Difference between revisions of "Treehouse of Horror XVII"

Revision as of 09:45, February 20, 2024

This THOH is considered non-canon and the events featured do not relate to the series and therefore may not have actually happened/existed. The reason behind this decision is: The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series. If you dispute this, please bring it up on the episode's talk page.

"Treehouse of Horror XVII" is the fourth episode of season 18 of The Simpsons and the three-hundred and eighty-second episode overall. It is also the seventeenth installment in the Treehouse of Horror series and consists of three parts. It originally aired on November 5, 2006. The episode was written by Peter Gaffney and directed by David Silverman and Matthew Faughnan. It guest stars Phil McGraw as himself, Richard Lewis as the Golem, Fran Drescher as the Female Golem, Sir-Mix-A-Lot as the "Baby Likes Fat" singer and Maurice LaMarche as Orson Welles.

Synopsis

"In "Married to the Blob", Homer eats green extraterrestrial goo and morphs into a rampaging blob with an insatiable appetite; in "You Gotta Know When to Golem", Bart uses a golem; and in "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid," the residents of early-1930s Springfield refuse to believe news of an actual alien invasion after being duped by Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast."

Plot

Married to the Blob

As Homer and Marge snuggle on the hammock, a meteorite falls nearby, burning off the top of Marge's hair in the process. Cracking open, it reveals a green goo resembling a melted marshmallow. Despite his family's objections, Homer puts it on a stick and eats it (although the goo tries many times to get away and is clearly alive). That night, after saying "Must eat, then poop, then eat some more, then eat while pooping", his stomach rumbling from hunger, Homer eats all the food in the house. He also eats the cat and attempts to eat Bart but is stopped by Marge. After that, he finds teenagers having a BBQ sauce fight, then sees one who fell into the fire, and eats that teen. Then he ends up at the Oktoberfest. He eats 4 fat Germans then says "must eat more fat people, thank god i'm in America". Now seriously fat, he walks around, looking for food. Now a fat green blob, rampaging through the streets of Springfield, eating all the fat people he can find. As Homer samples bus passengers as if they were candies, Dr. Phil McGrawl shows up with the Simpson family. He tells Homer to stop for their sakes. But, Homer doesn't listen to him and eats Dr. Phil. Homer then ends his rampaging for fear of losing Marge and vows to use his insatiable appetite for more constructive purposes. Later, Mayor Quimby dedicates a new homeless shelter. The homeless people enter the shelter, only to find themselves in Homer's gut.

You Gotta Know When To Golem

"Can't you read my writing? I didn't say 'kick Homer's walls'."

―Bart Simpson, talking to the Golem

At the end of an episode of The Krusty the Clown Show, Bart, having been invited to the taping, goes backstage to complain about an acid-spraying Krusty brand alarm clock. There he finds the Golem of Prague, a creature from Jewish mythology. Krusty tells Bart that in the seventeenth century, the Golem was sculpted out of clay by a powerful rabbi. The Golem would do anything written on a scroll and placed in his mouth. He had been passed down through many generations and now works for Krusty. Bart steals the Golem by writing a command for him to come to his home at midnight, while Krusty is wearing a mask in preparation for a "Desperate Houseflies" sketch. At midnight, the Golem shows up at the Simpsons' house. From then on, Bart uses him to carry out his commands: swinging Principal Skinner up and down like a yo-yo until he splits in half and kicking Homer in the balls (though he at first thought Bart wrote walls). Lisa thinks the Golem doesn't like doing the biddings of others and feeds him a scroll reading "Speak". The Golem (voiced by Richard Lewis) reveals that he feels guilty about being used to commit heinous acts. To make him feel better, the Simpsons create a Female Golem out of Play-Doh. When Homer hears her voice (Fran Drescher) he tries to chop her up with an axe, but the Golem stops him, saying that she is perfect. The two are married by Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky and the female Golem convinces Chief Wiggum not to press charges with the promise of pan-fried latkes, a Jewish delicacy.

The Day the Earth Looked Stupid

The population of Springfield on Halloween 1938 (during the Great Depression) are fooled by Orson Welles' infamous The War of the Worlds radio broadcast and believe the world has been invaded. A mass panic breaks out, and the citizens begin rioting and destroy the town. Marge suggests they foil the aliens by cavorting in the mud naked like animals. So they do this all day until the next day, Lisa notifies the citizens that it was all a hoax and, angry at being fooled, the citizens of Springfield vow to not fall for such a trick again. Kang and Kodos decide this is the perfect time for a real invasion, and begin destroying what's left of the town. True to their word, the town does not believe that it's a real invasion and ignores it, although Orson Welles comes to Springfield, admits it is not a staged act, and begs them to do something. Unfortunately, they don't, and the segment ends three years later with Kang and Kodos looking over the ruins, mulling on what went wrong and why they weren't greeted as liberators as they rid Earth's weapons of mass disintegration (WMD) during "Operation Enduring Occupation", a parody of the real military operation, "Operation Enduring Freedom". The camera then pans out to reveal the earth has fallen victim to a nuclear fallout. As the credits roll, "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" plays in a clear reference to the Fallout video games.

Production

The "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid" segment was originally supposed to end with Kang and Kodos making a direct reference to the War in Iraq as they observe the ruined remains of 1938 Springfield. While the FOX censors had no objections over the line, the producers and writers felt the reference was too obvious and had it cut to make the joke more subtle.

Promotional images

• THOH XVII Married to the Blob promo image.jpg

  Homer, about to eat Ned Flanders.

• Treehouse of Horror XVII promo 3.jpg
• Treehouse of Horror XVII promo 4.jpg
• Treehouse of Horror XVII promo 5.jpg

Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Treehouse of Horror XVII".