"Treehouse of Horror", also referred to as "The Simpsons Halloween Special" was the first halloween-themed episode of The Simpsons. It became a yearly tradition afterwards.
Episode details
Production Number: 7F04
Original Air Date: October 25, 1990
Writers: John Swartzwelder, Jay Kogen , Wallace Wolodarsky , Sam Simon and Edgar Allan Poe
Directors: Wesley Archer , Rich Moore and David Silverman
Guest Voice: James Earl Jones as the moving man, Serak the Preparer and the narrator
Synopsis
Opening Segment
Marge warns people about how bad Hallowe'en is, and warns people not to watch the show.
Set-up
Homer eavesdrops as Bart and Lisa tell three scary stories in the treehouse.
Bad Dream House
Bart tells this story, in which the Simpsons move into a mansion which appears to be a haunted house. The house tells them to leave repeatedly, but the Simpsons don't listen. Lisa believes there is an evil prescene in the house. At night, the house tells Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie to kill each other. Lisa discovers that the house they are in was built on an ancient Indian burial ground. After this, Marge asks if there is some way they can live together once the house tells them to die. Unwilling to live with them, the house destroys itself.
Hungry are the Damned
Bart tells this story after telling the last one, which he believed was a warm-up for this story. The Simpsons are grilling outside, and they are abducted by Kang and Kodos. They are well accommodated and are given feast after feast, to prepare them for a feast on their home planet, Rigel 4, where they have a feeling that the humans will be the guests of honor. Lisa belives that the aliens are planning to eat them. However, when Lisa thinks she uncovered the truth, the aliens are offended and let them go back to Earth. This cartoon was based on a now-famous episode of The Twilight Zone entitled To Serve Man.
The Raven
Lisa reads "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. In this parody, Bart is the Raven, Homer is the main human character, Marge is Lenore (who does not speak), and Lisa and Maggie are angels. Homer and the narrator (James Earl Jones) quote lines from the book.
At the end of the episode, Bart and Lisa go to bed peacefully. However, Homer begs Marge to keep the light on, after he was scared of the story "The Raven".
Trivia
- Edgar Allen Poe is credited as a writer for this episode.
Quotes
- Homer: Listen, you big, stupid space creature. NOBODY, but NOBODY, eats the Simpsons!
- Narrator: Quoth the Raven--
Bart: Eat my shorts!
Lisa: Bart, stop it! He says "Nevermore." And that's all he'll ever say.
Bart: Okay, okay.
- Homer: Come back here, you little raven! D'oh!
