Treehouse of Horror II

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Simpsons episode
"Treehouse of Horror II"

Promotional artwork for Treehouse of Horror II
Episode no.	42
Prod. code	8F02
Orig. Airdate	October 31, 1991
Show Runner(s)	Al Jean & Mike Reiss
Written by	Atrocious Al Jean & Morbid Mike Reiss Jittery Jeff Martin Gasping George Meyer Slithering Sam Simon Spooky John Swartzwelder
Directed by	Jim Rondo Reardon
DVD commentary by	Matt Groening Al Jean Mike Reiss Dan Castellaneta Jeff Martin Jim Reardon
SNPP capsule
Season 3 September 19, 1991 – August 27, 1992
Stark Raving Dad Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington When Flanders Failed Bart the Murderer Homer Defined Like Father, Like Clown Treehouse of Horror II Lisa's Pony Saturdays of Thunder Flaming Moe's Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk I Married Marge Radio Bart Lisa the Greek Homer Alone Bart the Lover Homer at the Bat Separate Vocations Dog of Death Colonel Homer Black Widower The Otto Show Bart's Friend Falls in Love Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"Treehouse of Horror II" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons' third season, and the second Simpsons Halloween episode. The episode aired on October 31, 1991.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Movie Moments
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Disclaimer-esque Opening segment

Marge: "Ahem. Hello, everyone. Before last year's Halloween show, I warned you not to let your children watch. But you did anyway. Mm. Well, this year's episode is even worse. It's scarier, more violent, and I think they snuck in some bad language, too. So please, tuck in your children and... (sighs) Well, if you didn't listen to me last time, you're not going to now. Enjoy the show."

[edit] Set-up

Lisa, Bart, and Homer each have nightmares after eating too much Halloween candy.

[edit] The Monkey's Paw (Lisa's Nightmare)

While visiting Morocco, the Simpsons visit a bazaar. Homer finds a small booth displaying a monkey's paw. The vendor explains that it will grant its owner four wishes but also warns that it will bring grave misfortune. Homer dismisses his concerns and buys the paw. Back in Springfield, the Simpsons argue over what to wish for; when Maggie picks up the paw, a limousine suddenly arrives and the driver brings Maggie a new pacifier. Bart grabs the paw and wishes for the Simpsons to be rich and famous, which comes true; however, people quickly tire of seeing their faces everywhere. Horrified by these wasteful wishes, Lisa wishes for world peace. All countries in the world declare peace and destroy all weapons. Before long, however, Kang and Kodos land and enslave the Earth armed only with a slingshot and a club. The entire human race is defenseless against Kang and Kodos, and all military men have now taken up jobs such as baking cookies. Humanity has no choice but to become slaves of Kang. Determined to make a wish that cannot be twisted, Homer demands a turkey sandwich, which, to his horror, turns out to be a little dry. Homer throws the paw in the garbage in disgust, only to be spotted by Ned Flanders. He gladly hands the paw over to Flanders, obviously hoping to see his neighbor's wishes backfire as well. Naturally, Ned wished the invading aliens were gone - which happened, due to Moe chasing the aliens with a board with a nail in it. As they retreated, the aliens proclaim that one day humans will make bigger boards with bigger nails and eventually bring themselves down. Everyone celebrates and Flanders' house is converted into an opulent castle. Homer angrily leans against his fence and wishes he had a monkey's paw.

[edit] The Bart Zone (Bart's Nightmare)

Springfield is held in a grip of terror by Bart, who has near-omnipotent powers. No one dares to displease him -- his family, his teachers, and everyone else in town are all forced to continuously smile and submit to Bart's every whim. Anyone who thinks unhappy thoughts is immediately affected. Krusty the Clown for example was forced to run his show non-stop, "well kids, we've been on the air for 346 consecutive hours and it is all thanks to one little boy who WON"T LET ME STOP!" When Homer refuses to turn off a football game, Bart transports him into the football's place in the middle of an extra point kick. Homer creeps back into the house with a chair, attempting to sneak up on Bart and kill him, but Bart transforms him into a jack-in-the-box. Marge gently suggests that the two see Dr. Marvin Monroe, who says that Bart is merely desperate for paternal affection. Despite being a jack-in-the-box, Homer spends quality father-son time with Bart, and soon they become a normal, loving family. Bart restores Homer's body and tells him he loves him; but when he is kissed by Homer, Bart wakes up screaming from this nightmare.

Inspiration- The title of this segment is a spoof of The Twilight Zone while the plot is a spoof of The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life". As well as the short story "It's a GOOD Life" by Jerome Bixby on which The Twilight Zone episode is based on. Rod Serling's famous opening and closing narrations for The Twilight Zone are also spoofed in this segment. Nancy Cartwright, voice of Bart, appears in the "It's A Good Life" segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie.

[edit] If I Only Had a Brain (Homer's Nightmare)

Mr. Burns fires Homer for his laziness and incompetence. To support his family, Homer answers a classified ad to become a grave digger. Burns, meanwhile, is nearing completion on his robotic laborer, who will some day replace lazy human workers altogether, as Mr. Burns believe that workers have a strong spirits but weak bodies. The only remaining step is to implant a human brain into the machine's body. Searching a graveyard at night, Burns and Smithers mistake Homer, who has fallen asleep in an open grave, for a newly buried corpse. They remove his brain and place it in the robot; however, robo-Homer is just as lazy and incompetent as he was as a human. Burns declares the experiment a disaster and, due to Smithers' pleading, puts Homer's brain back into his strangely still-living body. Disgusted by the failure, Burns kicks the robot, which falls on him and crushes his body. After Burns tells Smithers to get some surgical tools and ether, Homer wakes up screaming from this nightmare (although Bart bit him because Homer was crushing him with his fat) and discovers that Smithers has transplanted Burns' head onto his body next to his own. He thought it was a dream, or was it? This episode ends with the announcement of what will happen on the next Simpsons episode. The Simpsons are eating breakfast. Homer is seen with Mr. Burns' head, and is told that he has to do everything Burns does. Homer laments how he hates having two heads.

[edit] Trivia

This was the first Halloween episode where names in the closing credits were replaced by "spooky" name parodies.
In production order, this was the first episode to be animated by Anivision, which was the first non-AKOM overseas studio to work on the show.^{[citation needed]}
Bart's nightmare had a unique Moe prank call. Bart does not need to fool Moe as he can simply order him around like everyone else. When Bart calls; Moe talks to the bar patrons as if he was ordered on cue. Moe states "I am a stupid moron with a ugly face and a big butt and my butt smells and I like to kiss my own butt." Although Treehouse of Horror episodes are generally agreed to be non-canon, this was referred to in a later clip show when they recalled all of Bart's crank calls to Moe.

[edit] Movie Moments

Homer's nightmare is based from much of the film Frankenstein. The end of the episode parodies The Thing with Two Heads.
In Lisa's nightmare, just as the Simpsons are about to board the plane, they are stopped by Moroccan soldiers who all aim pistols at them in the kneeling position. Homer is then searched and found to have trinkets attached to his body which he was attempting to smuggle out of the country without paying a tariff. This is a parody of the opening scene of Midnight Express.