Rate & Review "Treehouse Of Horror XVIII" (JABF16)

[Kiyosuki]

I could definitely argue with the F Guy being the generally better show just on premise alone, even currently but thats just my personal taste. Its definitely better than this particular episode though. Especially that night's, it was a lot better than most FG episodes lately.

I try not to think in terms of Jean or Scully era too much, just if an episode is alright on its own merit and I thought this one just plain wasn't. Like I said, they can do better than this. I can take bad or sub-par, but routine is the worst.

[Drunk Barney]

So I decided to download this episode since I missed all of last night's programming due to previous commitments. Keep in mind I haven't regularly watched the show since season 14/15 due to your obvious reasons I won't go into involving veterans, but with my enjoyment of the movie, I decided to give the show itself another shot, for old time's sake. I figured it wouldn't be as bad as I thought it would be if it could just follow a decent THoH formula involving humorous gore and scares. I was a bit skeptical about it when I read the sypnosis on Wikipedia, but upon finishing it not long ago, I must say...Jesus fucking tapdancing Christ.

Look, I'm not going to explain myself here. I'm just going to say there was nothing witty or humorous about any of the segments. I didn't laugh once. Didn't even crack a half-smile. I couldn't. Just atrocious.

1/5 without giving it another thought.

I always think it's great when old school NHC members come back to view the odd new episode. And it's always annoying when the episode they watch sucks.

However message to any old school fan: if you want to watch a new episode again one day, then can I suggest you come back on the 26th of November, after watching the real Season premier, KABF01. Becuase if this episode sucks, then the chances are so will the Season. Here's why I think you come back, for old terms sake:

(Note: contains spoilers)

"November 25, 2007: KABF01 - Funeral for a Fiend
Kelsey Grammer returns to guest-voice as the infamous Sideshow Bob, David Hyde Pierce as Sideshow Bob’s dubious brother Cecil Terwilliger, and John Mahoney as their father, Mr. Terwilliger. Marge dreams that Keith Olbermann chides her for fast-forwarding through television commercials. Marge tries her to make restitution by watching hours of advertisements, and she and the Simpson family take particular interest in an ad for Wes Doobner’s World-Famous Family-Style Rib Huts. They drive to the restaurant, only to find Sideshow Bob waiting for them, triumphant in his elaborate hoax to lure them to their doom. When Sideshow Bob’s attempt to terminate the family is foiled, he is put on trial, where his father blames Sideshow Bob’s psychosis on Bart. During the proceedings, Bart accidentally kills his old nemesis, and Bob’s brother Cecil invites Bart to attend the memorial service for Sideshow Bob to bury the hatchet for good"

With the movie out of the way, the quality of Season 19 should be better than than the past couple of Season's. It's worth checking out IMO. Just a thought.

Sorry if I'm going of the rails off the thread here, but it is the fifth page. Don't discuss this post in to much detail if your a regular poster in the Simpsons area though, see the S19 Info Thread.

[TriforceBun]

*reads above synopsis*

Wait, WHAT!? That last part can't be true...right...?

[Good-Time Slim]

*reads above synopsis*

Wait, WHAT!? That last part can't be true...right...?

C'mon. You know Bob faked his death to get Bart to the funeral so he can kill him. You can tell

I hope they don't bring back Bob's uninspired wife and annoying son that would not stop saying, "Vendetta." Ran that joke into the ground two times in the episode...

Sorry to derail

[bobservo]

Not much to say about this one except that it didn't feel much like a Halloween episode. I liked the first segment, and even though it didn't end in a particularly interesting or clever way (like the alien invasion in the monkey's paw segment); it did feel almost like a classic season Halloween segment. My only minor annoyance was that Kodos sounded too much like Homer (and even Chief Quimby) at times.

The second and third stories, though, were pretty abysmal -- in fact, they barely felt like Halloween stories. Part three really missed the mark by waiting so long to get to the Ned Flander's haunted house. The story would have been so much better if the majority took place in this location, but all we got were a few minutes and a brief illustration of the seven deadly sins with Simpsons characters. It felt pretty pointless.

And I hope all of you Spider-Pig fans enjoyed Homer getting his entire head stuck inside of his rectum. I'm just glad we have a new code for "worst joke ever" besides "panda rape."

2/5

[Mindy Simmons]

This was posted on another tv forum (televisionwithoutpity.com), if anyone's interested. The poster says its from the Myspace page of Maurice LaMarche:

Hi Again, Gang!

Okay, so here's the deal on last Sunday's Simpsons, for those of you writing and saying, 'I saw your credit, Moe, but I didn't hear you'.
In the opening scene, where Marge is introducing the episode, these characters from other Fox shows keep distracting her (and us) by appearing in various corners of the screen (much the same way as when Fox does that as a means of "promo-ing" other shows) and she keeps having to dispose of them in various kitchen-y ways, (House in a microwave had me laughing out loud), there was supposed to be a miniature Peter Griffin, voiced by Yours Truly, down in the bottom left of the screen. He looks at the cake and says, "Freakin' sweet!" and then, annoyed, she eggbeaters him to death while he screams a bloodcurdling Family Guy scream. Well, it turns out the Family Guy people didn't think that was funny, even though they seemed to think one of their characters actually raping Marge in an episode of their show last month was simply hilarious (oh, these wacky parodies.... it just goes to show, if those kids don't stop spoofing each other, someone's gonna get hurt). Anyway, the good folks at The Simpsons replaced that particular 4 seconds of animation with a character from C.O.P.S., and she instead eggbeatered a cop, as you may recall (it was only 2 days ago...). Well, that was what they call, in the animation biz, a re-take, and happily enough, they found they could still use my scream from the second part of my line when it was the Family Guy getting the axe... or, eggbeater, to be completely precise, for sound of the cop dying. So, I still got a credit, I'll still get residuals (I know you'll all sleep better knowing that), and apparently I'm again in next week's episode, "Husbands and Knives", as well, though I have no recollection of who I play. You'll just have to try to spot me. I'll do the same. There'll be prizes.

Best,
Moe

[Cartoonnetwork]

Man, this episode has gone through so many changes that I'm starting to think it wasn't originally a Halloween episode.

[Luigi]

Wow this THOH was disappointing. The only one I semi liked was the last segment. Although some of the stuff people are saying was cut sounds funny. I can't really get over the Family Guy thing, but to all credit fox did cut theirs not to show the simpsons part on their original broadcast.

Episode gets a 2/5 for me. As some others have said, might be the worst treehouse of horror yet. To me it felt just like a movie parody, and nothing really halloweenie too it.

[clemsonfight]

Wow. The Simpsons people really shouldn't have backed down on that especially after the Marge-rape joke but oh well....that certainly wasn't the worst thing about this episode.

[sacrelicious]

I didn't find too much to outright hate with this one. Lots of unfulfilled potential, but we're used to that by now.

E.T. Go Home - Started really good, ended poorly - B+
Mr. & Mrs. Simpson - Not about halloween? who cares! Good parody, best segment of the night - A-
Heck House - Had so much potential and just didn't deliver - C

Overall, it was better than last year's THOH, and while it didn't exactly deliver as creepy or scary, it hasn't exactly done that since THOH VIII or so. Overall I give it a solid 'B'.

[xfatdannx]

So far Season 19 has been great! I'm not a huge fan of the Halloween episodes to be honest so for me, this wasn't terribly exciting. I did enjoy the Mr. & Mrs. Smith spoof. I could have watched a full episode just based on that premise.

go back to church churchy....the simpsons has sucked for a long time now and if you really thing these are good episodes, you're wrong.

[Imperciph]

...............................

It's hard to offer any form of assessment about this episode, without them coming off as being overly negative or hyperbolic. There perhaps were a myriad of reasons as to what may have contributed to the state of this episode, but it really felt extremely uninspired, as if little effort was put in. There have been quite a few THOHs featuring directionless incoherent narratives or just one-joke kill-a-thons, but this was just so....lifeless. Barely any tension, all segments feeling like they are being written on autopilot, uneventful beginnings, uneventful middles, uneventful climaxes. Same lifelessness plagued the jokes : they weren't as much cringeworthy as much they were yawn-inducing and forgettable.

There may be few THOHs that contained greater no. of failed jokes or had more poorly plotted segments, but none felt as dead as this one.

[D DEBBS]

Episodes this year were MEH, but I did like Marge attacking those annoying pop-up FOX adverts.

[Ginster]

I waited for this but for me this was not a halloween episode at all... unfunny and not scary or spooky or strange in the usual way...

intro was nice
the ET part was slightly amusing
Mr and Mrs part was a nice parody but not suitable for THOH imho
the last part was... uhm... no thought one way or the other

so 3/5 as THOH I would even go lower

[Mt. Doom]

Barely scratches by last year's which is a shame, I was expecting a little more this year.
C+

[Starman]

omg thay rellly tosted fomily gi'z ass wit tis won!!!!111madge stabded da logo of fomiiy gi!!!!11

Holy, fuck, this episode is so awful. With the exception of XII, I didn't think any Treehouse of Horror episode could be worse than XV, but this abomination proved me wrong.

In fact, it's so bad that I'd actually rather have a non-stop Yakkity Yak marathon than watch this again.

It's hard to decide which segment is the worst. They're just vomit in the form of a Simpsons episode. No segment is better or worse than the last; they're equally gut-wrenchingly horrible. It's become evident that they were actually trying to make this episode as unfunny, gruesome, and above all else stupid as they can. They did a fantastic job at making it unfunny; superb job making it stupid; but they really failed in terms of violence. It's just pointlessly violent; and it's hardly violent at all if you think about it. They either tried too hard, and ended up making it a screw-up, or just didn't try at all. My guess is that they didn't try at all (I wouldn't honestly be surprised.)
This whole episode is honestly just about as unfunny as an episode can possibly get; and trust me, I'm being kind to it right now.

Although they're all boring to an extent, the first segment is easily the most. It is so stupid and unintelligent

The second one isn't as boring; simply because it's so funny to watch how mindblowingly pathetic it is; and how much it truly fails as a parody.

The last one just makes no fucking sense whatsoever - it's so unbelievably all-over-the-place and retarted; more than usual. In fact, it was so stupid, that near the end, I nearly forgot what it was actually about.

Some other letdowns are the animation. It's not as detailed as it could be. In fact, I don't think it's detailed at all. It's too simple, and for TOH standard, it's actually pretty ugly.

I'll finish by saying: Given the chance, I could probably pull a better episode out of my ass.

2/10.

[Bumblebee_Man]

Decent Halloween Show, but dissapointing. I was expecting something a little more after the two previous Season 19 episodes.

However, it was strong overall, and felt very Halloweeny. The return of Plopper was welcomed by me, but I also found it hugely disturbing.

Good. Season 19 has given us great material so far. Keep it up.
3.5/5

[BrideofMoleman]

Is it just me or are these segments getting shorter and less substantive as the years pass by? I remember how there was once nearly whole stories told with THOH, and now it seems to be a main focus on a few loosely connected scenes.

[Evil Jebus]

I really had some hope for this episode going into it, considering there's been a couple pretty good episodes so far this season, but I was rather disappointed. I thought the second segment was okay, but that's it. I just didn't enjoy it much.

Looks like this is gonna be another incredibly inconsistent season. 2/5

[simplysimpsons]

Intro: quite good, but last year's was a lot better. The dull animation didn't help.

ET go home: So much unnessecary dialogue with little action or suspense, and strange jokes (Homer as Lincoln- what was that all about?) It could have been so much more. The conclusion of the story- the aliens coming out of the portal was so anti-climatic and fast, and the ending was crap. Sorry, but it was...the animation felt sterile and off model in parts, too. Anyone else cringe at that awful Iraq line? D+

Mr and mrs Simpson: Surprisingly pretty good, a lot of clever moments with a spoof of not only Mr and Mrs Smith, but similar rediculous movies. One or two laugh out loud jokes, and I liked the animation in this part. But it didn't really fit in a THOH, and it did feel uninspired. C+

Heck house: I quite liked this one, but it was way too fast and had a really bad ending that almost ruined it. And to be honest, it was a waste of potential. "I thought I was killed by that magic spaghetti" was the funniest line, and I liked the scenes inside the Heck House. But it was over almost as fast as it started. I wish Jean didn't use OFF to air his grievances too, the ending was just a pointless rant. So, so unfunny. Would it have been too much to add a decent conclusion? B-

Overall a C, a bit worse than last years. I don't think it was as bad as some are saying, but it still felt uninspired overall. It's a shame that the first and last parts really wasted a lot of potential.

[Drunk Barney]

After two very respectable episodes, the Season took a nosedive once again. It wasn't bad or anything, it just wasn't good, at all. Each Segment had similar problems.

"ET Go Home" started off well, but then didn't seem to being going anywhere, until the end. And even then it ended up going nowhere. "Mr and Mrs. Simpson" was simple enough, which is why it was pretty good. I like the twists in it however most of the Marge and Homer fighting was lame and tedious. "Heck House" again started off well and looked like it was going to be really good. However I thought the whole Ned being the devil was extremely lame and offered nothing fresh to "The Devil and Homer Simpson".

All in all a watchable yet extremely forgettable Treehouse of Horror. In fact, it was quite possibly the worst THOH to date.

"E.T Go Home": C/C-, 2.5/5
"Mr. and Mrs. Simpson": B-, 3.5/5
"Heck House": B-, 3.5/5

Overall: C+, 3/5

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

I can't understand how people think the last segment was the best. Yes, it started out great, but went nowhere. The other two at the very least had a sense of cohesiveness.

And how is it the worst THoH? THoH XVI was light years worse and while last year's wasn't completely awful, the only segment really worth it was The Day the Earth Looked Stupid.

EDIT: Just rewatched this episode on fox.com. Much better on rewatch, but the ending still felt abrupt. Bumping my grade up to at least a B-.

[Rhodan]

Start of the season seemed to me as too good to not being shattered sooner or later. And it came... In the form of another uninspired and feeling-like- product -of- hard labour- THOH.

Opening scene was one of their worse ones. Taking jabs on your own channel might be funny but but when is something done just becouse writers couldn´t obviously think of anything better, everything so used is embarassing.

ET Go home: Not trying to sound harsh like some of us but this is one giant WTF? It had almost no structure and jokes were like "It´s becouse I´am Jewish?" or Homer as Lincoln made me question sanity of the creative team.
1/5

Mr.and Ms. Simpson: It set well with me, altough maybe becouse I´ve seen Mr. and Ms. Smith recently. Best segment but not above avarage.
3/5
¨
Heck House: Definitely a good idea with kids, I liked especially "Do you know I´am your principal´s mother?!". Their final "trick" however (Homer´s head in the pig ass) kinda broke it... When it came to Flander´s Hell house it went straight to Jean´s routine of making THOH´s primary for visual gags.
2/5


And also 2/5 overall. Really I didn´t much like last year´s THOH but this one made me misss it.

[Gibbles]

It’s hard to take the Simpson’s creative team seriously when they keep having lazy, tedious, pointless, unfunny montages in EVERY FUCKING EPISODE they produce.

To me it’s hard to review the latest episodes without getting stuck on the many many problems and repetitive nature of the plots that are being put in front of us. I really wish the show could consistently give us episodes that didn't have a bunch of lame self aware one liner gags, and lazy writing, that more often then not quickly abandons whatever hope the premise had, for a dumb wrap up ending...

But I digress. To talk about this year’s Halloween episode, I liked Mr.and Ms. Simpson, for having a somewhat well executed story, with decent enough jokes. The other two had some alright things to like about them, but they were plagued with the problems that are constantly apparent in "modern Simpson’s". Not a good review I know but its kind of depressing trying to find things I like in a series I used to love, 2/5.

I'm crossing my fingers that the show FINALLY fully sorts itself out for the true start to season 19...I guess if not Futurama might come in and start giving us a decent adult animated show again.

[Ralph_Wiggum]

I managed to see Mr & Mrs. Simpson on youtube, since the episode should be airing on the 25th here.

I give it a C-, I havent seen the original film but my mum has so I invited her up to my room to watch it, she enjoyed it and gives it a B+.

[Rhodan]

I managed to see Mr & Mrs. Simpson on youtube, since the episode should be airing on the 25th here.

I give it a C-, I havent seen the original film but my mum has so I invited her up to my room to watch it, she enjoyed it and gives it a B+.

The whole episode was there last time I was checking.

[Itchy]

Hated it, the THOH one with killer dolphins was my least favourite until I saw this eyesore. The E.T parody and the opening sequence with Marge killing the annoying miniature advertisement characters were fun, otherwise a complete bore. What I think annoyed me me most was that how they broke the unwritten rule that THOH stories should be parodies of horror or sci-fi movies, and Mr and Mrs Smith dosen't fall in to none of those categories. It seemed like something that was made for one of those other anthology episodes ala Simpsons revenge stories and such that they thought was Halloween realeted for some reason. Are they gonna do James Bond or Rambo-themed segments for future Halloweens? Ughh... I've seen fan scripts that are ten times better than this one.

[LurkerPatrol]

2/5

Boring as hell

[CousinMerl]

THOH XVII felt like one of the weaker ones from this season, but it still was entertaining.

3/5

[Imaginationland]

C+ It was decent but still a poor THOH episode that goes down with other ones in the last few years.