Kang and Kodos
Kang
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Character Information
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Character Information
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Kang and Kodos are evil tentacled cycloptic aliens from the planet Rigel 7. They are generally seen together in Treehouse of Horror episodes, usually trying to take over the planet Earth. Kang has a deeper voice than Kodos.
Biography
Kang and Kodos are siblings. In the "Treehouse of Horror VII" Kang introduces Kodos as his sister; however, in "Treehouse of Horror XVIII", Kodos is referred to as male. They are green, 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 coincidence, is identical to English.
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", and in "Gump Roast", a non-canon episode, 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, and their sole preoccupation is assembling a galactic empire for their planet, starting with the conquest of Earth. 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, accompanied Kang and Kodos in their debut appearance in "Treehouse of Horror". Kang and Kodos have also claimed to live near a ringed planet close to the Earth, implying that it is Uranus.
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.
The scene featuring Kang and Kodos in "Treehouse of Horror VIII" was nearly omitted from the final episode, but David X. Cohen managed to persuade the producers to leave the scene in.
Appearances
Kang and Kodos are often used to satirize American politics. When used for political satire in "Treehouse of Horror VII", they 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 (particularly since the mid-2000s, Kang and Kodos have appeared in most new Treehouse of Horror opening sequences):
- 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, with Kodos as King of 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 Mr. Peabody and Sherman, respectively. (Originally, a giant boxing glove was to appear and destroyed the ship, but it was cut and ended up on the 6th season DVD.)
- Treehouse of Horror VI: Kang and Kodos appear in the desert, trying to hitchhike to "Earth Capital".
- Treehouse of Horror VII: Kang and Kodos impersonate Bob Dole and Bill Clinton respectively, 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, and crowns himself king of humanity, the Rigellians enslave it.
- 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 impregnated 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-comedy 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, Kang complains to Kodos why she brought him there in the first place.
- Treehouse of Horror XIII: At the end of the episode, Kang and Kodos appear in their spaceship and comment on the shape of Dr. 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 airing 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 appear yet again at the end of In The Belly Of The Boss. This is also the only time Kang and Kodos appear in more than an opening sequence or 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 'accele-ray', they destroy the Universe.
- Treehouse of Horror XVII: After the entire town of Springfield has been tricked by the famous Orson Welles radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, Kang and Kodos invade the town.
- Treehouse of Horror XVIII: Bart befriends Kodos in this E.T. parody.
- Treehouse of Horror XIX: They make a brief appearance in It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse dancing at the party.
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.
Video Games
Kang and Kodos appear in The Simpsons Hit & Run video game as the main villains, but only in cut scenes. In an attempt to collect new material for their failing reality TV show, Foolish Earthlings, which according to them used to have mush higher ratings, 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 humor 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 and Kodos appear in the ending for The Simpsons Road Rage.
Kang also appears as the final boss character in The Simpsons Wrestling game. In this he is by far the largest character in the game. He's very slow, but his attack inflict a lot of damage.
Although Bart vs. The Space Mutants features aliens as the major enemies, Kang and Kodos do not appear. The aliens portrayed differ in design.
They are the main villains for one of the many plots of The Simpsons Game, abducting materials from the Springfield Mall, hypnotizing the dolphins to slay the humans, and granting life to Lard Lad. They continue to destroy Springfield until the game's ending, where Marge asks God to bring peace back to Springfield.
