"Treehouse of Horror V" is the sixth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the fifth episode in the Treehouse of Horror series. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 30, 1994, and features three short stories titled "The Shinning", "Time and Punishment", and "Nightmare Cafeteria".
The episode was written by Greg Daniels, Dan McGrath, David Cohen and Bob Kushell, and directed by Jim Reardon.[2]
In "The Shinning", a spoof of The Shining, the Simpsons are hired as caretakers at Mr. Burns' mansion. Deprived of television and beer, Homer becomes insane and attempts to murder the family. In "Time and Punishment", a parody of Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder", Homer repeatedly travels back in time and alters the future. In "Nightmare Cafeteria", Principal Skinner begins using students in detention as cafeteria food. The episode has a running gag where Groundskeeper Willie tries to help but gets stabbed in the back with an axe, killing him. This is the first Treehouse of Horror episode not to feature a wraparound segment.
In response to longstanding complaints about excessive graphic violence in the show, showrunner David Mirkin mandated that the episode contain as many disturbing and gory elements as possible. James Earl Jones features as the voice of an alternate-timeline Maggie. The episode was critically acclaimed, with "The Shinning" segment receiving the most praise.
Plot
Marge tells the audience that the episode is deemed so scary that Congress will not allow its broadcast, and would prefer to show a Glenn Ford film called 200 Miles To Oregon. Homer and Bart interrupt the screening to show the episode anyway.
The Shinning
The Simpsons are employed as caretakers at Mr. Burns' haunted lodge while it is closed for the winter. Groundskeeper Willie discovers that Bart can read his mind, and tells Bart he has the "Shinning". Mr. Burns cuts off the lodge's cable TV and beer supplies to ensure hard work from the caretakers; this plan backfires, as the deprivation causes Homer to go insane. A phantom resembling Moe Szyslak additionally encourages Homer to kill the rest of the family. Homer begins attacking Marge; while she fends him off, Homer faints in horror after seeing his crazed reflection in a mirror. Marge then locks Homer in the pantry. After Homer calms down by eating snack food, Moe and a gang of ghouls force him out of the pantry. Bart uses his "Shinning" powers to summon Willie, who abandons his portable TV in the snow to come to the family's rescue. Homer kills him and continues his pursuit of the family. Lisa shows Homer Willie's TV, and Homer's insanity abates as the family watches TV. When they become frozen stiff, the Tony Awards ceremony begins airing on the TV, and Homer's murderous impulse comes back.
Time and Punishment
Homer accidentally turns his broken toaster into a time machine after trying to repair it. After traveling to prehistoric times, Homer remembers his father's advice about the butterfly effect but unthinkingly swats a mosquito. In the present, a toxically positiveNed now rules the world; after Homer gets the Simpsons sentenced to 're-Neducation' (a program which includes full-frontal lobotomies), he escapes and endeavors to fix his mistakes. Homer's failed attempts create a present where Bart and Lisa are giants, followed by one where the Simpsons are wealthy and Patty and Selma have died, but no one knows what donuts are (but which now fall from the sky as rain), and one where Willie tries to help Homer, but is killed by a talking Maggie. On his final trip back, Homer destroys everything in sight with a baseball bat. Homer travels back to his home, where everything is as it was except for his family having reptilian tongues, which Homer accepts as "close enough".
Nightmare Cafeteria
Principal Skinner and Lunchlady Doris discover a common solution to both the problem of poor cafeteria food and an overcrowded detention hall: eating any child that is sent to detention. After only a few students remain, Willie tries to help Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse escape, but Skinner kills him. Milhouse, Bart, and Lisa fall off a ledge into a giant food processor, when Bart wakes up with his family in his bedroom. Marge assures him he has nothing to fear except the "fog that turns people inside out", which seeps in through the window. The family and Willie then perform "One" from A Chorus Line as the credits roll.
Production
The showrunner David Mirkin attempted to put "as much blood and guts" into the episode as he could. This was because Mirkin was disappointed by complaints from Congress regarding the amount of violence in the show and their attempts for it to be censored. He later called it "the most [...] disturbing Halloween show ever". The opening sequence, in which Marge states the episode could not be shown and plays some live action stock footage, was also in reaction to this. Mirkin said he thinks Halloween shows can be "scary as well as fun".[3]
This episode marked the end of the tradition of featuring humorous tombstones in the title sequence of Halloween episodes. The title sequence of this episode featured a tombstone reading "Amusing Tombstones", which was a sign that the writers could no longer devise ideas to use as humorous tombstone messages. Similar sequences were featured as introductions in all four preceding Treehouse of Horror episodes, but have not been featured since this episode.[4]
The staff also decided against the traditional continuation of featuring wraparound segments that were featured before each story in the preceding Treehouse of Horror episodes, to allow more time for the main stories.[5]
The first segment, "The Shinning", is a parody of the film The Shining. The film's director, Stanley Kubrick, had been a big influence on Mirkin, and was "one of the main reason[s] [he] wanted to be a director".[3] Series creator Matt Groening admitted that he had not seen The Shining and most of the references to the film were entirely lost on him.[6]
Nightmare Cafeteria marked David Cohen's debut as a Simpsons writer.
Groening originally pitched the idea that Homer would travel through time in "Time and Punishment". His original idea was that the time-travel would be the result of Homer simply jamming his hand in the toaster, but it was rejected by the other writers.[6]
The first time Homer travels back in time, he was originally supposed to state "I'm the first non-fictional character to travel backwards through time".[4] The line was later changed from "non-fictional" to "non-Brazilian". Groening was confused as to the reason for the change, since he liked the original so much. In fact, he did not even understand what the new line implied.[6]Josh Weinstein said the line is supposed to be a non-sequitur. In Brazil, the Portuguese dub changed the line to "I'm the first non-astronaut to travel backwards through time."
In the scene where the Simpsons' house transforms into numerous objects, one of the original designs included the house being made entirely of squirrels. Layout artist Lance Wilder worked on the drawings for more than two days, but ultimately it was cut as the picture quality of standard-definition televisions of the time would have made the image unrecognizable. To ensure their work did not go to waste, some staff members have used the drawings on Christmas cards and other studio-related notices.[7]
"Nightmare Cafeteria" was the first Simpsons story to be written by David X. Cohen.[3] He wrote the final scene where a nightmarish fog turns the family inside out. This was inspired by an episode of the radio show Lights Out called "The Dark", which frightened Cohen as a child. A dance number was added immediately afterward in order to end the show on a lighter note. The "grade F meat" joke was written by Cohen, inspired by his cousin once seeing a box of hot dogs labeled "grade C, approved for human consumption".[3]
Cultural references
The voice-over in the pre-title sequence is a reference to the 1963 television series The Outer Limits.[1] The first segment, "The Shinning", is a parody of the Stephen King novel The Shining and the Stanley Kubrickfilm of the same name. The basic plot of the segment is the same as the novel and there are also many references to specific moments from the film, such as the blood coming out of the elevator and Homer breaking through a door with an axe and yelling "Here's Johnny!".[1][2] The segment also references John Denver Christmas specials.[8]
The title of the third segment, "Nightmare Cafeteria", is a reference to the television seriesNightmare Café,[4] while the plot bears resemblance to Soylent Green.[9] The song over the end credits is based on the song "One" from the musical A Chorus Line,[1] while the concept of the family being turned inside out by a mysterious fog comes from an episode of the radio show Lights Out called "The Dark".[4] "One" can briefly be heard at the end of "The Shinning", when an announcer introduces the Tony Awards on Willie's portable TV.
Reception
Critical reception
Since airing, "Treehouse of Horror V" has received critical acclaim. Entertainment Weekly ranked this episode as the ninth best of the entire series: "The Shinning" was described as "a parody brimming with such detail [and] comic timing" that it "ranks with the greatest of pop culture spoofs" and Grandpa's wedding advice to Homer in "Time and Punishment" was praised as "one of the most beautifully random moments in Simpsons history". They concluded that "Maybe 'Nightmare Cafeteria' doesn't shine as brilliantly, but we still think it's perfectly, well, 'cromulent.'"[10] It ranked fifth on AskMen.com's "Top 10: Simpsons Episodes" list. The list stated that the episode "offers three completely different tales, [...] boasting a potent combination of wit and humor" that, "the laughs never end", and that it "does a great job of incorporating Halloween-themed stories with the standard Simpsons charm".[11]IGN called the episode "the funniest Treehouse of Horror to date".[12] In 2006, they also named it the best episode of the sixth season.[12] Adam Finley of the weblog TV Squad called it "possibly one of the best Halloween episodes ever".[13] Michael Passman of Michigan Daily said the episode "is largely regarded as the best, but a weak final third holds it back".[14]Entertainment.ie named it among the 10 greatest Simpsons episodes of all time.[15]Screen Rant called it the best episode of the sixth season and the greatest Halloween episode of The Simpsons.[16]Consequence of Sound called it "a true benchmark of the series," ranking it the second greatest Treehouse of Horror episode of all time.[17] In 2019, Time ranked the episode third in its list of 10 best Simpsons episodes picked by Simpsons experts.[18]
"The Shinning" is particularly highly praised. As well as Entertainment Weekly's praise, IGN voted it first on their list of the best segments in the Treehouse of Horror series, with "Time and Punishment" coming fourth.[19] It came ninth on the blog Noise to Signal's list of "The Ten Best Treehouse of Horror Vignettes".[20] Adam Finley of TV Squad opined that it "could [...] be the best Treehouse of Horror segment ever" and praised the opening of "Time and Punishment."[13] When putting together the perfect Treehouse of Horror episode, Passman of Michigan Daily included The Shinning as "a shoo-in".[14]Empire named "No TV And No Beer Make Homer Go Crazy" the sixth-best film parody in the show's history.[21] The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "Another fine entry to the Treehouse canon".[1]Vulture named "The Shinning" the best "Treehouse of Horror" segment ever, stating, "When you can’t think of the original without also thinking of the spoof. That’s The Shining and 'The Shinning,' easily the best Treehouse segment of all time."[22]
James Earl Jones' guest appearance in this episode, as well as in "Treehouse of Horror" and "Das Bus", was listed seventh on IGN's "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances" list.[23] Jones ranked 25th on AOL's list of their favorite 25 The Simpsons guest stars.[24]Matt Groening said that Maggie's line "It is indeed a disturbing universe" (voiced by James Earl Jones) is among his favorite lines in the show.[25] David Mirkin said that Homer's line, "Oh I wish, I wish I hadn't killed that fish", is one of his favorites in the show, and that the alternate future in which the family is rich "breaks [his] heart every time".[3] Homer's line "close enough" from Time and Punishment was later used in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Moebius".[26]
Alf Clausen's musical score for this episode received an Emmy Award nomination for "Outstanding Dramatic Underscore— Series" in 1995.[27]
Ratings
In its original broadcast, "Treehouse of Horror V" finished 27th in ratings for the week of October 24–30, 1994, with a Nielsen rating of 12.2, equivalent to approximately 11.6 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Beverly Hills, 90210.[28]
Legacy
"Time and Punishment" was later referenced in DC Comics' Booster Gold comic book series, where Booster Gold explains the butterfly effect by referencing this episode.[29]Simpsons-themed metal band Okilly Dokilly based their song "Reneducation" on "Time and Punishment", in which Homer visits a dystopian future where "Flanders is the unquestioned lord and master of the world."[1]
