[The long of it]
Several days ago -- on, you know, the *real* Halloween -- I watched the original "Treehouse of Horror." Al Jean was around for the making of that episode, back then as "just" one of the writers. Twelve years later, he's the executive producer for this year's "TOH," and I was curious about something. After the uninspired special last year, would "Treehouse of Horror XIII" be a return to that franchise's roots? Or at least be better than "TOH XII"?
The festivities start off pretty well. The Simpsons and Ned Flanders hold a s�ance to get in touch with the late Maude Flanders. Not only does she drop by, but she brings a book of scary stories, from which tonight's sketches presumably spring. It's the closest thing we've had in a while to a framing story, and Jean and his crew score points for reviving the old tradition. Yet, with all the hype surrounding the return of Maggie Roswell, Maude sounded a little ... different. It was probably my imagination; perhaps I had gotten un-used to hearing her voice, or maybe people just don't sound the same when they return as floating demons in your living room.
No such doubts cloud "Send in the Clones." The premise, about Homer accidentally creating an army of clones, doesn't sound that promising on paper, but the writers do a terrific job of exploiting its potential. Each new Homer clone, as it turns out, is even dimmer than the original, so Homer can easily lord it over most of his copies. Even so, he almost manages to screw it up. In one funny bit, Homer fights one of his clones to a draw. Two others break it up, dragging the first clone off Homer. He brags, "It would take *three* clones to beat me," then pauses a beat for the realization to sink in. "No! Four!" he hurriedly says, before the three Homers he's facing wise up. Inevitably, though, things get out of control, and an army of Homer clones threatens to overrun the nation, or at least eat it out of house and home. The sight of hundreds of Homers bumbling around is surprisingly funny just by itself. I also liked the episodes twisted ending, which features one of the best uses of that "Love the One You're With" song that I can remember.
Usually, the middle segment of "TOH" is my favorite, but not this time. Its title, "The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms," rhymes nicely with its source phrase but doesn't really mean anything. It's not quite fully realized, like the sketch itself. Lisa embarks on an anti-gun crusade when she sees that Springfield's cemetery contains the remains of William Bonney, a 21-year-old gunshot victim. She's successful in ridding the town of all its firearms -- which is bad news, considering that every Wild West bandito (plus Kaiser Wilhelm, for good measure) descends on the defenseless town soon afterward. There are some good moments here, like when the gang forces the Simpsons to entertain them old-West style, but the story as a whole seems unfocused. It has elements of political satire, horror, and time-travel science fiction, but they don't blend together smoothly. It also doesn't help that I already knew the real identity of Bonney, and thus where the sketch was headed. The whole thing has its moments, but is generally "meh"-worthy.
The final story of the evening, "The Island of Dr. Hibbert," gets things back on track. It's a parody of "The Island of Dr. Moreau," and yes, I know, "The Island of Dr. Monroe" would have been a more natural title. But Monroe isn't a *medical* doctor and, besides, Dr. Hibbert is good at making that laugh of his sound sinister. As with the night's first segment, much of the fun in this story is visual, as the animators painstakingly created animal alter-egos for the characters. Many of them nicely reflect their "base" characters' personalities: Hibbert transforms Lisa into an owl, and Chief Wiggum into (what else) a pig-man. Others are subtler. Apu is a possum with eight offspring, and Jasper is literally an old goat. The writing is sharp enough to keep pace with the drawings, too. I liked Homer's encounter with Marge after her transformation into a cat-lady, and the scene where he milks Ned who is a cow-man here. "You can be gentle when you want to be," Ned says as Homer handles his udder. Unsettling perhaps, but funny nonetheless.
Getting back to my original question: Has "Treehouse of Horror" gone back to its origins? I don't think so. The earliest shows spoofed things that were firmly in the horror genre: "The Amityville Terror," "Frankenstein," "The Monkey's Paw." Tonight's show, like its most recent predecessors, gets its inspiration primarily from science fiction in general, and "The Twilight Zone" in particular. The stories on tonight's show could work just as well as "Anthology of Interest" stories for "Futurama."
The more important question, of course, is whether the episode is any good. For me, "Treehouse of Horror XIII" reminds me of the recently- concluded 13th season. It's not the wholesale return to former glory that I was hoping for when Al Jean took the executive producer position, but compared last year's show, it's definitely a treat.
[The short of it]
Does Al Jeans return to the EP position mean "TOH" has returned to its roots? Nah. The stories still owe more to "The Twilight Zone" than to the horror genre. More importantly, though, some of the old quality has returned. "Fright to Creep" tries to be too many things at once, but it has some good moments. "Send in the Clones" and "Island of Dr. Hibbert" have good writing and engaging visuals. The army of bumbling Homer clones is funnier than I'd expect, and the character design on Hibbert's island is excellent. This year's "TOH" is a treat. (B+)
[DYNs]
... Frink actually trusts Homer with his time-travel device? ... Maggie looks nervous about going to the Island of Lost Souls?
[References]
"Send in the Clowns" (song) - spoofed as "Send in the Clones"
"Multiplicity" (movie) - you can clone yourself, but the copy isn't as good as the original - clones making further copies of themselves
"Family Guy" (TV series) - one of the Homer clones looks just like Peter Griffin
"The Tracey Ullman Show" (TV series) - one of the Homer clones drawn the way he was in the first Ullman short
"Storm Watch" - this is the title local news stations give to severe-storm coverage; to warn about the clones this becomes, "Swarm Watch"
"Dr. Strangelove" (movie) - Springfield's war room looks similar
"Apocalypse Now" (movie) - military helicopters attack their target to Wagner's "Ride of the Valkryie [sic?]"
"The right to keep and bear arms" ("Constitutional" phraseology) - spoofed as, "The Fright to Keep and Scare Harms"
"You can have my gun when you pry it out of my cold dead hands" - one of the zombies means this literally
Hole-in-the-Wall Gang - Bonney calls his posse the "Hole-in-the-Ground Gang"
"The Island of Dr. Moreau" (book, then movie) - mad scientist combines people an animals (Hey, the first furry enthusiast!) - the movie -- but not the book -- had a sultry cat-lady
House of Pain (rock/rap group) - Hibbert's human-to-animal transmogrification lab called this
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (song) - Homer sings this -- with different lyrics, of course -- while riding Nedback
[Previous Episode References]
[BABF10] Maude passes away [3F08] Springfield's war room seen [2F10], [DABF17] Maggie Simpson: Armed and Dangerous [8F02] Town gets rid of its weapons, and is attacked soon after [5F09] "F�r Elise" heard [CABF19] Marge covered with blue hair
[FFF]
Marge's chore list:
CHORES
------- CHANGE FLOODLIGHT
- CLEAN DOWNSPOUTS
3) WRITE WEDDING
THANK YOU NOTES [Marge's favorite!]- MOW LAWN
Goldfish's headstone:
GOLDIE
(-++-)
AUGUST - OCTOBERBonney's tombstone:
WILLIAM H.
BONNEY
o--O--o
GUNNED DOWN
JULY 14 1881AGED 21
"I DREAM OF
A WORLD
WITHOUT GUNS"Banner at anti-gun rally:
REMEMBER WILLIAM BONNEY
BAN GUNS NOWSigns at rally:
CONCEAL LET'S FIRE
LOVE, MURDER GIL,
NOT FIREARMS GUN NOT
VIOLENCE GUNSMoe's manuscript:
MY TROUBLED
MINDBy Moe Szyslak
Gun stand sign:
SPRINGFIELD
GUNS FOR
$ $ $ <-- green print
DRIVEBoxes of guns:
MAGGIE'S BART'S HOMER'S
GUNS GUNS GUNS[Oops!]
* Didn't anyone in Springfield keep a flame-thrower or grenade launcher to use against the zombies?
[Personal Comments & Observations]
Occasionally, police departments in America will have guns-for-cash (or other valuable things, like toys) exchanges. The idea isn't to get rid of all firearms, just the little-used, dusty ones before some toddler stumbles across it and injures himself. At least, that's the idea. I haven't heard the statistics of the number of fatalities caused by these "forgotten" guns, as opposed to weapons that the owners wish to keep, but don't store properly.
As you probably guessed, in the really world the guns-for-cash deal doesn't apply to police officers, so Springfield's finest could have kept their pistols. (And probably regretted not doing so!)
The TV promotions I saw were reasonably discreet, but the radio ads prominently quoted Homer's "where do I sign up?" line from "The Island of Dr. Hibbert." Okay, it's a funny line -- but it gives away the ending! Oh, thank you, Mister Blow-the-picture-for-me!