Treehouse of Horror VII

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The Simpsons episode
"Treehouse of Horror VII"
Hugo prepares to reattach himself to Bart.
Episode no. 154
Prod. code 4F02
Orig. airdate October 27, 1996
Show runner(s) Bill Oakley &
Josh Weinstein
Written by Ken Keeler
Dan Greaney
David S. Cohen
Directed by Mike B. Anderson
Couch gag The Grim Reaper is on the couch. The family runs in, but keel over and die one by one. The Reaper then puts his feet up on the corpses of the Simpson family.[1]
Guest star(s) Phil Hartman as Bill Clinton
DVD
commentary		 Matt Groening
Josh Weinstein
David S. Cohen
Dan Greaney
Ken Keeler
Dan Castellaneta
Mike B. Anderson
Season 8
October 27, 1996 – May 18, 1997
  1. "Treehouse of Horror VII"
  2. "You Only Move Twice"
  3. "The Homer They Fall"
  4. "Burns, Baby Burns"
  5. "Bart After Dark"
  6. "A Milhouse Divided"
  7. "Lisa's Date with Density"
  8. "Hurricane Neddy"
  9. "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)"
  10. "The Springfield Files"
  11. "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson"
  12. "Mountain of Madness"
  13. "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious"
  14. "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"
  15. "Homer's Phobia"
  16. "Brother from Another Series"
  17. "My Sister, My Sitter"
  18. "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment"
  19. "Grade School Confidential"
  20. "The Canine Mutiny"
  21. "The Old Man and the Lisa"
  22. "In Marge We Trust"
  23. "Homer's Enemy"
  24. "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"
  25. "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson"
List of all The Simpsons episodes

"Treehouse of Horror VII" is the first episode of The Simpsons' eighth season and originally aired October 27, 1996.[2] In the seventh annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Bart discovers his long-lost twin, Lisa grows a colony of small beings and Kang & Kodos impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in order to win the 1996 Presidential election. It was written by Ken Keeler, Dan Greaney and David S. Cohen and directed by Mike B. Anderson.[1] Phil Hartman provided the voice of Clinton.[1]

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

[edit] The Thing and I

Bart and Lisa begin to hear strange noises and think that there is something in the attic. Homer claims not to know what they are talking about, although he is later seen grabbing a bucket of fish heads and heading into the attic. Bart and Lisa investigate and find out that there really is a monster. Homer and Marge go into the attic and discover that "it" escaped. Marge immediately calls Dr. Hibbert and he explains that Bart had a conjoined twin brother named Hugo. The two were separated at birth, but it was discovered that Hugo was too evil to live in society, so the Simpsons did the "only humane thing to do": Hugo was locked up in the attic, where Homer fed him a platter of fish-heads once a week. The rest of the family leaves to find Hugo, leaving Bart behind, but he soon discovers that Hugo never left the house. Hugo takes Bart up to the attic and ties Bart up so that he can reattach himself. Suddenly, Dr. Hibbert finds them and knocks out Hugo, commenting that the evil twin is always on the left side. But then he realizes that Hugo's scar is on the wrong side and that Bart (perhaps unsurprisingly) is the evil twin. In the end, the Simpson family sits down to a turkey dinner with Hugo, leaving Bart locked up in the attic.

[edit] The Genesis Tub

Lisa in the tub universe.
Lisa in the tub universe.

Lisa performs a science experiment to see if cola will dissolve a tooth and Bart shocks Lisa as part of his project to prove that nerds conduct electricity. The tooth was also shocked and it undergoes an unusual reaction and creates a race of miniature beings. Lisa discovers this the next day and marvels at how the people in her universe evolve at a rapid rate, going through the various ages humans have gone through into modern times and eventually, the future. Bart destroys some of the ecosystem in Lisa's tub universe and the people respond, sending an army of space ships to attack Bart. Bart vows revenge on the small universe and Lisa wonders what to do. Suddenly, she is beamed down into the tub where the citizens explain that they regard her as god and they want her to do something about Bart. However, Bart grabs the tub and submits it in the science fair and Lisa is forced to watch from within as Bart wins first prize. She asks to be returned to her normal size, which the citizens explain is impossible, and she realizes that she is stuck in the tub for the rest of her life.

This episode is a spoof of the The Twilight Zone episode The Little People, this episode itself was actually spoofed on South Park episode Simpsons Already Did It

[edit] Citizen Kang

Kang and Kodos take on the form of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.
Kang and Kodos take on the form of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.

While fishing, Homer is abducted by the aliens Kang and Kodos. When they demand that Homer point them towards Earth's leader, Homer tells them about the then-upcoming election and that the winner could be either Bill Clinton or Bob Dole. Kang and Kodos kidnap both Dole and Clinton, placing them in suspended animation tubes. Kang and Kodos take on their forms to ensure that one of them will become the next leader. The aliens soak Homer in rum and return him to Earth and nobody believes him. Later on, Homer stumbles upon the badly hidden spaceship and tries to save the real Dole and Clinton, however he accidentally ejects them into space. On the day before the election, Homer successfully reveals the candidates' real identities. Realizing it is too late to get new candidates, one man in the crowd decides to vote for a third-party candidate. However, Kang and Kodos convince the crowd that doing so would be a wasted vote. Kang is elected President and forces the citizens of America to build a giant ray gun to aim at another planet.[2][3][4][5]

[edit] Production

Normally, the writers would come up with some sort of wrap around for Treehouse of Horror episodes, but because they had been cut the previous year, the writers didn't bother this year.[6] "The Thing and I" was written by Ken Keeler,[7] "The Genesis Tub" was written by Dan Greaney[8] and "Citizen Kang" was written by David X. Cohen.[9] Despite the similarities, "The Thing and I" was not based on the plot of Basket Case.[7] "The Genesis Tub" was originally pitched by David Cohen[9] and it was later referenced in the South Park episode "Simpsons Already Did It", when they pointed out that The Simpsons had earlier gotten the idea from the 1962 Twilight Zone episode called "The Little People."[10] There are also similarities to the 1941 short story Microcosmic God.

The 1996 Presidential election occurred a few days after the airing of this episode.[9] According to Cohen, the "Citizen Kang" short violated every rule of The Simpsons as it locked the episode in one time and named specific candidates.[6]

The sequence where tiny spaceships attack Bart marks one of the first uses of computers in Simpsons animation. The computer was used to build models for reference and the animators later retraced it.[10]

[edit] Cultural references

Homer sings "Fish Heads", a song by Barnes & Barnes, during "The Thing and I",[11] and Homer crashing the flying saucer into capital dome is a nod to Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.[9] The title of "Citizen Kang" is a reference to Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, and the title of "The Thing and I" is a reference to The King and I.

[edit] Reception

In 2006, IGN.com voted "Citizen Kang" as the seventh best segment of the Treehouse of Horror episodes.[12] In a 2000 Entertainment Weekly article, Matt Groening ranked it as his seventh favorite in the history of the show.[13]

"We've reached the limits of what rectal probing can teach us" is one of Matt Groening's favorite lines.[14] Kang/Bob Dole's line "Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!" was named one of the best lines in the history of the show by the A.V. Club.[15] There is a ska band named I Voted for Kodos, which got its name from this episode.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Treehouse of Horror VII BBC.co.uk. Retrieved on March 28, 2007
  2. ^ a b "Treehouse of Horror VII" The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on March 28, 2007
  3. ^ Martyn, Warren; Adrian Wood (2000). I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-7535-0495-2. 
  4. ^ Episode Capsule at The Simpsons Archive
  5. ^ Richmond, Ray; Antonia Coffman (1997). The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to our Favorite Family. Harper Collins Publishers, p. 173. ISBN 0-00-638898-1. 
  6. ^ a b c Weinstein, Josh. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  7. ^ a b Keeler, Ken. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  8. ^ Greaney, Dan. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  9. ^ a b c d Cohen, David X.. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  10. ^ a b Anderson, Mike B.. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  11. ^ Castellaneta, Dan. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  12. ^ Goldman, Eric; Iverson, Dan; Zoromski, Brian (2006-10-30). Top 10 Segments from The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror. IGN. Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
  13. ^ Springfield of Dreams. Entertainment Weekly (2000-01-14). Retrieved on 2007-03-30.
  14. ^ Groening, Matt. (2006). The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  15. ^ Bahn, Christopher; Donna Bowman, Josh Modell, Noel Murray, Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson, Kyle Ryan, Scott Tobias (2006-04-26). Beyond "D'oh!": Simpsons Quotes For Everyday Use. The A.V. Club. Retrieved on 2006-07-03.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
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The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror" episodes
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