| "Treehouse of Horror VIII" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Simpsons episode | |||
 Fox Censor talking to the audience while the rating icon reaches out with a sword. This scene had a difficult time getting through the real-life censors. | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 9 Episode 4 | ||
| Directed by | Mark Kirkland | ||
| Written by | The HΩmega Man: Mike Scully Fly vs. Fly: David X. Cohen Easy-Bake Coven: Ned Goldreyer | ||
| Production code | 5F02 | ||
| Original air date | October 26, 1997 (1997-10-26) | ||
| Episode features | |||
| Couch gag | The Simpsons sit on the couch. Metal shackles restrain their wrists and ankles and metal caps come down on all of their heads. The family writhes in pain as they get shocked by electricity.[1] | ||
| Commentary | Matt Groening Mike Scully David X. Cohen Mark Kirkland George Meyer Matt Selman | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Simpsonsseason 9 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Treehouse of Horror VIII", titled onscreen as "The Simpsons Halloween Special VIII", is the fourth episode of theninth season of the American animated television seriesThe Simpsons. It first aired onFox in the United States on October 26, 1997. In the eighth annualTreehouse of Horror episode,Homer Simpson is the last Springfieldian left alive when aneutron bomb destroysSpringfield until a gang ofmutants come after him, Homer buys a transporter thatBart uses to switch bodies with a housefly, andMarge is accused ofwitchcraft in aPuritan rendition of Springfield in 1649. It was written byMike Scully,David X. Cohen andNed Goldreyer, and was directed byMark Kirkland.[1]
A censor for the Fox network is sitting at his desk going through the show's script, censoring some things and explaining to the audience that the episode is ratedTV-G with no violence or anything explicit. As he continues talking, a hand reaches with a sword from the rating and stabs him many times with the rating changing from TV-G to TV-PG, TV-14, TV-MA to the fictional ratings TV-21 and TV-666. He falls on his desk dead and his blood spells the title, "The Simpsons Halloween Special VIII".
AfterMayor Quimby makes an offensive joke about France, the French president launches aneutron bomb directly into Springfield, apparently killing everyone exceptHomer, who had been inspecting a bomb shelter he was considering buying fromHerman. Homer emerges and seems to be the only person in Springfield left alive. Initially grieving for his loved ones, Homer perks up, realizing that being the last person allows him to do everything he always wanted to.
While dancing naked in church, he is confronted by a band of hostile Springfield citizens who have become mutants from the blast. Homer flees back home where he discovers that his family survived as their house wasprotected by its many layers of lead paint.Marge and the children kill the mutants with shotguns and then the family head off to steal someFerraris.
Homer buys amatter transporter fromProfessor Frink.Bart sees the family pets inadvertently go through the transporter together, resulting in a DNA mismatch. This gives him the idea to enter the teleporter with a fly, thinking that he will become a mutant superhero. However, the machine simply switches their heads around.
Bart appeals toLisa for help, but she is chased by the fly and cornered in the kitchen. Bart tries to stop the fighting, but is eaten by the fly. Lisa then pushes the fly into the teleporter. Bart comes out the other end, fully restored. Homer furiously chases Bart with an axe for messing with the device.
In 1649, the town is witness to manywitch burnings. In the church, the townspeople try to figure out whom to condemn next. People begin accusing others and soon they erupt into chaos, until Marge intervenes.
She tries to talk sense into the townspeople, butMoe accuses her of being a witch.Quimby assures her that she is entitled to due process which means she will be thrown off a cliff with a broomstick; if she is a witch she will be able to fly to safety, in which case the authorities expect her to report back for punishment. If she is not a witch, then she will fall to an honorable Christian death. After being shoved off the cliff, Marge flies up on the broomstick revealing that she really is a witch, turningChief Wiggum into a giant gopher and officers Lou and Eddie into a fairy and snowman, before returning to her sistersPatty and Selma. The sisters watchNed andMaude Flanders talking about how the witcheseat children, which gives them the notion to do just that. They knock on the Flanders' door and demand their sons, but before they leave, Maude offers the witchesgingerbread men instead. The witches like these better than the children so they go to each house, getting goodies in exchange for not eating the children. As they fly off, theSea Captain says that is how the tradition ofHalloween andtrick-or-treating started.
"The HΩmega Man" was written byMike Scully,[2] "Fly Vs. Fly" was written byDavid X. Cohen,[3] and "Easy-Bake Coven" was written byNed Goldreyer.[2] Large portions of the "Fly vs. Fly" segment were cut, including the original ending where the fly also emerges from the teleporter, but is considerably larger and the Simpson family ride it to the mall.[3]
The producers had trouble with the censors over several segments in this episode. The opening segment of the episode, which features the aforementioned Fox Censor being stabbed to death, was pitched byDavid Mirkin and had a difficult time getting through the real-life censors. They had issues with the size of the knife and the sound effects used.[2] Originally, the TV-rating was supposed to stab Censor with adagger, but Fox objected because it was too gruesome and was changed to acutlass.[4] The censors also objected to an unaired scene where Homer does his naked church dance on an altar. The scene was reanimated so that Homer was dancing naked in the front row.[2]
This episode was the onlyTreehouse of Horror episode that was directed byMark Kirkland. It was also the last episodeBrad Bird worked on; he left the show to directThe Iron Giant atWarner Bros. Animation. "Easy-Bake Coven" was storyboarded by Kirkland and the backgrounds were designed by Lance Wilder.[4] AlthoughKang and Kodos make brief appearances in everyTreehouse of Horror episode, their brief appearance in this one was nearly cut. David X. Cohen managed to persuade the producers to leave the scene in.[3]
As with the majority of theTreehouse of Horror episodes, numerous cultural references are made throughout the episode. "The HΩmega Man" is an extended homage to filmThe Omega Man, which was one of Mike Scully's favorite movies as a child.[2] In the same segment, Homer runs overJohnny andEdgar Winter while fleeing the mutants pursuing him, mistaking them as mutants as the Winter brothers are bothalbino.[2] Homer does not seem to "get"Gary Larson's calendar. In the movie theater Homer watches aDavid Spade/Chris Farley comedy, just six and a half weeks after the episode aired Farley died of a drug overdose at age 33.
The title "Fly vs. Fly" is a reference to theMad magazine comic strip "Spy vs. Spy", while the segment itself is based on the filmThe Fly, with elements from theremake byDavid Cronenberg, primarily the telepod design.[3] Lisa picks up adevil's tuning fork is at Prof. Frink's yard sale.
"Easy Bake Coven" makes a reference the TV showBewitched; when Patty and Selma refer to Homer as "Derwood", Marge corrects them, "His name is Homer." InBewitched, Samantha's mother Endora often referred to Darrin as "Derwood" (among other things), whereupon Samantha often corrected her with "His name is Darrin."Selma's line If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cat" is a reference to the 1951 songIf I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake. The animators rewatch the movieThe Crucible several times when designing the characters and backgrounds for Sprynge-Fielde, 1649 A.D.[4]Edna Krabappel has a scarlet A embroidered on her chest as a reference toHester Prynne's punishment for adultery in the novelThe Scarlet Letter.[3]
In its original broadcast, "Treehouse of Horror VIII" finished 18th in ratings for the week of October 20–26, 1997, with aNielsen rating of 11.2, equivalent to approximately 10.9 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beatingKing of the Hill.[5]
"Treehouse of Horror VIII" won aGolden Reel Award in 1998 for "Best Sound Editing – Television Animated Specials" for Robert Mackston, Travis Powers, Norm MacLeod and Terry Greene.[6]Alf Clausen received anEmmy Award nomination for "Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore)" for this episode, which he ultimately lost.[7]The A.V. Club namedComic Book Guy's line "Oh, I've wasted my life" as one of the quotes fromThe Simpsons that can be used in everyday situations.[8]
In a retrospective review forThe A.V. Club, Erik Adams praisedAlf Clausen's score, "its mournfuloboe like a fall breeze shaking the last leaves from the branches. The 'Treehouse' franchise is a yearly showcase for Clausen’s work, and he doesn’t disappoint here."[9] The original "Treehouse of Horror" was the first episode scored by Clausen.
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