26The Simpsons has had its ups and downs throughout the many, many, many years it's been on the air, but the one thing the grand-duke of animated sitcoms can always be relied upon to provide is an unforgettable and usually hilarious Halloween special.
The "Treehouse of Horror" annual tradition began way back in The Simpsons second season, and it has never missed a year since, with each episode comprising three pop-culture parodies that are filled to the brim with cultural references. In fact, these stories are so filled with little jokes, blink-and-you'll-miss-it Easter eggs, and behind the scenes shenanigans that more than a few of them get overlooked.
10 Maggie May Have The Shinning, Too ("Treehouse of Horror V")
"Treehouse of Horror V," brings the Simpson family into the haunted hotel of Stanley Kubrick's classic The Shining, along with the lawyer-baiting title of "The Shinning," Bart is obviously the Danny Torrance of the story, the one with the psychic powers, but he may not be the only Simpson with them.
In the Stephen King story, Danny doesn't just communicate telepathically, but he also receives premonitions of the horror to come, which is most famously illustrated with him seeing the word 'MURDER' reversed as 'REDRUM.' Bart doesn't seem to have this power, but Maggie does. As Homer fruitlessly tries to watch TV, it's Maggie who spells the iconic word with her letter blocks.
9 The Spell Book Was Funny, Once ("Treehouse of Horror III")
There are hidden details, and then there's the relentless march of time eroding all trace that a joke ever existed. Bart's spellbook in "Dial Z For Zombies" is the latter, with the past 28 years impressively destroying nearly all sixteen funny spell name references The Simpsons throws at viewers.
The 70s detectives are bad enough, but most viewers these days have never heard of Kresge and Caldor stores. Then, there are the game show hosts, only one of which continued to be a household name past the 90s... until he sadly died in November 2020. RIP Alex Trebek.
8 Kang and Kodos Aren't The Space Mutants ("Treehouse of Horror I")
Kang and Kodos have appeared in every "Treehouse of Horror" special and are Rigellian space mutants. But, they're not the Space Mutants. The actual "Space Mutants" is a big movie franchise in The Simpsons, which memorably invaded Springfield in "classic" 90s videogame Bart vs. The Space Mutants for the NES.
However, despite also being green and having the ability to disguise themselves as humans, the aliens of "Hungry Are The Damned" have a very different design. So, Space Mutants are fictional but canon, and Kang and Kodos are real but non-canon... at least, until they showed up in Season 26's "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner."
7 Edna Krabappel Wears A Scarlet Letter ("Treehouse of Horror VIII")
The eighth special's "Easy-Bake Coven" story about witches being hunted in the town of Sprynge-Fielde features a subtle and disturbing nod to a famous piece of 19th Century fiction. The townspeople gather to observe Marge's fair and impartial witch trial—at which she's thrown off a cliff to see if she flies, which she does—including Edna Krabappel, who is wearing a red letter 'A' on her clothes.
This is a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 classic The Scarlet Letter, which basically suggests that Krabappel's an adulteress and should be shamed for her entire life. It's a harsh life, being a Puritan.
6 Only One "Treehouse of Horror" Features A Treehouse, And It's Canon ("Treehouse of Horror I")
"Treehouse of Horror" is a cool name for the Halloween specials, but it's easy to forget there's a reason why they are called that: the first "Treehouse of Horror" special is, of course, set in a treehouse. The setup is that Bart and Lisa are telling each other scary stories in the Simpson treehouse, which made sense at the time.
Subsequent episodes have done away with justification for the stories, and there hasn't been a single treehouse in a "Treehouse of Horror" since. It's also potentially the only Halloween special to be considered canon since the family doesn't meet a grisly end at its conclusion.
5 Groundskeeper Willie Gets Triple-Axed ("Treehouse of Horror V")
In The Shining parody that begins "Treehouse of Horror V," Groundskeeper Willie takes on the role of Hallorann, the cook with the same psychic gift as Danny, who unfortunately gets an axe in the back the moment he arrives in the Overlook Hotel. The same fate befalls Willie, which would be enough, except that The Simpsons does it to Willie three times.
In all three segments of "Treehouse of Horror V," Willie tries to help and gets an axe in the back for his trouble, before finally exclaiming, "ach, I'm bad at this." In the history of The Simpsons Halloween specials, this is actually the only running gag to continue over all three stories.
4 You Don't Know The Names Of Three Of The Best Stories ("Treehouse of Horror II")
Every Simpsons fan can rattle off the titles of their favorite "Treehouse of Horror" stories. Unless, of course, it's one of the segments of "Treehouse of Horror II." There's the one with the Monkey's Paw, the "Twilight Zone" one where Bart has infinite psychic power, and the Frankenstein parody where Homer ends up with Mr. Burns' head on his shoulders.
All fantastic stories, but it may be shocking to learn that none of them are actually titled, either in the show or behind the scenes. "Treehouse of Horror II" is unique in not giving any titles to any of its stories, and the only ones available are fan-made.
3 The Secret Homage To Myst ("Treehouse of Horror VI")
"Treehouse of Horror VI" contains one of the most distinct moments in the series' history. "Homer³" is mostly CGI, which is particularly remarkable given that it predates Toy Story, the first all-CGI animated movie. The segment is also a hidden love letter to Myst, the 1993 first-person adventure game, which at the time blew minds with its elegant CG graphics.
As Homer explores "the third dimension," he passes by numerous weird shapes and objects, but the only building he sees is the pillared library from Myst. At the same time, the music playing throughout the entire segment—and even over the end credits—is deliberately evocative of the game's chilled-out soundtrack.
2 The Story That Got A South Park Character Killed ("Treehouse of Horror VII")
While the Halloween stories are non-canon, they do occasionally have far-reaching consequences, including, in one instance, killing a character in a rival animated show. The South Park Season six story "Simpsons Did It" was conceived as a commentary on how The Simpsons had already done so many plotlines, and its own plot is based on "The Genesis Tub," about miniature societies.
The thing is, South Park used that episode to kill off school teacher Ms. Choksondik. So, essentially, The Simpsons got a South Park character killed.
1 The Death Of The Fox Censor Was Censored By Fox ("Treehouse of Horror VIII")
One of the most amusing and self-referential openers to a Simpsons Halloween special is the death of the Fox Censor in "Treehouse of Horror VIII," who is murdered for having the audacity to edit the show to fit a TV-G rating. He is stabbed in the back multiple times with a sword until the rating changes to TV-666 and his blood pours into the title card.
Behind the scenes, ironically, this Fox Censor murder had trouble getting past the real network censors. This is the reason why the Simpsons Censor is killed with an old-timey sword rather than a more practical dagger, as it was deemed to be more acceptable.
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December 27, 2020 at 04:30AM
