The Simpsons celebrate 25 years of horror on this week’s Halloween episode “Treehouse of Horror XXV.” The family is haunted in a parody of The Others. The ghosts are their former incarnations from the The Tracey Ullman Show, on which they debuted in 1987. It’s implied that they were murdered and buried under the house executive producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weekly. Ghost Marge flirts with Homer, which makes Ghost Homer so jealous that he attempts to kill his rival.
The Simpsons have encountered their counterparts before. Homer transformed into his former incarnation while playing with the remote control in the couch gag for “Clown in the Dumps.”
Another tale has Homer as hooligan named Dum, a parody of Dim from A Clockwork Orange. Marge tries to get him to quit the gang, which includes Moe, Lenny, Carl and Maggie as Alex DeLarge. The little tyke commits a little ultra-violence on teddy bear. She previously transformed into Alex in “Treehouse of Horror XXI.” Maggie donned iconic mascara and menacingly stared at the camera after Marge suggested all she thinks about are “sugarplums and buttercups.”
The third and final story has Bart and Lisa spirited away to a hellish version of their school after reading ancient symbol on the bottom of a school desk. Bart is the teacher’s pet in Hell, where being a bad boy is a good thing.
The episode will feature cameos by Kang and Kodos, the man eating aliens that debuted in the very first Treehouse of Horror episode. The episode poster by Julius Preite also hints an appearance by the Simpsons psychiatrist Dr. Marvin Monroe, who was believed to be dead until he appeared at book signing by Marge in “The Harpooned Heart.”
The Simpsons airs Sunday 8PM on Fox.
