Simpsons – Treehouse of Horror II (s03e07)

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“Treehouse of Horror II” (onscreen: The Simpson’s Halloween Special II) is the seventh episode of The Simpsons’ third season, and the second Simpsons Halloween episode.

Plot
Disclaimer-esque Opening segment
Marge: “Ahem. Hello, everyone. Before last year’s Halloween show, I warned you not to let your children watch. But you did anyway. Mm. Well, this year’s episode is even worse. It’s scarier, more violent, and I think they snuck in some bad language, too. So please, tuck in your children and… (sighs) Well, if you didn’t listen to me last time, you’re not going to now. Enjoy the show.”

Set-up
Lisa, Bart and Homer each have nightmares after eating too much Halloween candy.

The Monkey’s Paw (Lisa’s Nightmare)
While visiting Morocco, the Simpsons visit a bazaar. Homer finds a small booth displaying a monkey’s severed hand. The crippled vendor explains that it will grant its owner four wishes but also warns that it will bring down grave misfortune on the wellwisher. Homer dismisses his concerns and buys the paw, regardless of the cripple’s warnings. Back in Springfield, the Simpsons argue over what to wish for. When Maggie picks up the paw, a limousine suddenly arrives and the driver brings Maggie a brand new pacifier. Bart grabs the paw and wishes for the Simpsons to be rich and famous, which is then granted. However, people quickly tire of seeing their faces everywhere and are sick of the Simpsons celebrity treatment. Horrified by these wasteful wishes, Lisa wishes for world peace with the best intentions. All the countries in the world declare peace and destroy all weapons (including nuclear devices). Before long, Kang and Kodos realise the world is “ripe for the plucking” and and enslave the Earth armed only with a slingshot and a club. The entire human race is defenseless against the aliens and all the military personel have now taken up jobs such as baking cookies. Humanity has no choice but to become enslaved by Kang, and the people angrily blamed the Simpsons for this Determined to make a wish that cannot be twisted, Homer demands a turkey sandwich, which, to his horror, turns out to be a little dry “oh foul the cursed thing! What demon from the depths of hell created thee?” sobbing ensues. Homer throws the paw in the trash can in disgust, only to be spotted by Ned Flanders. He gladly hands the paw over to Flanders, obviously hoping to see his neighbor’s wishes backfire as well. Naturally, Ned wishes for the invading aliens to depart – which happenes, due to Moe chasing the aliens away with makeshift pickaxe (a board with a large nail in it). As they retreat, the aliens proclaim that one day humans will make bigger boards with bigger nails and eventually destroy themselves with their own power. Everyone celebrates and Flanders’ house is converted into an opulent castle. Homer angrily mutters to himself “I wish I had a monkey’s paw”.

The Bart Zone (Bart’s Nightmare)
Springfield is held in a grip of terror by Bart, who has near-omnipotent powers. No one dares to displease him — his family, his teachers and everyone else in town are all forced to continuously smile and submit to Bart’s every whim. Anyone who thinks unhappy thoughts is immediately punnished. Krusty the Clown for example was forced to run his show non-stop “well kids, we’ve been on the air for 346 consecutive hours, and it’s all because of one little boy who… WHO WON’T LET ME STOP!” When Homer refuses to turn off a football game so that he can watch Krusty, Bart transports him into the football stadium and is placed in the middle of an extra point kick. Homer creeps back into the house with multiple bandages across his skull and a chair, attempting to sneak up on Bart and kill him “slowly, slowly, don’t make a sound because he can hear your thoughts then, when he’s least expecting it, bash his head in with the chair, end of monster” upon reading these thoughts from his mind, Bart transforms him into a jack-in-the-box. Marge gently suggests that the two see Dr. Marvin Monroe, who says that Bart is merely desperate for paternal affection. Despite being a jack-in-the-box, Homer spends quality father-son time with Bart, and soon they become a normal, loving family. Bart restores Homer’s body and tells him he loves him. But when he is kissed by Homer, Bart wakes up in a screaming fit, terrified from this nightmare.

Inspiration- The title of this segment is a spoof of The Twilight Zone while the plot is a spoof of The Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life”. As well as the short story “It’s a GOOD Life” by Jerome Bixby on which The Twilight Zone episode is based. Rod Serling’s famous opening and closing narrations for The Twilight Zone are also spoofed in this segment. Nancy Cartwright, voice of Bart, appears in the “It’s A Good Life” segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie.

If I Only Had a Brain (Homer’s Nightmare)
Mr. Burns fires Homer for his laziness and incompetence. To support his family, Homer answers a classified ad to become a grave digger. Meanwhile, Burns is nearing completion on his giant robotic laborer, who will some day replace lazy human workers altogether, as Mr. Burns believes that workers have strong spirits but weak bodies. The only remaining step is to implant a human brain into the machine’s body. Searching a graveyard the following night, Burns and Smithers mistake Homer, who has fallen asleep in an open grave, for a newly buried corpse. They remove his brain and place it in the robot. Robo-Homer turns out just as lazy and incompetent as he was as a human. Burns declares the experiment a disaster and, due to Smithers’ pleading, puts Homer’s brain back into his strangely still-living body. Disgusted by the failure, Burns kicks the robot in a pathetic attempt to get back at it, and it then falls on him and crushes his body. After Burns tells Smithers to get some surgical tools and ether, Homer wakes up screaming from this nightmare (although Bart bit him because Homer was crushing him with his flab) and discovers that Smithers has transplanted Burns’ head onto his left shoulder. He thought it was a dream, but was it? This episode ends with a joke announcement of what will happen on the next Simpsons episode. The Simpsons are eating breakfast and Homer is seen with Mr. Burns’ head, and is told that he has to do everything Burns does. Homer laments how he hates having two heads.

Movie Moments
- Homer’s nightmare is based from much of the film Frankenstein. The end of the episode parodies The Thing with Two Heads.
- In Lisa’s nightmare, just as the Simpsons are about to board the plane, they are stopped by Moroccan soldiers who all aim pistols at them in the kneeling position. Homer is then searched and found to have trinkets attached to his body which he was attempting to smuggle out of the country without paying a tariff. This is a parody of the opening scene of Midnight Express.

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