Treehouse of Terror
===============================================================================
> Didja notice...
===============================================================================
    ... the rats around the manhole cover? {dh}
    ... the episode began with Homer saying, ``I love Halloween.''
        and it ended with Homer saying, ``I hate Halloween''? [Chris Colby]
    ... the lighting behind Lisa makes it look like she has a halo around
        her head? {cjb} (Towards the end of the show, when she
        says, ``well it was written in 1845...'')

Dave Hall {dh} also asks...
    Is that Snowball (II) screeching at the beginning?

===============================================================================
> Movie References
===============================================================================
    The Shining
        - everyone trying to kill each other with knives, hatchets, etc.
  + The Exorcist
        - Maggie's head turning all the way around.
    Poltergeist
        - The behavior of the haunted house.
        - Indian graves in the cellar.
  + The Amityville Horror
        - Blood oozing down the walls. {my}
        - The wall with a chimney running up the center and
          quarter-circle windows on each side. {dl}
  + Psycho
        - The shape of the haunted house.
    The Fall of the House of Usher
        - The death of the haunted house.
  + The Fly
        - The `Ow' you hear when the bug zapper does its thing.
  ~ Star Trek, ``The Day of the Dove''
        - Kang is the name of the Klingon commander.
  + Twilight Zone (To Serve Man)
        - The cookbook, `How to cook for forty humans'

===============================================================================
> The tombstones on the opening

Courtesy of Curtis Hoffmann:

    Ishmael Simpson
    Ezekiel Simpson
    Cornelius V. Simpson
    Garfield
    The Grateful Dead
    Casper The Friendly Boy
    Elvis
    Your Name Here
    Paul McCartney
    Disco

Brian Howard reports that in the script for this show, the final gravestone
at the beginning was going to be ``Erwin Rommel -- Desert Fox and Loving
Husband'', but it was one of the things that got edited out.

`Cornelius V. Simpson' is a reference to Cornelius Vanderbilt, 19th century
mogul.

`Paul McCartney' is a reference to the `Paul is Dead' hoax of 1969.
(According to the hoax, Paul was killed in a car crash in 1966 and was
replaced by an exact duplicate.  [Sounds like a Stephen Wright joke.])

===============================================================================
> Quotes
===============================================================================

Hello everyone.  You know, Halloween is a very strange holiday.
Personally, I don't understand it.  hmm hmm  Kids worshipping ghosts,
pretending to be devils.  oooh, things on TV that are <completely>
inappropriate for younger viewers.  Things like the following half
hour.  Nothing seems to bother my kids. But tonight's show, which
I totally wash my hands of, is really scary.  So if you have
sensitive children, maybe you should tuck them into bed early tonight
instead of writing us angry letters tomorrow.  Thanks for your attention.
-- Marge's disclaimer, ``Treehouse of Terror''

===============================================================================
Bad Dream House                                    Written by John Swartzwelder
                                                      Directed by Wesley Archer
===============================================================================
> The tombstones in the basement

Courtesy of Curtis Hoffmann:

    Hiawatha
    Cochise
    Sitting Bull
    Pocahantas
    Crazy Horse
    Not So Crazy Horse
    Geronimo
    Sacajawea
    Mahatma Ghandi
    Tonto

Dave Hall observes...
    - The moat surrounding the house.
    - The windows on the side of the house has that "Amityville" look.
    - The bunny doll beside the box that Bart is unpacking. (ref. LIH)
    - Marge is wear bunny Slippers.

===============================================================================
> Quotes
===============================================================================
Quit throwing garbage into our Dimension!
-- The Vortex, ``Bad Dream House'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

Do the blood thing again!
-- Bart to the ... ``Bad Dream House'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

House: They are all against you, Bart.  You must kill them all.
       They all must die.
Bart:  Are you my conscience?
House: I... [ponders] Yes, I am.
-- A conversation with the... ``Bad Dream House'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

This family's had its differences and we've squabbled,
but we never had knife fights before...
-- Marge, ``Bad Dream House'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

It destroyed itself rather than live with us.  One can't help feeling
a bit rejected.
-- Lisa, ``Bad Dream House'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

===============================================================================
Hungry Are the Damned                   Written by Jay Kogen and Wal Wolodarsky
                                                         Directed by Rich Moore
===============================================================================
> Didja notice...

    ... James Earl Jones also played `the Preparer'?
    ... Homer's apron read, ``Mafia Staff Apron''?
    ... when the bug zapper is turned on, there's a big, juicy zap and a
        little `Ow'  (From `The Fly')?  ``My, that was a <big> momma.''
    ... the aliens are watching `Itchy and Scratchy'?

===============================================================================
> Quotes
===============================================================================
Marge: Wow, you speak English!
Alien: No, we are speaking Rigelian, but by some remarkable
       coincidence, they are exactly the same.
-- The Simpsons are abducted by aliens,
   ``Hungry Are the Damned'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

Alien: We get over a million channels.
Bart:  Do you have HBO?
Alien: No, that costs extra.
-- Showing the UFO's entertainment center,
   ``Hungry Are the Damned'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

Alien: Everyone who has mastered intergalactic space travel raise your hand.
         Ok, then.
Marge: I'm sorry. I'm sure your game is very nice.
-- After the Simpsons chuckle at the `Pong' video game on the UFO,
   ``Hungry Are the Damned'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

Nobody, but NOBODY eats the Simpsons!
-- Homer, ``Hungry Are the Damned'' in ``Treehouse of Terror''

===============================================================================
The Raven                              Written by Edgar Allen Poe and Sam Simon
                                                    Directed by David Silverman
===============================================================================
> Poe References

Curtis Hoffmann reports:

In Homer's 'The Raven' library, we have a bust of E.A. Poe, and Peter
Lorre.  On the drinking mug, we have "The Cask Of ..." (the rest is unreadble,
but it is a reference to another Poe story.).

   Then, there are Homer's books: Forgotten Lore, Vol. II
                                  The Pit And The Pendulum
                                  The Tell Tale Heart
                                  The Purloined Letter

Dave Hall adds:
    - Yes, that was a Maggie fall. (ref. Lisa & Maggie as Angels.)

===============================================================================
> Quotes
===============================================================================
Narrator:  Quoth the Raven,
Bart:                       Eat my shorts.
Lisa:      Bart!
-- Edgar Allen Poe's classic, with a twist,
   ``The Raven'' in `Treehouse of Terror''
===============================================================================
Episode summaries Copyright 1991 by Raymond Chen.  Not to be redistributed
in a public forum without permission.  (The quotes themselves, of course,
remain the property of The Simpsons, and the reproduced articles remain
the property of the original authors.  I'm just taking credit for the
compilation.)
