Welcome to October! Now that we are decidedly into the fun, fall, spooky season of Halloween, I wanted to do something special. You may have noticed that the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror segments have not been present on any of my lists so far. The reason for this is that I wanted to do something special with them during October and review the best and worst Treehouse of Horror Segments! I think the tricky thing about reviewing these episodes is that they are all titled with roman numerals that make it difficult to tell which episodes are which. These episodes are also divided into segments and some of these segments are much stronger than others. The best segments bring together a combination of humor, horror or creepiness, and a creative theme. The worst are perhaps forgettable or don't do as much as they could with the topic. I have decided for each week to review a week's worth of episodes, watching one Treehouse of Horror on each day, and then write a ranking for the episodes from that week. While this could be somewhat uneven if there are several strong seasons in a row in one string of seven Treehouse of Horror episodes and several weak episodes in a row for another week, I think the best segments should rise to the top regardless of which batch of episodes I watch them with. Also, at the end of October/beginning of November, I will do a ranking of the top 10 best and worst Treehouse of Horror segments from the entire show at this point. I am glad that the show has these yearly non-canon episodes because it gives a lot of space for experimentation and trying out new ideas. Experimentation can be a mixed bag because it brings the brilliant and the bad or bizarre, but I think it leads to a fascinating experience either way. I am so excited to do this ranking and to think about all those fun and creepy Treehouse of Horror segments! To start with the first 7 Treehouse of Horror specials, I will say that it includes some of my favorite segments in the entire show! The good segments are hilarious and creepy, and even the bad segments have good elements or are just a bit bland. Let's start ranking!
Top 7 Best Segments
7. "The Devil and Homer Simpson" ("Treehouse of Horror IV")
This segment is both funny and it works with a creative idea! It is fun to see Flanders as the Devil and see a clever interpretation of hell. It is cool to see Homer punished with eating doughnuts when he is in hell, only to find that he actually really enjoys it. I love Homer's obvious lie as he says he didn't eat the doughnut when it is obvious that he did. The trial is also a lot of fun. I am generally not a fan of courtroom episodes of the crime shows that I watch, but this segment makes the case a lot of fun. The jury that Devil Flanders puts together is also quite a funny and colorful group and I like that they argue that Marge legally owns Homer's soul.
6. Clown Without Pity ("Treehouse of Horror III")
The main reason I added this segment to the list was that it had so many funny jokes in it. I love Homer's discussion with the store owner when he keeps saying "That's good" and "That's bad." I like the part when the doll tries to harpoon Homer and he runs screaming through the house or the fact that Grandpa calls the doll evil but only because he calls all of Bart's birthday gifts evil or the fact that the Krusty doll has an evil switch that he was set to at some point. The end is a bit anticlimactic and I think that it would have worked better to just end it when they set the doll back to good, but it is such a fun segment to watch and makes me laugh so much that I like revisiting it.
5. "Terror at 5½ Feet" ("Treehouse of Horror IV")
This segment is a masterclass in suspense and also includes some great elements of humor as well. I like the colorful stories that Groundskeeper Willie and Skinner give for why they are on the bus. I also think the segment is good at capturing both Bart's growing anxiety and the ways he tries to alert others on the bus. There is also the random humor of Homer grabbing free stuff from the marina because it was "just sitting in some guy's boat." The gremlin is doing more destruction than the one in the original Twilight Zone episode why raises the stakes on Bart's fear. I also think Flanders' reaction to the monster when he says it is cute as it tries to claw his eyes out is also quite amusing.
4. "Time and Punishment" ("Treehouse of Horror V")
I love the creativity that they have in this segment. It is funny to see Homer accidentally invent a time machine when he is just trying to fix a toaster. It is also so randomly funny that Homer's advice on the consequence of time travel came from his father on his wedding day. I would have liked to see how Homer's actions in the past directly impacted the timeline, something like in The Butterfly Effect, but I understand that the segment did not have the time to do this. Instead, what they do is show a variety of creative alternate worlds that are all so much fun. I love the world being run by Flanders and the way that his Re-Neducation center has everyone dress like him and Maude. It is also so funny that it is only when Homer smashes everything that he gets the absolute perfect world where he is rich and it rains doughnuts. This is such a fun time travel adventure!
3. "Nightmare Cafeteria" ("Treehouse of Horror V")
This one definitely has a morbid humor since so many of its jokes revolve around cannibalism, but I am pretty accustomed to laughing about cannibalism after reading Melville's books. I think Jimbo's description of Lunchlady Doris spilling meat tenderizer on him is funny, as is the fact that there is an entire book about The Joy of Cooking Millhouse. I think they have some great creative imagery with the caged children and the free-range children and the larger system that they have in place to eat the children. My absolute favorite part, and the reason why this segment is so high on my list is that there is a part where Bart and Lisa ask Marge for help with the cannibalism issue and Marge tells them that they are old enough now to handle the issue and she will not fight their battles for them. It is so absurd that it makes me laugh every time!
2. "The Raven" ("Treehouse of Horror I")
I absolutely love this segment! It is so closely tied with my first choice and while I think that one is a better parody and really funny, this one has had a bigger impact on me personally and has some chilling moments in it as well. This poem is read perfectly by James Earl Jones and it was the discovery that the rhyming, melodic words of this segment were based on a real poem by Edgar Allan Poe that inspired me to try and memorize this poem and also to love literature as much as I do. It does a great job setting a spooky mood, particularly in the final moments of the segment. But while it shares the confined creepiness of Poe's poem, it also introduces a bunch of humor as well. The funny thing about this is that Poe would not have been a fan because he thought that each poem should have a unified impact. The humor works so well in the segment though! I love Bart's complaint about the empty hallway or his desire to say something other than just "Nevermore." Homer is not the way that I would have envisioned the speaker for this poem, but that is a small issue with a segment that is so beautiful and so funny!
1. "The Shinning" ("Treehouse of Horror V")
This segment is such a perfect parody! I think Homer fits scarily well into the role of Jack Torrance and they manage to squish so many jokes into this setting. I like that Burns responds casually to the blood in the hallway as he comments that it usually gets off at the second floor. The funniest moments come when Marge comes to confront Homer at his typewriter. I like that it says "Feelin' Fine" on the typewriter and has "No TV and No Beer Make Homer Go Crazy" written all over the walls. It is hilarious when Marge says "Go crazy?" and Homer responds with "Don't mind if I do!" I also laugh at the moment when Homer makes a scary and ugly face that scares himself when he looks in the mirror. This segment is even funnier once you have seen The Shining and it manages to fit so many great jokes into such a brief amount of time. Whenever I think of an amazing Treehouse of Horror segment, I think of this one!
Top 7 Worst Segments
7. "If I Only Had a Brain" ("Treehouse of Horror II")
I think this segment would have been so much stronger if it had had not focused on Homer. It had to because this was supposed to be Homer's nightmare, but I think most of these elements are the funny interactions between Burns and Smithers. I love the part when Smithers hears rustling in the bag and becomes anxious then Burns smacks the bag and says "Bad corpse! You're scaring Smithers!" I also like all the work they do to put the brain inside the robot as well as the fact that the robot takes names even though he wouldn't even be tired. Whenever it switches back to Homer's perspective, it gets much less interesting and lacks all the great laughs that you get from other parts of the segment.
6. "Homer" ("Treehouse of Horror VI")
This segment is a huge accomplishment for animation, and I think the 3d graphics still look quite impressive when you consider other 3d animated projects from the era. There are a few jokes here that are funny such as Lovejoy telling Homer to go into the light and Homer being zapped by the light bulbs. I also think it is so randomly funny that Marge brings in Flanders to help because he has a ladder when this doesn't help at all with the zone that Homer walked into. Ultimately, the problem with this episode is that it is so focused on experimenting with the animation that it forgot to do anything else interesting with the story.
5. "The Bart Zone" ("Treehouse of Horror II")
In this segment, we see a bit of wish fulfillment for Bart as he has the power to make people bend to his every wish. The problem is that we see so much of Bart's imagination in the early seasons that there isn't really anything unique about Bart's power here. I like the part when he is driving the school bus at terrifying speeds and Otto gleefully says that they are going to die. I think this segment loses steam once Bart turns Homer into a Jack-in-the-box. Homer bonding with Bart is a bit anticlimactic and I think it is sad that being close with his father is something that Bart finds terrifying.
4. "Hungry are the Damned" ("Treehouse of Horror I")
This segment is the first introduction to Kang and Kodos. It isn't terrible, but it has a bit of a problem with the twist it tries to do at the end. The twist is that the aliens are actually nice and don't want to eat the Simpsons, but it seems a bit inconsistent with the suspicious way that they are acting earlier in the segment. The aliens praise the family when they eat and even weigh them and cheer when they are heavier. This behavior doesn't match their expressed desire to give the family food and take them to a paradise. It ends with a bit of a Twilight Zone moral that the family, and especially Lisa, missed this opportunity due to their distrust. I get that this is subversive, but I think it is a bit critical of Lisa for investigating suspicious things. I still suspect that the aliens were actually trying to eat them.
3. "Bart Simpson's Dracula" ("Treehouse of Horror IV")
There are some elements of this segment that I really like! I enjoy the police assuming that the obvious signs of a vampire are actually a mummy. I also think there are some fun things that happen once they get to Burns' castle. The fact that it is in Pennsylvania instead of Transylvania makes me laugh every time. There is also the funny moment when Marge worries that Bart's vampirism will lead to him smoking. I enjoy the "Super Fun Happy Slide" that Bart takes even when it dooms him and Homer is also tempted to use it as well. My issue with the segment is the twist that Marge is the head vampire. They don't have any indications that this will be the solution, probably so that it will be more surprising, and because of that, it comes out of nowhere. Why wouldn't Marge turn Lisa into a vampire if everyone else in the family was a vampire? The episode also ends abruptly with the family singing Christmas carols which is a bit of a weak ending.
2. "King Homer" ("Treehouse of Horror III")
This segment is a good spoof of King Kong and I do like some of the early portions of it, but I think that the segment loses steam once they leave the island. On the island, they have the great joke about both Ape Island and Candy Apple Island containing apes. There is also the funny part when Burns accidentally gasses himself with a gas bomb intended for Homer. I think once they get to New York, Homer's freak-out is not all that entertaining and it doesn't really develop how he falls in love with Marge. I also understand the humor that can come with underreacting to situations, but I don't like how easily they laugh off Homer eating Marge's father.
1. "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores" ("Treehouse of Horror VI")
I find elements of this segment a bit irritating. Homer's frustration with false advertising makes sense, but him stealing the metal doughnut is a bit strange because he can't even eat it. I also don't like that he gives the doughnut back like Marge suggests and it doesn't even change anything. There is a creative idea that advertising cannot work if people don't pay attention to it, but the way these ad mascots die immediately is a bit inconsistent with their origin when no one was looking at them. The song about not looking is catchy, but not one that I really enjoy. This segment also isn't that funny to me. The only part that really made me laugh was Bart being the devil and angel on the shoulders of the devil mascot to get him to destroy the school.
No comments:
Post a Comment