Kang and Kodos
Kang and Kodos are fictional characters from the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer and Dan Castellaneta respectively. Kang and Kodos are aliens from the fictional planet Rigel VII. They appear in every Treehouse of Horror episode, among others.
Fictional biography
Kang and Kodos are siblings, Kang a male, and Kodos a female. They are green in color, approximately seven feet tall, continuously drooling, one-eyed beings with eight tentacles. Peculiarly, Kang and Kodos occasionally vomit through their eye (which looks like tears) and they must hold hands to exchange long protein strands. They speak the Rigellian language, which, by extreme coincidence, is identical to English. Both Kang and Kodos have masculine voices, although Kang's voice is deeper than Kodos' voice.
Kang and Kodos have access to advanced technology including interstellar travel, ray guns, a fertilization ray, and in their society's standard of games, 'pong'. They have declared their religion to be "Quantum Presbyterians"; in "Gump Roast" they claimed to have been observing Earth since it was created "5000 years ago, by God." They then performed the sign of the cross.
They are said to come from Rigel VII, a rocky, desert-like planet with an asteroid field that orbits the star Rigel. They are members of a species of creature known as Rigellians, which are the only form of life on Rigel VII. Another Rigellian, "Serak the Preparer", voiced by James Earl Jones, accompanied Kang and Kodos on a journey to Earth. Kang and Kodos have also mentioned living near a ringed planet close to the Earth.
Origin of characters
The overall appearance of Kang and Kodos is derived from the aliens appearing on the cover of an old EC Comic.
Kang and Kodos are named after two characters from Star Trek, Kang, a Klingon captain, and Kodos the Executioner, a human villain. Their cook, Serak, derives his name from an inversion of vowels in the name Sarek, the Vulcan father of Spock.
Rigel VII, the home of Kang and Kodos, is mentioned in the original Star Trek pilot, The Cage. The planet Rigel IV, to which Kang and Kodos intended to take the Simpson family in Treehouse of Horror I, is also a planet used in Star Trek in the episode Wolf in the Fold. Also, other planets in the Rigel system are mentioned in other Star Trek episodes.
Appearances
Kang and Kodos are often used to satirize American politics. When used for political satire they sometimes represent the two party system.
Kang and Kodos appear in every Treehouse of Horror episode; however, many of these are mere cameos, slipped incongruously into one of the stories or the opening or closing sequence of the episode:
- Treehouse of Horror: Kang, Kodos and Serak, feature in a parody of Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man, where they abduct the Simpson family.
- Treehouse of Horror II: Kang and Kodos take over the Earth, after Lisa's wish for world peace comes true and humans are left weaponless and defenseless. Kang and Kodos are defeated after Ned Flanders is granted his wish to have Kang and Kodos leave.
- Treehouse of Horror III: Kang and Kodos appear in their spaceship over the Earth, discussing plans to take it over following an infestation of Zombies.
- Treehouse of Horror IV: Kang and Kodos appear in their spaceship, commenting on Bart's fear of a Gremlin. Soon they notice that a Gremlin is sabotaging their Spaceship
- Treehouse of Horror V: Kang and Kodos appear in their spaceship, commenting on Homer's unpreparedness for time travel, only to then turn into Mister Peabody and Sherman, respectively ([1]).
- Treehouse of Horror VI: Kang and Kodos appear in the desert, trying to hitchhike to "Earth Capital" ([2]).
- Treehouse of Horror VII: Kang and Kodos impersonate Bill Clinton (Kodos) and Bob Dole (Kang) and compete for the presidency of the United States on crowd-pleasing platforms. Despite being revealed as alien impersonaters, Kang and Kodos still prove more popular than Reform candidate Ross Perot, as no one wants to "throw (their) vote away" on a third party candidate. After Kang wins the presidency, the Rigellians enslave humanity.
- Treehouse of Horror VIII: In the sequence parodying The Omega Man, Kang and Kodos' spaceship is nearly hit with a wayward missile.
- Treehouse of Horror IX: After Kang is discovered to be Maggie's father, having impregnanted Marge as part of a trans-species breeding program, he wants to take her away, against the Simpsons' wishes.
- Treehouse of Horror X: Kang and Kodos provide humorous, standup-like banter during the show's opening sequence.
- Treehouse of Horror XI: Kang and Kodos appear at the end of the last sequence, discussing why they were left out of the show.
- Treehouse of Horror XII: Kang and Kodos appear together in attendance at the wedding of a Leprechaun and a gypsy.
- Treehouse of Horror XIII: At the end of the episode, Kang and Kodos appear in their spaceship and comment on the shape of Professor Hibbert's skull-shaped island, saying that it looks like their number four.
- Treehouse of Horror XIV: Kang and Kodos appear in the opening sequence, discussing the fact that the Halloween episode was being aired in November.
- Treehouse of Horror XV: Kang and Kodos appear in the opening sequence in a parody of the television show Perfect Strangers where they are attempting to cook the Simpsons for dinner. They later appear, during the Victorian era story, in a steampunk flying saucer and destroy Earth's Air Force (a single hot air balloon). They later appear at the end of In The Belly Of The Boss. This is also the only time Kang and Kodos appear more then an opening sequence or one segment.
- Treehouse of Horror XVI: Kang and Kodos appear in the opening sequence where they comment on steroid use in baseball and the slow pace of the game, characterizing it as boring. In an effort to speed it up using an acceleration-ray, they destroy the Universe.
- Treehouse of Horror XVII: After the entire town of Springfield has been tricked by the famous Orson Welles radio of War of the Worlds, Kang and Kodos invade the town.
Kang and Kodos have made appearances apart from their annual cameo in the Treehouse of Horror episode, including in the episodes Gump Roast, Behind the Laughter, Future-Drama, Radio Bart, Special Edna, The Springfield Files and You Kent Always Say What You Want. They were also featured in the couchgag in The Ziff Who Came to Dinner and See Homer Run.
Shortly before Futurama premiered, Matt Groening suggested that Kang and Kodos would pop up in an episode of Futurama. But they never did. They die in Treehouse of Horror XX, after Professor Frink, Homer, Snake, and Grampa put Nuclear Waste in their spaceship. (You see what happens in Simpsons: Hit & Run.) They die in the 3rd mini episode, named "An Alien Auto Topsy".
Video Games
Kang and Kodos appear in The Simpsons: Hit and Run video game as villains, but only in cutscenes. In an attempt to collect new material for their failing reality TV show, Foolish Earthlings, Kang and Kodos plan to drug Springfield with a mind-control serum distributed through their "New and Improved Buzz Cola" product, and use the brainwashed people to perform stupid stunts under the watchful view of wasp-like surveillance cameras, all for the sake of better ratings.
Bart and Apu manage to overhear Kang and Kodos plan to supply the cola-controlled people with laser guns and let them destroy their own town. In Level 6, Bart manages to destroy the aliens' cola plant, but learns that Kang and Kodos have already retaliated by dumping the cola into Springfield's sewer system, which raises zombies from the dead as a result.
In Level 7, Homer saves the day by crashing the mothership with several drums of nuclear waste, thus undoing the aliens' power and saving Springfield. Kang and Kodos, who have somehow wound up in Earth Heaven after being killed in the crash, enjoy a bit of humour knowing that their show's finale was rated #1, but quickly panic when they are forced to endure the game credits.
In this game we also learn that not all members of the Rigellian species are green, as the game's ending features Rigellians of various colors, including blue, red, pink and orange.
Kang also appears as the final boss character in The Simpsons Wrestling game.
Although Bart vs. The Space Mutants features aliens as the major enemies, Kang and Kodos do not appear. The aliens portrayed are of a far different design.