Treehouse of Horror

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and where's the Simpson Siblings. We talk about

all the time

and we have no intro,

not scripted whatsoever. Of course

not. So, uh, it is the season. The Hallows Eve. Yes. And for that reason, we are going to be checking out some of these Treehouse of horror episodes.

So one of the best Simpsons I think out

there. Oh yeah. These, I remember when I was a kid, you would only see these in reruns. And it was always an event when one of them was on and I was like, Ooh, it's a Treehouse of horror and this one's different,

you know? Yeah. Watch it at like nine o'clock at night and Marge would come up walking to give them and we'd be like, oh

crap. Yeah. And I would never watch the intros. Cause I always thought that they were scared. When really like the rest of the episode is probably just as scary. Oh yeah. But the music was scary and it was spooky. Yes. So, uh, yeah, we decided we're just going to start right from the first one we're at Treehouse of horror. Uh, season two, episode three, originally aired October 24th, 1990. And I'm on all the Simpsons Wiki pages. This one's broken down by segment as for writers and directors.

Well, we have Marge coming out with her famous intros, which I think they stopped those after awhile. Oh, I've

got some fun facts on that.

Oh,

go ahead. I w I don't, I guess I'll, I guess I'll give the fun facts. I actually wrote this down for the next one, because the next one is triaged before. That we're going to do. Um, which was actually the last one that she did that, but there was a warning given in Treehouse of horror 28 before the segment Homer. But that warning was given by Lisa. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. She gives a warning that it's like too scary for kids. These aren't really too scary.

No. And if anything, the ones that don't have the warning are more violent, which is kind of the irony. But, um, you know,

I just, I liked when she said, take your kids in now, instead of writing us angry letters tomorrow, things haven't changed.

Some things don't change. So, uh, yeah, and that's, she's breaking the fourth wall here and I, I love breaking the fourth wall. Just keep on breaking it. Um,

did you see some of those tombstones at the beginning? Yeah.

You know what? I meant to write those down, but I didn't, you break

all of them down, but something that stood out was Garfield. Casper, the friendly boy. Oh no. Oh no. I heard the song in my head too and disco. Oh, wow.

Yeah, they did it themselves a little bit with that disco one. But yeah, the Casper one, it makes me think too, of the Richie rich theory from the wisdom. Oh my gosh. Also I find it super ironic that at the beginning, it doesn't say Treehouse of horror. It says Simpsons, Halloween special. Yeah. I noticed that. And yet this is one of the few tree house of horrors that actually has the tree house in it, but yet it doesn't say tree house in the beginning, like.

Yeah, I'm looking at it. I did that with Homer sitting outside of the tree house to,

yeah. Yeah. So you kind of get his perspective a little bit. It's interesting with this one, cause you can tell this was an experiment for them. Because there wasn't any precedent sense is that it was just, Hey, let's try to do a whole wing special, you know? Yeah. It wasn't just a thing that they did every single year. It was,

and they didn't realize how many more they'd be doing after this one. Oh my

God. They were at, I just watched the most recent one, which I didn't really like it. And the thing is, I. Like the five previous ones. So I was kind of surprised. I didn't like the recent one, but I think it was number 33, which is, or was it 32? Anyways, this doesn't matter, but I, but yeah, there's a lot now it's always minus one of whatever season they're on because season one didn't have one.

arounds. Well, I was thinking too, like I was noticing, like when they're in the tree house, it's almost like a different color palette that they use for everything. Like everything just feels different and it's kind of like, I know even now, but especially when I was a kid, like Halloween day, just always, the world felt different and it kind of gives off that feeling. Yeah.

Yeah. Definitely. Um, here's a question that was actually posed by my daughter while we were watching this. Why was Homer trick or treating? I have

that written down too. Okay. Don't go into that. But

I never thought of that, that the kids aren't trick or treating, but yet Homer is, and he, and people are giving them

candies. Obviously I don't wander that sheet by himself.

Oh my gosh. I'll know. That is a very Homer thing to do, especially early. Yeah. All right. So we have the first, uh, sort of, they call it wrap, which is like the story outside of the stories, but we have the first sort of wraparound of the segment of Barton, Lisa kind of trying to outdo each other with their scary stories. And I think it's a time to move into bed with bad dream house. I think so. All right. Well, our very first homing segment, bad dream.

from the get-go. Well, it's like Marge says all this is save a few dollars and homers as a few thousand dollars. Oh, I love his rant that he goes on about, but that's getting ahead of

ourselves. Um, we've got our first appearance by James Earl Jones as the moving guy. And he just, he just shows up in each of the segments is, Hey, here's James Earl Jones.

Yeah, I heard it's funny because I never. Realized that before I knew his voice is familiar, but I just never put much thought into it. But then I'm just like the moving guy. Yeah.

It's almost like when we're going to talk about this in our next episode, but how groundskeeper he got killed in every segment of the fifth one, the pattern they had in this was let's throw Janesville Jones in each of these, even if it's for like two lines. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I love James Earl Jones, so throw him in every. So what case, and, um, it says they have 18 bedrooms and a moat. They have a moat, like that's where the water goes around. Right. And they have like a fridge,

but like, I don't remember seeing it on the outside. No,

but they mentioned it. I don't know if that was them just throwing stuff out there or what, but the haunt starts super early. Like they get right down to business and this one. Um, we've got the vortex in the

kitchen. Yup. And the, when they throw the orange into there, they can do that effect that the old CRT screens did, the older ones too, not even the newer with air quotes. I think like a lot of kids in generations watching it these days might not even know what that is.

Um, The whole stop throwing garbage and target mentioned when the, at home, when the garbage can gets full. Frankie always says that when it's like getting too sick, stop throwing garbage in arguments. Oh. And, uh, yeah, that's when we get to the whole rant with not a few dollars, but if you thousand

dollars it's worth your lives for a few thousand dollars. And

like, he gets this weird because this is season two. So this is sorta in between, you know, frosty chocolate milkshakes and. Current Homer voice and the way he says parts or is got a few dollars, I feel a thousand dollars. And he's got with that. Chocolate milkshakes

still. Yeah. Well, it's a very specific rant too. Cause usually when I think of Homer ranting, it's about nonsense and stuff, but he's yeah, he's got a very specific point he's trying to make with this,

but it's also about him being a cheap ass. Yeah. But I mean, he has a valid point about why he's being a cheap ass. It's just not worth it. You know, death. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. A bleeding wall kitchen, which I thought was funny that Marge walks in not much has happened yet. And the walls are bleeding. There's a four techs on the wall. She's like, Hmm, this is a minor inconvenience.

So I always saw that as like the walls were bleeding, but they couldn't notice it yet. Maybe like it was happening sort of as like an invisible ghost house blood. Which I'm sure is a thing. I mean, if it's, if the ghosts are clear, then the, then the blood could be clear. That's

a very valid point.

Yes. It did not put a lot of thought into that one. Um, I love how everyone's so quick to pick up their weapons at the end. Not even at the end, but like in the it's word. Cause it almost seems like the climax is going to happen, but then it sort of keeps going a little bit when they grabbed the knives and everything. Yeah.

And I was trying to tell how much of it was them being convinced versus being under, almost like a spell in the fact, like the way Maggie was acting with like holding the knife and the look on her face. Like it had to be some sort of. Mind control, spell thing.

Yeah. And she actually liked takes out her, um, pacifier and it's like maniacally laughing, which is such a nuts shot like that whole, they, they go towards like everyone's face and show each of their expressions and it's like, whoa,

what the heck? And Bart being the first one to give in he's so susceptible when he says, are you my conscience? And the ghost was. Yes. Yes. I am so surprised that he's so willing.

And like, Bart's like, oh yeah, I've heard you before. You know, I think about this kind of stuff all the time and the way they kind of trick you into thinking that Marge was part of it.

Yeah. Well, she's very aggressively making a sandwich.

Yeah. And she's in she's kind of gifts, almost like a possessed voice to it, to where she goes on, man. Like who just says that.

Okay. So if you were or visiting and you're like, Hey, where are you, Sean? I'm like, oh, I'm in the kitchen. And you look at me, I'm holding a serrated knife in the air and like slamming it down just to make a sandwich. I'd probably be a little concerned.

Probably jump out the window.

Yeah. And then it's just very fitting that the thing that can break this evil spell.

March. Yeah. I think that's kind of sweet in a way. It's the

power she has over the family

and the fact that the voice didn't even try to convince her, like she didn't even hear it. Yeah, that's true. Um, and the, her line we've had our differences, but never a knife fight before. I mean, they've, they've electrocuted themselves during no disgrace like home, but not a knife fight. That's where she draws the line. Um, it's about this time when they discovered the ancient Indian burial ground.

Very like small and specific. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, it's something that's weird to me is the, the one, the gravestone that says Pocahontas almost looks like the same font as the Disney movie, which this was 1990. And that movie came out in 96. So, I don't know if that's coincidence or if they were working on that movie for a long time. And there was like buzz about it and they had a logo made already.

I'll have to go look at that again. Cause like the

lettering looks in it when I would first see it, I'd be like, oh, they're making fun of the Disney Pocahontas, um, version. And then I was like, wait a minute, this is 1990. So I don't know what's going on there. I love Homer's argument on the phone with the realtor.

It's amazing

what he may have told me six or seven times.

Yup.

Yep. So Homer definitely heard what he wanted to hear. When it came to this house, he wanted to save that few thousand dollars support

realtor after telling him so many times, and then for him to call. Three in the morning to complain

and to be yelled at, by at home or so. I like that in the end, everything sort of falls apart because of each of the characters dominant personality traits. So bark kind of bugs it to make the blobs bleed, like come on and get the wall to do it. Do it, do it. Lisa hyper analyzes. And then Marge lectures it. Yep. And so, I mean, we don't really have a Homer in this, in this situation at this point, but I just love that each of those things are what sort of drive the house, crazy

life of the Simpsons. What choice do I have?

And then it just explodes. Well, I guess in bloats. Yeah. And I, there's something I've been looking at on your paper that I've been wanting to say. And I'm wondering, can we say that in the podcast?

I mean, I don't see why not.

Okay. But if we are, you're going to have to say

it Lola. Oh, my favorite favorite part lines is the house disappears. All these lights going everywhere. Art disco. Pitching like radically how he says it is love it. He it's

like a half second before the actual explosion noise. He says it. And then,

and I just imagine them recording that like 10 times and picking the best one.

Yeah.

Don't look at my sheet. Oh

no, I'm getting spoilers. I just couldn't help. Like, I would just kind of glance over it and I just see All right. So we have sort of another wrap around here. Um, and we have the, the severed finger, which of course is just like Bart's finger and a box. And Maggie kind of just starts sucking

on it was everything zoomed in on it, like three or four times

really emphasize it.

I'm like we expect this on Bob's burgers, but,

and I love Maggie just kind of going and trying to

eat his fingers. You PB spit.

Um, so we've got hungry or the damned is next. And this one, for some reason, this one really stuck out in my head as a kid. Like, I didn't really remember watching the first segment as a kid, but I remember the second one very, very clearly. I mean, I remember all these from watching them recently, but this second one, for some reason, really stuck with me. Um, The whole Homer putting too much fuel in the, in the, um,

I can't, I think the grill in lay grill

grill, um, is kind of used again and Lisa, the vegetarian

that's what I was going to say. Felt like it didn't fit to that

episode. Yeah. It's cause it's used twice, but for some reason, Lisa, the vegetarian, it just burns like a regular fire, but here you've got that really dramatic. In mushroom cloud effects.

We also have the bug zapper that's located directly over the grill. Oh, I

never noticed that. Oh my God. That's so gross. Uh, and it's just really enunciated bug zapping sounds. Uh, we got that green shot of Lisa. Whereas it's like the background and the foreground move at different intervals. It's like the vertigo, the

mamas. Yeah. I forget what the effect is called, but where you like adjust the zoom opposite. Yeah.

Yeah. I was just called it a vertigo zoom, but, um, she's got like her mouth gaping open and she's absolutely, rock-solid still and completely green. And that, that image was what really burned in my head as a kid.

I always loved the second one. With homework, that always makes me laugh. But yeah, that's a very like unique scene right there.

Yeah. And once again, the lighting is just so good and I love a Homer sort of understatement where he just kind of goes whole room Moray, which kind of reminds me of Homer three. When he goes, holy Macko road. It's a big. I put here king sound so much like Skinner, but then I, I didn't go and look up his voice actor, but I'm sure that's probably leave Harry shear his Skinner. Um, that's probably him because it just sounds like a slightly different scanner.

like that. Cause like scifi stuff will be like, oh, translator thing. Nope. Just coincidence.

Which I put would be the HODs of that would be astronomical. Yeah. The exact same words mean the exact

same thing. Well, they say that. For the one alien to pronounce his name.

That's the other thing. And I wrote this down too, that always bugged me because he says for me to say this to you, I would have to rip out your tongue.

No, it doesn't it does he say that? I thought I was. He's asking for it. And then for you to pronounce it,

then he would have to rip out, but he could still say it, but then he pronounces it later. He's he's um, what's his name? Sarah act. The preparer. Yeah. I didn't have to rip out my tongue. Maybe it was like, maybe it was like a ritualistic ripping out of the tongue that it was like in their society. If you say that name, you have to not have a tongue. I'm sure nobody else thought of, oh, wizard did it. Oh man.

and they've got the TV with thousands of channels, but no HBO exact costs, extra

costs extra. Um, for some reason the specific sounds of their silverware in this scene is very relaxing, but there's just something about the clinking of it. I don't know if it's an ASMR thing or what. But man, I got to look up that like, if there's like a YouTube of 10 hours of Simpson, silverware, clinking, you can make one. I could make one. Oh dear God. It's just like a 22nd scene. That's just repeated for 10 hours. Uh oh. And we got James Earl Jones again as Sarah active preparer.

They. Like you just see them and you can hear the saliva. And I wonder, I've always wondered. Like, do they add in the sun effect afterward? Do they do add like gum or something to the mouth when they're recording or what do they do? I'd love to know that now I do have to say there are some very obvious things that the family should have picked up on

conversations. Oh, And it hasn't ever really been decided if they were really faking it here or not. I don't know, but because when they show up in the future, they're like trying to take over humanity and

stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like at the end, everyone kind of bashes Lisa for thinking that the aliens were going to eat them. But in reality, They should have all thought that

yeah. Yeah. She was just picking up on the obvious. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's the punchline obviously, but it's also frustrating thinking about it logically, but what if they really weren't trying to eat them and they got so offended that they wanted to come back and take over humanity and it's would, if that was the thing that

started all of that. It really is. And maybe now they do really want to cook 40 humans.

Yeah. Oh, and I mentioned here too. There's a scene where Elisa runs down the hall. When she's looking for the book, lighting is amazing. It's like a red and blue lighting and it's just, it is

just beautiful. You really liked the

lighting really liked the lighting and we haven't even gotten to the Raven yet. Um, Also Sarah, the preparers crying is very good. Like he just really brought the acting up to 11

for that you can tell he had fun. And it's one thing to like, be on a show and be like yourself, or be like a famous person or something. But to be all side characters, like you can say have fun with that. Oh yeah,

yeah, yeah. Honestly, we kind of jumped around the notes a bit for this one, but. I yeah, it just kind of, kind of a frustrating conclusion to this one.

Yeah. Because. You're just kind of left there and you don't expect Lisa to be the one to ruin everything. If that's really how it went,

not the whole, like you experienced something a thousand times greater than what you'd call love or fun and thousands

of guys

on the phone and it's, and she's doing everything logically and you just feel so frustrated. It's

like when you go through the logical processes and technically make the right decision, but it ends up being the wrong thing.

Yep. And then, and then it's just sort of blamed afterwards by the whole family

for it. Yeah. Yeah. Very easily been the other way round. Yeah.

All right. Well, shall we move on to the Raven? Yes. Yes. And I see this mentioned a lot online that people watch this in their English classes. I definitely did. And I remember it was specifically. I think I did too. And I remember being so excited because I'm like, I don't watch the Simpsons. I don't know this one. And, um, yeah. And of course this is the most famous appearance of James Earl Jones in the special, the most prominent role as the narrator.

They did a really good job with this one. Oh

yeah. And I literally just wrote there's too many beautiful shots in this episode. Like I could probably make a. Separate episode of me just like, look at this shot. Oh my God. And then just, you know, saying that like 50 times

it also goes kind of contrary to what you're used to with the Simpsons and all these still shots. There's a lot of like camera panning in motion. Yeah. It's like zooming in and twisting around kind of building up the tension. Yeah. And

the poem. Yeah. Well, it's something I wrote to everything in the room is huge. Like the room looks huge. There's a part where like, Homer's clean to the chair and the chairs, like three times its size. And then in another Cho, he's just sitting on it comfortably and there's a lot of. Distorting the imagery. Yeah.

And like when he opens his chamber door and like, there's that long stretching hallway, I loved how that, like, that just gives like kind of some scale for that moment and how he was feeling when he opened the door.

That reminded me of the doctor who episode where 12 is trapped in the cathedral. Yeah. It's really long freaking hallways. And just the foreboding, this of that. You know, being so alone. Yeah. Raven Bard is just so dang happy

and he was a good choice for that too. Cause he's got, he's got that. And too, they've got the whole anthropomorphize thing going on. You can still see his hair. I don't know. I feel like that'd be a good, like plush doll. The half they have

a phone go pop of it. Oh, they do. Yes. And he's sitting one, like a little stack of like three books. It's like, it's one of the special ones though. It's like 20 bucks and

I'm like probably sell it.

Nevermind. Oh my God. Eat my shorts. Oh, I love Raven Barton, this I, and then I have written next quote, the Raven eat my shorts

and the Raven, my shirt like that. Very elegant. Cool. Three Raven,

eat my shorts. Oh man. Oh, and I love hearing. Calmer say like it goes cloth and all these elegant words that you would never hear him say. And his voice really it's, he's not just reading this straight. He's actually like, there's a part where he kind of goes in on himself and sort of puts his hands together and it's talking like this, but he's still seeing the words like this is probably one of my favorite Dan castle Aneta performances.

There's like the flow and cadence of it. Like, I was just watching it again, thinking have so much fun recording that. Oh yeah. Like, like, you know how like OnStar check and be like, Brent Spiner. He gets to play data as like a crazy emotional person and stuff like that, where they get to like break out of their character. I was just thinking he must have loved having that like intelligent flowing speech.

Oh yeah, definitely. Speaking of the actual poem. I think it's about the inevitability of death or the eternity of mourning, which, you know, for them to make that fun. Yeah. Like good on them. Holy crap. Cause I mean, I'm not ratting on the original poem cause it's gorgeous, but it's also not what you would think would adapt into a good successful Simpson

short. Prime time animation. It's not the

obvious choice, especially for the first Treehouse of horror. They decided to do this one. That's really, really risky. And it paid off because everybody remembers this one. Oh man. And the score near the end, it gets like really, um, orchestral, just. The flowing of it, flowing with sort of him knocking the books over, and then you've got bark picking up all the books and they're all different egg around the stories.

neat. It's funny. Cause I didn't write down many. On the segment, but just cause I can picture it all in my head right now. It's I don't know. It's one of those things that I don't know if people who are newer to the Simpsons or younger may appreciate this one as much, but I just, this one always stuck out to me as a kid.

Here's the thing. It's not the funniest Treehouse of horror and its not the scariest Treehouse of horror, but it's very neat. Yeah. It's just more. Holding the segment as a potato saying that it's neat

too, but I was hoping one of us would do that.

I just think it's neat. It's fun to watch. And, and it was a cool experiment that they did that paid off. Yeah. And I love it. Um, So back to the real world we have, um, the kids going back down for bed and home. We're just kind of shuttering in the dark, which

that even the noise he's making. I remember that like, that's a very, if you were to just play that noise for me at like out randomly somewhere, say what's this noise. Nope. Not only know it's Homer, but I will know it's the first tree house of horror like that, something about that noise.

He still has a little bit of frosty chocolate milkshakes in there. Uh, I Al I notice it notice they show like all the kids going to sleep and Maggie has a doll from life from her. The, um, the comic that Matt graining did before the Simpsons. Oh, like one of those little bunny characters. Yeah. She's holding one of those, which Sydney? Little, little, um, Easter egg. And then, um, and then we have Homer wanting to sleep with the light on which, I mean, come on.

You could start to a long tradition,

very long tradition. And, uh, yeah, I mean, I think they, I mean, I don't, I don't think this is anyone's favorite tree house or whore, but for a first go, I feel like they did an amazing job because they didn't have any. Precedent. They didn't think, oh, well obviously we have to do three segments. Obviously we have to have the narrating it. And obviously we have to have this and that, this was the beginning of all this. It hadn't been done by them before. And they did a great job with it.

Yeah. It's a great

foundation. Yeah, definitely. And Kane and kudos who are just kind of just always been around for each one and all that. You. Well, um, uh, we are happy that you stuck around for the whole episode. Please check out our Patrion, which is patrion.com/ Simpson Siblings. And. We need to give a shout out to our patron. Saint was Shawn's idea. I have to give him credit for that because we have one patron. His name is Timothy Burleson. We love him. So dang much. Thank you. Thank you, our patron Saint.