Quoth The Raven

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Ever since Fox network acquired the rights to the World Series, the Treehouse of Terror (aka The Simpson’s Halloween Special) has been pushed to the first weekend of November.  The annual episode is actually three terrifying yarns told to send chills through the hearts of audiences.  Ironically, my favorite to date is the original, particularly the Simpson’s unique spin on Edgar Allen Poe‘s classic, The Raven.  In it, Homer is driven insane by the raven which strangely resembles Bart.  It also featured the first appearance of Kang and Kodos, alien invaders from Rigel VII.  In their first episode, the beings were not bent on world domination; however, Lisa’s suspicions got the better of her and the alien’s left in disgust.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Tonight’s episode featured three new tales.  My favorite was the final homage to another classic Halloween special.  The names were changed to avoid any lawsuits.  Milhouse and Lisa sat in the pumpkin patch awaiting the arrival of The GRAND Pumpkin.  Only in this tale, the creature comes alive after poor Milhouse sheds a tear after he is abandoned by his love.  After witnessing the torture pumpkins go through for Halloween (turning into jack-o-lanterns, etc), the giant gourd vows REVENGE. Most of the other aspects resemble the Peanuts special (even down to Bart’s holey Charlie Brown ghost costume and Ralph Wiggum’s cloud of dust as Pig Pen).  The Grand Pumpkin also featured the annual appearance Kang and Kodos.  And in yet another nod, Marge practiced her trombone which simulated the adult voices of the Peanuts cartoons.  While not as memorable as past years, I never miss a Treehouse of Terror.

4 thoughts on “Quoth The Raven”

  1. I’ve missed every Simpsons episode for the past few years. It’s one of my favorite shows, yet totally something that can’t be watched with kids around. It’s just too much to tape more than a few shows a week to watch at our leisure – Simpsons requires FULL attention to catch all the many jokes, and I never have full attention to give, so we don’t tape it. I hope to catch all the episodes eventually. Ironically, the Raven short is probably my least favorite Simpsons ever. But hey, variety is the spice of life, right?
    My favorite Treehouse of Horror short (haven’t seen very many of course) is the one where Homer is 3D and comes into our world. The Charlie Brown episode from tonight looked hilarious.

  2. Hmm… maybe it’s the Poe influence. But the Bush/Gore election year, Kang and Kodos disguised themselves as the candidates in another bid for world domination. Another hilarious episode.

  3. Excuse me… Clinton/Gore election year… sorry. Totally understandable why you have not watched recently; very hilarious, though. it amazes me that they are still on after 20 years.

  4. The complaints from Florida about Democrat votes turning into Republican votes- getting ready to call Republicans cheats again should their candidate lose. I don’t hate much, preferring to merely dislike 😛 , but I really hate politics.

    Oh yes, the CB portion was somewhat funny.

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