Treehouse of Horror

The Treehouse-of-Horror -Episoden ( German  "Baumhaus des Schreckens" ) of the US animated series The Simpsons are special episodes whose US premiere takes place around Halloween and of which there is always one episode per season. Each episode consists of three independent stories, which are mostly horror, science fiction or paranormalPhenomena goes. These episodes take place outside the normal continuity of the series and do not have the realistic character that the series has in its other episodes. The depictions of violence also take up more space than in the normal Simpsons episodes. While these Halloween specials in the English original have the title "Treehouse of Horror" and each have a Roman number, the individual Halloween episodes in German have their own, unrelated titles. The first Treehouse-of-Horror episode "Horror frei Haus" ( English "Treehouse of Horror" ) was broadcast as part of the second season of the series on January 17, 1992 in Germany (in the USA on October 25, 1990). So far there are 28 seasons, a total of 27 Treehouse-of-Horror episodes; only the first season did not contain a Treehouse of Horror episode. The episode "Dry, Dead and Deadly" ( English "Treehouse of Horror XXVII" ) was the 600th episode of the series The Simpsons .

General

The Treehouse of Horror episodes have special trademarks, including the aliens Kang and Kodos , the names of the authors in a creepy, modified form in the credits, a special variant of the opening sequence and parodies of films or literature from the horror, science -Fiction and fantasy count. Producing the Treehouse of Horror episodes is particularly difficult and time-consuming for the producers of the series, as the scripts of these episodes have to be revised more often than those of normal episodes and the animators have to work out a special character and background design.

Many of the episodes are hugely popular with the show's fans and critics. Because of this, there is a wide variety of Treehouse-of-Horror merchandise , including action figures, video games, books, DVDs, comic books, and a Treehouse-of-Horror Monopoly. Many of the Treehouse of Horror episodes have won awards for animation and sound editing.

Stories

The Treehouse of Horror episodes usually consist of four parts, an opening sequence with the Simpsons theme music in a Halloween version and the three stories. The themes of these stories come from horror, science fiction and fantasy and are often parodies of films, books, plays, television programs (e.g. the series " Twilight Zone ") or old editions of the comic series " EC Comics ". Even if the individual stories are sometimes surrounded by a frame plot, they are neither connected to one another nor to the frame plot. The only exception is the episode "Fear and Horror Without End" (English "Treehouse of Horror V"), in which caretaker Willie is killed in the same way with an ax in all three stories. Since the episodes take place outside the actual continuity of the series, there is no evidence of storylines from the Treehouse of Horror episodes in the remaining Simpsons episodes. For the episodes from "Treehouse of Horror" to the episode "Send the Clones in" ("Treehouse of Horror XIII"), all three stories were each written by different authors, in some cases there was even a fourth writer who wrote the opening sequence and the framework. Starting with the episode “Death Greetings from Springfield” (English “Treehouse of Horror XIV”) in the 15th season, only one author is responsible for all three stories of a Treehouse of Horror episode. Some of the stories use a different animation technique than the normal Simpsons episodes; B. in "Homer ³ " of the episode "The Panic Amok Horror Show" (English "Treehouse of Horror VI"), in which Homer was shown in a parallel dimension with a three-dimensional computer animation.

Opening sequence

Each Treehouse of Horror episode begins with a special opening sequence. The first, second, and fifth Treehouse of Horror episodes begin with a warning from Marge to viewers of the episode's content and advice that kids should go to bed. While the warning in the first episode was still quite serious by the authors, in the two following episodes it was meant rather funny. After that, they were waived.

Other Treehouse of Horror episodes begin with parodies: The episode "Malicious Games" (English "Treehouse of Horror III") is introduced by Homer in the manner of Alfred Hitchcock in his television series " Alfred Hitchcock Presents ". The opening sequences of the first five Treehouse of Horror episodes also begin with a tracking shot across a cemetery, over to the Simpsons' house, where the family walks to the sofa in the living room. The couch gag that appears in all episodes also has a Halloween theme here.

The opening sequences in later episodes are far more varied: An employee of the US television station FOX censors the current Treehouse of Horror episode and is killed in the process (“The uncanny murder transplant”, English “Treehouse of Horror IX”), the The Simpson family and their neighbor Ned Flanders conjure up the spirit of his late wife Maude ("Send the clones in", English "Treehouse of Horror XIII"), Homer goes into a voting booth for the US presidential election in 2008 and is killed by the machine (" Treehouse of Horror XIX ").

Framework actions

The first four Treehouse of Horror episodes had a little framework that roughly held the three stories together. The episode "Horror frei Haus" ("Treehouse of Horror") is the only episode with a framework story that actually takes place in a tree house . In this episode, Bart, Lisa and Maggie sit in the tree house in the Simpsons garden and tell each other creepy stories. In the episode "Nightmares" ("Treehouse of Horror II") the three stories were portrayed as nightmares of Lisa, Bart and Homer, in "Malicious Games" (English "Treehouse of Horror III") the stories became scary stories told by Lisa, Bart and Grampa at a Halloween party and in the episode "Treehouse of Horror IV", Bart presented the stories in a parody of the US television series " Night Gallery ". After a few years, the length of the episodes had to be shortened, so that the framework plot was left out, leaving more time for the individual stories.

Episode list

The following overview shows the German-language publications with the corresponding titles.

#	Episode title	First broadcast in D	Stories	Parodies of
01	Horror free home	Jan. 17, 1992	The house of bad dreams Hungry are the damned The Raven	The Amityville Horror Episode " The Book of the Kanamites " from the TV series " Twilight Zone " The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
02	nightmares	Jan. 18, 1993	Lisa's nightmare Bart's nightmare Homer's nightmare	The monkey paw Episode "The Smiling City" of the TV series " Twilight Zone " " Frankenstein " by Mary Shelley
03	Malicious games	May 12, 1994	Clown without pity King Homer If you call moder	Opening sequence: Alfred Hitchcock presents Episode "Living Doll" of the TV series " Twilight Zone " King Kong The night of the living dead
04th	The ride to hell	0Apr 8, 1995	The Devil and Homer Simpson Nightmare at five feet Bart Simpsons Dracula	Framework: Night Gallery The Devil and Daniel Webster (based on a short story by Stephen Vincent Benét ) Portrait of a scared man episode from Twilight Zone Bram Stoker's Dracula / The Lost Boys
05	Endless fear and horror	Dec 27, 1999	The shinning Time and punishment Cafeteria of horror	Shining by Stephen King Far Thunder (Ray Bradbury) American TV series " Nightmare Cafe "
06th	The panic amok horror show	Dec 27, 1999	Attack of the 15 meter advertising figures Nightmare in Evergreen Terrace Homer³	Attack by the 20-meter woman Nightmare - Murderous Dreams Episode "Little Girl Lost" from the TV series " Twilight Zone "
07th	Hugo, little creatures and Kang	Oct 31, 1998	The thing and me The Genesis bowl Citizen Kang	Basket Case - The Scary Twin Episode " The Man Who God Wanted To Be " from the TV series "Twilight Zone"
08th	Neutron War and Halloween	Oct 12, 1998	Neutron War and Halloween Fly against fly The brisk witch fry	The omega man The fly Witch hunt (drama)
09	The creepy murder transplant	Dec 27, 1999	The infernal toupee The Tiny Toon Reign of Terror The spaceship fob	Episode "Hell Toupé" from the TV series " Incredible Stories " Twilight Zone - The Movie
10	I know what you've been fooling about	Oct 30, 2000	I know what you have done Desperately looking for Xena Life is a slide and then you die	I know what you did last summer Episode "The Turtles Collector" of the TV series " Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles " Judgment Day
11	DD-The GG ghost DD-Dad	Oct 29, 2001	DD-The GG ghost DD-Dad Terrible fairy tales can come true The night of the dolphin	Ghost Dad - Messages from Dad " Grimm's Fairy Tales " by the Brothers Grimm
12	Hex and the City	01st Mar 2003	Hex and the City House of Bats Sorcerer's apprentices	2001: A Space Odyssey " Harry Potter " by Joanne K. Rowling
13	Send the clones in	Feb 21, 2004	Send the clones in The fear of trembling and fear of harm The island of Dr. Hibbert	Four love you   " The island of Dr. Moreau ”by HG Wells
14th	Greetings from Springfield	Oct 30, 2004	Grim reaper madness Frinkenstein Stop the world, I want to escape	Episode "The Grim Reaper" of the TV series " Family Guy " Frankenstein Episode "The Lord of Time" from the TV series " Twilight Zone "
15th	Four beheadings and one death	Oct 29, 2005	The Ned Zone Four beheadings and one death In the boss's stomach	Dead zone From Hell (film) , " Sherlock Holmes " by Arthur Conan Doyle The fantastic journey
16	BI: Bartificial Intelligence	Oct 29, 2006	BI Bartificial Intelligence Survival of the fattest I grown a costume on your face	AI - Artificial Intelligence Graf Zaroff - genius of evil Episode "The Night of Transformation" of the TV series " Buffy the Vampire Slayer "
17th	war of the Worlds	Oct 30, 2007	Married to the blob A golem just in case The day the earth was fooled	Opening sequence: stories from the crypt The blob The Golem as he came into the world Radio play " War of the Worlds " by Orson Welles
18th	To call home	0Nov 3, 2008	ET go home Mr. and Mrs. Simpson The hellish house	ET - The Alien Mr. and Mrs. Smith
19th	Death comes three times	Oct 27, 2009	Untitled robot parody Spin slowly Milhouse and the Great Pumpkin	Transformers Mad Men It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown a cartoon with the Peanuts
20th	Murderers, Zombies and Music	Oct 26, 2010	Dial M For Murder or Press # to Return to Main Menu Don't have a cow, Mankind There's No Business Like Moe Business	Psycho / Strangers on a Train by Alfred Hitchcock 28 Days Later / I am Legend There's No Business Like Show Business
21st	Blood and games	Oct 29, 2011	Blood and games Master and Cadaver - Until the End of the World Tweenlight	Jumanji Death silence Twilight - Until (s) dawn
22nd	Spider Killer Avatar Man	Oct 29, 2012	Flatulenzia When calling Ned Na'Vi CIS	Butterfly and diving bell , Spider-Man Dexter Avatar - Departure for Pandora
23	The eerily devilish time travel through the black hole	26 Aug 2013	The Loch Schwarz monster Un-normal activity Bart and Homer's crazy journey through time	The greatest story ever told Paranormal Activity Bill & Ted's crazy journey through time / Back to the future
24	Freaks in the ring	Oct. 27, 2014	The fat one with the hat Double head Such a circus	The Cat in the Hat The thing with the 2 heads Freaks
25th	Hell, death and ghosts	Oct 27, 2015	School is hell A clockwork yellow The Others	Clockwork Orange , Eyes Wide Shut The Others
26th	Killer and Zilla	0Nov 8, 2016	Wanted: dead and then alive Homerzilla Telepaths to success	Godzilla Chronicle - what are you capable of?
27	Dry, dead and deadly	19 Sep 2017	Dry hard BFF Moefinger	The Hunger Games , Mad Max: Fury Road   James Bond 007-Goldfinger , Kingsman: The Secret Service
28	The Maggie Simpson Exorcism	Oct. 30, 2018	The Exor-Sis Coralisa Hmmm ... Homer	The exorcist   Coraline

Remarks

1. ↑ Consists of animation, CGI and real film.
2. ↑ 600. Episode of the series The Simpsons .
3. ↑ Consists of animation and CGI .

Web links

• Images of Treehouse of Horror episodes (English)
• Treehouse of Horror Episodes in Simpsonspedia