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Treehouse of Horror V

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"Treehouse of Horror V" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' sixth season, as well as the fifth Halloween episode.

Contents

Opening Sequence

Marge once again prefaces the show with a warning. This time, she says that Congress has forbidden the show's airing and instead suggests the 1947 Glenn Ford movie, 200 Miles to Oregon. A clip from the movie is interrupted by Bart's voice, complete with an oscilloscope-like trace, announces that he is controlling the transmission (in a parody of The Outer Limits). Bart is interrupted by Homer making childish noises and laughing at their effects on the oscilloscope. After that, we pull into a graveyard with the opening title. We see a tree where Moe suddenly drops down, apparently hanged. His eyes open up. After that we hear an evil laugh and pull into a scene where Patty and Selma, as witches, are burned at the stake by Reverend Lovejoy. Before being immolated, Patty and Selma light their cigarettes with the fire. The last scene is where Bart is beheading Principal Skinner with a guillotine. Skinner gives Bart the thumbs up before his head is chopped off.

Synopsis

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Shinning

In a spoof of The Shining, the Simpsons drive to Mr. Burns' mansion in the mountains as winter caretakers. Groundskeeper Willie discovers that Bart has a mysterious power known as..."the Shinning" (pronounced like shin), allowing him to read minds. He warns Bart that Homer may go insane and try to kill the whole family. And, indeed, as Burns leaves, he denies Homer access to two of his favorite things—beer and television. Homer is further goaded by the ghost of Moe, who offers to give him beer if he kills his family. Unsurprisingly, Homer goes insane, wielding an axe and pursuing his wife and children. Bart uses his "shinning" to call Willie, who races out of his nearby cabin, dropping his portable television into the snow. Homer kills Willie with an axe in the back (a theme that is repeated in both other shorts in this episode), and is about to kill Lisa when she spies the TV and gives it to Homer. With TV back again, Homer's insanity fades. The whole family sits in the snow with him to watch television, and they eventually freeze. Unable to change the channel, the Simpsons are forced to watch the Tony Awards. Homer's insanity starts to come back.

References to The Shining

Heeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!
Enlarge
Heeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!

There are many references to The Shining in this story. Among them:

On the DVD version of this episode, there is a deleted scene that features Bart encountering Sherri and Terri, who taunt "Your daddy's gonna kill you!". This is yet another reference to The Shining.
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Time and Punishment

Entrance to Ned Flanders' indoctrination center.
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Entrance to Ned Flanders' indoctrination center.

An adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story "A Sound of Thunder". While attempting to fix a toaster, Homer accidentally creates a time machine. Every time Homer pushes the toaster's lever, he is transported to the time of the dinosaurs until the toast pops up, at which point he returns to the present. During his first trip, he amazingly realizes (thanks to some strange advice from Grampa on his wedding night) that he could cause unpredictable changes in the future by killing anything in the ancient past, but absent-mindedly kills a mosquito. The toaster returns Homer to the present, where he learns that Ned Flanders is the totalitarian leader of the world (reminiscent of George Orwell's Big Brother). Escaping a close call with "Re-Neducation", Homer travels back to the time of the dinosaurs in an attempt to set things right. Every effort goes wrong, however: Homer sits on a fish that has just evolved to walk on land (resulting in Homer's family being giant — a scene similar to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids), then later infects the dinosaurs with a deadly cold virus (similar to the ending of The War of the Worlds). One effort comes close to perfection: the family is wealthy and Patty and Selma are dead, but Marge does not know what "donut" is (ironically, immediately after Homer runs screaming to the toaster, travelling back through time again, it begins to rain donuts). Another version seems normal until Willie bursts in, claiming that he can help Homer return to his own world; however, Maggie kills Willie with an axe in his back, then takes off her pacifier and says, "This is indeed a disturbing universe" (voiced over by James Earl Jones). Returning to the prehistoric era for one last try, Homer takes out his frustration by smashing everything he can see with a baseball bat. After several changes to the present, including one where the house is transformed into the Sphinx with Bart's face, Homer eventually arrives in a present where everything seems normal: Ned Flanders is simply their neighbor, donuts are plentiful... but the family eats with long, snakelike tongues. Homer shrugs and mutters "Eh, close enough."

Nightmare Cafeteria

Principal Skinner is worried that the detention halls are becoming crowded, and Lunchlady Doris is now serving Grade F meat ("mostly circus animals"). When Jimbo Jones, after a cafeteria altercation, says "Bite me" to Principal Skinner, Skinner hits on a common solution to both problems. The next day, the cafeteria serves "Sloppy Jimboes", followed by a German-themed meal of "Üter-braten." The culinary success of these meals sends Skinner and the teachers on a cannibalistic rampage, and they continue to send students to detention, which is divided between students locked in cramped cages and a "free range" area. Eventually due to all the flesh eaten, Mrs. Krabappel put on at least 80 pounds and seemed quite eager to eat the children. In hot pursuit of Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse, the last remaining students, Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel corner them on a ledge above a giant blender. Groundskeeper Willie tries, once again, to save the Simpsons, but is once again killed by an axe to the back (this time by Principal Skinner). Milhouse falls into the blender, dampening Bart's confidence that they will be rescued. As Skinner and Krabappel advance, Bart and Lisa fall towards the blender; just as they are about to hit the blades, however, Bart wakes up and realizes it was all a dream. However, in a final bizarre touch, a mysterious fog seeps in through the window and turns the whole family inside out. The episode ends with the gory Simpsons with Grandpa Simpson dancing and singing a parody version of "One" from A Chorus Line. Santa's Little Helper comes and bites Bart on the leg, dragging him off stage and leaving a trail of blood, as Bart struggles to free himself.

Inspirations

Quotes

From The Shinning:

From Time and Punishment:

From Nightmare Cafeteria:

End song lyrics (sung to the tune of "One" from "A Chorus Line"):

Trivia

External links

The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror
I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI | XVII

 

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