"The Simpsons" Treehouse of Horror XVIII (2007)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Chuck Sheetz

Writers:

Matt Groening (creator)
James L. Brooks (developer) ...

TV Series:

"The Simpsons" (1989)

Original Air Date:

4 November 2007 (Season 19, Episode 5)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Plot:

The eighteenth Simpsons Halloween Special features parodies of the movies "E.T." and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith."

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | Halloween Special | Seven Deadly Sins | Visions Of Hell | Gatling Gun

Cast

Dan Castellaneta	...	Homer Simpson / Kodos / Kang / Krusty the Klown / Groundskeeper Willie (voice)
Julie Kavner	...	Marge Simpson (voice)
Nancy Cartwright	...	Bart Simpson / Nelson Muntz (voice)
Yeardley Smith	...	Lisa Simpson (voice)
Hank Azaria	...	Chief Wiggum / Moe Szyslak (voice)
Harry Shearer	...	Ned Flanders / Montgomery Burns / Kent Brockman / Principal Skinner (voice)
Pamela Hayden	...	Milhouse (voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	Mrs. Skinner (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maurice LaMarche	...	Screaming Cop (voice)
Karl Wiedergott	...	Various (voice)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Quotes:

Ned Flanders: That concludes our Halloween show for this year. I just wanna say that for those watching this network, you are all going to Hell. And that includes FX, Fox Sports, and our newest Devil's portal, the Wall Street Journal. Welcome to the club!

Movie Connections:

References Fantasia (1940)

Soundtrack:

Blitzkrieg Bop

Very funny Halloween episode. Major improvement over the last one.

I actually really enjoyed this Halloween special. It had some really funny jokes, and I enjoyed all of the segments, despite the fact that some had nothing to do with Halloween. However with that said, this was still a great episode and the best Halloween special over the last few years. One thing that actually makes it better, is all the stories focus on the Simpsons family with no special guest stars. Also, although the two of the segments were parodies, at least they weren't nonstop montages, like last years.

The opening segment was actually quite good. Marge kills various Fox logos and makes it into bread. This was a surprisingly good opening!

The first segment, "ET: Go Home", is an obvious parody of E.T. starring Bart and Kang. Bart finds Kang in the backyard, but Kang isn't as peaceful as everyone thinks. It was a pretty good segment, but it wasn't great. It has some funny lines, and some good ol' Treehouse of Horror violence.

Segment number 2 does not fit in as a Halloween story, but it is violent. Marge and Homer are, unbeknown-st to each other, a pair of hit-people who are going for the same kill. When Marge gets the kill before Homer, they try to kill each other. This was by far the funniest of the segments, even though it didn't belong as a Halloween segment. Funny lines and great sight gags make this a solid second act to the show.

The final story, "Heck House" is about Bart, Lisa, Nelson and Milhouse playing pranks on Springfield, and only Ned Flanders, along with the help of God, can stop them. I really enjoyed this story, except for the abrupt and plain ending. Even though I said earlier I don't generally enjoy montages, the one in this episode was really funny, the best part being Nelson punching smiling Hans Moleman in the face. I found the joke that Homer got his head stuck up Plopper the pig's butt odd, but it was funny too.

This was by no means prefect, but it was a funny Halloween special and the best one in the last few years.

My rating: *** out of ****. 30 mins. TVPGDLVS