All October lengthy, Cracked is catching up with a number of the best writers in Simpsons historical past to debate probably the most beloved segments from the “Treehouse of Horror” collection. From the cursed monkey’s paw to Krusto the Clown, we’re digging into the making of some actual fan-favorites.
Al Jean and Mike Reiss are Simpsons legends — and stalwarts. In reality, they’re such stalwart legends that they have been tasked with a feat much more tough than writing the unique “Treehouse of Horror”: writing “Treehouse of Horror II,” one thing that appeared not possible on the time given simply how good (and beloved) the primary one is/was.
And but, they didn’t simply outdo themselves; they sort of outdid the present, too, pulling off three segments which are thought-about classics in their very own proper. The primary is about Homer wishing upon a cursed monkey’s paw. The second is a Twilight Zone parody during which Bart has all-powerful powers. And the third is a Frankenstein-like story the place Mr. Burns places Homer’s mind right into a robotic.
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In fact, they didn’t do it completely alone. As with all episodes of The Simpsons, the script was a bunch effort, with even the late Sam Simon, a co-developer of The Simpsons, lending a big serving to hand. Both method, the jokes they got here up with have stood the check of time. To not point out, one in all them impressed the largest snigger within the historical past of The Simpsons writers’ room — or at the least within the 30-year-plus historical past that Jean and Reiss have with the present.
What was your involvement within the first “Treehouse of Horror”?
Jean: We had little to do with the primary “Treehouse.” I keep in mind Mike pitching the Bart Raven saying, “Eat my shorts,” however that was about it. My opinion of “Treehouse I” was that it was sensible, so we have been like, “How will we do ‘Treehouse II’?”
Reiss: We’ve been right here for nearly all the things, however missed the entire genesis of “Treehouse of Horror.” We began in Season One, then we needed to go away and return to our different job, throughout which period they did the primary few episodes of Season Two.
It was sensible, clearly, nevertheless it was additionally actually stunning and ballsy that, simply 15 episodes into this massively widespread present, they’d do one thing so violent, darkish and off-canon. It was an actual gamble, however folks liked it.
Jean: To my data, it was Matt Groening’s thought. Sam Simon wasn’t positive, so that they went to Jim Brooks, and Jim stated, “We’ve got to have Marge challenge a warning as a result of the TV viewers goes to be so terrified.”
After the primary one was such a giant success, do you know it could grow to be an annual factor each Halloween?
Jean: No. In reality, after “Treehouse III,” I keep in mind pondering, “Wow, we are able to’t hold doing these yearly.” And now, in fact, we’re doing two or three a yr.
Reiss: They grow to be tougher and tougher to do on a regular basis as a result of we’ve run via each archetypal horror story, and we’ve needed to resort to inventing our personal tales — even parodying The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which isn’t a horror movie by any stretch. We’ve additionally performed Dr. Seuss!
The factor I’ve stated in regards to the Halloween reveals is, they’re arduous to give you the tales and we do them very early within the season. All the things’s received to be designed from scratch. It’s backbreaking labor for the animators on our third, and typically our first, episode for the season. So, we enter the yr completely worn out.
Heading into “Treehouse II,” was it formidable to compete with the primary one?
Jean: It was actually daunting, and we additionally wrote them method too lengthy and so they have been actually sluggish. One factor I positively keep in mind that I pitched was the humorous identify credit, which have been primarily based on Marvel comics credit, which have been primarily based on EC Comics credit, so it’s a theft of a theft.
Reiss: With that, it’s like something with the Halloween reveals, it will get tougher on a regular basis. My identify additionally doesn’t lend itself nicely to any of those puns. I’ll spend hours on simply the identify. I’ve needed to write 35 totally different names now — it’s an excessive amount of.
Jean: I’ve mine for this yr: Bizarre Al Jean.
How did the Monkey’s paw phase come collectively?
Reiss: One of many issues I really like is when Bart will get the monkey’s paw, and he says, “I want the Simpsons have been wealthy and well-known!” after which we launch right into a parody of Simpsons Mania. There’s that actually humorous line the place any individual says, “At first I believed they have been cute and entertaining, and now they’re simply annoying.” It was simply humorous to me that, so early into the run of the present, we have been parodying our personal phenomenon and coming down arduous on ourselves. We’ve been parodied now by Household Man and South Park, however I believed no one nailed us like we nailed us.
Jean: My favourite line in that phase — I can’t keep in mind whose it was — was the joke in regards to the board with the nail in it.
Reiss: Oh that’s me! The road I’m actually happy with although, and it was my finest line for at the least a decade was, “Your superior minds aren’t any match for our feeble weapons.”
What about Homer wishing for a turkey sandwich?
Reiss: I feel that was Sam Simon.
Jean: It seems like Sam. A whole lot of the stuff from that was Sam.
Reiss: He liked Halloween reveals. He liked monkeying with the format. There was additionally one thing actually satisfying about doing the Halloween present within the early days in that, anybody who works on a present, would like to kill the characters and torment them. You get a little bit uninterested in them, they’re your bosses, so it’s enjoyable to kill them or have them go in opposition to kind.
The opposite factor Sam needed to do within the monkey’s paw was, the fingers would curl down each time a want was made, and he needed the final finger to be the center finger. I nixed it although, as a result of I knew it was one thing the place we’d get all the way in which to animation, then Fox would freak out and it could be too late to repair it.
Jean: You could possibly positively try this now, however there’s no method they’d have accepted that then.
How about “The Bart Zone”?
Reiss: I keep in mind we wrote this Rod Serling introduction, and we requested Harry Shearer to do Rod Serling and we received chills. It was an uncanny impression.
How in regards to the closing phase with robotic Homer?
Reiss: We wrote that with Sam, however we had no ending for it. We have been going to do a parody of Broadcast Information at one level, however that didn’t work. In the long run, we did a parody of The Unimaginable Two-Headed Transplant. However it nonetheless didn’t work, so we added one other phase on the finish — “Subsequent week on The Simpsons…” — the place Homer nonetheless had two heads. We needed to construct it out of present animation and re-loop it. It seemed horrible. Homer’s not in-sync, and the studying is de facto flat.
Jean: Two of one of the best traces for this episode have been written by Jay Kogen: “I’m not nodding, it’s the air con” within the second phase, and within the closing one, there was, “Take a look at me I’m Davy Crockett!”
Reiss: “Take a look at me I’m Davy Crockett” is the largest snigger I ever keep in mind in 36 years within the writers’ room.
