By 1997 it was difficult to imagine Halloween without a Treehouse of Horror; so the ninth season has a shot at it. Overall, I like season 9, but my feelings for Treehouse of Horror VIII are somewhat mixed- for reasons I'll discuss in this latest of a series of reviews on Halloween and horror-themed entertainment this October.
The first two segments are pretty good. The first has Springfield getting hit by a neutron bomb, which kills many but leaves buildings and cars still intact. At first, Homer is the only apparent survivor. After some appropriate mourning, he then has some fun doing things he couldn't do otherwise. However, he soon comes into conflict with skin-eating mutants, inexplicably made evil by the blast. Marge and the kids turn out to be alive, and ultimately kill the mutants even after they stopped trying to kill Homer. It's a humorous rejection of something we're supposed to cherish, peaceful co-existence.
The second segment has Bart and a fly mixing their DNA. Although science fiction has always been a part of Treehouse of Horror, this story struck me as odd because I don't usually associate flies with Halloween. Nevertheless, this segment wins me over with its humour. The fly with Bart's body is oddly accepted pretty quickly by the Simpsons; the kiss and the toothbrush jokes are gross (in a good way). Finally, the third segment is about seventeenth century witch burnings, with Marge as a witch. More so than the second segment, this subject is very appropriate for Halloween- but the segment just isn't very funny. Turning Wiggum into a gopher, for example, is just silly. On the whole, given the first eight THOHs, I'd rank this as my eighth favourite- but that's not to say it's bad, it's still well worth watching.
Happy Halloween.
The first two segments are pretty good. The first has Springfield getting hit by a neutron bomb, which kills many but leaves buildings and cars still intact. At first, Homer is the only apparent survivor. After some appropriate mourning, he then has some fun doing things he couldn't do otherwise. However, he soon comes into conflict with skin-eating mutants, inexplicably made evil by the blast. Marge and the kids turn out to be alive, and ultimately kill the mutants even after they stopped trying to kill Homer. It's a humorous rejection of something we're supposed to cherish, peaceful co-existence.
The second segment has Bart and a fly mixing their DNA. Although science fiction has always been a part of Treehouse of Horror, this story struck me as odd because I don't usually associate flies with Halloween. Nevertheless, this segment wins me over with its humour. The fly with Bart's body is oddly accepted pretty quickly by the Simpsons; the kiss and the toothbrush jokes are gross (in a good way). Finally, the third segment is about seventeenth century witch burnings, with Marge as a witch. More so than the second segment, this subject is very appropriate for Halloween- but the segment just isn't very funny. Turning Wiggum into a gopher, for example, is just silly. On the whole, given the first eight THOHs, I'd rank this as my eighth favourite- but that's not to say it's bad, it's still well worth watching.
Happy Halloween.
