Treehouse of Horror VI

The first version of the episode was very long, so it featured a very short opening sequence and did not include several trademarks established in previous Treehouse of Horror episodes. "Homer³", pitched by executive producer Bill Oakley, features three dimensional computer animation provided by Pacific Data Images (PDI). In the final scene of the episode, Homer is sent to the real world in the first ever live-action scene in The Simpsons. "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores" includes a cameo appearance from Paul Anka, who sings the song "Just Don't Look".

In its original broadcast, the episode was watched by 22.9 million viewers,

Plot

Opening

Krusty, as the Headless Horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, holds his laughing head and hurls it at the camera, causing the title, "The Simpsons Halloween Special VI", to appear on-screen in blood.

Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores

Homer goes to Lard Lad Donuts to get a "colossal doughnut". Upon realizing that the colossal doughnut is the name of the doughnut that Lard Lad holds and actual doughnuts that size do not exist, he denounces the store and vows to get a colossal doughnut. He returns that night and steals the giant doughnut from the Lard Lad statue in front of the store. In the midst of a freak storm, Lard Lad and the other giant advertising statues come to life to terrorize Springfield. At Marge's insistence, Homer eventually returns the doughnut to Lard Lad, but that does not stop Lard Lad and his friends from causing destruction. Lisa goes to the ad agency that created those advertising characters, and an executive suggests the citizens stop paying attention to the monsters as they are advertising gimmicks, and attention is what keeps them motivated. He suggests a jingle will help distract people from watching the monsters. Lisa and Paul Anka later perform a catchy song and the citizens of Springfield stop looking at the monsters, who lose their powers and become lifeless (although Homer has to be dragged away from the Lard Lad statue, holding a sign reading "Now With Sprinkles"). Homer is distracted and Lard Lad drops the doughnut, which rolls past Kang and Kodos, who are trying to hitchhike to Earth's capital. Kent Brockman signs off by warning of the dangers of advertising and Homer says "We'll be right back."

Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace

Patty and Selma visit the Simpsons, driving Bart, Lisa, and even the pets to evade them and consequently leave almost no place for Homer to hide. Desperate to avoid his wife's sisters, he looks behind a bookcase and enters a mysterious new world in which everything is in 3D. Homer explores the peculiar area, and finds that he is trapped within (the rest of the family can only hear his voice). He seeks help from them, but their attempts to rescue him are fruitless.

After a cone hits Homer, he throws it into the floor and accidentally pierces the fabric of the space-time continuum, creating a blackhole that threatens to pull Homer and the rest of the dimension into it. Bart takes command and enters the third dimension to save Homer. Bart is unable to help, however, and the universe collapses on itself. Bart is pulled back into the house and Marge is sad that her husband is gone;

"Treehouse of Horror VI" was the first of two Treehouse of Horror episodes to be executive produced by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The episode was "so long" because, according to Oakley, "all three of these segments are very complex stories [...] and it's hard to fit three complete stories into 21 minutes". Because of the length, the episode featured a very short opening sequence and did not include several trademarks established in previous Treehouse of Horror episodes, such as Marge's warning or wraparounds.^[3] The first segment, "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores", was written by John Swartzwelder, who had previously worked at an advertising agency.^[4] "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace" was written by Steve Tompkins and has been described by David X. Cohen as "one of the scariest [segments]".^[5] "Homer³" was written by Cohen, although the idea was pitched by Oakley. The original idea was that Homer would visit several dimensions, including one where everything was made out of paper cut-outs, but they decided that it would be too complicated.^[3]

The episode includes a cameo appearance from Paul Anka, who sings the song "Just Don't Look". In response, he sent a letter to the producers in which he thanked them for the mention. After receiving the letter, they decided to ask him to guest star.^[3] According to David Mirkin, he tried to get Al Gore to host the episode, but the producers got no response to their request. "There was an eerie silence," Mirkin said. He added that "if the VP decides now to pursue this showbiz offer, it's just too late [...] He missed his chance."^[6]

In the final scene of the episode, Homer is sent to the real world in the first ever live-action scene in The Simpsons. It was filmed on

A large portion of "Homer³" was three dimensional and computer-animated. Supervising director David Silverman was aiming for something better than the computer animation. The animation was provided by Pacific Data Images (PDI) and overseen by Tim Johnson. The animators at PDI worked closely with the 2D animators on The Simpsons and worked hard not to "reinvent the character[s]". The animators storyboarded the segments and showed the PDI animators how they would have handled the scenes. While designing the 3D model of Bart, the animators did not know how they would show Bart's hair. However, they realized that there were vinyl Bart dolls in production and purchased one to use as a model. One of the most difficult parts for the PDI animators was to make Homer and Bart move properly without making them look robotic.^[7]

One of the key shots in the segment was where Homer steps into the 3D world and his design transitions into 3D. Executive producer Bill Oakley considers the shot to be the "money shot" and had a difficult time communicating his idea to the animators.^[7]

An edited version of Homer³ appeared alongside several other shorts in the 2000 American 3-D animated anthology film, CyberWorld, shown in IMAX and IMAX 3D.

Background jokes

Several background jokes were inserted into "Homer³". The PDI animators inserted a

• The title of "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores" is a reference to the film Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.^[1]
• In "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores", some of the mascots are parodies of real life mascots. The giant walking mascots of Prof. Peanut, The Giant Exterminator and the Zip Boys named Maury, Mel and Mack are parodies of Mr. Peanut, Mr. Little of the Western Exterminator company, And Manny, Moe and Jack.^[12]
• "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace" is a parody of the film A Nightmare on Elm Street and its sequels,^[1] and Bart's dream at the opening of the segment features many elements similar to the cartoons of Tex Avery.^[12]
• The segment "Homer³" is a parody of The Twilight Zone episode "Little Girl Lost", in which a girl travels through a portal to the 4th dimension. At one point, Homer compares the situation to "that twilighty show about that zone".^[12]
• Homer passes by the library from Myst, a reference to the famed computer game of the era. Series creator Rand Miller later reflected on a call he received from the studio, when asked for permission to use the exact game graphics on the show.^[13]
• The film Tron is also mentioned by Homer as a means of describing his surroundings.^[1]
• The three-dimensional rotation shot of the dimensional vortex is a reference to the green glowing grid in the opening credits of the Disney film
  The Black Hole.^[1]
• In "Homer³", as he is about to fall in the black hole, Homer says, "There's so much I don't know about
  quadraplegic,^[12]
  and who would make several guest appearances on the series.
• The title of the album Erotic Cakes by guitarist Guthrie Govan is a reference to the name of the bakery shop Homer enters in this episode.^[14]
• The Simpsons-themed doom-metal band Dr Colossus based their song "Lard Lad" on "Attack of the Fifty Foot Eyesores"^[15]

Reception

In its original broadcast, "Treehouse of Horror VI" finished 21st in the ratings for the week of October 23 to October 29, 1995, with a

In a retrospective review for The A.V. Club, Erik Adams praises the episode's visual inventiveness: "On a deeper level, 'Treehouse of Horror' endures because it's the one time a year the Simpsons staff can fully embrace the fact they make a cartoon. Various fantasy episodes and trips down the non-canonical timeline also afford this chance, but 'Treehouse of Horror' is a dependable, perennial opportunity to go whole hog with the animated wackiness. Any given episode of The Simpsons might find Homer surviving blunt trauma (and trauma and trauma and trauma, etc.), but only in 'Treehouse of Horror VI' can he trip through an interdimensional rift and drool in state-of-the-art for-1995 computer animation." He also notes that "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace" is "packed with adventurous character designs and fantastical digressions."^[22]

In the July 26, 2007 issue of Nature, the scientific journal's editorial staff listed the "Homer³" segment among "The Top Ten science moments in The Simpsons", highlighting Cohen's "1782¹² + 1841¹²=1922¹²" equation.^[23]

Awards

In 1996, the "Homer³" segment was awarded the