Treehouse of Horror VII

"Treehouse of Horror VII" is the first episode of The Simpsons' eighth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 27, 1996.^[2] In the seventh annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Bart discovers his long-lost twin, Lisa grows a colony of small beings, and Kang and Kodos impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in order to win the 1996 Presidential election. It was written by Ken Keeler, Dan Greaney, and David S. Cohen, and directed by Mike B. Anderson.^[1] Phil Hartman provided the voice of Clinton.^[1]

Plot

"The Thing and I"

In a parody of the horror stories The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Basket Case (1982), Bart and Lisa begin to hear strange noises, and think there is something in the attic. Homer claims not to know what they are talking about, although he is later seen grabbing a bucket of fish heads and heading into the attic. Bart and Lisa investigate, and discover there really is a monster. Homer and Marge go into the attic, and Homer says "Oh my God, it's escaped!" Marge immediately calls Dr. Hibbert, who explains that Bart had a conjoined twin brother named Hugo. The two were separated at birth, but it was discovered that Hugo was too evil to live in society, so the Simpsons did the "only humane thing to do": they kept Hugo chained in the attic, where Homer fed him a platter of fish heads once a week. The rest of the family leaves to find Hugo, leaving Bart behind, but he soon discovers that Hugo never left the house. Hugo takes Bart up to the attic and ties Bart up, so that he can reattach himself. Suddenly, Dr. Hibbert finds them and knocks out Hugo, commenting that the evil twin is always on the left side. But then he realizes that Hugo's scar is on the wrong side, and Bart is the evil twin. In a failed attempt to correct their wrong, Dr. Hibbert and the Simpson family sit down to a turkey dinner with Hugo, leaving Bart locked up in the attic eating fish heads.

"The Genesis Tub"

In a parody of The Twilight Zone episode, "The Little People", Lisa performs a science experiment to see if cola will dissolve a tooth, and Bart shocks Lisa as part of his project to prove that nerds conduct electricity. The tooth is also shocked; it undergoes an unusual reaction and creates a race of miniature beings. Lisa discovers this the next day and marvels at how the people in her universe evolve at a rapid rate, going through the various ages humans have gone through into modern times and eventually, a society more advanced than current humanity. Bart destroys some of the ecosystem in Lisa's tub universe, and the little people respond by launching a counterattack, sending a squadron of space ships to attack Bart, who vows revenge on the small universe as Lisa wonders what to do. Suddenly, she is shrunk and beamed down into the tub, where the citizens explain that they regard her as God, and they want her to do something about Bart, whom they regard as the Devil. She says she can help them if they can unshrink her, but they tell her they have not figured out the technology to do that. This angers Lisa, since they should have had both technologies figured out before shrinking her. At the same time, Bart grabs the tub and submits it in the science fair, and Lisa is forced to watch from within as Bart wins first prize. Realizing that she is now stuck in the small universe forever and having somehow lost her slippers, the very bitter Lisa orders her citizens to grovel and bring her some shoes, with one of the citizens adding that he will get some socks for her, too.

"Citizen Kang"

While out fishing, Homer is abducted by the two aliens Kang and Kodos. When they demand that Homer point them towards Earth's leader, Homer informs them of the upcoming presidential election and says the winner could be either Bill Clinton or Bob Dole. Kang and Kodos kidnap both Dole and Clinton, placing them in suspended animation tubes and assuming their forms through "bio-duplication" to ensure that one of them will become the next leader. Before returning Homer to Earth, the aliens soak him in rum, so nobody will believe him. As the election nears, the impostor candidates are seen to be acting strangely, holding hands in public and making bizarre declarations in unhumanlike monotone. Later on, Homer stumbles upon the badly hidden spaceship and tries to save the real Dole and Clinton, with both candidates agreeing they should join forces to defeat the aliens; however, Homer accidentally ejects them into space, killing them. On the day before the election, Homer crashes the spaceship into the Capitol and successfully reveals the candidates' real identities. However, despite being exposed, Kang and Kodos declare to the people that they have to choose between one of them because "it's a two-party system", since it is too late to get new candidates. One man in the crowd announces that he will vote for a third-party candidate, but Kang and Kodos mockingly encourage him to "go ahead [and] throw your vote away," prompting a bout of displeasure from Ross Perot. As such, Kang is subsequently elected President and quickly enslaves all of humanity into building a giant ray gun to aim at an unknown planet, while Homer smugly states that at least he voted for Kodos.

Production

Mike B. Anderson (pictured) directed the episode

Like the previous two Treehouse of Horror episodes, "Treehouse of Horror VII" does not feature any wraparound segments.^[3] "The Thing and I" was written by Ken Keeler,^[4] "The Genesis Tub" was written by Dan Greaney^[5] and "Citizen Kang" was written by David X. Cohen.^[6] Despite the similarities, "The Thing and I" was not based on the plot of Basket Case.^[4] "The Genesis Tub" was originally pitched by Cohen^[6] and it was later referenced in the South Park episode "Simpsons Already Did It", when they pointed out that The Simpsons had earlier gotten the idea from the 1962 Twilight Zone episode called "The Little People."^[7] The sequence where tiny spaceships attack Bart in "The Genesis Tub" marks one of the first uses of computers in The Simpsons animation. The computer was used to build models for reference and the animators later retraced it.^[7] The 1996 Presidential election occurred a few days after the airing of this episode.^[6] According to Cohen, the "Citizen Kang" short violated every rule of The Simpsons as it locked the episode in one time and named specific candidates.^[3]

Cultural references

Homer sings "Fish Heads", a 1980 novelty song by Barnes & Barnes, during "The Thing and I".^[8]

Homer's crashing the flying saucer into Capitol dome is a nod to Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).^[6]

Reception

In its original broadcast, "Treehouse of Horror VII" finished 31st in ratings for the week of October 21–27, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 10.5, equivalent to approximately 10.2 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Millennium and The X-Files.^[9]

In 2006, IGN.com voted "Citizen Kang" as the seventh best segment of the Treehouse of Horror episodes.^[10]

A.V. Club named Kang/Bob Dole's line, "Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!", one of the best lines in the history of the show.^[11]

The ska punk band named I Voted for Kodos takes its name from Homer's line, "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos", at the end of "Citizen Kang".^[3] In a 2000 Entertainment Weekly article, Matt Groening ranked it as his seventh favorite in the history of the show.^[12] "We've reached the limits of what rectal probing can teach us" is one of Matt Groening's favorite lines.^[13]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: "Treehouse of Horror VII"

• "Treehouse of Horror VII" at The Simpsons.com
• "Treehouse of Horror VII episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive. 
• "Treehouse of Horror VII" at TV.com
• "Treehouse of Horror VII" at the Internet Movie Database