall of this particular segment. In many ways, this one makes it feel like Halloween again. 4/5 The show ends on a visual gag, and Moe concludes the show for us, along with Lenny and another crow-barred in guest appearance from Dennis Rodman. Together they provide a PSA about adult illiteracy and how scary it is, and the whole thing feels like a weird after school special that you're not sure whether you're supposed to take seriously or not. So, throughout this episode, there's a lot of weird stuff that seems to be jammed in there out of nowhere, and as a whole, it doesn't flow entirely smoothly. But the segments themselves do seem to have gotten a bit of a boost, especially from the last episode, which I consider probably the worst one so far.
Overall Episode Rating: 60% Original Air Date: Sunday, November 7, 2004 'Keepin' It Kodos' Intro In one of the weirder openers for 'Treehouse', things open in the form of a sitcom called 'Keepin' it Kodos'. The cliché they use for the episode is that their boss is coming for dinner. When an oven is opened, it's revealed that dinner is the Simpson family. After a satisfying Simpsons meal, the boss suggests he's so full he could burst, and burst he does, spilling out a fully intact Bart Simpson. When Bart realizes he has no family anymore, Kang (or Kodos) suggests he does among them. Then there's a closing credits sequence playing the light-hearted 'Perfect Strangers' theme, and this is how 'Treehouse of Horror XV' is introduced. 'The Ned Zone' When Homer tries to get a frisbee of the roof, using a bowling ball, he accidentally hits Ned in the head, knocking him out (and apparently a tumor, ironically saving him from Cancer). But when Dr. Hibbert shakes his hand to welcome him back to the waking world, Ned envisions Hibbert, falling to his death. Seconds later, his premonition comes true when Hibbert tries to get Homer's frisbee off the Hospital roof. As the segment continues, it becomes a parody of 'The Dead Zone'; a film with similar circumstances involving a man who can see the future. Ned eventually manages to foresee Homer's death in the same fashion. This time, however, he actually sees himself making the kill. The rest of the segment consists largely of Ned trying to steer the future in the right direction, but he may need to face off between a decision to shoot Homer and a potential nuclear meltdown that would destroy Springfield. Once again, this one isn't exactly Halloweenish, but there's enough there to fit ever so slightly. After all, 'The Dead Zone' is considered to be a part of the horror genre. It's actually a pretty interesting take, using Ned Flanders as the one with the powers. Beyond that, it may very well be worth it to sit through this one just to hear Ned Flanders say something you wouldn't think you'd ever hear from him. I can't lie, I actually like this one, especially with Homer's running frisbee joke. 4/5 'Four Beheadings and a Funeral' This parody cross between 'From Hell' and 'Sherlock Holmes' takes place in a horribly stereotyped London in 1890. When the towns prostitutes are being picked off by the Muttonchop Murderer, Scotland Yard's Inspector Wiggum challenges detective Eliza Simpson (Lisa) and her sidekick Dr. Bartley (Bart) to solve the case, even though he claims it to be closed, accusing Apu of being the killer. One thing for certain, this has never been a favorite of mine. The fake and forced cockney accents they all use here are honestly a bit grating to me, and I may only be speaking for myself here, but 'Sherlock Holmes' doesn't feel altogether Halloweenish. That said, 'From Hell' does, so I can at least give it that. Much like the last segment, it's "just enough". I just don't find it funny at all, and it actually feels like they're trying too hard here. With all that said, I can at least give this segment one little gag, but it's not enough to save it. At this point I have to bring up that I forgot to mention the "enormous genitals" joke in 'The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms', which was the one and only real laugh I got from the segment. Here, it's a sight gag involving Ralph Wiggum puffing opium smoke rings, which has actually turned into a bit of a meme over the years. But again - the one and only laugh, and a light chuckle at best. This one just feels last-minute thrown together and kinda lazy. 1/5 'In the Belly of the Boss' This one's a parody of 'Fantastic Voyage', and starts with an Invention Expo. Here, we see Frink introduce a "cure-all" kind of pill. It's on display as being rather huge, as it needs the help of a shrink ray to be able to shrink down to the size where you could ingest it. Maggie sneaks inside of the pill, however, just before the shrinking occurs, and is consequently eaten by the greedy Mr. Burns, snatching the pill for himself. Somehow, Marge hears Maggie's pacifier from within Burns' body, and this leads to the family shrinking down to go in and rescue her. The stipulation is that they only have so much time before reverting back to their natural size. This segment isn't without a moment or two, but there's still nothing really laugh out loud going on here and again, it just doesn't feel Halloweenish to me. I seem to be saying that a lot lately, but it's true, and it's part of the reason the "teen episode" era is so weak. The segment ends with a visual gag and a musical number involving the song 'I've Got You Under My Skin', and this leads to the closing credits where we hear the 'Perfect Strangers' theme once again. I would have to conclude that overall, this might be the worst one on the list yet, despite liking the first segment quite a bit. There just plain isn't anything else to say beyond that, so for the first time ever, I actually don't even have a closer for one of these. The credits roll, and you're left mildly disappointed, hoping next year's episode will be better. 1/5 Overall Episode Rating: 40%
Original Air Date: Sunday, November 2, 2003 A Family Feud and This November Thing This episode opens with Bart and Lisa dressed up as Charlie Brown and Lucy van Pelt from 'Peanuts', coming in from a night of trick-or-treating and going through their candy. When Bart complains about Lisa getting all the "good stuff", Lisa claims she's still not satisfied and steals one of Bart's chocolate bars. A fight breaks out between Bart and Lisa, starting sort of average (as far as 'The Simpsons' goes) with some strangling and some beating over the head. Bart accidentally stabs Homer with a fire poker, which starts a chain reaction. Homer throws a flaming log at the kids, accidentally hitting Grampa, and Marge eventually enters the room to blow Homer away with a shotgun while he's "beating the lumps" of Bart and Lisa in a rolled up rug. The blood from Homer splatters on the wall with the title "Treehouse of Horror XIV". The camera then heads up to Kang and Kodos' saucer where they criticize the show for being aired in November. This brings light to the fact that this is actually the fourth year this has happened, and it would unfortunately continue to happen for the years to come leading up to 'Treehouse XX'. That's right - every single 'Treehouse of Horror' episode from the eleventh to nineteenth aired some time after Halloween. This probably helped them to lose a lot of their luster during this time. Anyway, the aliens make a joke about them already having their Christmas decorations up, seemingly mimicking the potentially irked audience that's watching a Halloween special well after they've packed Halloween up for another year. 'Reaper Madness' I tend to enjoy this one for the laughs, but things are admittedly pretty absurd throughout the segment. It all starts with a Benny Hill style chase around the Simpson home as the Grim Reaper has come to collect Bart. Just when his number looks to be up, Homer ends up bashing Death over the head, killing him. We then see short but funny clips from around Springfield as the world deals without death for a little while. However, when Homer tries on the Grim Reaper's robe, the job of Death passes on to him, and he finds himself at a tremendous advantage - that is until God wants him to take out the one he loves most. While the segment starts of on a very stupid note, it does manage to gain momentum, like a car that can't find its gear for a little while at a green light. It's actually full of funny moments, especially when we see what the world is like when death is taken out of the equation. I don't honestly know where the idea for someone becoming Death comes from, but 'Family Guy' did a very similar farce for a whole episode a couple of years prior to this - and frankly funnier. Although I have to say, this isn't bad either. It opens weak and ends pretty weak as well, but the in-between stuff is pretty well done altogether. The question is though, did 'The Simpsons' try to copy 'Family Guy' here? If anyone can tell me where this concept really comes from, I'd be much obliged. 3/5 'Frinkenstein' In a very loose parody of 'Frankenstein', Professor Frink is finally the center of attention when he has won the Nobel Prize (likely for the invention of a hammer with a screwdriver on the end of it). Frink brings up the possibility of making his father proud if he were still around. Lisa (the one who passes on the message to Frink of a nomination) offers to help reunite them, but Frink shows her what really happened with him. It turns out, Frink has been hiding his father for experimentation, planning to reanimate his corpse (after a shark bit him for using blood-based sun tan lotion). He's quickly successful, but Frink's father (Jerry Lewis, himself - the man the Frink character is based on) isn't entirely grateful for being resurrected in the 21st century. He then goes around stealing vital organs from various citizens of Springfield. Can Frink and Lisa stop him? So, if Jerry's brand of comedy is something you might find a bit grating, this isn't exactly the best segment. But I can't help but at least appreciate that he was willing to lend his voice to something so stereotypically him. In that sense, it's a fun segment. Hell, even real-life Nobel prizewinner, Dudley Herschbach (for crossed-molecular-beam techniques with which to study in detail the dynamics of chemical reactions) makes an appearance to present the award to Frink. It's a pretty fun segment, but I still find it rough around the edges with some of the writing, and it's not at all my favorite. With the efforts involved though, I can't help but give it a respectable boost. It's decent for the era. 3/5 'Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off' Once again, we have a segment that's a little too far separated from Halloween for my liking. There's nothing Halloweenish here at all, and the very premise of it is laughable. It all starts when Marge finds a bunch of old comic books that Bart and Milhouse dig through. They find an ad for a watch that can stop time, order it, it arrives, it works, and there's way too much wrong with all of this already. The friends then take to the streets where they consistently stop time to mess with people. It doesn't take long before things get out of hand and Bart and Milhouse find themselves stopping the watch to escape an angry mob. This time, however, they drop the watch and break it, seemingly freezing time forever. It's just a segment about pranking people, and I can't really figure how it got into a Halloween episode. There isn't even mention of Halloween in this one, unlike other segments that find themselves separated from the theme. In fact, this may be the first time something like that has happened. While the segment isn't without a decent gag here and there, it just plain doesn't fit, and it's yet another one that lends itself to my displeasure of this era of 'Treehouse'. The whole idea that they can mail order something from so many years ago and it arrives is silly enough, but the idea that anyone could have gotten their hands on this time-controlling stopwatch is just ridiculous. I know I'm being harsh on something so trivial, but for some reason it really irks me. 1/5 For the first time in these reviews, I have almost nothing beyond the last segment to talk about, as the episode just ends there. The best I can add is that they bring back the "spooky credits". Another thing that set 'Treehouse XIII' apart from the others was that they actually ditched these credits for an episode, and things were just normal. These "spooky credits" are, of course, when they would replace real names with Halloween themed nicknames. Otherwise, the episode is mediocre at best.
Overall Episode Rating: 47% Original Air Date: Sunday, November 3, 2002 A Séance for Maude Flanders The episode opens with the Simpson family hosting a séance, trying to convince neighbor Neddy to contact his late wife, who was killed by a t-shirt gun back in Season 11. While Ned, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie join hands, summoning Maude's spirit, Bart enters in costume, playing a prank. While everyone at the table looks terrified, Bart reveals himself only to discover that what's scaring everyone is the actual ghost of Maude, behind him. The ghost of Maude then introduces the episode, honestly sort of forcefully. We then see the episode's title uniquely introduced as "The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror 13" as opposed to what it would regularly read; "The Simpsons Halloween Special XIII". That's the first time they used a non-Roman numeral AND the first time a Halloween episode is introduced as "Treehouse of Horror". Can you believe it took them 13 tries to match it? These episodes have always had the title "Treehouse of Horror" but are always introduced as "The Simpsons Halloween Special". Anyway, again, no couch gag. Just a lot of Homer screaming for some reason. 'Send in the Clones' Although it's decently funny, this is another one that sincerely bothers me more than it should. It strays so far from anything Halloweenish that it's primary farce is the now pretty-well forgotten 'Multiplicity' from 1996. I wanna say it was even forgotten about by the time this aired, which meant they were really stretching for an idea. This one capitalizes on Homer's laziness. He purchases a hammock from a street vendor that has the ability to clone. This results in Homer using it to his advantage, cloning a bunch of Homers to help around the house while he continues to be lazy. All goes well until one of them kills, resulting in Homer trying to get rid of them all. He drops them and the hammock in a field without thinking, and soon, there's a Homer clone uprising (guest-starring Peter Griffin from 'Family Guy' as well as oldschool Homer, which is at least a clever visual gag). This one has a few laughs, but I just don't see it as a very strong one at all. There's not much Halloweenish about it, and there's about one thing that happens one could consider horrific - the exact same visual gag being done in 'Terror at 5 1⁄2 Feet', but better. Despite a giggle or two, this is easily one of the weakest Halloween segments in my book. 2/5 'The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms' One might be surprised at this, but in actuality, I honestly kind of hate this one. To simplify, it just plain gets on my nerves. It opens with Bart and Lisa burying their goldfish. Lisa then stumbles on William H. Bonney's gravestone which reads "Gunned down, July 14, 1881. Aged 21" followed by a quote; "I dream of a world without guns". This prompts Lisa to do her activist thing and head a rally to ban guns from Springfield. Once the guns are banned, a zombie Bonney bursts from his grave, only to reveal himself to be Billy the Kid. He, along with a handful of other zombie cowboys he calls the "Hole in the Ground Gang". They take the now defenseless town, and things get incredibly annoying with the amount of gunfire used. But Frink invents a time machine out of the blue, which Homer uses to go back and warn the town not to ban guns, lest the zombie cowboys take over. It has a laugh or two, but all in all, it just feels thrown together and almost made up as it goes along. I can't quite explain what it is about it that truly bothers me, other than the annoying amount of gunfire. It may be because it's a zombie segment, and 'Dial Z for Zombies' is so hard to top, it may be the fact that it feels like a cheap attempt at doing a western themed segment while still fitting it into the Halloween theme. All I know is that it's an example of one of the segments I claim to have brought things for these Halloween episodes downhill. 1/5 'The Island of Dr. Hibbert' Thank God for this segment in this episode. After the second segment, you start to wonder if this is the worst of the bunch. But then, they pull a parody of 'The Island of Dr. Moreau', bringing it to more of a full on monster movie farce, and some of the visuals and animals they match the characters up with here are pretty hilarious. The Simpson family takes a vacation to the Island of Lost Souls, where they meet Dr. Hibbert, who runs the village resort. Unknown to the family, however, are the mad experiments happening on the island that involve turning the visiting humans into animals of some sort. This is where it gets fun, as so many animals fit so well with each character from Disco Shrew to a visual of Principal Skinner and his mother as a kangaroo and her baby in her pouch. While Homer finds the whole ordeal strange and disgusting, there's something about the newfound animalistic instincts the others gain they seem to want to embrace. This is one I tend to enjoy when it's on, and I find myself quoting here and there. It's one of the more memorable segments from this era, and it really helps to bring the episode back up from the nosedive it seemed to be stuck in (at least for me). The episode as a whole is easily one of the weaker ones, but this segment could be clipped away, watched on its own, and I daresay you wouldn't miss a whole lot from the rest of it. 4/5 'The Island of Dr. Hibbert' ends with a funny gag involving Homer quicly second-guessing just how bad the situation on the island is. It then brings us up to Kang and Kodos' flying saucer, and having them discuss how the Island of Lost Souls looks just like their number 4 - clearly a take on conspiracy theories in general, and a good last laugh for Halloween episode number "unlucky" 13.
Overall Episode Rating: 47% Original Air Date: Tuesday, November 6, 2001 Mr. Burns' Halloween Set-Up This episode opens with a pretty sweet doozy of an opening. Mr. Burns is getting Smithers to hang up his prized bat Halloween decoration atop a weathervane during a thunderstorm. While on the ladder, Smithers loses his balance and falls, sliding down a cable, directly into a fuse box and electrocuting himself. This blows up a tower on Burns Manor, sending it crashing into the Burns family crypt, unleashing a few coffins that all crash upright into the front of the mansion and open up individually. In the meantime, the Simpson family are trick or treating, and as they approach Burns Manor, they see the carnage that just happened. This sends them running and screaming for their lives as they cartoonishly run through the front gate, slicing themselves into pieces as they run. Burns then gives the simple bat decoration all the credit for scaring people off. Once again, this is all in place of the regular couch gag. The episode's surprisingly late air date had to do with Fox's contract with the World Series, taking place from October 27 - November 4. 'Hex and the City' While exploring Springfield's Ethnic Town, the Simpson family stumbles into a fortune teller's shop. Homer, in his oafish ways, ruins the shop by being clumsy, and as a result, the Gypsy fortune teller curses him to bring bad luck to everyone he loves. The following day, Marge's hair starts to grow everywhere else on her, Bart's neck stretches out, Lisa grows horse legs and hoofs, and Maggie eventually turns into a half ladybug. The curse carries through to his friends as well, and he finds out that his only hope is to capture a leprechaun who will curb the curse. The leprechaun in question is a pretty rough Irish stereotype, and they take it pretty far, making the voice sound like someone doing an impression of a drunken Irishman. There is something presently uncomfortable about this one in the sense that it just doesn't care. This is also way before the public eye was open a little more about the Roma, or as most would know them, "Gypsies". So it hasn't aged particularly well when you consider society today, but it does have a moment or two. While the title is a clear farce of 'Sex and the City', the general plot seems to loosely be based on Stephen King's 'Thinner'. This one has always just kinda beeen "there" to me, and I don't think much of it when it comes to memorable Simpson Halloween moments. 2/5 'House of Whacks' When a salesbot visits the Simpson house, it proposes a state of the art house-cleaning system called "Ultrahouse". When setting it up, they are able to choose different voices from Standard to Matthew Perry (as himself), Dennis Miller (voice unknown) and Pierce Brosnan (the big guest star on this episode). The whole situation is essentially as though they have a 'Star Trek' computer that can do just about anything for the household. All is well for a while, but eventually the super-intelligent house computer starts to develop a thing for Marge, and even watches her bathe while providing her with the perfect atmosphere. This ultimately puts Homer in danger, as the house decides it's time to off Homer in order to move in on his wife. Soon, Marge and the kids find themselves facing off against their own house, which may or may not have killed off Homer already. It's creepy enough that it just fits the Halloween vibe of the episode. This one's a parody combination of 'Demon Seed' and '2001: A Space Odyssey', both featuring the idea of a corrupt, super-intelligent computer. It's kinda funny, and Pierce Brosnan's classy British voice adds a little something to it. I was never the biggest fan of this segment, but I can't deny that there's something about it that has grown on me a little bit over the years. It's just silly, overall, and ends on a lighter, funnier note that turns the tables of terror on the robot, leaving you with a decent laugh. 3/5 'Wiz Kids' It was only a matter of time until 'The Simpsons' did a farce of 'Harry Potter'. This particular parody was done between the publications of 'Goblet of Fire' and 'Order of the Phoenix' as well, so interestingly enough, there were only four books at the time this was done, and its pretty impressive to see what they came up with, considering the lack of three future books to come. The segment opens with the Simpson kids sitting down to breakfast, where we learn pretty fast that Lisa is the brainy wizard out of the two, while Bart's a bit of an underachiever. At school, this is further proven by a hilarious frog-to-prince trick, where Lisa makes a perfect "Prince Charming" while Bart creates a horrible abomination that basically looks like a nightmarish Muppet frog that can't stop puking all over itself. It's very gruesome, yes, but it always gets a laugh from me due to how over-the-top it is. Meanwhile, the evil "Montymort" (Mr. Burns) and his snake, Slithers (Smithers) see Lisa's skill through a crystal ball, and plan to kidnap her in an effort to suck out her brainy essence, and use it for his evil ways. I still remember this one feeling like a bit of a treat when I first saw it, because it had been a while since they did a full on popular movie farce. With so much to work with in a less than 10-minute period, they pull it off pretty well, and it's fun to think about the magical shortcuts the Simpson kids take - like turning back the clock five minutes when they're going to be late for school. All in all, it's quite enjoyable, funny, and even caters to 'Harry Potter' fans at least a little bit. 4/5 Once the credits start rolling, the episode cuts to a guest trailer in the studio parking lot. Pierce Brosnan, the leprechaun and the frog prince abomination all emerge from the trailer with fruit baskets. They walk over to Pierce Brosnan's fancy sports car, and the leprechaun tricks him into giving him and the frog rides home. It's a funny little gag to throw over the end credits, and it takes the place of the usual Simpsons Halloween theme music.
Overall Episode Rating: 60% |
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