Treehouse of Horror IX
Another year, another Halloween special. Weirdly, this is a different special in that only one of the three stories is a parody of a specific story and even then, the story has become such a trope and the title is such a non-household name in classic horror that it almost doesn't count. In all honesty, I kind of appreciate this more than later episodes that go for flavour of the month parodies like Paranormal Activity (a film whose success confounds me), Dexter and Stranger Things (an episode I'd basically call a reference parade more than a story). And as much as I love using a classic story as a framework, I'm happy with a mostly good selection of horror comedies.
In this episode, three more Halloween stories. In the first, Snake is sent to the chair for a minor crime and vows to kill the witnesses who allowed the police to catch him. Snake dies but Homer gets his hair in a transplant. The hair possesses Homer, who begins killing the witnesses. He almost kills the final witness, Bart, but Homer is able to overcome the hair and it is shot by the police. In the second tale, Lisa and Bart end up turning their remote control supernatural and transport themselves into Itchy and Scratchy and must survive their attempts to kill them. And in the final tale, Maggie begins to mutate and Marge reveals that Maggie's real father is the alien Kang. Soon, Kang and Homer begin arguing over who gets to take care of Maggie, a matter finally resolved when the Simpsons pretend that their ultimatum, death to all the politicians, holds water.
While I think all the segments are kind of "C"s on the grading curve, I feel like the first one is the best of a perfectly OK lot. The story is a parody of the classic film The Hands of Orlac, in which a pianist gets a hand transplant where the hands start to murder. But strangely, the "hair" version has already been done as a comedy in an episode of Amazing Stories... ALSO called Hell Toupee. I actually have memories of catching the episode very young and finding it somewhat scary. Watching it as an older person, I saw it was a very broad comedy and was only scary because I hadn't developed my irony filter yet and was taking it at face value. As for this episode, it does feature some commentary on crass TV and the stupidity of the "three strikes" rule but really is more about trying to be a silly comedy, which it somewhat succeeds at. Interestingly, worth noting is the premise of evil hair has come back in the horror movie Bad Hair, though it adds a message about the black experience.
The second story is OK. I like Itchy and Scratchy stuff and there's some fun mania but overall, its not one of my favourites. To me, Itchy and Scratchy is at its best when it is either subverting itself or just completely ambitious with its violence. But the nature of the story basically means its usual mania. I feel like some people assumed this was intended to be a parody (or reference) of Stay Tuned, a film that sometimes people remember, but it doesn't strike me that way (I mean, who makes a "parody" of a broad comedy unless they are saying something about it). I can't think of another similar plot that happened before the episode aired. Pleasantville, the most obvious parallel, came out literally TWO DAYS before the episode went to air. But over all, while the episode toys with some cartoon logic, looking back, for its meta-ness of Homer changing the channel once and Bart making an eject button, I feel like it could do more of that and be a bit more ambitious.
The final tale feels like a general parody of classic Golden Age sci-fi premises but feels mostly there for an extended Jerry Springer riff with Jerry himself. And frankly, it isn't very good. Did you know that fucking show was on as recently as 2018? Even as a punchline, it got tired by the time this Simpsons episode premiered. It feels like there was only so much to say and that it was mostly people laughing at the "freak show" ness of it and even making fun of it felt like playing into its stupid trashy mythos. There's also the reveal that Marge is coerced into mothering Kang's child and the show does its best to try to not make that aspect feel as "eep" but when you think about it, even for the silliness and the fact that it happens with a silly energy beam, the fact that they try to make it a silly sex metaphor and Marge, even in a joking, shrugging way, implies this is against her will, is not so good. Its probably the least *pulls on collar* way to do it but... maybe don't do it.
Jokes I missed before:
One of the cigarette ads is for "Ultra Tar Kings".
Other great jokes:
"Well, you'll be seeing lots of nuns where you're going... Hell!"
Definitely believe this.
"Snake played lacross at Ball State University."
"And that fluffy kitten played with that ball of yarn... all through the night."
I need to know about that story.
"Of course, the transplant! Somehow Snake's hair must be contro--"
"Oh, Lisa please, everyone's already figured that out."
"Now that's what I call a bad hair day."
"Tonight I'm going to suck... you blood."
"Why are you laughing?"
"Hey, they're laughing at your pain!"
I don't even know if this is meant to be written as funny or merely setting up the premise but I love Scratchy's line read.
"Need I remind you that two people are dead? Oh, wait I just got it."
"Lisa! Look out! A skeleton!"
"Is there anything you can prescribe, Doctor?"
"Fire. And lots of it."
"Oh, that's your answer for everything."
I like that to Kang, t-shirt production is Earth's most notable quality.
I love that Marge says that she was having a great time in the backyard and she's doing laundry.
"Now she must return home to Rigel 7, where she will be guaranteed a lucrative civil service job for life."
"Well, we can't compete with that."
"I HEAR ALL!"
"I can't believe it. Jerry Springer didn't solve our problem."
"And now he's dead."
Other notes:
OK, so for a long time, JBear has argued that at one point Moe's cereal was called Syphilo's and I maintain it was always called Penicillo's and that he's got like a one man Mandella effect going on. Also, that somehow, the Simpsons once had cold opens. Can anyone confirm these claims, such as foreign and/or post-production edits? I need something more substantial than "not that I know of" because that actually doesn't help.
Its weird that in the opening credits gag, Lisa's head just burrows into the side of the house.
Look, I don't dislike cilantro, Philbin, but I'd never describe it as giving food a "zing".