the treehouse of horror

This past weekend on my Halloween watching of random things adventures I settled on the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpson's. These are seriously classics! That show has been on what, 20 years? 25? Before I was born!? Yeah, it has. And even though most of us Utahrds weren't allowed to watch it as a kid (with me being the exception much to the dismay of my grandmother) I grew up with these and looked forward to them every October.

The first official Treehouse of Horror aired during Season 2. It's probably one of the most notable, one, because it was on so long ago and The Simpson's has been in syndication almost as long as it's been on, and two, because of the amazing rendition of The Raven. I had a high school english teacher (RIP Mrs. Dubois) that was slightly nutty and slightly obsessed with anything literary that came from the cartoon.



I really enjoy one parody in Treehouse of Horror 3, Clown Without Pity. Seriously, demonic Krusty the Clown doll comes alive and terrorizes everyone. Krusty never really appealed to me as a kid. I was more enamored with Sideshow Bob (and later Frasier, obviously). And on occasion, Sideshow Mel (NILES!).



The next one worth mentioning is Treehouse of Horror 5, referencing my favorite movie ofalltime The Shining, though of course it's called The Shinning because Willey doesn't want to get sueeed. With so many references to the movie, honestly, it's brilliantly done and so hilarious. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is spun into "No tv and no beer make homer something something". That something is GO CRAZY. And he does. And it's cute.



And who can forget the time machine toaster? How could you? Changing history by stepping on a fish? And my personal favorite, "...oh look, it's raining." Donuts! It's raining donuts!

There is also a slight play on Pink Floyd's The Wall will sending misbehaving children to meat grinder detention. They don't need no education.

Let's skip ahead to this years because in the last several there haven't been THAT many of note (ok, except the Twilight bit voiced by Harry Potter. That was gold).

This years couch credits was directed by the amazing Guillermo Del Toro. And they were creepy.



The cat in the hat sketch was rather cute even if it did ruin my thoughts on the children's book. Bart's severed head makes me never want to fly a kite again (if Mary Poppin's hadn't already done a number on me. Won't lie, wasn't a big fan of the last sketch. However, the ending ("...and that is how I met your mother") complete with closing credit theme music from actual How I Met Your Mother deserved a rewind. Twice.

I feel like this needs to become a tradition. Watch these every year leading up to the new one, and hopefully not being that disappointed (so far, so good).