tek's rating: ½

The Simpsons Halloween Special VII (Season 8; Oct. 27, 1996)
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Intro: Homer sets himself on fire while lighting a Jack-o-Lantern. Then there's a couch gag.

The Thing and I: I guess this is a parody of Basket Case, which I've never seen. It turns out Bart was born with a conjoined twin named Hugo, whom Homer and Marge have kept locked in the attic all these years, because he's evil. There's a twist ending that is totally telegraphed well before the reveal, but it's still an amusing (and disturbing) ending. And this is one of the Treehouse segments I've always remembered best.

The Genesis Tub: This is kind of a parody of the Twilight Zone episode The Little People, but it also reminds me of the Outer Limits episode The Sandkings. Anyway, Lisa's science project inadvertently creates a microscopic civilization that worships her as a god... and with good reason, considers Bart the devil. It's a decent story, though not as good as it could be if it were longer... say, on The Twilight Zone, or The Outer Limits, or Futurama.

Citizen Kang: First of all, I really like the title (even if I'm not really a fan of "Citizen Kane"; but this has nothing to do with that). This is the first time since Treehouse I that Kang and Kodos get a primary role instead of a cameo. This time, they abduct President Bill Clinton and rival candidate Bob Dole, and disguise themselves as the two candidates, not really caring which one wins. Either way, they'll be in charge of America. It's an amusing segment on the surface, and perhaps more so as an indictment of America's two-party political system. As far as social commentary goes, I suppose it's the most important of this year's three stories, but I still find it the least memorable of them. I still enjoyed it, though. (I might even like it more if it didn't seem to imply that in real elections, both parties are just as bad. As much as I'd love to have more than two parties as genuinely viable options, even in a two-party system one side is definitely worse than the other. Of course, there is a great deal of disagreement over which party is worse, but... I'm not going to completely ruin my review by saying which I think it is. ...You can probably figure that out from other sections of my website, though.)

So... whatever. I think this episode is roughly equal in quality to the first Treehouse of Horror, even if Kodos and Kang are in my least favorite segment, whereas they had my favorite segment from Treehouse I.


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