| "Treehouse of Horror XII" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
 Poster from 2001 | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 13 Episode 1 | ||
| Directed by | Jim Reardon | ||
| Written by | "Hex and the City": Joel H. Cohen "House of Whacks": John Frink Don Payne "Wiz Kids": Carolyn Omine | ||
| Production code | CABF19[1] | ||
| Original air date | November 6, 2001 (2001-11-06) | ||
| Guest appearances | |||
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| Episode features | |||
| Commentary | Mike Scully Al Jean Ian Maxtone-Graham Matt Selman Carolyn Omine John Frink Don Payne Joel H. Cohen | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Simpsonsseason 13 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Treehouse of Horror XII", titled onscreen as "The Simpsons Halloween Special XII", is the first episode of thethirteenth season of the American animated television seriesThe Simpsons. Because ofFox's contract withMajor League Baseball'sWorld Series, the episode first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 6, 2001, nearly one week afterHalloween. It is the twelfth annualTreehouse of Horror episode, consisting of three self-contained segments. In the first segment, "Hex and the City", a gypsy puts a curse onHomer, which puts everybody he cares about in danger. In the second segment, "House of Whacks", a parody on both2001: A Space Odyssey andDemon Seed, the Simpson family buys a new house, who falls in love withMarge and attempts to kill Homer. In the third and final segment, "Wiz Kids", which lampoons theHarry Potter franchise, Lord Montymort attempts to captureLisa, a skilled magician, in order to drain her magic powers.
The episode was written byJoel H. Cohen,John Frink,Don Payne andCarolyn Omine whileJim Reardon served as the director. It was the secondTreehouse of Horror to not employ "scary names" in the credits. According to executive producerIan Maxtone-Graham, this was due to theSeptember 11 attacks, after which theSimpsons staff tried to be more serious and sensitive. However, according to currentshow runnerAl Jean, the "scary names" were dropped because they were too difficult to come up with. The episode contains numerous references and parodies toscience fiction andhorror works, including2001: A Space Odyssey,Demon Seed,Harry Potter andStar Wars. The episode also featuresPierce Brosnan andMatthew Perry as guest stars.
The episode was considered a success in the ratings when it first aired, boosting the Fox network to victory among viewers between ages 18 and 49 the night it was broadcast. Since airing, the episode has received mixed reviews from critics; "Wiz Kids" was particularly targeted for criticism, while "House of Whacks" was often considered to be the best of the three.
OutsideMr. Burns' manor,Smithers is standing on a ladder, trying to put up a small vermillion bat decoration on a weather vane. He slips on the ladder, grabs on an electric cord and slides down into an electricity box and gets zapped. A tower from Mr. Burns' mansion breaks in half, damaging a mausoleum, which opens up four caskets which in turn reveal three skeletons which all resemble Mr. Burns, dressed in various costumes.
Later, the Simpsons, dressed up in costumes, withHomer asFred Flintstone,Marge asWilma Flintstone,Lisa andMaggie asconjoined twins, andBart as ahobo, walk up to the mansion. The family sees the building and caskets on fire, scream in terror, and run out the closing gate, the bars of which slice the family. The slices of the Simpsons continue to scream and run away. Mr. Burns, delighted, pats the vermillion bat as it comes to life and flies into the screen, revealing the title, "The Simpsons Halloween Special XII".
After destroying agypsy'sfortune teller's office, Homer is cursed to bring misfortune to his loved ones. The curse soon takes effect, with Marge becoming fully covered in blue hair, Lisa turning into acentaur, Bart's neck becoming long and floppy as a result of Homer strangling him, Maggie becoming aladybug with a human head,Lenny andCarl crushed by a helicopter, andMoe stuffed unconscious in a large jar ofpickled eggs. From Moe's and the barflies' last suggestions, Homer sets out to find a leprechaun to end the curse.
Homer usesLucky Charms cereal as bait to get the leprechaun, eventually finding one after picking through a group of other magical creatures. Homer takes the leprechaun home, but the leprechaun is extremelyhyperactive and he runs amok. On Lisa's suggestion, Homer takes the leprechaun to the gypsy's office and sics him on her. The leprechaun and gypsy fight, but their struggles soon turn into passionate kissing and fondling, much to Homer's disgust. The leprechaun and the gypsy marry in a ceremony (led byYoda) attended by other gypsies and mythical creatures, as well as the Simpson family. Homer remarks that everything ended happily, Marge reminds him that Bart committed suicide by drowning in his cereal, and that the gypsy said apologizing willbring him back to life. Homer refuses, saying, "She's not the boss of me!".
In a parody ofDemon Seed,2001: A Space Odyssey and the 1998 made-for-TV movieDream House, the Simpsons buy a thrillingdomotic system for their home called "Ultrahouse", which comes with three celebrity voices:Matthew Perry,Dennis Miller, andPierce Brosnan, who Marge picks because he was on the showRemington Steele. Marge finds the house, who does all the work for the Simpsons, charming. The house soon becomesinfatuated with Marge after the two share a bath and decides to kill Homer.
In the middle of the night, the house tricks Homer into running downstairs by frying bacon, then dispenses ice onto the floor via the refrigerator to make him slip. Homer lands on the table, which is designed to fold inward with a built-in garbage disposal in the center, sending Homer into the blades and apparently killing him. The next morning, Marge fears that Homer is dead and attempts to escape the domotic system with the kids, but Ultrahouse locks the family inside and tries to calm Marge down. When Marge and the kids rush to the kitchen, they find that Homer is alive, despite cuts all over his body and a gaping hole in the back of his head. After the house attempts to kill the entire family in many ways, Homer leads a charge to the basement where he attacks the CPU's "British charm unit", which makes him speak with a rude American police-style dialect before powering down and finally shutting off. Feeling bad that she has to toss out the Ultrahouse since he was charming and witty before being driven mad by love, Marge gives him toPatty and Selma. Patty's boring stories about work drive the CPU to beat himself senseless with a lamp, since Selma has hidden the self-destruct switch in her cleavage and the CPU is unwilling to reach in for it.
In a parody of theHarry Potter books, Lisa and Bart go to the "Springwart's School of Magicry" in which young boys and girls are trained in the art of witchcraft, such asturning frogs into princes, with Milhouse turning his into a drunken slob, Lisa turning hers into a perfect British gentleman whom Mrs. Krabappel hits on, while Bart's results in a freakish hybrid that continuously vomits and begs for death. Seeing Lisa's proficiency in magic,Lord Montymort and his snake sidekick,Slithers, decide to capture Lisa in order to take her magical essence and increase Montymort's power. Montymort asks Bart to help separate Lisa from her wand, and Bart agrees to Montymort's proposal.
On the night of the magic recital at Springwart's School of Magicry, Lisa attempts a "levitatingdragon trick" on a gigantic dragon that is released onto the stage. Lisa is shocked to find that her spell will not work, and then notices that Bart has replaced her wand with aTwizzler. The dragon morphs into a giant Montymort who captures Lisa and begins sucking up her power. To save her from Montymort, a remorseful Bart casts a spell to destroy the evil one, but is struck by lightning. In a last-ditch effort, Bart charges at Montymort and stabs him in the shin with his burnt wand. Montymort dies ashis shin was the source of all his magic, and is eaten by a crying Slithers. As Bart and Lisa walk away, vowing to forget everything that happened, the leprechaun from the first story climbs onto Bart's back.
Pierce Brosnan, the Leprechaun, and the freakish Frog Prince exit a trailer, with fruit baskets. After the Leprechaun and Frog Prince (who were also apparently guest stars) criticize Brosnan for being allowed to park so close to the set in such a vast parking lot, Brosnan offers them a ride to their car. As Brosnan pulls out, he finds out too late that he has been taken hostage as they drive out of the parking lot in a mad haste.
"Treehouse of Horror XII" was directed byJim Reardon and co-written byJoel H. Cohen,John Frink,Don Payne andCarolyn Omine.[2] It is the twelfth episode of the annualTreehouse of Horror Halloween specials, and, due to Fox's contract withMajor League Baseball'sWorld Series, the episode was pushed back to November 6, 2001, on theFox network, airing six days afterHalloween.[2][3][4] As with the rest of the Halloween specials, the episode is considered non-canon and falls outside of the show's regular continuity. This was the first Halloween special where the writers did not have "scary names" in the credits.[5] This was due to theterrorist attacks on September 11, after which the staff were "trying to be sensitive", and, according to producerIan Maxtone-Graham, the Halloween names would all reference the attacks had they been kept.[5] Mike Scully, who worked as showrunner for the episode, stated that the "scary names" were removed because they had also "turned into shameless plugs" for side projects done byThe Simpsons' staff members.[2]
The first segment, "Hex and the City", was written by Joel Cohen.[6] The gypsy fortune teller in the segment was portrayed byTress MacNeille while the leprechaun was played byDan Castellaneta.[7][8] CurrentshowrunnerAl Jean stated in the DVD audio commentary for the episode that the leprechaun seen at the end of the segment was "as much as [he] had ever laughed" at the color screening for the episode.[7] He stated that the way the leprechaun moved and the way Reardon directed it was "just so funny".[7] The leprechaun has reappeared many times since the episode, becoming one of few characters onThe Simpsons to "leap from Halloween [shows] to regular shows".[7]
"House of Whacks" was co-written by John Frink and Don Payne.[9][10] Payne, who conceived the story of the segment, based it onStanley Kubrick's film2001: A Space Odyssey.[10] The segment would originally end with the Ultrahouse killing Homer, and, for compensation, the family would program the house with Homer's personality.[10] The Ultrahouse was portrayed byPierce Brosnan. The role was originally intended forSean Connery, and over the course of production, the staff also consideredLyle Lovett andGary Oldman.[10] The decision remained until "someone who worked for [Lovett] decided it was somehow insulting to have him play a house", according to Scully.[2] At this point, the staff settled on Brosnan.[2] Scully stated that "Brosnan wound up doing a great job" and that working with him was "really funny".[2] Originally, the Ultrahouse would have a pompadour and play the guitar, however they changed its mannerisms to suit Brosnan's performance better.[2]Matthew Perry also made a guest appearance, playing himself as one of Ultrahouse's voice options.[2] Regular cast memberDan Castellaneta portrayedDennis Miller in the segment (a special ending credit had to be made to avoid confusion with viewers who thought the real Dennis Miller did voice-work on the show).[2] One scene was cut from the segment.[11] The scene would take place during Marge's call to the police station, where police chief Clancy Wiggum, while answering Marge's call, is being shot at by "RoboCops".[11]
The third segment, "Wiz Kids", was written byCarolyn Omine.[7] Omine stated in the DVD audio commentary for the episode that the segment was "a really hard sell", since only about four of the writers had readHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the book the segment was based on, while the rest of the writers did not know about the book and thought viewers would not know whoHarry Potter was.[8] At the time of the episode's production, four books had been written in theHarry Potter series and the film adaptation ofHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone would be released November 16, ten days after this episode aired.[8] Two scenes were cut from the segment; one of them would serve as an extension of Montymort and Slithers plotting their scheme, followed by a scene showing Bart combing his hair, while the other scene would showGroundskeeper Willie riding an enchanted lawn mower.[11] The latter scene was cut for time.[11]
The title of "Hex and the City" is a references to the television seriesSex and the City.[4] The segment contains a background character who looks similar to the main character fromCaps For Sale, a 1938 children's book about a cap salesman who wears all his hats.[12] Cedars-Sinai is a hospital in Los Angeles.[5] One of the bunnies jumping into the pit that Bart and Homer dug is Bongo, the one-eared rabbit character fromSimpsons creator Matt Groening's comicLife in Hell.[8] Among the creatures Bart and Homer find in the pit is journalist and news personalityKatie Couric, as well as apixie resemblingTinker Bell.[4] The priest at the leprechaun and the gypsy's wedding isYoda, a character from theStar Wars franchise.[8] The plot of "House of Whacks" is based on the science-fiction film2001: A Space Odyssey byStanley Kubrick, with Ultrahouse acting as a reference toHAL 9000, the antagonist of the film.[7][13] The Ultrahouse's fascination with Marge was inspired by the science-horror filmDemon Seed byDonald Cammell.[10] The Ultrahouse wears gloves similar to those worn byMickey Mouse.[2] When Bart suggests picking Brosnan's voice for the Ultravoice voice he asks "How about007?", which Marge initially takes to meanGeorge Lazenby. She settles on Brosnan's voice because he was alsoRemington Steele. To attack Homer, the Ultrahouse uses, among many other weapons, an automatic hammer resembling the one Homer invented in the episode "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace".[12] "Wiz Kids" bases its plot on theHarry Potter books written byJ. K. Rowling, who would later make a guest appearance in the episode "The Regina Monologues".[4][10][14]
In its original American broadcast on November 6, 2001, "Treehouse of Horror XII", along with a new episode of the Fox programThat '70s Show, made Fox the highest rated channel that night among adults ages 18 to 49, according toNielsen Media Research.[15] The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating on the Fox channel that night were 7.6 rating/11 share.[15]Media Life Magazine describedThe Simpsons performance in the ratings that night as "superb".[15] On September 2, 2003, the episode was released, along with the episodes "Treehouse of Horror V", "Treehouse of Horror VI" and "Treehouse of Horror VII" as part of aDVD set titledThe Simpsons – Treehouse of Horror.[16] The episode was released again as part ofThe Simpsons: The Thirteenth Season DVD and Blu-ray set, released on August 24, 2010.[17]
Like many episodes from 21st century seasons, "XII" doesn't present many significant flaws, but it also doesn't ever really shine. Some good moments pop up here, mostly due to vocal performances. ...Nonetheless, the overall tone seems a bit lame. ..."XII" isn't badSimpsons, but it's mediocre.
Following its television broadcast and the home video release of the thirteenth season ofThe Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror XII" received mixed reviews from critics. Casey Broadwater ofBlu-ray.com stated that the episode "is merely so-so entry in the show's annual Halloween anthology", while Colin Jacobsson ofDVD Movie Guide wrote that, while it "doesn't present many significant flaws", it also "doesn't ever really shine".[13][18] He concluded his review by writing "'XII' isn't badSimpsons, but it's mediocre".[18] Writing forGood Film Guide, Matt Wheeldon held a similar opinion, calling it "an average quality 'Treehouse of Horror' episode" and described it as being "easily watchable" and "fairly memorable, but far from the best of the bunch".[19] Nate Boss ofProject:Blu stated that the episode is "At times memorable, at times forgettable" and that it "kicks off Season 13 with a smile, whimper, and thud".[20] Ron Martin of411Mania stated that, while he does not consider "Treehouse of Horror XII" to be the worst episode of the series, "as far as 'Treehouse' episodes go, it has to be one of the weakest".[21]
Writing forSuite101, Dominic von Riedemann described the episode as a "disappointment".[22] Reviewing the episode for theDaily News of New York City before the episode's official broadcast, Eric Mink complimented it for being "fitfully funny", however he added that the episode "seem[s] short on the pop-culture digs and celebrity skewering that used to put a high gloss on the show's gleaming reputation".[4] Jennifer Malkowski ofDVD Verdict however gave the episode a positive review, and referred to the episode, along with "Weekend at Burnsie's", as the two best episodes of the season.[23] She wrote that "[the episode] succeeds because of wall-to-wall laughs", and cited several scenes and gags, in particular the "horrible vomiting frog 'prince' that Bart enchants".[23] She gave the episode an A− rating.[23] Aaron Peck ofHigh-Def Digest was also favorable, stating that the episode was "one of [his] all-time favorite 'Treehouse of Horror' episodes".[24]
"Hex and the City" garnered mixed responses from critics; Broadwater wrote that the segment was "a bit of a letdown" while Boss described it as "fairly poor".[13] Mink however felt that the segment was the best in the episode.[4] "House of Whacks" was well received. Broadwater described the segment as "brilliant" while von Riedermann referred to it as being the best of the three.[22] Boss, who was dissatisfied with the first segment, felt that "House of Whacks" "makes up for it".[20] Brosnan's guest appearance was praised; Jacobsson described the performance as "a surprisingly nice guest turn" while Boss referred to it as "killer".[18][20] Adam Rayner ofObsessed With Film wrote that the segment features Brosnan "giving his best acting turn since...The Long Good Friday?".[25] Particular scorn was aimed at "Wiz Kids", the third segment of the episode. Jacobsson stated that "Wiz Kids" "ends the show on a drab note" while Mink stated that the segment "pretty much fall[s] flat".[4][18] Boss was also critical, writing,Harry Potter, in mySimpsons? It may be more likely than you think, although, for sure, it really does stink".[20] Andre Dellamorte ofCollider wrote that, even though he complimented the segment for being "bold" considering the film it parodied had not come out yet, he criticized the segment by writing "the depth of the parody stops with surface references".[26] Peck, however, described the segment as being "quite possibly one of the best and most clever spoofs ofHarry Potter".[24]
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