(originally aired October 29, 1992)
The Treehouse of Horror specials are always just so fun. The Simpsons universe is crazy enough, but there are still established rules to be followed. In the Halloween shows, all rules go out the window, and we’re treated to creepier and wilder stories involving everything from aliens to zombies. It’s hard to write analyses for these specials since there’s not much to really dissect, they’re just really funny. The first segment “Clown Without Pity” is a great parody of the old Twilight Zone segment with the killer doll, here being a Krusty doll hell bent on killing Homer. There’s the classic opening with the shopkeeper at the House of Evil (why exactly would Homer decide to look in there for Bart’s gift?) We have the great line from Patty after Homer runs naked through the kitchen (“There goes the last lingering thread of my heterosexuality.”) And we have the wonderfully dumb resolution of simply switching the Krusty doll from “Evil” to “Good.” It’s not one of the show’s most dynamic stories, but it’s so incredibly funny in its own right.
In contrast, “King Homer” is very ambitious and spectacularly well done, one of the best in the series. It condenses the classic King Kong perfectly into a slim seven minute story, featuring Mr. Burns’s expedition to Ape Island to capture the giant beast known as Homer. Homer already has the appearance of a big, dumb gorilla, so the design of him as King Homer must not have been a huge stretch. The segment honors the original film, but also pokes at it, with Burns laying out the specifics of his new Broadway show (“Well, the Ape’s going to stand around for three hours or so. Then we’ll close with the ethnic comedy of Duggan and Dirschwitz.”) The segment looks great, done in black-and-white, of course, with all of the in-period characters and set designs looking fantastic. We also get our first fatalities in Treehouse of Horror history with King Homer eating Lenny, Smithers, and Shirley Temple (I love the small bit where her little shoes fall off as Homer picks her up to eat her.) The twist on Homer not being able to climb one story is great, as is the eventual wedding between him and Marge, the church divided by monkey and man.
“Dial ‘Z’ for Zombies” is sort of a riff on Night of the Living Dead. In the early 90s, zombies weren’t quite as ubiquitous in mainstream horror culture as they are now. This is another segment I can’t comment much about, but it has a lot of great bits in it. Bart wearing the Thriller record jacket on his head, the zombies acknowledging Homer is actually brainless, “To the book depository!” and of course, Homer shooting a zombified Ned Flanders (“He was a zombie?”) We also have a brief bit from Kang and Kodos, which is slightly out of place, but it wouldn’t be a Halloween special without them. Homer mows down George Washington, Albert Einstein and William Shakespeare, who I guess happen to have been buried near Springfield. I’ve not much to say about this one, other than it’s got plenty of clever, hilarious moments to cover the entire running time.
Tidbits and Quotes
– The wrap-around stories will soon be lost from these specials due to time constraints, but this one is definitely my favorite one, featuring a Halloween party at the Simpson house. There’s a lot of great jokes, like Homer eating the grapes and spaghetti (“It was an evil game,”) his failed attempt to tell a scary story, and Ned’s surprisingly gruesome costume.
– I noticed this episode has a large number of voice-over lines where the lip sync doesn’t match. The commentary reveals that they had an huge number of retake lines they did after the animation was complete that they had to cut from existing footage. But hey, the show’s hilarious, so it worked in the end.
– Great response from Abe on where he got all the money he gave to Bart (“The government. I didn’t earn it, I don’t need it, but if they miss one payment, I’ll raise hell!”) I also love later when he claims each present is evil because he just wants attention.
– The bottomless pit is a ridiculous set piece where Homer disposes of the Krusty doll, a mobster tosses a body, and some poor schmoe tries to get rid of a box full of nude photos of Whoopi Goldberg… only to have the pit toss it back up.
– One more inappropriate hold music gag (maybe the last?) where Marge calls regarding the killer Krusty doll, only to have “Everybody Loves a Clown” play on the other end.
– An early, absolutely brilliant hinting at Smithers’s sexuality, where he comments how he doesn’t think women and sea men mix. Burns snidely retorts, “We know what you think.”
– Barney gets two great moments during the Broadway show: when King Homer is first revealed (“Look at the size of that platform!”) and when the ape snatches all of his peanuts and he proceeds to kick his gigantic foot futilely (“I said one!!”)
– Burns is full of great lines in the “King Homer” segment: his lament in the hotel room after the fiasco (“I’m dreading the reviews, I can tell you that”) and his comments after Homer’s fall (“I remember when Al Jolson ran amok at the Winter Garden and climbed the Chrysler building. After that, he couldn’t get arrested in this town.”)
– Very biting sight gags of having ‘Capital Critters,’ ‘Family Dog’ and ‘Fish Police’ tombstones in the Pet Cemetery, referring to the incredibly short lived animated shows that sprung following the success of The Simpsons.
– Bart’s incantations of four similar items in a row are great, like “Collin, Rayburn, Nars, Trebek” being game show hosts, and oddest of all at the end, “Trojan, Ramses, Magnum, Shiek” being all brands of condoms.
– Willie’s cavalier attitude toward the zombies is hilarious. I occasionally still quote, “Pretty as a picture!” Also, Homer’s cavalier attitude about not having barricaded the door (“Why? …..oh right, the zombies.”)
– My favorite part of the show is probably the unusually cordial nature of the zombies upon re-entering their graves (“Excuse me, I’m John Smith.” “John Smith, 1882?” “My mistake!”)
Me Blog Write Good 
It’s “Cullen (Bill Cullen), Rayburn, Narz, Trebek!” My favorite line from King Homer: “Folks, if you could stop cleaning each other for a second…”
[QUOTE]And we have the wonderfully dumb resolution of simply switching the Krusty doll from “Evil” to “Good.”[/QUOTE]
You wouldn’t be saying that if this was a scene from the latter-day “Zombie” Simpsons. I always saw that as a cop-out because we saw the doll in the Chinese curio shop, the guy said it was cursed, and this is what we get? A troubling sign of things to come (i.e. insulting viewers’ intelligence). However, I will excuse this because the story was good and I liked the next scene where the Krusty doll is Homer’s personal servant and Homer’s “Yeah, dogs like to bury old junk” comment after the Krusty doll complains that the dog tried to bury him.
What a load of bullshit you said. If you really cant see a difference between a dumb genius ending and a cop-out ending you shouldnt comment with such conceit, since its clear you probably dont even know what a cop-out ending is. This was not a cop-out, this was a proper funny ending with a consequence. And dont forget this is a comedy show, and that means that it must be funny too; it made the ending is simply perfect, and incredibly clever in his dumbness (and not simply dumb, like a ZombieSimpsons style).
I think the delivery is clutch. It’s a tough to articulate the differences without a concrete example, but the good/evil switch made me laugh, and the more recent Halloween episodes haven’t.
Perhaps, also, by having the rest of the episode be incredibly funny, they’ve generated enough good will to get away with what would otherwise be viewed as a cop-out, while a thoroughly unfunny episode has not.
Yeah, that ending is CONSCIOUSLY dumb, The whole point is that it’s a ridiculous, way-too-easy ending.
By contrast, a modern episode would use a ridiculous, way-too-easy ending because the writers are too lazy to write anything else.
Plus it’s not just some random nonsense they thought up to end the sketch, it was continuing to riff on the talking-doll premise and its modern spin. The original Talky Tina had a pull-cord, so this one does too (and can’t talk without it being pulled, even if he can still move), but this is the 90s, so toys have play features with switches now. I’m sure in the minds of the writers, all these rad new crazy electronic toys kids were playing with totally felt like they might have a good/evil switch, to go with their pop-out weapons and mutating gimmicks. Had it been a few years later, I reckon they would have used a “stick a paperclip in the tiny hole to reset the toy to factory settings” gag.
So many classic lines on all these. Bart’s lament as the zombies surround them: “I thought dabbling in the dark arts would be good for a chuckle; how wrong I was.” Or when Bart (dressed as Malcolm McDowell’s Alex from A Clockwork Orange) remarks “I have a story that’s so scary, you’ll wet your pants!” followed by Grandpa’s mournful, “Too late.”
Dial Z for Zombies is my favorite of the trio due to its amount of quotable dialog and antics, however, all three are strong stories. The Whoopie Goldberg joke is hysterical while Smithers’ Seamen comment is outstanding. All of these make for a grand adventure that never gets old.
Also, I can not but help laugh at Patty’s heterosexuality joke given that they turned her into a lesbian years later. Makes you wonder if these THoH episodes really are non-canonical in this senseless world. 😀
I also like the reference to Candy Apple Island – which also houses apes, just ones that aren’t as big. Plus Grandpa admitting to not having living an interesting life, but he HAS seen a lot of movies.
Thinking about it, “King Homer” is kind of a harbinger for future Halloween shows. It takes a source material and basically replaces the characters from it with Simpsons characters and it isn’t exactly horror-related. I mean, I guess “King Kong” is a monster movie, but it isn’t really done in a horror style.
Of course, the big difference between this segment and later segments is this is actually funny outside of simple references to the original source.
Completely unrelated, but this episode has the first noted joke written by Conan O’Brien, with Abe talking about his government money. (“I didn’t earn it, I don’t need it, but if they miss one payment I raise hell!”)
One of my favorite Treehouse of Horror specials. The wraparounds are pretty great (I love Abe’s quote to Bart about raising hell if the government misses a payment), and there’s a lot of great stuff in the segments (the zombie segment has some of my favorite lines, like Homer not knowing Flanders was a zombie and the John Smith gag, King Homer has Smithers’s line about women and seamen, among others). There’s not much else to say, really, I just really love this particular special.
The animation is another great factor I wanted to point out. The King Homer segment makes great use of black and white, and there’s plenty of great shots in the others. There’s a part in the party where Lisa is laughing like a maniac, and she has a really freaky facial expression that is just great. It’s a bit chilling, really.
My favorite bit is the newspaper in King Homer: “Woman Weds Ape”, with a sub-headline that reads “Dick Cavett Born”.
I always giggle at the native language being “Mosi Tatupu! MOSI TATUPU!” as well as Burns’ lie about the translation. There’s another kind of gag we’ll never get again.
I never picked up on the condoms gag, but now I will laugh harder.
I had a gag in my webcomic where I put the names of old dead webcomics (they have a habit of dying or being abandoned) on tombstones, but it was to mourn them! … Then like several of them came back from the dead (they have an occasional habit of doing that), so it felt silly. Then again I also did a pretty blatant ripoff of the Candy Apple Island gag, so eh. Early 2000s, it was a time.