Opening:
The Simpsons invite Flanders to a seance in hopes of summoning his dearly departed wife, Maude. The ghost of Maude shows up and invites us to “choke” on her tales of spine-shattering terror. This just kind of made me sad. Poor Ned.
Send in the Clones:
Homer buys another everyday object cursed with evil powers. This time it’s a hammock capable of creating clones. Homer begins cloning himself in order to accomplish mundane tasks, the clones beginning cloning themselves, and soon there’s a Homer epidemic.
The main thing that comes to mind when watching Send in the Clones is how much the segment drags. It’s about seven minutes long but feels like fifteen, as the plot never really seems to choose a direction. The clone gags are funny, but I really think this story should have ended around the halfway point when Homer tires of his clones and begins attempting to dispose of them. Everything past that point had me hoping for the next segment to start.
Memorable Gag:
The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms:
To honor the late William Bonney’s gravestone wish, Lisa leads a campaign resulting in a gun-free Springfield. Bonney then rises from the grave, reveals himself as Billy the Kid, and takes over the defenseless town with his gun-toting zombie pals. Frink sends Homer back into the past in hopes of preventing this ridiculous nonsense.
Remember the brilliant zombie and time travel stories from Treehouses past? This isn’t them. To an even great degree than Send in the Clones, this segment has no idea what it wants to be. The time travel stuff tacked on to the end feels like a different story entirely, but at least the show seems semi-self-aware about that. Watch Dial “Z” for Zombie/Time and Punishment instead.
Memorable Gag:
“I hope he doesn’t do anything to ruin the space-time continuum.”
“Oh dear.”
The Island of Dr. Hibbert:
The Simpsons travel to Dr. Hibbert’s island expecting a nice vacation. Instead they discover that the jolly doctor has turned their friends and neighbors into half-animal hybrids–and the Simpsons are next.
Have you ever wanted to see Homer have loud sex with a half-cat Marge? How about watching him milk a cow-Flanders? No? Then you have very little need for this segment. The jokes are groan-worthy throughout and the only interesting elements to be found are the animalized designs of classic Simpsons characters.
Memorable Gag: I guess I laughed at the Simpsons knowingly vacationing at a place called “the Island of Lost Souls.”
Overall Thoughts:
I can only see one reason to watch this episode: if you’ve stuck yourself with the task of blogging about every Treehouse of Horror. And if that’s the case, your life has a lot more problems than a bad Simpsons episode.
Treehouse of Horror Reviewed 