David Cooper
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0274 - Mover
🕑 Added 2023-10-30 09:00:02 +0000 UTCWe're finally covering a Treehouse of Horror episode! These are obviously very important traditions in the Simpsons mythos, not only because of them allowing things to get a bit spooky/weird/non-canon, but also because of them normalising the idea of these three-segment formats in animated shows. After a few years of following this format for Halloween episodes, we soon see them utilise this to explore other themes such as the Bible or Greek myth. Furthermore, soon other animated shows such as Futurama, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers and probably others use this thee-segment format to explore a variety of topics, not just spooky!
But it all starts here, as they ease into this format with "Treehouse of Horror". The nature of having such short stories - they have to average out at less than 7 minutes each - means there is less room to introduce new ancillary characters, and as such we're going to tear through this episode fairly quickly. The focus on on the main family, and there aren't even wacky variations of the core five to explore for the most part, so this will be one of our quickest episodes to date.
Luckily, we get to celebrate Halloween with this EXTREMELY SCARY CHARACTER:
Have you dealt with movers before? Having someone else handle all your worldly possessions? It's terrifying! And the deep voice of this minor character adds much gravitas and menace.
Yep, he's voiced by James Earl Jones, if only so that Jones can voice a character in all three segments. It's a fun little detail that I don't think they keep in future Treehouses, having the guest start pop up multiple times. Obviously James Earl Jones has one of the best voices of all time, so it's appreciated here - and they didn't even give in to the temptation of doing some Darth Vader reference.
This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.
