Treehouse of Horror XVIII
| "Treehouse of Horror XVIII" | |
|---|---|
Max Pross David Silverman Chuck Sheetz | |
"Treehouse of Horror XVIII" is the fifth episode of the nineteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 4, 2007. In the eighteenth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Bart harbors Kodos the alien in "E.T., Go Home," Homer and Marge are husband and wife assassins who try to take each other out in "Mr. & Mrs. Simpson," and Ned Flanders is given God-like powers during his demonstration on the wages of sin in "Heck House." It was written by Marc Wilmore and directed by Chuck Sheetz.[1] Maggie Simpson does not appear in this episode.
It is also the first Treehouse of Horror episode to premiere after the movie.
Plot
In the opening sequence, Marge talks about Halloween being "last week" and suddenly various logos for other Fox shows pop up on the screen, including the mini logos for , which she serves to her family. When she cuts it, the other characters' body parts are shown to spell out the title of the episode and the opening credits (Homer eats the piece with the "developed by" credit, says "Mmmmmmm, developed by", and drools).
E.T., Go Home
In a parody of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Marge tells Bart to get butane from their "butane storage shed" in the back yard. As he does so, he finds Kodos there. Kodos states his desire is to return home and that he had come to Earth in peace, though he hints that he was really sent there to destroy mankind. Bart, however, is oblivious to this, and decides to help him return home. Lisa arrives and is happy with the alien in their home and decides to help Bart and Kodos obtain a list of devices (including two tickets to see Avenue Q, Uranium, and "7 billion body bags") that he can use to contact his home planet, though this appears to be part of his diabolical plan. Homer discovers Kodos when the two accidentally share a shower, but he and Marge decide to let the kids help Kodos anyway, after Kodos hints it would be racist to turn him away (He said that they did not want him in the house because he was Jewish). When NASA agents arrive at the Simpsons home, Homer distracts them by dressing as Abraham Lincoln while Bart sneaks Kodos out. However, when Kodos kills several agents along the way, Bart begins to think Kodos's intentions are not as friendly as he was led to believe. Finally, Kodos reveals that the devices he had the Simpsons collect were for a portal-generating device so that others of his planet can come to Earth and wipe out the human race and eat their heads. When the aliens (including Kang) invade, the rest of the Simpson family shows up, along with the military. A brief war is waged, and Earth ultimately overpowers the aliens (the massive heads of Kodos' species make them easy targets for attack helicopters). When Bart is given the option to board a helicopter and shoot Kodos, Bart, seeing Kodos' smile, decides to spare him. However, Homer shoots Kodos several times. In the end, Earth emerges victorious and the world is saved. The Simpsons are invited to see Kodos's dissection, where they reflect that since Kodos was an evil-looking alien who turned out to be bad, it must be good to judge a book by its cover. It is revealed that Kodos is still very much alive, as he points what is happening is actually vivisection, only to be suffocated with a pillow by Homer.
Mr. & Mrs. Simpson
In a parody of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Homer and Marge are at a marriage counseling session, recounting a brief moment of tension between them.
In the flashback, when arriving home, Homer locks himself in the bathroom and communicates on a hidden flat screen television, where it is revealed Homer is an assassin assigned to eliminate news reporter, Kent Brockman, by order of Homer's boss, Mr. Burns. Although the bathroom is locked, Bart somehow got in and is sitting on a Mortar, which was the toilet. Before he leaves, he tells Marge he will be coming home late from "Midnight Monkey Madness." Marge also states that she is busy turning over wheelbarrows. When Homer prepares to shoot Brockman at his rooftop party from a faraway platform, a woman with large blonde hair stabs Brockman in the chest. After Homer attempts to repeatedly shoot the woman (ending up with several civilian deaths), he manages to shoot the wig off her head, revealing her to be Marge.
Arriving home, the two avoid each other's eyes, and Marge makes an excuse for the blonde wig. Unfortunately at dinner, Homer is unable to control his anger. which leads the two attempting to kill one another with various weapons such as grenades, rifles, and a
Heck House
Bart (dressed as
It is revealed the haunted house is actually a morality play in disguise (a "Hell house"). Ned Flanders tries to scare the children into righteousness through the use of crude theatre performed by Principal Skinner, Reverend Lovejoy, and Ned's two kids Rod and Tod. However, the pranksters scoff at his attempt, causing Ned to angrily turn to the heavens and ask for the power to "psychologically torture" the kids into loving God. Lightning flashes and Ned is transformed into the Devil (reprising his role from "Treehouse of Horror IV" though lacking goat legs), and then sends the kids to Hell. There he produces an enormous crystal ball which reveals Springfield to be full of sin, specifically the Seven Deadly Sins. The crystal ball shows:
- Gluttony: Homer slurps his spaghetti too fast and ends up being turned into spaghetti himself. (he asks for more bread)
- Wrath (called Anger here): Groundskeeper Willie kicks his tractor in frustration and ends up decapitated by it after it transformsinto a robot.
- Hans Moleman) after putting a "My Child Is An Honor Student" bumper sticker on his car and taking pride in it.
- Sloth: Homer is killed again (despite pointing out that he already died from eating the "magic spaghetti") when he slides through the mesh of a hammock and gets cubed to pieces
- Lust, Greed, and Envy: Moe gazes over at a stripper dancing for him, tries to steal her money back for himself, and envies "the crotchless" after getting kicked in the groin.
A wider view of Hell is then shown, with various citizens of Springfield being punished for their sins on Earth, in a reference to the Inferno section of Dante's Divine Comedy. The children are terrified and promise never to sin again and to only "pray and fight in wars"; they are then sent back to Earth while Ned transforms back to his standard human form. The episode ends with Ned telling the viewers that they will go to Hell for watching Fox, as well as FX, Fox Sports and "our newest devil's portal", The Wall Street Journal, which he welcomes to the "club".
Production
On July 27, 2007, creator Matt Groening and the producers attended a panel which encompassed the topics of both The Simpsons Movie, and the nineteenth season. The panel revealed that Peter Griffin from Family Guy is one of the miniature characters featured in the opening sequence, although he appears as a cameo from the scene.[2]
Cultural references
The segment "E.T., Go Home" parodies the film
Reception
Ratings
In its original American broadcast, the episode averaged 11.7 million viewers and a 5.7 overnight
Critical reception
Robert Canning of IGN called the opening segment, E.T., Go Home, "the weakest segment because it just wasn't really all that funny", and thought the end of the segment was the weakest part of the episode, writing "watching the military decimate the aliens and then seeing Homer use a pillow to suffocate Kodos at the end was really off-putting. The deaths weren't funny, just uncomfortable." Canning, however, described the final two segments, as well as the opening as being solid segments. He gave the overall episode a rating of 7.4/10.[3]
References
- ^ "Treehouse of Horror XVIII". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
- ^ Moro, Eric. "SDCC 07: The Simpsons Panel". IGN.
- ^ a b c d Canning, Robert (2007-11-05). "The Simpsons: "Treehouse of Horror XVIII" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ^ Harzheim, Harald: Hexen/ Sieben Schritte zu Satan [Häxan/ Seven Footprints to Satan]. In: Filmgenres Horrorfilm, Ursula Vossen (Edit.), Stuttgart 2004. Pp. 36-40.
- ^ Gough, Paul (2007-11-06). "Football goes the distance for CBS, NBC". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Toni (2007-11-05). "Huge numbers for Colts-Patriots game". Media Life. Archived from the original on 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
External links
- "Treehouse of Horror XVIII" at IMDb
