Okay, you all saw this one coming, but who can blame me? This is such a great THoH that all others are compared to this one in terms of quality. This one has three classic segments and arguably the best segment of all time, how could I NOT put it at #1. Let's go over why it's #1 now.
Marge comes out to warn the audience about how scary this THoH is (You know, I complain about this, yet all but 2 of the THoH on this list have the warning, interesting). Marge then finds out it's so scary that Fox switches to 200 Miles to Oregon. A few seconds later, Bart "takes over the frequency as we see the effects of an oscilloscope on screen draw out the outlines of the family. (Also of note, this is the last time they use the tombstones in the opening, I was disappointed as I enjoyed them a lot).
The Shinning
We begin this segment with Homer forgetting to do things so the family could leave causing them to get to Burns' mansion 3 days later (Okay, I did really like that bit). We then see the inside of Burns' Winter Lodge as we see that the house was destined to be evil (Yet again, I really liked this bit). After a reference to the blood elevator, we see Bart destroy much of the hedge maze which angers Willie until he thinks about what's going to happen to them later. Bart is able to read Willie's mind as it turns out he has "The shinning" (Really love this bit about getting sued if they used the term "Shining"). Mr. Burns and Smithers leave as Burns orders Smithers to disconnect the cable and take away the beer. Smithers feels that the lack of those caused the previous caretakers to go mad, but Mr. Burns scoffs that thought off (Hey as long as they have their N64, they'll be okay, What? He took that away as well?! THAT BASTARD!!) After Homer has a "Craze attack" after finding out there's no TV or beer (While Maggie spells out REDRUM, it's references like these that I like a lot) Homer walks away only to ominously tell them he'll be back (I love how Marge is indifferent to the idea of Homer killing them. There's something just great about that tone). At the bar, Homer sees ghost-Moe who tells Homer to kill his family. Later, Marge goes to see the typewriter as the page says "Fellin' fine" (Oh well that's a relief. For a second there I thought he had gone totally mad and wrote out the same sentence over and over and over and...) she then looks on the walls as they read "No TV and no beer make Homer go crazy" (I am totally shocked, who saw that coming?) Homer then comes in and tries to kill her, but he falls down the steps after seeing his own crazy face in a mirror (Ouch). Marge then locks Homer in the pantry as the ghosts are forced to rescue Homer and turn him insane again. Homer then does his best "Here's Johnny" 3 times until he gets the right room and causes the family to scream and run in fear. After Marge fails to get police help, Bart calls Willie who comes to rescue them, but ends up with an axe in his back (This is a recurring theme that I really love in this THoH). The family then trudges through the snow outside as Lisa finds the portable TV (Oh yeah, little thing I noticed, in the shots of the family running away, the family members switch places from shot to shot. Not hating, just saying). Lisa shows the TV to Homer and he becomes sane again, he invited the family to watch TV together as we see that they are all frozen together while they were watching TV (Sorry couldn't resist). The segment ends with Homer's urge to kill rising while watching The Tony Awards. (I just find the choice of song for the Tony Awards to be a great piece of foreshadowing for the ending)
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| You act like you've never seen a sea of blood use the elevator before |
After Homer declares himself a lucky guy, Lisa then screams that Homer's hand is stuck in the toaster... (Wait what?) Homer then struggles to get his hand out of the toaster (Only to get it stuck back in) and then decides he needs to fix it. The next morning we find out that Homer turned the toaster into a time machine (He runs into Mister Peabody and Sherman, I am far too young to know who these guys are) and he ends up in prehistoric times (Take that Creationists!) After remembering the advice that Grampa gave him about traveling back in the past (Does he have a speech for every foreseeable event prepared?) Homer then kills a mosquito and thinks that it couldn't possibly change the future. After Homer gets back to the present, it seems like everything is the same, until the floor turns into T-1000 material and a TV screen with Ned appears. It turns out that killing that mosquito caused the world to turn into a dystopia where Ned Flanders is the dictator of the world (I would question how 1 mosquito can cause that, but hey, I'm no expert on alternate timelines). Ned then takes the family to be "Re-Neducated" as the family is lobotomized. Homer refuses and runs back to his toaster to change the present (Let's see if this makes more sense than Back to the Future Part II about changing the present). This time he crushes a land fish and this causes mankind to become giants. He goes back to the past where he accidentally kills all the dinosaurs with a cold (Guess Jurassic Park lied to use, we could have dealt with dinosaurs through bio-warfare). However, this gives him the best ending, er I mean result as he's rich, his kids are well behaved, and Patty and Selma are dead. The only downside is that Marge doesn't know what a donut is and Homer runs away before he can notice that in this reality, it rains donuts (Status quo must always be reached by the end). After he returns (Again) Willie is there to tell him how to get back to his normal life, but Maggie kills him with an axe (And a creepy James Earl Jones voice. I like this because it helps to set the mood. Fucking Season 20 writers). Homer decides that to get home he'll do whatever he wants in the past (This results in some pretty good versions of the house, seriously, take the time to note them all, especially the squirrel one). When he finally gets back, all seems normal except people now eat with lizard-like tongues. He concedes this universe as close enough and eats breakfast.
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| My name is Talkin' Maggie and I'm going to kill you |
The segment begins with Bart telling everyone to turn their desks around as a prank, this backfires as he's the only one who does this and as a result, he's sent to detention. As it turns out, detention is overcrowded and Bart's forced to go to the cafeteria to serve his time. While there, Jimbo trips Lunch-Lady Dorris causing her to spill sauce all over him. While scolding him, Skinner notices that the sauce makes Jimbo delicious and decides to have him "help out" in the kitchen. Lunch-Lady Dorris then knocks Jimbo out while he's in a pot and we cut to the teachers and Skinner eating burgers that are delicious (Geez, who knew McDonalds secret recipe was human?) I especially like how the teachers have no problem with eating the sandwiches even after they are told that it's made out of human meat. The next day, Bart notices that Jimbo's gone and wonders where he is (Oh if only you knew, if only you knew *Evil cackle*). Utter then asks for another "Sloppy Jimbo" (I can't make that up) and this causes Skinner to send him to "Detention". The next day we see that the school is serving German food as Lisa tells Bart that all of this is weird (Actually, the more I watch this, the more I get creeped out. Seriously, this is probably one of the scariest segments they've ever done). Skinner tries to calm Bart and Lisa down by being less subtle than a neon sign on the highway. Back home, Bart and Lisa try to tell Marge about this (And switch places after they get to the bottom, how do you get away with that?) but Marge doesn't take this serious and tells them to deal with it themselves (Sure, send your kids to confront the people who are eating kids. While you're at it, why don't you send the hot couple to Crystal Lake as well to spend the night?) The next day, we find out that basically all but 5 kids have been sent to "Detention" and Milhouse tells Bart and Lisa they need to get out of there (Hey quick question. Why are you going to school if you know that they want to kill you, then eat you? Just saying). After Bart and Lisa notice some kids who are being prepped for cooking (This just adds to the already creepy atmosphere for me) LL Dorris approaches them with an egg beater ready to kill them. Willie then comes to rescue them, but ends up getting an axe to the back (And lampshades how he sucks at being the hero). Skinner and Dorris then corner the kids to a platform that leads to an industrial sized blender. Milhouse falls into the blender as Bart comforts Lisa by saying someone will rescue them because they're the main characters. In an ironic twist, they both fall into the blender seemingly dying. But it's okay because it was all a dream. But it turns out that in reality, there's a poisonous fog that turns people inside-out, and wouldn't you know it, it seeps into his room turning the family inside-out. The episode ends with them doing a musical number that was foreshadowed in The Shinning segment (With Willie as well).
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| Run! She's Hannibal Lecter's personal chef |
Do I even need to explain why this one is #1, it's a masterpiece and a classic. This is writing for Treehouse of Horror episodes perfected. All three segments are excellent, the scare factor is really there and it's mixed with a healthy number of jokes to remind you what this show's all about. Well now that this part is finished, I look forward to counting down the top 10 segments of all time on Halloween. Until then, check under you bed, check your closet because you never know where terror truly lies *Evil laughter*
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