As a long-time fan of both “The Simpsons” and “The Twilight Zone”, I find it fascinating to see the connections and parodies between these two iconic shows, especially during their annual “Treehouse of Horror” episodes. It’s like watching a masterclass in pop culture reference and homage.
Discussing a horror-themed TV series that’s become famous for some unforgettable scenes on television, it’s not The Twilight Zone we’re referring to this time. Instead, we’re talking about the annual Halloween special of “The Simpsons” called “Treehouse of Horror.” This show has been a tradition since its early days, offering a mix of spooky and humorous content every fall. However, during the initial years of these Halloween episodes on “The Simpsons,” many segments were inspired by classic episodes from Rod Sterling’s legendary series, The Twilight Zone, which was popular in the late ’50s and early ’60s.
It’s likely that some younger fans may not realize that certain segments from “Treehouse of Horror” are inspired by “The Twilight Zone”. On one side, this shows how skillfully “The Simpsons” adapted these classic tales into their unique style. However, it’s unfortunate because the writers on “The Simpsons” chose these specific episodes of “The Twilight Zone” to spoof precisely because they are among the finest hours or half-hours of supernatural television ever broadcast.
It appears quite fitting to point out the “Treehouse of Horror” episodes that originated from The Twilight Zone, as The Twilight Zone is frequently aired on SYFY.
For More on The Twilight Zone
1. The Impact of an Actor’s True-Life Wound on an Unnervingly Chilling Episode of The Twilight Zone
Which Twilight Zone episodes are parodied in The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror”?
“Hungry Are the Damned” / “To Serve Man”
In the second season of “The Simpsons,” the inaugural “Treehouse of Horror” episode was broadcast, a nod to the tradition from the outset as the central segment was a spoof of “To Serve Man,” an episode from the third season of “The Twilight Zone.” This episode depicted seemingly benevolent aliens visiting Earth with the intention of serving humanity. However, it’s revealed that the title “To Serve Man” is actually a cookbook, and the unfortunate humans who boarded their spaceships were not destined for a life of luxury among the stars but for the dinner table. In contrast, “Hungry Are the Damned,” which introduced Kang and Kodos, the recurring characters of the “Treehouse of Horror” series, flipped the script. Lisa mistook the aliens’ book title as “How To Cook Forty Humans” but it was actually “How To Cook for Forty Humans“. Disappointed, Kang and Kodos, who were benevolent contrary to their “Twilight Zone” counterparts, decided to leave Earth. Oops.
“The Monkey’s Paw” / “A Small Talent for War”
In “Treehouse of Horror II,” unlike other episodes, there are two parodies of “The Twilight Zone,” though the initial segment is only a partial imitation compared to the middle part. The second segment, titled “The Monkey’s Paw,” takes its primary inspiration from W.W. Jacobs’ 1902 short horror story with the same name. In this segment, the Simpsons find a cursed monkey paw that works exactly as it does in the original tale: wishes are granted, but always in the most unfortunate ways possible. For instance, Lisa wishes for world peace, leading to an invasion by aliens (Kang and Kodos) on Earth. This subplot is reminiscent of “A Small Talent for War,” a segment from the second revival of “The Twilight Zone” that first aired in the late ’80s. Here, an alien threatens to destroy the planet unless humans cease their wars, but the visitors’ true intention is to provoke humanity into becoming even more war-like and armed.
“The Bart Zone” / “It’s a Good Life”
In simpler terms, “Treehouse of Horror II’s” middle part is a clever imitation of “The Twilight Zone,” specifically episode 8 from season 3 titled “It’s a Good Life.” This particular “Twilight Zone” episode is quite spooky and one of the scariest in the series. It’s set in what’s left of the world after a boy discovers he possesses incredible, mind-reading abilities that allow him to change reality at will, much to everyone else’s dismay. In comparison, “The Bart Zone” has a brighter conclusion than “It’s a Good Life,” as Bart manages to reverse Homer’s transformation, whereas the original “Twilight Zone” episode concludes with Anthony transporting his victim to a cornfield after transforming him into a jack-in-the-box.
“Clown Without Pity” / “Living Doll”
The opening scene of “Treehouse of Horror III” draws inspiration from two popular movies featuring killer dolls, Child’s Play and parts of the 1975 TV movie Trilogy of Terror. However, it heavily borrows from the sixth episode of The Twilight Zone’s fifth season as its primary source material. In this story, a young girl receives a doll named Talky Tina who develops an aversion to her abusive father. The episode “Clown Without Pity” replaces Talky Tina with a murderous Krusty the Clown doll. Unlike in the original tale, the problem of the toy Krusty’s malevolent behavior can be easily resolved: there’s a switch on its back that has been set to “Evil,” and simply flipping it to “Good” stops the doll from being harmful.
“Terror at 5 1⁄2 Feet” / “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”
In “Treehouse of Horror IV,” the third episode of its fifth season, drew inspiration from “The Twilight Zone” for one of its segments. One of the most iconic episodes of the entire series is called “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” This episode stars William Shatner as a fretful passenger who becomes terrified when he spots a gremlin on the wing of his airplane, trying to sabotage it. In a twist on this storyline, titled “Terror at 5 1⁄2 Feet,” Bart Simpson encounters the same horror. Instead of an airplane, it takes place on a school bus, and like Shatner’s character, Bart warns his classmates that a gremlin is about to destroy the bus by ripping off its wheel, but no one listens to him.
“Homer³” / “Little Girl Lost”
The fifth “Treehouse of Horror” was the first not to feature a Twilight Zone parody, but the following year would once again riff on one of the great Twilight Zone episodes with “Homer³,” the third and final segment of “Treehouse of Horror V.” It’s a parody of the 26th episode of The Twilight Zone’s third season, “Little Girl Lost,” which features a young girl who has fallen into a portal to another dimension that inexplicable opened up in her room. Her panicked parents can hear her but not see her, and her father must enter the dimensional portal and rescue his daughter before it closes as suddenly as it opens and traps her there forever. In “Homer³,” it’s not Lisa but Homer who enters “the third dimension,” giving The Simpsons a chance to showcase what was cutting-edge CGI in 1995. Bart enters the dimension to rescue his dad, but he’s too late and Homer is banished to the real world.
“The Genesis Tub” / “The Little People”
In “The Genesis Tub,” a segment from “Treehouse of Horror VII” on The Simpsons, takes inspiration from the 28th episode of the third season of The Twilight Zone, titled “The Little People.” This episode centers around an astronaut who becomes a god upon discovering a race of small beings on another planet. In contrast to the cruel and arrogant behavior of this character, Lisa Simpson in “The Genesis Tub” behaves kindly after accidentally creating life for her school science project. However, unlike the original story where the astronaut meets his downfall when giant aliens squash him, Lisa finds herself shrunken to join her creations and realizes they can’t return her to normal size. This leads to a humorous concept, as if there were a device called a “rebigulator” that would make you laugh. In the original Twilight Zone episode, the astronaut receives his comeuppance from another race of giants, while in “The Genesis Tub,” Lisa’s story ends on a more whimsical note.
“Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off” / “A Kind of Stopwatch”
A decade later, “Treehouse of Horror” would once more lampoon “The Twilight Zone”, with the last segment of “Treehouse of Horror XIV” in 2003 serving as the occasion. In the final act, Bart and Milhouse find a magical stopwatch that halts time, enabling them to engage in numerous amusing pranks – until they unintentionally shatter it, leaving them clueless about resuming time flow. This storyline is reminiscent of “A Kind of Stopwatch”, the fifth episode from the fourth season of “The Twilight Zone”, which shares a similar premise.
“I’ve Grown a Costume on Your Face” / “The Masks”
Wow, I can’t believe it’s been around twenty years since “Treehouse of Horror” paid tribute to “The Twilight Zone” in one of its segments! It’s quite surprising given the significant impact that series had on the early days of the Halloween special. Maybe the reason for this could be that more recent “Treehouse of Horror” episodes have been focusing less on straight horror parodies and more on spoofing popular intellectual properties or contemporary titles. Alternatively, it might be because they’ve chosen to reference newer shows rather than revisiting an old black-and-white TV show from the early ’60s. In any event, “Treehouse of Horror XVI” in 2005 was the last time “The Twilight Zone” was parodied, but it was quite a loose interpretation. As a fan, I’m still hoping for another tribute to one of my favorite shows!
The original sentence: “I’ve Grown a Costume on Your Face” is a magical spell cast by a scorned witch in Springfield, causing people to transform into whatever Halloween costume they are wearing. This concept bears only a vague resemblance to the plot of “The Masks,” the fifth episode of The Twilight Zone Season 5. In that story, a dying patriarch forces his family to wear grotesque masks during Mardi Gras that represent their negative character traits as a condition for inheriting his fortune. Upon his death, they remove the masks and discover their faces have been permanently altered to mirror their inner ugliness.
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2024-08-14 21:02