Who's this? What do you want? What is up everybody? Thank you so much for tuning in.
Welcome to the mmm doughnuts podcast. I am your host Justin Metcalf. Thanks for
being here. I really appreciate it. You might have realized this is the second
episode that has been dropping recently. Actually the third episode today. It's
Wednesday so I've already dropped one episode that I recorded as promised but
as I told you in last episode I'm gonna put three of the first three Treehouse
of Horror episodes out today. I just said episode like 14 times. Sorry I have ADD
1 2 3 4 and OCD 1 2 3 4. So here we are with Treehouse of Horror 2 which is in
season 3 episode 7 and the original air date was October 31st right on Halloween
1991. I remember watching this. I'm not kidding. I loved trick-or-treating. I went
every single year until I was obscenely too old for it and I vividly remember
this year because I went out trick-or-treating and then I came back in
time to watch it which was at 7 p.m. and then I watched the episode then I went
back out and did more trick-or-treating. It was awesome. Loved it. So I still to
this day remember the the day this came out and further along in the series that
we get the more I can remember. Like pretty soon we'll go over the Who Shot
Mr. Burns episodes. The first episode ended a season and the second you know
the continuance started the season and we will talk about everything we went
through. The trauma that we experienced as children waiting a whole summer to
get that next episode. It was brutal. But anyway so so here we are. I've got
everything set up this time properly. I've got the best joke ready. I've got
my my trivia questions ready and so for example the best joke I think I'm gonna
start a new format where I bring it up at the beginning of the episode because
I do keep missing it and there's a lot of jokes and and I like to point out
what I think is my favorite one. The best joke. And so I've got it ready and it's
don't hate me but again it's the prank called to mow. Look I love the gag okay I
love the bit it was funny and the further along in the series we get the
less often this is gonna be my favorite joke because other gags are introduced
and other funnier jokes and better writing is done and at the time for this
episode I think this was the best joke. So instead of trying to repeat it and
butchering it like I've been known to do I have got it queued up and I'm gonna
play it for you. You're welcome.
I can already hear the more cynical of you right now saying that's not funny
because you know or you don't get it because because of the way that it you
know that he says it you know because it's not he's not like repeating
something that's hidden you know like obviously somebody would know that was
you know you don't repeat that. That's the joke that's the gag for this one. I
know the rest of them are they're they're hidden you know there's funny
names Hugh, Jas and Jacques Strapp but in this one that's that's the joke it's
first of all there's no way that Bart was able to say all of that in the three
seconds of pause or less that that Mo had which is one layer of the joke but
then the rest of it is the joke is obviously somebody's not gonna hear that
and then just blindly repeat it. So if you're not laughing because you didn't
get it and if there's one thing I've learned in four decades on this planet
is jokes are funnier when you have them explained to you except no they're not
so you should be ashamed of yourself but hey at least now you get it so you know
there's that. So fun facts about this episode. This episode marks the first
use of the scary names in the opening credits. I mentioned that last time
that that became you know a regular gag and this is when we first get it. It also
has the opening sequence of gravestones like the the first one so we get both
which is fun and this particular episode features parodies of classic horror and
sci-fi works like the Twilight Zone. I remember last episode there was it was a
parody of Tales from the Crypt but back to this one sorry Frankenstein and the
thing with two heads as well as the invasion of the body snatchers. We see
this a lot in film and TV show like writers and animators directors they pay
homage to film that they have seen you know it's like stuff that they were
inspired by stuff they grew up on and it's it's the same here for The Simpsons
too there's a lot of that a lot of the references point back to that so I think
it's fun to make that connection I hope you do too. And this episode won an Emmy
for outstanding animated program. That's how good it was it was only the second
installment of the Treehouse of Horror series but it was it was that good. I
don't think this was their first Emmy but this episode did win an Emmy for
animated outstanding animated program. Let's talk trivia. Are you guys do you
guys like the trivia? Do you enjoy this? I would kind of toyed with it and the
beginning it was more like whose line is it anyway where I don't really track the
points but now we kind of can you know like I'm still doing it and you get a
point for every answer and some of these questions have multiple answers. So for
real are you enjoying this? Do you like the trivia? Do you do the homework? And if
so I tricked you last episode the Halloween special because you didn't
know I was gonna do that but I did tell you I was gonna do the first three so
maybe you took a break and did your your homework and you have watched the the
second Treehouse of Horror. I would advise you to now go watch Treehouse of
Horror 3 because that is the next episode dropping in like an hour. So get
to it. Let me know what you think about trivia. I'm honestly genuinely curious to
know your thoughts. Okay so here we go. What question number one what are the
names of the tombstones in the opening credits? I did this last time and there
were like ten tombstones. They're not as many in this one. There are like five
four or five. I have it written down later in my script but I don't know right
now. They're just there aren't as many but there's still more than one. So if
you're falling behind you haven't been doing your homework you're not doing
really well in the trivia this could be an opportunity for you to beef up your
score and then tweet it and make sure to tag me
mmm donuts 742 on the X. Okay question number two what does Lisa bribe Bart
with to let her sleep in his bed because she had a bad dream because her the
first segment you know this is broken up into three segments first segment is her
nightmare so she goes into his room and and says you know can I had a bad dream
can I sleep in here he says no so she bribes him what's the bribe hmm what is
it question number three what does Bart suggest Homer get excuse me what job
does Bart suggest Homer get after he loses his job at the power plant done
done okay you have approximately a number of minutes to get these right
nobody's stopping you from pausing and going watching the episodes but could
you sleep at night cheating doing it like that you should because no one it's
fine do it okay let's get into the first segment is the monkey's paw so this is
the first nightmare like I said this is Lisa's nightmare and and a very very
funny segment I love this segment they they start in in Marrakech and there's
some some funny geographical jokes right away Homer makes a an obscure reference
and you see if you haven't watched it go watch it it's funny but anyway so the
the shop owner that that Homer runs into is this creepy dude and he sells him a
monkey's paw and the monkey's paw grants three wishes and he says each wish has
disaster well each wish has disastrous consequences he he he warns him about it
and then what's what's really funny very very funny joke is he goes to tell Marge
she asked where he got it and then he turned around he says well from the shop
right there and it's missing and the that's why it's funny that's like a very
common theme a lot of people use that bit to like add some some cloaked
shadowy mystical thing to their story but then he says oh wait it was right
over there and then the show the guy at the stall and he waves and talks it's
funny so here it is though it's a classic the theme and it's a be careful
what you wish for theme we saw a lot of it in film and TV growing up and it was
it was pretty common because the the lesson was always you wish for
something and on the surface you get what you wish for but what you realize
is that there are a lot of other nuances and hidden things that pop up that you
don't want and it's it's like a slap on the face with the backhand after you you
get your wish and I think what it teaches is like you know be happy with
what you have the grass isn't always greener but I think the Simpsons do a
really good job with it in this in this episode there's there's escalating
absurdity with the Simpsons wishes and their outcomes the first wish goes to
Maggie which is hilarious she wishes for a new pacifier and it's delivered in
this like beautiful old Rolls Royce limousine it's funny and then Lisa
wishes for world peace and it goes well she gets world peace and everything on
the planet is terrific but then King and Kodo show up the aliens that we will
soon I mean speaking past tense we we have known and loved but now have
become you know like a standard for tree house of horror so they make their
second appearance in the second tree house of horror and they the they show
up and they take over by just using like premature premature primitive weapons
slingshot and like a billy club and a bat with tape on it and that's the joke
we've got world peace and now nobody can fight back so they start to take over
the planet right and then Homer decides with the third wish that he's gonna
finally get it right and so of course a logical person will be thinking we'll do
something about what just happened to the earth but this Homer Simpson he
wishes for perfect turkey sandwich he's like I don't want any weird strange
things and weird like cursed pickles I don't remember it's so funny I don't
want to ruin it so you need to watch it it's hilarious and the turkeys dry so he
starts crying and wailing like that's the end of the world so very well written
bit I thought the jokes were just stacked on top of each other it's
hilarious so now what right so here's he's very good even funnier he ends up
given the the mitt the monkey paw to Flanders and Flanders he's he's thinking
Homer's thinking Flanders is gonna screw up even worse and Flanders fixes
everything he says you know with my first wish is to fix this alien invasion
and it immediately gets fixed and then Flanders says I guess now I should
spruce up the old house and it turns into this beautiful gorgeous mansion
here's the the hidden joke they're not so hidden it's not very subtle he's a
man of God and a man of not material wealth you know he's not I mean he's
he's well-to-do we've seen in many episodes they've got good gadgets and
they're well taken care of but he's not a materialistic man okay it's funny that
he not only wishes for a big house and wealth but he actually gets it and and
it doesn't backfire on him which is hilarious and and upsets Homer
obviously so here's a question for you how does this segment play with the
concept of fate and free will is I like you this isn't new I like to get
analytical here okay these episodes were written by very intelligent people and
it wasn't just a bunch of dumb gags and slapstick comedy thrown together there
were themes and there was a lot of thought that went into these there's
there's also some dark humor and social commentary in the segment that you know
I'm what do you pick up on it do you see the kind of like what I was just saying
with with Flanders we know Flanders and in these episodes trans and horror we
see a lot of characters depicted as far different from how we know them it's
like they're there one time of year their winter solstice where they get to
come out and be their true selves you know for one day a year and it's that's
how I was viewed it growing up and it was that's part of what made it so
exciting and again it was like there was no again meaning I talked about this
last episode there was like no repercussions to it like anything can
happen in these segments and these three segments of the episode and it didn't
matter the next segment picked up from the beginning like nothing happened and
then next week the episodes didn't happen you know it was just it was fun
to do that once a year it wasn't overdone and gave the characters or the
writers a lot of freedom with the characters to do a lot of really cool
stuff so wonder what your thoughts are on that per first of all the first
segment but then let's go into the next segment the Twilight Zone one and this
one's called the Bart zone Bart discovers that he has the power to
control people with his mind dun dun and as such and like I said so that that was
first that was Lisa's nightmare the monkey one and she was in a Bart's bed
and then now Bart's having a dream sorry I wanted to make that connection it's
important here's here's the thing that I want to discuss in this segment because
a lot of a lot of really absurd things happen like the entire town is just at
his will they do whatever he wants principal Skinner singing on the
intercom everyone's praising him for the really awful dumb things that he does
and he's got absolute power so I think the theme that is portrayed here is
absolute power corrupts absolutely and that's that's a famous quote attributed
to 19th century English historian Lord action where he says power tends to
corrupt an absolute power corrupts absolutely so that your when you have
absolute power there's there's almost I mean there's well nobody has ever had
absolute power so we don't know for sure but we can see from when people do get
in any any certain monocle of power it ends up corrupting them almost every
time you see it in politics and you see it in leadership of organizations
there's just so much corruption that comes with power and that I think is the
not it's the overt theme here that's that's being portrayed is that with his
absolute power you can see nothing good happens at the end of it and his reign
is just you know it makes everybody miserable his use of powers and the
consequences you know he seems to just not care about and then at the end well
that's actually a joke at the end but we'll talk about that in a second how do
you think this episode in terms of how it how it satirizes the family dynamics
and societal norms how do you think it does with that right think about it I
mean I know this is very very pungent his his power but wouldn't you agree that
to some extent there are parenting styles that allow that kind of abuse
from children where a kid says what he wants and the parents just like whatever
I'll do it I get it this is not I mean this is obviously over the top but I
still think that there's some satire here about those family dynamics that
are well I don't want to I'll get off my soapbox you tell me what you think did
you pick up on the same things or am I just all alone in life like normal
there's lots of good visual gags like Bart tries to change the way his cat is
because same you know it's just a boring cat and that's funny but there's some
other funny situations that are created by Bart's powers it's a good little bit
here's the here's the last joke of the bit though the funny thing it ends with
Homer and Bart connecting and Homer asked him for a favor you know he said
well you could change me back or give me my body back Bart says you got it and
it's a sweet little moment and part of you thinks maybe he's gonna you know be
regular Bart and do something mean but no he gives him his body and he's oh
thanks son and then they hug and that's when Bart wakes up screaming because
that's his nightmare that's the joke it's funny so then Bart and Lisa both
go running into their parents room because they both had nightmares that's
when the next bit starts so at the transition I think is really well done
and then now now Homer has his nightmare there's lots lots to talk about in this
in this one but this segment if I only had a brain is where mr. Burns is an
evil scientist what a shock and he has a robot that he has built with Smithers
and the robot needs a brain so they're they're looking at their computer
screens sorry they're their monitors their CCTV you know security camera
monitors like they do it's like a quintessential scene in mr. Burns's office
and they're trying to decide who to fire and they fire Homer and so Homer gets
the can and then that's when they go and you can see Burns's robot and so then it
cuts to Homer trying to find a new job and ends up getting one I did it again I
did it again I'm gonna talk about what Homer does and it's one of the trivia
questions dad got it sorry kind of I mean I'm not that sorry so he ends up
being a gravedigger and that's the answer to question number three and so
he's taking a break after maybe four seconds of work falls asleep in his open
grave and then mr. Burns and Smithers are walking around and Burns calls it a he
says he's like a kid in a candy store walking around in the in the graveyard
they get Homer and they bring him back to the lab and they cut open his his
head and the funny thing is I mean they pull out a brain but when is the top of
his dome that they cut off hits the ground there's a very hollow punk when
it hits the ground which is funny but then also like they pull out a brain so
you know I think they landed it still pretty well mr. Burns way out of
character obvious I mean already out of character as an evil scientist puts the
brain on his head and dances around it's funny funny so then and then there's
the bit there's a bunch of jokes in there you should watch it if you haven't
already let's get to the analyzing and the discussion there's I thought about
this I don't know I was I was over analytical when I was preparing this
one but I was thinking about analyzing the ethical implications of body
modification and artificial artificial intelligence I don't think I'm gonna go
into that though because it's kind of getting away from the whole shtick that
the Simpsons are doing in the treehouse of horror right that's that's the joke
you know being too analytical of these episodes is probably not gonna get us
anywhere let's just enjoy the humor right because that's what it was what
about the whole the the humor that's derived from Homer's brain in a robot
body like the ability to see through several layers of concrete to the
donuts that are you know in the plant and he just walks through the walls how
do you think this segment explores themes of identity and sentience or
consciousness huh it's pretty good right I get super nerdy when I'm preparing
these I'll tell you not everything I write down in my outline actually gets
put on the the episode some stuff as I'm reading it or right before as I prepare
a plank that's that's pretty lame but anyway what do you think about the
visual effects and the portrayal of futuristic technology like one could
argue that King and Kodos and their spaceship is futuristic technology and it
was even in last season with the first treehouse of horror but but with this
with this robot and the whole Frankenstein scene are you tired of me
saying robot yet I don't care that's how I say it and I like it so you can just
hush your face but what do you think about the visual effects how do you
think this episode stands up last time we talked about the balance between
horror and comedy for the treehouse of horror or the Simpsons Halloween special
how do you think this episode fared with its balance of horror and comedy the
same as the first episode better worse what do you think and you compare it in
contrast to the first three hours of horror how does it contribute to the
evolution of that format of the treehouse of horror format starting off
with a warning from Marge oh there was another warning dang it I didn't even
talk about it it's another warning from Marge essentially it's you know you
didn't listen to me last time you're not gonna do it this time it's funny but
then there's that format and there's so many bits that go into it there's the
the green glowing dripping font there's the the names that are you know funny
names in the credits and the tombstones at the beginning and that eventually
goes away there's just so many things that have in the three segments of
three separate stories it's become obviously it's it's successful it's
become very very famous very well known so how do you think this episode fared
that's my question what are some of the most memorable moments or quotes or what
are your favorite moments what's your favorite scene favorite joke I shared my
favorite joke what's yours if you see it like I found a good number of these
jokes people have already clipped on YouTube so if you've got a favorite joke
go find it on YouTube copy it and then paste it in a tweet send it to me and
let's talk about it so easy to communicate like that nowadays so but
share with me engage with me talk to me please here's some more questions did
you find no not did you what which of these segments did you find the funniest
or the most disturbing is that something we I wanted to talk about some of these
three ounce of horror episodes were disturbing that was the intent like
Matt Groening even says when he put out you know the first three ounce of horror
the Simpsons Halloween special the point was to disturb the public I think those
were his words something along those lines that was the whole point it was
to shot all that's what it was to shock the public so I mean that's what they're
doing intentionally I remember sometimes being shocked by these but that was part
of the allure part of the humor part of the fun so that being said I asked this
question last time too what's your favorite tree house of horror episode or
segment like I told you mine was when Homer spends a day in hell because he
sells a soul to the devil for a doughnut I don't remember the other two segments
of that episode right now I will soon it might even be next season but I do
remember that segment I loved it I remember loving it as a kid I watched it
over and over again thought it was hilarious lots of great jokes and lots
of jokes I didn't get until later because there's like historical figures
in it as Satan calls us the jury names I didn't understand like you know
starting lineup of a hockey team that I didn't know at the time that's a very
funny joke and we'll talk about that when I do that episode but there you go
do you have any stories this is what I'm gonna leave you with personal stories of
like be careful what you wish for like have you experienced anything like that
like I'd be careful what you wish for kind of story in your life and if you
do and you're comfortable sharing share it let me know so you can get me at
chart and pants at gmail.com or on Twitter at mmm donuts 742 let's do the
trivia answers real quick and it starts with I already ruined the third one I'm
sorry he's a grave digger that's the job that he suggests the Bart suggests the
tombstones there aren't as many there's five total in this one Bambi's mom Jim
Morrison with peace signs for the O's and I was always the fashion at the time
and dozens of like written lyrics and notes from fans and then the next one
was Cajun cooking and the next one's Walt Disney and it's in the classic
Disney font and then the last tombstone says lose weight now ask me how for the
record there's also very very funny tombstone jokes in line for the ride the
Haunted Mansion in Disneyland so next time you're there I'm pretty sure
they're at Disney World too I think they're harder to see but a bunch of
tombstones and like in the mausoleum as you walk past it lots of funny puns as
names you're welcome okay and the last one what is the bribe that Lisa offers
Bart to let her sleep in his bed it was a candy necklace hey thanks again for
listening I'm so glad that you spend your time with me I appreciate that you
are enjoying this I hope you're enjoying it as much as me I love the show I hope
you do too and I will see you next time see ya seriously I'm getting so tired of those stupid Flandersisms