Treehouse of Horror VII
Encyclopedia
"Treehouse of Horror VII" is the first episode of The Simpsons
' eighth season
and originally aired October 27, 1996. 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
. Phil Hartman
provided the voice of Clinton.
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 Homer says "oh no, 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 human thing to do": Hugo was chained 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 is the evil twin. In the end, Dr. Hibbert and the Simpson family sits down to a turkey dinner with Hugo, leaving Bart locked up in the attic eating fish heads.
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, a society more advanced than current humanity. Bart destroys some of the ecosystem in Lisa's tub universe and the people respond, sending a squadron of space ships to attack Bart. Bart vows revenge on the small universe and Lisa wonders what to do. Suddenly, she is shrunk and 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.
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. Before returning Homer to Earth, the aliens soak him in rum
so nobody will believe 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 an unknown planet.
, so the writers did not bother writing one for this episode. "The Thing and I" was written by Ken Keeler
, "The Genesis Tub" was written by Dan Greaney
and "Citizen Kang" was written by David X. Cohen
. Despite the similarities, "The Thing and I" was not based on the plot of Basket Case
. "The Genesis Tub" was originally pitched by Cohen 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
." The sequence where tiny spaceships attack Bart in "The Genesis Tub" marks one of the first uses of computers in The Simpsons animation. The computer was used to build models for reference and the animators later retraced it. The 1996 Presidential election occurred a few days after the airing of this episode. 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.
", a song by Barnes & Barnes
, during "The Thing and I". Homer crashing the flying saucer into Capitol dome is a nod to Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
.
of 10.5, equivalent to approximately 10.2 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Millenium
and X-Files.
In 2006, IGN
.com voted "Citizen Kang" as the seventh best segment of the Treehouse of Horror episodes. 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
. The ska band named I Voted for Kodos
takes its name from Homer's line "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos", at the end of "Citizen Kang". In a 2000 Entertainment Weekly
article, Matt Groening ranked it as his seventh favorite in the history of the show. "We've reached the limits of what rectal probing can teach us" is one of Matt Groening
's favorite lines.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 8)
The Simpsons eighth season originally aired between October 27, 1996 and May 18, 1997, beginning with "Treehouse of Horror VII". The show runners for the eighth production season were Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...
and originally aired October 27, 1996. 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
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
in order to win the 1996 Presidential election
United States presidential election, 1996
The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...
. It was written by Ken Keeler
Ken Keeler
Kenneth "Ken" Keeler is an American television producer and writer. He has written for numerous television series, most notably The Simpsons and Futurama. According to an interview with David X. Cohen, he proved a theorem which appears in the Futurama episode "The Prisoner of Benda".-Career:After...
, Dan Greaney
Dan Greaney
Daniel "Dan" Greaney is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons. He was hired during the show's seventh season after writing the first draft of the episode "King-Size Homer", but left after season eleven...
and David S. Cohen
David X. Cohen
David Samuel Cohen , primarily known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons and he is the head writer and executive producer of Futurama.-Early life:...
and directed by Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson, sometimes credited as Mikel B. Anderson, is a television director who works on The Simpsons and has directed numerous episodes of the show, and was animated in "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as cadet Anderson. While a college student, he directed the live action feature films...
. Phil Hartman
Phil Hartman
Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...
provided the voice of Clinton.
Opening
Homer tries to light a jack o lantern, but catches his hand on fire, then his whole body, so he starts running around screaming. Then, the title The Simpsons Halloween Special VII comes up in blood. In the couch gag, the family runs to the couch, but they keel over and die in front of the Grim Reaper, their corpses landing one on top of another. The Reaper decides to put his feet up and uses Homer's corpse as a footstool.The Thing and I
BartBart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
begin to hear strange noises and think that there is something in the attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
. 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 Homer says "oh no, it escaped". Marge immediately calls Dr. Hibbert and he explains that Bart had a conjoined twin
Conjoined twins
Conjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of...
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 human thing to do": Hugo was chained 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 is the evil twin. In the end, Dr. Hibbert and the Simpson family sits down to a turkey dinner with Hugo, leaving Bart locked up in the attic eating fish heads.
The Genesis Tub
Citizen Kang
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
or Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
. Kang and Kodos kidnap both Dole and Clinton, placing them in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
tubes. Kang and Kodos take on their forms to ensure that one of them will become the next leader. Before returning Homer to Earth, the aliens soak him in rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
so nobody will believe 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
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
and forces the citizens of America to build a giant ray gun to aim at an unknown planet.
Production
The episode does not feature any wraparound segments, which are normally used in Treehouse of Horror episodes. The wraparounds had been cut from the previous year's episodeTreehouse of Horror VI
"Treehouse of Horror VI" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons seventh season and the sixth episode in the Treehouse of Horror series. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 29, 1995, and contains three self-contained segments...
, so the writers did not bother writing one for this episode. "The Thing and I" was written by Ken Keeler
Ken Keeler
Kenneth "Ken" Keeler is an American television producer and writer. He has written for numerous television series, most notably The Simpsons and Futurama. According to an interview with David X. Cohen, he proved a theorem which appears in the Futurama episode "The Prisoner of Benda".-Career:After...
, "The Genesis Tub" was written by Dan Greaney
Dan Greaney
Daniel "Dan" Greaney is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons. He was hired during the show's seventh season after writing the first draft of the episode "King-Size Homer", but left after season eleven...
and "Citizen Kang" was written by David X. Cohen
David X. Cohen
David Samuel Cohen , primarily known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons and he is the head writer and executive producer of Futurama.-Early life:...
. Despite the similarities, "The Thing and I" was not based on the plot of Basket Case
Basket Case (film)
Basket Case is an American horror film, written and directed by Frank Henenlotter, that was released in 1982. It has two sequels, Basket Case 2 and Basket Case 3: The Progeny by the same director. It is notable for its low budget and over-the-top violence...
. "The Genesis Tub" was originally pitched by Cohen and it was later referenced in the South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode "Simpsons Already Did It
Simpsons Already Did It
"Simpsons Already Did It" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 86th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on June 26, 2002...
", when they pointed out that The Simpsons had earlier gotten the idea from the 1962 Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode called "The Little People
The Little People
"The Little People" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:Astronauts William Fletcher and Peter Craig – each of whom happens to be the chief thorn in the other's side – set down in a canyon on another planet to repair their ship...
." The sequence where tiny spaceships attack Bart in "The Genesis Tub" marks one of the first uses of computers in The Simpsons animation. The computer was used to build models for reference and the animators later retraced it. The 1996 Presidential election occurred a few days after the airing of this episode. 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.
Cultural references
Homer sings "Fish HeadsFish Heads (song)
"Fish Heads" is a novelty song by comedy rock duo Barnes and Barnes, featured on their 1980 album Voobaha. It has often been played on the Dr...
", a song by Barnes & Barnes
Barnes & Barnes
Barnes & Barnes, fictional twin brothers Art Barnes and Artie Barnes , are a comedy rock duo based in "Lumania", a fictional mythological civilization . Most of their music is standard rock or pop with heavy comedic elements...
, during "The Thing and I". Homer crashing the flying saucer into Capitol dome is a nod to Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is an American black and white science fiction film, directed by Fred F. Sears and released by Columbia Pictures. The film is also known as Invasion of the Flying Saucers. It was ostensibly suggested by the non-fiction work Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Donald...
.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Treehouse of Horror VII" finished 31st in ratings for the week of October 21-27, 1996, with a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 10.5, equivalent to approximately 10.2 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Millenium
Millennium (TV series)
Millennium is an American television series created by Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files. Millennium aired on the Fox Network from 1996 to 1999. The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, though most episodes were ostensibly set in or around Seattle, Washington...
and X-Files.
In 2006, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
.com voted "Citizen Kang" as the seventh best segment of the Treehouse of Horror episodes. 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
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
. The ska band named I Voted for Kodos
I Voted for Kodos
I Voted for Kodos was a ska punk and pop punk band, signed to Snapdragon Records.- History :They were founded in Madison, Wisconsin in 1999, after singer-trombonist Rick Bisenius met guitarist Chris Holoyda at a Reel Big Fish concert. They began playing together when the members were in high...
takes its name from Homer's line "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos", at the end of "Citizen Kang". In a 2000 Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
article, Matt Groening ranked it as his seventh favorite in the history of the show. "We've reached the limits of what rectal probing can teach us" is one of Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
's favorite lines.
External links
- "Treehouse of Horror VII" at The Simpsons.com