"Treehouse of Horror XVII" | |
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The Simpsons episode | |
![]() The episode's promotional image, featuring all three segments. | |
Episode no. | Season 18 Episode 4 |
Directed by | David Silverman Matthew Faughnan |
Written by | Peter Gaffney |
Production code | HABF17 |
Original air date | November 5, 2006 |
Guest appearances | |
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Episode features | |
Commentary | Al Jean J. Stewart Burns Michael Price Tom Gammill Max Pross David Silverman Yeardley Smith |
"Treehouse of Horror XVII" [1] is the fourth episode of the eighteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons , and the seventeenth Treehouse of Horror episode. [1] It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 5, 2006. In "Married to the Blob", Homer eats green extraterrestrial slime and morphs into a rampaging blob with an insatiable appetite; in "You Gotta Know When to Golem", Bart uses Krusty's golem to wreak havoc on his tormentors; and in "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid", the residents of a late-1930s Springfield refuse to believe news of an actual alien invasion after being duped by Orson Welles's The War of the Worlds radio broadcast. [1]
It was written by Peter Gaffney and directed by David Silverman and Matthew C. Faughnan. [1] Dr. Phil McGraw and Sir Mix-a-Lot guest star as themselves, Richard Lewis and Fran Drescher guest voice as the male and female Golems, respectively. [1] In its original run, the episode received 10.43 million viewers. [2]
![]() | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.(October 2015) |
In a dungeon, a crypt opens, revealing a coffin containing Mr. Burns as the Crypt Keeper. Moe interrupts him as he introduces himself, and is consequently killed in an iron maiden, his blood spilling onto the floor and spelling out the title of the episode.
While Homer and Marge make out in the backyard, a meteorite falls nearby, cracking open to reveal a green substance. Homer, despite his family's objections, devours it. Later that night, he experiences intense hunger, and Homer eats all the food present in the house. He also eats Snowball V before attempting to eat Bart, but is stopped by Marge. Over time, Homer gradually mutates into a giant blob monster, rampaging through Springfield and eating all the townspeople he can find. Eventually, Dr. Phil McGraw shows up with the Simpson family and tells Homer to stop for their sakes. In fear of losing Marge, Homer ends his rampage (but only after he consumes McGraw who tell him that "food does not equal love" before disintegrating) and vows to use his insatiable appetite for more constructive purposes. Later, Mayor Quimby establishes a new homeless shelter, but the homeless people are quickly devoured by Homer upon entering.
At the end of an episode of Krusty's show, Bart goes backstage to complain about an alarm clock he bought, and finds the Golem of Prague, a creature from Jewish mythology. Krusty tells Bart that in the 17th century, the Golem was sculpted out of clay by a rabbi and would obey any command written on a scroll and placed in his mouth. Although the golem was created to protect Jewish villages, he would obey any scroll placed in his mouth, regardless of intent. Bart then steals the Golem by writing a command for him to come to his home at midnight, and he uses him to carry out several commands, including swinging Principal Skinner up and down like a yo-yo until he splits in half. Lisa thinks the Golem does not like doing the bidding of others and orders him to speak; the Golem reveals that he feels guilty about being forced to commit heinous acts through the years. To help him feel better, the Simpsons create a female Golem out of Play-Doh, and the two are married by Rabbi Hyman Krustofski. Meanwhile, the female Golem convinces Chief Wiggum not to press charges for Skinner's murder with the promise of pan-fried latkes.
Springfield is fooled by Orson Welles' 1938 The War of the Worlds radio broadcast, leading to mass panic. Marge believes that the Martians will only destroy humans, and suggests that they pretend to be animals to fool the aliens, with Sideshow Mel encouraging his fellow townspeople to cavort naked in the mud to support the ruse. They do this until the following day, when Lisa tells the citizens that it was all a hoax. Angry at being fooled, the citizens of Springfield vow to never fall for such a trick again. Meanwhile, Kang and Kodos, observing the entire event from their spaceship, decide this is the perfect time for a real invasion, and begin destroying what is left of the town. True to their word, the town does not believe that it is a real invasion and ignores it, even as Orson Welles himself comes to Springfield and admits it is not a staged act. Three years later, Kang and Kodos look over the ruins of Springfield and contemplate on why they were not greeted as liberators, while the camera pulls away from the ruins of Springfield as "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" by The Ink Spots plays.
"The Day the Earth Looked Stupid" was originally supposed to end with Kang and Kodos making a direct reference to the Iraq War as they observe the ruined remains of 1938 Springfield. While the Fox censors had no objections over the line, the producers and writers felt the reference was too obvious and had it cut to make the joke more subtle (though the leaked Internet version has the line that ended up being cut). [3]
Once again Maurice LaMarche voiced Orson Welles, doing his impression of Welles used earlier for The Brain on Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain .
At the end of the episode Al Jean is credited as "Al July 27, 2007 Jean" predicting the release date for the then in production and upcoming Simpsons Movie .
"Treehouse of Horror XVII" received mixed to positive reviews from television critics. The episode was declared by Matt Zoller Seitz of New York magazine as being one of nine later Simpsons episodes that was as good as the show's classic era. [4]
Dan Iverson of IGN gave the episode a score of 7.6/10, commenting "...The dialogue was really quite good - even if the stories weren't the best (and in comparison, they were better than the past four years of Treehouse episodes)... And in typical Simpsons fashion the celebrity appearances were hysterical", concluding "We can totally overlook any other issues the episode had and recommend the episode to anybody who likes random comedy". [5]
In the article 'You said we'd be greeted as liberators!': 10 anxiety-reflecting Simpsons Halloween segments, The A.V. Club singled out The Day The Earth Looked Stupid, noting that while "the show was awfully quiet during the darkest days of the Bush presidency—which is even more surprising how blatantly left it had been in the past...the show nearly made up for it with its most political—and bleakest—Treehouse segment ever", concluding "The Day The Earth Looked Stupid was The Simpsons at its most pointed". [6]
When listing the 66 segments of the first 22 Treehouse of Horror episodes in order from worst to best, Joshua Kurp of Splitsider gave this episode's segments (in order of appearance) rankings of #52, #47, and #59. He "saw this episode screened at an event where Matt Groening was present". Kurp said "Blob" was done better in "King-Size Homer", Richard Lewis did not have enough screen time in "Golem", and "Day"'s "conclusion bombed". [7]
"Treehouse of Horror" is the third episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 25, 1990. The episode was inspired by 1950s horror comics, and begins with a disclaimer that it may be too scary for children. It is the first Treehouse of Horror episode. These episodes do not obey the show's rule of realism and are not treated as canon. The opening disclaimer and a panning shot through a cemetery with humorous tombstones were features that were used sporadically in the Treehouse of Horror series and eventually dropped. This is also the first episode to have the music composed by Alf Clausen.
"Treehouse of Horror XV" is the first episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 2004. In the fifteenth annual Treehouse of Horror, Ned Flanders' head injury gives him the power to predict others' deaths, Bart and Lisa play detective when a string of Victorian-era prostitutes are murdered by Jack the Ripper, and the Simpsons go on a fantastic voyage inside Mr. Burns' body to save Maggie. It was written by Bill Odenkirk and directed by David Silverman. Around 11.29 million Americans tuned in to watch the episode during its original broadcast. Airing on November 7, it is the latest date that a Treehouse of Horror has aired, but had to be held back a week due to Fox's contractual obligation to air the World Series.
"Treehouse of Horror II" is the seventh episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 31, 1991. It is the second annual Treehouse of Horror episode, consisting of three self-contained segments, told as dreams of Lisa, Bart and Homer and is the only Treehouse of Horror episode to date where each segment name is not stated inside the episode. In the first segment, which was inspired by W. W. Jacobs's short story The Monkey's Paw and The Twilight Zone episode "A Small Talent for War", Homer buys a Monkey's Paw that has the power to grant wishes, although all the wishes backfire. In the second part, which parodies the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life", Bart is omnipotent, and turns Homer into a jack-in-the-box, resulting in the two spending more time together. In the final segment, Mr. Burns attempts to use Homer's brain to power a giant robotic laborer.
"Treehouse of Horror III" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 29, 1992. The third annual Treehouse of Horror episode, it features segments in which Homer buys Bart an evil talking doll, Homer is a giant ape which is captured by Mr. Burns in a parody of the 1933 version of King Kong, and Bart and Lisa inadvertently cause zombies to attack Springfield.
"Treehouse of Horror VII" is the first episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on 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 and 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 X. Cohen, and directed by Mike B. Anderson. Phil Hartman provided the voice of Bill Clinton. This is the first Treehouse of Horror episode to be a season premiere.
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"Treehouse of Horror XI" is the first episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, the 249th episode overall, and the eleventh Halloween episode. The episode features "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad", "Scary Tales Can Come True" and "Night of the Dolphin" and was written by Rob LaZebnik, John Frink and Don Payne and Carolyn Omine and directed by Matthew Nastuk.
"Treehouse of Horror 13" is the first episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the thirteenth Treehouse of Horror episode. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 3, 2002, three days after Halloween. It is the second Halloween episode to have a zombie related segment, and the last Halloween to have three separate writers credited for writing three stories. It is also the first Halloween episode to be titled Treehouse of Horror in the opening credits, as all prior Halloween episodes were referred to as The Simpsons Halloween Special. It is the first of these episodes not to have a Roman numeral used in its opening title.
"Treehouse of Horror XIV" is the first episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 2, 2003. In the fourteenth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer takes on the role of the Grim Reaper, Professor Frink creates a Frankenstein-version of his deceased father ("Frinkenstein") and Bart and Milhouse obtain a time-stopping watch. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Steven Dean Moore. Guest stars in the episode include Jerry Lewis, whose character in The Nutty Professor served as the inspiration for recurring Simpsons character Professor Frink, as Frink's father, and Jennifer Garner, Dudley Herschbach, and Oscar De La Hoya as themselves. The episode was nominated for the 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series.
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"Treehouse of Horror XXIV" is the second episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 532nd episode of the series. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 6, 2013. The episode was written by Jeff Westbrook and directed by Rob Oliver.
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