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Treehouse of Horror XXII

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"Treehouse of Horror XXII"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 23
Directed byMatthew Faughnan
Written byCarolyn Omine
Original air dateOctober 30, 2011
Episode chronology
The Simpsons season 23
List of episodes

"Treehouse of Horror XXII" is the third episode of the twenty-third season and the twenty-second Halloween episode of the animated comedy series The Simpsons. It aired on October 30, 2011 on Fox.[1] It featured the standard three segments. The episode guest-starred Aron Ralston.[1]

Plot

Opening

Marge asks Homer to deliver Bart, Lisa and Maggie's trick or treat candy to troops overseas. However, Homer instead runs off with the bag to eat its contents in privacy at a canyon cliff. Unfortunately, Homer trips and falls to the bottom of the canyon with his arm pinned. Fueled by his need to get the out of reach bag of candy, and reluctant to wait twenty minutes for help, Homer is forced to chew off his arm. Though he manages it after a few tries, Homer learns that he was carrying a bag of vegetables as Bart, Lisa and Maggie had stolen back their candy in secret. The title "Treehouse of Horror XXII" is made out of the candy in Bart's mouth.

"The Diving Bell and the Butterball"

A Black Widow spider bite leaves Homer paralyzed, but he is able to communicate through flatulence. The Simpson family is amazed at the result and Lisa helps Homer tell Marge how he feels about her. When he is bitten again by a radioactive spider he spontaneously has the ability to make spider webs and have the same abilities as Spider-Man, even when still paralyzed.

"Dial D for Diddly"

Ned Flanders becomes a serial killer due to Homer making Flanders think that God wants him to kill the people who did Homer wrong.

"In the Na'Vi"

Bart and Milhouse are assigned to access a sacred extract called Hilarrium on the distant planet Rigel Seven. In order to do so, they use an avatar body to look like the native aliens. While looking for the Hilarrium, Bart befriends Kang's daughter and ends up getting her pregnant.

Production

"Treehouse of Horror XXII" was written by Carolyn Omine and directed by Matthew Faughnan.[2] The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series,[3] which has been a tradition for The Simpsons to air a new Halloween speciel each year, since the second season.[4] It features three separate stories and an opening segment. The opening segment features a guest appearence by Aron Ralston, who was the subject of the film 127 Hours.[3] As it is tradition with most Treehouse of Horror episodes, this episode featured the use of "scary" names in the credits, which is to write alternate names for cast and crew in a "scary" fashion.[5] Ralston came up with his own scary name for the credits, which was Aron "I gave my right arm to be on 'The Simpsons'" Ralstump.[3]

The opening segment was primarily as spoof of the film 127 Hours, in which Ralston loses his arm after being trapped under a rock.[6] In addition to its primary spoof, it featured a couple of other references to popular culture. There is a reference to the film Alien, when Maggie pops out of Bart's astronaut suit, dressed as a baby alien.[6] Homer is dressed as Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen.[7]

"The Diving Bell and the Butterball" was a satire of the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, [3] in which a paralyzed man learns to communicate through moving his eyelids.[6] Instead of moving his eyelids, Homer communicated through farting.[6] The segment took off in different direction when Homer was bitten by another spider and turned into a paralyzed Spider-Man, swinging around Springfield and fighting crime.[6] The last part references the Spider-Man musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark that was plagued by stage malfunctions and sometimes left its performers to dangle in mid-air.[8] The many accidents caused five people to become injured while working on the musical.[9] The broadway show reacted by issuing a statement the following day: "Everyone at 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' was extremely flattered by last night’s tribute on 'The Simpsons.' 'The Simpsons' is an iconic American institution, and being part of last night's episode was an honor and dream come true."[8]

"Dial D for Diddly" featured various references to the television series, Dexter, the titular character of whom Ned Flanders is supposed to represent when he goes on a killing spree.[10] Two of the targets, Patty and Selma Bouvier, were killed in similar fashion to the style of Wile E. Coyote.[6]

"In the Na'Vi" was a parody of the film Avatar from 2009.[3] In the end Kang and Kodos mentions that "there is no word for ‘yours’ or ‘mine.’", which is why they do not enjoy the film Yours, Mine and Ours.[7]

Release

"Treehouse of Horror XXII" originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 30, 2011, the night before Halloween. The release date was unusual for a Treehouse of Horror episode because ever since Fox got the rights to the baseball playoffs, most of the Halloween specials aired in the first week of November. This only marks the second time Fox has aired a Treehouse of Horror episode in October since 1999 - in 2009 it aired nearly two weeks before Halloween.[11] When Reuters asked showrunner Al Jean if he was satisfied with the airing the night before Halloween, Jean said: "Yes, and the perfect thing is, Halloween is actually a bad day to air it, because nobody watches TV that night. Especially if they have kids. So October 30th, it is our Halloween. People can watch it and then still go out the next night."[3]

The episode was watched by approximately 8.0 million people during the first broadcast.[12] The show received a 4.0 Nielsen rating in the demographic for adults aged 18–49 and an ten percent share of the audience, which was a 33% increase from the previous episode "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts".[12] The Simpsons became the highest-rated program in Fox's Animation Domination lineup that night both in terms of viewers and in the 18–49 demographic. It finished before Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and the series premiere of Allen Gregory.[12] In comparison, last year's "Treehouse of Horror XXI" had a 3.7 Nielsen rating, nine percent share of the audience in the 18-49 demographic, and was viewed in approximately 8.2 million homes.[13]

Reception

Since airing, "Treehouse of Horror XXII" has received mixed reviews from critics. At the A.V. Club, Hayden Childs gave the episode a C+ grade, saying, "The writers seem unwilling to mock the more outrageous aspects of the movies they are sending up and settle for weakly batting at the obvious. Some of the jokes land, but none land too solidly."[7] Meredith Woerner of io9 though that "[t]he whole thing never quite achieved the same level of brilliance as some previous years — even though the Avatar bit was funny, we've seen so many Avatar spoofs by now that, well, it's tired. However we did get a lot of joy out of seeing Homer dressed up as Doctor Manhattan and Maggie as a wee-little chest burster."[14] Blair Marnell of CraveOnline was more critical and gave the episode a rating of three out of ten. He commented that "there is no stronger argument for ending "The SImpsons" than the latest Halloween installment of "Treehouse of Horror."" and further said that "in all honesty, it's amazing how tame "The Simpsons" has become over the years. This show used to be the "South Park" of its day. Now it's just showing its age and its no longer the cool TV rebel that it used to be."[15]

On the opening segment Tim Surette of TV.com noted that "[i]t was a good start for the episode, and I particularly enjoyed watching Maggie pop out of Bart's chest as a baby alien and Homer gnawing off the wrong limbs."[6]

On "The Diving Bell and the Butterball", Surrette said: "I found this sketch to be simultaneously awesome and terrible because I have the maturity of a 6-year old and the intelligence of an average man."[6] Childs was critical of Homer turning into a paralyzed Spider-Man and stated that "the joke of seeing a paralyzed Spider-Man is simply not very funny."[7]

On "Dial D for Diddly", Surette concluded that the episode "Started off good, but got boring very quick."[6] Childs commented that "[t]his segment had a lot of promise for the funny, but it started to sag fast and then sank altogether."[7]

Much of the criticism towards the Avatar spoof "In the Na'Vi" go towards the timing of the episode. Surette thought that it was "[a]n Avatar spoof that came about two years too late. This sketch had no redeeming qualities and should be erased from the minds of all Simpsons fans immediately."[6] Similarly, Marnell commented that in the episode ""The Simpsons" finally gets around to parodying "Avatar" — a movie picked to death by "South Park" and other series a year or two ago" and further elaborated that "[i]t's almost a straight forward retelling of "Avatar" without the biting satire that made the film parodies of previous years so much fun."[15]

References

  1. ^ a b FOX ORDERS DOUBLE D’OHS OF “THE SIMPSONS” - Longest Running Scripted Series on Television is Renewed Through Season 25
  2. ^ "Treehouse of Horror XXII"". The Simpsons. Season 23. Episode 3. October 30, 2011. 05:52–05:56 minutes in. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |episodelink= and |seriesno= (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Potts, Kimberly (October 28, 2011). "'The Simpsons' Halloween: Al Jean on Farting Homer, a 'Dexter' Spoof and Aron Ralston". Reuters. The Wrap. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  4. ^ Jean, Al (2002). Commentary for "Treehouse of Horror". The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  5. ^ Jean, Al (2004). Commentary for "Treehouse of Horror III". The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Surette, Tim (October 31, 2011). "The Simpsons: Another Halloween, Another Average "Treehouse of Horror"". TV.com. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c d e Childs, Hayden (2011-10-30). "The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror XXII"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
  8. ^ a b Ng, David (October 31, 2011). "'Simpsons' parodies Broadway's 'Spider-Man' in Halloween episode". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  9. ^ Healy, Patrick (March 22, 2011). "Another 'Spider-Man' Actress Injured". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  10. ^ Banger, Deth (1 August 2011). "Dexter Meets The Simpsons In Treehouse of Horror". Horror-Movies. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  11. ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (October 30, 2011). "The Simpsons celebrates Halloween in a timely fashion for once". A.V. Club. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  12. ^ a b c Seidman, Robert (October 31, 2011). "TV Ratings Sunday: 'Once Upon a Time' Holds Up; 'Allen Gregory' Debuts Weakly". Zap2it. TV by the numbers. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  13. ^ Kissell, Rick (November 8, 2010). "Blowout still big for NBC". Variety. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  14. ^ Woerner, Meredith (October 31, 2011). "The Absolute Best Scenes from The Simpsons Treehouse of Terror XXIII!". io9. Retrieved October 31, 2011.
  15. ^ a b Marnell, Blair (October 31, 2011). "The Simpsons 23.03 'Treehouse of Horror XXII'". CraveOnline. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
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