Treehouse of Horror XXII
Encyclopedia
"Treehouse of Horror XXII" is the third episode of the twenty-third season
and the twenty-second Halloween
episode of the animated comedy series The Simpsons
. It originally aired on the Fox network
in the United States on October 30, 2011. The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series, which is an episode divided into three separate stories and an opening that is a parody of scary or Halloween themed stories. This episode's stories were primarily spoofs of the French film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
, the television series Dexter
, and the American film Avatar. The opening was a parody of the autobiographical film 127 Hours
, in which the subject Aron Ralston
loses an arm.
The episode was written by Carolyn Omine
, directed by Matthew Faughnan
, and featured guest voices from Aron Ralston
and Jackie Mason
. In its original American broadcast, it was viewed by approximately 8.1 million people. The critical reception was very diverse, ranging from a plea to end the show to stating that the show is on top of its game and should not be cancelled. The episode featured a reference to the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
. After watching the show, the producers of the musical released a press statement, in which they told how flattered they were when they show was mentioned on The Simpsons.
, Lisa
and Maggie
come home from trick or treat
ing, Marge
switches out the candy with dental hygiene products and asks Homer
to deliver the candy to a drive for the troops overseas. Homer instead runs off with the bag to eat its contents in privacy at a canyon cliff. Unfortunately, Homer trips and falls to the bottom of the canyon with his arm pinned. Fueled by his need to get the out of reach bag of candy, and reluctant to wait twenty minutes for help, Homer is forced to chew off his arm. Though he manages it after a few tries, Homer learns that he was carrying a bag of vegetables as Bart, Lisa and Maggie had stolen back their candy in secret.
in the box and when Homer is grabbing for what he thinks is a plastic spider, he gets bitten by the spider. The bite leaves Homer paralyzed and Homer is unable to move or talk. When Lisa reads for him, she discovers that he can communicate through flatulence
. Homer's communication by way of flatulence is strikingly reminiscent of Hector Salamanca's use of a desk bell as a means of conveying information in the popular AMC program Breaking Bad. The Simpson family is amazed at the result and Lisa helps Homer tell Marge how he feels about her. When he is again bitten by a another spider (a radioactive one), he spontaneously gains the ability to make spider webs and have the same abilities as Spider-Man
, even when still paralyzed. Homer is able to shoot spider webs out of his rear end; a similar power (but with jail cells instead of webs) is posessed by Johnny Test
in his Johnny X guise.
becomes a serial killing
vigilante, targeting characters who are Homer's enemies. When Flanders discovers that Homer is the one who has been duping him into committing murder (by way of a Bible-shaped receiver), Homer argues that God does not exist and burns the radio receiver, only to be stopped and strangled to death by God Himself. Marge begs God to reverse everything that has happened, but God tells him that Satan is the one who is running the world. When Flanders thinks that this scenario cannot get any worse, it is revealed that Satan is having sex with Ned's deceased wife, Maude.
to befriend the alien race in avatar
bodies. They succeed in this and Bart ends up getting Kang's daughter pregnant
. It turns out that the extract Hilarrium, which is excreted by their queen, is primarily used by the natives to reduce the mood swings from pregnant women and Bart and Milhouse are shown where the alien race gets it from. Milhouse then reveals the location of the extract to the military, which then attacks the natives. In the battle, the natives are helped by all the animals of the planet, which eventually defeats the military. Kang and Kodos then admit that they would have just given the Hilarrium to the humans.
In the end, Lisa tells the audience that Halloween is over and that the people need to start Christmas shopping.
and directed by Matthew Faughnan
.
The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series, which since the second season
has been a tradition for The Simpsons to air a new Halloween
special each year. Treehouse of Horror episodes typically consist of four parts: an opening and Halloween-themed version of the credits, followed by three segments. These segments usually have a horror, science fiction or fantasy theme and quite often are parodies of films, novels, plays, television shows, Twilight Zone
episodes, or old issues of EC Comics
. The episode featured guest appearances from Jackie Mason
and Aron Ralston
, who was the subject of the film 127 Hours
. Mason has a recurring role on The Simpsons as Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, who is the fictional father of Krusty the Clown. As it is tradition with most Treehouse of Horror episodes, this episode featured the use of "scary" names in the credits, which is to write alternate names for cast and crew in a "scary" fashion. Ralston came up with his own scary name for the credits, which was Aron "I gave my right arm to be on 'The Simpsons'" Ralstump.
The episode marks the first time of all the Treehouse of Horror episodes that an actual theramin was used for music cues. Previously, the show had trouble locating a theramin player, who could work under the time constraints of the show. Instead, the show used a synthesizer
keyboard to play a theramin sample - much to creator Matt Groening
's displeasure. The situation turned when a scene in "Homer Scissorhands
" was written to feature Milhouse playing the theramin. Now the crew had to find a suitable theramin player and Charles Richard Lester was hired for that episode as well as "Treehouse of Horror XXII".
The opening segment had many parodies and references to films. When the segment opens, the Simpson family
is dressed up for Halloween. Here Maggie
pops out of Bart's astronaut suit, dressed as a baby alien, which is a reference to the film Alien
from 1979. Homer is dressed as Doctor Manhattan from the superhero movie
Watchmen
from 2009. In the end of the segment, it turns into a spoof of the film 127 Hours
from 2010, in which Ralston loses his arm after being trapped under a rock. Ralston voiced the 911 dispatcher Homer calls when he is trapped.
"The Diving Bell and the Butterball" was a satire of the French film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
from 2007, in which a paralyzed man learns to communicate through moving his eyelids. Instead of moving his eyelids, Homer communicated through flatulence. The segment took off in different direction when Homer was bitten by another spider and turned into a paralyzed Spider-Man
with reversed colors, swinging around Springfield and fighting crime. The last part references the Spider-Man musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
that was plagued by stage malfunctions and sometimes left its performers to dangle in mid-air. The many accidents caused five people to become injured while working on the musical.
The last two segments were also parodies of popular culture
. "Dial D for Diddly" featured various references to the television series, Dexter
, the titular character whom Ned Flanders is supposed to represent when he goes on a killing spree. The music in the segment is the original music from the main title theme of Dexter by Rolfe Kent
. Two of the targets, Patty and Selma Bouvier, were killed in similar fashion to the style of Wile E. Coyote. "In the Na'Vi" was a parody of the film Avatar from 2009. In the end Kang and Kodos mentions that "there is no word for ‘yours’ or ‘mine.’", which is why they do not enjoy the film Yours, Mine and Ours
from 1968 (or the remake
from 2005).
in the United States on October 30, 2011, the night before Halloween
. The release date was unusual for a Treehouse of Horror episode, because ever since Fox got the rights to the Major League Baseball
playoffs, most of the Halloween specials aired in the first week of November. This only marks the second time Fox has aired a Treehouse of Horror episode in October since 1999 – in 2009 it aired nearly two weeks before Halloween. Major League Baseball decided to move the 2011 World Series
earlier than the previous season so that no games would be played in November, leaving October 30 free for Fox to air "Treehouse of Horror XXII" on that date. When The Wrap asked show runner Al Jean
if he was satisfied with the airing the night before Halloween, Jean said: "Yes, and the perfect thing is, Halloween is actually a bad day to air it, because nobody watches TV that night. Especially if they have kids. So October 30th, it is our Halloween. People can watch it and then still go out the next night."
The episode was watched by approximately 8.10 million people during the first broadcast. The show received a 4.0 Nielsen rating in the demographic for adults aged 18–49 and an ten percent share of the audience, which was a 33 percent increase from the previous episode "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts
". The Simpsons became the highest-rated program in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night both in terms of viewers and in the 18–49 demographic. It finished before Family Guy
, The Cleveland Show
and the series premiere of Allen Gregory
. Besides a broadcast of a NFL Football
game between the Dallas Cowboys
and the Philadelphia Eagles
on NBC
, The Simpsons was the most watched program of the night in the 18–49 demographic. In comparison, the episode increased eight percent over last year's "Treehouse of Horror XXI
", which had a 3.7 Nielsen rating and a nine percent share of the audience in the 18–49 demographic. For the week of October 24–30, 2011, The Simpsons finished 14th in the 18–49 demographic, fourth in the 18–34 demographic, and third among teenagers.
was positive and gave the episode a rating of seven out of ten, but commented that he preferred "episodes that feature longer, more involved storylines more than the spoof collections." At The A.V. Club
, Hayden Childs gave the episode a C+ grade, saying, "The writers seem unwilling to mock the more outrageous aspects of the movies they are sending up and settle for weakly batting at the obvious. Some of the jokes land, but none land too solidly." Meredith Woerner of io9
though that "[t]he whole thing never quite achieved the same level of brilliance as some previous years — even though the Avatar bit was funny, we've seen so many Avatar spoofs by now that, well, it's tired. However we did get a lot of joy out of seeing Homer dressed up as Doctor Manhattan and Maggie as a wee-little chest burster." Even more critical was CraveOnline
's Blair Marnell who gave the episode a rating of three out of ten. He commented that "there is no stronger argument for ending 'The Simpsons' than the latest Halloween installment of 'Treehouse of Horror'" and further said that "in all honesty, it's amazing how tame 'The Simpsons' has become over the years. This show used to be the 'South Park' of its day. Now it's just showing its age and it's no longer the cool TV rebel that it used to be." Alex Strachan had the opposite reaction in a review in Calgary Herald
and concluded that we should "[f]orget all that talk about The Simpsons being past its prime. Based on tonight's sharp-eyed, keen-witted Treehouse of Horror XXII - funnier, faster and more fright-worthy than last year's dud, thankfully - there's a lot of ink left in the old ink pot yet."
The first segment, "The Diving Bell and the Butterball", was met with mixed reactions. Marnell called the parody "wildly unfunny", while Childs was critical of Homer turning into a paralyzed Spider-Man and stated that it was "simply not very funny." Tim Surette of TV.com
was more ambivalent and said: "I found this sketch to be simultaneously awesome and terrible because I have the maturity of a 6-year old and the intelligence of an average man." The reference to the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was noticed by the producers of the musical. They reacted by issuing a statement the following day: "Everyone at 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' was extremely flattered by last night’s tribute on 'The Simpsons.' 'The Simpsons' is an iconic American institution, and being part of last night's episode was an honor and dream come true." Co-incidentally, the previous aired episode of South Park
, "Broadway Bro Down
", also had a reference to the musical. Contrary to The Simpsons, the spokesperson for the Broadway show did not want to comment on that episode.
The response for "Dial D for Diddly" was that it started well, but then gradually declined. In Marnell's opinion, "[t]he best segment of the entire episode comes when Ned makes his normal routine look sinister and yet when he finally closes his hands to pray, he's actually holding a pair of severed hands", but as for the rest of the segment, he is disappointed: "[W]hen it seems like the short is heading for some darkly hilarious territory, the voice of God turns out to be Homer urging Ned to murder his enemies." Other reviewers agreed with his assessment. Surette concluded that the episode "[s]tarted off good, but got boring very quick." Likewise, Childs commented that the "segment had a lot of promise for the funny, but it started to sag fast and then sank altogether."
Much of the criticism towards the Avatar spoof "In the Na'Vi" goes towards the timing of the episode. Surette thought that it was "[a]n Avatar spoof that came about two years too late. This sketch had no redeeming qualities and should be erased from the minds of all Simpsons fans immediately." Similarly, Marnell commented that in the episode "The Simpsons' finally gets around to parodying 'Avatar' — a movie picked to death by 'South Park' and other series a year or two ago" and further elaborated that "[i]t's almost a straight forward retelling of 'Avatar' without the biting satire that made the film parodies of previous years so much fun." In general, Treehouse of Horror episodes take about a year to complete for the staff. This is because they have to do many original designs, such as characters and backgrounds. Prior to the airing of the episode, Jean revealed that the staff was already working on "Treehouse of Horror XXIII".
The Simpsons (season 23)
The Simpsons twenty-third season is the current season of The Simpsons. It premiered on September 25, 2011. It will include the 500th episode which is expected to air February 19, 2012. Due to financial difficulties, the network was unable to produce the show under its current contract and unless...
and the twenty-second Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
episode of the animated comedy series The Simpsons
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...
. It originally aired on the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States on October 30, 2011. The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series, which is an episode divided into three separate stories and an opening that is a parody of scary or Halloween themed stories. This episode's stories were primarily spoofs of the French film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a translation of the French memoir Le scaphandre et le papillon by journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby. It describes what his life is like after suffering a massive stroke that left him with a condition called locked-in syndrome...
, the television series Dexter
Dexter (TV series)
Dexter is an American television drama series, which debuted on Showtime on October 1, 2006. The sixth season premiered on October 2, 2011. The series centers on Dexter Morgan , a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer...
, and the American film Avatar. The opening was a parody of the autobiographical film 127 Hours
127 Hours
127 Hours is a 2010 biographical adventure drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah in April 2003....
, in which the subject Aron Ralston
Aron Ralston
Aron Lee Ralston is an American mountain climber and inspirational public speaker. He is widely known for having survived a 2003 canyoneering accident in Utah in which he was forced to amputate his own right arm with a dull pocketknife in order to free himself from a dislodged boulder.The incident...
loses an arm.
The episode was written by Carolyn Omine
Carolyn Omine
Carolyn Omine is an American television writer. She has written for Full House, The Parent 'Hood and The Simpsons. She was credited as an executive producer by the Simpsons' 17th season, although this changed to a producer in the 18th....
, directed by Matthew Faughnan
Matthew Faughnan
Matthew Faughnan is an animation director with The Simpsons and has directed five episodes. Prior to that, he was an assistant director with the show and won an Emmy award in 2003 for "Three Gays of the Condo".-Season 18:Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!...
, and featured guest voices from Aron Ralston
Aron Ralston
Aron Lee Ralston is an American mountain climber and inspirational public speaker. He is widely known for having survived a 2003 canyoneering accident in Utah in which he was forced to amputate his own right arm with a dull pocketknife in order to free himself from a dislodged boulder.The incident...
and Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason is an American stand-up comedian and movie actor.-Early life:Born Yacov Moshe Maza in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, he grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City....
. In its original American broadcast, it was viewed by approximately 8.1 million people. The critical reception was very diverse, ranging from a plea to end the show to stating that the show is on top of its game and should not be cancelled. The episode featured a reference to the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a rock musical with music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge and a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. The musical is based on the Spider-Man comics created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the 2002...
. After watching the show, the producers of the musical released a press statement, in which they told how flattered they were when they show was mentioned on The Simpsons.
Opening
When 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...
, 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...
and Maggie
Maggie Simpson
Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James...
come home from trick or treat
Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat is a 1952 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon, which takes place on Halloween night, follows a series of pranks between Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie who are aided by Witch Hazel...
ing, Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
switches out the candy with dental hygiene products and asks Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
to deliver the candy to a drive for the troops overseas. Homer instead runs off with the bag to eat its contents in privacy at a canyon cliff. Unfortunately, Homer trips and falls to the bottom of the canyon with his arm pinned. Fueled by his need to get the out of reach bag of candy, and reluctant to wait twenty minutes for help, Homer is forced to chew off his arm. Though he manages it after a few tries, Homer learns that he was carrying a bag of vegetables as Bart, Lisa and Maggie had stolen back their candy in secret.
The Diving Bell and the Butterball
Homer begins to decorate the house for Halloween and is a reaching for decorations in a box. Unfortunately, there is a real Black Widow spiderBlack widow spider
Latrodectus mactans, the Southern black widow, is a highly venomous species of spider in the genus Latrodectus. They are well known for the distinctive black and red coloring of the female of the species and for the fact that she will occasionally eat her mate after reproduction. The species is...
in the box and when Homer is grabbing for what he thinks is a plastic spider, he gets bitten by the spider. The bite leaves Homer paralyzed and Homer is unable to move or talk. When Lisa reads for him, she discovers that he can communicate through flatulence
Flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
. Homer's communication by way of flatulence is strikingly reminiscent of Hector Salamanca's use of a desk bell as a means of conveying information in the popular AMC program Breaking Bad. The Simpson family is amazed at the result and Lisa helps Homer tell Marge how he feels about her. When he is again bitten by a another spider (a radioactive one), he spontaneously gains the ability to make spider webs and have the same abilities as Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, even when still paralyzed. Homer is able to shoot spider webs out of his rear end; a similar power (but with jail cells instead of webs) is posessed by Johnny Test
Johnny Test
Johnny Test is an American/Canadian animated television series. It premiered on Kids' WB, on The WB Television Network, on September 17, 2005. Five months later, it was introduced to Cartoon Network UK on January 12, 2006, first, as a sneak preview on Jungle Saturdays Block, and then on June 5,...
in his Johnny X guise.
Dial D for Diddly
After hearing who he thinks is God tell him to murder people, Ned FlandersNed Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
becomes a serial killing
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
vigilante, targeting characters who are Homer's enemies. When Flanders discovers that Homer is the one who has been duping him into committing murder (by way of a Bible-shaped receiver), Homer argues that God does not exist and burns the radio receiver, only to be stopped and strangled to death by God Himself. Marge begs God to reverse everything that has happened, but God tells him that Satan is the one who is running the world. When Flanders thinks that this scenario cannot get any worse, it is revealed that Satan is having sex with Ned's deceased wife, Maude.
In the Na'Vi
In the future, Krusty the Clown is still alive, but has trouble entertaining his Nazi audience. On the distant planet Rigel Seven there is a sacred extract called Hilarrium, which causes people to get in a better mood. Krusty desperately needs this sacred extract and uses military force to obtain it. The military recruits Bart and MilhouseMilhouse Van Houten
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
to befriend the alien race in avatar
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
bodies. They succeed in this and Bart ends up getting Kang's daughter pregnant
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
. It turns out that the extract Hilarrium, which is excreted by their queen, is primarily used by the natives to reduce the mood swings from pregnant women and Bart and Milhouse are shown where the alien race gets it from. Milhouse then reveals the location of the extract to the military, which then attacks the natives. In the battle, the natives are helped by all the animals of the planet, which eventually defeats the military. Kang and Kodos then admit that they would have just given the Hilarrium to the humans.
In the end, Lisa tells the audience that Halloween is over and that the people need to start Christmas shopping.
Production
"Treehouse of Horror XXII" was written by Carolyn OmineCarolyn Omine
Carolyn Omine is an American television writer. She has written for Full House, The Parent 'Hood and The Simpsons. She was credited as an executive producer by the Simpsons' 17th season, although this changed to a producer in the 18th....
and directed by Matthew Faughnan
Matthew Faughnan
Matthew Faughnan is an animation director with The Simpsons and has directed five episodes. Prior to that, he was an assistant director with the show and won an Emmy award in 2003 for "Three Gays of the Condo".-Season 18:Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!...
.
The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series, which since the second season
The Simpsons (season 2)
The Simpsons second season originally aired between October 11, 1990 and May 9, 1991, and contained 22 episodes, beginning with "Bart Gets an F". Another episode, "Blood Feud" aired during the summer after the official season finale. The show runners for the second production season were Matt...
has been a tradition for The Simpsons to air a new Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
special each year. Treehouse of Horror episodes typically consist of four parts: an opening and Halloween-themed version of the credits, followed by three segments. These segments usually have a horror, science fiction or fantasy theme and quite often are parodies of films, novels, plays, television shows, 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...
episodes, or old issues of EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
. The episode featured guest appearances from Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason is an American stand-up comedian and movie actor.-Early life:Born Yacov Moshe Maza in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, he grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City....
and Aron Ralston
Aron Ralston
Aron Lee Ralston is an American mountain climber and inspirational public speaker. He is widely known for having survived a 2003 canyoneering accident in Utah in which he was forced to amputate his own right arm with a dull pocketknife in order to free himself from a dislodged boulder.The incident...
, who was the subject of the film 127 Hours
127 Hours
127 Hours is a 2010 biographical adventure drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah in April 2003....
. Mason has a recurring role on The Simpsons as Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, who is the fictional father of Krusty the Clown. As it is tradition with most Treehouse of Horror episodes, this episode featured the use of "scary" names in the credits, which is to write alternate names for cast and crew in a "scary" fashion. Ralston came up with his own scary name for the credits, which was Aron "I gave my right arm to be on 'The Simpsons'" Ralstump.
The episode marks the first time of all the Treehouse of Horror episodes that an actual theramin was used for music cues. Previously, the show had trouble locating a theramin player, who could work under the time constraints of the show. Instead, the show used a synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
keyboard to play a theramin sample - much to creator 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 displeasure. The situation turned when a scene in "Homer Scissorhands
Homer Scissorhands
"Homer Scissorhands" is the twentieth episode of the 22nd season of The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 8, 2011. Kristen Schaal guest stars in the episode as Taffy. This major episode sees Milhouse dating Taffy after Lisa rejected his romantic confession...
" was written to feature Milhouse playing the theramin. Now the crew had to find a suitable theramin player and Charles Richard Lester was hired for that episode as well as "Treehouse of Horror XXII".
The opening segment had many parodies and references to films. When the segment opens, the Simpson family
Simpson family
The Simpson family is a family of fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Homer and Marge and their three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town...
is dressed up for Halloween. Here Maggie
Maggie Simpson
Margaret "Maggie" Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She first appeared on television in the Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Maggie was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James...
pops out of Bart's astronaut suit, dressed as a baby alien, which is a reference to the film Alien
Alien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
from 1979. Homer is dressed as Doctor Manhattan from the superhero movie
Superhero Movie
Superhero Movie is a 2008 American spoof film written and directed by Craig Mazin, produced by David Zucker and Robert K. Weiss, and starring Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Christopher McDonald, and Leslie Nielsen...
Watchmen
Watchmen (film)
Watchmen is a 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder and starring Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. It is an adaptation of the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons...
from 2009. In the end of the segment, it turns into a spoof of the film 127 Hours
127 Hours
127 Hours is a 2010 biographical adventure drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston, who became trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost, Utah in April 2003....
from 2010, in which Ralston loses his arm after being trapped under a rock. Ralston voiced the 911 dispatcher Homer calls when he is trapped.
"The Diving Bell and the Butterball" was a satire of the French film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (film)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a 2007 biographical drama film based on Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir of the same name. The film depicts Bauby's life after suffering a massive stroke, on December 8, 1995, at the age of 42, which left him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome. The...
from 2007, in which a paralyzed man learns to communicate through moving his eyelids. Instead of moving his eyelids, Homer communicated through flatulence. The segment took off in different direction when Homer was bitten by another spider and turned into a paralyzed Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
with reversed colors, swinging around Springfield and fighting crime. The last part references the Spider-Man musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a rock musical with music and lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge and a book by Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. The musical is based on the Spider-Man comics created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, published by Marvel Comics, as well as the 2002...
that was plagued by stage malfunctions and sometimes left its performers to dangle in mid-air. The many accidents caused five people to become injured while working on the musical.
The last two segments were also parodies of popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. "Dial D for Diddly" featured various references to the television series, Dexter
Dexter (TV series)
Dexter is an American television drama series, which debuted on Showtime on October 1, 2006. The sixth season premiered on October 2, 2011. The series centers on Dexter Morgan , a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer...
, the titular character whom Ned Flanders is supposed to represent when he goes on a killing spree. The music in the segment is the original music from the main title theme of Dexter by Rolfe Kent
Rolfe Kent
Rolfe R. Kent is a British film score composer.Kent was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. He attended St Albans School, then graduated in Psychology from the University of Leeds in 1986...
. Two of the targets, Patty and Selma Bouvier, were killed in similar fashion to the style of Wile E. Coyote. "In the Na'Vi" was a parody of the film Avatar from 2009. In the end Kang and Kodos mentions that "there is no word for ‘yours’ or ‘mine.’", which is why they do not enjoy the film Yours, Mine and Ours
Yours, Mine and Ours (1968 film)
For the remake of this film starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo see Yours, Mine and Ours Yours, Mine and Ours is a 1968 film, directed by Melville Shavelson and starring Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda and Van Johnson...
from 1968 (or the remake
Yours, Mine and Ours (2005 film)
Yours, Mine & Ours is a 2005 film starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo. Directed by Raja Gosnell, it was released on November 23, 2005, and is a remake of the 1968 film of the same name, starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda...
from 2005).
Broadcast
"Treehouse of Horror XXII" originally aired on FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States on October 30, 2011, the night before Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
. The release date was unusual for a Treehouse of Horror episode, because ever since Fox got the rights to the Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
playoffs, most of the Halloween specials aired in the first week of November. This only marks the second time Fox has aired a Treehouse of Horror episode in October since 1999 – in 2009 it aired nearly two weeks before Halloween. Major League Baseball decided to move the 2011 World Series
2011 World Series
The 2011 World Series was the 107th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series. The best-of-seven playoff was played between the American League champion Texas Rangers and the National League champion St...
earlier than the previous season so that no games would be played in November, leaving October 30 free for Fox to air "Treehouse of Horror XXII" on that date. When The Wrap asked show runner Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...
if he was satisfied with the airing the night before Halloween, Jean said: "Yes, and the perfect thing is, Halloween is actually a bad day to air it, because nobody watches TV that night. Especially if they have kids. So October 30th, it is our Halloween. People can watch it and then still go out the next night."
The episode was watched by approximately 8.10 million people during the first broadcast. The show received a 4.0 Nielsen rating in the demographic for adults aged 18–49 and an ten percent share of the audience, which was a 33 percent increase from the previous episode "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts
Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts
"Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts" is the second episode of the twenty-third season of the animated comedy series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 2, 2011. The episode was the first to feature Superintendent Chalmers as the central character and...
". The Simpsons became the highest-rated program in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night both in terms of viewers and in the 18–49 demographic. It finished before Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show is an American animated television series that premiered on September 27, 2009, as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox in the United States...
and the series premiere of Allen Gregory
Allen Gregory
Allen Gregory is an American animated television series created by Jonah Hill, Andrew Mogel, and Jarrad Paul that airs on FOX. The series premiered on October 30, 2011.-Synopsis:...
. Besides a broadcast of a NFL Football
NFL Football
NFL Football is a 1989 football video game, developed by Enteractive and published by LJN exclusively for the Nintendo Entertainment System.- Gameplay modes :This game was the first to get an official National Football League license...
game between the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
and the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, The Simpsons was the most watched program of the night in the 18–49 demographic. In comparison, the episode increased eight percent over last year's "Treehouse of Horror XXI
Treehouse of Horror XXI
"Treehouse of Horror XXI" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons twenty-second season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 2010...
", which had a 3.7 Nielsen rating and a nine percent share of the audience in the 18–49 demographic. For the week of October 24–30, 2011, The Simpsons finished 14th in the 18–49 demographic, fourth in the 18–34 demographic, and third among teenagers.
Critical reception
Since airing, "Treehouse of Horror XXII" has received mixed from critics. Josh Harrison of OlogyOlogy
Ology is an entertainment and social media website based in New York City. It is run by Beth Haggerty and Vivian Moran, both of whom founded it. The company focuses on helping users to find and share content about their interests.-History:...
was positive and gave the episode a rating of seven out of ten, but commented that he preferred "episodes that feature longer, more involved storylines more than the spoof collections." At 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...
, Hayden Childs gave the episode a C+ grade, saying, "The writers seem unwilling to mock the more outrageous aspects of the movies they are sending up and settle for weakly batting at the obvious. Some of the jokes land, but none land too solidly." Meredith Woerner of io9
Io9
io9 is a blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The blog focuses on the subjects of science fiction, futurism, and advancements in the fields of science and technology....
though that "[t]he whole thing never quite achieved the same level of brilliance as some previous years — even though the Avatar bit was funny, we've seen so many Avatar spoofs by now that, well, it's tired. However we did get a lot of joy out of seeing Homer dressed up as Doctor Manhattan and Maggie as a wee-little chest burster." Even more critical was CraveOnline
CraveOnline
CraveOnline is a male lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company AtomicOnline, the publishing division of Evolve Media Corp.- History :...
's Blair Marnell who gave the episode a rating of three out of ten. He commented that "there is no stronger argument for ending 'The Simpsons' than the latest Halloween installment of 'Treehouse of Horror'" and further said that "in all honesty, it's amazing how tame 'The Simpsons' has become over the years. This show used to be the 'South Park' of its day. Now it's just showing its age and it's no longer the cool TV rebel that it used to be." Alex Strachan had the opposite reaction in a review in Calgary Herald
Calgary Herald
The Calgary Herald is a daily newspaper published in the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta.- History :The paper was first published on August 31, 1883 by Andrew Armour and Thomas Braden as The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate and General Advertiser. It started as a weekly paper with only...
and concluded that we should "[f]orget all that talk about The Simpsons being past its prime. Based on tonight's sharp-eyed, keen-witted Treehouse of Horror XXII - funnier, faster and more fright-worthy than last year's dud, thankfully - there's a lot of ink left in the old ink pot yet."
The first segment, "The Diving Bell and the Butterball", was met with mixed reactions. Marnell called the parody "wildly unfunny", while Childs was critical of Homer turning into a paralyzed Spider-Man and stated that it was "simply not very funny." Tim Surette of TV.com
TV.com
TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
was more ambivalent and said: "I found this sketch to be simultaneously awesome and terrible because I have the maturity of a 6-year old and the intelligence of an average man." The reference to the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was noticed by the producers of the musical. They reacted by issuing a statement the following day: "Everyone at 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' was extremely flattered by last night’s tribute on 'The Simpsons.' 'The Simpsons' is an iconic American institution, and being part of last night's episode was an honor and dream come true." Co-incidentally, the previous aired episode of 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...
, "Broadway Bro Down
Broadway Bro Down
"Broadway Bro Down" is the eleventh episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 220th episode overall...
", also had a reference to the musical. Contrary to The Simpsons, the spokesperson for the Broadway show did not want to comment on that episode.
The response for "Dial D for Diddly" was that it started well, but then gradually declined. In Marnell's opinion, "[t]he best segment of the entire episode comes when Ned makes his normal routine look sinister and yet when he finally closes his hands to pray, he's actually holding a pair of severed hands", but as for the rest of the segment, he is disappointed: "[W]hen it seems like the short is heading for some darkly hilarious territory, the voice of God turns out to be Homer urging Ned to murder his enemies." Other reviewers agreed with his assessment. Surette concluded that the episode "[s]tarted off good, but got boring very quick." Likewise, Childs commented that the "segment had a lot of promise for the funny, but it started to sag fast and then sank altogether."
Much of the criticism towards the Avatar spoof "In the Na'Vi" goes towards the timing of the episode. Surette thought that it was "[a]n Avatar spoof that came about two years too late. This sketch had no redeeming qualities and should be erased from the minds of all Simpsons fans immediately." Similarly, Marnell commented that in the episode "The Simpsons' finally gets around to parodying 'Avatar' — a movie picked to death by 'South Park' and other series a year or two ago" and further elaborated that "[i]t's almost a straight forward retelling of 'Avatar' without the biting satire that made the film parodies of previous years so much fun." In general, Treehouse of Horror episodes take about a year to complete for the staff. This is because they have to do many original designs, such as characters and backgrounds. Prior to the airing of the episode, Jean revealed that the staff was already working on "Treehouse of Horror XXIII".
External links
- "Treehouse of Horror XXII" at The Simpsons.com